• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.283-293
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• 2019

Evaluating the stability of the excavation face of the cross-river shield tunnel with good accuracy is considered as a nonlinear and multivariable complex issue. Understanding the stability evaluation method of the shield tunnel excavation face is vital to operate and control the shield machine during shield tunneling. Considering the instability mechanism of the excavation face of the cross-river shield and the characteristics of this engineering, seven evaluation indexes of the stability of the excavation face were selected, i.e., the over-span ratio, buried depth of the tunnel, groundwater condition, soil permeability, internal friction angle, soil cohesion and advancing speed. The weight of each evaluation index was obtained by using the analytic hierarchy process and the entropy weight method. The evaluation model of the cross-river shield construction excavation face stability is established based on the idea point method. The feasibility of the evaluation model was verified by the engineering application in a cross-river shield tunnel project in China. Results obtained via the evaluation model are in good agreement with the actual construction situation. The proposed evaluation method is demonstrated as a promising and innovative method for the stability evaluation and safety construction of the cross-river shield tunnel engineerings.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.351-359
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• 2019

In this study, the calcium hydroxide, an inherent product of cement hydration, was treated using biomimetic carbonation method of incorporating stearic acid to generate the hydrophobic calcium carbonate on concrete surface. Carbonation reaction was carried out at various $CO_2$ pressure and temperatures and utilizing the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), chloride-ion penetration test apparatus, and compression test machine to investigate the hydrophobicity, durability, and mechanical properties of the synthesized products. Experimental results indicate that the calcium stearate may change the surface property of concrete from hydrophilicity to hydrophobicity. Increasing reaction temperature can change the particles from irregular shapes to needle-rod structures with increased shear stress and thus favorable to hydrophobicity and microhardness. The contact angle against water for the concrete surface was found to increase with increasing $CO_2$ pressure and temperature, and reached to an optimum value at around $90^{\circ}C$. The maximum static water contact angle of 128.7 degree was obtained at the $CO_2$ pressure of 2 atm and temperature of $90^{\circ}C$. It was also found that biomimetic carbonation increased the permeability, acid resistance and chloride-ion permeability of the concrete material. These unique results demonstrate that the needle-rod structures of $CaCO_3$ synthetized on concrete surface could enhance hydrophobicity, durability, and mechanical properties of concrete.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.345-365
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• 2020

At present, many machine leaning and data mining methods are used for analyzing and predicting structural response characteristics. However, the platform that combines big data analysis methods with online and offline analysis modules has not been used in actual projects. This work is dedicated to developing a multifunctional Hadoop-Spark big data platform for bridges to monitor and evaluate the serviceability based on structural health monitoring system. It realizes rapid processing, analysis and storage of collected health monitoring data. The platform contains offline computing and online analysis modules, using Hadoop-Spark environment. Hadoop provides the overall framework and storage subsystem for big data platform, while Spark is used for online computing. Finally, the big data Hadoop-Spark platform computational performance is verified through several actual analysis tasks. Experiments show the Hadoop-Spark big data platform has good fault tolerance, scalability and online analysis performance. It can meet the daily analysis requirements of 5s/time for one bridge and 40s/time for 100 bridges.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.165-176
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• 2021

Existing research on confined concrete filled steel tubular (CCFT) columns has been mainly focused on static or cyclic loading. In this paper, square section CCFT and CFT columns were tested under both static and impact loading, using a 10,000 kN capacity compression test machine and a drop weight testing equipment. Research parameters included bonded and unbonded fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) wraps, with carbon, basalt and glass FRPs (or CFRP, BFRP, and GFRP), respectively. Time history curves for impact force and steel strain observed are discussed in detail. Experimental results show that the failure modes of specimens under impact testing were characterized by local buckling of the steel tube and cracking at the corners, for both CCFT and CFT columns, similar to those under static loading. For both static and impact loading, the FRP wraps could improve the behavior and increase the loading capacity. To analyze the dynamic behavior of the composite columns, a finite element, FE, model was established in LS-DYNA. A simplified method that is compared favorably with test results is also proposed to predict the impact load capacity of square CCFT columns.

• Advances in nano research
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.297-312
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• 2022

Coughing and breath shortness are common symptoms of nano (small) cell lung cancer. Smoking is main factor in causing such cancers. The cancer cells form on the soft tissues of lung. Deformation behavior and wave vibration of lung affected when cancer cells exist. Therefore, in the current work, phase velocity behavior of the small cell lung cancer as a main part of the body via an exact size-dependent theory is presented. Regarding this problem, displacement fields of small cell lung cancer are obtained using first-order shear deformation theory with five parameters. Besides, the size-dependent small cell lung cancer is modeled via nonlocal stress/strain gradient theory (NSGT). An analytical method is applied for solving the governing equations of the small cell lung cancer structure. The novelty of the current study is the consideration of the five-parameter of displacement for curved panel, and porosity as well as NSGT are employed and solved using the analytical method. For more verification, the outcomes of this reports are compared with the predictions of deep neural network (DNN) with adaptive optimization method. A thorough parametric investigation is conducted on the effect of NSGT parameters, porosity and geometry on the phase velocity behavior of the small cell lung cancer structure.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.173-181
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• 2022

Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) flat sheet hydrophobic membranes were prepared using 16 wt% PVDF in Dimethyl acetamide (DMAc) by phase inversion technique for desalination application using Membrane Distillation (MD). In this work, the effect of coagulation mediums such as ethanol and water as well their synergistic behavior on the fabricated PVDF membrane morphology was studied using SEM. Moreover, other characteristics required for the membrane distillation applications namely porosity, hydrophobicity and tensile strength were measured using the gravimetric method, sessile drop method and universal testing machine respectively. It was observed that the membrane morphology paradigm shifted from the finger-like structure to the sponge-like structure on increasing the ethanol concentration in coagulant. The porosity of the fabricated membrane was under the required MD range and found to be 57.3% at 16 weight % of PVDF in DMAc solvent under a pure ethanol coagulant bath. Moreover, the top surface contact angle ranges from 85° to 115° on increasing the bath concentration from CBC 0 to CBC 100 at 16 weight % of PVDF in DMAc solvent.

• Coupled systems mechanics
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.267-284
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• 2022

Due to the high usage of ABS in industries, such as aerospace, auto, recreational devices, boat, submarines, etc., the purpose of this project was to find a way to weld this material, which gives advantages, such as affordable, high speed, and good connection quality. In this experimental project, the friction welding method was applied with parameters such as numerical control (NC) machine with two different speeds and three cross-sections, including a flat surface, cone, and step. After the end of the welding process, samples were then applied for both tensile and bending tests of materials, and the results showed that, with increasing the machining velocity Considering of samples, the friction of the surface increased and then caused to increase in the surface temperature. Considering mentioned contents, the melting temperature of composite materials increased. This can give a chance to have a better combination of Nanomaterial to base melted materials. Thus, the result showed that, with increasing the weight percentage (wt %) of Nanomaterials contents, and machining velocity, the mechanical behavior of welded area for all three types of samples were just increased. This enhancement is due to the better melting process on the welded area of different Nano contents; also, the results showed that the shape of the welding area could play a significant role, and by changing the shape, the results also changed drastically.A better shape for the welding process was dedicated to the step surface.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.785-790
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• 2022

Condition monitoring of permanent magnet synchronous motors (PMSMs) and detecting faults such as eccentricity and demagnetization are essential for ensuring system reliability. Motor current signal analysis is the most commonly used precursor for detecting faults in the PMSM drive system. However, the current signature responds sensitively to the load and temperature of the motor, thereby making it difficult to monitor faults in real- applications. Therefore, in this study, a condition monitoring methodology that detects motor faults, including their classification with standstill conditions, is proposed. The objective is to detect and classify faults of PMSMs by using programmable inverter without additional sensors and systems for detection. Both DC and AC were applied through the d-axis of a three-phase motor, and the change in incremental inductance was investigated to detect and classify faults. Simulation with finite element analysis and experiments were performed on PMSMs in healthy conditions as well as with eccentricity and demagnetization faults. Based on the results obtained from experiments, the proposed method was confirmed to detect and classify types of faults, including their severity.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.301-310
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• 2022

Accurate prediction of mixed ground conditions ahead of a tunnel face is of vital importance for safe excavation using tunnel boring machines (TBMs). Previous studies have primarily focused on electrical resistivity surveys from the ground surface for geotechnical investigation. In this study, an FE (finite element) numerical model was developed to simulate electrical resistivity surveys for the prediction of risky mixed ground conditions in front of a tunnel face. The proposed FE model is validated by comparing with the apparent electrical resistivity values obtained from the analytical solution corresponding to a vertical fault on the ground surface (i.e., a simplified model). A series of parametric studies was performed with the FE model to analyze the effect of geological and sensor geometric conditions on the electrical resistivity survey. The parametric study revealed that the interface slope between two different ground formations affects the electrical resistivity measurements during TBM excavation. In addition, a large difference in electrical resistivity between two different ground formations represented the dramatic effect of the mixed ground conditions on the electrical resistivity values. The parametric studies of the electrode array showed that the proper selection of the electrode spacing and the location of the electrode array on the tunnel face of TBM is very important. Thus, it is concluded that the developed FE numerical model can successfully predict the presence of a mixed ground zone, which enables optimal management of potential risks.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.317-330
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• 2021

This paper reports the results of advanced data analysis involving artificial neural networks for the prediction of the unconfined compressive strength of granite using only two non-destructive test indexes. A data-independent site-independent unbiased database comprising 182 datasets from non-destructive tests reported in the literature was compiled and used to train and develop artificial neural networks for the prediction of the unconfined compressive strength of granite. The results show that the optimum artificial network developed in this research predicts the unconfined compressive strength of weak to very strong granites (20.3-198.15 MPa) with less than ±20% deviation from the experimental data for 70% of the specimen and significantly outperforms a number of available models available in the literature. The results also raise interesting questions with regards to the suitability of the Pearson correlation coefficient in assessing the prediction accuracy of models.