• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.119-143
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• 2021

Selecting liquid methane as fuel is a prevailing trend for recent rocket engine developments around the world, triggered by its affordability, reusability, storability for deep space exploration, and prospect for in-situ resource utilization. Given years of time required for acquiring a new rocket engine, a national-level R&D program to develop a methane engine is highly desirable at the earliest opportunity in order to catch up with this worldwide trend towards reusing launch vehicles for competitiveness and mission flexibility. In light of the monumental cost associated with development, fabrication, and testing of a booster stage engine, it is strategically a prudent choice to start with a low-thrust engine and build up space application cases.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.12
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• pp.2725-2732
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• 2020

This paper presents the neutronics benchmark analysis of the first core of the Indonesian multipurpose research reactor RSG-GAS (Reaktor Serba Guna G.A. Siwabessy) calculated by the Serpent Monte Carlo code and the newly released ENDF/B-VIII.0 nuclear data library. RSG-GAS is a 30 MWth pool-type material testing research reactor loaded with plate-type low-enriched uranium fuel using light water as a coolant and moderator and beryllium as a reflector. Two groups of critical benchmark problems are derived on the basis of the criticality and control rod calibration experiments of the first core of RSG-GAS. The calculated results, such as the neutron effective multiplication factor (k) value and the control rod worth are compared with the experimental data. Moreover, additional calculated results, including the neutron spectra in the core, fission rate distribution, burnup calculation, sensitivity coefficients, and kinetics parameters of the first core will be compared with the previous nuclear data libraries (interlibrary comparison) such as ENDF/B-VII.1 and JENDL-4.0. The C/E values of ENDF/B-VIII.0 tend to be slightly higher compared with other nuclear data libraries. Furthermore, the neutron reaction cross-sections of ¹⁶O, ⁹Be, ²³⁵U, ²³⁸U, and S(𝛼,𝛽) of ¹H in H₂O from ENDF/B-VIII.0 have substantial updates; hence, the k sensitivities against these cross-section changes are relatively higher than other isotopes in RSG-GAS. Other important neutronics parameters such as kinetics parameters, control rod worth, and fission rate distribution are similar and consistent among the nuclear data libraries.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.599-611
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• 2022

Tendon reinforced cemented soil is applied extensively in foundation stabilisation and improvement, especially in areas with soft clay. To solve the deterioration problem led by steel corrosion, the glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) tendon is introduced to substitute the traditional steel tendon. The interface bond strength between the cemented soil matrix and GFRP tendon demonstrates the outstanding mechanical property of this composite. However, the lack of research between the influence factors and bond strength hinders the application. To evaluate these factors, back propagation neural network (BPNN) is applied to predict the relationship between them and bond strength. Since adjusting BPNN parameters is time-consuming and laborious, the particle swarm optimisation (PSO) algorithm is proposed. This study evaluated the influence of water content, cement content, curing time, and slip distance on the bond performance of GFRP tendon-reinforced cemented soils (GTRCS). The results showed that the ultimate and residual bond strengths were both in positive proportion to cement content and negative to water content. The sample cured for 28 days with 30% water content and 50% cement content had the largest ultimate strength (3879.40 kPa). The PSO-BPNN model was tuned with 3 neurons in the input layer, 10 in the hidden layer, and 1 in the output layer. It showed outstanding performance on a large database comprising 405 testing results. Its higher correlation coefficient (0.908) and lower root-mean-square error (239.11 kPa) were obtained compared to multiple linear regression (MLR) and logistic regression (LR). In addition, a sensitivity analysis was applied to acquire the ranking of the input variables. The results illustrated that the cement content performed the strongest influence on bond strength, followed by the water content and slip displacement.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.22-27
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• 2022

In accordance with the growing trend of decommissioning nuclear facilities, research on the cutting process is actively proceeding worldwide. In general, a thermal cutting process, such as plasma cutting is applied to decommissioning a nuclear reactor pressure vessel (RPV). Plasma cutting has the advantage of removing the radioactive materials and being able to cut thick materials. However, when operating under water, the molten metal remains in the cut plane and re-solidifies. Hence, cutting is not entirely accomplished. For these environmental reasons, it is difficult to cut thick metal. The contact arc metal cutting (CAMC) process can be used to cut thick metal under water. CAMC is a process that cuts metal using a plate-shaped electrode based on a high-current arc plasma heat source. During the cutting process, high-pressure water is sprayed from the electrode to remove the molten metal, known as rinsing. As the CAMC is conducted without using a shielding gas, such as Argon, the electrode is consumed during the process. In this study, CAMC is introduced as a method for dismantling nuclear vessels and the relationship between the metal removal and electrode consumption is investigated according to the cutting conditions.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.11-18
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• 2023

This study explores a new energy partitioning approach to determine the fracture toughness of 3-D printed pristine/recycled high density polyethylene (HDPE) blends employing the essential work of fracture (EWF) concept. The traditional EWF approach conducts a uniaxial tensile test with double-edge notched tensile (DENT) specimens and measures the total energy defined by the area under a load-displacement curve until failure. The approach assumes that the entire total energy contributes to the fracture process only. This assumption is generally true for extruded polymers that fracture occurs in a material body. In contrast to the traditional extrusion manufacturing process, the current 3-D printing technique employs fused deposition modeling (FDM) that produces layer-by-layer structured specimens. This type of specimen tends to include separation energy even after the complete failure of specimens when the fracture test is conducted. The separation is not relevant to the fracture process, and the raw experimental data are likely to possess random variation or noise during fracture testing. Therefore, the current EWF approach may not be suitable for the fracture characterization of 3-D printed specimens. This paper proposed a new energy partitioning approach to exclude the irrelevant energy of the specimens caused by their intrinsic structural issues. The approach determined the energy partitioning location based on experimental data and observations. Results prove that the new approach provided more consistent results with a higher coefficient of correlation.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.385-403
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• 2023

To avoid premature damage to the connection joints of a conventional precast concrete shear wall, a new precast concrete shear wall system (NPSW) based on a plastic damage relocation design concept was proposed. Five specimens, including one monolithic cast-in-place concrete shear wall (MSW) as a reference and four NPSWs with different connection details (TNPSW, INPSW, HNPSW, and TNPSW-N), were designed and tested by lateral low-cyclic loading. To accurately assess the damage relocation effect and quantify the damage and deformation, digital image correlation (DIC) and conventional data acquisition methods were used in the experimental program. The concrete cracking development, crack area ratio, maximum residual crack width, curvature of the wall panel, lateral displacement, and deformed shapes of the specimens were investigated. The results showed that the plastic damage relocation design concept was effective; the initial cracking occurred at the bottom of the precast shear wall panel (middle section) of the proposed NPSWs. The test results indicated that the crack area ratio and the maximum residual crack width of the NPSWs were less than those of the MSW. The NPSWs were deformed continuously; significant distortions did not occur in their connection regions, demonstrating the merits of the proposed NPSWs. The curvatures of the middle sections of the NPSWs were lower than that of the MSW after a drift ratio of 0.5%. Among the NPSWs, HNPSW demonstrated the best performance, as its crack area ratio, concrete damage, and maximum residual crack width were the lowest.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.27-39
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• 2023

Twenty-five Eucalyptus clones (14 E. camaldulensis - EC and 11 interspecific eucalypt hybrid clones - EH) grown in three contrasting sites were evaluated for the growth and few wood traits at 4 years of age. The stability, genotype-site interaction and suitability of these clones for pulp and solid wood industry sectors were studied. Growth of eucalypt clones was significantly higher at site 1 with higher rainfall, but wood density did not differ significantly from lower rainfall sites. Kraft pulp yield (KPY) decreased from sites 1 to 3 based on moisture availability, but not between two groups of clones. Volumetric shrinkage (VS) was significantly higher in EC clones at site 3 with lowest rainfall, but there was no specific trend at other two sites with maximum (site 1) and intermediate (site 2) rainfall. The mechanical traits modulus of rupture (MOR) and modulus of elasticity (MOE) were at par in sites 1 and 2, but significantly lower at the driest site 3. The growth rate had a significant positive correlation with KPY, MOR and MOE and a negative correlation with VS, but no significant impact on wood density in both groups of clones. Genotype×environment interaction (G×E) was evident in most traits due to the difference in response of clones to moisture availability. Since wood density was negatively correlated to KPY, it has to be kept at an optimum level for the profitability of pulp industry. There was no significant difference between EC and EH clones for most traits except VS at site 3. Stability of clones varied across sites in different traits, and hence clones may be selected for deployment at each site by screening for growth, followed by wood density, considering the relationship of growth and density with other traits required by pulp and solid wood industry sectors.

• Composites Research
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.39-44
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• 2009

The effect of exposure times on the aging characteristics of carbon fiber/epoxy composite ring specimen was evaluated using an accelerating aging tester. Combined exposure conditions, such as temperature, moisture, and ultraviolet, were applied up to 3000 hours. Tensile properties and flexural properties including the effect of curvature were evaluated on the specimens subject to various exposure times through a material testing system. Their aging surfaces were observed through a scanning electron microscope. According to the results, tensile modulus was little affected by the exposure times. However, tensile strength, at the early stage of the exposure times, increased due to physical aging and curing reaction, but tensile strength slightly decreased due to degradation as the exposure times increased. The flexural modulus and flexural strength increased at the early stage of the exposure times, but slightly decreased as the exposure times increased. Aging surfaces of the specimens examined using the scanning electron microscope revealed a different morphology in various exposure times and provided useful information for identifying the degradation in mechanical properties of the composite subject to various exposure times.

• Composites Research
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.23-31
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• 2006

We measured mechanical properties, including Young's modulus, effective bending modulus and nominal fracture strength of nanohoneycomb structures using an Atomic Force Microscope(AFM) and a Nano-Universal Testing Machine(UTM). Anodic aluminum oxide(AAO) films are well suited as nanohoneycomb structures because of the simple fabrication process, high aspect ratio, self-ordered hexagonal pore structure, and simple control of pore dimensions. Bending tests were carried out for cantilever structures by pressing AFM tips, and the results were compared with three-point bending tests and tensile tests using a Nano-UTM. One side of the AAO films is clogged by harrier layers, and looks like a face material of conventional sandwich structures. Analysis of this layer showed that it did not influence the bending rigidity, and was just a crack tip. The present results can act as a design guideline in applications of nanohoneycomb structures.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.181-195
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• 2022

Roughness and joint inclination angle are the important factors that affect the strength and deformation characteristics of jointed rock mass. In this paper, 3D printer has been employed to make molds firstly, and casting the jointed specimens with different joint roughness coefficient (JRC), and different joint inclination angle (α). Conventional triaxial compression tests were carried out on the jointed specimens, and the influence of JRC on the strength and deformation parameters was analyzed. At the same time, acoustic emission (AE) testing system has been adopted to reveal the AE characteristic of the jointed specimens in the process of triaxial compression. Finally, the morphological of the joint surface was observed by digital three-dimensional video microscopy system, and the relationship between the peak strength and JRC under different confining pressures has been discussed. The results indicate that the existence of joint results in a significant reduction in the strength of the joint specimen, JRC also has great influence on the morphology, quantity and spatial distribution characteristics of cracks. With the increase of JRC, the triaxial compressive strength increase, and the specimen will change from brittle failure to ductile failure.