• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.65 no.2
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• pp.191-201
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• 2018

The corrosion environments in a steel structure are significantly different depending on the individual parts of the members. To ensure the safety of weathering steel structures, it is important to evaluate the time-dependent corrosion behavior. Thus, the progress and effect of corrosion damage on weathering steel members should be evaluated; however, the predicted corrosion depth, which is affected by the corrosion environment, has not been sufficiently considered until now. In this study, the time-dependent thicknesses of the corrosion product layer were examined to quantifiably investigate and determine the corrosion depth of the corroded surface according to the exposure periods and corrosion environments. Thus, their atmospheric exposure tests were carried out for 4 years under different corrosion environments. The relationship between the thickness of the corrosion product layers and mean corrosion depth was examined based on the corrosion environment. Thus, the micro corrosion environments on the skyward and groundward surfaces of the specimens were monitored using atmospheric corrosion monitor sensors. In addition, the evaluated mean corrosion depth was calculated based on the thickness of the corrosion product layer in an atmospheric corrosion environment, and was verified through a comparison with the measured mean corrosion depth.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.6 no.6
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• pp.430-436
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• 1997

A piezoresistive acceleration sensor for 30 G has been fabricated by silicon micromachining method using SDB(silicon direct bonding) wafer. The structure of the piezoresistive acceleration sensor consists of a seismic square pillar type mass and four beams. This structure was fabricated by reactive ion etching and chemical etching using KOH-etchant. The rectangular square structure is used in order to compensate the deformation of the edges due to underetching. The fabricated sensor showed a linear output voltage-acceleration characteristics and its sensitivity was about $88{\mu}V/V{\cdot}g$ from 0 to 10 G.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers C
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.132-139
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• 2000

This paper reports a novel micromachining process based on UV-LIGA process and (110) silicon anisotropic etching for fabrication of a high-aspect-ratio comb actuator. The comb electrodes are fabricated by (110) SILICON comb structure considering the etch-rate-ratio between (110) and (111) planes and lateral etch rate of a beam-type structure. The fabricated structure was$ 400\mum \; thick\; and\; 18\mum$ wide comb electrodes separated by $7\mim$ so that the height-gap ratio was about 57. Also considering resonant frequency of the comb actuator and the frequency-matching between sensing and driving mode for gyroscope application, we designed the number, width, height and length of the spring structures. Electroplated gold springs on both sides of the seismic mass were $15\mum\; wide,\; 14\mum\; thick\; and \; 500\mum$ long. The fabricated comb actuator had resonant frequency ay 1430Hz, which was calculated to be 1441Hz. The proposed fabrication process can be applicable to the fabrication of a high-aspect-ratio comb actuator for a large displacement actuator and precision sensors. Moreover, this combined process enables to fabricate a more complex structure which cannot be fabricate only by surface or bulk micromachining.

• Proceedings of the KSR Conference
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• 2008.06a
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• pp.109-117
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• 2008

In this study, a method predicting the displacement responseof structures from the measured dynamic strain signal is proposed by using a mode decomposition technique. Dynamic loadings including wind and seismic loadings could be exerted to the bridge. In order to examine the bridge stability against these dynamic loadings, the prediction of displacement response is very important to evaluate bridge stability. Because it may be not easy for the displacement response to be acquired directly on site, an indirect method to predict the displacement response is needed. Thus, as an alternative for predicting the displacement response indirectly, the conversion of the measured strain signal into the displacement response is suggested, while the measured strain signal can be obtained using fiber optic Bragg-grating (FBG) sensors. To overcome such a problem, a mode decomposition technique was used in this study. The measured strain signal is decomposed into each modal component by using the empirical mode decomposition(EMD) as one of mode decomposition techniques. Then, the decomposed strain signals on each modal component are transformed into the modal displacement components. And the corresponding mode shapes can be also estimated by using the proper orthogonal decomposition(POD) from the measured strain signal. Thus, total displacement response could be predicted from combining the modal displacement components.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.881-896
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• 2015

The authors' research group has developed a noncontact type of sensors which directly measure the inter-story drift displacements of a building during a seismic event. Soon after that event, such seismically-induced drift displacement data would provide structural engineers with useful information to judge how the stories have been damaged. This paper presents a scheme of estimating the story cumulative plastic deformation ratios based on such measured drift displacement information toward the building safety monitoring. The presented scheme requires the data of story drift displacements and the ground motion acceleration. The involved calculations are rather simple without any detailed information on structural elements required: the story hysteresis loops are first estimated and then the cumulative plastic deformation ratio of each story is evaluated from the estimated hysteresis. The effectiveness of the scheme is demonstrated by utilizing the data of full-scale building model experiment performed at E-defense and conducting numerical simulations.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.171-186
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• 2008

The seismic response analysis of an existing bridge needs a mathematical model that can be calibrated with measured dynamic characteristics. These characteristics are the periods and the associated mode shapes of vibration and the modal damping coefficients. This paper deals with the measurements and the interpretation of the results of ambient vibration tests done on a newly erected cable stayed bridge across the Oued Dib River at Mila city in Algeria. The signal analysis of ambient vibration records will permit to determine the dynamic characteristics of the bridge. On the other hand, a 3-D model of the bridge is developed in order to assess the frequencies and the associated modes of vibration. This information will be necessary in the planning of the test on the site (locations of the sensors, frequencies to be measured and the associated mode shapes of vibration). The frequencies predicted by the finite element model are compared with those measured during full-scale ambient vibration measurements of the bridge. In the same way, the modal damping coefficients obtained by the random decrement method are compared to those of similar bridges.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.4 no.6
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• pp.759-777
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• 2008

A wireless sensing system is designed for application to structural monitoring and damage detection applications. Embedded in the wireless monitoring module is a two-tier prediction model, the auto-regressive (AR) and the autoregressive model with exogenous inputs (ARX), used to obtain damage sensitive features of a structure. To validate the performance of the proposed wireless monitoring and damage detection system, two near full scale single-story RC-frames, with and without brick wall system, are instrumented with the wireless monitoring system for real time damage detection during shaking table tests. White noise and seismic ground motion records are applied to the base of the structure using a shaking table. Pattern classification methods are then adopted to classify the structure as damaged or undamaged using time series coefficients as entities of a damage-sensitive feature vector. The demonstration of the damage detection methodology is shown to be capable of identifying damage using a wireless structural monitoring system. The accuracy and sensitivity of the MEMS-based wireless sensors employed are also verified through comparison to data recorded using a traditional wired monitoring system.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.319-344
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• 2020

Inverse analysis of non-linear reinforced concrete bridge pier using recursive Gaussian filtering for in-situ condition assessment is the main theme of this work. For this purpose, minimum variance unbiased estimation using unscented sigma points is adopted here. The uniqueness of this inverse analysis lies in its approach for strain based updating of engineering demand parameters, where appropriate bound and constrained conditions are introduced to ensure numerical stability and convergence. In this analysis, seismic input is also identified, which is an added advantage for the structures having no dedicated sensors for earthquake measurement. First, the proposed strategy is tested with a simulated example whose hysteretic properties are obtained from the slow-cyclic test of a frame to investigate its efficiency and accuracy. Finally, the experimental test data of a full-scale bridge pier is used to study its in-situ condition in terms of Park & Ang damage index. Overall the study shows the ability of the augmented minimum variance unbiased estimation based recursive time-marching algorithm for non-linear system identification with the aim to estimate the engineering damage parameters that are the fundamental information necessary for any future decision making for retrofitting/rehabilitation.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.4A
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• pp.507-515
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• 2008

In this study, a method predicting the displacement response of structures from the measured dynamic strain signal is proposed by using mode decomposition technique. Evaluation of bridge stability is normally focused on the bridge completed. However, dynamic loadings including wind and seismic loadings could be exerted to the bridge under construction. In order to examine the bridge stability against these dynamic loadings, the prediction of displacement response is very important to evaluate bridge stability. Because it may be not easy for the displacement response to be acquired directly on site, an indirect method to predict the displacement response is needed. Thus, as an alternative for predicting the displacement response indirectly, the conversion of the measured strain signal into the displacement response is suggested, while the measured strain signal can be obtained using fiber optic Bragg-grating (FBG) sensors. As previous studies on the prediction of displacement response by using the FBG sensors, the static displacement has been mainly predicted. For predicting the dynamic displacement, it has been known that the measured strain signal includes higher modes and then the predicted dynamic displacement can be inherently contaminated by broad-band noises. To overcome such problem, a mode decomposition technique was used. Mode decomposition technique estimates the displacement response of each mode with mode shape estimated to use POD from strain signal and with the measured strain signal decomposed into mode by EMD. This is a method estimating the total displacement response combined with the each displacement response about the major mode of the structure. In order to examine the mode decomposition technique suggested in this study model experiment was performed.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.48 no.5
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• pp.1083-1095
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• 2016

The design of Prototype Gen-IV Sodium-Cooled Fast Reactor (PGSFR) has been developed and the validation and verification (V&V) activities to demonstrate the system performance and safety are in progress. In this paper, the current status of test activities is described briefly and significant results are discussed. The large-scale sodium thermal-hydraulic test program, Sodium Test Loop for Safety Simulation and Assessment-1 (STELLA-1), produced satisfactory results, which were used for the computer codes V&V, and the performance test results of the model pump in sodiumshowed good agreement with those in water. The second phase of the STELLA program with the integral effect tests facility, STELLA-2, is in the detailed design stage of the design process. The sodium thermal-hydraulic experiment loop for finned-tube sodium-to-air heat exchanger performance test, the intermediate heat exchanger test facility, and the test facility for the reactor flow distribution are underway. Flow characteristics test in subchannels of a wire-wrapped rod bundle has been carried out for safety analysis in the core and the dynamic characteristic test of upper internal structure has been performed for the seismic analysis model for the PGSFR. The performance tests for control rod assemblies (CRAs) have been conducted for control rod drive mechanism driving parts and drop tests of the CRA under scram condition were performed. Finally, three types of inspection sensors under development for the safe operation of the PGSFR were explained with significant results.