• Computers and Concrete
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.207-227
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• 2011

In flexural strength design of unconfined reinforced concrete (RC) members, the concrete compressive stress-strain curve is scaled down from the uni-axial stress-strain curve such that the maximum concrete stress adopted in design is less than the uni-axial strength to account for the strain gradient effect. It has been found that the use of this smaller maximum concrete stress will underestimate the flexural strength of unconfined RC members although the safety factors for materials are taken as unity. Herein, in order to investigate the effect of strain gradient on the maximum concrete stress that can be developed in unconfined flexural RC members, several pairs of plain concrete (PC) and RC inverted T-shaped specimens were fabricated and tested under concentric and eccentric loads. From the test results, the maximum concrete stress developed in the eccentric specimens under strain gradient is determined by the modified concrete stress-strain curve obtained from the counterpart concentric specimens based on axial load and moment equilibriums. Based on that, a pair of equivalent rectangular concrete stress block parameters for the purpose of flexural strength design of unconfined RC members is determined.

• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.215-221
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• 2014

Ultra-high strength concrete and high tensile steel are becoming very attractive materials for high-rise buildings because of the need to reduce member size and structural self-weight. However, limited test data and design guidelines are available to support the applications of high strength materials for building constructions. This paper presents significant findings from comprehensive experimental investigations on the behaviour of tubular columns in-filled with ultra-high strength concrete at ambient and elevated temperatures. A series of tests was conducted to investigate the basic mechanical properties of the high strength materials, and structural behaviour of stub columns under concentric compression, beams under moment and slender beam-columns under concentric and eccentric compression. High tensile steel with yield strength up to 780 MPa and ultra-high strength concrete with compressive cylinder strength up to 180 MPa were used to construct the test specimens. The test results were compared with the predictions using a modified Eurocode 4 approach. In addition, more than 2000 test data samples collected from literature on concrete filled steel tubes with normal and high strength materials were also analysed to formulate the design guide for implementation in practice.

• Korean Journal of Applied Biomechanics
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.421-426
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• 2016

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate how different levels of compression exerted on the femoral region (known as the power zone) by coated fabric influences the activation and anaerobic capacity of the rectus femoris. Method: Three different levels of compression on the rectus femoris of the participants, namely 0% (normal condition), 9% (downsize), and 18% (downsize), were tested. The material of the fabric used in this study was nonfunctional polyurethane. Surface electromyography test was used to investigate the activation of the rectus femoris, while the isokinetic test (Cybex, $60^{\circ}/sec$) and Wingate test were used to investigate the maximum anaerobic power. Results: The different compression levels (0%, 9%, and 18%) did not improve the strength and anaerobic capacity of the knee extensor. However, knee flexor interfered with activation of the biceps femoris, which is an agonist for flexion, during 18% compression. Conclusion: Compression garments might improve the stretch shortening cycle effect at the time of eccentric contraction and during transition from eccentric to concentric contraction. Therefore, future studies are required to further investigate these findings.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.125-133
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• 2010

Researches and studies which have been conducted so far on external confinement of long span concrete columns have mainly concentrated on concentric loading. But, long span bridge concrete columns over the sea are mainly subjected to concentrated axial load, and at the same time lange amount of moment by eccentric load. This paper experimentally investigates the performance of externally confined high-strength concrete columns subjected to loading mechanism and evaluates the effectiveness of two confinement materials carbon fibre and high performance glass fibre. Twelve short columns with the same dimensions were cast and tested Six columns were reinforced with hoop bars, the remaining six columns were reinforced with spiral bars and wrapped with three layers of carbon failure and high performance glass FRP sheets. Test variables considered were the shape of internal reinforcement and strengthening materials according to loading location. The experimental results showed that eccentric load could obviously lower down the maximum failure load of FRP-confined concrete columns, compared with the columns under concentric load. And compared with the carbon FRP-confined reinforced concrete columns, high performance glass FRP-confined columns displayed a higher load capacity and ductility, when tested both concentrically and eccentrically.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.255-260
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• 2008

Purpose : This study was performed to find out the influence of the change on proprioception and coordination of the lower limb by experimentally induced paraspinal muscle fatigue, Methods : Twelve subjects(6 males, 6 females) with no history low back and lower limbs problem volunteered for this study. Subjects were pre-tested proprioception and coordination using the MR-FSS(Mornitored Rehab Functional Squat System). And then the subjects performed isometric paraspinal muscles contraction for induced muscle fatigue. Muscle fatigue was defined surface EMG(MP 150). After isometric contraction, the subjects were post-tested using the MR-FSS. Results : In comparison of coordination, deviation of concentric coordination was increased(from $0.50{\pm}0.13cm$ to $0.67{\pm}0.21$)(p<0.05) and deviation of eccentric coordination was also increased(from $0.51{\pm}0.15cm$ to $0.70{\pm}0.26cm$)(p<0.05). And deviation movement of proprioceptive test was increased(from $4.98{\pm}1.80cm$ to $5.69{\pm}1.98cm$), but there was no significant different(p>0.05). Conclusion : Fatigue of paraspinal muscles was decreased concentric and eccentric coordination of the lower limb.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.79-89
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• 2017

As a new type of energy dissipation component with excellent mechanical performance, the Buckling-Retrained Braces (BRBs) were gradually applied in retrofitting and improving seismic performance of reinforced concrete structures in China. In order to investigate the seismic performance of reinforced concrete structures retrofitted with BRBs, quasi-static test of two single-bay and 3-story reinforced concrete frames specimens was conducted and introduced in this paper. Two 1/2 scaled specimens were designed to reflect real prototype structure. For comparison, one control specimen was designed without BRBs, and the other specimen was retrofitted with BRBs. And particularly, for the specimen retrofitted with BRBs, the BRBs were eccentric layout instead of usually concentric or x-shaped layout, aiming to be more suitable for large-span frames. In the test, the failure mode, carrying capacity, deformability, ductility and energy dissipation ability of both two specimens were investigated. Based on the test results of the measured hysterical curves, skeleton curves, the seismic performances such as bearing capacity, plastic deformability, energy dissipation ability and ductility of two specimens were fully studied. And from the test results, it was indicated that the specimen retrofitted with BRBs showed much better seismic performance than the control specimen without BRBs, and the BRBs could effectively improve the seismic performance of the reinforced concrete frame. For the specimen retrofitted with BRBs, the BRBs firstly yielded before the beam-ends and the column-ends, and an expected yielding process or yielding mechanism as well as good seismic performance was obtained. For the specimens without BRBs, though the beam-ends yielded prior to the column-ends, the seismic performance was much poor than that of the specimen with BRBs.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.519-526
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• 1995

Experiments have been performed to test the analytical tools developed concurrently for the motion-related unsteady pressure in annular passages. The outer cylindrical body was oscillated by a shaker in either rocking motion about a hinge-point or lateral translation motion. In the equilibrium configuration the two bodies are either concentric or eccentric, in the plane of oscillation or normal to it. The unsteady pressure generated by the oscillatory motion with low amplitudes (displacement/radius) was measured on wall of the fixed inner cylinder at various axial and azimuthal locations. The unsteady pressure were compared with theoretical predictions, and agreement was found to be within 10%. Experiments have been shown that the effect of flow velocity on the unsteady pressure is minimal and the pressure increases more or less with oscillatory motion, for low flow velocities (Re = 2 900).

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.521-537
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• 2012

In this study, an experimental study is performed to understand the effect of spalling on the structural behavior of fire damaged steel reinforced high strength concrete (SRHSC) columns, and the test results of temperature distributions and the displacements at elevated temperature are analyzed. Toward this goal, three long columns are tested to investigate the effect of various test parameters on structural behavior during the fire, and twelve short columns are tested to investigate residual strength and stiffness after the fire. The test parameters are mixture ratios of polypropylene fiber (0 and 0.1 vol.%), magnitudes of applied loads (concentric loads and eccentric loads), and the time period of exposure to fire (0, 30, 60 and 90 minutes). The experimental results show that there is significant effect of loading on the structural behaviors of columns under fire. The loaded concrete columns result more explosive spalling than the unloaded columns under fire. In particular, eccentrically loaded columns are severely spalled. The temperature distributions of the concrete are not affected by the loading state if there is no spalling. However, the loading state affects the temperature distributions when there is spalling occurred. In addition, it is found that polypropylene fiber prevents spalling of both loaded and unloaded columns under fire. From these experimental findings, an equation of predicting residual load capacity of the fire damaged column is proposed.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.65 no.4
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• pp.381-388
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• 2018

Dynamic behaviour of beam carrying masses has attracted attention of many researchers and engineers. Many studies on the analytical solution of beam with concentric tip mass have been published. However, there are limited works on vibration analysis of beam with an eccentric three dimensional object. In this case, bending and torsional deformations of beam are coupled due to the boundary conditions. Analytical solution of equations of motion of the system is complicated and lengthy. Therefore, in this study, Differential Transform Method (DTM) is applied to solve the relevant equations. First, the Timoshenko beam with 3D tip attachment whose centre of gravity is not coincident with beam end point is considered. The beam is assumed to undergo bending in two orthogonal planes and torsional deformation about beam axis. Using Hamilton's principle the equations of motion of the system along with the possible boundary conditions are derived. Later DTM is applied to obtain natural frequencies and mode shapes of the system. According to the relevant literature DTM has not been applied to such a system so far. Moreover, the problem is modelled by Ansys, the well-known finite element method, and impact test is applied to extract experimental modal data. Comparing DTM results with finite element and experimental results it is concluded that the proposed approach produces accurate results.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.145-150
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• 2023

Purpose: This study examined the effects of ankle control training using neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES), leg muscle activation, and balance in stroke patients. Methods: Thirty-one stroke patients diagnosed with cerebral infarction and cerebral hemorrhage were selected for the study. The experimental group underwent ankle control training using NMES, while the control group applied NMES to the paretic tibialis anterior muscle for 30 minutes per session, five times a week for four weeks. The muscle activity changes were measured using surface electromyography, and balance parameters were evaluated using a functional reach test (FRT). Results: The intra-group comparison of the concentric muscle activity revealed improvements in the experimental group, including paretic tibialis anterior (TA) muscle (p<0.05), medial gastrocnemius muscle (MG) (p<0.01), and lateral gastrocnemius muscle (LG) (p<0.05), as well as MG (p<0.05), LG (p<0.05), soleus muscle (p<0.05) of the non-paretic side, and soleus muscle symmetry index (p<0.05). The intra-group comparison of the eccentric muscle activity showed improvements in the experimental group, including MG (p<0.01) and LG (p<0.01) of the paretic side, as well as MG (p<0.01), LG (p<0.01) of the non-paretic side, and LG symmetry index (p<0.01). The intra-group comparison of the functional reach test revealed significant differences in the test results in the experimental and control groups (p<0.05). Conclusion: Ankle control training using NMES had a positive effect on the changes in muscle activation and improved balance in patients with stroke.