• Computers and Concrete
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.671-688
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• 2024

The modeling efficiency of concrete meso-models close to real concrete is one of the important issues that limit the accuracy of mechanical simulation. In order to improve the modeling efficiency and the closeness of the numerical aggregate shape to the real aggregate, this paper proposes a method for generating a two-dimensional concrete meso-model based on pixel matrix and skeleton theory. First, initial concrete model (a container for placing aggregate) is generated using pixel matrix. Then, the skeleton curve of the residual space that is the model after excluding the existing aggregate is obtained using a thinning algorithm. Finally, the final model is obtained by placing the aggregate according to the curve branching points. Compared with the traditional Monte Carlo placement method, the proposed method greatly reduces the number of overlaps between aggregates by up to 95%, and the placement efficiency does not significantly decrease with increasing aggregate content. The model developed is close to the actual concrete experiments in terms of aggregate gradation, aspect ratio, asymmetry, concavity and convexity, and old-new mortar ratio, cracking form, and stress-strain curve. In addition, the cracking loss process of concrete under uniaxial compression was explained at the mesoscale.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.919-926
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• 2022

Fertigation, which has been introduced in agricultural fields since 1990, has been widely practiced in upland fields as well as in plastic film houses as part of the crop production system. In accordance with demands in the agricultural sector, a huge number of scientific studies on fertigation have been conducted worldwide. Moreover, with a combination of advanced technologies such as big-data, machine learning, etc., fertigation is positioned as an indispensable tool to achieve sustainable crop production and to enhance nutrient and water use efficiency. In this review, we focused on providing valuable information in terms of crop production and nutrient/water use efficiency. A variety of fertigation studies have described that enhancement of crop production did not differ relative to conventional method or slightly increased. In contrast, fertigation significantly improved nutrient/water use efficiency, with a reduction in use ranging from 20 to 50%. Water-soluble organic resources such as livestock manure and agricultural byproducts also have been identified as useful resources like chemical fertilizers. Furthermore, the initial irrigation point was generally recommended in a range of -10 - -40 kPa, although the point differed according to the crop and crop growth stage. From this review, we suggest that fertigation, which is closely integrated with advanced technology, could be a leading technology to attain not only food security but also carbon neutrality via improvement of nutrient/water use efficiency.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.5
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• pp.1654-1666
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• 2024

The goal of this research is to propose a way to maximize small modular reactor (SMR) utilization to gain better market feasibility in support of carbon neutrality. For that purpose, a comprehensive tool was developed, combining off-design thermohydraulic models, economic objective models (levelized cost of electricity, annual profit), non-economic models (saved CO2), a parameter input sampling method (Latin hypercube sampling, LHS), and a multi-objective evolutionary algorithm (Non-dominated Sorting Algorithm-2, NSGA2 method) for optimizing a SMR-combined heat and power cycle (CHP) system design. Considering multiple objectives, it was shown that NSGA2+LHS method can find better optimal solution sets with similar computational costs compared to a conventional weighted sum (WS) method. Out of multiple multi-objective optimal design configurations for a 105 MWe design generation rating, a chosen reference SMR-CHP system resulted in its levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) below $60/MWh for various heat prices, showing economic competitiveness for energy market conditions similar to South Korea. Examined economic feasibility may vary significantly based on CHP heat prices, and extensive consideration of the regional heat market may be required for SMR-CHP regional optimization. Nonetheless, with reasonable heat market prices (e.g. district heating prices comparable to those in Europe and Korea), SMR can still become highly competitive in the energy market if coupled with a CHP system.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.102-109
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• 2022

This study was conducted to test the significant difference of fertility variation among families and to select superior families for acorn production in the breeding seedling seed orchards (BSSOs) of Quercus acuta and Quercus glauca. The seed orchards were located in Jeju island and established by seedlings raised from selected parents for genetic testing in 2006. In the spring of 2021, the numbers of female and male flower were counted from 5 to 10 individuals per family in the BSSOs. To test statistical significance of which parameter is not satisfied through the normality test, we used a nonparametric analysis. Correlation analysis was performed to quantify the association between female and male flower production. As the results, the significant difference of flower production among families was found in both seed orchards. The averages of female flower production were 65.3 and 181.9 in Q. acuta and Q. glauca. The positive Spearman's rank correlation was existed between male and female flower production. Broad-sense heritability on female and male flower production were 0.191 and 0.147 in Q. acuta, and 0.285 and 0.068 in Q. glauca, respectively. Sexual asymmetry (e.g., maleness index) between female and male, and contribution variation among families (e.g., parental balance) were analyzed to find reasonable alternatives in the management of seed orchards. Effective population size of seed crops was predicted as a concept of status number. Loss of gene diversity (accumulation of group coancestry) would not be alarming in the BSSOs. Our results would be helpful to select breeding materials for establishing new seed orchards and to supply genetically improved seeds of evergreen oaks, which is one of the backbones of the strategy of carbon sink in the 2050 Carbon Neutrality of Korea Forest Service.

• Journal of ILASS-Korea
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.84-93
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• 2022

To implement carbon-neutrality in transportation sectors until 2050, hydrogen is considered a promising fuel for internal combustion engines because hydrogen does not contain carbon itself. Although hydrogen does not emit CO₂ emission from its combustion process, the low energy density in a volume unit hinders the adoption of hydrogen. Therefore, the understanding of hydrogen jet behavior and measurement of equivalence ratio must be conducted to completely implement the high-pressure hydrogen direct injection. The main objective of this research is feasibility test of hydrogen local equivalence ratio measurement by laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBs). To visualize the macroscopic structure of hydrogen jet, high-speed schlieren imaging was conducted. Moreover, LIBs has been adopted to validate the feasibility of hydrogen local equivalence ratio measurement. The hydrogen injection pressure was varied from 4 MPa to 8 MPa and injected in a constant volume chamber where the ambient pressure was 0.5 MPa. The increased injection pressure extends the vertical penetration of hydrogen jet. Due to the higher momentum supply when the injection pressure is high, the hydrogen has easily diffused in all directions. As the laser trigger timing has delayed, the low hydrogen atomic emission was detected due to the longer mixture formation time. Based on equivalence ratio measurement results, LIBs could be applied as a methodology for hydrogen local equivalence ratio measurement.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.761-768
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• 2022

In the hope of realizing carbon neutrality, Korea has established the goal of expanding the supply of hydrogen electric vehicles through a roadmap to revitalize the hydrogen economy. A prerequisite for successful supply expansion is securing the safety of hydrogen electric vehicles. Certain parts, such as the hydrogen transport pipe and tank, in hydrogen electric vehicles are exposed to high-pressure hydrogen gas over long periods of time, so the hydrogen enters the grain boundary of material, resulting in a degradation of the parts referred to as hydrogen embrittlement. In addition, since the safety of parts utilizing hydrogen varies depending on the type of material used and its environmental characteristics, the necessity for the enactment of a hydrogen embrittlement regulation has emerged and is still being discussed as a Global Technical Regulation (GTR). In this paper, we analyze a hydrogen compatibility material evaluation method discussed in GTR and present a direction for the development of Korean-type hydrogen compatibility material evaluation methods.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.660-673
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• 2022

In achieving carbon neutrality and the hydrogen economy, the estimation of H₂ cost is critical in terms of CCU technologies. This study analyzes LCOH of hydrogen produced by the carbon utilization unit with methane reforming and CO₂ from thermal power plant. LCOH for H₂ made with CO is estimated in three ways of Joint Cost Allocations with financial performance risk assessment. Regarding cost analysis, the zero value of LCOH is $6,003/ton. We found that the CCU technology has economic feasibility in terms of profitability. The sensitivity analysis result shows that the input ratio is more influential to the LCOH than other variables. Risk analysis presents the baseline price of zero value of LCOH - $8,408/ton, which is higher than the cost analysis - $6,003/ton. Mainly, the price variability of natural gas primarily affects the LCOH. The study has significant value in analyzing the financial performance risks as well as the cost of H₂ produced by a Plasma-based CCU system.

• The Journal of Fisheries Business Administration
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.37-49
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• 2023

Climate change is a major global problem. Oysters, one of the most representative farmed fish in Korea, are attracting attention as candidates for blue carbon, an alternative to carbon neutrality. This study is analyzed by the SSP scenarios to determine the impact of oyster aquaculture production according to climate change. Based on the analysis, future productions of oysters are predicted by the SSP scenario. Significant differences by the SSP scenario are confirmed through predictive power tests among scenarios. Regression analysis was conducted from January 2001 to December 2014. As a result of the analysis, water temperature, water temperature quadratic term, salinity, salinity quadratic term, and month × water temperature cross term were estimated as significant variables. Oyster production which is predicted by the SSP scenario based on the significant variables from 2015 to 2022 was compared with actual production. The model with the highest predictive power was selected by RMSE and MAPE criteria. The predictive power was compared with the MDM test to determine which model was superior. As a result, based on RMSE and MAPE, the SSP1-2.6 scenario was selected as the best model and the SSP1-2.6, SSP2-4.5, and SSP3-7.0 scenarios all showed the same predictive power based on the MDM test. In conculusion, this study predicted oyster aquaculture production by 2030, not the distant future, due to the short duration of the analytical model. This study was found that oyster aquaculture production increased in all scenarios and there was no significant difference in predictive power by the SSP scenario.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.64-70
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• 2023

Global warming is getting worse since a dramatic increase in greenhouse gas emissions recently. As a result, the necessity and implementation of carbon neutrality is required more urgently. To do this, among various new and renewable energies, attention in hydrogen arises. Hydrogen as a carbon-free power source is an abundant resource on Earth and is eco-friendly. Eventually, perfectly eco-friendly hydrogen can be obtained through electrolysis of water. However, the catalyst used in the oxygen evolution reaction is rare and expensive, and has a durability issue. Consequently, the development of a non-precious metal catalyst is necessary. In this review paper, we summarize and introduce Co- and Mo- based catalysts among recently announced oxygen evolution catalysts. This will help understand the design of catalyst to increase the activity and durability of non-precious metal catalysts.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.92-101
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• 2023

To solve the problem of climate change, carbon neutrality has now become a necessity rather than an option. Hydrogen is not only a energy storage that can supplement the intermittent production of renewable energy, but is also considered a good alternative in the field of utilization as it does not emit carbon dioxide after reaction. In order to revitalize hydrogen vehicles, one of the fields of hydrogen utilization, the construction of hydrogen station infrastructure must be preceded. Prioritization of risk factors is necessary for efficient operation and risk assessment of hydrogen stations, but due to the short operation period of domestic hydrogen stations, there is a lack of frequency data on accidents and their reliability is low. In this study, we aim to identify the causes and consequences of deviations in hydrogen stations through HAZOP analysis. Additionally, we intend to analyze them using Fuzzy-AHP. Through this, we intend to derive the decision values for the causes of deviations in hydrogen stations and apply them to hydrogen accident cases and risk assessments to confirm the reliability and utility of the data.