• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.27 no.8
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• pp.886-891
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• 2005

In this study, a novel bioreactor system using a submerged hollow fiber membrane module (so called hollow fiber membrane bioreactor, HFMB) was applied to investigate feasibility and biodegradation capacity of the system for the treatment of gaseous toluene. First an abiotic test was conducted to determine the mass transfer coefficient, showing the value was similar to that obtained from a diffuser system using fine bubbles. Second, in the presence of toluene-degrading microorganisms, the HFMB was operated at different inlet toluene loading rates of 50, 100, $500\;g/m^3/hr$, and overall removal efficiencies were maintained in the range of $70{\sim}80%$. In addition, elimination capacities(EC) were increased up to $800\;g/m^3/hr$, which was substantially higher than maximum ECs for toluene reported in the biofiltration literature. Consequently, the HFMB was considered as an alternative method over other conventional VOC-treating technologies.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.7 no.3 s.25
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• pp.1-10
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• 2005

In this study, accelerated pavement tester(APT) was performed on long-life asphalt pavements that can save maintenance and user costs by increasing the design life twice longer than conventional asphalt pavements. Basic material testings are first conducted on a high modulus base(HMB) mixture developed in this study. Four different pavement sections including thin and thick conventional and thin and thick HMB courses are constructed to compare the load-carrying capacities and to investigate the fatigue and rutting performances using an accelerated pavement tester. Tensile strain values at the bottom of base courses under the various loading levels are measured. The tensile strain values of the HMB sections are lower than those of the conventional sections. It is observed from the APT performed on the thin pavement sections that no significant cracks are developed up to the 180,000 cycles of a wheel load. In terms of rutting, only 3mm of rutting is developed in the thick HMB section while 5.3mm of rutting is developed in the thick conventional section at the 90,000 cycles of the wheel load. The HMB material developed in this study can be successfully used in the long-life asphalt pavements because of its excellent fatigue and rutting performances. It is estimated from a series of structural analysis that the use of the HMB material instead of the conventional base materials may reduce the asphalt thickness at least 5cm because of its better load-carrying capacity.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.8 no.4 s.30
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• pp.135-143
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• 2006

This study evaluated the fatigue resistance characteristics of hot-mix recycled asphalt mixtures which were prepared by a new blending method. Since the binder of RAP shows higher viscosity without being rejuvenated in the ordinary recycled mixture, this new(modified) blending method was developed for obtaining more uniform level of binder viscosity in the recycled mixture. Cold-planned RAP was collected and mix design was performed using 15% RAP content for two virgin aggregate, gneiss and granite. Penetration grade of 60-80 asphalt was used in mixing recycled mixture together with a polymer modifier, LDPE. Indirect tensile fatigue tests were carried out to evaluate characteristics of fatigue resistance of performance of recycled asphalt mixtures. The recycled mixtures with LDPE 6% showed higher repeated loading fatigue life. Fatigue life ratio of new(N) mixing method mixtures was approximately 0.6-0.7 before aging and 0.8-1.0 after aging treatment of ordinary(O) mixing method mixture. This means the N mixture becomes stronger with aging process increase. If further aging is treated, N mixture may be showing stronger resistance than O mixture.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.45-53
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• 2009

More than 40% of railway bridges on the conventional lines in Korea consist of track-on-steel plate girder (TOSPG) bridges. This type of bridge is typically designed without considering seismic loadings, as most of them were built before 1970. The seismic performance of this particular type of bridge could be upgraded through various seismic retrofit schemes, and seismic risk assessment could play a key role in decision-making on the level of the seismic retrofit. This study performed a seismic risk assessment of TOSPG bridges in Korea. The seismic damage of several crucial components of TOSPG bridges--fixed bearings, free bearings, and piers--were probabilistically estimated, and their seismic fragility curves were developed. The probability that the components would exceed their predefined limit states was also calculated by combining the fragility curves and the seismic hazard function. The analysis showed that the piers of TOSPG bridges, which are made of plain concrete without rebars, have relatively low risk against seismic loadings in Korea. This is because the mass of the superstructures of TOSPG bridges is relatively small, and hence, the seismic loading being transferred to the piers is minimal. The line-type bearings typically used for TOSPG bridges, however, are exposed to a degree of seismic risk. Among the bearings, the probability of the free-end bearings and the fixed-end bearings exceeding the slight damage state in 50 years was found to be 12.78% and 4.23%, respectively. The gap between these probability values lessened towards more serious damage states. This study could effectively provide an engineering background for decision-making activities on the seismic retrofit of railway bridges.

• Land and Housing Review
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.433-449
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• 2012

An experimental investigation was conducted to study the behavior of RC wide beam-column joints with slab subjected to reversed cyclic loads under constant axial load. Six half scale interior wide beam-column assemblies representing a portion of a frame subjected to simulated seismic loading were tested, including three specimens without slab and three specimens with slab. The primary variables were the ratio of column-to-beam flexural capacity ($M_r={\Sigma}M_c/{\Sigma}M_b$ ; 0.77~2.26), ratio of the column-to-beam width (b/H ; 1.54, 1.67). Test results are shown that (1) the current design code and practice for interior joints(type 2) are apply to the wide beam-high strength concrete column. (2) the presence of a slab have an effect on the performance of the wide beam-high strength concrete column interior joints(type 2). therefore in the design of the wide beam-high strength concrete column interior joints(type 2), the width of slab effective as a T beam flange should be considered. It was show that the case of the ratio of column-to-beam flexural capacity is more than 2.0, the effective width of slab are 2 times of an effective depth of wide beam, however if the ratio of column-to-beam flexural capacity is 1.4~2.0, the effective width of slab are not able to be considered.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.112-120
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• 2012

A numerical model considering the internal vaporization and the creep effect, in the form of a analytical program, for tracing the behavior of high strength concrete(HSC) members exposed to fire is presented. The two stages, i.e., spalling procedure and fire resistance time, associated with the thermal, moisture flow, creep and structural analysis, for the prediction of fire resistance behavior are explained. The use of the analytical program for tracing the response of HSC member from the initial pre-loading stage to collapse, due to fire, is demonstrated. Moisture evaporates, when concrete is exposed to fire, not only at concrete surface but also at inside the concrete to adjust the equilibrium and transfer properties of moisture. Finite element method is employed to facilitate the moisture diffusion analysis for any position of member, so that the prediction method of the moisture distribution inside the concrete members at fire is developed. The validity of the numerical model used in this program is established by comparing the predictions from this program with results from others fire resistance tests. The analytical program can be used to predict the fire resistance of HSC members for any value of the significant parameters, such as load, sectional dimensions, member length, and concrete strength.

• Explosives and Blasting
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.30-37
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• 2020

In this study the split ring (SR) test was investigated for its applicability to the measurement of the tensile strength of rock specimen of NX size. The concept of the SR test is the same as the half ring (HR) test (Choi et al., 2019) except that the expected fracture plane is perpendicular to the loading direction. Because of this perpendicularity, however, it was believed that the SR test could be more accurate than the HR test. Like the HR specimen, the SR specimen is a curved prismatic bar with a uniform section. Appealing to a basic bending theory in strength of materials, the tensile strength for the special bar can be calculated analytically. Numerical simulations using LS-DYNA revealed, as expected, that the strength errors were 1% and 5% for the tensional and compressional SR tests, respectively, which were much lower than that (12%) of the HR test. To identify the performance of the two SR tests, laboratory experiments were conducted. The HR and Brazilian tests were also performed for comparison. The experiments showed that the ratios of the tensional and compressional SR to Brazilian strengths were 1.2~1.4 and 1.1~1.2, respectively, which are too small compared to empirical values in ordinary bend tests. Consequently, it is concluded that the SR test is not appropriate for use in tensile strength test of rock specimen of NX size. But the ratio of the HR to Brazilian strengths was within 1.7~2.0 for both the previous and present studies, showing a good consistency in their test results.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.91-99
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• 2017

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the flexural performance of reinforced concrete (RC) beams repaired with polymer mortar. The repaired and non-repaired 13th beams which was fabricated by considering repair position, repair depth, and curing age of polymer mortar as test variables were tested under three point loading. All specimens repaired in compressive and tensile zone did not fail due to interfacial failure between polymer mortar and concrete but failed when the strain of repaired mortar exceeded the ultimate tensile strain of polymer mortar. Maximum load of specimens repaired in compressive zone was similar to that of non-repaired specimen, reference specimen. Additionally, their ductility index was higher than that of reference specimen. On the other hand, specimens repaired in tensile zone failed very brittlely and have a lower ductility index than reference specimen. Nonlinear analysis by using OpenSees was performed to predict the behavior of RC beam repaired with polymer mortar. Two dimension frame element was used to simplify an analysis model and fiber model was applied to consider the material non-linearity. It was confirmed from the analysis results that nonlinear analysis properly predicts the behavior of specimens repaired in compressive zone and overestimates the behavior of specimens repaired in tensile zone.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.51-62
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• 2015

Shear behavior obtained by direct shear tests is dependent on shear box and boundary condition. The objective of this study is to analyze problems of conventional direct shear test (type-A) and provide the reliable results by developing type-C direct shear apparatus. Experimental tests are carried out for Ulleung sand by using type-A and -C direct shear devices. The soil specimens, which are prepared at the relative density of 60%, and are applied to vertical confining stresses of 50, 100, 200, 300, and 400 kPa, are sheared at a constant shear strain rate of 0.5 mm/min. By comparing the results obtained by type-A and -C direct shear apparatus under constant normal load (CNL) condition, the performance of new one is verified. In addition, two constrained conditions including constant normal load (CNL) and constant pressure (CP) are applied to type-C one. Experimental results show that type-A direct shear apparatus has some problems such as rotating of loading plate and upper shear box, and the frictional forces between soil and inner wall of upper shear box. Thus, the shear strengths obtained by type-A device are overestimated or underestimated depending on shear box and boundary condition. On the other hand, type-C device produces clear and consistent test results regardless of constrained conditions. This study represents that type-C direct shear apparatus not only can solve the problems of type-A direct shear apparatus but provide the reliable results.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.118-124
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• 2005

In this study, a novel deposition method of Pt catalysts onto Nafion membranes modified with polypyrrole (PPy) has been proposed for PEMFC application. The PPy/Nafion composite membranes were fabricated by chemical polymerization of pyrrole using $FeCl_3$ and $Na_2S_2O_8$ as initiator. The proton conductivity and water uptake of the chemically prepared PPy/Nafion composites were investigated. The ionic conductivity and water uptake of PPy/Nafion composite membrane prepared with $Na_2S_2O_8$ were decreased with polymerization time of pyrrole. In the case of $FeCl_3$, the ionic conductivity was almost retained and the water uptake was decreased with polymerization time of pyrrole. When the Pt particle was deposited on PPy/Nafion composites membrane by chemical reduction of $H_2PtCl_6$, the Pt loading on Nafion membrane was enhanced by polypyrrole due to electronic conduction property. The performance evaluation with membrane electrode assembly composed of Pt/PPy/Nafion composite and diffusion electrode was carried out using a single cell. As a result of fuel cell test, current density of $569mA/cm^2$ at 0.3 V has been obtained for MEA contained with Pt/PPy/Nafion composite. This study shows that direct deposition of Pt catalysts on Nafion impregnated polypyrrole is a promising method to prepare thin catalyst layer for the PEMFC.