• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.57-64
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• 2022

A plant factory is a facility that creates an artificial environment in a controlled space and produces plants systematically through automated facilities. However, automation in the cultivation process is insufficient compared to the internal environment control technology in plant factories. This causes the problem of an increase in operating costs due to the input of a large number of workers. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate economic feasibility by comparing before and after introducing automation in the cultivation process of plant factories. The target plant factory to be analyzed was selected, and the break-even point analysis method was used by comparing the cost required compared to the operating period. As a result, the break-even point was analyzed to be 3.4 years when automation was introduced into six processes for plant cultivation. Therefore, it can be judged that the introduction of automation is excellent in terms of economic feasibility when the target plant factory has been operated for more than 3.4 years. This study is expected to be used as basic data to analyze the economic feasibility of introducing automation in domestic and foreign plant factories.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.26-35
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• 2022

The 7th education reform in 1997 has led changes in the way buildings were constructed and such changes drove educational facilities to steadily consume more energy every year. Also, these facilities take several years' estimated expenditure as well as the increased unit price of electricity into account when planning their annual operating budget. Such circumstances may adversely affect the establishment of their budget plan since improper allocation of operating costs could take place. To propose educational facilities' operating budget management plan on electrical energy consumption, this study developed a model that help oversee the facilities' consumption of electrical energy. For the model development, the primary core variables related to electrical energy factors from the aspects of surroundings, physics, policy, etc. were derived from taking both literature research and the characteristics of these facilities into account. The secondary core variables were then derived using the correlation analysis. Lastly, the electric energy use prediction model was developed by performing regression analysis based on the derived secondary core variables.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2023

At construction sites, interest in the production of precast materials is increasing due to off-site conditions due to changes in construction site conditions due to increased labor costs and the Act on the Punishment of Serious Accidents. In particular, the precast prestressed hollow slab has a hollow shape in the cross section, so structural performance is secured by reducing weight and controlling deflection through stranded wires. With the application of structural standards, the urgency of securing fire resistance performance is emerging. In this study, a fire-resistance cross section was developed by reducing the concrete filling rate in the cross section and improving the upper and lower flange shapes by optimizing the hollow shape in the cross section of the slab to have the same or better structural performance and economic efficiency compared to the existing hollow slab. The PC hollow slab to which this was applied was subjected to a two-hour fire resistance test using the cross-sectional thickness as a variable, and as a result of the test, fire resistance performance (load bearing capacity, heat shielding property, flame retardance property) was secured. Based on the experimental results, it is determined that fire resistance modeling can be established through numerical analysis simulation, and prediction of fire resistance analysis is possible according to the change of the cross-sectional shape in the future.

• Journal of the Korean Recycled Construction Resources Institute
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.89-96
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• 2023

In this paper, a ferrosilicon by-product was evaluated to confirm the feasibility of recycling it as supplementary cementitious material of ordinary Portland cement in concrete. Three different levels of replacement ratio (10 %, 20 % and 30 % of total binder) were applied to find which is the most beneficial to be used as a binder. Ferrosilicon concrete was initially assessed at setting time and compressive strength. Durability was evaluated by the resistance to chloride penetration test(RCPT) and alkali-silica reaction(ASR) with a comparison to silica fume concrete due to their similarity in chemical composition. The porosimetry and X-ray diffraction analysis along with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy give information on the microstructural characteristics of the ferrosilicon concrete. It was found that 10 % ferrosilicon concrete has higher strength while 20 %, 30 % have lower strength than OPC concrete. However, chemical resistance to chloride attack is higher when replacement is increased. Compared to silica fume, the durability of ferrosilicon might be less efficient however, it is obviously beneficial than OPC. High SiO₂ content in ferrosilicon results in producing more C-S-H gel which could make denser pore structure. Most of the risk of alkali silica reaction to silicate binders through length change tests was less than 0.2 %, and both mortar using ferrosilicon and silica fume showed better resistance to alkali silica reaction as the substitution rate increased.Reuse of industrial waste rather than producing highly refined additives might reduce environmental load during manufacture and save costs.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.27-40
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• 2023

A pile is a structural element that is used to transfer external loads from superstructures and has been widely utilized in construction fields all over the world. The method of installing a pile into the ground should be selected based on geotechnical conditions, location, site status, environmental factors, and construction costs, among others. It can be divided into two types: direct hammering and preboring. The direct hammering method installs a pile into the bearing layer, such as rock, using a few types of hammer, generating a considerable amount of pile driving-induced vibration. The vibration from pile driving influences adjacent structures and the ground; therefore, quantitatively investigating the effects of vibration is inevitably required. In this study, two-dimensional dynamic numerical modeling and analysis are performed using the finite difference method to investigate the influence on the adjacent slope, including temporary supporting system. Time-dependent loading induced by pile driving is estimated and used in the numerical analysis. Consequently, large surface displacement is estimated due to surface waves and less wave deflection, and refraction at the surface. The total displacement decreases with the increase of the distance from the source. However, lateral displacement at the top of the slope shows a larger value than vertical displacement, and the overall displacement tends to be concentrated near the face of the slope.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.31-39
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• 2023

To reduce facility management costs and safety concerns due to aging of facilities, it is important to estimate the future facilities' condition based on facility management data and utilize predictive information for management decision making. To this end, this study proposed a methodology to estimate facility elements' condition using XGBoost. To validate the proposed methodology, this study constructed sample data for road bridges and developed a model to estimate condition grades of major elements expected in the next inspection. As a result, the developed model showed satisfactory performance in estimating the condition grades of deck, girder, and abutment/pier (average F1 score 0.869). In addition, a testbed was established that provides data management function and element condition estimation function to demonstrate the practical applicability of the proposed methodology. It was confirmed that the facility management data and predictive information in this study could help managers in making facility management decisions.

• Journal of the Korean Recycled Construction Resources Institute
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.355-363
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• 2023

In safety assessment of a aged bridge, dynamic characteristics and displacement are directly related to the rigidity of the structural system, especially displacement is the most important factor as the physical quantity that the bridge user can directly detect. However, in order to measure the displacement of the bridge, it is difficult to install displacement sensors at the bottom of the bridge and conduct traffic blocking and loading tests, resulting in increased costs or impossible measurements depending on the bridge's environment. In this study, a method of measuring the displacement of a bridge using only accelerometers without installing displacement sensors and ambient vibration without a loading test was proposed. For the analysis of bridge dynamic characteristics and displacement using ambient vibration, the mode shape and natural frequency of the bridge were extracted using a TDD technique known to enable quick analysis with simple calculations, and the unit load displacement of the bridge was analyzed through flexibility analysis to calculate static displacement. To verify this proposed technology, an on-site test was conducted on C Bridge, and the results were compared with the measured values of the loading test and the structural analysis data. As a result, it was confirmed that the mode shape and natural frequency were 0.42 to 1.13 % error ratio, and the maximum displacement at the main span was 3.58 % error ratio. Therefore, the proposed technology can be used as a basis data for indirectly determine the safety of the bridge by comparing the amount of displacement compared to the design and analysis values by estimating the displacement of the bridge that could not be measured due to the difficulty of installing displacement sensors.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.50-61
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• 2024

The market for compact houses is growing due to the demand for floor plans prioritizing user needs. However, clients often have difficulty communicating their spatial requirements to professionals including architects because they lack the means to provide evidence, such as spatial configurations or cost estimates. This research aims to create a framework that can translate sketched data-driven spatial requirements into 3D building components in BIM models to facilitate spatial understanding and provide building performance analysis to aid in budgeting in the early design phase. The research process includes developing a process model, implementing, and validating the framework. The process model describes the data flow within the framework and identifies the required functionality. Implementation involves creating systems and user interfaces to integrate various systems. The validation verifies that the framework can automatically convert sketched space requirements into walls, floors, and roofs in a BIM model. The framework can also automatically calculate material and energy costs based on the BIM model. The developed frame enables clients to efficiently create 3D building components based on the sketched data and facilitates users to understand the space and analyze the building performance through the created BIM models.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.62 no.3
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• pp.214-224
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• 2024

Valves play an essential role in a chemical plant such as regulating fluid flow and pressure. Therefore, optimal selection of the valve size and type is essential task. Valve size and type have been selected based on theoretical formulas about calculating valve sizing coefficient (Cv). However, this approach has limitations such as requiring expert knowledge and consuming substantial time and costs. Herein, this study developed a model for predicting valve sizes and types using machine learning. We developed models using four algorithms: ANN, Random Forest, XGBoost, and Catboost and model performances were evaluated using NRMSE & R² score for size prediction and F1 score for type prediction. Additionally, a case study was conducted to explore the impact of phases on valve selection, using four datasets: total fluids, liquids, gases, and steam. As a result of the study, for valve size prediction, total fluid, liquid, and gas dataset demonstrated the best performance with Catboost (Based on R², total: 0.99216, liquid: 0.98602, gas: 0.99300. Based on NRMSE, total: 0.04072, liquid: 0.04886, gas: 0.03619) and steam dataset showed the best performance with RandomForest (R²: 0.99028, NRMSE: 0.03493). For valve type prediction, Catboost outperformed all datasets with the highest F1 scores (total: 0.95766, liquids: 0.96264, gases: 0.95770, steam: 1.0000). In Engineering Procurement Construction industry, the proposed fluid-specific machine learning-based model is expected to guide the selection of suitable valves based on given process conditions and facilitate faster decision-making.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.12-23
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• 2023

The goal of international development projects is to assist sustainable development in recipient countries through foreign aid from donor countries. However, despite the need for both countries to negotiate and work together from the initial stages to maintain sustainability after the project, clear guidelines or standards have not been established. Additionally, despite the need for donor countries, which are relatively advanced, to understand the situation of recipient countries, many projects are donor-centric and fail to prioritize the value of sustainability. Therefore, this study extracted economic, social, and environmental risks that threaten sustainability through literature review and proposed a sustainability framework based on these criteria. To validate framework, actual international development cases conducted by advanced donor countries such as Australia, the United States, and Japan, in collaboration with South Korea, were analyzed by applying content analysis with the reports, which covers the overall contents from the planning stage to the operation stage. Analysis of sustainability perspectives focused on economy, society and the environment, advanced donor countries emphasized (1) the importance of pre-assessment, (2) the need for coordination with the local population and communities despite the existence of donor-specific values, and (3) addressing economic considerations such as pre-operational and maintenance costs, social communication with the local population, and environmental considerations starting from the initial stages of construction regarding the treatment of pollutants as values to be improved. Compared to other advanced donor countries, the Republic of Korea should also focus on consultation with local residents to achieve social integration, and improve sustainability by deployment the managers in local sites for better negotiation.The proposed framework in this study will serve as a tool to enhance communication among the countries and the locals, with the expectation of increasing project efficiency and sustainability.