• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.637-644
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• 2022

Loess soils are unsaturated and widely distributed in the northwest zone in China. Many steep slope of unsaturated are observed are observed to be naturally stable. However, a low factor of safety (FoS) for these slopes would be computed from the slope stability analysis following local code practices. It seems that the analyzed results following the local code practices do not agree with the real condition as observed in the field. It is commonly known that soil suction plays an important role in slope stability due to a higher shear strength of the unsaturated soil as compared with that of the saturated soil. In this paper, it is observed that the computed FoS can also be affected by unsaturated unit weight of the soil. However, the effect of unsaturated unit weight of the soil on the slope stability is commonly ignored in engineering practice. Therefore, both the effects of shear strength and unit weight of the unsaturated soil on the computed FoS of unsaturated soil slope are investigated in this study. It is observed that the unsaturated unit weight of soil on the computed FoS increases with increase in slope angle. It is also observed that the effects of the unsaturated shear strength and unsaturated unit weight on the computed FoS are more significant than the effect of 3D analyses compared to the 2D analyses on the FoS.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.1467-1486
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• 2016

This research focuses on seismic performance of a class of single pier skewed bridges with three different pier-deck connections; skew angles vary from $0^{\circ}$ to $60^{\circ}$. A well-documented four span continuous deck bridge has been modeled and verified. Seat-type connections with fixed and sliding bearings plus monolithic pier-deck connections are studied. Shear keys are considered either fully operational or ineffective. Seismic performances of the bridges and the structural components are investigated conducting bidirectional nonlinear time history analysis in OpenSees. Several global and intermediate engineering demand parameters (EDP) have been studied. On the basis of results, the values of demand parameters of skewed bridges, such as displacement and rotation of the deck plus plastic deformation and torsional demand of the piers, increase as the skew angle increases. In order to eliminate the deck collapse probability, the threshold skew angle is considered as $30^{\circ}$ in seat-type bridges. For bridges with skew angles greater than $30^{\circ}$, monolithic pier-deck connections should be applied. The functionality of shear keys is critical in preventing large displacements in the bearings. Pinned piers experience considerable ductility demand at the bottom.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.98-111
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• 2012

In this study, a longitudinal joint connection was proposed for the short-span slab-type precast modular bridges with rapid construction. The slab-type modular bridge consists of a number of precast slab modules and has the joint connection between the modules in the longitudinal direction of the bridge. The finite element based parameter analysis and the push-out test were conducted to design the shape and the dimensions of the longitudinal joint connection. Number of shear keys within the joint, height and depth of the shear key, tooth angle, and the spacing were considered as the design parameters. Using the local cracking load obtained from the analytical and experimental results, an efficiency factor was proposed to evaluate the effectiveness of the longitudinal joint connection. The dimensions of shear key were determined by comparing the efficiency factors.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.6 no.6
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• pp.513-524
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• 2015

In this study, the effects of the angles of spacer filaments and the different feed Reynolds number on the fluid flow behavior have been investigated. Three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) study is carried out for fluid flow through rectangular channels within different angles ($30^{\circ}$, $40^{\circ}$, $50^{\circ}$, $60^{\circ}$, $70^{\circ}$, $80^{\circ}$, $90^{\circ}$, $100^{\circ}$, $110^{\circ}$, $120^{\circ}$, respectively) between two filaments of spacer for membrane modules. The results show that the feed Reynolds number and the angles of spacer filaments have an important influence on pressure drop. While the feed Reynolds number is fixed, the optimal angle of spacer should be between $80^{\circ}$ to $90^{\circ}$, because the pressure drop is not only relatively small, but also high flow rate region expanded significantly with the increase of the angles between $80^{\circ}$ to $90^{\circ}$.The Contours of velocities and change of the average shear stress with the different angle of spacer filaments confirm the conclusion.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.195-201
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• 2019

Long caisson breakwaters can improve the structural safety of a caisson due to the wave dispersion effect which reduces the average wave force acting on one caisson. However, in order to make long caissons, there are many manufacturing and construction limitations. Recently, interlocking caisson systems, which are to form a long caisson by interlocking individual caissons with adjacent caissons, have been much attention. In the present study, a interlocking caisson system with shear-keys was proposed and the wave dispersion effect according to the shear-key was evaluated analytically. As a result, (1) Because of the asymmetric shape of the interlocking caisson, the structure behavior and the wave dispersion effect of one are also asymmetric. (2) The wave dispersion effect is more influenced by the distribution and characteristics of wave acting on each caisson rather than the shape of the shear-key such as shear angle, height, shear length ratio. (3) The interlocking caisson breakwater is almost the same behavior and wave dispersion effect as a fully integrated breakwater.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.39-50
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• 2017

Displacement response and corresponding maximum response energy of structures are key parameters to assess the dynamic effect or even more destructive structural damage of the structures. By employing them, this research has compared the structural responses of jacket supported offshore wind turbine (OWT) subjected to seismic excitations apprehending earthquake incidence, when (a) soil-structure interaction (SSI) has been ignored and (b) SSI has been considered. The effect of earthquakes under arbitrary angle of excitation on the OWT has been investigated by means of the energy based wavelet transformation method. Displacement based fragility analysis is then utilized to convey the probability of exceedance of the OWT at different soil site conditions. The results show that the uncertainty arises due to multi-component seismic excitations along with the diminution trend of shear wave velocity of soil and it tends to reduce the efficiency of the OWT to stand against the ground motions.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.245-254
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• 2020

The interaction between the frozen soil and building structures deteriorates with the increasing temperature. A nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) stratification test was conducted with respect to the unfrozen water content on the interface and a shear test was conducted on the frozen soil-structure interface to explore the shear characteristics of the frozen soil-structure interface and its failure mechanism during the thawing process. The test results showed that the unfrozen water at the interface during the thawing process can be clearly distributed in three stages, i.e., freezing, phase transition, and thawing, and that the shear strength of the interface decreases as the unfrozen water content increases. The internal friction angle and cohesive force display a change law of "as one falls, the other rises," and the minimum internal friction angle and maximum cohesive force can be observed at -1℃. In addition, the change characteristics of the interface strength parameters during the freezing process were compared, and the differences between the interface shear characteristics and failure mechanisms during the frozen soil-structure interface freezing-thawing process were discussed. The shear strength parameters of the interface was subjected to different changes during the freezing-thawing process because of the different interaction mechanisms of the molecular structures of ice and water in case of the ice-water phase transition of the test sample during the freezing-thawing process.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.511-525
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• 2021

In the design of underground excavation, the shear strength (SS) is a key characteristic. It describes the way the rock material resists the shear stress-induced deformations. In general, the measurement of the parameters related to rock shear strength is done through laboratory experiments, which are costly, damaging, and time-consuming. Add to this the difficulty of preparing core samples of acceptable quality, particularly in case of highly weathered and fractured rock. This study applies rock index test to the indirect measurement of the SS parameters of shale. For this aim, two efficient artificial intelligence methods, namely (1) adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) implemented by subtractive clustering method (SCM) and (2) support vector regression (SVR) optimized by Harmony Search (HS) algorithm, are proposed. Note that, it is the first work that predicts the SS parameters of shale through ANFIS-SCM and SVR-HS hybrid models. In modeling processes of ANFIS-SCM and SVR-HS, the results obtained from the rock index tests were set as inputs, while the SS parameters were set as outputs. By reviewing the obtained results, it was found that both ANFIS-SCM and SVR-HS models can provide acceptable predictions for interlocking and friction angle parameters, however, ANFIS-SCM showed a better generalization capability.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.541-560
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• 2017

In this research, experimental and numerical simulations were adopted to investigate the effects of ligament angle on compressive strength and failure mode of rock-like material specimens containing two non-coplanar filled fissures under uniaxial compression. The experimental results show that with the increase of ligament angle, the compressive strength decreases to a nadir at the ligament angle of $60^{\circ}$, before increasing to the maximum at the ligament angle of $120^{\circ}$, while the elastic modulus is not obviously related to the ligament angle. The shear coalescence type easily occurred when ${\alpha}$ < ${\beta}$, although having the same degree difference between the angle of ligament and fissure. Numerical simulations using $PFC^{2D}$ were performed for flawed specimens under uniaxial compression, and the results are in good consistency with the experimental results. By analyzing the crack evolution process and parallel bond force field of rock-like material specimen containing two non-coplanar filled fissures, we can conclude that the coalescence and propagation of crack are mainly derived from parallel bond force, and the crack initiation and propagation also affect the distribution of parallel bond force. Finally, the displacement vectors in ligament region were used to identify the type of coalescence, and the results coincided with that obtained by analyzing parallel bond force field. These experimental and numerical results are expected to improve the understanding of the mechanism of flawed rock engineering structures.

• International Journal of Aerospace System Engineering
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.19-23
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• 2015

This work deals with the study of buckling and post buckling characteristics of laminated composite plates with and without localized regions of damage. The need of a detailed study on Finite Element Analysis of buckling and post buckling of laminated composite structures considering various aspects enhances the interest among researchers. Mathematical formulation is developed for damaged composite plates using a finite element technique based on Inverse Hyperbolic Shear Deformation Theory. This theory satisfies zero transverse shear stresses conditions at the top and bottom surfaces of the plate and provides a non-linear transverse shear stress distribution. Damage modeling is done using an anisotropic damage formulation, which is based on the concept of stiffness change. The structural elements are subjected to in-plane loading. The computer program is developed in MATLAB environment. The numerical results are presented after through validation of developed finite element code. The effect of damage on buckling and post buckling has been carried out for various parameters such as amount of percentage of damaged area, damage intensity, etc. The results show that the presence of internal flaws will significantly affect the buckling characteristics of laminated composite plates. The outcomes and remarks from this work will assist to address some key issues concerning composite structures.