• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.791-804
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• 2022

As a type of semi-rigid connection, the top and seat angle connections are popular in current structures owing to their good cyclic performance and simple erection. However, their stiffness and load bearing capacity are relatively insufficient. This study proposes two strengthening methods to further increase the stiffness and strength of bolted-angle joints while maintaining satisfactory energy dissipation capacity (EDC) and ductility. Cyclic loading tests were conducted on six joint specimens with different strengthened angle components. Based on the test results, the influence of the following important factors on the cyclic behavior of steel joint specimens was investigated: the position of the rib stiffeners (edge rib stiffeners and middle rib stiffener), steel strength grade of rib stiffeners (Q345 and Q690), and additional stiffeners or not. In addition, the finite element models of these specimens were built and validated through a comparison of experimental and numerical results. The stiffness and bearing capacity of the bolted-angle joints could be improved significantly by utilizing the novel strengthened joints proposed in this study. Moreover, this can be achieved with almost no increase in the amount of steel required, and the EDC of this joint could also satisfy the requirements of seismic codes from various countries.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.45 no.5
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• pp.749-766
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• 2022

This paper investigates the seismic performance of exposed RCFST column-base joints, in which the high-strength steel bars (USD 685) are set through the column and reinforced concrete foundation without any base plate and anchor bolts. Three specimens with different axial force ratios (n = 0, 0.25, and 0.5) were tested under cyclic loadings. Finite element analysis (FEA) models were validated in the basic indexes and failure mode. The hysteresis behavior of the exposed RCFST column-base joints was studied by the parametrical analysis including six parameters: width of column (D), width-thickness ratio (D/t), axial force ratio (n), shear-span ratio (L/D), steel tube strength (f_y) and concrete strength (f_c). The bending moment of the exposed RCFST column-base joint increased with D, f_y and f_c. But the D/t and L/D play a little effect on the bending capacity of the new column-base joint. Finally, the calculation formula is proposed to assess the bending moment capacities, and the accuracy and stability of the formula are verified.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.37-50
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• 2023

This paper presented an investigation into steel tubes encased high-strength concrete (STHC) composite walls, wherein steel tubes were embedded at the boundary elements of high-strength concrete walls. A series of cyclic loading tests was conducted to evaluate the failure pattern, hysteresis characteristics, load-bearing capacity, deformability, and strain distribution of STHC composite walls. The test results demonstrated that the bearing capacity and ductility of the STHC composite walls improved with the embedding of steel tubes at the boundary elements. An analytical method was then established to predict the flexural bearing capacity of the STHC composite walls, and the calculated results agreed well with the experimental values, with errors of less than 10%. Finally, a finite element modeling (FEM) was developed via the OpenSees program to analyze the mechanical performance of the STHC composite wall. The FEM was validated through test results; additionally, the influences of the axial load ratio, steel tube strength, and shear-span ratio on the mechanical properties of STHC composite walls were comprehensively investigated.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.57-67
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• 2023

The buckling of longitudinal reinforcements under seismic loading accelerates the degradation of the bearing capacity of reinforced concrete columns. The traditional hysteretic constitutive model of reinforcement, which does not consider buckling, usually overestimates the seismic performance of pier columns. Subsequent researchers have also proposed many models including the buckling effects. However, the accuracy of these hysteretic constitutive models proposed for simulating the buckling behavior is inadequate. In this study, based on their works, the influence of historical events on buckling is considered, the path of the re-tensioning phase is corrected by adjusting the boundary lines, and the positions of the onset buckling point and compressive buckling path during each buckling deformation are corrected by introducing correction parameters and a boundary line. A modified hysteretic constitutive model is obtained, that can more accurately reflect the buckling behavior of reinforcements. Finally, a series of hysteresis tests of reinforcements with different slenderness ratios were then conducted. The experimental results verify the effectiveness of the proposed modified model. Indicating that the modified model can more accurately simulate the equivalent stress-strain relationship of the buckling reinforcement segment.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.455-466
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• 2022

Despite the considerable lateral stiffness and strength of the Concentrically Braced Frame (CBF), it suffers from low ductility and low seismic dissipating energy capacity. The buckling of the diagonal members of the CBF systems under cyclic loading ended up to the shortcoming against seismic loading. Comprehensive researches have been performing to achieve helpful approaches to prevent the buckling of the diagonal member. Among the recommended ideas, metallic damper revealed a better success than other ideas to enhance the behavior of CBFs. While metallic dampers improve the behavior of the CBF system, they increase constructional costs. Therefore, in this paper, a new steel damper with flexural mechanism is proposed, which is investigated experimentally and numerically. Also, a parametrical revision was carried out to evaluate the effect of thickness, slenderness ratio, angle of the main plate, and height of the main plates on the proposed damper. For the parametrical study, 45 finite element models were analyzed and considered. Experimental results, as well as the numerical results, indicated that the proposed damper enjoys a stable hysteresis loop without any degradation up to a high rotation equal to around 31% that is significantly considerable. Moreover, it showed a suitable performance in case of ductility and energy dissipating. Besides, the necessary formulas to design the damper, the required relations were proposed to design the elements outside the damper to ensure the damper acts as a ductile fuse.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.363-371
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• 2022

Traditional metal dampers have disadvantages such as a higher yield point and inadequate adjustability. The experimental results show that the low yield point steel has superior energy dissipation hysteretic capacity and can be applied to seismic structures. To overcome these deficiencies, a novel compound metal damper comprising both low yield point steel plates and common steel plates is presented. The optimization objectives, including "maximum rigidity" and "full stress state", are proposed to obtain the optimal edge shape of a compound metal damper. The numerical results show that the optimized composite metal damper has the advantages such as full hysteresis curve, uniform stress distribution, more sufficient energy consumption, and it can adjust the yield strength of the damper according to the engineering requirements. In view of the mechanical characteristics of the compound metal damper, the equivalent model of eccentric cross bracing is established, and the approximate analytical solution of the yield strength and the yield displacement is proposed. A nonlinear simulation analysis is carried out for the overall aseismic capacity of three-layer-frame structures with a compound metal damper. It is verified that a compound metal damper has better energy dissipation capacity and superior seismic performance, especially for a damper with double-objective optimized shape.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.57-70
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• 2024

Masonry arch bridges as a vital infrastructure were not designed for seismic loads. Given that masonry arch bridges are made up of various components, their contribution under the seismic actions can be very undetermined and each of these structural components can play a different role in energy dissipation. Iran is known as a high-risk area in terms of seismic excitations and according to the seismic hazard zoning classification of Iran, most of these railway infrastructures are placed in the high and very high seismicity zones or constructed near the major faults. Besides, these ageing structures are deteriorated and thus in recent years, some of these bridges using various retrofitting approaches, including sprayed concrete technique are strengthened. Therefore, investigating the behavior of these restored structures with new characteristics is very significant. The aim of this study is to investigate the cyclic in-plane performance of masonry arch bridges retrofitted by sprayed concrete technique through the finite element simulation. So, by considering the fill-arch interaction, the nonlinear behavior of a bridge has been investigated. Finally, by extracting the hysteresis and enveloping curves of the retrofitted and non-retrofitted bridge, the effect of strengthening on energy absorption and degradation of material has been investigated.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.338-343
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• 2024

The measurement of pH is of significant importance in chemistry, life sciences, and environmental monitoring. Unlike conventional pH sensors that utilize glass electrodes, thin-film transistor (TFT)-based pH sensors offer distinct advantages, including enhanced response speed and additional circuit functions. In this study, we developed a pH sensor that incorporates biocompatible parylene-C as both the substrate and sensing layer, thereby enhancing flexibility, transparency, and biological compatibility. We conducted tests to measure the voltage-current characteristics of the pH solutions and assessed their performance in terms of drift and hysteresis. Using InGaZnO (IGZO) as the channel material, our pH sensor demonstrated an average sensitivity of approximately 82 mV/pH, albeit with certain drift limitations. The initial pH measurements exhibited good reversibility over time. IGZO- and parylene-C-based TFT pH sensors are well suited for various applications, including wearable health monitoring, owing to their flexibility and biocompatibility.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.08a
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• pp.176-176
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• 2010

One of the critical issues for applications of flexible organic thin film transistors (OTFTs) for flexible electronic systems is the electrical stabilities of the OTFT devices, including variation of the current on/off ratio (Ion/Ioff), leakage current, threshold voltage, and hysteresis under repetitive mechanical deformation. In particular, repetitive mechanical deformation accelerates the degradation of device performance at the ambient environment. In this work, electrical stability of the pentacene organic thin film transistors (OTFTs) employing multi-stack hybrid encapsulation layers was investigated under mechanical cyclic bending. Flexible bottom-gated pentacene-based OTFTs fabricated on flexible polyimide substrate with poly-4-vinyl phenol (PVP) dielectric as a gate dielectric were encapsulated by the plasma-deposited organic layer and atomic-layer-deposited inorganic layer. For cyclic bending experiment of flexible OTFTs, the devices were cyclically bent up to 105 times with 5mm bending radius. In the most of the devices after 105 times of bending cycles, the off-current of the OTFT with no encapsulation layers was quickly increased due to increases in the conductivity of the pentacene caused by doping effects from $O_2$ and $H_2O$ in the atmosphere, which leads to decrease in the Ion/Ioff and increase in the hysteresis. With encapsulation layers, however, the electrical stabilities of the OTFTs were improved significantly. In particular, the OTFTs with multi-stack hybrid encapsulation layer showed the best electrical stabilities up to the bending cycles of $10^5$ times compared to the devices with single organic encapsulation layer. Changes in electrical properties of cyclically bent OTFTs with encapsulation layers will be discussed in detail.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.77-82
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• 2011

The use of soft magnetic materials have been increasing in the various industrial fields according to the increasing demand for high performance, automatic, miniaturing equipments in the recent our life. In this study, we investigated the effect of factors on the core loss and magnetic properties of electrical steel and soft magnetic composites. Furthermore, we reviewed the major efforts to reduce the core loss and improve the soft magnetic properties in the two main soft magnetic materials. Domain purification which results from reduced density of defects in cleaner electrical steels is combined with large grains to reduce hysteresis loss. The reduced thickness and the high electrical conductivity reduce the eddy current component of loss. Furthermore, the coating applied to the surface of electrical steel and texture control lead to improve high permeability and low core loss. There is an increasing interest in soft magnetic composite materials because of the demand for miniaturization of cores for power electronic applications. The SMC materials have a broad range of potential applications due to the possibility of true 3-D electromagnetic design and higher frequency operation. Grain size, sintering temperature, and the degree of porosity need to be carefully controlled in order to optimize structure-sensitive properties such as maximum permeability and low coercive force. The insulating coating on the powder particles in SMCs eliminates particle-to-particle eddy current paths hence minimizing eddy current losses, but it reduces the permeability and to a small extent the saturation magnetization. The combination of new chemical composition with optimum powder manufacturing processes will be able to result in improving the magnetic properties in soft magnetic composite materials, too.