• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.1-16
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• 2024

The investigation on vehicle-bridge coupling system (VBCS) is crucial in bridge design, bridge condition evaluation, and vehicle overload control. A real-time hybrid testing (RTHT) method for VBCS (RTHT-VBCS) is proposed in this paper for accurately and economically disclosing the dynamic performance of VBCSs. In the proposed method, one of the carriages is chosen as the experimental substructure loaded by servo-hydraulic actuator loading system in the laboratory, and the remaining carriages as well as the bridge structure are chosen as the numerical substructure numerically simulated in one computer. The numerical substructure and the experimental substructure are synchronized at their coupling points in terms of force equilibrium and deformation compatibility. Compared to the traditional iteration experimental method and the numerical simulation method, the proposed RTHT-VBCS method could not only obtain the dynamic response of VBCS, but also economically analyze various working conditions. Firstly, the theory of RTHT-VBCS is proposed. Secondly, numerical models of VBCS for RTHT method are presented. Finally, the feasibility and accuracy of the RTHT-VBCS are preliminarily validated by real-time hybrid simulations (RTHSs). It is shown that, the proposed RTHT-VBCS is feasible and shows great advantages over the traditional methods, and the proposed models can effectively represent the VBCS for RTHT method in terms of the force equilibrium and deformation compatibility at the coupling point. It is shown that the results of the single-degree-of-freedom model and the train vehicle model are match well with the referenced results. The RTHS results preliminarily prove the effectiveness and accuracy of the proposed RTHT-VBCS.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.973-979
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• 2024

In the framework of the Generation IV research and development project, in which the French Commission of Alternative and Atomic Energies (CEA) is involved, a main objective for the design of Sodium-cooled Fast Reactor (SFR) is to meet the safety goals for severe accidents. Among the severe ones, the Unprotected Transient OverPower (UTOP) accidents can lead very quickly to a global melting of the core. UTOP accidents can be considered either as slow during a Control Rod Withdrawal (CRW) or as fast. The paper focuses on fast UTOP accidents, which occur in a few milliseconds, and three different scenarios are considered: rupture of the core support plate, uncontrolled passage of a gas bubble inside the core and core mechanical distortion such as a core flowering/compaction during an earthquake. Several levels and rates of reactivity insertions are also considered and the thermal-mechanical behavior of an ASTRID fuel pin from the ASTRID CFV core is simulated with the GERMINAL code. Two types of fuel pins are simulated, inner and outer core pins, and three different burn-up are considered. Moreover, the feedback from the CABRI programs on these type of transients is used in order to evaluate the failure mechanism in terms of kinetics of energy injection and fuel melting. The CABRI experiments complete the analysis made with GERMINAL calculations and have shown that three dominant mechanisms can be considered as responsible for pin failure or onset of pin degradation during ULOF/UTOP accident: molten cavity pressure loading, fuel-cladding mechanical interaction (FCMI) and fuel break-up. The study is one of the first step in fast UTOP accidents modelling with GERMINAL and it has shown that the code can already succeed in modelling these type of scenarios up to the sodium boiling point. The modeling of the radial propagation of the melting front, validated by comparison with CABRI tests, is already very efficient.

• Journal of Wind Energy
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.26-33
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• 2023

In this study, the global response characteristics of floater and mooring for floating offshore wind turbine with a detachable mooring system are performed. Global motion and structural response result extracted from the coupled motion analysis of 10MW DTU floating offshore wind turbine with detachable mooring system modeled by high-order boundary element model and finite element mesh, were used to study the characteristics of tension on mooring lines subjected to three different types of ocean loads. Breaking limit of mooring line characterized by wind, current and wave load has a major effect on the distribution of mooring tension found in time domain analysis. Based on the numerical results of coupled motion analysis, governing equation for calculating the motion response of a floater under ocean loads, and excitation force and surge motion and tension respectively are presented using excursion curve. It is found that the response of floater is reliable and accurate for calculating the tension distributions along the mooring lines under complex loadings. This means that the minimun breaking limit of mooring system satisfied a design criteria at ultimate ocean environmental loading condtions.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.51 no.6
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• pp.679-695
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• 2024

This paper presents a novel technique that combines machine learning (ML) with moth-flame optimization (MFO) methods to predict the axial compressive strength (ACS) of concrete filled double skin steel tubes (CFDST) columns. The proposed model is trained and tested with a dataset containing 125 tests of the CFDST column subjected to compressive loading. Five ML models, including extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost), gradient tree boosting (GBT), categorical gradient boosting (CAT), support vector machines (SVM), and decision tree (DT) algorithms, are utilized in this work. The MFO algorithm is applied to find optimal hyperparameters of these ML models and to determine the most effective model in predicting the ACS of CFDST columns. Predictive results given by some performance metrics reveal that the MFO-CAT model provides superior accuracy compared to other considered models. The accuracy of the MFO-CAT model is validated by comparing its predictive results with existing design codes and formulae. Moreover, the significance and contribution of each feature in the dataset are examined by employing the SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) method. A comprehensive uncertainty quantification on probabilistic characteristics of the ACS of CFDST columns is conducted for the first time to examine the models' responses to variations of input variables in the stochastic environments. Finally, a web-based application is developed to predict ACS of the CFDST column, enabling rapid practical utilization without requesting any programing or machine learning expertise.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.201-212
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• 2007

This study presents experimental results of Steel-PSC mixed structural system having front-rear plate connection between Steel and Prestressed Concrete. Two kinds of Steel-PSC mixed structural system of 5.4m length were tested to evaluate flexural behaviors under four point loading, and 4 kinds of specimens with and without prestressing force at R & L type connection were tested to observe the shear behavior. Based on the test results of load-deflection curves and failure modes of specimens, it is found that the proposed L shape connection with front-rear plate connection between Steel and Prestressed Concrete has higher strength and stiffness. From the study, Steel-PSC mixed structural system with L shaped connection has a better structural performance in connection part.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.89 no.5
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• pp.479-489
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• 2024

The cracking mechanism in ceramsite aerated concrete block (CACB) infill walls were studied in low seismic fortification intensity coastal areas with frequent occurrence of typhoons. The inter-story drifts of an eight-story residential building under wind loads and a seismic fortification intensity of six degrees were analyzed by using the PKPM software. The maximum inter-story drift ratio of the structure in wind load was found to be comparable to that under the seismic fortification intensity of six degrees. However, when accounting for the large gust wind speed of typhoon, the maximum inter-story drift ratio was much larger than that obtained under reference wind load. In addition, the finite element models of RC frames were employed by displacement loading to simulate two scenarios with and without window hole in the CACB infill walls, respectively. The simulation results show no signs of cracking in both the infill walls with window hole and those without window for the inter-story drift caused by seismic loads and the reference wind load. However, both types of infill walls experienced structural creaking when assessing the gust wind pressure recorded from previous typhoon monitoring. It is concluded that an underestimate of wind loads may contribute substantially to the cracking of frame CACB infill walls in low seismic fortification intensity coastal areas. Consequently, it is imperative to adopt wind pressure values derived from gust wind speeds in the design of CACB infill walls within frame structures. Finally, the future research directions of avoiding cracks in CACB filled walls were proposed. They were the material performance improving and building structure optimizing.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.133-139
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• 2024

The purpose of this study is to propose a new material called polyketone to overcome the limitations of polyurethane, which is currently used as a compression member in the field of earthquake-resistant structures. Although existing polyurethane has excellent elastic properties, it tends to be insufficient to recover the displacement that occurs in the structure. On the other hand, polyketone has excellent strength performance and is attracting attention as an eco-friendly material. In order to evaluate the compression properties of polyketone, which has these advantages, we would like to conduct a comparative experiment with polyurethane that was previously used. The speed dependence of polyketone was identified through simple compression experiments and experimental speed changes under repeated loading conditions, and additional compression behavior was applied to confirm compression behavior characteristics. Polyketone showed compressive strength about 10 times higher than that of polyurethane, and its excellent recovery characteristics were demonstrated by its deformation recovery ability about 14 times higher at relatively small displacements.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.52 no.2
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• pp.145-163
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• 2024

This paper presents six novel hybrid machine learning (ML) models that combine support vector machines (SVM), Decision Tree (DT), Random Forest (RF), Gradient Boosting (GB), extreme gradient boosting (XGB), and categorical gradient boosting (CGB) with the Harris Hawks Optimization (HHO) algorithm. These models, namely HHO-SVM, HHO-DT, HHO-RF, HHO-GB, HHO-XGB, and HHO-CGB, are designed to predict the ultimate strength of both rectangular and circular reinforced concrete (RC) columns. The prediction models are established using a comprehensive database consisting of 325 experimental data for rectangular columns and 172 experimental data for circular columns. The ML model hyperparameters are optimized through a combination of cross-validation technique and the HHO. The performance of the hybrid ML models is evaluated and compared using various metrics, ultimately identifying the HHO-CGB model as the top-performing model for predicting the ultimate shear strength of both rectangular and circular RC columns. The mean R-value and mean a20-index are relatively high, reaching 0.991 and 0.959, respectively, while the mean absolute error and root mean square error are low (10.302 kN and 27.954 kN, respectively). Another comparison is conducted with four existing formulas to further validate the efficiency of the proposed HHO-CGB model. The Shapely Additive Explanations method is applied to analyze the contribution of each variable to the output within the HHO-CGB model, providing insights into the local and global influence of variables. The analysis reveals that the depth of the column, length of the column, and axial loading exert the most significant influence on the ultimate shear strength of RC columns. A user-friendly graphical interface tool is then developed based on the HHO-CGB to facilitate practical and cost-effective usage.

• Journal of Korea Port Economic Association
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.175-189
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• 2024

Following the introduction of containerized sea transportation, the size of container ships has progressively increased. While the primary objective of this enlargement is to achieve economies of scale, it significantly affects the operational environment of ports where these ships dock, raising concerns about the validity of efficiency gains from ultra large container vessels from a port operational perspective. This study evaluates the efficiency of various ship sizes from January to December 2022, utilizing internal data from the container terminals A and B located in the Busan New Port. The analysis encompasses ships affiliated with The Alliance at Container Terminal A and those associated with 2M at Container Terminal B. Key input variables considered for the study include ship size (TEU), total berth time, and loading/unloading time, with cargo handling performance serving as the only output variable. The findings indicate that larger ship sizes exhibit higher efficiency compared to smaller container ships.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.283-293
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• 2024

In this study, advanced unscented Kalman filter (UKF) and particle filter (PF) implementations are introduced and applied to perform system identification (SI) for sudden structural damage induced by seismic loading. These two methods are then compared to validate their applicability to SI tasks. For this validation, the Bouc- Wen model is used to simulate the nonlinear shear-building response, and an adaptive rule (i.e., an adaptive tracking method) is applied to the two filter methods to improve their tracking performance during sudden changes in system properties. When the original UKF and PF are applied to an earthquake scenario, both methods fail to estimate the damage initiation time and post-damage parameter values. After applying the adaptive tracking method, it is found for both methods that although the occurrence time is identified, the estimation of the damage state is still not accurate. To improve the accuracy, an adjusted adaptive tracking method is applied, and the two methods then derive accurate estimates. Finally, when considering the computation time, UKF is promoted as a better choice for practical applications, provided that a proper adaptive tracking method is implemented.