• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.681-692
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• 2020

Conventional Piezoelectric Energy Harvesters (CPEH) have been extensively studied for maximizing their electrical output through material selection, geometric and structural optimization, and adoption of efficient interface circuits. In this paper, the performance of Stepped Piezoelectric Energy Harvester (SPEH) under harmonic base excitation is studied analytically, numerically and experimentally. The motivation is to compare the energy harvesting performance of CPEH and SPEHs with the same characteristics (resonant frequency). The results of this study challenge the notion of achieving higher voltage and power output through incorporation of geometric discontinuities such as step sections in the harvester beams. A CPEH consists of substrate material with a patch of piezoelectric material bonded over it and a tip mass at the free end to tune the resonant frequency. A SPEH is designed by introducing a step section near the root of substrate beam to induce higher dynamic strain for maximizing the electrical output. The incorporation of step section reduces the stiffness and consequently, a lower tip mass is used with SPEH to match the resonant frequency to that of CPEH. Moreover, the electromechanical coupling coefficient, forcing function and damping are significantly influenced because of the inclusion of step section, which consequently affects harvester's output. Three different configurations of SPEHs characterized by the same resonant frequency as that of CPEH are designed and analyzed using linear electromechanical model and their performances are compared. The variation of strain on the harvester beams is obtained using finite element analysis. The prototypes of CPEH and SPEHs are fabricated and experimentally tested. It is shown that the power output from SPEHs is lower than the CPEH. When the prototypes with resonant frequencies in the range of 56-56.5 Hz are tested at 1 m/s2, three SPEHs generate power output of 482 μW, 424 μW and 228 μW when compared with 674 μW from CPEH. It is concluded that the advantage of increasing dynamic strain using step section is negated by increase in damping and decrease in forcing function. However, SPEHs show slightly better performance in terms of specific power and thus making them suitable for practical scenarios where the ratio of power to system mass is critical.

• Advances in nano research
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.285-295
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• 2022

Creation of plastic deformation under seismic loads, is one of the most serious subjects in RC structures with steel bars which reduces the life threatening risks and increases dissipation of energy. Shape memory alloy (SMA) is one of the best choice for the relocating plastic hinges. In a challenge to study the seismic response of concrete moment resisting frame (MRF), this article investigates numerically a new type of concrete frames with nano fiber reinforced polymer (NFRP) and shape memory alloy (SMA) hinges, simultaneously. The NFRP layer is containing carbon nanofibers with agglomeration based on Mori-Tanaka model. The tangential shear deformation (TASDT) is applied for modelling of the structure and the continuity boundary conditions are used for coupling of the motion equations. In SMA connections between beam and columns, since there is phase transformation, hence, the motion equations of the structure are coupled with kinetic equations of phase transformation. The Hernandez-Lagoudas theory is applied for demonstrating of pseudoelastic characteristics of SMA. The corresponding motion equations are solved by differential cubature (DC) and Newmark methods in order to obtain the peak ground acceleration (PGA) and residual drift ratio for MRF-2%. The main impact of this paper is to present the influences of the volume percent and agglomeration of nanofibers, thickness and length of the concrete frame, SMA material and NFRP layer on the PGA and drift ratio. The numerical results revealed that the with increasing the volume percent of nanofibers, the PGA is enhanced and the residual drift ratio is reduced. It is also worth to mention that PGA of concrete frame with NFRP layer containing 2% nanofibers is approximately equal to the concrete frame with steel bars.

• Current Optics and Photonics
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.183-190
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• 2022

Based on the linear electro-optic (EO) effect of lithium niobite (LiNbO₃, LN) crystal, an intense two-dimensional (2D) electric field sensor was analyzed, fabricated and experimentally demonstrated. The linear polarized light beam transmits along the optical axis (z-axis) of the LN crystal, and the polarization direction of the polarized light is 45° to the y-axis. The sensor can detect the intensity of a 2D electric field that is perpendicular to the z-axis. Experimental results demonstrated that the minimum detectable electric field of the sensor is 10.5 kV/m. The maximum detected electric field of the sensor is larger than 178.9 kV/m. The sensitivity of the sensor is 0.444 mV/(kV·m^-1). The variation of the sensitivity is within ±0.16 dB when the sensor is rotated around a z-axis from 0° to 360°. The variation of the sensor output optical power is within ±1.4 dB during temperature change from 19 ℃ to 26 ℃ in a day (from 7:00 AM to 23:00 PM) and temperature change from 0 ℃ to 40 ℃ in a controllable temperature chamber. All theoretical and experimental results revealed that the fabricated sensor provides technology for the direct detection of intense 2D electric fields.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.217-238
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• 2023

In this study, a parametric study was performed considering material properties of concrete, material properties of steel, the number of longitudinal reinforcement (reinforcement ratio), CFRP ply orientations, a number of layers as variables by using ABAQUS. Firstly, the parameters used in the Hashin failure criteria were verified using four coupon tests of CFRP. Secondly, the numerical models of the beams strengthened by CFRP were verified using five experimental data. Finally, eighty numerical models and eighty analytic calculations were developed to investigate the effects of the aforementioned variables. The results revealed that in the case of using fibrous polymer to prevent shear failure, the variables related to reinforced concrete significantly affected the behavior of specimens, whereas the variables related to CFRP composite have a slight effect on the behavior of the specimens. As a result of numerical analysis, while the increase in the longitudinal tensile and compression reinforcement, load bearing capacity increases between 23.6%-70.7% and 5.6%-12.2%, respectively. Increase in compressive strength (29 MPa to 35 MPa) leads to a slight increase in the load-carrying capacity of the specimens between 4.6% and 7.2%. However, the decrease in the compressive strength (29 MPa to 20 MPa) significantly affected (between 6.4% and 8.1% decrease observed) the behavior of the specimens. As the yield strength increases or decreases, the capacity of specimens increase approximately 27.1% or decrease 12.1%. The effects of CFRP ply orientation results have been obtained as a negligible well approximately 3.7% difference. An increasing number of CFRP layers leads to almost no effect (approximately 2.8%) on the behavior of the specimen. Finally, according to the numerical analysis, the ductility values obtained between 4.0 and 6.9 indicate that the beams have sufficient ductility capacity.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.69-84
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• 2023

This paper proposes a novel frame element on Winkler-Pasternak foundation for analysis of a non-ductile reinforced concrete (RC) member resting on foundation. These structural members represent flexural-shear critical members, which are commonly found in existing buildings designed and constructed with the old seismic design standards (inadequately detailed transverse reinforcement). As a result, these structures always experience shear failure or flexure-shear failure under seismic loading. To predict the characteristics of these non-ductile structures, efficient numerical models are required. Therefore, the novel frame element on Winkler-Pasternak foundation with inclusion of the shear-flexure interaction effect is developed in this study. The proposed model is derived within the framework of a displacement-based formulation and fiber section model under Timoshenko beam theory. Uniaxial nonlinear material constitutive models are employed to represent the characteristics of non-ductile RC frame and the underlying foundation. The shear-flexure interaction effect is expressed within the shear constitutive model based on the UCSD shear-strength model as demonstrated in this paper. From several features of the presented model, the proposed model is simple but able to capture several salient characteristics of the non-ductile RC frame resting on foundation, such as failure behavior, soil-structure interaction, and shear-flexure interaction. This confirms through two numerical simulations.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.29 no.3C
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• pp.91-96
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• 2009

The purpose of this study was to investigate a method for the strength enhancement of wale in temporary retaining structures. Tests on the wale structures strengthened with carbon fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP) strips and prestressed with seven wire strands were conducted. From this test, it is found that the flexural stiffness and strength of the wales strengthened with CFRP strips and seven wire strands were significantly improved compared to the unstrengthened one. The ultimate tensile strains of attached CFRP strips on the steel beam were in the range of 8,000 and $11,000{\mu}{\epsilon}$, and it is noticed that the bonding ability with steel and CFRP strips is good. In this paper, a new method for enhancing the strength of wale in retaining structures is suggested.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.4A
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• pp.517-528
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• 2008

This paper presents a hysteretic damage model for reinforced concrete (RC) joints that explicitly accounts for the bond-slip between the reinforcing bars and the surrounding concrete. A frame element whose displacement fields for the concrete and the reinforcing bars are different to permit slip is developed. From the fiber section concept, compatibility equations for concrete, rebar, and bond are defined. Modification of the hysteretic stress-strain curve of steel is conducted for partial unloading and reloading conditions. Local bond stress-slip relations for monotonic loads are updated at each slip reversal according to the damage factor. The numerical applications of the reinforcing bar embedded in the confined concrete block, the RC column anchored in the foundation, and the RC beam-column subassemblage validate the model accuracy and show how including the effects of bond-slip leads to a good assessment of the amount of energy dissipation during loading histories.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.84 no.3
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• pp.375-391
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• 2022

This paper discussed and analyzed the interfacial stress distribution characteristic of adjacent cracks in Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) plate strengthened concrete slabs. One un-strengthened concrete test beam and four CFRP plate-strengthened concrete test beams were designed to carry out four-point flexural tests. The test data shows that the interfacial shear stress between the interface of CFRP plate and concrete can effectively reduce the crack shrinkage of the tensile concrete and reduces the width of crack. The maximum main crack flexural height in pure bending section of the strengthened specimen is smaller than that of the un-strengthened specimen, the CFRP plate improves the rigidity of specimens without brittle failure. The average ultimate bearing capacity of the CFRP-strengthened specimens was increased by 64.3% compared to that without CFRP-strengthen. This indicites that CFRP enhancement measures can effectively improve the ultimate bearing capacity and delay the occurrence of debonding damage. Based on the derivation of mechanical analysis model, the calculation formula of interfacial shear stress between adjacent cracks is proposed. The distributions characteristics of interfacial shear stress between certain crack widths were given. In the intermediate cracking region of pure bending sections, the length of the interfacial softening near the mid-span cracking position gradually increases as the load increases. The CFRP-concrete interface debonding capacity with the larger adjacent crack spacing is lower than that with the smaller adjacent crack spacing. The theoretical calculation results of interfacial bonding shear stress between adjacent cracks have good agreement with the experimental results. The interfacial debonding failure between adjacent cracks in the intermediate cracking region was mainly caused by the root of the main crack. The larger the spacing between adjacent cracks exists, the easier the interfacial debonding failure occurs.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers
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• v.50 no.8
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• pp.253-263
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• 2013

Frequency Scanning Interferometry(FSI) system, one of the most promising optical surface measurement techniques, generally results in superior optical performance comparing with other 3-dimensional measuring methods as its hardware structure is fixed in operation and only the light frequency is scanned in a specific spectral band without vertical scanning of the target surface or the objective lens. FSI system collects a set of images of interference fringe by changing the frequency of light source. After that, it transforms intensity data of acquired image into frequency information, and calculates the height profile of target objects with the help of frequency analysis based on Fast Fourier Transform(FFT). However, it still suffers from optical noise on target surfaces and relatively long processing time due to the number of images acquired in frequency scanning phase. 1) a Polarization-based Frequency Scanning Interferometry(PFSI) is proposed for optical noise robustness. It consists of tunable laser for light source, ${\lambda}/4$ plate in front of reference mirror, ${\lambda}/4$ plate in front of target object, polarizing beam splitter, polarizer in front of image sensor, polarizer in front of the fiber coupled light source, ${\lambda}/2$ plate between PBS and polarizer of the light source. Using the proposed system, we can solve the problem of fringe image with low contrast by using polarization technique. Also, we can control light distribution of object beam and reference beam. 2) the signal processing acceleration method is proposed for PFSI, based on parallel processing architecture, which consists of parallel processing hardware and software such as Graphic Processing Unit(GPU) and Compute Unified Device Architecture(CUDA). As a result, the processing time reaches into tact time level of real-time processing. Finally, the proposed system is evaluated in terms of accuracy and processing speed through a series of experiment and the obtained results show the effectiveness of the proposed system and method.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.327-335
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• 2009

In the seismic region, non-ductile structures often form soft story and exhibit brittle collapse. However, structure demolition and new structure construction strategies have serious problems, as construction waste, environmental pollution and popular complain. And these methods can be uneconomical. Therefore, to satisfy seismic performance, so many seismic retrofit methods have been investigated. There are some retrofit methods as infill walls, steel brace, continuous walls, buttress, wing walls, jacketing of column or beam. Among them, the infilled frames exhibit complex behavior as follows: flexible frames experiment large deflection and rotations at the joints, and infilled shear walls fail mainly in shear at relatively small displacements. Therefore, the combined action of the composite system differs significantly from that of the frame or wall alone. Purpose of research is evaluation on the seismic performance of infill walls, and improvement concept of this paper is use of SHCCs (strain-hardening cementitious composites) to absorb damage energy effectively. The experimental investigation consisted of cyclic loading tests on 1/3-scale models of infill walls. The experimental results, as expected, show that the multiple crack pattern, strength, and energy dissipation capacity are superior for SHCC infill wall due to bridging of fibers and stress redistribution in cement matrix.