• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.81-89
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• 2013

This paper considers the steering characteristics of a four-row tracked vehicle crawling on extremely cohesive soft soil, where each side is composed of two parallel tracks. The four-row tracked vehicle (FRTV) is assumed to be a rigid body with 6-DOF. A dynamic analysis program for the tracked vehicle is developed using the Newmark-${\beta}$ method based on an incremental-iterative scheme. A terra-mechanics model of an extremely cohesive soft soil is implemented in the form of the relationships of the normal pressure to the sinkage, the shear resistance to the shear displacement, and the dynamic sinkage to the shear displacement. In order to investigate the steering characteristics of the four-row tracked vehicle, a series of dynamic simulations is conducted with respect to the distance between the left and right tracks (pitch), steering ratios, driving velocity, reference track velocity, lengths of the tracks, and properties of the cohesive soft soil. Through these numerical simulations, the possibility of using a kinematic steering ratio is explored.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.167-181
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• 2024

The soil-structure relative stiffness is a key factor affecting the seismic response of underground structures. It is of great significance to study the soil-structure relative stiffness for the soil-structure interaction and the seismic disaster reduction of subway stations. In this paper, the dynamic shear modulus ratio and damping ratio of an inhomogeneous soft soil site under different buried depths which were obtained by a one-dimensional equivalent linearization site response analysis were used as the input parameters in a 2D finite element model. A visco-elasto-plastic constitutive model based on the Mohr-Coulomb shear failure criterion combined with stiffness degradation was used to describe the plastic behavior of soil. The damage plasticity model was used to simulate the plastic behavior of concrete. The horizontal and vertical relative stiffness ratios of soil and structure were defined to study the influence of relative stiffness on the seismic response of subway stations in inhomogeneous soft soil. It is found that the compression damage to the middle columns of a subway station with a higher relative stiffness ratio is more serious while the tensile damage is slighter under the same earthquake motion. The relative stiffness has a significant influence on ground surface deformation, ground acceleration, and station structure deformation. However, the effect of the relative stiffness on the deformation of the bottom slab of the subway station is small. The research results can provide a reference for seismic fortification of subway stations in the soft soil area.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.167-186
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• 2007

Ductility based design of reinforced concrete structures implicitly assumes certain damage under the action of a design basis earthquake. The damage undergone by a structure needs to be quantified, so as to assess the post-seismic reparability and functionality of the structure. The paper presents an analytical method of quantification and location of seismic damage, through system identification methods. It may be noted that soft ground storied buildings are the major casualties in any earthquake and hence the example structure is a soft or weak first storied one, whose seismic response and temporal variation of damage are computed using a non-linear dynamic analysis program (IDARC) and compared with a normal structure. Time period based damage identification model is used and suitably calibrated with classic damage models. Regenerated stiffness of the three degrees of freedom model (for the three storied frame) is used to locate the damage, both on-line as well as after the seismic event. Multi resolution analysis using wavelets is also used for localized damage identification for soft storey columns.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2010.03a
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• pp.595-598
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• 2010

Many economical and efficient methods such as sand drain method(SD), plastic board drain(PBD), sand compaction pile, vacuum consolidation method, etc., have been used for soft grounds. The case of sand compaction pile has an effect on accelerating consolidation and increasing bearing capacity by penetration at regular intervals under soft grounds for reducing the drainage path. But, this method has caused not only the nature damage by extracting the sands indiscreetly but also the economical problem for importing the sands because it needs so much sand to make the sand compaction pile. Thus, this study choosed the bottom ash which has similar engineering characteristics with sand. It was performed that clogging test and large direct shear test changing the bottom ash replacement ratio in soft ground for studying strength characteristics of soft ground using bottom ash compaction pile. As a result of the test, the internal friction angle was largely increased and the cohesion was decreased as the replacement ratio increased.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.263-281
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• 2013

Geotextiles and geogrids have been in use for several decades in variety of geo-structure applications including foundation of embankments, retaining walls, pavements. Geocells is one such variant in geosynthetic reinforcement of recent years, which provides a three dimensional confinement to the infill material. Although extensive research has been carried on geocell reinforced sand, clay and layered soil subgrades, limited research has been reported on the aggregates/ballast reinforced with geocells. This paper presents the behavior of a railway sleeper subjected to monotonic loading on geocell reinforced aggregates, of size ranging from 20 to 75 mm, overlying soft clay subgrades. Series of tests were conducted in a steel test tank of dimensions $700mm{\times}300mm{\times}700mm$. In addition to the laboratory model tests, numerical simulations were performed using a finite difference code to predict the behavior of geocell reinforced ballast. The results from numerical simulations were compared with the experimental data. The numerical and experimental results manifested the importance that the geocell reinforcement has a significant effect on the ballast behaviour. The results depicted that the stiffness of underlying soft clay subgrade has a significant influence on the behavior of the geocell-aggregate composite material in redistributing the loading system.

• Composites Research
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.52-57
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• 2015

Soft morphing robotics making use of smart material and based on biomimetic principles are capable of continuous locomotion in harmony with its environment. Since these robots do not use traditional mechanical components, they can be built to be light weight and capable of a diverse range of locomotion. This paper illustrates a flexible smart phone robot made of smart soft composite (SSC) with inchworm-like locomotion capable of two-way linear motion. Since rigid components are embedded within the robot, bending actuators with embedded rigid segments were investigated in order to obtain the maximum bending curvature. To verify the results, a simple mechanical model of this actuator was built and compared with experimental data. After that, the flexible robot was implemented as part of a smart phone robot where the rigid components of the phone were embedded within the matrix. Then, experiments were conducted to test the smart phone robot actuation force under different deflections to verify its load carrying capability. After that, the communication between the smart phone and robot controller was implemented and a corresponding phone application was developed. The locomotion of the smart phone robot actuated through an independent controller was also tested.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.230-235
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• 2002

Alternating polyols of oxymethylene and oxyalkylene were synthesized and used as precursors for thermoplastic poly(ether-ester) elastomers (TPEs). The polyols were synthesized by reacting diols having different methylene units with dichloromethane in the presence of a phase transfer catalyst. The number of methylene units in the alkylene oxides was varied from 3 to 6. TPEs were prepared using the polyols as soft segments and poly(butylene terephthalate) units as hard segments. The polyols and TPEs synthesized were characterized using FTIR, NMR, GPC, DSC, and polarized optical microscopy. The polyols showed a profound odd-even effect on the melting (T$_{m}$) and glass transition temperatures (T$_{g}$). Polyols with odd numbers of methylene groups in the alkylene units have higher transition temperatures than polyols with odd number of methylene groups. The tendency is still kept in TPEs, even though the T$_{g}$ of soft segment in TPEs are slightly higher than those of corresponding neat polyols. The T$_{m}$ and T$_{g}$ of soft segments are almost constant in the range of 20 to 60 wt % contents of soft segments. On the other hand, the normalized heat of fusion of hard segment decreased with increasing the content of loft segment.ent.t.ent.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.62 no.4
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• pp.381-389
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• 2017

In the present study, the advanced procedure has been proposed to estimate higher accuracy of embedment of pipes that are installed on soft clay seabed. Numerical simulation by OrcaFlex simulation code was performed to investigate dynamic seabed embedment, and two steps, i.e., static and dynamic analysis, were adopted. In total, four empirical curves were developed to estimate the seabed embedment including dynamic phenomena, i.e., behaviour of vessel, environmental condition, and behaviour of nonlinear soil. The obtained results were compared with existing methods (named general method) such as design code or guideline to examine the difference of seabed embedment for existing and advance methods. Once this process was carried out for each case, a diagram for estimating seabed embedment was established. The applicability of the proposed method was verified through applied examples with field survey data. This method will be very useful in predicting seabed embedment on soft clay, and the structural behaviours of installed subsea pipelines can be changed by the obtained seabed embedment in association with on-bottom stability, free span, and many others.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.86 no.2
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• pp.249-260
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• 2023

The uncertainties involved in structural performances are of importance when the optimum number and property of seismic retrofit devices are determined. This paper proposes a seismic retrofit design framework for asymmetric soft-first-story buildings, considering uncertainties in the soil condition and seismic retrofit device. The effect of the uncertain parameters on the structural performance is used to find a robust and optimal seismic retrofit solution. The framework finds a robust and optimal seismic retrofit solution by finding the optimal locations and mechanical properties of the seismic retrofit device for different realizations of the uncertain parameters. The structural performance for each realization is computed to evaluate the effect of the uncertainty parameters on the seismic performance. The framework utilizes parallel processing to decrease the computationally intensive nonlinear dynamic analysis time. The framework returns a robust design solution that satisfies the given limit state for every realization of the uncertain parameters. The proposed framework is applied to the seismic retrofit design of a five-story asymmetric soft-first-story case study structure retrofitted with a viscoelastic damper. Robust optimal parameters for retrofitting a structure to satisfy the limit state for the different realizations of the uncertain parameter are found using the proposed framework. According to the performance evaluation results of the retrofitted structure, the developed framework is proved effective in the seismic retrofit of the asymmetric structure with inherent uncertainties.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.345-352
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• 2023

This paper studied the effect of soil-structure interaction (SSI) on the seismic response and retrofit of a reinforced concrete structure with a soft-first story for different soil types. A 5-story structure built on a 30m deep homogeneous soil mass was considered as a case study structure, and steel column jacketing and steel bracing were chosen as seismic retrofit methods. Seismic responses of a fixed-base and a flexible base structure subjected to seven scaled earthquake records were obtained using the software OpenSees to investigate the effect of soil on seismic response and retrofit. The nonlinearBeamColumn elements with the fiber sections were used to simulate the nonlinear behavior of the beams and columns. Soil properties were defined based on shear wave velocity according to categorized site classes defined in ASCE-7. The finite element model of the soil was made using isoparametric four-noded quadrilateral elements and the nonlinear dynamic responses of the combined system of soil and structure were calculated in the OpenSees. The analysis results indicate that the soil-structure interaction plays an important role in the seismic performance and retrofit of a structure with a soft-first story. It was observed that column steel jacketing was effective in the retrofit of the model structure on a fixed base, whereas stronger retrofit measures such as steel bracing were needed when soil-structure interaction was considered.