A system for the electrical bio signal detection for a microchip is proposed. Gold nanoparticles were selected for the system for their bio-compatibility and potential for higher sensitivity with large surface areas. For the estimation of the conductivity of gold nanoparticles, microchips with interdigitated microelectrodes of 3,5,7 and $9\;{\mu}m$ spacing were fabricated. In addition, a simulation program was developed to estimate the electrical resistance of the fabricated microchip. The results of conduction simulation for the nanoparticles show good agreements with experimental data, which validate the proposed system.

When subjected to severe shear deformation by ECAP, microstructure of Al2024 becomes extremely refined. To measure the strength of that, small punch(SP) testing method was adopted as a substitute for the conventional uniaxial tensile testing because the size of material processed by ECAP were limited to ${\psi}12\;mm$ in transverse direction. SP tests were performed with specimens in longitudinal and transverse directions of Al2024 ECAP metal. For comparing the strength values with those assessed by SP tests, uniaxial tensile tests were also conducted with specimens in longitudinal direction. Failure surfaces of the tested SP specimens showed that failure mode was shear deformation and Al 2024 ECAP metal has an anisotropy in strength. Thus, conventional equations proposed for assessing the strength characteristics were improper to assess those of Al2024 ECAP metal. In this paper a way of assessing the strength of Al 2024 ECAP metal was proposed and was proven to be effective.

The purpose of this research work is to demonstrate a successful application of hybrid-mixed formulation and nodeless degrees of freedom in developing a very accurate in-plane curved beam element for free vibration analysis. To resolve the numerical difficulties due to the spurious constraints, the present element, based on the Hellinger-Reissner variational principle and considering the effect of shear deformation, employed consistent stress parameters corresponding to cubic displacement polynomials with additional nodeless degrees. The stress parameters were eliminated by the stationary condition, and the nodeless degrees were condensed by Guyan Reduction. Several numerical examples indicated that the property of the mass matrix as well as that of the stiffness matrix have a great effect on the numerical performance. The element with consistent mass matrix produced best results on convergence and accuracy in the numerical analysis of Eigenvalue problems. Also, the higher-order mixed curved beam element showed a superior numerical behavior for the free vibration analyses.

This paper reports low-cost PDMS/glass based DNA microbiochip for the restriction enzyme reaction and its products detection using the capillary electrophoresis. The microbiochip ($25mm{\times}75mm$) has the heater integrated reactor ($5{\mu}{\ell}$) for DNA restriction enzyme reaction at $37^{\circ}C$ and the microchannel ($80\;{\mu}m{\times}100\;{\mu}m{\times}58mm$) for the capillary electrophoresis detection. It is experimentally confirmed that the digestion of the plasmid ($pGEM^{(R)}-4Z$) by the enzyme (Hind III and Sca I) is performed for less than 10 min and its electrophoresis detection is able to sequentially on the fabricated microbiochip.

We analyzed the non-Newtonian and non-isothermal flow in the melt conveying zone in co-rotating and counter-rotating screw extruder system with the commercial code, STAR-CD, and compared the mixing performance with respect to screw speed and rotating direction. The viscosity of fluid was described by power-law model. The dynamics of mixing was studied numerically by tracking the motion of particles in a twin screw extruder system. The extent of mixing was characterized in terms of the residence time distribution and average strain. The results showed that high screw speed decreases the residence time but increases the shear rate. Therefore higher screw speed increases the strain and has better mixing performance. Counter-rotating screw extruder system and co-rotating screw extruder has the similar shear rate with the same screw speed in spite of different rotating direction. However, the counter-rotating screw has good mixing performance, which is resulted from longer residence time than that of co-rotating screw extruder.

An indentation method to determine equi-biaxial residual stress is proposed by examining the data from the incremental plasticity theory based finite element analyses. We first select optimal normalized-parameters, which are minimally affected by indentation depth and material properties. Numerical linear regressions of obtained data exhibit that maximum load and contact area of imprint are the main parameters measuring the residual stress. The proposed indentation approach provides a substantial enhancement in accuracy compared with the prior methods.

The vibration of hydraulic piston pumps is induced by the periodically changing cylinder chamber pressure whose waveform is significantly influenced by valve plate geometry. In this study, the force input to the housing of a bent-axis type hydraulic piston pump was computed by deriving the dynamic equations of its piston and cylinder barrel. The vibration intensity of the pump was represented by the acceleration amplitude of its housing. In order to comparatively evaluate the influence of valve plate geometry on the vibration of pump housing, two different types of valve plate were tested. The computed results showed good agreement with the experimental data, indicating that the vibration acceleration of pump housing is rather dependent on the variation amplitude of balance coefficient than the changing slope or overshoot of cylinder chamber pressure. It was also confirmed that the design effect of valve plates could be directly examined out by monitoring the vibration acceleration of pump housing.

The present paper provides experimental J estimation equation for the circumferential through-wall cracked pipe under four-point bending, based on the load-crack opening displacement (COD) record. Based on the limit analysis and the kinematically admissible rigid-body rotation field, the plastic ${\eta}$-factor for the load-COD record is derived and is compared with that for the load-load line displacement record. Comparison with the J results from detailed elastic-plastic finite element (FE) analysis shows that the proposed method based on the load-COD record provides reliable J estimates even for shallow cracks, whereas the conventional approach based on the load-load line displacement record gives erroneous results for shallow cracks. Thus, the proposed J estimation method could be recommended for testing the circumferential through-wall cracked pipe, particularly with shallow cracks.

Nonlinear response structural optimization using equivalent static loads (NROESL) has been proposed. Nonlinear response optimization is solved by sequential linear response optimization with equivalent static loads which are generated from the nonlinear responses and linear stiffness matrix. The linear stiffness matrix should be obtained in NROESL, and this process can be fairly difficult for some applications. Proportional transformation of loads (PTL) is proposed to overcome the difficulties. Equivalent static loads are obtained by PTL. It is the same as NROESL except for the process of calculating equivalent static loads. PTL is developed for large-scale probems. First, linear and nonlinear responses are evaluated from linear and nonlinear analyses, respectively. At a DOF of the finite element method, the ratio of the two responses is calculated and an equivalent static load is made by multiplying the ratio and the loads for linear analysis. Therefore, the mumber of the equivalent static loads is as many as that of DOF's and an equivalent static load is used with the reponse for the corresponding DOF in the optimization process. All the equivalent static loads are used as multiple loading conditions during linear response optimization. The process iterates until it converges. Examples are solved by using the proposed method and the results are compared with conventional methods.

This paper addresses the method for the shape design sensitivity analysis of the buckling load in the continuous elastic body. The sensitivity formula for critical load is analytically derived and expressed in terms of shape variation, based on the continuum formulation of the stability problem. Though the buckling problem is more efficiently solved by the structural elements such as beam and shell, the elastic solids are considered in this paper because the solid elements can be used in general for any kind of structures whether they are thick or thin. The initial stress and buckling analysis is carried out by the commercial analysis code ANSYS. The sensitivity is computed by using the mathematical package MATLAB using the results of ANSYS. Several problems including straight and curved beams under compressive load, ring under pressure load, thin-walled section and bottle shaped column are chosen to illustrate the efficiency of the presented method.

A wireless capsule endoscope has been developed to replace the conventional endoscope. However, the commercialized capsule endoscope moves passively by peristaltic waves, which has some limitations for doctors to diagnose more thoroughly and actively. In order to solve this problem, a locomotive mechanism is proposed for wireless capsule endoscopes. Based on the tests of various actuators, a piezo actuator is selected as a micro actuator for capsule endoscope. In general, piezo actuators are known to have limited displacement with high voltage supply. In order to overcome the limitation of common piezo actuator, the impact based piezo actuator, is developed to realize long stroke up 11mm. By using the impact based piezo actuator, a prototype of an earthworm-like locomotive mechanism was developed. In addition, the proposed locomotive mechanism has engraved clamps mimicked the claw of an insect. The earthworm-like locomotive mechanism has 15 mm in diameter and 30mm under retraction stage and 41 mm under elongation stage in total length. Hollow space is allocated to comprise essential endoscope components such as a camera, a communication module, bio sensors, and a battery. For the feasibility test of proposed locomotive mechanism, a series of experiments were carried out including in-vitro tests. Based on results of the experiments, we conclude that the proposed locomotive mechanism is effective to be used for micro capsule endoscopes.

Since Risk Based Inspection(RBI) was introduced to quality the risks for jet engine and nuclear power, the technique has been expanded to the area of petrochemical plant. Recently among USA and Europe, window-based computer programme for RBI has been rapidly developed. When local companies procure such program to apply to their plants, it is difficult to build up a proper database as well as expect a good result. In this regards, K-RBI programme accustomed to Korean environments was developed. After completion of the programme in 2004, it was tested by 2 local petrochemical plants and was produced fruitful results. By using these programme, we are expecting accident prevention through risk based planning and implementing of equipment inspection, and saving dollars caused by procuring foreign expensive programme.

This paper has investigated the strength of the bogie frame for the Korean tilting train that is being developed in KRRI. In this study, the loading conditions imposed on the bogie frame of tilting train were derived and the static and fatigue strength of the bogie frame has been evaluated. In order to achieve these goals, finite element analysis has been performed and the stress concentration areas were investigated. Based on the analytical results, the static load tests were conducted under the nontilting load conditions and the tilting load conditions. The test results were used to evaluate the fatigue strength of the bogie frame by Goodman diagram.