• International journal of steel structures
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.1589-1597
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• 2018

Fatigue tests and numerical analysis were carried out to evaluate the fatigue performance at the U-rib to deck welded joint in steel box girder. Twenty specimens were tested corresponding to different penetration rates (80 and 100%) under fatigue bending load, and the fatigue strength was investigated based on hot spot stress (HSS) method. The detailed stress distribution at U-rib to deck welded joint was analyzed by the finite element method, as well as the stress intensity factor of weld root. The test results show that the specimens with fully penetration rate have longer crack propagation life due to the welding geometry, resulting in higher fatigue failure strength. The classification of FAT-90 is reasonable for evaluating fatigue strength by HSS method. The penetration rate has effect on crack propagation angle near the surface, and the 1-mm stress below weld toe and root approves to be more suitable for fatigue stress assessment, because of its high sensitivity to weld geometry than HSS.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.32 no.10
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• pp.873-878
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• 2015

A finger exoskeleton actuated by ionic polymer metal composite (IPMC) actuators has been developed. In order to evaluate performance of cylindrical grasping of finger exoskeletons, they were equipped with a hand dummy, which is composed of four fingers. The finger dummy has three joints that can be actuated by bending the IPMC actuators. A four finger grasping motion was analyzed using cameras, and cylindrical grasping motion was accomplished within two minutes after applying a 4 volt direct voltage to the IPMC actuators. A pull out test was also performed to evaluate the cylindrical grasping force of the finger exoskeletons actuated by the IPMC actuators. Each finger generated about 2 N of holding force when grasping the cylinder which had a diameter of 50 mm.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.35 no.6
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• pp.779-788
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• 2020

Multi-Walled Carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) coupled with Silicone Rubber (SR) can represent applicable strain sensors with accessible materials, which result in good stretchability and great sensitivity. Employing these materials and given the fact that the combination of these two has been addressed in few studies, this study is trying to represent a low-cost, durable and stretchable strain sensor that can perform excellently in a high number of repeated cycles. Great stability was observed during the cyclic test after 2000 cycles. Ultrahigh sensitivity (GF>1227) along with good extensibility (ε>120%) was observed while testing the sensor at different strain rates and the various number of cycles. Further investigation is dedicated to sensor performance in the detection of human body movements. Not only the sensor performance in detecting the small strains like the vibrations on the throat was tested, but also the larger strains as observed in extension/bending of the muscle joints like knee were monitored and recorded. Bearing in mind the applicability and low-cost features, this sensor may become promising in skin-mountable devices to detect the human body motions.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.15 no.4 s.65
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• pp.403-412
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• 2003

The composite metal deck plate system has been widely used for office structures. Recently, however, the flat deck plate has been developed to apply the composite slab system to residential structures. Reduction in construction cost and time can be expected by using expanded metal instead of wire mesh as crack control reinforcements. This study proposed a composite slab system composed of a new-shaped steel deck plate and expanded metal. Twelve specimens were tested to evaluate the structural performance of the new composite slab system. The test results were summarized mainly in terms of maximum load carrying capacity and failure behaviors of each specimen.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.118-125
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• 2018

Herein we report on the selective synthesis and direct growth of nanostructures using an aqueous chemical growth route. Specifically, Al-doped ZnO (AZO) nanoflakes (NFs) are vertically grown on indium tin oxide (ITO) coated flexible polyethylene terephthalate (PET) sheets at low temperature and ambient environment. The morphological, optical, and electrical properties of the NFs are investigated as a function of the Al content. Furthermore, these AZO-NFs are integrated into perovskite solar devices as the electron transport layer (ETL) and the fabricated devices are tested for photovoltaic performance. It was determined that the doping of AZO-NFs significantly increases the performance metrics of the solar cells, mainly by increasing the short-circuit current of the devices. The observed enhancement is primarily attributed to the improved conductivity of the doped AZO-NF, which facilitates charge separation and reduces recombination. Further, our flexible solar cells fabricated through this low temperature process demonstrate an acceptable reproducibility and stability when exposed to a mechanical bending test.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.533-551
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• 2020

A finite element analysis (FEA) model is established to investigate the concrete-encased concrete-filled steel tubular (CFST) column to reinforced concrete (RC) beam joints under cyclic loading. The feasibility of the FEA model is verified by a set of test results, consisting of the failure modes, the exposed view of connections, the crack distributions and development, and the hysteretic relationships. The full-range analysis is conducted to investigate the stress and strain development process in the composite joint by using this FEA model. The internal force distributions of different components, as well as the deformation distributions, are analyzed under different failure modes. The proposed connections are investigated under dimensional and material parameters, and the proper constructional details of the connections are recommended. Parameters of the beam-column joints, including material strength, confinement factor, reinforcement ratio, diameter of steel tube to sectional width ratio, beam to column linear bending stiffness ratio and beam shear span ratio are evaluated. Furthermore, the key parameters affecting the failure modes and the corresponding parameters ranges are proposed in this paper.

• Journal of Korean Association for Spatial Structures
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• v.5 no.3 s.17
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• pp.109-115
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• 2005

The experimental work was performed to investigate the effect influenced to the hystresis and the flexural strength improvement of RC beam using carbon fiber plates. Major parameters of this experimental program were the section size of carbon fiber plates and the damage level of RC beam before reinforcement. Particularly, the damage level of beam is for the cases damaged by overloads. The damage level is for 30%, 60%, and 100% of flexural strength, and no damaged beams were also tested for comparison with the damaged one. from the test results, it showed that the beams reinforced by carbon fiber plates had the higher strength and lower deformation capacity than the general beams and that it had the same ductility ratio of the general beams.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2008.04a
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• pp.165-168
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• 2008

This paper presents the design, fabrication and performance of a reinforced concrete beam strengthened by GFRP box plate and its possibility for structural rehabilitations. The load capacity, ductility and failure mode of reinforced concrete structures strengthened by FRP box plate were investigated and compared with traditional FRP plate strengthening method. This is intended to assess the feasibility of using FRP box plate for repair and strengthening of damaged RC beams. A series of four-point bending tests were conducted on RC beams with or without strengthening FRP systems the influence of concrete cover thickness on the performance of overall stiffness of the structure. The parameters obtained by the experimental studies were the stiffness, strength, crack width and pattern, failure mode, respectively. The test yielded complete load-deflection curves from which the increase in load capacity and the failure mode was evaluated.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.212-226
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• 2006

This paper is a continuation of the authors' previous work on spiral coil heat exchangers. In the present study, the heat transfer characteristics and the performance of a spirally coiled finned tube heat exchanger under wet-surface conditions are theoretically and experimentally investigated. The test section is a spiral-coil heat exchanger which consists of a steel shell and a spirally coiled tube unit. The spiral-coil unit consists of six layers of concentric spirally coiled finned tubes. Each tube is fabricated by bending a 9.6 mm diameter straight copper tube into a spiral-coil of four turns. The innermost and outermost diameters of each spiral-coil are 145.0 and 350.4 mm, respectively. Aluminium crimped spiral fins with thickness of 0.6 mm and outer diameter of 28.4 mm are placed around the tube. The edge of fin at the inner diameter is corrugated. Air and water are used as working fluids in shell side and tube side, respectively. The experiments are done under dehumidifying conditions. A mathematical model based on the conservation of mass and energy is developed to simulate the flow and heat transfer characteristics of working fluids flowing through the heat exchanger. The results obtained from the present model show reasonable agreement with the experimental data.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.217-232
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• 2019

Modular steel buildings consist of prefabricated room-sized structural units that are manufactured offsite and installed onsite. The inter-module connections must fulfill the assembly construction requirements and soundly transfer the external loads. This work proposes an innovative assembled connection suitable for modular buildings with concrete-filled steel tube columns. The connection uses pretensioned strands and plugin bars to vertically connect the adjacent modular columns. The moment-transferring performance of this inter-module connection was studied through monotonic and cyclic loading tests. The results showed that because of the assembly construction, the connected sections were separated under lateral bending, and the prestressed inter-module connection performed as a weak semirigid connection. The moment strength at the early loading stage originated primarily from the contact bonding mechanism with the infilled concrete, and the postyield strength depended mainly on the tensioned strands. The connection displayed a self-centering-like behavior that the induced deformation was reversed during unloading. The energy dissipation originated primarily from frictional slipping of the plugin bars and steel strands. The moment transferring ability was closely related to the section dimension and the arrangements of the plugin bars and steel strands. A simplified strength calculation and evaluation method was also proposed, and the effectiveness was validated with the test data.