• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.70 no.1
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• pp.67-80
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• 2019

Strengthening with near surface mounted carbon fibre reinforced polymers (NSM-CFRP) is a strengthening technique that have been used for several decades to increase the load carrying capacity of reinforced concrete members. In Iraq, many concrete buildings and bridges were subjected to a wide range of damage as a result of the last war and many other events. Accordingly, there is a progressive increase in the strengthening of concrete structures, bridges in particular, by using CFRP strengthening techniques. Near-surface mounted carbon fibre polymer has been recently proved as a powerful strengthening technique in which the CFRP strips are sufficiently protected against external environmental conditions especially the high-temperature rates in Iraq. However, this technique has not been examined yet under repeated loading conditions such as traffic loads on bridge girders. The main objective of this research was to investigate the effectiveness of NSM-CFRP strips in reinforced concrete beams under repeated loads. Different parameters such as the number of strips, groove size, and two types of bonding materials (epoxy resin and cement-based adhesive) were considered. Fifteen NSM-CFRP strengthened beams were tested under concentrated monotonic and repeated loadings. Three beams were non-strengthened as reference specimens while the remaining were strengthened with NSM-CFRP strips and divided into three groups. Each group comprises two beams tested under monotonic loads and used as control for those tested under repeated loads in the same group. The experimental results are discussed in terms of load-deflection behavior up to failure, ductility factor, cumulative energy absorption, number of cycles to failure, and the mode of failure. The test results proved that strengthening with NSM-CFRP strips increased both the flexural strength and stiffness of the tested beams. An increase in load carrying capacity was obtained in a range of (1.47 to 4.49) times that for the non-strengthened specimens. Also, the increase in total area of CFRPs showed a slight increase in flexural capacity of (1.02) times the value of the control strengthened one tested under repeated loading. Increasing the total area of CFRP strips resulted in a reduction in ductility factor reached to (0.71) while the cumulative energy absorption increased by (1.22) times the values of the strengthened reference specimens tested under repeated loading. Moreover, the replacement of epoxy resin with cement-based adhesive as a bonding material exhibited higher ductility than specimen with epoxy resin tested under monotonic and repeated loading.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.12
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• pp.686-693
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• 2018

Various types of re-bar splicing methods have been developed and applied to reinforced concrete (RC) structures in the field. According to previous studies, the coupler splice is relatively superior to the lap splice in terms of cost efficiency when the diameter or strength of the re-bar is larger or higher. This study was performed to develop a filler type mechanical splice for a high-strength re-bar (SD600) in reinforced concrete structures. The deformed re-bars were inserted into a circular steel tube coupler and high-strength epoxy filler was then injected into the coupler. The splice system was completed by hardened filler in a coupler. The epoxy filler was used as the manufactured production epoxy to conduct experiments of filler type mechanical splice specimens, and to observe the failure loads and failure aspects of the specimens. For this goal, the experiment of one-way tensile test was conducted for the epoxy filler type mechanical splices specimens according to the compressive strength of epoxy, length of coupler, and diameter of re-bar. The shape of failure of the re-bar coupler splice showed that the re-bars were pulled between the lugs of the re-bars as a result of the shear fracture of the hardened epoxy. The actual failure load of the experiment specimen was approximately 2 times higher than the expected failure load of the epoxy filler, which greatly improves the failure load of the hardening epoxy filler due to the restraint of the steel coupler.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.78 no.1
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• pp.41-52
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• 2021

Inelastic static pushover analysis has been used in the academic-research widely for seismic analysis of structures. Nowadays, the variety pushover analysis methods have been developed, including Modal pushover, Adaptive pushover, and Cyclic pushover, in which some weaknesses of the conventional pushover method have been rectified. In the conventional pushover analysis method, the effects of cumulative growth of cracks are not considered on the reduction of strength and stiffness of RC members that occur during earthquake or cyclic loading. Therefore, the Cyclic Pushover Analysis Method (CPA) has been proposed. This method is a powerful technique for seismic evaluation of regular reinforced concrete buildings in which the first mode of them is dominant. Since the bridges have different structures than buildings, their results cannot necessarily be attributed to bridges, and more research is needed. In this study, a cyclic pushover analysis with four loading protocols (suggested by valid references) by the Opensees software was conducted for seismic evaluation of two regular reinforce concrete bridges. The modeling method was validated with the comparison of the analytical and experimental results under both cyclic and dynamic loading. The failure mode of the piers was considered in two-mode of flexural failure and also a flexural-shear failure. Along with the cyclic analysis, conventional analysis has been studied. Also, the nonlinear incremental dynamic analysis (IDA) method has been used to examine and compare the results of pushover analyses. The time history of 20 far-field earthquake records was used to conduct IDA. After analysis, the base shear vs. displacement in the middle of the deck was drawn. The obtained results show that the cyclic pushover analysis method is able to evaluate an accurate seismic behavior of the reinforced concrete piers of the bridges. Based on the results, the cyclic pushover has proper convergence with IDA. Its accuracy was much higher than the conventional pushover, in which the bridge piers failed in flexural-shear mode. But, in the flexural failure mode, the results of each two pushover methods were close approximately. Besides, the cyclic pushover method with ACI loading protocol, and ATC-24 loading protocol, can provided more accurate results for evaluating the seismic investigation of the bridges, specially if the bridge piers are failed in flexural-shear failure mode.

• Journal of Korean Society of Coastal and Ocean Engineers
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.257-264
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• 2021

This study established a numerical model capable of calculating the wave overtopping rate of coastal structures by nonlinear irregular waves using the FUNWAVE-TVD model, a fully nonlinear Boussinesq equation model. Here, a numerical model was established by coding the mean value approach equations of EurOtop (2018) and empirical formula by Goda (2009), and adding them as subroutines of the FUNWAVE-TVD model. The verification of the model was performed by numerically calculating the wave overtopping rate of nonlinear irregular waves on vertical wall structures and comparing them with the experimental results presented in EurOtop (2018). As a result of the verification, the numerical calculation result according to the EurOtop equation of this model was very well matched with the experimental result in all relative freeboard (R_c/H_mo) range under non-impulsive wave conditions, and the numerical calculation result of empirical formula was evaluated slightly smaller than the experimental result in R_c/H_mo < 0.8 and slightly larger than the experimental result in R_c/H_mo > 0.8. The results of this model were well represented in both the exponential curve and the power curve under impulsive wave conditions. Therefore, it was confirmed that this numerical model can simulate the wave overtopping rate caused by nonlinear irregular waves in an vertical wall structure.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.759-770
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• 2022

Background: Aerobic cellular respiration provides chemical energy, adenosine triphosphate (ATP), to maintain multiple cellular functions. Sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) can deacetylate peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1 alpha (PGC-1α) to promote mitochondrial biosynthesis. Targeting energy metabolism is a potential strategy for the prevention and treatment of various diseases, such as cardiac and neurological disorders. Ginsenosides, one of the major bioactive constituents of Panax ginseng, have been extensively used due to their diverse beneficial effects on healthy subjects and patients with different diseases. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms of total ginsenosides (GS) on energy metabolism remain unclear. Methods: In this study, oxygen consumption rate, ATP production, mitochondrial biosynthesis, glucose metabolism, and SIRT1-PGC-1α pathways in untreated and GS-treated different cells, fly, and mouse models were investigated. Results: GS pretreatment enhanced mitochondrial respiration capacity and ATP production in aerobic respiration-dominated cardiomyocytes and neurons, and promoted tricarboxylic acid metabolism in cardiomyocytes. Moreover, GS clearly enhanced NAD⁺-dependent SIRT1 activation to increase mitochondrial biosynthesis in cardiomyocytes and neurons, which was completely abrogated by nicotinamide. Importantly, ginsenoside monomers, such as Rg1, Re, Rf, Rb1, Rc, Rh1, Rb2, and Rb3, were found to activate SIRT1 and promote energy metabolism. Conclusion: This study may provide new insights into the extensive application of ginseng for cardiac and neurological protection in healthy subjects and patients.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.38 no.6
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• pp.1466-1475
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• 2021

Compound K (20-O-β-(_D-glucopyranosyl)-20(S)-protopanaxadiol) is an active ingredient of ginsenosides. Compound K has been known to produce from biotransformation by β-glucosidase action of human intestinal microbes after oral admistration of ginseng. We have investigated the cytotoxicity of compound K obtained from bio-converted ginseng extract. As a result, compound K showed no significant cytotoxicity in the concentration of 0.001 to 1 ㎍/mL and inhibited the production of TNF-α, MCP-1, IL-6 and NO in RAW 264.7 cells induced by LPS inflamation. In the same concentration, HaCaT cells induced by inflammation with TNF-α and IFN-γ decreased IL-8 production due to compound K treatment. In the brine shrimp lethality assay, the LC₅₀ of compound K was 0.37 mg/mL indicating some toxicity, but the bioconverted product containing 35% compound K showed relatively low toxicity with an LC₅₀ of 0.87 mg/mL. These results suggest that the compound K enriched extract is a potential functional material for acne relief cosmetic products.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.82-92
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• 2022

This study aims to investigate the effect of total electrochemical cell resistance (TECR) on electrochemical impedance (EI) measurements of reinforced concrete (RC) by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) using a three-electrode system. A series of experimental study is performed to measure electrochemical behavior of a steel bar embedded in a concrete cube specimen, with a side length of 200 mm, in various experimental conditions. Main variables include concrete dry conditions, coupling resistance between sensing electrodes and concrete surface, and area of the counter electrode. It is demonstrated that EI values remains stable when the compliant voltage of a measuring device is sufficiently great compared to the potential drop caused by TECR of concrete specimens. It is confirmed that the effect of the coupling resistance of TECR is far more influential than other two factors (concrete dry conditions and area of the counter electrode). The results in this study can be used as a fundamental basis for development of a surface-mount sensor for corrosion monitoring of reinforced concrete structures exposed to wet-and-dry cycles under marine environment.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.667-674
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• 2022

In this study, the correlation between the damage type and operating conditions of the sleepers was analyzed based on the design data and visual inspection results for the concrete sleepers of the sleeper floating track (STEDEF) that have been in operation for more than 20 years. It appeared in the form of cracks, breakages, and breaks in the concrete at the center and tie bar contact and buried areas. As a result of the numerical analysis, it was analyzed that the change in the left and right spring stiffness of the sleeper resilience pad increases the maximum stress, tensile stress, compressive stress, and displacement of the concrete sleeper, and stress concentration in the concrete at the tie bar contact area. It was proved analytically that the sleeper resilience pad can affect the damage of the concrete sleeper. Therefore, damage of concrete sleepers in the sleeper floating track in urban transit could be caused by changes in spring stiffness of sleeper resilience pads. It was reviewed that preventive maintenance such as improvement and timely replacement of sleeper resilience pads was necessary.

• The Journal of the Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.87-94
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• 2023

As the latest weapon systems and electronic equipments are increasingly demanding stealth technology to improve the survivability of allies, it is necessary to implement low-observability technology that reduces the radar cross section(RCS). In order to implement this stealth technology, a method for low RCS characteristics by applying a shape design or a electromagnetic wave absorber is widely used. However, active phased array antennas have structural limitations in shape design, also when a absorber is applied to it, the performance of the antenna is degraded. Therefore, in this paper, in order to realize the low RCS characteristics of the active phased array antenna operating in the X-band, individual radiating elements suitable for applying the radio wave absorber were selected, and a 13x13 array antenna was designed and manufactured. Next, by comparing the measured results of the relative RCS and electrical performance for the manufactured antenna according to the presence and type of the absorber, it is shown that the electrical performance is maintained at an equal or higher level while obtaining the low RCS characteristics. Thereby the method proposed in this paper for implementing the low RCS characteristics was validated. Finally, it was confirmed that when the wave absorber is applied to the array antenna, the limitation of its performance deterioration can be overcome.

• Composites Research
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.29-35
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• 2006

The avoidance of enemy's radar detection is very important issue in the modem electronic weapon system. Researchers have studied to minimize reflected signals of radar. In this research, two types of radar absorbing structure (RAS), 'C'-type shell and 'U'-type shell, were fabricated using fiber-reinforced composite materials and their radar cross section (RCS) were evaluated. The absorption layer was composed of glass fiber reinforced epoxy and nano size carbon-black, and the reflection layer was fabricated with carbon fiber reinforced epoxy. During their manufacturing process, undesired thermal deformation (so called spring-back) was observed. In order to reduce spring-back, the bending angle of mold was controlled by a series of experiments. The spring-back of parts fabricated by using compensated mold was predicted by finite element analysis (ANSYS). The RCS of RAS shells were measured by compact range and predicted by physical optics method. The measured RCS data was well matched with the predicted data.