• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.263-279
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• 2012

The present paper deals with the analysis of combined footings resting on geosynthetic reinforced granular fill overlying stone column improved poor soil. An attempt has been made to study the influence of inclusion of geosynthetic layer on the deflection of the footing. The footing has been idealized as a beam having finite flexural rigidity. Granular fill layer has been represented by Pasternak shear layer and stone columns and poor soil have been represented by nonlinear Winkler springs. Nonlinear behavior of granular fill layer, stone columns and the poor soil has been considered by means of hyperbolic stress strain relationships. Governing differential equations for the soil-foundation system have been derived and solution has been obtained employing finite difference scheme by means of iterative Gauss Elimination method. Results of a detailed parametric study have been presented, for a footing supporting typically five columns, in non-dimensional form in respect of deflection with and without geosynthetic inclusion. Geosynthetic layer has been found to significantly reduce the deflection of the footing which has been quantified by means of parametric study.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.459-477
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• 2007

A bi-directional tuned mass damper (BTMD) in which a mass connected by two translational springs and two viscous dampers in two orthogonal directions has been introduced to control coupled lateral and torsional vibrations of asymmetric building. An efficient control strategy has been presented in this context to control displacements as well as acceleration responses of asymmetric buildings having asymmetry in both plan and elevation. The building is idealized as a simplified 3D model with two translational and a rotational degrees of freedom for each floor. The principles of rigid body transformation have been incorporated to account for eccentricity between center of mass and center of rigidity. The effective and robust design of BTMD for controlling the vibrations in structures has been presented. The redundancy of optimum design has been checked. Non dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA) has been used for tuning optimum stages and locations of BTMDs and its parameters for control of vibration of seismically excited buildings. The optimal locations have been observed to be reasonably compact and practically implementable.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.62 no.5
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• pp.587-593
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• 2017

The objective of this analytical study is to calculate the elasto-plastic stresses of Functionally Graded (FG) hyperbolic disc subjected to uniform temperature. The material properties (elastic modulus, thermal expansion coefficient and yield strength) and the geometry (thickness) of the disc are assumed to vary radially with a power law function, but Poisson's ratio does not vary. FG disc material is assumed to be non-work hardening. Radial and tangential stresses are obtained for various thickness profile, temperature and material properties. The results indicate that thickness profile and volume fractions of constituent materials play very important role on the thermal stresses of the FG hyperbolic discs. It is seen that thermal stresses in a disc with variable thickness are lower than those with constant thickness at the same temperature. As a result of this, variations in the thickness profile increase the operation temperature. Moreover, thickness variation in the discs provides a significant weight reduction. A disc with lower rigidity at the inner surface according to the outer surface should be selected to obtain almost homogenous stress distribution and to increase resistance to temperature. So, discs, which have more rigid region at the outer surface, are more useful in terms of resistance to temperature.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.107-131
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• 2016

The need for a more affordable, reliable, clean and secure energy has led to explorations in non-traditional sources, particularly renewable energies. Wind is one of the cleanest energy sources that plays a significant role in augmenting sustainability. Wind turbines, as energy convertors, are usually tall and slender structures, and depending on their location (inland or offshore), they can be subject to high wind and/or strong wave loadings. These loads can cause severe vibrations with detrimental effects on energy production, structural lifecycle and initial cost. A dissipativity analysis study was carried out to know whether wind turbine towers require damping enhancement or rigidity modifications for vibration suppression. The results suggest that wind turbines are lightly damped structures and damping enhancement is a potential solution for vibration lessening. Accordingly, the paper investigates different damping enhancement techniques for vibration mitigation. The efficacy of tuned mass damper (TMD), tuned liquid column damper (TLCD), tuned sloshing damper (TSD), and viscous damper (VD) to reduce vibrations is investigated. A comparison among these devices, in terms of robustness and effectiveness, is conducted. The VD can reduce both displacement and acceleration responses of the tower, better than other types of dampers, for the same control effort, followed by TMD, TSD, and finally TLCD. Nevertheless, the use of VDs raises concerns about where they should be located in the structure, and their application may require additional design considerations.

• Composites Research
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.112-117
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• 2015

Mechanical properties of nonwoven alfa fiber based reinforced biocomposite were evaluated to assess the possibility of using it as a new material in engineering applications such as orthopedic application. Samples were fabricated by needle punching, thermal bonding and Hydroentanglement, by blending alfa fibers with wool fibers or Polypropylene fibers. The mechanical properties were tested and showed that the nonwoven NW3 (alfa fiber/PP/PLA, with hydroentanglement) is the best. It has a value of stress at break of 1.94 MPa, a strain of 54.2% and a young's module of 7.95 MPa, in a production normal direction. A biocomposite has been made with NW3 mixed with PMMA matrix. The use of nonwoven based alfa fiber in reinforcing the composite material increases its rigidity and the tensile strength; the elongation was found to be 1.53%, the Young's Module of 1.79 GPa and the tensile at break of 15.06 MPa. Results indicated that alfa fibres are of interest for low-cost engineering applications and can compete with glass fibres in orthopedic application.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.327-334
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• 2009

Elastic wave is one of the most useful tools for non-destructive tests in nuclear power plants. Since the elastic properties are indispensable for analyzing the behaviors of elastic waves, they should be predetermined within an acceptable accuracy. Nuclear power plants are exposed to harsh environmental conditions and hence the structures are degraded. It means that the Young's modulus becomes unreliable and in-situ measurement of Young's modulus is required from an engineering point of view. Young's modulus is estimated from the group velocity of propagating waves. Because the flexural wave of a plate is inherently dispersive, the group velocity is not clearly evaluated in temporal signal analysis. In order to overcome such ambiguity in estimation of group velocity, Wigner-Ville distribution as the time-frequency analysis technique was proposed and utilized. To verify the proposed method, experiments for steel and acryl plates were performed with accelerometers. The results show good estimation of the Young's modulus of two plates.

• Textile Coloration and Finishing
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.114-123
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• 2014

This research investigated the physical properties of PET coolness filaments and their knitted fabrics including dyeing characteristics of these knitted fabrics according to the different dyeing time and temperature. The coolness filament(S) with non-circular cross-section and hydrophilic property was spun and another commercialized coolness(A) and regular(R) PET filaments were prepared for comparing coolness and another physical properties. Qmax of coolness knitted fabric made with S filament was higher than that of R-PET filament, and the maximum value of Qmax of S knitted fabric was shown at the dyeing conditions of temperature, $110^{\circ}C$ with 30 min. or 40min. It was shown that hand of S knitted fabric was a little harsh comparing to A and regular knit specimens, but shape retention and wearing performance of garment made with S knit specimen were estimated as good owing to high bending and shear rigidity. K/S of S knitted fabric was higher than those of regular PET and A knit specimens. Dyeing fastness of coolness knitted fabric showed between 4th and 5th grade.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2009.03a
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• pp.782-791
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• 2009

This study was carried out the laboratory tests and field plate load test in order to evaluate the reinforcement effect of geocell for road construction. The geocell-reinforced subgrade shows the increment of cohesion and friction angle with comprison of non-reinforced subgrade. In addition, the field plate load test was performed on the geocell-reinforced subgrade to estimate the bearing capacity of soil. The direct shear test was conducted with utilizing a large-scale shear box to evaluate the internal soil friction angle with geocell reinforcement. The number of cells in the geocell system is varied to investigate the effect of soil reinforcement. The theoretical bearing capacity of subgrade soil with and without geocell reinforcement was estimated by using the soil internal friction angle. The field plate load tests were also conducted to estimate the bearing capacity with geocell reinforcement. It is found out that the bearing capacity of geocell-reinforced subgrade gives 2 times higher value than that of unreinforced subgrade soil. In the future, the reinforcement effect of the geocell rigidity and load-balancing effect of the geocells should be evaluated.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.541-569
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• 2013

There is a wide variety of existing Genetic Algorithms (GA) operators and parameters in the literature. However, there is no unique technique that shows the best performance for different classes of optimization problems. Hence, the evaluation of these operators and parameters, which influence the effectiveness of the search process, must be carried out on a problem basis. This paper presents a comparison for the influence of GA operators and parameters on the performance of the damage identification problem using the finite element model updating method (FEMU). The damage is defined as reduction in bending rigidity of the finite elements of a reinforced concrete beam. A certain damage scenario is adopted and identified using different GA operators by minimizing the differences between experimental and analytical modal parameters. In this study, different selection, crossover and mutation operators are compared with each other based on the reliability, accuracy and efficiency criteria. The exploration and exploitation capabilities of different operators are evaluated. Also a comparison is carried out for the parallel and sequential GAs with different population sizes and the effect of the multiple use of some crossover operators is investigated. The results show that the roulettewheel selection technique together with real valued encoding gives the best results. It is also apparent that the Non-uniform Mutation as well as Parent Centric Normal Crossover can be confidently used in the damage identification problem. Nevertheless the parallel GAs increases both computation speed and the efficiency of the method.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.17-21
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• 1995

A study was designed to investigate the effectiveness of Korean Red Ginseng (ERG) as an oral agent for erectile dysfunction (EF), which was compared to that of placebo and trazodone. Patients who were believed to have EF of mild or non-organic etiologies, randomized into 3 groups to receive 600 mg KRG 3 times daily (group A), placebo (group B) and 25mg trazodone once a day after evening (group C). All agents were given orally. Ninety patients, composed of 30 in each group, were included and analyzed only when clinical follow-up could be achieved at the end of the study for at least 3 months. There were no significant differences(p>0.05) between each group in mean age (43.7 years), duration of EF (5.8 years), the state of marriage (married : 80 patients) and duration of marriage (18.2 years). In group A, the parameters such as rigidity and tumescence on erection, early detumescence, libido and patient's satisfaction were significantly more effective than that of other group (p<0.05). But there were no significant differences in the parameters such as the frequency of coitus, premature ejaculation and morning erection between 3 groups (p>0.05). The efficacy achieved with KGR (60%) was significantly higher (p<0.05) than that of placebo (30%) and trazodone (30%). There were no significant changes on level of serum testosterone and type of AVS-penogram in group A. No side effect was demonstrated in all patients.