• Composites Research
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.1-6
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• 2009

This paper presents an experimental study on the piezoresistive behavior of nanocomposite strain sensors subjected to various loading modes and their capability to detect structural deformations and damages. The electrically conductive nanocomposites were fabricated in the form of a film using various types of thermoplastic polymers and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) at various loadings. In this study, the nanocomposite strain sensors were bonded to a substrate and subjected to tension, flexure, or compression. In tension and flexure, the resistivity change showed dependence on measurement direction, indicating that the sensors can be used for multi-directional strain sensing. In addition, the sensors exhibited a decreasing behavior in resistivity as the compressive load was applied, suggesting that they can be used for pressure sensing. This study demonstrates that the nanocomposite strain sensors can provide a pathway to affordable, effective, and versatile structural health monitoring.

• Composites Research
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.7-12
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• 2006

Graphite particle/carbon fiber hybrid conductive polymer composites were fabricated by the compression molding technique. Graphite particles were mixed with an epoxy resin to impart the electrical conductivity in the composite materials. In this study, graphite reinforced conductive polymer composites with high filler loadings were manufactured to accomplish high electrical conductivity above 100S/cm. Graphite particles were the main filler to increase the electrical conductivity of composites by direct contact between graphite particles. While high filler loadings are needed to attain good electrical conductivity, the composites becomes brittle. So carbon fiber was added to compensate weakened mechanical property. With increasing the carbon fiber loading ratio, the electrical conductivity gradually decreased because non-conducting regions were generated in the carbon fiber cluster among carbon fibers, while the flexural strength increased. In the case of carbon fiber 20wt.% of the total system, the electrical conductivity decreased 27%, whereas the flexural strength increased 12%.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.83-100
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• 2022

Timber is one of the few natural, renewable building materials and glulam is a type of engineering wood product. In the present work, timber-based braces are applied for retrofitting midrise Special Moment Resisting Frame (SMRF) using two types of timber base braces (Timber base glulam, and hybrid Timber-Steel-BRB) as alternatives for retrofitting by traditional steel bracings. The improving effects of adding the bracings to the SMRF on seismic characteristics of the frame are evaluated using load-bearing capacity, energy dissipation, and story drifts of the frame. For evaluating the retrofitting effects on the seismic performance of SMRF, a five-story SMRF is considered unretofitted and retrofitted with steel-hollow structural section (HSS) brace, Glued Laminated Timber (Glulam) brace, and hybrid Timber-Steel BRB. Using OpenSees structural analyzer, the performance are investigated under pushover, cyclic, and incremental loading. Results showed that steel-HSS, timber base Glulam, and hybrid timber-steel BRB braces have more significant roles in energy dissipation, increasing stiffness, changing capacity curves, reducing inter-story drifts, and reducing the weight of the frames, compared by steel bracing. Results showed that Hybrid BRB counteract the negative post-yield stiffness, so their use is more beneficial on buildings where P-Delta effects are more critical. It is found that the repair costs of the buildings with hybrid BRB will be less due to lower residual drifts. As a result, timber steel-BRB has the best energy dissipation and seismic performance due to symmetrical and stable hysteresis curves of buckling restrained braces that can experience the same capacities in tension and compression.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.51 no.6
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• pp.679-695
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• 2024

This paper presents a novel technique that combines machine learning (ML) with moth-flame optimization (MFO) methods to predict the axial compressive strength (ACS) of concrete filled double skin steel tubes (CFDST) columns. The proposed model is trained and tested with a dataset containing 125 tests of the CFDST column subjected to compressive loading. Five ML models, including extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost), gradient tree boosting (GBT), categorical gradient boosting (CAT), support vector machines (SVM), and decision tree (DT) algorithms, are utilized in this work. The MFO algorithm is applied to find optimal hyperparameters of these ML models and to determine the most effective model in predicting the ACS of CFDST columns. Predictive results given by some performance metrics reveal that the MFO-CAT model provides superior accuracy compared to other considered models. The accuracy of the MFO-CAT model is validated by comparing its predictive results with existing design codes and formulae. Moreover, the significance and contribution of each feature in the dataset are examined by employing the SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) method. A comprehensive uncertainty quantification on probabilistic characteristics of the ACS of CFDST columns is conducted for the first time to examine the models' responses to variations of input variables in the stochastic environments. Finally, a web-based application is developed to predict ACS of the CFDST column, enabling rapid practical utilization without requesting any programing or machine learning expertise.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.51 no.5
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• pp.543-562
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• 2024

While the external axial compressive load is applied to only the shell edge of stringer-stiffened shell in the most of numerical and analytical previous studies (entitled as conventional approach), a part of external load is applied to the stringers in real conditions. It leads to decrease the accuracy of the axial buckling load calculated by the conventional eigenvalue analysis approach performed in the most of previous studies. In this study, the distribution of stress in the pre-buckling analysis was enhanced by applying the axial external compressive load to both shell and stringers to perform an accurate eigenvalue analysis of the stringer-stiffened composite shell. In this regard, a model was developed in FORTRAN environment to simulate the laminated stringer-stiffened shell under axial compressive load using finite strip method. The axial buckling load of the shell was obtained through eigenvalue analysis. A comparison was made between the results obtained from the model and those available in the previous studies to evaluate the validity of the results obtained from the model. Through a parametric study, the effects of different parameters such as stringer properties and composite layup on the buckling load of the shell under different loading patterns were investigated. The results indicated that in some cases, the axial buckling load obtained for the conventional approach used in the most of previous studies is significantly overestimated or underestimated due to neglecting the stringer in distribution of external load applied to the stringer-stiffened shell. According to the results obtained from the parametric study, some graphs were derived to show the accuracy of the axial buckling load obtained from the conventional approach utilized in the literature.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.5-12
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• 2024

In the case of creating a site in the reclaimed land (public waters), due to the nature of the coastal sedimentary ground, large-scale construction materials are required, It is necessary to utilize soft clay, which is inevitably generated during construction of the complex, as a fill material in terms of resource recycling and economic aspects (reducing the amount of embankment required). In this study, changes in the consolidation characteristics of cut-out disturbed soft clay due to the recycling of soft clay soil were identified, and a consolidation settlement design plan was proposed. Through the results of the consolidation test of the study site, the change in consolidation characteristics (compression index reduction, precede load uncountable) due to disturbance (cutting) was confirmed, the method of calculating (consolidation settlement) the filling clay layer as the composite target layer (consolidation target layer, loading load layer) was analyzed as a result consistent with the actual behavior.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.77-86
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• 2007

The more demands on efficient utilization of resources, the more structural engineers prefer to select remodeling to improve old building's capacity. A series of four shear wall specimens were tested under constant axial stress and reversed cyclic lateral loading in order to evaluate the effect of the opening on the lower center of the wall induce by remodeling. Consequently, the existence of opening was verified to induce a different failure, which was caused by reduction of compression strut area formed on the wall to diagonal direction. Especially, the ultimate strength of the wall with an opening was revealed approximately 35% lower than that of the wall without an opening. And the similar results were appeared in characteristics of stiffness and energy dissipation capacity.

• Geotechnical Engineering
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.51-64
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• 1996

After the model open-ended pile attached with strain gages was driven into a pressure chamber, in which the saturated microfine sand was contained, the static compression loading test was performed for that pile. Based on the test results, ultimate pile capacity was determined. Then, either simulated earthquake shaking or sinusoidal shaking was applied to the pile with the sustained certain level OP ultimate pile load. Then, pile capacity degradations characteristics during shaking were studied. Pile capacity degradation during two different shakings were greatly different. During the simulated earthquake shaking, capacity degradation depended upon the magnitude of applied load. When the load applied to the pile top was less than 70% of ultimate pile capacidy, pile capacity degradation rate was less than 8%, and pile with the sustained ultimate pile load had the degradation rate of 90%. Also, most of pile capacity degradation was reduced in outer skin friction and degradation rate was about 80% of ultimate pile capacity reduction. During sinusoidal shaking, pile capacity degradation did not depend on the magnitude of applied load. It depended on the amplitude and the frequency , the larger the amplitude and the fewer the frequency was, the higher the degradation rate was. Reduction pattern of unit soil plugging (once depended on the mode of shaking. Unit soil plugging force by the simulated earthquake shaking was reduced in the bottom 3.0 D, of the toe irrespective of the applied load, while reduction of unit soil plugging force by sinusoidal shaking was occurred in the bottom 1.0-3.0D, of the toe. Also, the soil plugging force was reduced more than that during simulated earthquake shaking and degradation rate of the pile capacity depended on the magnitude of the applied load.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.13 no.11
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• pp.93-101
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• 2012

SCP is a construction method that maximizes the effects of ground improvement by creating sand piles, which are formed by the compaction within soft ground. SCP is mainly used for consolidation and drain effects in clayey soils, and as a liquefaction countermeasure through effects such as compaction in loose sandy soils. In the design of SCP, if the sand piles with high stiffness are not taken into account, it can become a design that overly considered safety, and increased construction costs are highly likely to cause economic disadvantages. The changes in stress conditions and compaction mechanisms in the subsurface have been identified to a certain extent by study findings to date. However, the studies that considered SCP and in-situ ground as composite ground are fairly limited, and therefore, those studies have not achieved enough results to fully explain the relevant topics. In this study, the ground improved by SCP was regarded as the composite ground that consists of SCP and in-situ ground. Moreover, employing a CID test, this study examined the changes in the stress conditions of in-situ ground according to the installation of SCP through the relations between $K_0$ and SCP replacement ratio. At the same, whether the SCP installation procedure can be recreated in a laboratory was examined using a cyclic triaxial test. According to the test results, the changes in the stress conditions of the original ground occurred most largely in an initial stage of SCP installation, and after a certain time point, the vibration for SCP installation did not have a great influence on the changes in the stress conditions of the ground. Moreover, in order to recreate the behaviors of in-suit ground according to SCP in a laboratory, cyclic loading, which corresponds to casing vibration, was concluded to be essentially required.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.11 no.9
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• pp.27-38
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• 2010

A series of model test as well as numerical analysis by FEM was performed to investigate lateral earth pressure acting on a buried pipe in soft ground undergoing horizontal soil movement. A model test apparatus was manufactured so as to simulate horizontal soil movement in model soft ground, in which a model rigid buried pipe was installed. The velocity of soil deformation could be controlled as wanted during testing. The model test was performed on buried pipes with various diameters and shapes to investigate major factors affected the lateral earth pressure. The result of model tests showed that the larger lateral earth pressure acted on the buried pipes under the faster velocity of soil movement. The result of numerical analysis, which was performed under immediate loading condition, showed a similar behavior with the result of model tests under 0.3mm/min to 1.0mm/min velocity of soil deformation. Most of model tests showed the soil deformation-lateral load behavior, in which the first yielding load developed at small soil deformation and elastic behavior was observed by the yielding load. Then, lateral load was kept constant by the second yielding load, in which plastic behavior was observed between the first yielding load and the second yielding one. Beyond the second yielding load, the compression behavior zone was observed. When the velocity was too fast, however, the lateral load was increased with soil deformation beyond the first yielding load without showing the second yielding load. The buried pipes with the larger diameter was subjected to the larger lateral load and the larger increasing rate of lateral load. At small soil deformation, the influence of diameter and shape of buried pipes on lateral load was small. However, when soil deformation was increased considerably, the influence became more and more.