• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.153-160
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• 2020

Columns are one of the most critical parts of a structural system subjected to earthquake excitations. In this regard, extensive experimental studies have been conducted to evaluate the effect of fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) wrapping on the seismic performance of reinforced concrete (RC) columns. Among them, many studies focused on the behavior of circular or square RC columns strengthened with CFRP or GFRP sheets. Since the cross-sectional shape affects confinement by FRP wrapping, its strengthening effect and final damage pattern may differ with shapes. In this study, a series of cyclic tests was conducted to investigate the seismic behavior of rectangular reinforced concrete columns strengthened with basalt-based fiber reinforced polymer (BFRP) sheets and composite fiber panels. The result shows that the effect of strengthening is not significant, and it implies a little increase of confinement by BFRP sheets and composite fiber panels, which is considered partly due to the cross-sectional shape of the columns.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.38 no.5
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• pp.477-496
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• 2021

The main objective of this paper is to study vibration of sandwich open cylindrical panel with damaged core and FG face sheets based on three-dimensional theory of elasticity. The structures are made of a damaged isotropic core and two external face sheets. These skins are strengthened at the nanoscale level by randomly oriented Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and are reinforced at the microscale stage by oriented straight fibers. These reinforcing phases are included in a polymer matrix and a three-phase approach based on the Eshelby-Mori-Tanaka scheme and on the Halpin-Tsai approach, which is developed to compute the overall mechanical properties of the composite material. Three complicated equations of motion for the panel under consideration are semi-analytically solved by using 2-D differential quadrature method. Several parametric analyses are carried out to investigate the mechanical behavior of these multi-layered structures depending on the damage features, through-the-thickness distribution and boundary conditions. It is seen that for the large amount of power-law index "P", increasing this parameter does not have significant effect on the non-dimensional natural frequency parameters of the FG sandwich curved panel. Results indicate that by increasing the value of isotropic damage parameter "D" up to the unity (fully damaged core) the frequency would tend to become zero. One can dictate the fiber variation profile through the radial direction of the sandwich panel via the amount of "P", "b" and "c" parameters. It should be noticed that with increase of volume fraction of fibers, the frequency parameter of the panels does not increase necessarily, so by considering suitable amounts of power-law index "P" and the parameters "b" and "c", one can get dynamic characteristics similar or better than the isotropic limit case for laminated FG curved panels.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.65-79
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• 2022

The main goal of this paper is to study the vibration of damaged core laminated annular plates with FG face sheets based on a three-dimensional theory of elasticity. The structures are made of a damaged isotropic core and two external face sheets. These skins are strengthened at the nanoscale level by randomly oriented Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and are reinforced at the microscale stage by oriented straight fibers. These reinforcing phases are included in a polymer matrix and a three-phase approach based on the Eshelby-Mori-Tanaka scheme and on the Halpin-Tsai approach, which is developed to compute the overall mechanical properties of the composite material. In this study the effect of microcracks on the vibrational characteristic of the sandwich plate is considered. In particular, the structures are made by an isotropic core that undergoes a progressive uniform damage, which is modeled as a decay of the mechanical properties expressed in terms of engineering constants. These defects are uniformly distributed and affect the central layer of the plates independently from the direction, this phenomenon is known as "isotropic damage" and it is fully described by a scalar parameter. Three complicated equations of motion for the sectorial plates under consideration are semi-analytically solved by using 2-D differential quadrature method. Using the 2-D differential quadrature method in the r- and z-directions, allows one to deal with sandwich annular plate with arbitrary thickness distribution of material properties and also to implement the effects of different boundary conditions of the structure efficiently and in an exact manner. The fast rate of convergence and accuracy of the method are investigated through the different solved examples. The sandwich annular plate is assumed to have any arbitrary boundary conditions at the circular edges including simply supported, clamped and, free. Several parametric analyses are carried out to investigate the mechanical behavior of these multi-layered structures depending on the damage features, through-the-thickness distribution, and boundary conditions.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.85 no.5
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• pp.635-644
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• 2023

The design of honeycomb sandwich structures is often challenging because these structures can be tailored from a variety of possible cores and face sheets configurations, therefore, the design of sandwich structures is characterized as a time-consuming and complex task. A data-driven computational approach that integrates the analytical method and Artificial Neural Network (ANN) is developed by the authors to rapidly predict the design of sandwich structures for a targeted maximum structural deflection. The elaborated ANN reverse design approach is applied to obtain the thickness of the sandwich core, the thickness of the laminated face sheets, and safety factors for composite sandwich structure. The required data for building ANN model were obtained using the governing equations of sandwich components in conjunction with the Monte Carlo Method. Then, the functional relationship between the input and output features was created using the neural network Backpropagation (BP) algorithm. The input variables were the dimensions of the sandwich structure, the applied load, the core density, and the maximum deflection, which was the reverse input given by the designer. The outstanding performance of reverse ANN model revealed through a low value of mean square error (MSE) together with the coefficient of determination (R2) close to the unity. Furthermore, the output of the model was in good agreement with the analytical solution with a maximum error 4.7%. The combination of reverse concept and ANN may provide a potentially novel approach in designing of sandwich structures. The main added value of this study is the elaboration of a reverse ANN model, which provides a low computational technique as well as savestime in the design or redesign of sandwich structures compared to analytical and finite element approaches.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.3 no.6
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• pp.421-438
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• 2003

Aging and deterioration of existing steel structures necessitate the development of simple and efficient rehabilitation techniques. The current study investigates a methodology to enhance the flexural capacity of steel beams by bonding Glass Fibre Reinforced Plastic (GFRP) sheets to their flanges. A heavy duty adhesive, tested in a previous study is used to bond the steel and the GFRP sheet. In addition to its ease of application, the GFRP sheet provides a protective layer that prevents future corrosion of the steel section. The study reports the results of bending tests conducted on a W-shaped steel beam before and after rehabilitation using GFRP sheets. Enhancement in the moment capacity of the beam due to bonding GFRP sheet is determined from the test results. A closed form analytical model that can predict the yield moment as well as the stresses induced in the adhesive and the GFRP sheets of rehabilitated steel beam is developed. A detailed finite element analysis for the tested specimens is also conducted in this paper. The steel web and flanges as well as the GFRP sheets are simulated using three-dimensional brick elements. The shear and peel stiffness of the adhesive are modeled as equivalent linear spring systems. The analytical and experimental results indicate that a significant enhancement in the ultimate capacity of the steel beam is achieved using the proposed technique. The finite element analysis is employed to describe in detail the profile of stresses and strains that develop in the rehabilitated steel beam.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.1333-1354
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• 2015

A higher order analytical solution for static analysis of a truncated conical composite sandwich panel subjected to different loading conditions was presented in this paper which was based on a new improved higher order sandwich panel theory. Bending analysis of sandwich structures with flexible cores subjected to concentrated load, uniform distributed load on a patch, harmonic and uniform distributed loads on the top and/or bottom face sheet of the sandwich structure was also investigated. For the first time, bending analysis of truncated conical composite sandwich panels with flexible cores was performed. The governing equations were derived by principle of minimum potential energy. The first order shear deformation theory was used for the composite face sheets and for the core while assuming a polynomial description of the displacement fields. Also, the in-plane hoop stresses of the core were considered. In order to assure accuracy of the present formulations, convergence of the results was examined. Effects of types of boundary conditions, types of applied loads, conical angles and fiber angles on bending analysis of truncated conical composite sandwich panels were studied. As, there is no research on higher order bending analysis of conical sandwich panels with flexible cores, the results were validated by ABAQUS FE code. The present approach can be linked with the standard optimization programs and it can be used in the iteration process of the structural optimization. The proposed approach facilitates investigation of the effect of physical and geometrical parameters on the bending response of sandwich composite structures.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.513-517
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• 2013

A novel conductive composite thin film was prepared for the first time by hybridization between polybenzoxazine (PBZ) having high heat resistance property and conductive graphene. Mechanically robust conductive graphene/PBZ composite thin films could effectively be prepared by a simple thermal treatment, which simultaneously induces reduction of graphene oxide (GO) and crosslinking reaction of benzoxazine monomer. Graphene sheets seem to be uniformly dispersed up to 3 wt% graphene content in the composite thin film as shown in the results of chemical/crystal structural and morphological analyses. This efficient route for making graphene/PBZ composite thin film would provide simultaneous improvement of mechanical property as well as electrical conductivity.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.53 no.5
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• pp.213-218
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• 2020

Composite material of the graphene ball (GB) inserted graphene oxide (GO) sheet for a supercapacitor electrode was studied. Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process used to make GBs on the silicon oxide nanoparticles. The GBs mixed into the GO sheets to make GOGB and reduced it to create a reduced GOGB(RGOGB) composite. The RGOGB composite electrode had a large surface area and improved electrochemical properties. Specific capacitance of the RGBGO composite electrode was higher over 20 times than a pure GO and GOGB electrode in cyclic voltammetry(CV) tests, and the Z' and Z" impedance measured by an electrochemical impedance spectrometry(EIS) also low. So, the RGBGO composite electrode would use effectively to expand a performance of supercapacitor.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.5 no.5
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• pp.539-561
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• 2017

In this study, the effects of initial damage of concrete columns on the post-repair performance of reinforced concrete (RC) columns strengthened with carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) composite are investigated experimentally. Four kinds of compression-damaged RC cylinders were reinforced using external CFRP composite wraps, and the stress-strain behavior of the composite/concrete system was investigated. These concrete cylinders were compressed to four pre-damaged states including low -level, medium -level, high -level and total damage states. The percentages of the stress levels of pre-damage were, respectively, 40, 60, 80, and 100% of that of the control RC cylinder. These damaged concrete cylinders simulate bridge piers or building columns subjected to different magnitudes of stress, or at various stages in long-term behavior. Experimental data, as well as a stress-strain model proposed for the behavior of damaged and undamaged concrete strengthened by external CFRP composite sheets are presented. The experimental data shows that external confinement of concrete by CFRP composite wrap significantly improves both compressive strength and ductility of concrete, though the improvement is inversely proportional to the initial degree of damage to the concrete. The failure modes of the composite/damaged concrete systems were examined to evaluate the benefit of this reinforcing methodology. Results predicted by the model showed very good agreement with those of the current experimental program.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.116-121
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• 2019

Hexagonal boron nitride particles (s-hBN) modified with 3-aminopropyl triethoxysilane (APTES) were used for the preparation of silicone composite materials. The microstructure of the composite materials was observed, and the thermal conduction and mechanical characteristics of the composite sheets were studied based on the compositions and microstructures. When a small amount of s-hBN particles was used, the thermal conductivity of the composite improved as a whole, and the tensile strength of the sheet also increased. The thermal conductivity and tensile strength of the composite in which a small amount of carbon fiber was added along with s-hBN were further improved. However, the use of carbon nanotubes with structural characteristics similar to those of carbon fiber resulted in lower thermal conductivity and tensile strength. Elastic silicone composites exhibiting 2.5 W/mK of thermal conductivity and a low hardness are expected to be used as thermally conductive interfacial sheet materials.