• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.32 no.8
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• pp.1221-1230
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• 2008

Inflatable rubber dams are used for controlling flood, impounding water for recreations, preventing beach erosions, diverting water for irrigations, and generating hydropower. They are long, flexible, inflated with air, cylindrical structures on a rigid horizontal foundation such as concrete. The dam is modeled as an elastic shell inflated with air. The mechanical behaviors of the inflated dam model were investigated by using the finite element method. The analysis process such as One Way Coupling Fluid-Structure Interaction consists of two steps. First, the influences of the fluid side were investigated, viz, the shape changes of the inflated rubber dam due to the fluid motions was captured when the height of the dam was 30cm with air pressure 0.01MPa, at which the pressure distributions over the surface of the dam were calculated. And next, the structural deformations were calculated using the pressure distributions. The initial inlet velocity for flow field was set to 0.1m/s. The structural deformation behaviors were investigated. The final research goal is to develop a Korean Inflatable Rubber Dam to be used for generating small hydropower.

• Advances in aircraft and spacecraft science
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• v.5 no.6
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• pp.653-669
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• 2018

This work has the objective to analyze multibody mechanisms of inflatable structures for manned space applications. The focus is on the evaluation of the main characteristics of MaxFlex, a new module of MSC Adams including the effect of nonlinear flexible bodies. MaxFlex integrates the nonlinear Finite Element Analysis (FEA) of Nastran-SOL400-and the Adams multibody capabilities in one unique solver, providing an improvement concerning the concept and technology based on the co-simulation among solvers. MaxFlex converts the equations of motion of the nonlinear FEA into phase-space form and discretizes them according to the multibody system integrator framework. The numerical results deal with an inflatable manned space module having rigid components and a flexible coating made of Kevlar. This paper is a preliminary assessment of the computational capabilities of the software and does not provide realistic guidelines for the actual design of the structure. The analysis leads to some recommendations related to the main issues to consider in a nonlinear simulation including both rigid and flexible components. The results underline the importance of realistic deployment times and applied forces. Also, a proper structural modeling is necessary, but can lead to excessive computational overheads.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.617-632
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• 2011

A concept of crash energy absorbing (CEA) lattice structure for an inflatable morphing vehicle body (Lee et al. 2008) has been investigated as a method of providing rigidity and energy absorption capability during a vehicular collision (Lee et al. 2007). A modified analytical model for the CEA lattice structure design is described in this paper. The modification of the analytic model was made with a stiffness approach for the elastic region and updated plastic limit analysis with a pure plastic bending deformation concept and amended elongation factors for the plastic region. The proposed CEA structure is composed of a morphing lattice structure with movable thin-walled members for morphing purposes, members that will be locked in designated positions either before or during the crash. What will be described here is how to model the CEA structure analytically based on the energy absorbed by the CEA structure.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.469-484
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• 2020

This study focused on shielding through inflatable structure in the event of sudden water inflow into the submerged floating tunnels. Currently, there is a lack of measures to deal with unexpected water in tunnels in Korea. Although water treatment facilities such as waterproofing and floodgates in tunnels are installed, there are limitations to the sudden inflow of large amounts of seawater or underground water. Also, floodgates cannot respond quickly to sudden damage due to slow blocking time. Accordingly, a study was conducted on the shielding rate and axial movement distance for inflatable structure. The results of the reduced model experiment confirmed that the number of inflatable structure and internal pneumatic pressure influence on the shielding rate. As the number of inflatable structure increased from one to two, the shielding rate increased by about 35 up to 40 percent. It was also confirmed that the shielding rate increased by about 4 percent as the internal pneumatic pressure increased from 0.2 bar to 0.3 bar. If we verify and further develop the results identified in this study through a real-size experiment, it will be able to be used as an effective waterproof measure for sudden water inflow into the undersea tunnels or underwater tunnels.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.161-177
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• 2017

This paper presents the design considerations and field applications on inflatable structure system to protect rapidly flooding damages in large section tunnel. This inflatable structure system is very valuably used to protect passively and rapidly the possibilities of tunnel damages by flooding threats and unusual leakage to be occurred during and after underground infrastructure. In particular, this system should be necessary in subsea tunnel. The predominant factors in the design of inflatable structure system are the leakage and friction characteristics between the inflater and tunnel liner. The analytical and experimental studies are performed to develop the design considerations and to examine the design parameters of the inflatable structure system. The analytical solutions are developed using membrane theory to suggest the design considerations. The relative friction tests of several fabric materials are also carried out to determine the friction characteristics according to the different friction conditions between inflater and tunnel surface. The test results show that the friction coefficients in wet surface condition are about 20% lower than the values in dry surface condition. In addition, virtual design of tunnel protection system for two virtual subsea tunnel sites which is under reviewing in Korea, is carried out based on this research. It is expected that the results of this research will be very useful to understand the inflater structure design and development the technology of tunnel protection structures in the future.

• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.319-324
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• 2018

Due to climate change, water shortages and water-related disasters will be serious. Since the damage and frequency of drought are increasing, the importance of water resource management technology is increasing. In this study, we analyzed the amount of greenhouse gas and the environmental impact caused by the production and operation system technologies of movable weir among various water resource management technologies. The research subjects were air inflatable rubber dams widely used in rivers and upright type rubber dams, which are an improvement on the existing rubber type. Each type of dam was studied at sizes of $1,500H{\times}10,000L\;mm$ and $3,000H{\times}20,000L\;mm$, and the two types and two sizes were compared and analyzed. Using life cycle assessment, we examined the environmental impacts using the amount of electricity required for operation and the discretionary amount required for production. In the '$1,500H{\times}10,000L$' dams, the global warming indexes were $9.35E+04kg\;CO_2-eq$. for upright type and $7.36E+04kg\;CO_2-eq$. for inflatable type. At size of '$3,000H{\times}20,000L$' the global warming indexes were $9.09E+05kg\;CO_2-eq$. for upright type and $1.07E+06kg\;CO_2-eq$. for inflatable type. Analysis of the life cycle environmental impact showed that the environmental impact of the air inflatable rubber dam was reduced by 39.8% at '$1,500H{\times}10,000L$' compared to the larger size. At the larger '$3,000H{\times}20,000L$' size, the upright dam showed a 10.1% smaller impact than the air inflatable rubber dam. Selection of water resource management system should consider climate change, not only management purpose and cost. Additional studies and improvements on rubber dam systems should be made.

• International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.91-98
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• 2006

The thermomechanical behaviors of SMA thin film actuator and their application are investigated. The numerical algorithm of the 2-D SMA thermomechanical constitutive equation is developed and implemented into the ABAQUS finite element program by using the user defined material (UMAT) subroutine. To verify the numerical algorithm of SMAs, the results are compared with experimental data. For the application of SMA thin film actuator, the methodology to maintain the precise configuration of inflatable membrane structure is demonstrated.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.334-341
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• 2015

This study is to evaluate hydrodynamic performance evaluation between three kinds of inflatable kayaks, that is, a frame kayak, a needle knife kayak, and a v-hull kayak. In order to test, inclining and turning trial test are performed in the Ocean Engineering Basin. Also, a resistance test is performed with a reduced scale kayak in the circulating water channel. Consequently, First, the moment arm of a v-hull kayak is the largest with 132.4mm, but turning radius of one was the smallest of them. Second, the resistance of a needle knife kayak is the smallest with 71N, the center of gravity of one was the lowest with 0.128m of them, and then needle knife kayak occurs in a draft overall. Consequently, the v-hull kayak has had the advantages on restoring force and turning performance than others. The needle knife kayak has been more excellent on resistance and center of gravity than others.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.178-185
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• 2014

Epidural adhesions cause pain by interfering with the free movement of the spinal nerves and increasing neural sensitivity as a consequence of neural compression. To remove adhesions and deliver injected drugs to target sites, percutaneous epidural adhesiolysis (PEA) is performed in patients who are unresponsive to conservative treatments. We describe four patients who were treated with a newly developed inflatable balloon catheter for more effective PEA and relief of stenosis. In the present patients, treatments with repetitive epidural steroid injection and/or PEA with the Racz catheter or the NaviCath did not yield long-lasting effects or functional improvements. However, PEA and decompression with the inflatable balloon catheter led to maintenance of pain relief for more than seven months and improvements in the functional status with increases in the walking distance. The present case series suggests that the inflatable balloon catheter may be an effective alternative to performing PEA when conventional methods fail to remove adhesions or sufficiently relieve stenosis.

• Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.35-42
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• 2017

In this study, to quantitatively evaluate the strength characteristics of the inflatable liquid used for the recovery of soft ground or partial settlement, the inflatable liquids were prepared by dividing the inflatable capacity and the strength characteristics were analyzed according to the conditions. The experimental group was divided into two groups: relatively high expansion group and low expansion group. The specimens were prepared by controlling the volume of 10 ~ 30% of the maximum expansion volume, and the strength of the specimens were evaluated. The compressive strength of the high expansion group and low expansion group was about 2.1 times.