• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.69-78
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• 2023

This investigation delves into the adverse repercussions stemming from the impact of arsenic on steel pipes concealed within soil designated for rice cultivation. Simultaneously, the study aims to ascertain effective techniques for detecting arsenic in the soil and to provide strategies for mitigating the corrosion of steel pipes. The realm of nanotechnology presents promising avenues for addressing the intricate intersection of renewable energy, oil, and environmental pollution from a novel perspective. Nanostructured materials, characterized by distinct chemical and physical attributes, unveil novel pathways for pioneering materials that exert a substantial impact across diverse realms of food production, storage, packaging, and quality control. Within the scope of the food industry, the scope of nanotechnology encompasses processes, storage methodologies, packaging paradigms, and safeguards to ensure the safety of consumables. Of particular note, silver nanoparticles, in addition to their commendable antibacterial efficacy, boast anti-fungal and anti-inflammatory prowess, environmental compatibility, minimal irritability and allergenicity, resilience to microbial antagonism, thermal stability, and robustness. Confronting the pressing issue of arsenic contamination within both environmental settings and the food supply is of paramount importance to preserve public health and ecological equilibrium. In response, this study introduces detection kits predicated upon silver nanoparticles, providing an expeditious and economically feasible avenue for identifying arsenic concentrations ranging from 0.5 to 3 ppm within rice. Subsequent quantification employs Hydride Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (HG-AAS), which features a detection threshold of 0.05 ㎍/l. A salient advantage inherent in the HG-AAS methodology lies in its capacity to segregate analytes from the sample matrix, thereby significantly reducing instances of spectral interference. Importantly, the presence of arsenic in the soil beneath rice cultivation establishes a causative link to steel pipe corrosion, with potential consequences extending to food contamination-an intricate facet embedded within the broader tapestry of renewable energy, oil, and environmental pollution.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.621-630
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• 2024

This study presents novel electromagnetic wave-based methods for evaluating the integrity of cement-based structures using time domain reflectometry (TDR). Two cement-based plates with embedded rebars are prepared under sound and defective conditions. TDR tests are carried out using transmission lines with various numbers of artificial joints, and electromagnetic waves are measured to assess the integrity of the plates. The experimental results show that the travel time of electromagnetic waves is consistently longer in sound plates than in defective ones, and an increase in the reflection coefficients is observed in the defect zone of the defective plates. Electromagnetic wave velocities are higher in the defective plates, especially when connectors are present in the transmission line. A novel approach based on the area of the reflection coefficient provides larger areas in the defective plates, and the attenuation effect of the electromagnetic waves induces a difference in the areas of the reflection coefficient between the two defect conditions. An alternative method using the centroid of the defect zone slightly overestimates the location of the defect zone. The length of the defect zone is estimated using the defect ratio and wave velocities of cement, air, and plate. The length of the defect zone can also be calculated using the travel times within the plate, total measured length of the plate, and wave velocities in the cement and air. Therefore, the electromagnetic wave-based methods proposed in this study may be useful for estimating the location and length of defect zones by considering attenuation effects.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.115-122
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• 2006

Ten types of steel bars having different Cr contents were embedded in concretes with chloride ion contents of 0.3, 0.6, 1.2, and $2.4kg/m^3$ to fabricate specimens assuming such deteriorative environments. After being carbonated to the reinforcement level, these concretes were subjected to corrosion-accelerating cycles of heating/cooling and drying/wetting. The time-related changes in the corrosion area and corrosion loss of the Cr-bearing rebars were then measured to investigate their corrosion resistance. The results revealed that in a deteriorative environment prone to both carbonation and chloride attack, corrosion resistance was evident with a Cr content of 7% or more and 9% or more in concretes with chloride ion contents of 1.2 and $2.4kg/m^3$, respectively.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.1505-1516
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• 2014

In this study, a cylinder embedded within cemented soils was used to cause directly tensile failure of cemented soils. An existing dumbbell type direct tensile test and a split tensile test that is most general indirect tensile test were also carried out to verify the developed built-in cylinder tensile test. Testing specimens with two different sand/cement ratios (1:1 and 3:1) and two curing periods (7 and 28 days) were prepared and tested. Total 10 specimens were prepared for each case and their average value was evaluated. Unconfined compression tests were also carried out and the ratio of compressive strength and tensile strength was evaluated. The tensile strength determined by built-in cylinder tensile test was slightly higher than that by dumbbell type direct tensile test. The dumbbell type test has often failed in joint part of specimen and showed some difficulty to prepare a specimen. Among three tensile testing methods, the standard deviation of tensile strength by split tensile test was highest. It was shown that the split tensile test is applicable to concrete or rock with elastic failure but not for cemented soils having lower strength.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.715-722
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• 2015

The prestressing force has not been managed after construction nevertheless it is one of the importrant factors that maintain the structural safety of PSC girder bridges. The prestressing force is just measured during construction using jacking device and after that, it can not be managed practically. For this reason, this study investigated the measurements of prestress using embedded sensors that can be available now with an ultimate goal to propose smart prestressed girders that can measure the prestress from the birth to the end of service life. 4 types of sensors were installed on the small prestressed girders, and the applicability and the accuracy of those sensors were tested while the prestress was applied to the girders. The results show that a center-hole type loadcell has a tendency to measure a prestressing force higher than a reference value, especially when it is loaded with an eccentricity. a EM sensor shows several advantages that has a good practical accuracy, that can be installed anyplace along the tendons.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.49 no.7
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• pp.1547-1554
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• 2017

VESTA (Verification of Ex-vessel corium STAbilization) and VESTA-S (-small) test facilities were constructed at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute in 2010 to perform various corium melt experiments. Since then, several tests have been performed for the verification of an ex-vessel core catcher design for the EU-APR1400. Ablation tests of an impinging $ZrO_2$ melt jet on a sacrificial material were performed to investigate the ablation characteristics. $ZrO_2$ melt in an amount of 65-70 kg was discharged onto a sacrificial material through a well-designed nozzle, after which the ablation depths were measured. Interaction tests between the metallic melt and sacrificial material were performed to investigate the interaction kinetics of the sacrificial material. Two types of melt were used: one is a metallic corium melt with Fe 46%, U 31%, Zr 16%, and Cr 7% (maximum possible content of U and Zr for C-40), and the other is a stainless steel (SUS304) melt. Metallic melt in an amount of 1.5-2.0 kg was delivered onto the sacrificial material, and the ablation depths were measured. Penetration tube failure tests were performed for an APR1400 equipped with 61 in-core instrumentation penetration nozzles and extended tubes at the reactor lower vessel. $ZrO_2$ melt was generated in a melting crucible and delivered down into an interaction crucible where the test specimen is installed. To evaluate the tube ejection mechanism, temperature distributions of the reactor bottom head and in-core instrumentation penetration were measured by a series of thermocouples embedded along the specimen. In addition, lower vessel failure tests for the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant are being performed. As a first step, the configuration of the molten core in the plant was investigated by a melting and solidification experiment. Approximately 5 kg of a mixture, whose composition in terms of weight is $UO_2$ 60%, Zr 10%, $ZrO_2$ 15%, SUS304 14%, and $B_4C$ 1%, was melted in a cold crucible using an induction heating technique.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.403-413
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• 2007

As rock bolts become one of the main support systems in tunnels and underground structures, the integrity of the rock bolts affects the safety of these types of structures. The purpose of this study is the evaluation of rock bolt integrity using Fourier and wavelet transforms of the guided ultrasonic waves. After five rock bolt specimens with various defect ratios are embedded into a large scale concrete block, guided waves are generated by a PZT (lead zirconate titanate) element and measured by an acoustic emission (AE) sensor. The captured signals are analyzed in the frequency domain using the Fourier transform, and in the time-frequency domain using the wavelet transform based on a Gabor wavelet. The spectrum obtained from the Fourier transform shows that a portion of high frequency contents increases with increase in the defect ratio. Peak values in the time-frequency domain represent the interval of travel time of each echo. The energy velocities of the guided waves increase with the defect ratio. This study shows that the spectrum ratio and the energy velocity may be indicators fur the evaluation of rock bolt integrity.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.33-40
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• 2018

Characteristics of interface friction between cohesionless soils and geotechnical structure surfaces play an important role in the analysis of earth load and resistance on the structure. In general, geotechnical structures are mainly composed of either steel or concrete, and their surface roughnesses with respect to soil particle sizes influence the interface characteristics between soils and the structures. Accurate assessment of the interface friction characteristics between soils and structures is important to ensure the safety of geotechnical structures, such as mechanically stabilized earth walls reinforced with inextensible reinforcements, piles embedded into soils, retaining wall backfilled with soils. In this study, based on the database of high quality interface friction tests between frictional soils and solid surfaces from literature, equation representing peak interface friction angle is proposed. The influential factors of the peak interface friction angle are relative roughness between soil and solid surface, relative density of frictional soil, and residual (constant volume) interface friction angle. Futhermore, for the developed equation of the interface friction angle, its uncertainty was assessed statistically based on Goodness-of-fit test results.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.17 no.9
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• pp.5-12
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• 2016

Numerical analyses were carried out to simulate tilting control on the suction pile for offshore wind power embedded into cohesive soil and cohesionless soil using finite element software, ABAQUS. A 3-dimensional suction pile was modelled as a wished-in-place pile with $1^{\circ}$ tilted from vertical line. The inner room of suction pile was divided into 3 separate rooms for tilting control, and point load was applied to the center of gravity of a separate room to restore the original position of the suction pile. From numerical analyses, required suction pressure was obtained for desired tilting degree, and the maximum/minimum principle stresses of concrete skirt and the Mises stresses of inner steel wall were collected at original position. It was found that the required suction pressure was about 410 kPa for cohesive soil, and about 1,800 kPa for cohesionless soil.; likewise, obtained stresses were greater for cohesionless soil than cohesive soil.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.10-18
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• 2018

The primary purposes of this study are to understand a fundamental aspect of current uniformity around a reinforcing bar (rebar) in cement mortar, and to develop an accurate monitoring method in a wet-dry cycling process with the alternative current (AC) impedance method. Three cement mortar specimens with two embedded rebars were prepared in the laboratory. As a main variable, the distance between two rebars was designed to be 10, 20 and 30 mm with the same thickness of 20 mm. To simulate the corrosion of rebars in concrete structures in a marine environment, three cement mortar specimens were exposed to 15 wet-drying cycles (24-hour-immersion in seawater and 48-hour-drying in a room temperature) in the laboratory. It was observed that the potential level shifted to a noble value during corrosion potential monitoring, which is attributed to acceleration of dissolved oxygen diffusion at the drying process. AC impedance was measured in a frequency range from 100 kHz to 1 mHz on a wet-drying process. A theoretical model was proposed to explain the interface condition between the rebars and cement mortar by using the equivalent circuit consisting of a solution resistance, a charge transfer resistance and a CPE (constant phase element). It was observed that the diffusion impedance appeared in a low frequency range as corrosion of rebars progresses. At the drying stage of the wet-drying cycles, the currents line for monitoring tended to be non-uniform at the interface of rebar/mortar, being phase shift, ${\theta}$, close to $-45^{\circ}$.