• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.465-498
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• 2011

Concrete structures are generally cracked in flexural tension at working loads. Concrete beams with asymmetric section details and crack patterns exhibit different flexural rigidity depending upon the sense of the applied flexural moment. In this paper, three different models, having the same natural period, of such SDOF bilinear dynamical systems have been proposed. The Model-I and Model-II have constant damping coefficient, but the latter is characterized by two stiffness coefficients depending upon the sense of vibration amplitude. The Model-III, additionally, has two damping coefficients as well. In this paper, the dynamical response of Model-III to sinusoidal loading has been investigated and compared with that of Model-II studied earlier. It has been found that Model-III exhibits regular and irregular sub-harmonics, jump phenomena and strong sensitivity to initial conditions, forcing frequency, system period as well as the sense of peak sinusoidal force. The constant sustained load has been found to affect the natural period of the dynamical system. The predictions of Model-I have been compared with those of the approximate linear model adopted in present practice. The behaviour exhibited by different models of the SDOF cracked elastic concrete structures under working loads and the theoretical and practical implications of the approach followed have been critically evaluated.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.191-207
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• 2005

Time delay exists inevitably in active control, which may not only degrade the system performance but also render instability to the dynamic system. In this paper, a novel active controller is developed to solve the time delay problem in flexible structures. By using the independent modal space control method, the differential equation of the controlled mode with time delay is obtained from the time-delay system dynamics. Then it is discretized and changed into a first-order difference equation without any explicit time delay by augmenting the state variables. The modal controller is derived based on the augmented system using the discrete variable structure control method. The switching surface is determined by minimizing a discrete quadratic performance index. The modal coordinate is extracted from sensor measurements and the actuator control force is converted from the modal one. Since the time delay is explicitly included throughout the entire controller design without any approximation, the system performance and stability are guaranteed. Numerical simulations show that the proposed controller is feasible and effective in active vibration control of dynamic systems with time delay. If the time delay is not explicitly included in the controller design, instability may occur.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.495-508
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• 2020

To investigate the structural behaviour of grouped tanks under wind loads, 2 problems need to be figured out, wind pressures on tank shells and critical loads of the shell under these pressure distribution patterns. Following the wind tunnel tests described in the companion paper, this paper firstly seeks to obtain wind loads on the external wall in a squarely-arranged cylindrical tank group by numerical simulation, considering various layouts. The outcomes demonstrate that the numerical method can provide similar results on wind pressures and better insights on grouping effects through extracted streamlines. Then, geometrically nonlinear analyses are performed using several selected potentially unfavourable wind pressure distributions. It is found that the critical load is controlled by limit point buckling when the tank is empty while excessive deformations when the tank is full. In particular, significant reductions of wind resistance are found on grouped full tanks compared to the isolated tank, considering both serviceability and ultimate limit state, which should receive special attention if the tank is expected to resist severe wind loads with the increase of liquid level.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.281-287
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• 2017

In the case of fixed offshore wind turbines, scouring phenomena have been reported around sub-structures as a result of currents, which seriously damage the structural stability. A parametric study of the various sub-structures of a fixed offshore wind turbine was performed to investigate their effects on the scouring phenomena. For a suction bucket foundation and monopile, the effects of the stick-up heights and water depth were studied, respectively. The open source libraries, called OpenFOAM, were used to simulate a violent flow around a foundation. The numerical methods were selected based on a two-dimensional analysis of a suction bucket. Based on the results for various stick-up heights, a larger scouring region was observed with an increase in the stick-up height because of the down-wash flow around a foundation. Based on the results for various monopile water depths, the water depth had an insignificant effect on the scouring.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.7
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• pp.1163-1172
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• 2016

The Ω-loop is a nonregular and flexible structure that plays an important role in molecular recognition, protein folding, and thermostability. In the present study, molecular dynamics simulation was carried out to assess the molecular stability and flexibility profile of the porcine trypsin structures. Two Ω-Loops (fragment 57-67 and fragment 78-91) were confirmed to represent the flexible region. Subsequently, glycosylation site-directed mutations (A73S, N84S, and R104S) were introduced within the Ω-loop region and its wing chain based on its potential N-glycosylation sites (Asn-Xaa-Ser/Thr consensus sequences) and structure information to improve the thermostability of trypsin. The result demonstrated that the half-life of the N84S mutant at 50℃ increased by 177.89 min when compared with that of the wild-type enzyme. Furthermore, the significant increase in the thermal stability of the N84S mutant has also been proven by an increase in the T_m values determined by circular dichroism. Additionally, the optimum temperatures of the wild-type enzyme and the N84S mutant were 75℃ and 80℃, respectively. In conclusion, we obtained the thermostability-improved enzyme N84S mutant, and the strategy used to design this mutant based on its structural information and N-linked glycosylation modification could be applied to engineer other enzymes to meet the needs of the biotechnological industry.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.131-157
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• 2014

Special track systems used to divert a train to other directions or other tracks are generally called 'railway turnout'. A traditional turnout system consists of steel rails, switches, crossings, steel plates, fasteners, screw spikes, timber bearers, ballast and formation. The wheel rail contact over the crossing transfer zone has a dip-like shape and can often cause detrimental impact loads on the railway track and its components. The large impact also emits disturbing noises (either impact or ground-borne noise) to railway neighbors. In a brown-field railway track where an existing aged infrastructure requires renewal or maintenance, some physical constraints and construction complexities may dominate the choice of track forms or certain components. With the difficulty to seek for high-quality timbers with dimensional stability, a methodology to replace aged timber bearers in harsh dynamic environments is to adopt an alternative material that could mimic responses and characteristics of timber in both static and dynamic loading conditions. A critical review has suggested an application of an alternative material called fibre-reinforced foamed urethane (FFU). The full-scale capacity design makes use of its comparable engineering characteristics to timber, high-impact attenuation, high damping property, and a longer service life. A field trial to investigate in-situ behaviours of a turnout grillage system using an alternative material, 'fibre-reinforced foamed urethane (FFU)' bearers, has been carried out at a complex turnout junction under heavy mixed traffics at Hornsby, New South Wales, Australia. The turnout junction was renewed using the FFU bearers altogether with new special track components. Influences of the FFU bearers on track geometry (recorded by track inspection vehicle 'AK Car'), track settlement (based on survey data), track dynamics, and acoustic characteristics have been measured. Operational train pass-by measurements have been analysed to evaluate the effectiveness of the replacement methodology. Comparative studies show that the use of FFU bearers generates higher rail and sleeper accelerations but the damping capacity of the FFU help suppress vibration transferring onto other track components. The survey data analysis suggests a small vertical settlement and negligible lateral movement of the turnout system. The static and dynamic behaviours of FFU bearers appear to equate that of natural timber but its service life is superior.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.119-125
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• 2015

This paper focuses on the efficient arrangement plan of buoyancy modules, which plan is used to secure the safe operation and structural stability of a marine riser. The marine riser is connected between a vessel and seabed devices. The movement of the vessel and the seabed devices are affected by the motion of the riser. The riser of a deep-seabed integrated mining system exerts a strong influence on the healthy transfer of minerals. So, buoyancy modules must be equipped to compensate for the problem which is the structure stability and the dynamic motion. Installation locations and quantities of the buoyancy modules are determined by real sea experiments. But this is not easy to do because in real sea experimental conditions the cost is expensive as well as being, time-consuming and dangerous. Therefore, the locations and quantities should be determined by numerical simulation. This method is called simulation-based design. The dynamic analysis models of the riser and the buoyancy modules are built into the commercial software of DAFUL.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.385-394
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• 2022

Recently, an increasing number of cutting-edged studies have shown that designing a smart active control for real-time implementation requires piles of hard-work criteria in the design process, including performance controllers to reduce the tracking errors and tolerance to external interference and measure system disturbed perturbations. This article proposes an effective artificial-intelligence method using these rigorous criteria, which can be translated into general control plants for the management of civil engineering installations. To facilitate the calculation, an efficient solution process based on linear matrix (LMI) inequality has been introduced to verify the relevance of the proposed method, and extensive simulators have been carried out for the numerical constructive model in the seismic stimulation of the active rigidity. Additionally, a fuzzy model of the neural network based system (NN) is developed using an interconnected method for LDI (linear differential) representation determined for arbitrary dynamics. This expression is constructed with a nonlinear sector which converts the nonlinear model into a multiple linear deformation of the linear model and a new state sufficient to guarantee the asymptomatic stability of the Lyapunov function of the linear matrix inequality. In the control design, we incorporated H Infinity optimized development algorithm and performance analysis stability. Finally, there is a numerical practical example with simulations to show the results. The implication results in the RMS response with as well as without tuned mass damper (TMD) of the benchmark building under the external excitation, the El-Centro Earthquake, in which it also showed the simulation using evolved bat algorithmic LMI fuzzy controllers in term of RMS in acceleration and displacement of the building.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.34 no.9
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• pp.1836-1847
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• 2024

Polyethylene terephthalate (PET), one of the most widely used plastics in the world, causes serious environmental problems. Recently, scientists have been focused on the enzymatic degradation of PET, an environmentally friendly method that offers an attractive approach to the degradation and recycling of PET. In this work, PET hydrolase from Streptomyces sp. W2061 was biochemically characterized, and the biodegradation of PET was performed using the PET model substrate bis (2-hydroxyethyl terephthalate) (BHET). PET hydrolase has an isoelectric point of 5.84, and a molecular mass of about 50.31 kDa. The optimum pH and temperature were 7.0 and 40℃, respectively. LC-MS analysis of the enzymatic products showed that the PET hydrolase successfully degraded a single ester bond of BHET, leading to the formation of MHET. Furthermore, in silico characterization of the PET hydrolase protein sequence and its predicted three-dimensional structure was designed and compared with the well-characterized IsPETase from Ideonella sakaiensis. The structural analysis showed that the (Gly-x1-Ser-x2-Gly) serine hydrolase motif and the catalytic triad (Ser, Asp, and His) were conserved in all sequences. In addition, we integrated molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to analyze the variation in the structural stability of the PET hydrolase in the absence and presence of BHET. These simulations showed the formation of a stable complex between the PET hydrolase and BHET. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study on Streptomyces sp. W2061 to investigate the BHET degradation activity of PET hydrolase, which has potential application in the biodegradation of plastics in the environment.

• Journal of Korean Association for Spatial Structures
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.33-40
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• 2022

Recently, cultural heritages in South Korea gain many interests of restoration and preservation from the government since many of that have been severely damaged during earthquakes. Many previous studies in both terms of experimental and analytical approaches have been done to examine structural behavior and decide appropriate methods of preservation. Being motivated by such researches, this research aims to investigate a religious stone pagoda dated back to the Goryeo Dynasty in Korea. The structure consists of a granite stone foundation and baked bricks, which resembles the shape of traditional pagodas. In order to examine the structural behavior of the pagoda, an analytical model is implemented using ANSYS, a comprehensive engineering simulation platform. For the time history analysis of the pagoda, several earthquake excitations are chosen and input to simulation modeling. Seismic response of the tower such as time domain, natural frequency, modal shapes and peak acceleration measured at each layer are presented and discussed. In addition, the amplification ratio of the tower is calculated from the accelerations of each layer to determine tower stability in accordance with Korean seismic design guide. The determination and evaluation of status and response of the brick tower by simulation analysis play an important role in the preservation of history as well as valuable architectural heritages in South Korea.