• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• 제25권1호
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• pp.49-58
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• 2021

The resistance of soil to the tractive force of flowing water is one of the essential parameters for the stability of the soil when directly exposed to the movement of water such as in rivers and ocean beds. Biopolymers, which are new to sustainable geotechnical engineering practices, are known to enhance the mechanical properties of soil. This study addresses the surface erosion resistance of river-sand treated with several biopolymers that originated from micro-organisms, plants, and dairy products. We used a state-of-the-art erosion function apparatus with P-wave reflection monitoring. Experimental results have shown that biopolymers significantly improve the erosion resistance of soil surfaces. Specifically, the critical shear stress (i.e., the minimum shear stress needed to detach individual soil grains) of biopolymer-treated soils increased by 2 to 500 times. The erodibility coefficient (i.e., the rate of increase in erodibility as the shear stress increases) decreased following biopolymer treatment from 1 × 10-2 to 1 × 10-6 times compared to that of untreated river-sands. The scour prediction calculated using the SRICOS-EFA program has shown that a height of 14 m of an untreated surface is eroded during the ten years flow of the Nakdong River, while biopolymer treatment reduced this height to less than 2.5 m. The result of this study has demonstrated the possibility of cross-linked biopolymers for river-bed stabilization agents.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제53권12호
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• pp.4052-4059
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• 2021

The microstructure of the fuel pellet plays an essential role in fission gas buildup and release and is critical for the safe and continued operation of nuclear power stations. Structural analysis of uranium dioxide (UO₂)-molybdenum (Mo) composite fuel pellets prepared at a range of sintering temperatures from 1300 to 1800 ℃ was performed. Mo micro and nanoparticles were used in making the composite pellets. A systematic investigation into the influence of processing parameters during Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) of the pellets on the microstructure, texture, grain size, and grain boundary characters of UO₂-Mo is presented. UO₂-Mo composite show significant differences in the fraction of general boundaries and also special/coincident site lattice (CSL) boundaries. EBSD orientation maps demonstrated that <111> texturing was observed in the pellets fabricated at 1500 ℃. The experimental investigations suggest that UO₂-Mo composite pellets have favorable microstructural features compared to the UO₂ pellet.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제32권1호
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• pp.141-156
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• 2019

This paper presents the flexural behaviour of stainless steel beam-to-tubular column joints with extended endplates subjected to static loading. Moment-rotation relationships were investigated numerically by using Abaqus software with geometric and material nonlinearity considered. The prediction of damages among components was achieved through ductile damage models, and the influence of initial geometric imperfections and residual stresses was evaluated in large fabricated stainless steel joints involving hollow columns and concrete-filled columns. Parametric analysis was subsequently conducted to assess critical factors that could affect the flexural performance significantly in terms of the initial stiffness and moment resistance. A comparison between codes of practice and numerical results was thereafter made, and design recommendations were proposed for further applications. Results suggest that the finite element model can predict the structural behaviour reasonably well with the component damage consistent with test outcomes. Initial geometric imperfections and residual stresses are shown to have little effect on the moment-rotation responses. A series of parameters that can influence the joint behaviour remarkably include the strain-hardening exponents, stainless steel strength, diameter of bolts, thickness of endplates, position of bolts, section of beams and columns. AS/NZS 2327 is more reliable to predict the joint performance regarding the initial stiffness and moment capacity compared to EN 1993-1-8.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제32권3호
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• pp.411-422
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• 2019

Six shear-critical square tubed steel reinforced concrete (TSRC) columns using the high-strength concrete ($f_{cu,150}=86.6MPa$) were tested under constant axial and lateral cyclic loads. The height-to-depth ratio of the short column specimens was specified as 2.6, and the axial load ratio and the number of shear studs on the steel shape were considered as two main parameters. The shear failure mode of short square TSRC columns was observed from the test. The steel tube with diagonal stiffener plates provided effective confinement to the concrete core, while welding shear studs on the steel section appeared not significantly enhancing the seismic behavior of short square TRSC columns. Specimens with higher axial load ratio showed higher lateral stiffness and shear strength but worse ductility. A modified ACI design method is proposed to calculate the nominal shear strength, which agrees well with the test database containing ten short square TSRC columns with shear failure mode from this study and other related literature.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• 제54권3호
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• pp.209-219
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• 2019

It is important to analyze crosslink densities of rubber articles because the physical properties are dependent on the crosslink densities. In this paper, analytical techniques for the measurement of crosslink densities of rubber vulcanizates are described. The most widely used method to measure the crosslink density is a swelling method combined with the Flory-Rehner equation. Application of the interaction parameter (${\chi}$) of rubber and swelling solvent is critical because the crosslink density is absolutely dependent on the ${\chi}$ value. Methods for obtaining ${\chi}$ employ not only solubility parameters of the polymer and swelling solvent but also inverse gas chromatography (IGC). The solubilities of rubbers can be obtained using micro differential scanning calorimetry (${\mu}DSC$), intrinsic viscosity measurement, and UV-visible spectroscopy. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy has been also used for the measurement of the crosslink density using the $T_2$ relaxation time, which is determined by spin-spin relaxation in solid-state NMR. For sulfur-cured rubber vulcanizates, crosslink densities according to the crosslink types of mono-, di-, and polysulfides are measured by treating the rubber samples with a chemical probe composed of thiol and amine compounds. Measurement methods of physical crosslinking by filler, crystallization, and ionic bonding have also been introduced.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• 제35권4호
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• pp.243-252
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• 2018

In a satellite gravimetry mission similar to GRACE, the precision of inter-satellite ranging is one of the key factors affecting the quality of gravity field recovery. In this paper, the impact of ranging precision on the accuracy of recovered geopotential coefficients is analyzed. Simulated precise orbit determination (POD) data and inter-satellite range data of formation-flying satellites containing white noise were generated, and geopotential coefficients were recovered from these simulated data sets using the crude acceleration approach. The accuracy of the recovered coefficients was quantitatively compared between data sets encompassing different ranging precisions. From this analysis, a rough prediction of the accuracy of geopotential coefficients could be obtained from the hypothetical mission. For a given POD precision, a ranging measurement precision that matches the POD precision was determined. Since the purpose of adopting inter-satellite ranging in a gravimetry mission is to overcome the imprecision of determining orbits, ranging measurements should be more precise than POD. For that reason, it can be concluded that this critical ranging precision matching the POD precision can serve as the minimum precision requirement for an on-board ranging device. Although the result obtained herein is about a very particular case, this methodology can also be applied in cases where different parameters are used.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제69권1호
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• pp.95-104
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• 2019

The Standard ASCE 61-14 proposes the Substitute Structure Method (SSM) as a Nonlinear Static Procedure (NSP) to estimate nonlinear displacement demands at the center of mass of piers or wharves under seismic actions. To account for bidirectional earthquake excitation according to the Standard, results from independent pushover analyses in each orthogonal direction should be combined using either a 100/30 directional approach or a procedure referred to as the Dynamic Magnification Factor, DMF. The main purpose of this paper is to present an evaluation of these NSPs in relation to four wharf model structures on soil conditions ranging from soft to medium dense clay. Results from nonlinear static analyses were compared against benchmark values of relevant Engineering Design Parameters, EDPs. The latter are defined as the geometric mean demands that are obtained from nonlinear dynamic analyses using a set of 30 two-component ground motion records. It was found that SSM provides close estimates of the benchmark displacement demands at the center of mass of the wharf structures. Furthermore, for the most critical pile connection at a landside corner of the wharf the 100/30 and DMF approaches produced displacement, curvature, and force demands that were reasonably comparable to corresponding benchmark values.

• 한국기계가공학회지
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• 제17권6호
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• pp.98-104
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• 2018

Deflected 4-way panels of ceiling air conditioners produced by injection molding process have caused dew condensation at the edge of products. In order to prevent this drawback with reducing weight and deformation, this study proposed renovated process adopting microcellular foaming. According to results from 2-sample t-test and analysis of variance(ANOVA), the critical factors affecting weight were melt temperature and injection speed. In addition, the vital effects on deformation were structure at the edge, mold temperature and cooling time. Optimal conditions of these parameters were derived by regressive analysis with CAE and response surface method(RSM), and then applied to an actual design and process stage to analyze performance. As a results, it clearly showed that new process improved process capability as well as reduced both weight and deformation by 18.8% and 71.9% respectively compared to the conventional method.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제51권5호
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• pp.1355-1364
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• 2019

A recently published nuclear forensics methodology for source discrimination of separated weapons-grade plutonium utilizes intra-element isotope ratios and a maximum likelihood formulation to identify the most likely source reactor-type, fuel burnup and time since irradiation of unknown material. Sensitivity studies performed here on the effects of random measurement error and the uncertainty in intra-element isotope ratio values show that different intra-element isotope ratios have disproportionate contributions to the determination of the reactor parameters. The methodology is robust to individual errors in measured intra-element isotope ratio values and even more so for uniform systematic errors due to competing effects on the predictions from the selected intra-element isotope ratios suite. For a unique sample-model pair, simulation uncertainties of up to 28% are acceptable without impeding successful source-reactor discrimination. However, for a generic sample with multiple plausible sources within the reactor library, uncertainties of 7% or less may be required. The results confirm the critical role of accurate reactor core physics, fuel burnup simulations and experimental measurements in the proposed methodology where increased simulation uncertainty is found to significantly affect the capability to discriminate between the reactors in the library.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• 제17권1호
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• pp.75-89
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• 2019

The paper presents experimental and numerical studies carried out on low-rise RC frames, typically found in developing countries. Shake table tests were conducted on 1:3 reduced scaled two-story RC frames that included a code conforming SMRF model and another non-compliant model. The later was similar to the code conforming model, except, it was prepared in concrete having strength 33% lower than the design specified, which is commonly found in the region. The models were tested on shake table, through multiple excitations, using acceleration time history of 1994 Northridge earthquake, which was linearly scaled for multi-levels excitations in order to study the structures' damage mechanism and measure the structural response. A representative numerical model was prepared in finite element based program SeismoStruct, simulating the observed local damage mechanisms (bar-slip and joint shear hinging), for seismic analysis of RC frames having weaker beam-column joints. A suite of spectrum compatible acceleration records was obtained from PEER for incremental dynamic analysis of considered RC frames. The seismic performance of considered RC frames was quantified in terms of seismic response parameters (seismic response modification, overstrength and displacement amplification factors), for critical comparison.