• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.1121-1137
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• 2015

This study presents probabilistic-based damage identification technique for highlighting damage in metallic structures. This technique utilizes distributed piezoelectric transducers to generate and monitor the ultrasonic Lamb wave with narrowband frequency. Diagnostic signals were used to define the scatter signals of different paths. The energy of scatter signals till different times were calculated by taking root mean square of the scatter signals. For each pair of parallel paths an error function based on the energy of scatter signals is introduced. The resultant error function then is used to estimate the probability of the presence of damage in the monitoring area. The presented method with an autofocusing feature is applied to aluminum plates for method verification. The results identified using both simulation and experimental Lamb wave signals at different central frequencies agreed well with the actual situations, demonstrating the potential of the presented algorithm for identification of damage in metallic structures. An obvious merit of the presented technique is that in addition to damages located inside the region between transducers; those who are outside this region can also be monitored without any interpretation of signals. This novelty qualifies this method for online structural health monitoring.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.57-68
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• 2023

Bridge hangers, such as those in suspension and cable-stayed bridges, suffer from cumulative fatigue damage caused by dynamic loads (e.g., cyclic traffic and wind loads) in their service condition. Thus, the identification of damage to hangers is important in preserving the service life of the bridge structure. This study develops a new method for condition assessment of bridge hangers. The tension force of the bridge and the damages in the element level can be identified using the Bayesian optimization method. To improve the number of observed data, the additional mass method is combined the Bayesian optimization method. Numerical studies are presented to verify the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed method. The influence of different acquisition functions, which include expected improvement (EI), probability-of-improvement (PI), lower confidence bound (LCB), and expected improvement per second (EIPC), on the identification of damage to the bridge hanger is studied. Results show that the errors identified by the EI acquisition function are smaller than those identified by the other acquisition functions. The identification of the damage to the bridge hanger with various types of boundary conditions and different levels of measurement noise are also studied. Results show that both the severity of the damage and the tension force can be identified via the proposed method, thereby verifying the robustness of the proposed method. Compared to the genetic algorithm (GA), particle swarm optimization (PSO), and nonlinear least-square method (NLS), the Bayesian optimization (BO) performs best in identifying the structural damage and tension force.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.277-286
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• 2002

An increase in the overall biological effect under the combined action of ionizing radiation with another inactivating agent can be explained in two ways. One is the supposition that synergism may attribute to a reduced cellular capacity of damn-ge repair after the combined action. The other is the hypothesis that synergism may be related to an additional lethal or potentially lethal damage that arises from the interaction of sublesions induced by both agents. These sublesions ave considered to be in-effective when each agent is applied separately. Based on this hypothesis, a simple mathematical model was established. The model can predict the greatest value of the synergistic effect, and the dependence of synergy on the intensity of agents applied, as well. This paper deals with the model validation and the peculiarity of simultaneous action of various factors with radiation on biological systems such as bacteriophage, bacterial spores, yeast and mammalian cells. The common rules of the synergism aye as follows. (1) For any constant rate of exposure, the synergy can be observed only within a certain temperature range. The temperature range which synergistically increases the effects of radiation is shifted to the lower temperature fer thermosensitive objects. Inside this range, there is a specific temperature that maximizes the synergistic effect. (2) A decrease in the exposure rate results in a decrease of this specific temperature to achieve the greatest synergy and vice versa. For a constant temperature at which the irradiation occurs, synergy can be observed within a certain dose rate range. Inside this range an optimal intensity of the physical agent may be indicated, which maximizes the synergy. As the exposure temperature reduces, the optimal intensity decreases and vice versa. (3) The recovery rate after combined action is decelerated due to an increased number of irreversible damages. The probability of recovery is independent of the exposure temperature for yeast cells irradiated with ionizing or UV radiation. Chemical inhibitors of cell recovery act through the formation of irreversible damage but not via damaging the recovery process itself.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.4 no.1 s.13
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• pp.122-130
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• 2003

Nowadays, as construction projects become bigger, the probability of construction accidents is higher than any other day. When construction accidents break out, we may suffer from the loss of life and property. For preventing these damages, there is lawed that some public constructions have to insure Contractor's all risks insurance policy (CAR), However, CAR is used to preventing the insured from the loss of construction accidents, it is debated that the premium rate of CAR is not fair to the insured (contractors) The objects of this thesis are as follows Firstly, the fairness of the premium rate of CAR is reviewed, and then the amount of risk of the insured evaluates and applies to the premium rate. Secondly, the development direction of components for evaluating the amount of risk of the insured is presented in the research. Lastly, how to use the team which assesses the risk of the insured and construction works is proposed for deciding reasonably the premium rate of CAR

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.49-71
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• 2015

The present paper aims at evaluating damage and collapse behavior of low-rise buildings with unidirectional mass irregularities in plan (torsional buildings). In previous earthquake events, such buildings have been exposed to extensive damages and even total collapse in some cases. To investigate the performance and collapse behavior of such buildings from probabilistic points of view, three-dimensional three and six-story reinforced concrete models with unidirectional mass eccentricities ranging from 0% to 30% and designed with modern seismic design code provisions specific to intermediate ductility class were subjected to nonlinear static as well as extensive nonlinear incremental dynamic analysis (IDA) under a set of far-field real ground motions containing 21 two-component records. Performance of each model was then examined by means of calculating conventional seismic design parameters including the response reduction (R), structural overstrength (${\Omega}$) and structural ductility (${\mu}$) factors, calculation of probability distribution of maximum inter-story drift responses in two orthogonal directions and calculation collapse margin ratio (CMR) as an indicator of performance. Results demonstrate that substantial differences exist between the behavior of regular and irregular buildings in terms of lateral load capacity and collapse margin ratio. Also, results indicate that current seismic design parameters could be non-conservative for buildings with high levels of plan eccentricity and such structures do not meet the target "life safety" performance level based on safety margin against collapse. The adverse effects of plan irregularity on collapse safety of structures are more pronounced as the number of stories increases.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers D
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• v.55 no.2
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• pp.68-71
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• 2006

Active thermography has been used for several years in the field of remote non-destructive testing. It provides thermal images for remote detection and imaging of damages. Also, it is based on propagation and reflection of thermal waves which are launched from the surface into the inspected component by absorption of modulated radiation. For energy deposition, it use external heat sources (e.g., halogen lamp or convective heating) or internal heat generation (e.g., microwaves, eddy current, or elastic wave). Among the external heat sources, the ultrasound is generally used for energy deposition because of defect selective heating up. The heat source generating a thermal wave is provided by the defect itself due to the attenuation of amplitude modulated ultrasound. A defect causes locally enhanced losses and consequently selective heating up. Therefore amplitude modulation of the injected ultrasonic wave turns a defect into a thermal wave transmitter whose signal is detected at the surface by thermal infrared camera. This way ultrasound thermography(UT) allows for selective defect detection which enhances the probability of defect detection in the presence of complicated intact structures. In this paper the applicability of UT for fast defect detection is described. Examples are presented showing the detection of defects in PCB material. Measurements are performed on various kinds of typical defects in PCB materials (both Cu metal and non-metal epoxy). The obtained thermal image reveals area of defect in row of thick epoxy material and PCB.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.76 no.6
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• pp.751-763
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• 2020

Available records of recent earthquakes show that near-field earthquakes have different characteristics than far-field earthquakes. In general, most of these unique characteristics of near-fault records can be attributed to their forward directivity. This phenomenon causes the records of ground motion normal to the fault to entail pulses with long periods in the velocity time history. The energy of the earthquake is almost accumulated in these pulses causing large displacements and, accordingly, severe damages in the building. Damage to structures caused by past earthquakes raises the need to assess the chance of future earthquake damage. There are a variety of methods to evaluate building seismic vulnerabilities with different computational cost and accuracy. In the meantime, fragility curves, which defines the possibility of structural damage as a function of ground motion characteristics and design parameters, are more common. These curves express the percentage of probability that the structural response will exceed the allowable performance limit at different seismic intensities. This study aims to obtain the fragility curve for low- and mid-rise structures of reinforced concrete moment frames by incremental dynamic analysis (IDA). These frames were exposed to an ensemble of 18 ground motions (nine records near-faults and nine records far-faults). Finally, after the analysis, their fragility curves are obtained using the limit states provided by HAZUS-MH 2.1. The result shows the near-fault earthquakes can drastically influence the fragility curves of the 6-story building while it has a minimal impact on those of the 3-story building.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.383-411
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• 2011

Roof is an integral part of building envelope. It protects occupants from environmental forces such as wind, rain, snow and others. Among those environmental forces, wind is a major factor that can cause structural roof damages. Roof due to wind actions can exhibit either flexible or rigid system responses. At present, a dynamic test procedure available is CSA A123.21-04 for the wind uplift resistance evaluation of flexible membrane-roofing systems and there is no dynamic test procedure available in North America for wind uplift resistance evaluation of rigid membrane-roofing system. In order to incorporate rigid membrane-roofing systems into the CSA A123.21-04 testing procedure, this paper presents the development of a load cycle. For this process, the present study compared the wind performance of rigid systems with the flexible systems. Analysis of the pressure time histories data using probability distribution function and power spectral density verified that these two roofs types exhibit different system responses under wind forces. Rain flow counting method was applied on the wind tunnel time histories data. Calculated wind load cycles were compared with the existing load cycle of CSA A123.21-04. With the input from the roof manufacturers and roofing associations, the developed load cycles had been generalized and extended to evaluate the ultimate wind uplift resistance capacity of rigid roofs. This new knowledge is integrated into the new edition of CSA A123.21-10 so that the standard can be used to evaluate wind uplift resistance capacity of membrane roofing systems.

• Journal of IKEEE
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.45-56
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• 2014

Recently, damages from disasters such as downpours, earthquakes and typhoons are increasing throughout the world. The downpour days of Korean Peninsula are also increasing every year due to rapid climate change. According to statistics over the last 30 years of the earthquakes in Korean Peninsula, the probability of a future earthquake is very high. In addition, super typhoons will hit Korean Peninsula due to the temperature rise in the nearby sea caused by the deepening of global warming. Thus, damage costs of the waterfront structures by natural disasters are also growing. But damage information system for integrated management of waterfront structures are insufficient. In this paper, we designed and implemented a damage information system for integrated management of waterfront structures. First, we classified damage information caused by natural disaster. Then we designed the databases of damage information and implemented damage information system. Lastly, we checked operations and the feasibility by testing queries on the proposed system.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.248-255
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• 2009

After several damages by PWSCC were found in the world, USNRC and PNNL(Pacific Northwest National Laboratory) started the research on PWSCC under the project name of PINC. The aim of the project was 1) to fabricate representative NDE mock-ups with flaws to simulate PWSCCs, 2) to identify and quantitatively assess NDE methods for accurately detecting, sizing and characterizing PWSCCs, 3) to document the range of locations and morphologies of PWSCCs and 4) to incorporate results with other results of ongoing PWSCC research programs, as appropriate. Korea nuclear industries have also been participating in the project. Thermally and mechanically cracked-four mockups were prepared and phased array and manual ultrasonic testing(UT) techniques were applied. The results and lessons learned from the preliminary RRT are summarized as follows: 1) Korea RRT teams performed the RRT successfully. 2) Crack detection probability of the participating organizations was an average 87%, 80% and 80% respectively. 3) RMS error of the crack sizing showed comparatively good results. 4) The lessons learned may be helpful to perform the PINC RRT and PSI /ISI in Korea in the future.