• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.119-130
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• 2019

This study analyzed randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and case studies investigating Chuna manual therapy and variations of this term, for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. On June $15^{th}$, 2019, 6 online databases were used to retrieve studies. A total of 527 articles were retrieved, and 14 RCTs and 20 case studies were selected for review. Typically, the frequency of Chuna therapy was 1-2 times/week. The most common period of treatment was 12 months in RCTs and 3-6 months in case studies. Cobb's angle was the most frequent evaluation index used (11 RCTs and 20 case studies). In control groups, brace treatment was used in 8 RCTs. In 6 RCTs and 20 case studies, Cobb's angle significantly decreased after Chuna therapy, and in 4 RCTs, Chuna therapy was as effective as brace treatment, with no significant difference between groups. Adverse events were not reported except for minor reactions in only 3 case studies. This review suggested that Chuna therapy for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis was more advantageous than and as effective as brace treatment in most cases, although the risk of bias in 13 RCTs was unclear.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.1074-1087
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• 2022

This study reports an optimization of a 3D printed wrist brace (WB) for various tilting angles (0°, 45°, 90°) of the re-entrant (RE) pattern and thickness (2 mm, 4 mm) using thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) filaments and thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) filaments. The actual printing time, weight, Poisson's ratio, and tensile property of the manufactured samples were analyzed. The results confirmed that the actual printing time and weight increased with increasing thickness, regardless of the filament type. All tilting angles of the WB showed a negative Poisson's ratio (NPR), the largest of which appeared at 90°. The results of the tensile property analysis showed that a 90° tilting angle also had the largest value of elongation and stress. From these results, we conclude that the most suitable wrist brace is one in which the actual printing time is low, the weight is minimized to a thickness of 2 mm, and the tilting angle of the RE pattern is 90° for good shock absorption. The choice of filaments may be decided upon according to the user's preference, since the TPU is stiff and the TPE is elastic.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.293-318
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• 2023

This study aims to examine the elastic stiffness properties of Elliptic-Braced Moment Resisting Frame (EBMRF) subjected to lateral loads. Installing the elliptic brace in the middle span of the frames in the facade of a building, as a new lateral bracing system not only it can improve the structural behavior, but it provides sufficient space to consider opening it needed. In this regard, for the first time, an accurate theoretical formulation has been developed in order that the elastic stiffness is investigated in a two-dimensional single-story single-span EBMRF. The concept of strain energy and Castigliano's theorem were employed to perform the analysis. All influential factors were considered, including axial and shearing loads in addition to the bending moment in the elliptic brace. At the end of the analysis, the elastic lateral stiffness could be calculated using an improved relation through strain energy method based on geometric properties of the employed sections as well as specifications of the utilized materials. For the ease of finite element (FE) modeling and its use in linear design, an equivalent element was developed for the elliptic brace. The proposed relation was verified by different examples using OpenSees software. It was found that there is a negligible difference between elastic stiffness values derived by the developed equations and those of numerical analysis using FE method.

• Journal of Korean Association for Spatial Structures
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.73-80
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• 2024

Non-uniform reinforced concrete brace facade systems are newly considered to improve seismic performance of reinforced concrete frame buildings under lateral load. For normal and high strength concrete of 30MPa, 80MPa, and 120MPa, the cross-sections of reinforced concrete brace facade systems were designed as different size with same amount of reinforcements. The strengthened frame systems were analyzed by a non-linear two-dimensional finite element technique which was considering material non-linearities of concrete and reinforcing bars under monotonic and cyclic loadings. From the study of non-linear analysis of the systems, therefore, it was provided that the proposed braced facade systems were reliable to improve laterally load-carrying capacity and minimize damages of concrete members through comparisons of load-displacement curves, crack patterns, and stress distributions of reinforcing bars predicted by current non-linear finite element analysis of frame specimens.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.45-55
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• 2001

The purpose of this paper is to present the optimal design method of viscoelastic dampers and support brace stiffnesses. The dynamics of visco-elastic dampers and support braces connected in series is modeled by state equation. A constraint on maximum story drifts which are computed using RMS\`s of story drifts and peak factors is added to the optimization problem. The number of variables is reduced by including the constraint associated with the dynamic behavior of the structure in the procedure to compute the gradient of the inequality equation about constraint on the maximum story drifts. In the design example, it is confirmed that the design of dampers considering support brace stiffnesses is necessary when sufficient brace stiffnesses cannot be supplied. It is also found that unnecessary brace stiffnesses can be removed by adding brace stiffnesses to optimal design variables and that the increase of damper volumes to compensate for the variation of maximum story drifts is pretty small.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.745-757
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• 2018

The inclusion of a ductile steel bracing as means of repairing an earthquake-damaged bridge bent is evaluated and experimentally assessed for the purposes of restoring the damaged bent's strength and stiffness and further improving the energy dissipation capacity. The study is focused on substandard reinforced concrete multi-column bridge bents constructed in the 1950 to mid-1970 in the United States. These types of bents have numerous deficiencies making them susceptible to seismic damage. Large-scale experiments were used on a two-column reinforced concrete bent to impose considerable damage of the bent through increasing amplitude cyclic deformations. The damaged bent was then repaired by installing a ductile fuse steel brace in the form of a buckling-restrained brace in a diagonal configuration between the columns and using post-tensioned rods to strengthen the cap beam. The brace was secured to the bent using steel gusset plate brackets and post-installed adhesive anchors. The repaired bent was then subjected to increasing amplitude cyclic deformations to reassess the bent performance. A subassemblage test of a nominally identical steel brace was also conducted in an effort to quantify and isolate the ductile fuse behavior. The experimental data from these large-scale experiments were analyzed in terms of the hysteretic response, observed damage, internal member loads, as well as the overall stiffness and energy dissipation characteristics. The results of this study demonstrated the effectiveness of utilizing ductile steel bracing for restoring the bent and preventing further damage to the columns and cap beams while also improving the stiffness and energy dissipation characteristics.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.437-454
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• 2022

Elliptic-braced simple resisting frame as a new lateral bracing system installed in the middle bay of frame in building facades has been recently introduced. This system not only creates a problem for opening space from the architectural viewpoint but also improves the structural behavior. Despite the researches on the seismic performance of lateral bracing systems, there are few studies performed on the effect of the stiffness parameters on the elastic story drift and calculation of period in simple braced steel frames. To overcome this shortcoming, in this paper, for the first time, an analytical solution is presented for calculating elastic lateral stiffness in a simple steel frame equipped with elliptic brace subjected to lateral load. In addition, for the first time, in this study, a precise formulation has been developed to evaluate the elastic stiffness variation in a steel frame equipped with a two-dimensional single-story single-span elliptic brace using strain energy and Castigliano's theorem. Thus, all the effective factors, including axial and shear loads as well as bending moments of elliptic brace could be considered. At the end of the analysis, the lateral stiffness can be calculated by an improved and innovative relation through the energy method based on the geometrical properties of the employed sections and specification of the used material. Also, an equivalent element of an elliptic brace was presented for the ease of modeling and use in linear designs. Application of the proposed relation have been verified through a variety of examples in OpenSees software. Based on the results, the error percentage between the elastic stiffness derived from the developed equations and the numerical analyses of finite element models was very low and negligible.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.86 no.6
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• pp.739-750
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• 2023

This study examines the two-level behavior of the toggle brace damper within a steel frame having a yielding pipe damper and rotational friction damper. The proposed system has two kinds of fuse for energy dissipation in two stages. In this mechanism, rotational friction damper rather than hinged connection is used in toggle brace system, connected to a pipe damper with a limited gap. In order to create a gap, bolted connection with the slotted hole is used, such that first a specific movement of the rotational friction damper solely is engaged but with an increase in movement, the yielding damper is also involved. The performance of the system is such that at the beginning of loading the rotational friction damper, as the first fuse, absorbs energy and with increasing the input load and further movement of the frame, yielding damper as the second fuse, along with rotational friction damper would dissipate the input energy. The models created by ABAQUS are subjected to cyclic and seismic loading. Considering the results obtained, the flexibility of the hybrid two-level system is more comparable to the conventional toggle brace damper. Moreover, this system sustains longer lateral displacements. The energy dissipation of these two systems is modeled in multi-story frames in SAP2000 software and their performance is analyzed using time-history analysis. According to the results, permanent relocations of the roof in the two-level system, in comparison with toggle brace damper system in 2, 5, and 8-story building frames, in average, decrease by 15, 55, and 37% respectively. This amount in a 5-story building frame under the earthquakes with one-third scale decreases by 64%.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2005.04a
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• pp.619-627
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• 2005

An initial member sections of steel structures is selected by experience of expert building structural designers. And appropriate member section is designed by repeat calculation through structural analysis. Therefore an initial assumption of member section is necessary for saving the time for structural design and is important to acquire safety of building structures. Also brace damper are generally used to prevent or decrease structural damage by its hysteretic behavior in building structures subjected to strong earthquake. Based on plastic design, the initial section of members for architectural steel structures with brace hysteretic dampers is presented and seismic effect of structural behavior by the ratio of damper stiffness to structural story stiffness is estimated in this paper.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2004.10a
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• pp.288-295
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• 2004

Concentrically braced steel frames are considered as being quite pone to soft-story response due to the degradation in brace compressive resistance after buckling under severe ground motions. When combined with the system P-Delta effects, collapse of the concentrically brsced frames by dynamic instability becomes highly probable. In this stidy, a new, relatively simple dynamic instability coefficient was proposed for diagonally braced steel flames by explicitly considering the strength degradation of the brace after buckling. Nonlinear dynamic analysis results showed that the dynamic instability coefficient proposed in this study predicted collapse limit state more consistently than the conventional one which ignores the strength degradation of the brace.