• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.729-744
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• 2010

There is world wide concern for safety of nuclear power installations after the terrorist attack on World Trade Center in 2001 and several other civilian structures in the last decade. The nuclear containment structure in many countries is a double shell structure (outer shell a RCC and inner a prestressed concrete). The outer reinforced concrete shell protects the inner shell and is designed for external loading like impact and blast. A comparative study of non-linear response of reinforced concrete nuclear containment cylindrical shell subjected to impact of an aircraft (Phantom) and explosion of different amounts of blast charges have been presented here. A material model which takes into account the strain rate sensitivity in dynamic loading situations, plastic and visco-plastic behavior in three dimensional stress state and cracking in tension has been developed earlier and implemented into a finite element code which has been validated with published literature. The analysis has been made using the developed software. Significant conclusions have been drawn for dissimilarity in response (deflections, stresses, cracks etc.) of the shell for impact and blast loading.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aviation and Aeronautics
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.42-47
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• 2009

Recently, the wide range of the composite materials is used for the making airplanes, trains and automobiles body for the lightweight. Despite having complex structures, composite materials usually have well defined mechanical characteristics. However, composite materials are difficult to understand the fracture mechanism clearly by simple mechanical test. Nondestructive evaluation (NDE) combined with mechanical testing can play a more important role and especially Acoustic Emission Testing (AET) would become known to be a useful tool to assess damage and fracture behavior of composites. In this study The experiment was performed to acquire the acoustic emission signal during tensile test using unidirectional CFRP specimen and the data was analyzed the acoustic emission parameters with the waveform.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.2 no.5
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• pp.367-380
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• 2005

Recent earthquakes have shown that many of existing buildings in Iran sustain heavy damage due to defective seismic details. To assess vulnerability of one common type of buildings, which consists of low rise framed concrete structures, three defective and three standard columns have been tested under reversed cyclic load. The substandard specimens suffered in average 37% loss of strength and 45% loss of energy dissipation capacity relative to standard specimens, and this was mainly due to less lateral and longitudinal reinforcement and insufficient sectional dimensions. A relationship has been developed to introduce variation of plastic length under increasing displacement amplitude. At ultimate state, the length of plastic hinge is almost equal to full depth of section. Using calibrated hysteresis models, the response of different specimens under two earthquakes has been analyzed. The analysis indicated that the ratio between displacement demand and capacity of standard specimens is about unity and that of deficient ones is about 1.7.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.691-704
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• 2019

This study simulates the responses of large-scale bridge piers under pseudo-dynamic tests to investigate the performance of four types of numerical models that consider the nonlinear behavior of the pier and the rocking behavior of the footing. In the models, beam-column elements with plastic hinges are used for the pier, two types of foundation models (rotational spring and distributed spring models) are adopted for the footing behavior, and two types of viscous damping models (Rayleigh and dashpot models) are applied for energy dissipation. Results show that the nonlinear pier model combined with the distributed spring-dashpot foundation model can reasonably capture the behavior of the piers in the tests. Although the commonly used rotational spring foundation model adopts a nonlinear moment-rotation property that reflects the effect of footing uplift, it cannot suitably simulate the hysteretic moment-rotation response of the footing in the dynamic analysis once the footing uplifts. In addition, the piers are susceptible to cracking damage under strong seismic loading and the induced plastic response can provide contribution to earthquake energy dissipation.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2023

Flexible dye sensitized photovoltaics (f-DSPVs) based on plastic substrates have attracted significant interest due to their light-weight, flexibility, and compatibility with roll-to-roll processing, as well as their potential application to ubiquitous power sources. However, f-DSPVs exhibit inferior power conversion efficiencies (PCE) compared to conventional DSPVs since the fabrication process must be conducted at a low-temperature (≤ 150℃) to prevent thermal damage of the plastic substrates, which generally results in poor interconnection between the TiO₂ nanoparticles. Numerous novel low-temperature manufacturing approaches for flexible photoanode and counter electrode have been developed. In this review, current progress on low temperature strategies for f-DSPVs technology are discussed.

• Maxillofacial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
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• v.37
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• pp.30.1-30.7
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• 2015

Background: The inferior alveolar nerve (IAN) may be injured during extraction of the mandibular third molar, causing severe postoperative complications. Many methods have been described for evaluating the relative position between the mandibular third molar and the inferior alveolar canal (IAC) on panoramic radiography and computed tomography, but conventional radiography provides limited information on the proximity of these two structures. The present study assessed the benefits of three-dimensional computed tomography (3D-CT) prior to surgical extraction of the mandibular third molar, to prevent IAN damage. Methods: This retrospective study included 4917 extractions in 3555 patients who presented for extraction of the mandibular third molars. The cases were classified into three groups, according to anatomical relationship between the mandibular third molars and the IAC on panoramic radiography and whether 3D-CT was performed. Symptoms of IAN damage were assessed using the touch-recognition test. Data were compared using the chi-square test and Fisher's exact test. Results: Among the 32 cases of IAN damage, 6 cases were included in group I (0.35 %, n = 1735 cases), 23 cases in group II (1.1 %, n = 2063 cases), and 3 cases in group III (0.27 %, n = 1119 cases). The chi-square test showed a significant difference in the incidence of IAN damage between groups I and II. No significant difference was observed between groups I and III using Fisher's exact test. In the 6 cases of IAN damage in group I, the mandibular third molar roots were located lingual relative to the IAC in 3 cases and middle relative to the IAC in 3 cases. The overlap was ${\geq}2mm$ in 3 of 6 cases and 0-2 mm in the remaining 3 cases. The mean distance between the mandibular third molar and IAC was 2.2 mm, the maximum distance 12 mm, and the minimum distance 0.5 mm. Greater than 80 % recovery was observed in 15 of 32 (46.8 %) cases of IAN damage. Conclusions: 3D-CT may be a useful tool for assessing the three-dimensional anatomical relationship and proximity between the mandibular third molar and IAC in order to prevent IAN damage during extraction of mandibular third molars.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.823-840
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• 2016

The plastic hinge lengths of beams and columns are a critical demand parameter in the nonlinear analysis of structures using the finite element method. The numerical model of a plastic hinge plays an important role in evaluating the response and damage of a structure to earthquakes or other loads causing the formation of plastic hinges. Previous research demonstrates that the plastic hinge length of reinforced concrete (RC) columns is closely related to section size, reinforcement ratio, reinforcement strength, concrete strength, axial compression ratio, and so on. However, because of the limitations of testing facilities, there is a lack of experimental data on columns with large section sizes and high axial compression ratios. In this work, we conducted a series of quasi-static tests for columns with large section sizes (up to 700 mm) and high axial compression ratios (up to 0.6) to explore the propagation of plastic hinge length during the whole loading process. The experimental results show that besides these parameters mentioned in previous work, the plastic hinge of RC columns is also affected by loading amplitude and size effect. Therefore, an approach toward considering the effect of these two parameters is discussed in this work.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.421-426
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• 2010

Purpose: Patients with serious burns are prone to chondritis due to lack of soft tissue in the auricle, which can cause severe defects in the auricular morphology. In addition, skin damage occurs frequently in the vicinity of post-burn wounds, presenting difficulties in reconstruction surgery. An auricular reconstruction has functional and cosmetic significance. The aim of this study is to develop appropriate reconstruction methods for auricular defects. Methods: Thirty seven patients, who were treated for auricular defects from 2005 to 2009, were enrolled in this study. A local flap, multiple regional flaps and cartilage framework with or without a temporal fascial flap were applied in reconstruction surgery according to the location of the auricular defect. Results: The age of the subjects ranged from 11 to 56. Some subjects had defects that cover more than half of the helical rim with most exhibiting post-burn scars in the vicinity, for whom a multiple regional flap was used. A single use of a tubed flap was sufficient for subjects with defects that covered less than half of the helical rim. A regional flap was also used for reconstruction in subjects with defects covering both the helical rim and antehelix. Conclusion: Achieving satisfactory results from the skin flaps and skin grafts for post-burn auricular defects in both functional and cosmetic aspects is a difficult task. Therefore, selecting an appropriate surgical method through proper diagnosis of the auricular defect and the state of the available skin in the vicinity is essential.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.11-20
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• 2023

"Performance-based design (PBD)" is based on designing a structure with choosing a performance target under design criteria to increase the structure's resistance against earthquake effect. The plastic hinge formation is determined as one of the fundamental data in finite elements nonlinear analysis to distinguish the condition of the structure where more significant potential damage could occur. If the number of plastic hinges in the structure is increased, the total horizontal load capability of the structure is increased, also. Theoretically, when the number of plastic hinges of the plane frame structure reaches "the degree of hyperstaticity plus one", the structure will reach the capability of the largest ultimate horizontal load. As the number of plastic hinges to be formed in the structure increases towards the theoretical plastic hinge number (TPHN), the total horizontal load capability of the structure increases, proportionally. In the previous studies of the authors, the features of examining the new performance criteria were revealed and it was formulated as follows "Increase the total number of plastic hinges to be formed in the structure to the number of theoretical plastic hinges as much as possible and keep the structure below its targeted performance with related codes". With this new performance criterion, it has been shown that the total lateral load capability of the building is higher than the total lateral load capability obtained with the traditional PBD method by the FEMA 440 and FEMA 356 design guides. In this study, PBD analysis results of structures with frame carrier systems are presented in the light of the Turkey Building Earthquake Code 2019. As a result of this study, it has been shown that the load capability of the structure in the examples of structures with frame carrier system increases by using this new performance criterion presented, compared to the results of the examination with the traditional PBD method in TBEC 2019.

• Journal of Advanced Research in Ocean Engineering
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• v.1 no.4
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• pp.198-210
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• 2015

This paper presents the damage assessment of a free-fall dropped object on the seabed. The damage to a dropped object totally depends on the relationship between the impact energy and the soil strength at the mudline. In this study, unexpected dropping scenarios were first assumed by varying the relevant range of the impact velocity, structure geometry at the moment of impact, and soil strength profile along the penetration depth. Theoretical damage assessments were then undertaken for a free-fall dropping event with a fixed final embedment depth for the structure. This paper also describes the results of a three-dimensional large deformation finite element analysis undertaken for the purpose of validation. The analyses were carried out using the coupled Eulerian-Lagrangian approach, modifying the simple elastic-perfectly plastic Tresca soil model. The validation exercises for each dropping scenario showed good agreement, and the present numerical approach was capable of predicting the behavior of a free-fall dropped object.