• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.59 no.3
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• pp.366-372
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• 2021

Cadherin-Catenin complex is thought to play an essential role in the transmission of force at adherens junction. Due to the lack of proper tools to visualize and detect mechanical force signals, the underlying mechanism by which the cadherin-catenin complex regulates force transmission at intercellular junctions remains elusive. In this study, we visualize cadherin-mediated force transmission using an engineered α-Catenin sensor based on fluorescence resonance energy transfer. Our results reveal that α-catenin is a key force transducer in cadherin-mediated mechanotransduction at cell-cell junctions. Thus, our finding will provide important insights for studying the effects of chemical and physical signals on cell-cell communication and the relationship between physiological and pathological phenomena.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.4
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• pp.1119-1126
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• 2021

Spacer grid with mixing vane had been widely used in nuclear reactor core. One of the main feather of spacer grid with mixing vane was that strong swirl flow was formed after the spacer grid. The swirl flow not only changed the bubble generation in the near wall field, but also affected the bubble behaviors in the center region of the subchannel. The interaction between bubble and the swirl flow was one of the basic phenomena for the two phase flow modeling in fuel assembly. To obatin better understanding on the bubble behaviors in swirl flow, full three dimension numerical simulations were conducted in the present paper. The swirl flow was assumed in the cylindral calculation domain. The bubble interface was captured by Volume Of Fluid (VOF) method. The properties of saturated water and steam at different pressure were applied in the simulation. The bubble trajectory, motion, shape and force were obtained based on the bubble parameters captured by VOF. The simulation cases in the present study included single bubble with different size, at different angular velocity conditions and at different pressure conditions. The results indicated that bubble migrated to the center in swirl flow with spiral motion type. The lateral migration was mainly related to shear stress magnitude and bubble size. The bubble moved toward the center with high velocity when the swirl magnitude was high. The largest bubble had the highest lateral migration velocity in the present study range. The effect of pressure was small when bubble size was the same. The prelimenery simulation result would be beneficial for better understanding complex two phase flow phenomena in fuel assembly with spacer grid.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.54 no.8
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• pp.607-616
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• 2021

The purpose of this study is to simulate the transport of nonuniform sediment considering the hiding-exposure effect numerically. In order to calculate the transport of multi-disperse suspended sediment mixtures, the set of advection-diffusion equations for each particle class is solved. The applicability of the numerical model is examined by comparing the simulation results with experimental data. In this study, we calculate the vertical distribution of total concentration of sediment particles using two approaches: (1) by considering the mixture as represented by a single size; and (2) by combining the concentration of the sediment corresponding to several particle size classes; From the simulation results, it is shown that both approaches calculate reasonable results due to the narrow range of size distribution. Under the condition of nonuniform sediment, the critical shear stress of the sediment particle is influenced by the size-selective entrainment, i.e., hiding-exposure effect. It is shown in this study that the effect of hiding-exposure effect on the erosion rates of fine sand is negligibly small.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.373-382
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• 2022

Unsaturated soil at high suctions is widespread. Many civil engineering projects are related to the hydro-mechanical behavior of unsaturated soils at high suctions, particularly in arid and semiarid areas. To investigate water retention behaviors of nine clayey soils (one is classified as fat clay and the others are classified as lean clay according to the unified soil classification system), the high suction (3.29-286.7 MPa) was imposed on the specimens at zero net stress by the vapor equilibrium technique. In this paper, the effect of void ratio on the water retention behavior at high suction was discussed in detail. Validation data showed that soil types, i.e., different mineralogical compositions, are critical in the soil water retention behavior at a high suction range. Second, the hysteresis behavior at a high suction range is mainly related to the clay content and the specific surface area. And the mechanism of water retention and hysteresis behavior at high suctions was discussed. Moreover, the maximum suction is not a unique value, and it is crucial to determine the maximum suction value accurately, especially for the shear strength prediction at high suctions. If the soil consists of hydrophilic minerals such as montmorillonite and illite, the maximum suction will be lower than 10⁶ kPa. Finally, using the area of hysteresis to quantify the degree of hysteresis at a high suction range is proposed. There was a good correlation between the area of hydraulic hysteresis and the specific surface area.

• 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.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.55-66
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• 2022

Tall buildings are often subjected to steady and unsteady forces due to external wind flows. Measurement and mitigation of these forces becomes critical to structural design in engineering applications. Over the last few decades, many approaches such as modification of the external geometry of structures have been investigated to mitigate wind-induced load. One such proven geometric modification involved the rounding of sharp corners. In this work, we systematically analyze the impact of rounded corner radii on the reducing the flow-induced loading on a square cylinder. We perform 3-Dimensional (3D) simulations for high Reynolds number flows (Re=1 × 105) which are more likely to be encountered in practical applications. An Improved Delayed Detached Eddy Simulation (IDDES) method capable of capturing flow accurately at large Reynolds numbers is employed in this study. The IDDES formulation uses a k-ω Shear Stress Transport (SST) model for near-wall modelling that prevents mesh-induced separation of the boundary layer. The effects of these corner modifications are analyzed in terms of the resulting variations in the mean and fluctuating components of the aerodynamic forces compared to a square cylinder with no geometric changes. Plots of the angular distribution of the mean and fluctuating coefficient of pressure along the square cylinder's surface illustrate the effects of corner modifications on the different parts of the cylinder. The windward corner's separation angle was observed to decrease with an increase in radius, resulting in a narrower and longer recirculation region. Furthermore, with an increase in radius, a reduction in the fluctuating lift, mean drag, and fluctuating drag coefficients has been observed.

• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.141-153
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• 2022

In this study, a numerical model of debris flow considering driftwood and entrainment erosion is developed. Subsequently, numerical simulations based on the observation data of the 2011 Mt. Umyeon are performed. To develop the debris flow model, the Nays2DFlood model, which is a flooding model based on the shallow water equation, is coupled with the transport diffusion of mixed sediment concentration, debris flow bottom shear stress, and entrainment erosion modules. The simulation closely reproduced the depth, flow velocity, and debris flow volume of Mt. Umyeon. In addition, the reproducibility of the simulation result with driftwood is more accurate than that without driftwood. The results of this study can facilitate in establishing measures to reduce debris disasters, thus alleviating the current increase in debris damage due to climate change.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.22 no.7
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• pp.13-21
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• 2006

When enforced earth is used for the retain wall and four walls, the most important thing would be how to maximize the land utilization. Accordingly, in case of enforced earth, we pile up the minimal height of earth ($20{\sim}50\;cm$) and harden the earth using a static dynamic hardening machine. In this paper, we tried to analyze and compare the stress transformation characteristics of reinforced weathered granite soil with geosynthetics when repetitive load is added to the enforced earth structure and when static load is added. The result is that the cohesion component of the strength increased greatly and the friction component decreased slightly.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.25 no.10
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• pp.5-15
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• 2009

This paper presents the results of full-scale uplift load tests performed on 24 passive anchors grouted to various lengths at Okchun and Changnyong site. Rock anchors were installed over a wide range of rock types and qualities with a fixed anchored depth of 1~6 m. The majority of installations used D51 mm high grade steel rebar to induce rock failure prior to rod failure. However, a few installations included the use of D32 mm rebar at relatively deeper anchored depth so as to induce rod failure. In many tests, rock failure was reached and the ultimate loads were recorded along with observations of the shape and extent of the failure surface. In addition to field tests, laboratory pullout tests were conducted to determine bond strength and bond stress-shear slip relation at the tendon/grout interface when a corrosion protection sheath is installed in the cement-based grout. The test results show that the ultimate tendon-grout bond strength is measured from 18~25% of unconfined compressive strength of grout. One of the important results from these tests is that the measured strains along the corrosion protection sheath were so small that practically the reduction of bond strength by the presence of sheath would be negligible.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.23 no.8
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• pp.59-68
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• 2007

The comparative study using the lab-scale experiment and the discrete element analysis is attempted to analyze the cross-anisotropic elasticity of granular soils. The lab-scale experiment consists of the small stress-controlled triaxial cyclic tests and the bender element tests. In the discrete element analysis the simulations of lab-scale cyclic tests are conducted in the various directions. Good agreement between the experimental data and the simulation on the elastic properties in the axial and shear directions confirms the usefulness of the discrete element method. The comparative analysis of the difference in the experimental data and the simulation of radial cyclic tests shows that the discrete element method can successfully be used to check the reasonable magnitude of each measurement in the experiments.