• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.545-554
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• 2018

This study presents a novel method of improving the strength and stiffness of cold-formed steel (CFS) beams. Flexural members are primary members in most of the structures. Hence, there is an urgent need in the CFS industry to look beyond the conventional CFS beam sections and develop novel techniques to address the severe local buckling problems that exist in CFS flexural members. The primary objective of this study was to develop new CFS composite beam sections with improved structural performance and economy. This paper presents an experimental study conducted on different CFS composite beams with simply supported end conditions under four point loading. Material properties and geometric imperfections of the models were measured. The test strengths of the models are compared with the design strengths predicted by using Australian/New Zealand Standard for cold-formed steel structures. Furthermore, to ensure high precision testing, a special testing rig was also developed for testing of long span beams. The description of test models, testing rig features and test results are presented here. For better interpretation of results, a comparison of the test results with a hot rolled section is also presented. The test results have shown that the proposed CFS composite beams are promising both in terms of better structural performance as well as economy.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.64 no.2
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• pp.155-171
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• 2017

This paper presents a proposed method for producing reinforced composite concrete columns reinforced with various types of metallic and non metallic mesh reinforcement. The experimental program includes casting and testing of twelve square columns having the dimensions of $100mm{\times}100mm{\times}1000mm$ under concentric compression loadings. The test samples comprise all designation specimens to make comparative study between conventionally reinforced concrete column and concrete columns reinforced with welded steel mesh, expanded steel mesh, fiber glass mesh and tensar mesh. The main variables are the type of innovative reinforcing materials, metallic or non metallic, the number of layers and volume fraction of reinforcement. The main objective is to evaluate the effectiveness of employing the new innovative materials in reinforcing the composite concrete columns. The results of an experimental investigation to examine the effectiveness of these produced columns are reported and discussed including strength, deformation, cracking, and ductility properties. Non-linear finite element analysis; (NLFEA) was carried out to simulate the behavior of the reinforced concrete composite columns. The numerical model could agree the behavior level of the test results. ANSYS-10.0 Software. Also, parametric study is presented to look at the variables that can mainly affect the mechanical behaviors of the model such as the change of column dimensions. The results proved that new reinforced concrete columns can be developed with high strength, crack resistance, and high ductility properties using the innovative composite materials.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.53 no.1
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• pp.89-104
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• 2015

In current bridge management systems (BMSs), load and speed restrictions are applied on unhealthy bridges to keep the structure safe and serviceable for as long as possible. But the question is, whether applying these restrictions will always decrease the internal forces in critical components of the bridge and enhance the safety of the unhealthy bridges. To find the answer, this paper for the first time in literature, looks into the design aspects through studying the changes in demand by capacity ratios of the critical components of a bridge under the train loads. For this purpose, a structural model of a simply supported bridge, whose dynamic behaviour is similar to a group of real railway bridges, is developed. Demand by capacity ratios of the critical components of the bridge are calculated, to identify their sensitivity to increase of speed and magnitude of live load. The outcomes of this study are very significant as they show that, on the contrary to what is expected, by applying restriction on speed, the demand by capacity ratio of components may increase and make the bridge unsafe for carrying live load. Suggestions are made to solve the problem.

• Journal of Fashion Business
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.33-44
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• 2000

The purpose of this study is to research Miao ethnic costume which have been distinctly expressed differences according tribes and areas, present fashion design reflecting image of Miao ethnic costume. Two steps was taken in order to achive this purpose. The first step was to put in order formative characteristics of Miao ethnic costume being based on the Chinese books and domestic research materials. The second step was to study formative characteristics of Miao ethnic costume in comparison 2000A/W fashion trend, illustrate and schematize fashion designs. The results of formative characteristics of Miao ethnic costume are summarized as follows 1. X or H silhouette through skirt & jacket and pants & jacket. 2. Layered look that been twisted around several items. 3. Fine pleats skirts. 4. Refined and splendid color. Black was used main color, dark blue & red purple were used coordi color, vivid color were used accent color 5. Geometrical pattern, cross stitch embroidery. 6. Various ornaments being used silver. 7. Various hair styles and hairdressers. Using above characteristics, this study presneted fusion fashion design combined images of ethnic and techno with dark blue, mustard, blue purple. The target was Forties, professional woman.

• Advances in materials Research
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.115-131
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• 2020

Limit elastic speed analysis of Al/SiC-based functionally graded annular disk of uniform thickness has been carried out for two cases, namely: metal-rich and ceramic rich. In the present study, the unknown field variable for radial displacement is solved using variational method wherein the solution was obtained by Galerkin's error minimization principle. One of the objectives was to identify the variation of induced stress in a functionally graded disk of uniform thickness at limit elastic speed using modified rule of mixture by comparing the induced von-Mises stress with the yield stress along the disk radius, thereby locating the yield initiation. Furthermore, limit elastic speed has been reported for a combination of varying grading index (n) and aspect ratios (a/b).Results indicate, limit elastic speed increases with an increase in grading indices. In case of an increase in aspect ratio, limit elastic speed increases up to a critical value beyond which it recedes. Also, the objective was to look at the variation of yield stress corresponding to volume fraction variation within the disk which later helps in material tailoring. The study reveals the qualitative variation of yield stress for FG disk with volume fraction, resulting in the possibility of material tailoring from the processing standpoint, in practice.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.589-601
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• 2000

A simplified analysis procedure utilizing the strut-tie modeling technique is developed to take a close look into the post-elastic deformation capacity of beam-column connections in ductile reinforced concrete frame structures. Particular emphasis is given to the effect of concrete strength decay and quantity and arrangement of joint shear steel. For this a fan-shaped crack pattern is postulated through the joints. A series of hypothetical rigid nodes are assumed through which struts, ties and boundaries are connected to each other. The equilibrium consideration enables all forces in struts, ties and boundaries to be related through the nodes. The boundary condition surrounding the joints is obtained by the mechanism analysis of the frame structures. In order to avoid a complexity from the indeterminacy of the truss model, it is assumed that all shear steel yielded. It is noted from the previous research that the capacity of struts is limited by the principal tensile strain of the joint panel for which the strain of the transverse diagonal is taken. The post-yield deformation of joint steel is taken to be the only source of the joint shear deformation beyond the elastic range. Both deformations are related by the energy consideration. The analysis is then performed by iteration for a given shear strain. The analysis results indicate that concentrating most of the joint steel near the center of the joint along with higher strength concrete may enhance the post-elastic joint performance.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.425-448
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• 2016

In this paper, a new Pigeon Colony Algorithm (PCA) based on the features of a pigeon colony flying is proposed for solving global numerical optimization problems. The algorithm mainly consists of the take-off process, flying process and homing process, in which the take-off process is employed to homogenize the initial values and look for the direction of the optimal solution; the flying process is designed to search for the local and global optimum and improve the global worst solution; and the homing process aims to avoid having the algorithm fall into a local optimum. The impact of parameters on the PCA solution quality is investigated in detail. There are low-dimensional functions, high-dimensional functions and systems of nonlinear equations that are used to test the global optimization ability of the PCA. Finally, comparative experiments between the PCA, standard genetic algorithm and particle swarm optimization were performed. The results showed that PCA has the best global convergence, smallest cycle indexes, and strongest stability when solving high-dimensional, multi-peak and complicated problems.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.421-431
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• 2019

The alarming rate of depletion of natural stone based coarse aggregates is a cause of great concern. The coarse aggregates occupy nearly 60-70% by volume of concrete being produced. Research efforts are on to look for alternatives to stone based coarse aggregates from sustainability point of view. Response surface methodology (RSM) is adopted to study and address the effect of ferrochrome slag (FCS) replacement to coarse aggregate replacement in the ordinary Portland cement (OPC) based concretes. RSM involves three different factors (ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS) as binder, flyash (FA) as binder, and FCS as coarse aggregate), with three different levels (GGBS (0, 15, and 30%), FA (0, 15, and 30%) and FCS (0, 50, and 100%)). Experiments were carried out to measure the responses like, workability, density, and compressive strength of FCS based concretes. In order to optimize FCS replacement in the OPC based concretes, three different traditional optimization techniques were used (grey relational analysis (GRA), technique for order of preference by similarity (TOPSIS), and desirability function approach (DFA)). Traditional optimization techniques were accompanied with principal component analysis (PCA) to calculate the weightage of responses measured to arrive at the final ranking of replacement levels of GGBS, FA, and FCS in OPC based concretes. Hybrid combination of PCA-TOPSIS technique is found to be significant when compared to other techniques used. 30% GGBS and 50% FCS replacement in OPC based concrete was arrived at, to be optimal.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.811-825
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• 2021

High-voltage isolating switches play a paramount role in ensuring the safety of power supply systems. However, their exposure to outdoor environmental conditions may cause serious physical defects, which may result in great risk to power supply systems and society. Image processing-based methods have been used for anomaly detection. However, their accuracy is affected by numerous uncertainties due to manually extracted features, which makes the anomaly detection of isolating switches still challenging. In this paper, a vision-based anomaly detection method for isolating switches, which uses the rotational angle of the switch system for more accurate and direct anomaly detection with the help of deep learning (DL) and image processing methods (Single Shot Multibox Detector (SSD), improved frame differencing method, and Hough transform), is proposed. The SSD is a deep learning method for object classification and localization. In addition, an improved frame differencing method is introduced for better feature extraction and a hough transform method is adopted for rotational angle calculation. A number of experiments are conducted for anomaly detection of single and multiple switches using video frames. The results of the experiments demonstrate that the SSD outperforms the You-Only-Look-Once network. The effectiveness and robustness of the proposed method have been proven under various conditions, such as different illumination and camera locations using 96 videos from the experiments.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.645-655
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• 2022

Granular columns have recently found widespread use in underground construction. The behaviour of granular columns under vertical loads has been extensively studied, specifically in relation to vertical load capacity obtained by bulging of the column body, including the behaviour after encasement of material. Determining the shear strength of loose soils reinforced with granular columns has received less attention. After the observations of lateral deformation near the toe of the embankment, attempts have been made to strengthen the lateral strength of granular columns. The purpose of this research is to look into the effects of different encasement conditions on the lateral load capacity of granular columns. This was accomplished by three-dimensional finite element analysis with FEM software. Various normal pressures and two different encasement configurations, namely single layer encasement and double layer encasement, with differing tensile strengths, were used in this study to determine their effect on lateral resistance. The failure envelope for a single column planted in loose sand was used to analyse the findings for three different granular column diameters, as well as the impact of different encasement conditions. According to the findings, the inclusion of a Granular Column enhanced the shear strength and overall stiffness of the loose sand bed, and the encasement of the Granular Column helped in deriving higher lateral resistance.