• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• v.24 no.4
• /
• pp.275-288
• /
• 2023

Based on the crucial role of high-speed railway bridges (HSRBs) in the safety of high-speed railway operations, it is an important approach to mitigate earthquake hazards by proceeding with seismic risk assessments in their whole life. Bridge seismic risk assessment, which usually evaluates the seismic performance of bridges from a probabilistic perspective, provides technical support for bridge risk management. The seismic performance of bridges is greatly affected by the degradation of material properties, therefore, material damage plays a nonnegligible role in the seismic risk assessment of the bridge. The effect of material damage is not considered in most current studies on seismic risk analysis of bridges, nevertheless. To fill the gap in this area, in this paper, a nonlinear dynamic time-history analysis has been carried out by establishing OpenSees finite element model, and a seismic vulnerability analysis is carried out based on the incremental dynamic analysis (IDA) method. On this basis, combined with the site risk analysis, the time-dependent seismic risk analysis of an offshore three-span HSRB in the whole life cycle has been conducted. The results showed that the seismic risk probabilities of both components and system of the bridge increase with the service time, and their seismic risk probabilities increase significantly in the last service period due to the degradation of the material strength, which demonstrates that the impact of durability damage should be considered when evaluating the seismic performance of bridges in the design and service period.

• Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics
• /
• v.11 no.1
• /
• pp.49-54
• /
• 2009

This paper presents the numerical simulation results on the moving type electrodynamic suspension (EDS) simulator and static type EDS simulator using high-Tc superconducting (HTS) levitation magnet. The levitation force of the EDS system is formed by the reaction between the moving magnet and the fixed ground conductor. The possible two ways to simulate the EDS system were simulated in this paper by using finite element method (FEM). The first way was the moving type simulator which consists of the fixed HTS magnet and the moving ground conductor. The second way was the static type simulator which consists of the fixed magnet, the fixed ground conductor and the ac current supply system. To verify the characteristics of high speed EDS system with the moving type simulator heavy, large and fast moving ground conductor is needed. The static type simulator can get the characteristics of the high speed EDS system by applying equivalent ac current to velocity, therefore it does not need large moving part. The static type EDS simulator, which can consist of an HTS magnet, the fixed ground conductor(s), an AC power supply and the measuring devices, also test the effect of the shape of the ground conductor easily. The plate type ground conductor made stronger levitation force than ring type ground conductor. Although the outer diameter 335 mm ring type ground conductor (Ring3) was larger than the outer diameter 235 mm ground conductor (Ring2), the levitation force by Ring2 was stronger than that by Ring3. From the calculation results on this paper, the consideration of the magnetic flux distribution according to the levitation height should be included in the process of the ground conductor design.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.54 no.11
• /
• pp.4146-4158
• /
• 2022

Ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) has been widely utilized in military and civil protective structures to resist intensive loadings attributed to its excellent properties, e.g., high tensile/compressive strength, high dynamic toughness and impact resistance. At present, aiming to improve the defects of the traditional vertical concrete cask (VCC), i.e., the external storage facility of spent fuel, with normal strength concrete (NSC) shield, e.g., heavy weight and difficult to fabricate/transform, the feasibility of UHPC applied in the shield of VCC is numerically examined considering its high radiation and corrosion resistance. Firstly, the finite element (FE) analyses approach and material model parameters of NSC and UHPC are verified based on the 1/3 scaled VCC tip-over test and drop hammer test on UHPC members, respectively. Then, the refined FE model of prototypical VCC is established and utilized to examine its dynamic behaviors and damage distribution in accidental tip-over and end-drop events, in which the various influential factors, e.g., UHPC shield thickness, concrete ground thickness, and sealing methods of steel container are considered. In conclusion, by quantitatively evaluating the safety of VCC in terms of the shield damage and vibrations, it is found that adopting the 300 mm-thick UHPC shield instead of the conventional 650 mm-thick NSC shield can reduce about 1/3 of the total weight of VCC, i.e., about 50 t, and 37% floor space, as well as guarantee the structural integrity of VCC during the accidental drop simultaneously. Besides, based on the parametric analyses, the thickness of concrete ground in the VCC storage site is recommended as less than 500 mm, and the welded connection is recommended for the sealing method of steel containers.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
• /
• v.22 no.2
• /
• pp.41-53
• /
• 2006

The brittle materials like rocks show complicated strain-softening behavior after the peak which is hard to model using the classical constitutive models based on the relation between strain and stress tensors. A kinematically constrained three-dimensional microplane constitutive model is developed for granite. The model is verified by fitting the experimented data of Westerly granite and Bonnet granite. The triaxial behavior of granite is well reproduced by the model as well as the uniaxial behavior. We studied the development of the fracture zone in granite during blasting impact using the model with the standard finite element method. All the results obtained from the microplane model developed are compared to those from the linear elasticity model which is commonly used in many researches and practices. It is found that the nonlinearity of rocks sigificantly affects the results of analysis.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
• /
• v.25 no.11
• /
• pp.75-86
• /
• 2009

This paper presents the results of a numerical investigation on load carrying capacity of geogrid-encased stone columns to use as load carrying column(s) supporting a foundation load. A validated 3D stress-pore pressure coupled model that can effectively show rapid drainage capability of stone columns and encasement effect of geogrid was adopted and a parametric study was carried out on a number of influencing factors. It is shown that the geogrid encased stone columns can be effectively used as foundation load supporting columns in soft ground. The results of numerical investigation were presented so that the relationship between the load carrying capacity of geogrid-encased stone columns and the influencing factors can be identified. Practical implications of the findings are also discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
• /
• v.23 no.5
• /
• pp.63-75
• /
• 2007

Piled raft is known to be an unfavorable foundation type in soft clay because foundation is associated with both excessive settlement and bearing capacity failure problems. Despite these reasons, in recent decades, an increasing number of structures have been constructed over soft clay area, piled raft concepts arouse interest as the foundation of structures on soft clay area becomes popular. This study described 3 dimensional behavior of piled raft on soft clay based on a numerical study using 3D finite element method. A series of numerical analyses were performed for a various pile lengths and the pile configurations on the raft were subjected to vertical uniform or point loading. Based on the results of the parametric study, comparisons were made among the effect of loading type, various pile length and configurations, and the load-settlement behavior and load sharing characteristics of piled raft were also evaluated. From the results, the characteristic of piled raft on soft clay was examined.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
• /
• v.24 no.9
• /
• pp.23-32
• /
• 2008

This paper presents the global stability of geosynthetic reinforced segmental retaining walls in tiered configuration. Four design cases of walls with different geometries and offset distances were analyzed based on the FHWA and NCMA design guidelines and the discrepancies between the different guidelines were identified. A series of global slope stability analyses were conducted using the limit-equilibrium analysis and the continuum mechanics based shear strength reduction method with the aim of identifying failure patterns and the associated factors of safety. The results indicated among other things that the FHWA design approach yields conservative results both in the external and internal stability calculations, i.e., lower factors of safety, than the NCMA design approach. It was also found that required reinforcement lengths are usually governed by the global slope stability requirement rather than the external stability calculations. Also shown is that the required reinforcement lengths for the upper tiers are much longer than those based on the current design guidelines.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
• /
• v.26 no.8
• /
• pp.39-47
• /
• 2010

In recent days, the foundations of huge structures in general and mega foundations of grand bridges and high-rise buildings in particular are required in geotechnical engineering. This study described 3 dimensional behavior of mat foundation on soft rock based on a numerical study using 3D finite element method. A series of numerical analyses were performed for various soil conditions and mat rigidities under vertical loading. Based on the results of the parametric study, it is shown that the prediction of the settlement, cross sectional tensile stress and bending moments in the mat is overestimated in the analysis without considering interface behavior in comparison with the analysis considering interface between mat and rock mass.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
• /
• v.24 no.12
• /
• pp.93-101
• /
• 2008

This paper presents the results of numerical investigation on support mechanism of geogrid-encased stone columns for use in soft ground improvement. A number of cases were analyzed using a 3D stress-pore pressure coupled model that can effectively model construction sequence and drainage as well as reinforcing effects of geogrid-encased stone columns. The results indicated that the geogrid encasement provides additional confinement effect that reduces vertical stress in the soft ground, thus resulting in less excess pore water pressures and associated settlement. Also revealed was that such a confinement effect depends on encasement length and stiffness of geogrid. It is also shown that there exist critical encasement length and stiffness of geogrid for a given condition.

• Composites Research
• /
• v.20 no.3
• /
• pp.43-49
• /
• 2007

Dynamic instability of rotating disks is the most significant factor to limit its rotating speed. Application of composite materials to rotating disks may enhance the dynamic stability leading to a possible design of rotating disks with lightweight and high speed. Whereas much work has been done on the effect of transverse shear and rotary inertia, called Timoshenko effect, on the dynamic behavior of plates, there is little work on the correlation between the effect and the rotation of disk, especially nothing in case of composite disks. The dynamic equations of a rotating composite disk are formulated with the Timoshenko effect and the vibrational analysis is performed by using a commercial package MSC/NASTRAN. According to the results, the Timoshenko effect goes seesaw in some modes, unlike the well-known fact that the effect decreases as the rotating speed increases. And it can be concluded, based only on the present results, that decrement of the Timoshenko effect by disk rotation grows larger as the thickness ratio decreases, the diameter ratio increases, the modulus ratio increases, and the mode number increases.