• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.1045-1055
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• 2017

Tensile strength is considered key properties for characterizing rock material in engineering project. It is determined by direct and indirect methods. Point load test is a useful testing method to estimate the tensile strengths of rocks. In this paper, the effects of rock shape on the point load index of gypsum are investigated by PFC2D simulation. For PFC simulating, initially calibration of PFC was performed with respect to the Brazilian experimental data to ensure the conformity of the simulated numerical models response. In second step, nineteen models with different shape were prepared and tested under point load test. According to the obtained results, as the size of the models increases, the point load strength index increases. It is also found that the shape of particles has no major effect on its tensile strength. Our findings show that the dominant failure pattern for numerical models is breaking the model into two pieces. Also a criterion was rendered numerically for determination of tensile strength of gypsum. The proposed criteria were cross checked with the results of experimental point load test.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.145-158
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• 2014

The objective of this study is to improve the survivability and reliability of the FBG sensor network in the structural health monitoring (SHM) system. Therefore, a model reconstruction soft computing recognition algorithm based on support vector regression (SVR) is proposed to achieve the high reliability of the FBG sensor network, and the grid search algorithm is used to optimize the parameters of SVR model. Furthermore, in order to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed model reconstruction algorithm, a SHM system based on an eight-point fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensor network is designed to monitor the foreign-object low velocity impact of a CFRP composite plate. Simultaneously, some sensors data are neglected to simulate different kinds of FBG sensor network failure modes, the predicting results are compared with non-reconstruction for the same failure mode. The comparative results indicate that the performance of the model reconstruction recognition algorithm based on SVR has more excellence than that of non-reconstruction, and the model reconstruction algorithm almost keeps the consistent predicting accuracy when no sensor, one sensor and two sensors are invalid in the FBG sensor network, thus the reliability is improved when there are FBG sensors are invalid in the structural health monitoring system.

• Ocean Systems Engineering
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.63-82
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• 2014

Declutching control is applied to a hemispherical wave energy converter with direct linear electric Power-Take-Off systems oscillating in heave direction in both regular and irregular waves. The direct linear Power-Take-Off system can be simplified as a mechanical spring and damper system. Time domain model is applied to dynamics of the hemispherical wave energy converter in both regular and irregular waves. And state space model is used to replace the convolution term in time domain equation of the heave oscillation of the converter due to its inconvenience in analyzing the controlled motion of the converters. The declutching control strategy is conducted by optimal command theory based on Pontryagin's maximum principle to gain the controlled optimum sequence of Power-Take-Off forces. The results show that the wave energy converter with declutching control captures more energy than that without control and the former's amplitude and velocity is relatively larger. However, the amplification ratio of the absorbed power by declutching control is only slightly larger than 1. This may indicate that declutching control method may be inapplicable for oscillating wave energy converters with direct linear Power-Take-Off systems in real random sea state, considering the error of prediction of the wave excitation force.

• KIEAE Journal
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.151-157
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• 2013

Since high-rise building construction sites are usually located in crowded city areas, sufficient spaces for the inventories of key materials are rarely available. This spatial constraints have been one of the critical challenge that may cause productivity loss and increasing costs of the high-rise building construction projects. The proper material inventory management is certaing a key to the success of high-rise building construction projects as it handles difficulty of securing material stock yards, changes in demands, uncertain delivery time through integrating the construction schedules and actively responding to the key materials attributes. In this light, this research analyzes the latest inventory model, (Q,r) model, in accordance with the high rise building characteristics. This research suggests an optimal inventory management of re-bar considering various demands and lead times. The case study is also presented with regard to the re-bar inventory management.

• International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.244-258
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• 2015

The horizontal stability of a Single-Point Moored (SPM) Floating Liquefied Natural Gas (FLNG) facility is investigated. Both numerical and experimental studies have been conducted for this SPM FLNG. The numerical simulations feature well the experimental data. The effects of the turret locations are studied based on the validated numerical model. Statistic results of the vessel's motions with different turret locations are conducted and compared. The results show that the longitudinal location of the turret has a significant influence on the horizontal stability, which has a strong relationship with the yaw and roll motions. The calculated top tensions on the hawsers also develop a regular change as changing the turret's location. The investigation will provide a brief of principles with more details for the design of the ongoing project.

• Coupled systems mechanics
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.509-520
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• 2021

Fiber-reinforced concrete (FRC) is a composite material where small fibers made from steel or polypropylene or similar material are embedded into concrete matrix. In a material model each constituent should be adequately described, especially the interface between the matrix and fibers that is determined with the 'bond-slip' law. 'Bond-slip' law describes relation between the force in a fiber and its displacement. Bond-slip relation is usually obtained from tension laboratory experiments where a fiber is pulled out from a matrix (concrete) block. However, theoretically bond-slip relation could be determined from bending experiments since in bending the fibers in FRC get pulled-out from the concrete matrix. We have performed specially designed laboratory experiments of three-point beam bending with an intention of using experimental data for determination of material parameters. In addition, we have formulated simple layered model for description of the behavior of beams in the three-point bending test. It is not possible to use this 'forward' beam model for extraction of material parameters so an inverse model has been devised. This model is a basis for formulation of an inverse model that could be used for parameter extraction from laboratory tests. The key assumption in the developed inverse solution procedure is that some values in the formulation are known and comprised in the experimental data. The procedure includes measured data and its derivative, the formulation is nonlinear and solution is obtained from an iterative procedure. The proposed method is numerically validated in the example at the end of the paper and it is demonstrated that material parameters could be successfully recovered from measured data.

• Journal of Communications and Networks
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.352-361
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• 2004

In this paper, we study how to achieve the maximum capacity under delay constraints for large mobile wireless networks. We develop a systematic methodology for studying this problem in the asymptotic region when the number of nodes n in the network is large. We first identify a number of key parameters for a large class of scheduling schemes, and investigate the inherent tradeoffs among the capacity, the delay, and these scheduling parameters. Based on these inherent tradeoffs, we are able to compute the upper bound on the maximum per-node capacity of a large mobile wireless network under given delay constraints. Further, in the process of proving the upper bound, we are able to identify the optimal values of the key scheduling parameters. Knowing these optimal values, we can then develop scheduling schemes that achieve the upper bound up to some logarithmic factor, which suggests that our upper bound is fairly tight. We have applied this methodology to both the i.i.d. mobility model and the random way-point mobility model. In both cases, our methodology allows us to develop new scheduling schemes that can achieve larger capacity than previous proposals under the same delay constraints. In particular, for the i.i.d. mobility model, our scheme can achieve (n-1/3/log3/2 n) per-node capacity with constant delay. This demonstrates that, under the i.i.d. mobility model, mobility increases the capacity even with constant delays. Our methodology can also be extended to incorporate additional scheduling constraints.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.1008-1015
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• 2013

By using fractional calculus and the circuit-averaging technique, the modeling and analysis of a Buck converter with fractional order inductor and fractional order capacitor in discontinuous conduction mode (DCM) operations is investigated in this study. The equivalent averaged circuit model of the fractional order Buck converter in DCM operations is established. DC analysis is conducted by using the derived DC equivalent circuit model. The transfer functions from the input voltage to the output voltage, the duty cycle to the output voltage, the input impedance, and the output impedance of the fractional order Buck converter in DCM operations are derived from the corresponding AC-equivalent circuit model. Results show that the DC equilibrium point, voltage ratio, and all derived transfer functions of the fractional order Buck converter in DCM operations are affected by the inductor order and/or capacitor order. The fractional order inductor and fractional order capacitor are designed, and PSIM simulations are performed to confirm the correctness of the derivations and theoretical analysis.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.309-319
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• 2021

The vortex-drift pattern over a girder surface, actually demonstrating the complex fluid-structure interactions between the structure and surrounding flow, is strongly correlated with the VIVs but has still not been elucidated and may be useful for modeling VIVs. The complex fluid-structure interactions between the structure and surrounding flow are considerably simplified in constructing a vortex model to describe the vortex-drift pattern characterized by the ratio of the vortex-drift velocity to the oncoming flow velocity, considering the aerodynamic work. A spring-suspended sectional model (SSSM) is used to measure the pressure in wind tunnel tests, and the aerodynamic parameters for a typical streamlined closed-box girder are obtained from the spatial distribution of the phase lags between the distributed aerodynamic forces at each pressure point and the vortex-excited forces (VEFs). The results show that the ratio of the vortex-drift velocity to the oncoming flow velocity is inversely proportional to the vibration amplitude in the lock-in region and therefore attributed to the "lock-in" phenomena of the VIVs. Installing spoilers on handrails can destroy the regular vortex-drift pattern along the girder surface and thus suppress vertical VIVs.

• International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.569-577
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• 2020

Based on laboratory experiments and numerical simulations, the scale effect of Internal Solitary Wave (ISW) loads on spar platforms is investigated. First, the waveforms, loads, and torques on the spar model at a laboratory obtained by the experiments and simulations agree well with each other. Then, a prototype spar platform is simulated numerically to elucidate the scale effect. The scale effect for the horizontal forces is significant owing to the viscosity effect, whereas it is insignificant and can be neglected for the vertical forces. From the similarity point of view, the Froude number was the same for the scaled model and its prototype, while the Reynolds number increased significantly. The results show that the Morison equation with the same set of drag and inertia coefficients is not applicable to estimate the ISW loads for both the prototype and laboratory scale model. The coefficients should be modified to account for the scale effect. In conclusion, the dimensionless vertical forces on experimental models can be applied to the prototype, but the dimensionless horizontal forces of the experimental model are larger than those of the prototype, which will lead to overestimation of the horizontal force of the prototype if direct conversion is implemented.