• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.11 no.2
• /
• pp.149-168
• /
• 2011

This paper presents a computational study of column loss scenarios for typical multi-story steel buildings with perimeter moment frames and composite steel-concrete floors. Two prototype buildings (three-story and ten-story) were represented using three-dimensional nonlinear finite element models and explicit dynamic analysis was used to simulate instantaneous loss of a first-story column. Twelve individual column loss scenarios were investigated in the three-story building and four in the ten-story building. This study provides insight into: three-dimensional load redistribution patterns; demands on the steel deck, concrete slab, connections and members; and the impact of framing configuration, building height and column loss location. In the dynamic simulations, demands were least severe for perimeter columns within a moment frame, but the structures also exhibited significant load redistribution for interior column loss scenarios that had no moment connectivity. Composite action was observed to be an important load redistribution mechanism following column loss and the concrete slab and steel deck were subjected to high localized stresses as a result of the composite action. In general, the steel buildings that were evaluated in this study demonstrated appreciable robustness.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.62 no.6
• /
• pp.739-748
• /
• 2017

Notches such as slots are typical geometric features on mechanical components that promote fatigue crack initiation. Unlike for components with open hole type notches, there are no conventional treatments to enhance fatigue behavior of components with slots. In this work we evaluate the viability of applying laser shock peening (LSP) to extend the fatigue life of 6061-T6 aluminum components with slots. The feasibility of using LSP is evaluated not only on damage free notched specimens, but also on samples with previous fatigue damage. For the LSP treatment a convergent lens was used to deliver 0.85 J and 6 ns laser pulses 1.5 mm in diameter by a Q-switch Nd: YAG laser, operating at 10 Hz with 1064 nm of wavelength. Residual stress distribution was assessed by the hole drilling method. A fatigue analysis of the notched specimens was conducted using the commercial code FE-Safe and different multiaxial fatigue criteria to predict fatigue lives of samples with and without LSP. The residual stress field produced by the LSP process was estimated by a finite element simulation of the process. A good comparison of the predicted and experimental fatigue lives was observed. The beneficial effect of LSP in extending fatigue life of notched components with and without previous damage is demonstrated.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
• /
• v.36 no.2
• /
• pp.115-121
• /
• 2006

The aim of this study was to develop new protein/peptide depot system instead of poly(DL-lactic acid-coglycolic acid) (PLGA) microspheres. Pullulan was chemically modified by the addition of acetic anhydride (pullulan acetate; PA) and then investigated as new depot system for protein/peptide delivery. PA microspheres (PAM) with lysozyme as a model protein were prepared by w/o/w double emulsion method. The microspheres had a mean size of 10-50 mm with a spherical shape. The size distributions reduced with increasing the degree of acetylation. The loading efficiency of lysozyme was also increased. Lysozyme aggregation behavior in the microsphere was monitored to estimate the change of protein stability during preparation step. The ratios of protein aggregation in PAMs are lower than that of PLGA microsphere, in particular, PA 5 showed lowest as about 16%. The result indicated that the increase of acetylation suppressed the aggregation of protein. The release profiles of lysozyme from PAMs were significantly different. High acetylation effectively improved lysozyme release kinetics by reducing initial burst release and extending continuous release over a period of time. To check the effect of preservation for structural stability of lysozyme, the activity of lysozyme released from PA 5 was also observed. The activity of lysozyme was maintained almost 100% for 25 day. Therefore, PAM may become to a useful carrier for delivery of protein/peptide drugs, if it will be supported by biocompatibility and biodegradability results.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
• /
• v.17 no.3
• /
• pp.133-141
• /
• 2013

This paper presents the seismic evaluation and prediction of a damaged piloti-type Reinforced Concrete (RC) building before and after post-retrofitting under successive earthquakes. For considering realistic successive earthquakes, the past records measured at the same station were combined. In this study, the damaged RC building due to the first earthquake was retrofitted with a buckling-restrained brace (BRB) before the second earthquake occurred. Nonlinear Time History Analysis (NTHA) was performed under the scaled intensity of the successive ground motions. Based on the extensive structural response data obtained form from the NTHA, the fragility relationships between the ground shaking intensity and the probability of reaching a pre-determined limit state was were derived. In addition, The the fragility curves of the pre-damaged building without and with the BRBs were employed to evaluate the effect of the successive earthquakes and the post-retrofit effect. Through the seismic assessment subjected to the successive records, it was observed that the seismic performance of the pre-damaged building was significantly affected by the severity of the damage from the first earthquake damages and the hysteresis behavior of the retrofit element.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.26 no.3
• /
• pp.289-301
• /
• 2018

The rigid steel connections were suffered severe damage because of low rotational capacity during earthquakes. Hence, many investigations have been conducted on the connections of steel structures. As a solution, steel slit dampers were employed at the connections to prevent brittle failure of connections and damage of main structural members. Slit damper is a plate or a standard section with a number of slits in the web. The objective of this paper is to improve the seismic performance of steel slit dampers in the beam-to-column connection using finite element modeling. With reviewing the previous investigations, it is observed that slit dampers were commonly fractured in the end parts of the struts. This may be due to the low participation of struts middle parts in the energy dissipation. Thus, in the present study slit damper with elliptic slits is proposed in such a way that end parts of struts have more energy absorption area than struts middle parts. A parametric study is conducted to investigate the effects of geometric parameters of elliptic slit damper such as strut width, strut height and plate thickness on the seismic performance of the beam-to-column connection. The stress distribution is improved along the struts in the proposed slit damper with elliptic slits and the stress concentration is decreased in the end parts of struts. The average contributions of elliptic slit dampers, beam and other sections to the energy dissipation are about 97.19%, 2.12% and 0.69%, respectively.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
• /
• 2001.06a
• /
• pp.157-162
• /
• 2001

Fretting is a potential degradation mechanism of structural components and equipments exposed to various environments and loading conditions. The fretting degradation, for example, can be observed in equipments of nuclear, fossil as well as petroleum chemical plants exposed to special environments and loading conditions. It is well known that a cast stainless steel(CF8M) used in a primary reactor coolant(RCS) degrades seriously when that material is exposed to temperature range ken $290^{\circ}C{\sim}390^{\circ}C$ for long period. This degradation can be resulted into a catastrophical failure of components. In the present paper, the characteristics of the fretting fatigue are investigated using the artificially aged CF8M specimen. The specimen of CF8M are prepared by an artificially accelerated aging technique holding 1800hr at $430^{\circ}C$ respectively. Through the investigations, the simple fatigue endurance limit of the virgin specimen is not altered from that obtained from the fatigue tests imposed the fretting fatigue. The similar tests are performed using the degraded specimen. The results are not changed from those of the virgin specimen. The significant effects of fretting fatigue imposed on both virgin and degraded specimen on the fatigue strength are not found.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.53 no.6
• /
• pp.1083-1104
• /
• 2015

This paper provides the results of an experimental investigation into the flexural behavior of continuous two-span unbonded post-tensioned high strength concrete (HSC) beams, strengthened by end-anchored CFRP laminates of different configurations in the hogging region. Implementing two different configurations of end-anchorage systems consisting of steel plates and bolts and carefully monitoring the development of strains throughout the load history using sufficiently large number of strain gauges, the response of beams including the observed crack propagations, beam deflection, modes of failure, capacity enhancement at service and ultimate and the amount of moment redistribution are measured, presented and discussed. The study is appropriate in the sense that it covers the more commonly occurring two span beams instead of the simply supported beams investigated by others. The experiments reconfirmed the finding of others that proper installation of composite strengthening system is most important in the quality of the bond which is essential for the internal transfer of forces. It was also found that for the tested two span continuous beams, the capacity enhancement is more pronounced at the serviceability level than the ultimate. This is an important finding as the design of these beams is mostly governed by the serviceability limit state signifying the appropriateness of the suggested strengthening method. The paper provides quantitative data on the amount of this capacity enhancement.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
• /
• v.30 no.8
• /
• pp.399-405
• /
• 2020

In the present investigation we show the effect of Al doping on the length, size, shape, morphology, and sensing property of ZnO nanorods. Effect of Al doping ultimately leads to tuning of electrical and optical properties of ZnO nanorods. Undoped and Al-doped well aligned ZnO nanorods are grown on sputtered ZnO/SiO₂/Si (100) pre-grown seed layer substrates by hydrothermal method. The molar ratio of dopant (aluminium nitrate) in the solution, [Al/Zn], is varied from 0.1 % to 3 %. To extract structural and microstructural information we employ field emission scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction techniques. The prepared ZnO nanorods show preferred orientation of ZnO <0001> and are well aligned vertically. The effects of Al doping on the electrical and optical properties are observed by Hall measurement and photoluminescence spectroscopy, respectively, at room temperature. We observe that the diameter and resistivity of the nanorods reach their lowest levels, the carrier concentration becomes high, and emission peak tends to approach the band edge emission of ZnO around 0.5% of Al doping. Sensing behavior of the grown ZnO nanorod samples is tested for H₂ gas. The 0.5 mol% Al-doped sample shows highest sensitivity values of ~ 60 % at 250 ℃ and ~ 50 % at 220 ℃.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
• /
• v.1 no.1
• /
• pp.27-32
• /
• 2013

We investigated the growth mechanism of amorphous-phase Si thin films in order to improve the film characteristics and circumvent photo-degradation effects by implementation of hot-wire chemical vapor deposition. Amorphous silicon thin films grown in a silane/hydrogen mixture can be decomposed by a resistive heat filament. The structural properties were observed by Raman spectroscopy, FTIR, SEM, and TEM. The electrical properties of the films were measured by photo-conductivity, dark-conductivity, and photo-sensitivity. The contents of Si-H and $Si-H_n$ bonds were measured to be 19.79 and 9.96% respectively, at a hydrogen flow rate of 5.5 sccm, respectively. The thin film has photo-sensitivity of $2.2{\times}10^5$ without a crystalline volume fraction. The catalyst behavior of the hot-wire to decompose the chemical precursors by an electron tunneling effect depends strongly on the hydrogen mixture rate and an amorphous Si thin film is formed from atomic relaxation.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
• /
• v.7 no.11
• /
• pp.429-437
• /
• 2020

The paper investigates the antecedents of Organic Food (OF) produce in Vietnam and the intentions and behavior of OF purchasers. A theoretical framework is developed and evaluated by simulation of the structural model. Data was collected from a convenient sample of 222 consumers from Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. The selection included 159 (72%) women, who were identified as being the primary buyers of organic food for their family (73%). Findings suggest food hygiene issues and conscientious self-identity as the much beneficial determinants of organic production perceptions. Because of the results in this report, the consideration for food security has gained little research consideration throughout the field of organic produce. Food safety concerns are also related to academics exploring consumer confidence as they might be regarded as one of their aspects in selecting standard, natural or health food products. Findings suggest food security as one of the essential determinants of motivation, while health awareness purports to become the least significant motivation, contrary to observations from certain previous studies. However, it is observed that moral personality-identity influences both perceptions and willingness to buy organic food, stressing that the association of participants with ethical concerns influences their perceptions and eventual choices of consumption.