• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.375-383
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• 2019

In underground retreating longwall coal mining, hard roof collapse is one of the most challenging safety problems for mined-out areas. Identifying precursors for hard roof collapse is of great importance for the development of warning systems related to collapse geohazards and ground control. In this case study, the Xinhe mine was chosen because it is a standard mine and the minable coal seam usually lies beneath hard strata. Real-time monitoring of hard roof collapse was performed in longwall face 5301 of the Xinhe mine using support resistance and microseismic (MS) monitoring; five hard roof collapse cases were identified. To reveal the characteristics of MS activity during hard roof collapse development and to identify its precursors, the change in MS parameters, such as MS event rate, energy release, bursting strain energy, b value and the relationships with hard roof collapse, were studied. This research indicates that some MS parameters showed irregularity before hard roof collapse. For the Xinhe coalmine, a substantial decrease in b value and a rapid increase in MS event rate were reliable hard roof collapse precursors. It is suggested that the b value has the highest predictive sensitivity, and the MS event rate has the second highest.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.449-457
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• 2019

Physical model tests were first performed to investigate the failure pattern of multiple pillar-roof support system. It was observed in the physical model tests, pillars were design with the same mechanical parameters in model #1, cracking occurred simultaneously in panel pillars and the roof above barrier pillars. When pillars 2 to 5 lost bearing capacity, collapse of the roof supported by those pillars occurred. Physical model #2 was design with a relatively weaker pillar (pillar 3) among six pillars. It was found that the whole pillar-roof system was divided into two independent systems by a roof crack, and two pillars collapse and roof subsidence events occurred during the loading process, the first failure event was induced by the pillars failure, and the second was caused by the roof crack. Then, for a multiple pillar-roof support system, three types of failure patterns were analysed based on the condition of pillar and roof. It can be concluded that any failure of a bearing component would cause a subsidence event. However, the barrier pillar could bear the transferred load during the stress redistribution process, mitigating the propagation of collapse or cutting the roof to insulate the collapse area. Importantly, some effective methods were suggested to decrease the risk of catastrophic collapse, and the deep-hole-blasting was employed to improve the stability of the pillar and roof support system in a room and pillar mine.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.52 no.6
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• pp.1085-1098
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• 2014

Plastic mechanism analysis of structures subjected to large deformation has long been used in order to determine collapse mechanisms of steel structures, and the energy absorbed in plastic deformation during such collapses. In this paper the technique is applied to vehicle roof structures that undergo large plastic deformation as a result of rollover crashes. The components of such roof structures are typically steel spot-welded hat-type sections. Ten different deformation mechanisms are defined from investigations of real-world rollover crashes, and an analytical technique to determine the plastic collapse load and energy absorption of such mechanisms is determined. The procedure is presented in a generic manner, such that it may be applied to any vehicle structure undergoing a rollover induced collapse. The procedure is applied to an exemplar vehicle, in order to demonstrate its application in determining the energy absorbed in the deformation of the identified collapse mechanisms. The procedure will be useful to forensic crash reconstructionists, in order to accurately determine the initial travel velocity of a vehicle that has undergone a rollover and for which the post-crash vehicle deformation is known. It may also be used to perform analytical studies of the collapse resistance of vehicle roof structures for optimisation purposes, which is also demonstrated with an analysis of the effect of varying the geometric and material properties of the roof structure components of the exemplar vehicle.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.867-877
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• 2016

Collapse shape of tunnel roof in layered Hoek-Brown rock media is investigated within the framework of upper bound theorem. The traditional collapse mechanism for homogeneous stratum is no longer suitable for the present analysis of roof stability, and it would be necessary to propose a curve failure mode to describe the velocity discontinuity surface in layered media. What is discussed in the paper is that the failure mechanism of tunnel roofs, consisting of two different functions, is proposed for layered rock media. Then it is employed to investigate the impending roof failure. Based on the nonlinear Hoek-Brown failure criterion, the collapse volume of roof blocks are derived with the upper bound theorem and variational principle. Numerical calculations and parametric analysis are carried out to illustrate the effects of different parameters on the shape of failure mechanism, which is of overriding significance to the stability analysis of tunnel roof in layered rock media.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.351-366
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• 2016

The structural collapse of masonry structure under dynamic loading displays many possible failure mechanisms often related to interaction between structural components. Roof collapse is one of the major damage mechanisms observed in masonry structures during an earthquake. Better connection between the roof diaphragm and walls may be preventing roof collapse, but it can affect other failure mechanisms. In spite of this fact, less attention has been paid to the influence of the roof diaphragm effect on masonry structures and little research has been implemented in this field. In the present study, the roof diaphragm effect on the unreinforced masonry structure under dynamic loading has been experimentally investigated. Three one-quarter scale one-story adobe masonry house models with different roof conditions have been tested by subjecting them to sinusoid loading on a shaking table simulator. Phenomena such as failure pattern, dynamic performance of masonry structure were examined.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.30 no.8
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• pp.1793-1797
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• 2009

Soft lithography of polydimethyl-siloxane (PDMS), an elastomeric polymer, has enabled rapid and inexpensive fabrications of microfluidic devices for various biochemical and bioanalytical applications. However, fabrications of nanostructured PDMS components such as nanoslits remain extremely challenging because of deformation of PDMS material. One of the well-known issues is the unwanted contact between the surfaces of PDMS roof and bottom substrate, called ‘roof collapse’. Here we have developed a novel approach for the facile stabilization of PDMS nanoslits in the low height (130 nm)/width (100 $\mu$m) ratio without roof-collapse. Within 130 nm high nanoslits, we demonstrate the confinement of single DNA molecules. We believe that this approach will serve as a key to utilize PDMS as nanoslits for integrated microfluidic devices.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.571-580
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• 2018

The failure mechanism of tunnel roof is investigated with upper bound theorem of limit analysis. The stochastic settlement and nonlinear failure criterion are considered in the present analysis. For the collapse of tunnel roof, the surface settlement is estimated by the simplified stochastic medium theory. The failure curve expressions of collapse blocks in homogeneous and in layered soils are derived, and the effects of material parameters on the potential range of failure mechanisms are discussed. The results show that the material parameters of initial cohesion, nonlinear coefficient and unit weight have significant influences on the potential range of collapse block in homogeneous media. The proportion of collapse block increases as the initial cohesion increases, while decreases as the nonlinear coefficient and the unit weight increase. The ground surface settlement increases with the tunnel radius increasing, while the possible collapse proportion decreases with increase of the tunnel radius. In layered stratum, the study is investigated to analyze the effects of material parameters of different layered media on the proportion of possible collapse block.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.21-35
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• 2016

Employing non-associated flow rule and Power-Law failure criterion, the failure mechanisms of tunnel roof in homogeneous and layered soils are studied in present analysis. From the viewpoint of energy, limit analysis upper bound theorem and variation principle are introduced to study the influence of dilatancy on the collapse mechanism of rectangular tunnel considering effects of supporting force and seepage force. Through calculation, the collapsing curve expressions of rectangular tunnel which are excavated in homogeneous soil and layered soils respectively are derived. The accuracy of this work is verified by comparing with the existing research results. The collapsing surface shapes with different dilatancy coefficients are draw out and the influence of dilatancy coefficient on possible collapsing range is analyzed. The results show that, in homogeneous soil, the potential collapsing range decreases with the decrease of the dilatancy coefficient. In layered soils, the total height and the width on the layered position of possible collapsing block increase and the width of the falling block on tunnel roof decrease when only the upper soil's dilatancy coefficient decrease. When only the lower soil's dilatancy coefficient decrease or both layers' dilatancy coefficients decrease, the range of the potential collapsing block reduces.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.273-283
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• 2017

In this paper, it is aimed to present a detail investigation related to structural behavior of laterally unrestrained steel cantilever roof of tribune with slender cross section. The structure is located in Tutak town in $A{\breve{g}}r{{\i}}$ and collapsed on October 25, 2015 at eastern part of Turkey is considered as a case study. This mild sloped roof structure was built from a variable I beam, and supported on steel columns of 5.5 m height covering totally $240m^2$ closed area in plan. The roof of tribune collapsed completely without any indication during first snowfall after construction at midnight a winter day, fortunately before the opening hours. The meteorological records and observations of local persons are combined together to estimate the intensity of snow load in the region and it is compared with the code specified values. Also, the wide/thickness and height/thickness ratios for flange and web are evaluated according to the design codes. Three dimensional finite element model of the existing steel tribune roof is generated considering project drawings and site investigations using commercially available software ANSYS. The displacements, principal stresses and strains along to the cantilever length and column height are given as contour diagrams and graph format. In addition to site investigation, the numerical and analytical works conducted in this study indicate that the unequivocal reasons of the collapse are overloading action of snow load intensity, some mistakes made in the design of steel cantilever beams, insufficient strength and rigidity of the main structural elements, and construction workmanship errors.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.71-80
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• 2016

This study is on safety improvement measures through analysis of accident cases during plant storage tank construction. Storage tank is a general term for artificial ground facility constructed to store oil, water, gas, and other chemicals. Some companies have clustered storage tanks (tank farm). The construction methods vary according to the component and types of fluids. Because most of the construction procedures include lifting heavy weight materials using heavy construction equipment and are carried out at high places, storage tank construction contains more risk factors than normal aerial construction. Recently, major accidents such as storage tank collapse have occurred often, and cost many lives due to the characteristics of the structure. In this study we would like to analyze the cause of these accidents and propose measures to improve safety.