• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.156-168
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• 2023

This study investigates the high temperature oxidation behaviour of a Ni-20Cr-1.2Si (wt.%) alloy in steam from 1200 ℃ to 1350 ℃ by Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS) and X-ray Diffraction (XRD). The results demonstrate that exposed Ni-based alloy developed a thin oxide scale, consisted mainly of Cr₂O₃. The oxidation kinetics obtained from the experimental results was applied to evaluate the hydrogen generation considering a simplified reactor core model with different cladding alloys following an unmitigated Loss-Of-Coolant Accident (LOCA) scenario in a hypothetical Small Modular Reactor (SMR). Overall, experimental data and simulations results show that both Fe-based and Ni-based alloys may enhance cladding survivability, delaying its melting, as well as reducing hydrogen generation under accident conditions compared to Zr-based alloys. However, a substantial neutron absorption occurs when Ni-based alloys are used as cladding for current uranium-dioxide fuel systems, even when compared to Fe-based alloys.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.527-536
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• 2023

Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) bar has emerged as a viable and sustainable replacement to steel in reinforced concrete (RC) under severe corrosive environment. The behavior of concrete columns reinforced with FRP bars, spirals, and hoops is an ongoing area of research. In this study, 3D nonlinear numerical modelling of circular concrete columns reinforced with Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) bars and transversely confined with GFRP spirals were conducted using fracture-plastic model. The numerical models and experimental results are found to be in good agreement. The effectiveness of confinement was accessed through von-mises stresses, and it was found that the stresses in the concrete's core are higher with a 30 mm pitch (46 MPa) compared to a 60 mm pitch (36 MPa). The validated models are used to conduct parametric studies. In terms of axial load carrying capacity and member ductility, the effect of concrete strength, spiral pitch, and longitudinal reinforcement ratio are thoroughly investigated. The confinement effect and member ductility of a GFRP RC column increases as the spiral pitch decreases. It is also found that the confinement effect and member ductility decreased with increase in strength of concrete.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.63-75
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• 2024

In this paper, the modified couple stress theory (MCST) and first order shear deformation theory (FSDT) are employed to investigate the free vibration and bending analyses of a three-layered micro-shell sandwiched by piezoelectric layers subjected to an applied voltage and reinforced graphene nanoplatelets (GPLs) under external and internal pressure. The micro-shell is resting on an elastic foundation modeled as Pasternak model. The mixture's rule and Halpin-Tsai model are utilized to compute the effective mechanical properties. By applying Hamilton's principle, the motion equations and associated boundary conditions are derived. Static/ dynamic results are obtained using Navier's method. The results are validated with the previously published works. The numerical results are presented to study and discuss the influences of various parameters on the natural frequencies and deflection of the micro-shell, such as applied voltage, thickness of the piezoelectric layer to radius, length to radius ratio, volume fraction and various distribution pattern of the GPLs, thickness-to-length scale parameter, and foundation coefficients for the both external and internal pressure. The main novelty of this work is simultaneous effect of graphene nanoplatelets as reinforcement and piezoelectric layers on the bending and vibration characteristics of the sandwich micro shell.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.2
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• pp.688-706
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• 2024

Austenitic stainless steels (ASS) are extensively employed in various sectors such as nuclear, power, petrochemical, oil and gas because of their excellent structural strength and resistance to corrosion. SS304 and SS316 are the predominant choices for piping, pressure vessels, heat exchangers, nuclear reactor core components and support structures, but they are susceptible to stress corrosion cracking (SCC) in chloride-rich environments. Over the course of several decades, extensive research efforts have been directed towards evaluating SCC using diverse methodologies and models, albeit some uncertainties persist regarding the precise progression of cracks. This review paper focuses on the application of Acoustic Emission Technique (AET) for assessing SCC damage mechanism by monitoring the dynamic acoustic emissions or inelastic stress waves generated during the initiation and propagation of cracks. AET serves as a valuable non-destructive technique (NDT) for in-service evaluation of the structural integrity within operational conditions and early detection of critical flaws. By leveraging the time domain and time-frequency domain techniques, various Acoustic Emission (AE) parameters can be characterized and correlated with the multi-stage crack damage phenomena. Further theories of the SCC mechanisms are elucidated, with a focus on both the dissolution-based and cleavage-based damage models. Through the comprehensive insights provided here, this review stands to contribute to an enhanced understanding of SCC damage in stainless steels and the potential AET application in nuclear industry.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.211-217
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• 2006

This analysis evaluated small and large temperature gradient effects on the FRP deck considering lightweight of FRP deck and ply orientations at the interface between steel girders and FRP deck. Finally, the analytical results shows the possible failure mechanism of FRP deck under various temperature changes and its corresponding index is suddenly varied depending on the rapid change of temperature on the deck plate.

• Geotechnical Engineering
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.51-64
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• 1991

The reliable estimation of pile bearing capacity is essential for the improvement of the re- liability and the cost-effectiveness of the design. There have been numerous pile bearing capacity prediction methods proposed up to now, however, execpt for the estimation made from the result of the pile loading test, not one method is appropriate for the reliable prediction. Due to the considerable time and expenses required to carry out the pile loading test, the test has seldom been utilized. The development of Simple Pile Loading Test(SPLT) which utilizes the pile skin friction as the required reaction force to cause the pile tip settlement, provides a solution to perform more pile loading tests and consequently a more economical pile design is possible. The separate measurement of skin friction and tip resistance during the course of performing SPLT provides a better understanding of the pile behavior than the result of the conventional pile loading test where only the total resistance is measured. On the other hand, there are some points to be clarified in order to apply the test results of SPLT to practical problem. They are the direction of the applied load to mobilize the skin friction and the use of reduced sized sliding core. In this research, both the SPLT and the conventional pile loading test on 406mm diameter steel pipe pile have been performed. From the result, it would be safe to use the measured SPLT skin friction value directly in the design, since the value is somewhat lower than the value measured in the conventional test. It is further assumed that the tip resistance value of the reduced sized sliding core should properly be analysed by taking the incluonce of scale effect into consideration.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.39-54
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• 2009

As of July, 2009, Chungnam Province get DI (Direct Investment) of 2,502 corporations as the amount of 31 billion US dollars only for 3 years. Especially, Chungnam provincial governor make a excessive performance of 2.5 times comparing to the target number, 1,000 of inviting capital, that is public promise in the election. Now, the amount of inviting foreign capital is 1.2 billion dollars, at the end of this year it might be 1.4 billion dollars just in case of making a success on going negotiations. This outstanding performance comes from governor's leadership and aggressive strategies of well-trained subordinates. Chungnam Province has nation-wide multiple targets focused on interdisciplinary industries including strategic industries of display, auto-parts, steel, and oil-chemistry. Also, it has organic network system based on the very descriptive and accurate informations managing the task force team consisted of 35 competent members. In conclusion, the core competence of inviting foreign capital in a regional government is governor's strong leadership, activated organization consisted of specially well trained subordinates, and predominant differentiated strategies in details.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.665-679
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• 2015

The strain rate of reinforced concrete (RC) structures stimulated by earthquake action has been generally recognized as in the range from $10^{-4}/s$ to $10^{-1}/s$. Because both concrete and steel reinforcement are rate-sensitive materials, the RC beam-column joints are bound to behave differently under different strain rates. This paper describes an investigation of seismic behavior of RC beam-column joints which are subjected to large cyclic displacements on the beam ends with three loading velocities, i.e., 0.4 mm/s, 4 mm/s and 40 mm/s respectively. The levels of strain rate on the joint core region are correspondingly estimated to be $10^{-5}/s$, $10^{-4}/s$, and $10^{-2}/s$. It is aimed to better understand the effect of strain rates on seismic behavior of beam-column joints, such as the carrying capacity and failure modes as well as the energy dissipation. From the experiments, it is observed that with the increase of loading velocity or strain rate, damage in the joint core region decreases but damage in the plastic hinge regions of adjacent beams increases. The energy absorbed in the hysteresis loops under higher loading velocity is larger than that under quasi-static loading. It is also found that the yielding load of the joint is almost independent of the loading velocity, and there is a marginal increase of the ultimate carrying capacity when the loading velocity is increased for the ranges studied in this work. However, under higher loading velocity the residual carrying capacity after peak load drops more rapidly. Additionally, the axial compression ratio has little effect on the shear carrying capacity of the beam-column joints, but with the increase of loading velocity, the crack width of concrete in the joint zone becomes narrower. The shear carrying capacity of the joint at higher loading velocity is higher than that calculated with the quasi-static method proposed by the design code. When the dynamic strengths of materials, i.e., concrete and reinforcement, are directly substituted into the design model of current code, it tends to be insufficiently safe.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.3-12
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• 2014

Hybrid Truss Bridge (HTB) uses steel truss webs instead of concrete webs in prestressed box girder bridges, which is becoming popular due to its structural benefits such as relatively light self-weight and good aesthetics appearance. Since the core technology of this bridge is the connection system between concrete slabs and steel truss members, several connection systems were proposed and experimentally evaluated. Also, the selected joint system was applied to the real bride design and construction. The research was performed on the connection system, since it can affect the global behavior of this bridge such as flexural and fatigue behaviors as well as the local behavior around the connection region. The evaluation study showed that HTB applied to a curved bridge or an eccentrically loaded bridge had a weak torsional capacity compared to an ordinary PSC box girder bridge due to the open cross-sectional characteristic of HTB. Therefore, three types of girders with different joint system between truss web member and concrete slab were tested for their torsional capacity. In this study, the three different types of HTB girders under torsional loading were simulated using FEM analysis to investigate the torsional behavior of HTB girders more in detail. The results are discussed in detail in the paper.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.23 no.7
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• pp.1-8
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• 2019

The primary purposes of this study are to understand a fundamental effects of electro-deposition on reinforcing steel in saturated Ca(OH)2 electrolyte, and evaluate the corrosion rates of rebars under cyclic 3wt.%NaCl immersion and dry corrosion environment. The three cement mortar specimens with cover thickness 5, 10 and 30mm, were prepared in the experiment. To monitor the corrosion rates of rebars in mortar, the three cement mortar specimens were exposed to 110 wet-drying cycles(8-hour-immersion in 3wt.%NaCl and 16-hour-drying in a room temperature) in the laboratory. During the wet-dry cycles, the polarization resistance, Rp, and solution resistance, Rs, were continuously measured. The instantaneous corrosion rates of rebars on the effect of electro-depositing with sat. Ca(OH)2 electrolyte were estimated from obtained R-1p and degrees of wetness were estimated from Rs values. From the experimental results, the corrosion rates of rebars were greatly accelerated by wet/dry cycles. During the mortars exposed to drying condition, the large increases in the corrosion rates were showed at all rebar surfaces in three mortar specimen, attributed from the accelerated reduction rates of dissolved oxygen in drying process. However, the corrosion rates on rebar surface electrochemically deposited with sat. Ca(OH)2 electrolyte showed the clear decreases, caused by calcium deposits in the porous rust layer.