• International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
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• 제9권5호
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• pp.492-498
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• 2017

Subsea pipeline route design is a crucial task for the offshore oil and gas industry, and the route selected can significantly affect the success or failure of an offshore project. Thus, it is essential to design pipeline routes to be eco-friendly, economical and safe. Obstacle avoidance is one of the main problems that affect pipeline route selection. In this study, we propose a technique for designing an automatic obstacle avoidance. The Laplacian smoothing algorithm was used to make automatically generated pipeline routes fairer. The algorithms were fast and the method was shown to be effective and easy to use in a simple set of case studies.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제47권5호
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• pp.679-700
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• 2013

Two new predictive design methods are presented in this study. The first is a hybrid method, called neuro-fuzzy, based on neural networks with fuzzy learning. A total of 280 experimental datasets obtained from the literature concerning concentric punching shear tests of reinforced concrete slab-column connections without shear reinforcement were used to test the model (194 for experimentation and 86 for validation) and were endorsed by statistical validation criteria. The punching shear strength predicted by the neuro-fuzzy model was compared with those predicted by current models of punching shear, widely used in the design practice, such as ACI 318-08, SIA262 and CBA93. The neuro-fuzzy model showed high predictive accuracy of resistance to punching according to all of the relevant codes. A second, more user-friendly design method is presented based on a predictive linear regression model that supports all the geometric and material parameters involved in predicting punching shear. Despite its simplicity, this formulation showed accuracy equivalent to that of the neuro-fuzzy model.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• 제13권3호
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• pp.389-406
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• 2014

Optimal sensor placement techniques play a significant role in enhancing the quality of modal data during the vibration based health monitoring of civil structures, where many degrees of freedom are available despite a limited number of sensors. The literature has shown a shift in the trends for solving such problems, from expansion or elimination approach to the employment of heuristic algorithms. Although these heuristic algorithms are capable of providing a global optimal solution, their greatest drawback is the requirement of high computational effort. Because a highly efficient optimisation method is crucial for better accuracy and wider use, this paper presents an improved simulated annealing (SA) algorithm to solve the sensor placement problem. The algorithm is developed based on the sensor locations' coordinate system to allow for the searching in additional dimensions and to increase SA's random search performance while minimising the computation efforts. The proposed method is tested on a numerical slab model that consists of two hundred sensor location candidates using three types of objective functions; the determinant of the Fisher information matrix (FIM), modal assurance criterion (MAC), and mean square error (MSE) of mode shapes. Detailed study on the effects of the sensor numbers and cooling factors on the performance of the algorithm are also investigated. The results indicate that the proposed method outperforms conventional SA and Genetic Algorithm (GA) in the search for optimal sensor placement.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제17권2호
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• pp.245-266
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• 2004

Incremental launching method is one of the highly competitive techniques for construction of concrete bridges. It avoids costly and time consuming form work and centralizes all construction activities in a small casting yard, thus saving in cost and time against conventional bridge construction. From the quality point of view, it eliminates the uncertainty of monolithic behaviour by allowing high repetitiveness and industrial environment. But, from analysis and design point of view, the most characteristic aspect of incrementally launched bridges is that, it has to absorb the stresses associated with the temporary supports that are gradually taken on by the deck during its launch. So, it is necessary to analyse the structure for each step of launching which is a tedious and time consuming process. Effect of support settlements or temperature variation makes the problem more complex. By using transfer matrix method, this problem can be handled efficiently with minimal computational effort. This paper gives insight into method of analysis, formulation for optimization of the structural system, effect of support settlement and temperature gradient, during construction, on the stress state of incrementally launched bridges.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• 제24권3호
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• pp.151-154
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• 2008

Dramatic price increases of fossil fuels and the economic development of emerging nations accelerates the transformation of forest lands into monocultures, e.g. for biofuel production. On this account, cost efficient methods to enable the monitoring of land resources has become a vital ambition. The application of remote sensing techniques has become an integral part of forest attribute estimation and mapping. The aim of this study was to evaluate the potentials of the kNN method by combining terrestrial with remotely sensed data for the development of a pixel-based monitoring system for the small scaled mosaic of different land use types of the off-reserve forests of the Goaso forest district in Ghana, West Africa. For this reason, occurrence and distribution of land use types like cocoa and non-timber forest resources, such as bamboo and raphia palms, were estimated, applying the kNN method to ASTER satellite data. Averaged overall accuracies, ranging from 79% for plantain, to 83% for oil palms, were found for single-attribute classifications, whereas a multi-attribute approach showed overall accuracies of up to 70%. Values of k between 3 and 6 seem appropriate for mapping bamboo. Optimisation of spectral bands improves results considerably.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제12권6호
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• pp.685-698
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• 2001

In this paper, a general method for the automatic search for Strut-and-Tie (S&T) models representative of possible resistant mechanisms in reinforced concrete elements is proposed. The representativeness criterion here adopted is inspired to the principle of minimum strain energy and requires the consistency of the model with a reference stress field. In particular, a highly indeterminate pin-jointed framework of a given layout is generated within the assigned geometry of the concrete element and an optimum truss is found by the minimisation of a suitable objective function. Such a function allows us to search the optimum truss according to a reference stress field deduced through a F.E.A. and assumed as representative of the given continuum. The theoretical principles and the mathematical formulation of the method are firstly explained; the search for a S&T model suitable for the design of a deep beam shows the method capability in handling the reference stress path. Finally, since the analysis may consider the structure as linear-elastic or cracked and non-linear in both the component materials, it is shown how the proposed procedure allows us to verify the possibilities of activation of the design model, oriented to the serviceability condition and deduced in the linear elastic field, by following the evolution of the resistant mechanisms in the cracked non-linear field up to the structural failure.

• 음성과학
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• 제10권4호
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• pp.7-21
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• 2003

Sums-of-Products models were built for segment duration prediction of spoken Korean. An experiment for the modelling was carried out to apply the results to Korean text-to-speech synthesis systems. 670 read sentences were analyzed. trained and tested for the construction of the duration models. Traditional sequential rule systems were extended to simple additive, multiplicative and additive-multiplicative models based on Sums-of-Products modelling. The parameters used in the modelling include the properties of the target segment and its neighbors and the target segment's position in the prosodic structure. Two optimisation strategies were used: the downhill simplex method and the simulated annealing method. The performance of the models was measured by the correlation coefficient and the root mean squared prediction error (RMSE) between actual and predicted duration in the test data. The best performance was obtained when the data was trained and tested by ' additive-multiplicative models. ' The correlation for the vowel duration prediction was 0.69 and the RMSE. 31.80 ms. while the correlation for the consonant duration prediction was 0.54 and the RMSE. 29.02 ms. The results were not good enough to be applied to the real-time text-to-speech systems. Further investigation of feature interactions is required for the better performance of the Sums-of-Products models.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제14권6호
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• pp.625-647
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• 2002

Parallel execution of computational mechanics codes requires efficient mesh-partitioning techniques. These mesh-partitioning techniques divide the mesh into specified number of submeshes of approximately the same size and at the same time, minimise the interface nodes of the submeshes. This paper describes a new mesh partitioning technique, employing Genetic Algorithms. The proposed algorithm operates on the deduced graph (dual or nodal graph) of the given finite element mesh rather than directly on the mesh itself. The algorithm works by first constructing a coarse graph approximation using an automatic graph coarsening method. The coarse graph is partitioned and the results are interpolated onto the original graph to initialise an optimisation of the graph partition problem. In practice, hierarchy of (usually more than two) graphs are used to obtain the final graph partition. The proposed partitioning algorithm is applied to graphs derived from unstructured finite element meshes describing practical engineering problems and also several example graphs related to finite element meshes given in the literature. The test results indicate that the proposed GA based graph partitioning algorithm generates high quality partitions and are superior to spectral and multilevel graph partitioning algorithms.

• 대한기계학회논문집A
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• 제30권5호
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• pp.481-487
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• 2006

Spot-welding is a widely used manufacturing method for thin-sheet components, especially in mass-production industries such as the car industry. Automobiles are often constructed by multi-lap spot welding to secure the passenger from the accident, where optimisation of the welding conditions is a major economic consideration. This research is conducted to investigate weldability characteristics with various welding conditions on the 4-lap spot welded joint of structural steel sheets in automobile. The relationship between the tensile-shear strength and the indentation depth has been investigated to propose the optimum welding conditions. The welding current and the welding time have a greater effect on the welding characteristics than the electrode force. It was found that the electrode force has a relatively close relationship with the expulsion occurrence. The design curves for optimum welding are proposed for the 4-lap spot welded joint.

• 한국패류학회지
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• 제25권3호
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• pp.179-187
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• 2009

The effects of water temperature and salinity on embryonic development and spat survival of mussel Musculista senhousia were investigated. Embryos were incubated in water ranging from 0 to $35^{\circ}C$ and with salinity from 5‰ to 40‰. Mussel spat were tested in water from 0 to $40^{\circ}C$ and with salinity from 0‰ to 100‰. The optimal conditions for mussel embryos were $20-25^{\circ}C$ and salinity from 25‰ to 35‰, based on Within this temperature range, higher temperatures correponded to a shorter duration of the embryonic period. Optimisation of mussel spat survival was at $25-35^{\circ}C$ and salinity from 30‰ to 40‰; both values are higher than those for embryo, which hinted M. senhousia embryos are more vulnerable than spat. Temperatures below $15^{\circ}C$ were lethal for embryos, making temperature a feasible method with which to control the large population of M. senhousia in ark-shell farm during its spawning period.