• Journal of Korean Medicine Rehabilitation
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.109-115
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to illustrate the potential for clinical improvement in treating a patient with a case of Posttraumatic Knee Stiffness with a combination of Korean medicine therapy. We treated the patient with acupuncture, electroacupuncture, CHUNA manual therapy and Interferential Current Therapy from $5^{th}$ December 2016 to $13^{th}$ January 2017 (total 29 times) by evaluating knee function with VAS score. After six weeks of treatment, this patient achieved effective outcome following the technique, showing that clinical symptom as able to walked and pain was relieved, VAS changed from 10 to 2 and the knee flexion ROM (active/passive) changed from 30/60 degrees to 120/140 degrees. This result shows that Korean Medicine therapy may be an effective option for Posttraumatic Knee Stiffness. Further clinical studies are needed to clarify the effect of Korean Medicine therapy on Posttraumatic Knee Stiffness.

• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.270-277
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• 2019

Inspired by small insects, which perform rapid and stable locomotion based on body softness and tripod gait, various milli-scale six-legged crawling robots were developed to move rapidly in harsh environment. In particular, cockroach's leg compliance was resembled to enhance the locomotion performance of the crawling robots. In this paper, we investigated the effects of changing leg compliance for the locomotion performance of the small light weight legged crawling robot under various payload condition. First, we developed robust milli-scale six-leg crawling robot which actuated by one motor and fabricated in SCM method with light and soft material. Using this robot platform, we measured the running velocity of the robot depending on the leg stiffness and payload. In result, there was optimal range of the leg stiffness enhancing the locomotion ability at each payload condition in the experiment. It suggests that the performance of the crawling robot can be improved by adjusting stiffness of the legs in given payload condition.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.119-127
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• 2019

When a structural wall is subjected to multi-directional ground motion, torsion-induced cracks degrade the stiffness of the wall. The effect of torsion should not be neglected. As a main lateral load resisting member, reinforced concrete (RC) structural wall has been widely studied under the combined action of bending and shear. Unfortunately, its seismic behavior under a combined action of torsion, bending and shear is rarely studied. In this study, torsional performances of the RC structural walls under the combined action is assessed from a comprehensive parametrical study. Finite element (FE) models are built and calibrated by comparing with the available experimental data. The study is then carried out to find out the critical design parameter affecting the torsional stiffness of RC structural walls, including the axial load ratio, aspect ratio, leg-thickness ratio, eccentricity of lateral force, longitudinal reinforcement ratio and transverse reinforcement ratio. Besides, to facilitate the application in practice, an empirical equation is developed to estimate the torsional stiffness of RC rectangular structural walls conveniently, which is found to agree well with the numerical results of the developed FE models.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.27-41
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• 2019

Shear lag effect can be an important phenomenon to consider in design of the steel-concrete composite beams. Researchers have found that the effect can be strongly related with the moment distribution, the stiffness and the ductility of the composite beams. For continuous composite beams expected to sustain hogging moment, the shear lag effect can be more distinct as cracking of the concrete slab reduces its shear stiffness. Despite its influences on behaviour of the steel-concrete composite beams, a method for calculating the shear lag effect in steel-concrete composite beams sustaining hogging moment is still not available. Shear lag effect in steel-concrete composite beams sustaining hogging moment is investigated in this paper. A method was proposed specifically for predicting the effect in the cracked part of the steel-concrete composite beam. The method is validated against available experimental data. At last, FE studies are conducted for steel-concrete composite beams with different design parameters, loading conditions and boundary conditions to further investigate the shear lag effect and compare with the proposed method.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.861-874
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• 2019

A great interest in the seismic performance evaluation of small size tunnel structures such as utility tunnel has been taken since recent earthquakes at Pohang and Gyeongju in Korea. In this study, the three-dimensional dynamic analyses of vertical shaft and horizontal tunnel under seismic load were carried out using FLAC3D. Especially, parametric analyses was performed to investigate the effects of interfacial stiffness on interfacial behavior between soil and structure. The parametric analysis showed that the interfacial stiffness scarcely gave an effect on the global dynamic behavior of the structure, while had a significant effect on the local displacement behavior of the connections. The magnitude of the interfacial stiffness was inversely proportional to the displacement, while the magnitude of interface stiffness was proportional to the normal and shear stresses. The results of this study suggest the limitations of the existing empirical equations for interfacial stiffness and emphasize the need to develop new interfacial stiffness models.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.57-65
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• 2007

Effects on the stiffness of the embankment and sandmat on the construction safety of road embankment was investigated in this study by the numerical experiments using FEM. Two points was mainly focused in this study especially. First the deformation characteristics by the change of the stiffness of sand mat and embankment was investigated by the analyzing the consolidation settlement at the center of the embankment and the lateral displacement at the toe of the embankment. And, the effect of the stiffness on the stress distribution characteristics was also investigated in this study. Furthermore, slope stability analysis was carried out to gain the safe factor by change the stiffness of the sandmat and the embankment. The objective of the study is supplying the result of the numerical experiments for the geotechnical engineers who use the FEM for the safety design of the soil structures. As a result, the stiffness of the superstructures greatly affects on the deformation characteristics both in consolidation settlement and lateral displacement. However, it can be aware that it is not dominants to the stress distribution in the aspect that the no changes in the residual excess pore water pressure. Therefore, the decision of the stiffness has to be carried out deliberately considering not only the consolidation the magnitude of the settlement and the lateral displacement, but the slope stability.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.125-130
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• 2020

This study is to investigate the effects of stretching of hospital office employees on muscle stiffness. A total of 40 healthy young women voluntarily participated in the study. The participants were randomized to the stretching groups and control groups. Before stretching, the participants measured muscle stiffness of sternocleidomastoid muscle, upper trapezius muscle suboccipital muscles and pectoralis minor. And then applied stretching to stretching group. Muscle stiffness remeasured five minutes later in each group. In all muscles, muscle stiffness of stretching group were significant decreased(p<.05), but control group were no significant difference between pre and post. therefore appropriate stretching is expected to prevent and reduce musculoskeletal diseases caused by increased muscle stiffness in hospital office employees.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.107-115
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• 2014

In this study, we examined the seismic isolation effects due to the difference between the center of mass of the building and the center of stiffness of isolation layer. Because the base isolation technique is a technique that is highly dependent on the performance of seismic isolation devices installed on the seismic isolation layer, we have to examine the horizontal stiffness of seismic isolation devices after making them. If difference between the design stiffness and the actual stiffness of the seismic isolation device occurred, a big problem may be generated in the upper members on the seismic isolation layer. The analytical results show that the more eccentricity increases, the more maximum response acceleration, story shear and the member forces of the upper part of the structure increases, and the damage is expected to be in excess. Therefore, it is recommended that if possible, isolation devices have to be designed to coincide the center of mass of the building with the center of stiffness of isolation layer. If not after making isolation devices, they need to be relocated to prevent the eccentricity.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.437-454
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• 2022

Elliptic-braced simple resisting frame as a new lateral bracing system installed in the middle bay of frame in building facades has been recently introduced. This system not only creates a problem for opening space from the architectural viewpoint but also improves the structural behavior. Despite the researches on the seismic performance of lateral bracing systems, there are few studies performed on the effect of the stiffness parameters on the elastic story drift and calculation of period in simple braced steel frames. To overcome this shortcoming, in this paper, for the first time, an analytical solution is presented for calculating elastic lateral stiffness in a simple steel frame equipped with elliptic brace subjected to lateral load. In addition, for the first time, in this study, a precise formulation has been developed to evaluate the elastic stiffness variation in a steel frame equipped with a two-dimensional single-story single-span elliptic brace using strain energy and Castigliano's theorem. Thus, all the effective factors, including axial and shear loads as well as bending moments of elliptic brace could be considered. At the end of the analysis, the lateral stiffness can be calculated by an improved and innovative relation through the energy method based on the geometrical properties of the employed sections and specification of the used material. Also, an equivalent element of an elliptic brace was presented for the ease of modeling and use in linear designs. Application of the proposed relation have been verified through a variety of examples in OpenSees software. Based on the results, the error percentage between the elastic stiffness derived from the developed equations and the numerical analyses of finite element models was very low and negligible.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.251-258
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• 2024

This study investigated the effect of bearing aging on the seismic response of a three-span continuous concrete girder bridge with pot bearings installed. The pot bearings were modeled as elastic springs in the longitudinal, transverse, and vertical directions of the bridge to reflect the stiffness of fixed and movable supports. The effect of bearing aging on the seismic response of the bridge was examined by considering two factors: a decrease in the horizontal stiffness of the fixed bearings and an increase in the horizontal stiffness of the movable bearings. The finite element model of the three-span continuous girder bridge was validated by comparing its numerical natural frequencies with the designed natural frequencies. Using artificial ground motions that conform to the design response spectrum specified by the KDS bridge seismic design code, the seismic responses of the bridge's girders and bearings were calculated, considering the bearing stiffness variation due to aging. The results of a numerical analysis revealed that a decrease in the horizontal stiffness of the fixed bearings led to an increase in the absolute maximum relative displacement of the bearings during an earthquake. This increases the risk of the mortar block that supports the bearing cracking and the anchor bolt breaking. However, an increase in the horizontal stiffness of the movable bearings due to aging decreased the absolute maximum shear on the fixed bearings. Despite the shear reduction in the fixed bearings, the aging of the pot bearings change could cause additional tensile bending stress in the girder section above the free bearings, which could lead to unexpected structural damage to the continuous bridge during an earthquake.