• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.479-487
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• 2022

This study evaluates the performance of gravel impact compaction piers system (GICPs) in strengthening retrofitting a very loose silty sand layer with a very high liquefaction risk with a thickness of 3.5 meters in a multilayer coastal soil located in Bushehr, Iran. The liquefiable sandy soil layer was located on clay layers with moderate to very stiff relative consistency. Implementation of gravel impact compaction piers is a new generation of aggregate piers. After technical and economic evaluation of the site plan, out of 3 experimental distances of 1.8, 2 and 2.2 meters between compaction piers, the distance of 2.2 meters was selected as a winning option and the northern ring of the site was implemented with 1250 gravel impact compaction piers. Based on the results of the standard penetration test in the matrix soil around the piers showed that the amount of (N₁)₆₀ in compacted soils was in the range of 20-27 and on average 14 times the amount of (1-3) in the initial soil. Also, the relative density of the initial soil was increased from 25% to 63% after soil improvement. Also the safety factor of the improved soil is 1.5-1.7 times the minimum required according to the two risk levels in the design.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.339-352
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• 2022

Due to the large volume and generally as a public building, the damage of large-span space structures under various non-conventional loads will cause greater economic losses, casualties, and social impacts, etc. Therefore, it is particularly important to evaluate the seismic performance of large-span space structures. This paper taked a multipurpose sports center as an example and considered its synergistic deformation based on the method of equivalent damping ratio. Furthermore, The ABAQUS software was used to analyze the time-history and energy response of the multipurpose sports center under the action of rare earthquakes, and proposed a quantitative damage index to assess the overall damage of the structure. Finally, the research results indicated that the maximum inter-story drift ratio of the multipurpose sports center under the action of rare earthquakes was less than its limit value. The frame beams presented different degrees of damage, but the key members were basically in an elastic state. The bearing capacity did not reach the limit value, which satisfied the intended seismic performance target. This study taked an actual case as an example and proposed a relevant damage evaluation system, which provided some reference for the analysis of the seismic performance of large-span space structures.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.47-64
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• 2023

Due to their efficient use of materials, hybrid reinforced concrete-steel (RCS) systems provide more practical and economic advantages than traditional steel and concrete moment frames. This study evaluated the seismic design factors and response modification factor 'R' of RCS composite moment frames composed of reinforced concrete (RC) columns and steel (S) beams. The current International Building Code (IBC) and ASCE/SEI 7-05 classify RCS systems as special moment frames and provide an R factor of 8 for these systems. In this study, seismic design parameters were initially quantified for this structural system using an R factor of 8 based on the global methodology provided in FEMA P695. For analyses, multi-story (3, 5, 10, and 15) and multi-span (3 and 5) archetypes were used to conduct nonlinear static pushover analysis and incremental dynamic analysis (IDA) under near-field and far-field ground motions. The analyses were performed using the OpenSees software. The procedure was reiterated with a larger R factor of 9. Results of the performance evaluation of the investigated archetypes demonstrated that an R factor of 9 achieved the safety margin against collapse outlined by FEMA P695 and can be used for the design of RCS systems.

• Advances in Energy Research
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.107-128
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• 2017

Energy is a major component of almost all economic, production, and service activities, and rapid population growth, urbanization and industrialization have led to ever growing demand for energy. Limited energy resources and increasingly evident environmental effects of fossil fuel consumption has led to a growing awareness about the importance of further use of renewable energy sources in the countries energy portfolio. Renewable hydrogen production is a convenient method for storage of unstable renewable energy sources such as wind and solar energy for use in other place or time. In this study, suitability of 25 cities located in Iran's western region for renewable hydrogen production are evaluated by multi-criteria decision making techniques including TOPSIS, VIKOR, ELECTRE, SAW, Fuzzy TOPSIS, and also hybrid ranking techniques. The choice of suitable location for the centralized renewable hydrogen production is associated with various technical, economic, social, geographic, and political criteria. This paper describes the criteria affecting the hydrogen production potential in the study region. Determined criteria are weighted with Shannon entropy method, and Angstrom model and wind power model are used to estimate respectively the solar and wind energy production potential in each city and each month. Assuming the use of proton exchange membrane electrolyzer for hydrogen production, the renewable hydrogen production potential of each city is then estimated based on the obtained wind and solar energy generation potentials. The rankings obtained with MCDMs show that Kermanshah is the best option for renewable hydrogen production, and evaluation of renewable hydrogen production capacities show that Gilangharb has the highest capacity among the studied cities.

• The Transactions of the Korea Information Processing Society
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• v.4 no.6
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• pp.1589-1600
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• 1997

The construction of optical access network costs upper 40% in total installation cost of total optical network. Optimization of access network therefore is core in optical network. Advanced countries include EU, Japan and USA already have researched access network. This paper presents analysis of three broad-band fiber-optics subscriber loop architectures(HFC, ATM-PON, Super PON). The analyses focus on the specific demonstrated architectures and use component cost projections to estimate future network costs on a per-subscriber basis. We use TITAN(Tool for Introduction Scenarios and Techno-Economic Evaluation of The Access Network) model. We find that ATM-PON can deliver voice and ISDN data at installed first costs than the other architectures. This is due to the sharing bandwidth among a cluster of subscribers within Curb. This work intends to support establishing guidelines for strategic decisions regarding the development of the access network alternatives of different operators.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.291-300
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• 2022

Tunnel boring machines combined with the earth pressure balanced shield method (EPB shield TBMs) have been adopted in urban areas as they allow excavation of tunnels with limited ground deformation through continuous and repetitive excavation and support. Nevertheless, the expansion of TBM construction requires much more minor and exquisitely controlled surface settlement to prevent economic loss. Several parametric studies controlling the tunnel's geometry, ground properties, and TBM operational factors assuming ordinary conditions for EPB shield TBM excavation have been conducted, but the impact of excessive excavation on the induced settlement has not been adequately studied. This study conducted a numerical evaluation of surface settlement induced by the ground loss from face imbalance, excessive excavation, and tail void grouting. The numerical model was constructed using FLAC3D and validated by comparing its result with the field data from literature. Then, parametric studies were conducted by controlling the ground stiffness, face pressure, tail void grouting pressure, and additional volume of muck discharge. As a result, the contribution of these operational factors to the surface settlement appeared differently depending on the ground stiffness. Except for the ground stiffness as the dominant factor, the order of variation of surface settlement was investigated, and the volume of additional muck discharge was found to be the largest, followed by the face pressure and tail void grouting pressure. The results from this study are expected to contribute to the development of settlement prediction models and understanding the surface settlement behavior induced by TBM excavation.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.61 no.3
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• pp.378-387
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• 2023

Petrochemical is an energy consuming industry that consumes about 30% of total industrial energy consumption and is a representative carbon dioxide (CO₂) emission source. Among them, the Naphtha Cracking Center (NCC), which produces ethylene, propylene, propane and mixed C4, consumes large amounts of energy and emits significant amounts of CO₂. For this reason, an integrated techno economic- environmental impact assessment aimed at reducing energy consumption and environmental impact factors is necessary to ensure efficiency in terms of economics and environment. This study aims to analyze the efficiency of the heat exchanger network used in the existing NCC base on the pinch analysis and select an improvement plan that can reduced energy consumption. In order to reduces the utility consumption in the process, an optimal heat exchanger network considering the high-temperature and low-temperature stream was derived, and the economic evaluation was conducted by considering the trade-off between the reduction in utility consumption and the increase in heat exchanger installation cost. In addition, an environmental impact assessment was conducted on the reduced CO₂ emission in consideration of the environmental aspect, and the economic environmental impact assessment used the payback period to recover the invested funds to come up with an energy saving plan that can be applied based on the actual process. As a result of considering the economic-environmental impact assessment, when the environmental impact assessment was not considered, it was 4.29 months, 3.21 months, and 3.39 months for each case, and when considering the environmental impact assessment, it was 4.24 months, 3.17 months, and 3.35 months for each case. These results appeared equally both when the environmental impact assessment was not include and when it was include. In addition, a sensitivity analysis was conducted for each case to determine how important factors affect the payback period. As a result of the sensitivity analysis, the cost of the heat exchanger was identified as a major factor influencing the overall cost.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.43-61
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• 2017

The inverted T-type abutments are generally used in highway bridges constructed in Korea. This type of abutment is used because it has greater stability, with more pile foundations embedded in the bedrock, while simultaneously providing support for lateral earth pressure and vertical loads of superstructures. However, the cross section of inverted T-type abutments is large compared with the piers, which makes them more expensive. In addition, a differential settlement between the abutment and embankment, as well as the expansion joints, causes driving discomfort. This study evaluated the driving comfort of several types of abutments to improve driving comfort on the abutment. To achieve this objective, a traditional T-type abutment and three types of candidate abutments, namely, mechanically stabilized earth wall (MSEW) abutment supported by a shallow foundation (called "true MSEW abutment"), MSEW abutment supported by piles (called "mixed MSEW abutment"), and pile bent and integral abutment with MSEW (called "MIP abutment"), were selected to consider their design and economic feasibility. Finite element analysis was performed using the design section of the candidate abutments. Subsequently, the settlements of each candidate abutment, approach slabs, and paved surfaces of the bridges were reviewed. Finally, the driving comfort on each candidate abutment was evaluated using a vehicle dynamic simulation. The true MSEW abutment demonstrated the most excellent driving comfort. However, this abutment can cause problems with respect to serviceability and maintenance due to excessive settlements. After our overall review, we determined that the mixed MSEW and the MIP abutments are the most appropriate abutment types to improve driving comfort by taking the highway conditions in Korea into consideration.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.95-105
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• 2017

The use of superelastic shape memory alloys (SMAs) as reinforcements in concrete structures is gradually gaining interest among researchers. Because of different mechanical properties of SMAs compared to the regular steel bars, the use of SMAs as reinforcement in the concrete may change the response of structures under seismic loads. In this study, the effect of SMAs as reinforcement in concrete structures is analytically investigated for 3-, 6- and 8-story reinforced concrete (RC) buildings. For each concrete building, three different reinforcement details are considered: (1) steel reinforcement (Steel) only, (2) SMA bar used in the plastic hinge region of the beams and steel bar in other regions (Steel-SMA), and (3), beams fully reinforced with SMA bar (SMA) and steel bar in other regions. For each case, columns are reinforced with steel bar. Incremental Dynamic Analyses (IDA) are performed using ten different ground motion records to determine the seismic performance of Steel, Steel-SMA and SMA RC buildings. Then fragility curves for each type of RC building by using IDA results for IO, LS and CP performance levels are calculated. Results obtained from the analyses indicate that 3-story frames have approximately the same spectral acceleration corresponding with failure of frames, but in the cases of 6 and 8-story frames, the spectral acceleration is higher in frames equipped with steel reinforcements. Furthermore, the probability of fragility in all frames increases by the building height for all performance levels. Finally, economic evaluation of the three systems are compared.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.599-609
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• 2020

The tension-only braced frames (TOBFs) are widely used as a lateral force resisting system (LFRS) in low-rise steel buildings due to their simplicity and economic advantage. However, the system has poor seismic energy dissipation capacity and pinched hysteresis behavior caused by early buckling of slender bracing members. The main concern in utilizing the TOBF system is the determination of appropriate performance factors for seismic design. A formalized approach to quantify the seismic performance factor (SPF) based on determining an acceptable margin of safety against collapse is introduced by FEMA P695. The methodology is applied in this paper to assess the SPFs of the TOBF systems. For this purpose, a trial value of the R factor was first employed to design and model a set of TOBF archetype structures. Afterwards, the level of safety against collapse provided by the assumed R factor was investigated by using the non-linear analysis procedure of FEMA P695 comprising incremental dynamic analysis (IDA) under a set of prescribed ground motions. It was found that the R factor of 3.0 is appropriate for safe design of TOBFs. Also, the system overstrength factor (Ω₀) was estimated as 2.0 by performing non-linear static analyses.