• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
• /
• v.7 no.4
• /
• pp.397-408
• /
• 2018

In a recent tragic fire incident, the Plasco Tower collapsed after an intense outburst of fire lasting for three and a half hours and claiming the lives of 16 firefighters and 6 civilians. This paper will present continuing collaborative work between Hong Kong Polytechnic University and Queen's University in Canada to model the progressive collapse of the tower. The fire started at the 10th floor and was observed to have travelled along the floor horizontally and through the staircase and windows vertically. Plasco Tower was steel structure and all the steel sections were fabricated by welding standard European channel or angle profiles and no fire protection was applied. Four internal columns carried the loads transferred by the primary beams, and box columns were constructed along the perimeter of the building as a braced tube for resisting seismic loading. OpenSees fibre-based sections and displacement-based beam-column elements are used to model the frames, while shell elements are used for the reinforced concrete floor slabs. The thermal properties and elevated temperature mechanical properties are as recommended in the Eurocodes. The results in this preliminarily analysis are based on rough estimations of the structure's configuration. The ongoing work looks at modeling the Plasco Tower based on the most accurate findings from reviewing many photographs and collected data.

• Advances in Computational Design
• /
• v.6 no.1
• /
• pp.1-13
• /
• 2021

Failure of a Multi-storeyed reinforced concrete framed structure occurs when a primary vertical structural component is isolated or made fragile, due to artificial or natural hazards. Load carried by vertical component (column) is transferred to neighbouring columns in the structure, if the neighbouring column is incompetent of holding the extra load, this leads to the progressive failure of neighbouring members and finally to the failure of partial or whole structure. The collapsing system frequently seeks alternative load path in order to stay alive. One of the imperative features of collapse is that the final damage is not relative to the initial damage. In this paper, the effect on the column and beam adjacent to statically removed vertical element in terms of axial force, shear force and bending moment is investigated. Using Alternate load path method, numerical modelling of two dimensional one bay, two bay with variation in storey heights are analysed with FE model in order to obtain better understanding of failure mechanism of multi-storeyed reinforced concrete framed structure. The results indicate that the corner column is more susceptible to progressive collapse when compared to middle column, using this simplified methodology one can easily predict how the structure can be made to stay alive in case of sudden failure of any horizontal or vertical structural element before designing.

• Journal of the Society of Naval Architects of Korea
• /
• v.57 no.5
• /
• pp.271-277
• /
• 2020

Recoverability and vulnerability of navy ships under underwater explosion are critical verification factors in the acquisition phase of navy ships. This paper aims to establish numerical analysis techniques for the underwater explosion of navy ships. Doubly Asymptotic Approach (DAA) Equation of Motion (EOM) of primary shock wave and secondary bubble pulse proposed by Geers-Hunter was introduced. Assuming a non-compressive fluid, reference solution of the DAA EOM of Geers-Hunter using Runge-Kutta method was derived for the secondary bubble pulse phase with an assumed charge conditions. Convergence analyses to determine fluid element size were performed, suggesting that the minimum fluid element size for underwater explosion analysis was 0.1 m. The spherical and cylindrical fluid domains were found to be appropriate for the underwater explosion analyses from the fluid domain shape study. Because the element size of 0.1 m was too small to be applied to the actual navy ships, a very slender beam with the square solid section was selected for the study of fluid domain existence effect. The two underwater explosion models with/without fluid domain provided very similar results in terms of the displacement and stress processes.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.54 no.1
• /
• pp.310-317
• /
• 2022

The mass attenuation coefficient is the primary physical parameter to model narrow beam gamma-ray attenuation. A new machine learning based approach is proposed to model gamma-ray shielding behavior of composites alternative to theoretical calculations. Two fuzzy logic algorithms and a neural network algorithm were trained and tested with different mixture ratios of vanadium slag/epoxy resin/antimony in the 0.05 MeV-2 MeV energy range. Two of the algorithms showed excellent agreement with testing data after optimizing adjustable parameters, with root mean squared error (RMSE) values down to 0.0001. Those results are remarkable because mass attenuation coefficients are often presented with four significant figures. Different training data sizes were tried to determine the least number of data points required to train sufficient models. Data set size more than 1000 is seen to be required to model in above 0.05 MeV energy. Below this energy, more data points with finer energy resolution might be required. Neuro-fuzzy models were three times faster to train than neural network models, while neural network models depicted low RMSE. Fuzzy logic algorithms are overlooked in complex function approximation, yet grid partitioned fuzzy algorithms showed excellent calculation efficiency and good convergence in predicting mass attenuation coefficient.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.47 no.3
• /
• pp.339-353
• /
• 2023

The primary objective of the current study is to optimize and evaluate the seismic performance of steel momentresisting frame (MRF) structures considering soil-structure interaction (SSI) effects. The structural optimization is implemented in the context of performance-based design in accordance with FEMA-350 at different confidence levels from 50% to 90% by taking into account fixed- and flexible-base conditions using an efficient metaheuristic algorithm. Nonlinear response-history analysis (NRHA) is conducted to evaluate the seismic response of structures, and the beam-on-nonlinear Winkler foundation (BNWF) model is used to simulate the soil-foundation interaction under the MRFs. The seismic performance of optimally designed fixed- and flexible-base steel MRFs are compared in terms of overall damage index, seismic collapse safety, and interstory drift ratios at different performance levels. Two illustrative examples of 6- and 12-story steel MRFs are presented. The results show that the consideration of SSI in the optimization process of 6- and 12-story steel MRFs results in an increase of 1.0 to 9.0 % and 0.5 to 5.0 % in structural weight and a slight decrease in structural seismic safety at different confidence levels.

• Smart Structures and Systems
• /
• v.32 no.6
• /
• pp.393-402
• /
• 2023

Recently, hybrid and electric vehicles have been actively developed to replace internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. However, their vibrations and noise with complex spectra cause discomfort to drivers. To reduce the vibrations transmitted through primary excitation sources such as powertrains, structural changes have been introduced. However, the interference among different parts is a limitation. Thus, active mounting systems based on smart materials have been actively investigated to overcome these limitations. This study focuses on diminishing the source movement when a structure with two active mounting systems is excited to a single sinusoidal and a multi-frequency signal, which were investigated for source movement reduction. The overall structure was modeled based on the lumped parameter method. Active vibration control was implemented based on the modeled structure, and a multi-normalization least mean square (NLMS) algorithm was used to obtain the control input for the active mounting system. Furthermore, the performance of the NLMS algorithm was compared with that of the quantification method to demonstrate the performance of active vibration control. The results demonstrate that the vibration attenuation performance of the source component was improved.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
• /
• v.6 no.2
• /
• pp.169-176
• /
• 1988

A retrospective study was performed on 15 patients with suprasellar germ cell tumors treated by megavoltage external beam irradiation between Feb. 1979 and Dec. 1985. Follow-up period of survivors was 30 to 91 months. Histologic diagnosis was obtained before radiation therapy in 10patients (9 germinomas and 1 mixed). Five patients were treated without histologic verification. In 9 patients with biopsy-proven germinomas radiation therapy was delivered to the craniospinal axis in 6, to the whole brain in 3. In 5 patients with mixed germ cell tumor or elevated tumor marker, irradiation was delievered to the craniospinal axis in 2, to the whole brain in 2, and to the primary site only in 1. Total doses ranged from 5,000 to 5,500 cGy to the primary site, 3,000 to 4,400 cGy to the whole brain, and 1,300 to 3,000 cGy to the spine. In these 14, local tumor was controlled and primary or spinal failure was not observed. One patient without elevated tumor marker was treated to the whole brain. The tumor was not controlled and he had spinal recurrence. Overall survival and disease-free survival rates were $86\%$ at 5 year. It is proven that radiation therapy is an effective treatment for suprasellar germ cell tumors. The neuroendocrinologic presentation, tumor marker status, early response to radiation measured on CT seem to be useful means for selecting patients for radiation therapy when tissue diagnosis is not available.

• Journal of the korean academy of Pediatric Dentistry
• /
• v.48 no.4
• /
• pp.437-448
• /
• 2021

The purpose of this study is to analyze morphological characteristics of maxillary primary molar's root and root canal. 268 children aged 3 - 7 years (175 boys, 93 girls) who had CBCT (152 children) and 3D CT (116 children) taken in Seoul National University Dental Hospital from January 2006 to April 2020 were included. The number of roots and root canals were analyzed in 1002 teeth without any root resorption or periapical pathologies. Curvature, angulation, length of root and root canal, as well as cross-sectional shapes of the root canal were analyzed in 218 teeth. By using Mimics and 3-Matics software, volume, surface area, and volume ratio of root canal was analyzed in 48 teeth. More than half of maxillary primary molars have 3 roots and 3 root canals. The degree of symmetry of root canal type was about 0.63 (Cohen's kappa coefficient). The most frequent shape of roots and canals was linear in 1^st primary molars and curved in 2^nd primary molars. Angulation, length of root and root canals was the largest on palatal roots. Most teeth showed ovoid or round shapes at apex. The largest root canal volume, surface area, volume ratio was found in the palatal roots.

• Progress in Medical Physics
• /
• v.26 no.4
• /
• pp.250-257
• /
• 2015

Multi-leaf collimator (MLC) systems are frequently used to deliver photon-based radiation, and allow conformal shaping of treatment beams. Many proton beam centers currently make use of aperture and snout systems, which involve use of a snout to shape and focus the proton beam, a brass aperture to modify field shape, and an acrylic compensator to modulate depth. However, it needs a lot of time and cost of preparing treatment, therefore, we developed the manual MLC for solving this problem. This study was carried out with the intent of designing an MLC system as an alternative to an aperture block system. Radio-activation and dose due to primary proton beam leakage and the presence of secondary neutrons were taken into account during these iterations. Analytical calculations were used to study the effects of leaf material on activation. We have fabricated tray model for adoption with a wobbling snout ($30{\times}40cm^2$) system which used uniform scanning beam. We designed the manual MLC and tray and can reduce the cost and time for treatment. After leakage test of new tray, we upgrade the tray with brass and made the safety tool. First, we have tested the radio-activation with usually brass and new brass for new manual MLC. It shows similar behavior and decay trend. In addition, we have measured the leakage test of a gantry with new tray and MLC tray, while we exposed the high energy with full modulation process on film dosimetry. The radiation leakage is less than 1%. From these results, we have developed the design of the tray and upgrade for safety. Through the radio-activation behavior, we figure out the proton beam leakage level of safety, where there detects the secondary particle, including neutron. After developing new design of the tray, it will be able to reduce the time and cost of proton treatment. Finally, we have applied in clinic test with original brass aperture and manual MLC and calculated the gamma index, 99.74% between them.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
• /
• v.27 no.1
• /
• pp.1-10
• /
• 2002

High energy photon beams from medical linear accelerators produce large scattered radiation by various components of the treatment head, collimator and walls or objects in the treatment room including the patient. These scattered radiation do not provide therapeutic dose and are considered a hazard from the radiation safety perspective. Scattered dose of therapeutic high energy radiation beams are contributed significant unwanted dose to the patient. ICRP take the position that a dose of 500mGy may cause abortion at any stage of pregnancy and that radiation detriment to the fetus includes risk of mental retardation with a possible threshold in the dose response relationship around 100 mGy for the gestational period. The ICRP principle of as low as reasonably achievable (ALARA) was recommended for protection of occupation upon the linear no-threshold dose response hypothesis for cancer induction. We suggest this ALARA principle be applied to the fetus and testicle in therapeutic treatment. Radiation dose outside a photon treatment filed is mostly due to scattered photons. This scattered dose is a function of the distance from the beam edge, treatment geometry, primary photon energy, and depth in the patient. The need for effective shielding of the fetus and testicle is reinforced when young patients ate treated with external beam radiation therapy and then shielding designed to reduce the scattered photon dose to normal organs have to considered. Irradiation was performed in phantom using high energy photon beams produced by a Varian 2100C/D medical linear accelerator (Varian Oncology Systems, Palo Alto, CA) located at the Yonsei Cancer Center. The composite phantom used was comprised of a commercially available anthropomorphic Rando phantom (Phantom Laboratory Inc., Salem, YN) and a rectangular solid polystyrene phantom of dimensions $30cm{\times}30cm{\times}20cm$. the anthropomorphic Rando phantom represents an average man made from tissue equivalent materials that is transected into transverse 36 slices of 2.5cm thickness. Photon dose was measured using a Capintec PR-06C ionization chamber with Capintec 192 electrometer (Capintec Inc., Ramsey, NJ), TLD( VICTOREEN 5000. LiF) and film dosimetry V-Omat, Kodak). In case of fetus, the dosimeter was placed at a depth of loom in this phantom at 100cm source to axis distance and located centrally 15cm from the inferior edge of the $30cm{\times}30cm^2$ x-ray beam irradiating the Rando phantom chest wall. A acryl bridge of size $40cm{\times}40cm^2$ and a clear space of about 20 cm was fabricated and placed on top of the rectangular polystyrene phantom representing the abdomen of the patient. The leaf pot for testicle shielding was made as various shape, sizes, thickness and supporting stand. The scattered photon with and without shielding were measured at the representative position of the fetus and testicle. Measurement of radiation scattered dose outside fields and critical organs, like fetus position and testicle region, from chest or pelvic irradiation by large fie]d of high energy radiation beam was performed using an ionization chamber and film dosimetry. The scattered doses outside field were measured 5 - 10% of maximum doses in fields and exponentially decrease from field margins. The scattered photon dose received the fetus and testicle from thorax field irradiation was measured about 1 mGy/Gy of photon treatment dose. Shielding construction to reduce this scattered dose was investigated using lead sheet and blocks. Lead pot shield for testicle reduced the scatter dose under 10 mGy when photon beam of 60 Gy was irradiated in abdomen region. The scattered photon dose is reduced when the lead shield was used while the no significant reduction of scattered photon dose was observed and 2-3 mm lead sheets refuted the skin dose under 80% and almost electron contamination. The results indicate that it was possible to improve shielding to reduce scattered photon for fetus and testicle when a young patients were treated with a high energy photon beam.