• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.1062-1065
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• 2002

We have evaluated the ability of a time-delayed artificial neural network (TDANN) to predict muscle forces using only eletromyographic(EMG) signals. To achieve this goal, tendon forces and EMG signals were measured simultaneously in the gastrocnemius muscle of a dog while walking on a motor-driven treadmill. Direct measurements of tendon forces were performed using an implantable force transducer and EMG signals were recorded using surface electrodes. Under dynamic conditions, the relationship between muscle force and EMG signal is nonlinear and time-dependent. Thus, we adopted EMG amplitude estimation with adaptive smoothing window length. This approach improved the prediction ability of muscle force in the TDANN training. The experimental results indicated that dynamic tendon forces from EMG signals could be predicted using the TDANN, in vivo.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.691-697
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• 2015

In this paper, an embedded EM sensor was researched to estimate prestressing force of PS tendon in PSC girder. Recent methodologies for managing prestressing force loss were staying on verifying a applying prestressing force under construction, namely the loss management can not be controlled after construction. To estimate the tensile force of PS tendon during lifetime of PSC girder, this research proposed a bobbin-type embedded EM sensor that can be embedded in PSC girder is designed and fabricated considering the shape properties of anchorage zone and sheath. To verify the proposed sensor, a small PSC girder test was performed. The embedded EM sensor was connected to a sheath and anchor block, and the concrete was poured. After curing, the change of the permeability of PS tendon under tensile forces of 200, 710, 1070, 1300kN was measured using embedded EM sensor. The permeability of PS tendon had decreased according to the increment of applied tensile force. Also it is confirmed that the change of permeability due to applied tensile force could resolve the applied tensile force values. As a result, proposed embedded EM sensor could be embed into the PSC girder and it could be used to estimate the tensile force variation during lifetime of PSC girder.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.65 no.2
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• pp.129-139
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• 2018

Post-tensioning (PT) tendons are commonly used for the assembly of modularized concrete members, and tension is applied to the tendons during construction to facilitate the integrated behavior of the members. However, the tension in a PT tendon decreases over time due to steel corrosion and concrete creep, and consequently, the stress on the anchor head that secures the PT tendon also diminishes. This study proposes an automatic detection system to identify tension reduction in a PT tendon using pulsed-eddy-current (PEC) measurement. An eddy-current sensor is installed on the surface of the steel anchor head. The sensor creates a pulsed excitation to the driving coil and measures the resulting PEC response using the pick-up coil. The basic premise is that the tension reduction of a PT tendon results in stress reduction on the anchor head surface and a change in the PEC intensity measured by the pick-up coil. Thus, PEC measurement is used to detect the reduction of the anchor head stress and consequently the reduction of the PT tendon force below a certain threshold value. The advantages of the proposed PEC-based tension-reduction-detection (PTRD) system are (1) a low-cost (< $ 30), low-power (< 2 Watts) sensor, (2) a short inspection time (< 10 seconds), (3) high reliability and (4) the potential for embedded sensing. A 3.3 m long full-scale monostrand PT tendon was used to evaluate the performance of the proposed PTRD system. The PT tendon was tensioned to 180 kN using a custom universal tensile machine, and the tension was decreased to 0 kN at 20 kN intervals. At each tension, the PEC responses were measured, and tension reduction was successfully detected.

• Korean Journal of Applied Biomechanics
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.175-187
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• 2006

The purpose of this study was to find the relationship between Achilles tendon angle, angular velocity from 2D cinematography utilized to easily analyze the functions of shoes, ankle joint moment, knee joint moment, and hip joint moment from 3D cinematography utilized to predict the injury. Also, this study was to provide the optimal standard to analyze the injury related to the shoes. Subjects in this study were 30 university male students and 18 conditions (2 types of running speed, 3 of midsole hardness, 3 of midsole height) were measured using cinematography and force platform. The results were as following. 1) Hip joint abduction moment was effected by many variables such as running speed, midsole height, maximum achilles tendon angle, ground reaction force. 2) Knee joint rotational moment in running was approximately 1/10 - 1/4 times of the injury critical value and eversion moment was approximately 1/4 - 1/2 times of the injury critical value. 3) Ankle joint pronation moment in running was 1/3 - 1/2 times of the injury critical value. 4) Knee joint rotational moment was found to be irrelevant with maximum achilles tendon angle or angular velocity. 5) Pronation from running was thought to be relevant to rather eversion moment activity than rotational moment activity of knee joint. 6) Plantar flexion abductor of ankle showed significant relationship with the ground reaction force variable. 7) When the loading rate for ground reaction force in passive region increased, extensor tended to be exposed to the injury. Main variables in biomechanical analysis of shoes were impact absorption and pronation. Among these variables, pronation factor was reported to be relevant with knee injury from long duration exercise. Achilles tendon angle factor was utilized frequently to evaluate this. However, as the results of this study showed, the relationship between these variables and injury relating variable of knee moment was so important. Studies without consideration on this finding should be reconsidered and reconfirmed.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.77 no.1
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• pp.1-17
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• 2021

The influence of prestress force on the fundamental frequency and static deflection shape of uncracked Prestressed Concrete (PC) beams with a parabolic bonded tendon was examined in this paper. Due to the conflicts among existing theories, the analytical solutions for properly considering the dynamic and static behavior of these members is not straightforward. A series of experiments were conducted for a total period of approximately 2.5 months on a PC beam made with high strength concrete, subsequently and closely to the 28 days of age of concrete. Specifically, the simply supported PC member was short term subjected to free transverse vibration and three-point bending tests during its early-age. Subsequently, the experimental data were compared with a model that describes the dynamic behavior of PC girders as a combination of two substructures interconnected, i.e., a compressed Euler-Bernoulli beam and a tensioned parabolic cable. It was established that the fundamental frequency of uncracked PC beams with a parabolic bonded tendon is sensitive to the variation of the initial elastic modulus of concrete in the early-age curing. Furthermore, the small variation in experimental frequency with time makes doubtful its use in inverse problem identifications. Conversely, the relationship between prestress force and static deflection shape is well described by the magnification factor formula of the "compression-softening" theory by assuming the variation of the chord elastic modulus of concrete with time.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2000.04a
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• pp.645-650
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• 2000

In the prestressed concrete structures, the effective prestressing force of tendon is basically most important item for structural safety and serviceability. The frictional loss is one of the major items for determinating the effective prestressing force and depend on the construction accuracy of the structures. In this thesis, it will be analyzed and found through measured hydraulic jack pressure, tendon elongation and prestressing control system that the tendancy of apparent curvature friction coefficient, the ratio of jacking force and required prestressing force, the ratio of initial jacking force and required prestressing force and compatibility of specified friction loss coefficient. The specified control limit for curvature friction coefficient of prestressing control system is about 0.25 and wobble friction coefficient 0.005. Thus, the control limit should be modified according to changed vale of friction coefficient.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society For Composite Materials Conference
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• 2001.05a
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• pp.23-28
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• 2001

Since non-corrosive Fiber Reinforced Polymer(FRP) tendons have been in increasing use for underground and coastal structures constantly contacted with fresh water or sea water because of their superiority to metallic ones in corrosion-resistance, new non-metallic anchoring system for FRP tendons has been developed and investigated to verify the effectiveness of tendon force, which consist of mainly FRP pipes and Highly Expansive Mortar(HEM). The major factors considered in this experiment were expansive pressures of HEM during its hydration, sleeve lengths and types, and anchoring methods of tendon. New anchoring system were investigated from the pull-out tests. The pull-out procedures of the FRP tendons in the various pipe filled with HEM were analyzed and improved ideas were suggested to develop novel non-metallic anchoring system for FRP tendons The pull-out tests for the FRP tendon and new non-metallic anchoring system were conducted. The results show that non-metallic anchoring system for the FRP tendon has been more stablized due to the gradual expansive pressrure of HEM, as tims goes. Since tile lower stiffness of FRP pipes causes the weakness of anchoring force, it requires the increase of stiffness using a carbon fiber or an increased section area.

• Korean Journal of Applied Biomechanics
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.121-127
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• 2007

Muscle force produced by muscle fibers is transmitted to bones via tendinous structures(aponeuroses and tendon), resulting in joint(s) movement. As force-transmitting elements, mechanical behavior of aponeuroses and tendon are closely related with the function of muscle-tendon complex. The purpose of this study was to determine strain characteristics of aponeuroses for in-vivo human soleus muscle during submaximal voluntary contractions using an advanced medical imaging technique, velocity-encoded phase-contrast magnetic resonance imaging (VE-PC MRI). VE-PC MRI of the soleus muscle-tendon complex was acquired during submaximal isometric plantarflexion contraction-relaxation cycle (n = 7), using 3.0T Trio MRI scanner(Siemens AG, Malvern, MA). From the VE-PC MRI containing the tissue velocity in superior-inferior direction, twenty regions of interest(20 ROI; 10 on the anterior aponeurosis and 10 on the posterior aponeurosis) were tracked. During the isometric plantarflexion contraction-relaxation cycle, velocity and displacement profiles were different between the anterior and posterior aponeuroses, indicating heterogeneous strain behavior along the length of the leg. The anterior aponeurosis elongated while the posterior aponeurosis shortened during the initial phase of the contraction. Moreover, strain behavior of the posterior aponeurosis was different from that of the Achilles tendon. Possible explanation for the observed variations in strain behavior of aponeuroses was investigated with morphological assessment of the soleus muscle and it was found that the intramuscular tendinous structures significantly vary among subjects. In conclusion, the heterogeneous mechanical behavior of the soleus aponeuroses and the Achilles tendon suggests that the complexity of skeletal muscle-tendon complex should be taken into consideration when modeling the complex for better understanding of its functions.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.581-588
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• 2014

The PSC bridges have recently been widely used in Korea. The PSC bridge is a structure whose performance is improved through the use of tendons and steel bars in deflection and cracking characteristics of the concrete. Therefore, measurement or estimation of the load acting on tendon is important in order to maintain the PSC bridges efficiently and safely. This paper deals with a numerical study on the deformation of a multi-tendon anchor head in order to verify the relationship between the load acting on tendon and the deformation of anchor head. All kinematics, material properties and contact nonlinearity are included for the precise analysis and numerical studies are performed by Abaqus. From the numerical results, it is verified that the hoop strain is most useful in the estimation of the load acting on tendon and strains are affected by various parameters such as friction coefficient, boundary conditions, and arrangement.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.26 no.2A
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• pp.247-260
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• 2006

In this paper, an analytical method which can describe the structural behavior of prestressed concrete (PSC) bridges reinforced with the unbonded external tendon is developed. Since the unbonded external tendon is directly installed to the deviators while maintaining a straight configuration, it has a different deformation field from that of concrete and accompanies the secondary effect caused by the change of the primary eccentricity between concrete and external tendon. In advance, the friction slip at the deviators is also taken into consideration on the basis of the force equilibrium between the friction force and the driving force. Through correlation studies between experimental data and analytical results, it is verified that the proposed numerical model can effectively predict the structural behavior of PSC beam bridges with comparative precision.