• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.451-458
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• 2005

The effects of fiber orientation on acoustic emission(AE) characteristics have been studied for various composite laminates. Reflection and transmission optical microscopy were used to investigate the damage zone of specimens. AE signals were classified through short time Fourier transform(STFT) as different types: AE signals with a high intensity and high frequency band were due to fiber fracture, while weak AE signals with a low frequency band were due to matrix cracking and/or interfacial cracking. Characteristic feature in the rate of hit-events having high amplitudes showed a procedure of fiber breakages, which expressed the characteristic fracture processes of notched fiber-reinforced plastics with different fiber orientations. As a consequence, the behavior of fracture in the continuous composite laminates could be monitored through nondestructive evaluation(NDE) using the AE technique.

• Advanced Composite Materials
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.135-149
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• 2007

In the automobile industry, structural health monitoring of fiber reinforced polymer composite parts is a widespread need for maintenance before breakdown of the functional elements or a complete vehicle. High performance sensors are generally used in many of the structural health monitoring operations. Within this study, a carbon fiber sewing thread has been used as a low cost laminate failure sensing element. The experimentation plan was set up according to the electrical conductance and flexibility of carbon fiber threads, advantages of preforming operations, and sewing mechanisms. The influence of the single thread damages by changing the electrical resistance and monitoring the impact location by using carbon thread sensors has been performed. Innovative utilization of relatively cost-effective carbon threads for monitoring the delamination of metallic inserts from the basic composite laminate structure is a highlighting feature of this study.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2002.04a
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• pp.274-283
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• 2002

This paper presents an efficient models for reinforeced concrete structures using CART-ANFIS(classification and regression tree-adaptive neuro fuzzy inference system). a fuzzy decision tree parttitions the input space of a data set into mutually exclusive regions, each of which is assigned a label, a value, or an action to characterize its data points. Fuzzy decision trees used for classification problems are often called fuzzy classification trees, and each terminal node contains a label that indicates the predicted class of a given feature vector. In the same vein, decision trees used for regression problems are often called fuzzy regression trees, and the terminal node labels may be constants or equations that specify the Predicted output value of a given input vector. Note that CART can select relevant inputs and do tree partitioning of the input space, while ANFIS refines the regression and makes it everywhere continuous and smooth. Thus it can be seen that CART and ANFIS are complementary and their combination constitutes a solid approach to fuzzy modeling.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.173-190
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• 2019

Steel-confined reinforced concrete (SCRC) columns feature highly complex and invisible mechanisms that make damage evaluation and pattern recognition difficult. In the present article, the prevailing acoustic emission (AE) technique was applied to monitor and evaluate the damage process of steel-confined RC columns in a quasi-static test. AE energy-based indicators, such as index of damage and relax ratio, were proposed to trace the damage progress and quantitatively evaluate the damage state. The fuzzy C-means algorithm successfully discriminated the AE data of different patterns, validity analysis guaranteed cluster accuracy, and principal component analysis simplified the datasets. A detailed statistical investigation on typical AE features was conducted to relate the clustered AE signals to micro mechanisms and the observed damage patterns, and differences between steel-confined and unconfined RC columns were compared and illustrated.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.789-830
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• 2015

The recent re-assessment of the seismic hazard in Europe led for many regions of low to moderate seismicity to an increase in the seismic demand. As a consequence, several modern unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings, constructed with reinforced concrete (RC) slabs that provide an efficient rigid diaphragm action, no longer satisfy the seismic design check and have been retrofitted by adding or replacing URM walls with RC walls. Of late, also several new construction projects have been conceived directly as buildings with both RC and URM walls. Despite the widespread use of such construction technique, very little is known about the seismic behaviour of mixed RC-URM wall structures and codes do not provide adequate support to designers. The aim of the paper is therefore to propose a displacement-based design methodology for the design of mixed RC-URM edifices and the retrofit of URM buildings by replacing or adding selected URM walls with RC ones. The article describes also two tools developed for estimating important quantities relevant for the displacement-based design of structures with both RC and URM walls. The tools are (i) a mechanical model based on the shear-flexure interaction between URM and RC walls and (ii) an elastic model for estimating the contribution of the RC slabs to the overturning moment capacity of the system. In the last part of the article the proposed design method is verified through nonlinear dynamic analyses of several case studies. These results show that the proposed design approach has the ability of controlling the displacement profile of the designed structures, avoiding concentration of deformations in one single storey, a typical feature of URM wall structures.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.42-47
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• 1988

The off-axis tensile strength of the unidirectional carbon fiber reinforced plastic and the residual strength of impact damaged CFRP were measured and compared with the stress wave factor (SWF) of the specimens. The SWF values were measured to be decreased with the strength reduction in both cases and found to be useful for the nondestructive strength evaluation of unidirectional CFRP. The failure behaviour of the unidirectional CFRP during off-axis tensile testing was also monitored by acoustic emission(AE) method. The AE energy release showed the characteristic feature depending on the off-axis angle and this result was analyzed to be caused by the difference of the expected failure mode depending on the off-axis angle. The failure mode of CFRP was found to be analyzed by investigation of the peak amplitude distribution of AE.

• The Journal of Advanced Prosthodontics
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.433-438
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• 2016

PURPOSE. The aim of this in vitro study was to evaluate the mechanical properties (bending strength and hardness) of seven different fiber reinforced composite posts, in relation to their microstructural characteristics. MATERIALS AND METHODS. Two hundred eighty posts were divided into seven groups of 40, one group for each type of post analyzed. Within each group, 15 posts were subjected to three-point bending strength test, 15 to a microhardess meter for the Knoop hardness, and 10 to Scanning Electron Microscope in order to determine the diameter of the fibers and the percentage of fibers embedded in the matrix. To compare the flexural strength in relation to the type of fiber, matrix, and the hardness of the posts, a Kruskal-Wallis H test was used. The Jonckheere-Terpstra test was used to determine if the volume percent of fibers in the post influenced the bending strength. RESULTS. The flexural strength and the hardness depended on the type of fibers that formed the post. The lower flexural strength of a post could be due to deficient bonding between the fiber and the resin matrix. CONCLUSION. According to the results, other factors, besides the microstructural characteristics, may also influence the mechanical properties of the post. The feature that has more influence on the mechanical properties of the posts is the type of fiber.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.40-47
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• 2022

The present study aimed to examine the effectiveness of different techniques for controlling the diagonal cracks at the corners of openings on the strength, deformation, and crack propagation in reinforced concrete walls. The crack control strip proposed in this study, the conventional diagonal steel reinforcing bars, and stress-dispersion curved plates were investigated for controlling the diagonal cracks at the opening corners. An additional crack self-healing function was also considered for the crack control strip. To evaluate the volume change ratio and crack width propagation around the opening, downsized wall specimens with a opening were tested under the diagonal shear force at the opening corner. Test result showed that the proposed crack control strip was more effective in reducing the volume change and controlling the crack width around the opening when compared to the conventional previous methods. The crack control strip with crack healing feature displayed the superior performance in improving the strength of the wall and reducing the crack width while healing cracks occurred in the previous tests.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.243-256
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• 2022

A coupled finite element method (FEM)-boundary element method (BEM) for analyzing the hydroelastic response of functionally graded carbon nanotube-reinforced composite (FG-CNTRC) floating plates under moving loads is firstly introduced in this article. For that aim, the plate displacement field is described utilizing a generalized shear deformation theory (GSDT)-based FEM, meanwhile the linear water-wave theory (LWWT)-relied BEM is employed for the fluid hydrodynamic modeling. Both computational domains of the plate and fluid are coincidentally discretized into 4-node Hermite elements. Accordingly, the C1-continuous plate element model can be simply captured owing to the inherent feature of third-order Hermite polynomials. In addition, this model is also completely free from shear correction factors, although the shear deformation effects are still taken into account. While the fluid BEM can easily handle the free surface with a lower computational effort due to its boundary integral performance. Material properties through the plate thickness follow four specific CNT distributions. Outcomes gained by the present FEM-BEM are compared with those of previously released papers including analytical solutions and experimental data to validate its reliability. In addition, the influences of CNT volume fraction, different CNT configurations, water depth, and load speed on the hydroelastic behavior of FG-CNTRC plates are also examined.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.451-471
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• 2022

In the present paper, the static bending and buckling responses of functionally graded carbon nanotubes-reinforced composite (FG-CNTRC) beam under various boundary conditions are investigated within the framework of higher shear deformation theory. The significant feature of the proposed theory is that it provides an accurate parabolic distribution of transverse shear stress through the thickness satisfying the traction-free boundary conditions needless of any shear correction factor. Uniform (UD) and four graded distributions of CNTs which are FG-O, FG-X, FG- and FG-V are selected here for the analysis. The effective material properties of FG-CNTRC beams are estimated according to the rule of mixture. To model the FG-CNTRC beam realistically, an efficient Hermite-Lagrangian finite element formulation is successfully developed. The accuracy and efficiency of the present model are demonstrated by comparison with published benchmark results. Moreover, comprehensive numerical results are presented and discussed in detail to investigate the effects of CNTs volume fraction, distribution patterns of CNTs, boundary conditions, and length-to-thickness ratio on the bending and buckling responses of FG-CNTRC beam. Several new referential results are also reported for the first time which will serve as a benchmark for future studies in a similar direction. It is concluded that the FG-X-CNTRC beam is the strongest beam that carries the lowest central deflection and is followed by the UD, V, Λ, and FG-O-CNTRC beam. Besides, the critical buckling load belonging to the FG-X-CNTRC beam is the highest, followed by UD and FG-O.