• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.39-45
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• 2019

Durability of strengthened reinforced concrete (RC) beams with CFRP sheets under wetting and drying cycles of magnesium sulfate attack is investigated in this research. Accordingly, 18 RC beams were designed and made where 10 of them were strengthened by CFRP sheets at their tension side. Magnesium sulfate attack and wetting and drying cycles with water and magnesium sulfate solution were considered as exposure conditions. Finally, flexural performance of the beams was measured before and after 5 months of exposure. Results indicated that the bending capacity of the strengthened RC beams was reduced about 10% after 5 months of immersion in the magnesium sulfate solution. Wetting and drying cycles of magnesium sulfate solution reduced the bending capacity of the strengthened RC beams about 7%. Also, flexural capacity reduction of the strengthened RC beams in water and under wetting and drying cycles of water was negligible.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.29 no.12
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• pp.25-34
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• 2013

This paper presents the results of a reduced-scale physical model investigation into the behavior of retaining walls subject to cycles of wetting and drying due to rainfall infiltration. Reduced-scale model walls equipped with a water spraying system that can simulate the wetting process were first constructed and a series of tests were conducted with due consideration of different rainfall intensities and backfill soil types. The results indicate that cycles of wetting and drying process have adverse effects on the wall behavior, increasing wall deformation as well as earth pressure acting on the wall, and that the first cycle of wetting and drying process has more pronounced effect on the wall performance than the ensuing cycles. It is also shown that the degree to which the wetting and drying cycles affect the wall behavior depends greatly on the backfill soil type, and that the larger the fine contents, the greater is the effect of cycles of wetting and drying on the wall behavior. Practical implications of the findings from this study are discussed in great detail.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.337-348
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• 2023

Successive wetting and drying cycles of concrete due to weather changes can endanger the safety of engineering structures over time. Considering wetting and drying cycles in concrete tests can lead to a more correct and reliable design of engineering structures. This study aims to provide a model that can be used to estimate the resistance properties of concrete under different wetting and drying cycles. Complex sample preparation methods, the necessity for highly accurate and sensitive instruments, early sample failure, and brittle samples all contribute to the difficulty of measuring the strength of concrete in the laboratory. To address these problems, in this study, the potential ability of six machine learning techniques, including ANN, SVM, RF, KNN, XGBoost, and NB, to predict the concrete's tensile strength was investigated by applying 240 datasets obtained using the Brazilian test (80% for training and 20% for test). In conducting the test, the effect of additives such as glass and polypropylene, as well as the effect of wetting and drying cycles on the tensile strength of concrete, was investigated. Finally, the statistical analysis results revealed that the XGBoost model was the most robust one with R2 = 0.9155, mean absolute error (MAE) = 0.1080 Mpa, and variance accounted for (VAF) = 91.54% to predict the concrete tensile strength. This work's significance is that it allows civil engineers to accurately estimate the tensile strength of different types of concrete. In this way, the high time and cost required for the laboratory tests can be eliminated.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.34 no.12
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• pp.2062-2072
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• 2010

This research evaluates the change of the water absorbency and drying speed of a quick-drying knit fabric by repeated laundering and laundering conditions and investigates the influence of laundering conditions on the functional properties of the knit fabric. Four factors of laundering conditions were studied: detergent, water hardness, water temperature, and frequency of rotation. Knit fabrics were washed for 25 laundering cycles in a drum-type washing machine with nine different laundering conditions derived from an orthogonal array. The properties of knit fabrics were measured with a drop absorption test, a strip test, and a drying time test. Relaxation shrinkage pointed to a change in the structural characteristics of the knit fabric. Wetting time was faster and wickability was greater in the knit fabrics that underwent 5 laundering cycles; in addition, there were no obvious changes in wetting time and wickability. The detergent was the most important factor in wetting time (40.4%) and wickability (60% or above). Water hardness, water temperature and RPM had less of an effect on wetting time and wickability. There were no significant differences between the levels of laundering conditions (except for detergent) on wetting time and wickability. Drying times with neutral and alkali were slower by repeated laundering; however, there was no obvious change in drying time. Hardness, water temperature and RPM had less of an impact on drying time.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.29 no.6C
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• pp.303-311
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• 2009

In this study, weakly cemented sand was cured at air dry condition with different periods (3, 7, 14, 21, 28 days) and its unconfined compressive strength was evaluated. As a result, the strength of specimens with low cement ratios such as 4 and 8% increases until 7 days curing but, after 7 days, their strength continuously decreases. The strength of specimens with relatively high cement ratios such as 12 and 16% increases up to 7 days curing and then stays almost constant until 21 days. After 21 days curing, their strength suddenly dropped down, which is much lower than the strength of 3 days curing specimen. A cemented sand and gravel called CSG, which is highly permeable, could be exposed to repetitive drying and wetting conditions due to rainfall or groundwater table change during curing. In this study, the weakly cemented sand is exposed to repetitive drying and wetting and then its unconfined compressive strength was evaluated. As a result, the strength of a specimen with 27 days drying condition following 1 day wetting was at maximum 35% lower than the one cured under 28 days drying. The strength degradation due to wetting decreases as a cement ratio increases. However, the strength of a specimen with repetitive drying and wetting increases as the number of wetting increases until 3 cycles. After 3 cycles of drying and wetting, the rate of strength increase decreases due to an insufficient water for hydration or stays constant. If the sufficient water supply is provided to cemented sand during curing, the target or design strength increase can be achieved. Otherwise, the strength degradation due to wetting should be considered at the design stage.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.307-317
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• 2024

To get a better understanding of the effect of drying-wetting cycles (DWC) on the mechanical behaviors of silty clay hiving different initial moisture content (IMC), the direct shear tests were performed on sliding band soil taken from a reservoirinduced landslide at the Three Gorges Reservoir area. The results indicated that, as the increasing number of DWC, the shear stress-displacement curves type changed from strain-hardening to strain-softening, and both the soil peak strengths and strength parameters reduced first and then nearly remain unchanged after a certain number of DWC. The effects of DWC on the cohesion were predominated that on the internal friction angle. The IMC of 17% is regarding as the critical moisture content, and the evolution laws of both peak shear strength and strength parameters presented a reversed 'U' type with the rising of the IMC. Based on it, a strength deterioration evolution model incorporating the influence of IMC and DWC was developed to describe the total degradation degree and degradation rate of strength parameters, and the degradation of strength parameters caused by DWC could be counterbalanced to some extent as the soil IMC close to critical moisture content. The microscopic mechanism for the soil strength caused by the IMC and DWC were discussed separately. The research results are of great significance for further understanding the water-weakening mechanicals of the silty clay subjected to the water absorption/desorption.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.739-756
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• 2016

The shear strength reduction finite element method (SSRFEM) is a powerful tool for slope stability analysis. The factor of safety (FOS) of the slope can be easily calculated only through reducing effective cohesion (c′) and tangent of effective friction angle ($tan{\varphi}^{\prime}$) in equal proportion. However, this method may not be applicable to soil slope under wetting-drying cycles (WDCs), because the influence of WDCs on c′ and $tan{\varphi}^{\prime}$ may be different. To research the method of estimating FOS of soil slopes under WDCs, this paper presents an experimental study firstly to investigate the effects of WDCs on the parameters of shear strength and stiffness. Twelve silty clay samples were subjected to different number of WDCs and then tested with triaxial test equipment. The test results show that WDCs have a degradation effect on shear strength (${\sigma}_1-{\sigma}_3)_f$, secant modulus of elasticity ($E_s$) and c′ while little influence on ${\varphi}^{\prime}$. Hence, conventional SSRFEM which reduces c′ and $tan{\varphi}^{\prime}$ in equal proportion cannot be adopted to compute the FOS of slope under conditions of WDCs. The SSRFEM should be modified. In detail, c′ is merely reduced among shear strength parameters, and elasticity modulus is reduced correspondingly. Besides, a new approach based on sudden substantial changes in the displacement of marked nodes is proposed to identify the slope failure in SSRFEM. Finally, the modified SSRFEM is applied to compute the FOS of a slope example.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.15 no.10
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• pp.29-34
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• 2014

In order to examine strength properties depended on climate changes of solidified soil amended by porosity silica which enhance harms of cement, this study conducts a wetting and drying repetition test and then, attempts to verify strength properties before and after solidified soil gets environmental influence. Test pieces for the unconfined compression test changed the mixing ratio of solidified soil compared to mixed soil weigh to 5 %, 10 % and 15 %. For each step, it was created by mixing 0.5 %, 1.0 % and 1.5 % of wood chips, and curing period for 7, 14, and 28 days. Then, the wetting and drying repetition process was repeated 0, 3, 6, and 12 cycles to analyze mechanical properties. To also evaluate changes of relative dynamic elastic modulus before and after the wetting and drying, dynamic elastic modulus tests were conducted when each cycle was completed.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.13 no.11
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• pp.5587-5594
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• 2012

Determination of the soil-water characteristic curve is one of the most important things to solve geotechnical engineering problems. Expecially, convenient and reliable method to measure the soil-water characteristic curve during drying and wetting cycles is required with lower labor input, more independence from operator experience, and shorter testing time than other available methods. Many measurement methods including the flow pump system have been developed to characterize the soil-water characteristic curve for the several decades. This study measured the soil-water characteristic curve during drying and wetting cycles using a suction control technique with the flow pump system. Two test materials were used for determination of the soil-water characteristic curve, and it is concluded that suction control technique is suitable for determination of the soil-water characteristic curve and characterization of the hydraulic hysteresis with varying test conditions. Especially, the suction control technique can reduce error of measurement and save time in measuring the soil-water characteristic curve due to automated system and high degree of precision.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.13-22
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• 2013

This paper presents the results of a numerical investigation into the behavior of retaining wall subject to cycles of wetting and drying due to rainfall. The stress-pore pressure coupled finite element modeling strategy was first established for stimulating the wall behavior. A series of finite element analyses were then performed on a range of conditions including different rainfall and backfill conditions. The results indicated that the rainfall intensity was the primary influencing factor for the wall behavior. Also revealed was that the pre-rainfall condition determines the magnitudes and the distribution of matric suction which in fact has a significant impact on the behavior of wall during a major rainfall. This result demonstrates the importance of incorporating the pre-rainfall condition for numerical modeling of walls during heavy rainfall. Practical implications of the findings from this study are discussed in great detail.