• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2009.09a
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• pp.482-491
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• 2009

In this study, the mechanical behavior of very soft ground that is reinforced on the surface has been investigated with the aid of a series of numerical analyses. Key material properties of each dredged soft ground, reinforcement and backfill sand mat have been parametrically estimated in the numerical analysis. Along with the result of the study previously performed, a series of in-situ loading conditions and settlement exerted by surface reinforcing operation by construction vehicles has been numerically simulated. These result have been used to evaluate the limit bearing capacity for the unreinforced and reinforced soft ground. Also, the results of the numerical analysis obtained in this research were compared with Yamanouchi's empirical correlation for the limit bearing capacity. Engineering charts listed in this paper for estimating the limit bearing capacity provide field engineers with preliminary design tool for surface reinforcement of very soft ground.

• IE interfaces
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.329-335
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• 2009

Recently, the use of soft-keyboard is widespread and increases, because various handheld devices were developed such as PDA, navigation, mobile phones with enhanced competence of touchscreen. The use of soft-keyboard requires different characteristics compared to traditional hard-keyboard like QWERTY keyboard: no standard character layout, one finger entry, and cognitive processing time. In this study, therefore, the optimal soft-keyboard layout for one finger text entry in touchscreen environment was investigated among 6 keyboard layouts which were developed based on traditional characteristic of Korean text and the usage frequency of both vowels and consonants. As a result, the interface with Korean text invention order like 'ㄱㄴㄷㄹ' or 'ㅏㅑㅓㅕㅕ' was found to be better than the interface with usage frequency-based arrangement. Especially the vowels were most efficient when separated into two parts; located at the right-hand side and at right below the consonants. In conclusion, the keyboard layout with regard to the Korean text characteristic and the invention order was a more effective layout resulted from the minimum cognitive processing time.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.479-486
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• 2015

The application of soft-switching techniques is increasing in the DC/DC converter area. It is important to design soft-switching parameters to ensure the converter operates properly and efficiently. An optimized design method is presented in this paper. The objective function is the total power loss of a converter, while the variables are soft-switching parameters and the constraints are the electrical requirements for soft-switching. Firstly, a response surface methodology (RSM) model with a high precision is built, and the rough optimized parameters can be obtained with the help of a genetic algorithm (GA) in the solution space determined by the constraints. Secondly, a re-optimization is conducted with a SPICE model and a GA, and accurate optimized parameters can be obtained. Simulation and experiment results show that the proposed method performs well in terms of a wide adaptability, efficiency, and global optimization.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.299-313
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• 2019

This research investigated the nonlinear compressibility, permeability, the yielding due to structural degradation and their effects on consolidation behavior of structured soft soils. Based on oedometer and hydraulic conductivity test results of natural and reconstituted soft clays, linear log (1+e) ~ $log\;{\sigma}^{\prime}$ and log (1+e) ~ $log\;k_v$ relationships were developed to capture the variations in compressibility and permeability, and the yield stress ratio (YSR) was introduced to characterize the soil structure of natural soft clay. Semi-analytical solutions for one-dimensional consolidation of soft clay under time-dependent loading incorporating the effects of soil nonlinearity and soil structure were proposed. The semi-analytical solutions were verified against field measurements of a well-documented test embankment and they can give better accuracy in prediction of excess pore pressure compared to the predictions using the existing analytical solutions. Additionally, parametric studies were conducted to analyze the effects of YSR, compression index (${\lambda}_r$ and ${\lambda}_c$), and permeability index (${\eta}_k$) on the consolidation behavior of structured soft clays. The magnitude of the difference between degree of consolidation based on excess pore pressure ($U_p$) and that based on strain ($U_s$) depends on YSR. The parameter ${\lambda}_c/{\eta}_k$ plays a significant role in predicting consolidation behavior.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.68 no.5
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• pp.621-632
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• 2018

Soft-story buildings have bottom stories much less rigid than the top stories and are susceptible to earthquake damage. Therefore, the seismic design specifications need strict design considerations in such cases. In this paper, a four-story building was investigated as a case study and the effects of X-braces elimination in its lower stories studied. In addition, the possibility of replacement of the X-braces in soft-stories with equivalent moment resisting frame inspected in two different phases. In first phase, the stiffness of X-braces and equivalent moment-resisting frames evaluated using classic equations. In final phase, diagonals removed from the lowest story to develop a soft-story and replaced with moment resisting frames. Then, the seismic stiffness variation of moment-resisting frame evaluated using nonlinear static and dynamic analyses. The results show that substitution of braced frames with an equivalent moment-resisting frame of the same stiffness increases story drift and reduces energy absorption capacity. However, it is enough to consider the needs of building codes, even using equivalent moment resisting frame instead of X-Braces, to avoid soft-story stiffness irregularity in seismic design of buildings. Besides, soft-story development in the second story may be more critical under strong ground excitations, because of interaction of adjacent stories.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.509-517
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• 2021

Smart materials capable of changing their characteristics in response to stimuli such as light, heat, pH, and electric and magnetic fields are promising for application to flexible electronics, soft robotics, and biomedicine. Compared with conventional rigid materials, these materials are typically composed of soft materials that improve the biocompatibility and allow for large and dynamic deformations in response to external environmental stimuli. Among them, smart magnetic materials are attracting immense attention owing to their fast response, remote actuation, and wide penetration range under various conditions. In this review, we report the material design and fabrication of smart magnetic materials. Furthermore, we focus on recent advances in their typical applications, namely, soft magnetic actuators, sensors for self-assembly, object manipulation, shape transformation, multimodal robot actuation, and tactile sensing.

• Proceedings of the KIPE Conference
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• 2008.10a
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• pp.133-136
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• 2008

This paper presents a novel soft switching topology with resonant DC-DC converter and inverter. The resonant DC-DC converter consists of the auxiliary switch, resonant capacitor and inductor. All switches in the proposed topology is turn on at ZCS and turn off at ZVS operation. The proposed soft switching technology can be obtained the reduced switching losses and voltage and current stress of the power devices. Therefore, the resonant converter efficiency is higher than conventional boost converter. Simulation results on a 1kW soft switching converter are presented.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.2378-2381
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• 2003

In recent years, fuzzy logic has received greater emphasis in the field of power electronics and motion control by virtue of its adaptive capability. A new fuzzy logic based soft-start scheme for induction motor drives close to load detection has been discussed here using microcontroller based thyristorised voltage controller. Rule based soft-start algorithm is fully realised through a software approach only. The soft-start strategy is based on the change of input impedance during starting period. The prototype has been tested under various loading conditions and found to be reliable.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.142-148
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• 2015

3D printing technology is a promising technique for fabricating complex 3D architectures based on the CAD/CAM system, and it has been extensively investigated to manufacture structures in the fields of mechanical engineering, space technology, automobiles, and biomedical and electrical applications. Recent advances in the 3D printing of soft structures have received attention for the application of the construction of flexible sensors of soft robotics or the recreation of tissue/organ-specific microenvironments. In this review paper, we would like to focus on delivering state-of-the-art fabrication of soft structures with 3D printing technology and its various applications.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.243-249
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• 2012

In the companion paper, the nonlinear consolidation of soft clays subjected to cyclic loading was analytically investigated. This paper reports the results of an experimental program conducted to verify some critical assumptions made in the analytical study. It, also, includes a numerical study carried out to examine the capability of the proposed theory to determine the consolidation characteristics of soft clays subjected to cyclic loading. Results show that the permeability of the soft clays does not significantly change during the cyclic loading. It is also shown that, compared to the Terzaghi's solution for a linear clay, the inherit nonlinearity of the clay tends to decrease the degree of consolidation due to the smaller rate of dissipation in the excess pore water pressure.