• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제51권1호
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• pp.163-180
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• 2014

In the displacement based finite element analysis of composite beams that consist of two Euler-Bernoulli beams juxtaposed with a deformable shear connection, the coupling of the displacement fields may cause oscillations in the interlayer slip field and reduction in optimal convergence rate, known as slip-locking. In this study, the B-bar procedure is proposed to alleviate the locking effects. It is also shown that by changing the primary dependent variables in the mathematical model, to be able to interpolate the interlayer slip field directly, oscillations in the slip field can be completely eliminated. Examples are presented to illustrate the performance and the numerical characteristics of the proposed methods.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제43권3호
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• pp.363-373
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• 2022

As a key reinforcement connection between a tower and a substructure in offshore wind turbine system, the transition piece is inevitably subjected to cyclic dynamic environmental loads such as wind, current and wave. Therefore, well designed transition piece with high strength and good fatigue resistance is of great significance to the structural safety and reliability of offshore wind power systems. In this study, the structural behavior of the transition piece was studied by an extensive sets of finite element analyses. Three widely used types of transition piece were considered. The characteristics of stress development, fatigue life and weight depending on the type of the transition piece were investigated in the ultimate limit state (ULS) and the fatigue limit state (FLS) of a 5-MW offshore wind turbine to be placed in Korea. An optimal form of the transition piece was proposed based on this parametric study.

• 한국환경과학회지
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• 제10권1호
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• pp.73-77
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• 2001

This study examined blends of styrene butadiene rubber(SBR) and chloroprene rubber(CR) prepared from an open 2-roll mill following the conventional polymer blend method for a wide range of the blend composition. Rubber vulcanizates were manufactured by hot press and then mechanical properties, heat and ozone resistance of the specimens were examined. Due to the post cure during the aging test, hardness of vulcanizates was increased. It was found that the undesirable characteristics of heat and ozone resistance of pure SBR was significantly improved through the blending of SBR with CR.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• 제10권1호
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• pp.39-44
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• 2019

LID facilities do not consider environmental factors, and due to inappropriate vegetation planting causing degradation in efficiency due to plant damage and difficulty in maintenance. Therefore, in this study, assessment of impact environmental factor by seasonal variation of chlorophyll and growth of vegetation planted in LID technologies and change of pollutant reduction were conducted. In the case of B-SJ and B-RI, growth rate decreased after summer (August), and B-MG showed steady growth until autumn (September). Chlorophyll was found to increase during spring season while it decreased during autumn season. The chlorophyll concentration was found to affect the plant growth pattern. TN reduction efficiency was highest with greater than 80% efficiency in summer, and it was analyzed that plants were identified as the main factor affecting the seasonal reduction efficiency of TN. Also, temperature and relative humidity were analyzed to affect plant growth, activity and pollutant removal efficiency. Plant type and growth pattern are considered as factors to be considered in selection of appropriate plant types in LID technologies.

• Wind and Structures
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• 제24권6호
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• pp.613-635
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• 2017

Strong downslope windstorms often occur in the Liguria Region. This part of North-Western Italy is characterised by an almost continuous mountain range along its West-East axis consisting of Maritime Alps and Apennines, which separate the Padan Plain to the North from the Mediterranean Sea to the South. Along this mountain range many valleys occur, frequently perpendicular to the mountain range axis, where strong gap flows sometimes develop from the top of the mountains ridge to the sea. In the framework of the European projects "Wind and Ports" and "Wind, Ports, and Sea", an anemometric monitoring network made up of 15 (ultra)sonic anemometric stations and 2 LiDARs has been realised in the three main commercial ports of Liguria. Thanks to this network two investigations are herein carried out. First, the wind climatology and the main statistical parameters of one Liguria valley have been studied through the analysis of the measurements taken along a period of 4 years by the anemometer placed at its southern exit. Then, the main characteristics of two strong gap flows that occurred in two distinct valley of Liguria are examined. Both these studies focus, on the one hand, on the climatological and meteorological characterisation of the downslope wind events and, on the other hand, on their most relevant quantities that can affect wind engineering problems.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• 제28권1호
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• pp.77-87
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• 2022

Many geotechnical analyses require the investigation of water flow within partially saturated soil zone to incorporate the effect of climatic conditions. It is widely understood that the hydraulic properties of the partially saturated soil should be included in the transient seepage analyses. However, the characteristics of dual porosity soils with dual-mode water retention curve are normally modelled using single-mode mathematical equation for simplification of the analysis. In reality, the rainwater flow can be affected significantly by the dual-mode hydraulic properties of the soil. This paper presents the variations of safety factor for dual porosity soil slope with dual-mode water retention curve and dual-mode unsaturated permeability. This paper includes the development of the new dual-mode unsaturated permeability to represent the characteristics of soil with the dual-mode water retention curve. The finite element analyses were conducted to examine the role of dual-mode water retention curve and dual-mode unsaturated permeability on the variations of safety factor under rainfall loading. The results indicate that the safety factor variations of dual porosity soil slope modelled using the dual-mode water retention curve and the unsaturated permeability equation are lower than those of dual porosity slope modelled using single-mode water retention curve and unsaturated permeability equations.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• 제37권4호
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• pp.359-370
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• 2024

The primary goal of this study is to evaluate the migration of fine granular materials into overlying layers under cyclic loading using a modified large-scale triaxial system as a physical model test. Samples prepared for the modified large-scale triaxial system comprised a 60 mm thick gravel layer overlying a 120 mm thick subgrade layer, which could be either tailings or railway sand. A quantitative analysis of the migration of fine granular materials was based on the mass percentage and grain size of migrated materials collected in the gravel. In addition, the cyclic characteristics, i.e., accumulated axial strain and excess pore water pressure, were evaluated. As a result, the total migration rate of the railway sand sample was found to be small. However, the total migration rate of the sample containing tailings in the subgrade layer was much higher than that of the railway sand sample. In addition, the migration analysis revealed that finer tailings particles tended to be migrated into the upper gravel layer easier than coarser tailings particles under cyclic loading. This could be involved in significant increases in excess pore water pressure at the last cycles of the physical model test.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• 제7권6호
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• pp.1283-1301
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• 2014

Ground motion modification is extensively used in seismic design of civil infrastructure, especially where few or no recorded ground motions representative of the design scenario are available. A site in Los Angeles, California is used as a study site and 28 ground motions consistent with the design earthquake scenario are selected. The suite of 28 ground motions is scaled and modified in the time domain (TD) and frequency domain (FD) before being used as input to a bilinear SDOF system. The median structural responses to the suites of scaled, TD-modified, and FD-modified motions, along with ratios of he modified-to-scaled responses, are investigated for SDOF systems with different periods, strength ratios, and post-yield stiffness ratios. Overall, little difference (less than 20%) is observed in the peak structural accelerations, velocities, and displacements; displacement ductility; and absolute accelerations caused by the TD-modified and FD-modified motions when compared to the responses caused by the scaled motions. The energy absorbed by the system when the modified motions are used as input is more than 20% greater than when scaled motions are used as input. The observed trends in the structural response are predominantly the result of changes in the ground motion characteristics caused by modification.

• Interaction and multiscale mechanics
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• 제1권1호
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• pp.33-51
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• 2008

This paper investigates the modelling of coupled soil-structure interaction problems by domain decomposition techniques. It is assumed that the soil-structure system is physically partitioned into soil and structure subdomains, which are independently modelled. Coupling of the separately modelled partitioned subdomains is undertaken with various algorithms based on the sequential iterative Dirichlet-Neumann sub-structuring method, which ensures compatibility and equilibrium at the interface boundaries of the subdomains. A number of mathematical and computational characteristics of the coupling algorithms, including the convergence conditions and choice of algorithmic parameters leading to enhanced convergence of the iterative method, are discussed. Based on the presented coupling algorithms a simulation environment, utilizing discipline-oriented solvers for nonlinear structural and geotechnical analysis, is developed which is used here to demonstrate the performance characteristics and benefits of various algorithms. Finally, the developed tool is used in a case study involving nonlinear soil-structure interaction analysis between a plane frame and soil subjected to ground excavation. This study highlights the relative performance of the various considered coupling algorithms in modelling real soil-structure interaction problems, in which nonlinearity arises in both the structure and the soil, and leads to important conclusions regarding their adequacy for such problems as well as the prospects for further enhancements.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• 제1권1호
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• pp.35-52
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• 2009

A significantly thick zone of steep slopes is commonly encountered above groundwater table and the soils within this zone are unsaturated with negative pore-water pressures (i.e., matric suction). Matric suction contributes significantly to the shear strength of soil and to the factor of safety of unsaturated slopes. However, infiltration during rainfall increases the pore-water pressure in soil resulting in a decrease in the matric suction and the shear strength of the soil. As a result, rainfall infiltration may eventually trigger a slope failure. Therefore, understanding of shear strength characteristics of saturated and unsaturated soils under shearing-infiltration (SI) conditions have direct implications in assessment of slope stability under rainfall conditions. This paper presents results from a series of consolidated drained (CD) and shearing-infiltration (SI) tests. Results show that the failure envelope obtained from the shearing-infiltration tests is independent of the infiltration rate. Failure envelopes obtained from CD and SI tests appear to be similar. For practical purposes the shear strength parameters from the CD tests can be used in stability analyses of slopes under rainfall conditions. The SI tests might be performed to obtain more conservative shear strength parameters and to study the pore-water pressure changes during infiltration.