• Journal of the Society of Naval Architects of Korea
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• v.60 no.4
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• pp.213-221
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• 2023

The demand for Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) carriers and LNG-fueled ships has significantly increased in recent years due to the sulfur-oxide emission regulations by the International Maritime Organization (IMO). The main goal of this paper is to introduce the process for the Engineering Critical Assessment (ECA) of IMO independent type-B cargo tanks made from 9% nickel alloy. A methodology proposed by the British Standard was used to conduct ECA for any structure with initial flaws. Based on this standard, a Matlab code was developed to perform ECA. Coarse mesh Finite Element Analysis (FEA) was performed on an independent type-B LNG cargo tank with a capacity of 15,000 m³. The location with the highest development of maximum principal stress was identified at the bottom of the cargo tank. Fine mesh FEA was performed to obtain the stress range required for ECA. The dynamic cargo tank loads used for FEA were determined using some ship rules presented by Det Norske Veritas. As a result of performing a 20-year long-term crack propagation analysis with a semi-elliptical surface crack, the fracture-to-yield ratio exceeded the Fracture Assessment Line (FAL) and some structural reinforcement was necessary. Performing a 15-day short-term crack propagation analysis, the fracture-to-yield ratio remained within the FAL, and no significant LNG leaks were expected. This paper is believed to provide a guide for performing ECA of LNG cargo tanks in the future by providing the basic theory and application sample necessary to perform ECA.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.7
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• pp.2628-2641
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• 2023

Nuclear safety is the lifeline for the development and application of nuclear energy. In severe accidents of pressurized water reactor (PWR), aerosols, as the main carrier of fission products, are suspended in the containment vessel, posing a potential threat of radioactive contamination caused by leakage into the environment. The gas-phase aerosols suspended in the containment will settle onto the wall or sump water through the natural deposition mechanism, thereby reducing atmospheric radioactivity. Aiming at the low accuracy of the aerosol model in the ISAA code, this paper improves the natural deposition model of aerosol in the containment. The aerosol dynamic shape factor was introduced to correct the natural deposition rate of non-spherical aerosols. Moreover, the gravity, Brownian diffusion, thermophoresis and diffusiophoresis deposition models were improved. In addition, ABCOVE, AHMED and LACE experiments were selected to validate and evaluate the improved ISAA code. According to the calculation results, the improved model can more accurately simulate the peak aerosol mass and respond to the influence of the containment pressure and temperature on the natural deposition rate of aerosols. At the same time, it can significantly improve the calculation accuracy of the residual mass of aerosols in the containment. The performance of improved ISAA can meet the requirements for analyzing the natural deposition behavior of aerosol in containment of advanced PWRs in severe accident. In the future, further optimization will be made to address the problems found in the current aerosol model.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.30 no.3A
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• pp.257-264
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• 2010

Generally, estimations on the displacement as an important factor in evaluating the safety of large structures could be a barometer assessing whether the condition of the structure is deteriorating. Practically, it is not easy how to measure the displacement response to large structures like suspension bridges. In this study, as a method for estimation displacement response from strain signals, mode decomposition technique is proposed. Total displacement response is estimated by superposing quasistatic displacement response and modal displacement responses in dominant modes with larger contributions after estimating the modal displacement responses. If foiled strain gauges are used to measure strain signals, there would likely to generate electric noise, what's more, the more measuring points there are the more economic burden it could be. In order to solve such problems, fiber optic bragg-grating(FBG) sensors were used, which have multi-point measurements with no effect on electric noises. Therefore, the experiment was performed through dynamic load test of suspension bridge and plate-girder bridge to review the possibility for using mode decomposition technique.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.103-111
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• 2023

The caving property of top coal is a key factor to the success of top coal caving mining. The influence law of cyclic loading and unloading of hydraulic support on top coal caving is of great significance to improve the recovery rate of top coal. The similar simulation methods were used to study the dynamic evolution of the top coal cracks under the multi-cycle action of the support, and the parameters of top coal cracks were analyzed quantitatively in this paper. The results show that the top coal cracks can be divided into horizontal cracks and vertical cracks under the cyclic loading and unloading of the support. With the increase of the times of the support cycles loading and unloading, the load on the support decreases, the fractal dimension of the cracks increases, the number and total length of the top coal cracks increases, and the top coal caving is getting better. With the increase of the times of multi-cycle loading and unloading, the fractal dimension, total crack length and crack rate of top coal show a trend of rapid increase first and then increase slowly. Both the total length of the top coal cracks and the crack rate basically show linear growth with the change of the fractal dimension. The top coal caving can be well improved and the coal resource recovery rate increased through the multi-cycle loading and unloading.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.28 no.7
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• pp.646-652
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• 2009

In this paper, welding pitch optimization technique of vehicle subframe is presented considering the fatigue life of spot welding nuggets. Fatigue life of spot welding nuggets is estimated by using the frequency-domain fatigue analysis technique. The input data, which are used in the fatigue analysis, are obtained by performing the dynamic analysis of vehicle model passing through the Belgian road profile and also the modal frequency response analysis of finite element model of vehicle subframe. According to the fatigue life result obtained from the frequency-domain fatigue analysis, the design points to optimize the weld pitch distance are determined. For obtaining the welding pitch combination to maximize the fatigue life of the spot welding nuggets, 4-factor, 3-level orthogonal array experimental design is used. This study shows that the optimized subframe improves the fatigue life of welding nugget with minimum fatigue life about 65.8 % as compared with the baseline design.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.261-275
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• 2024

Before performing an experimental study on the downburst-generated wave, it is necessary to examine the scale effects and corresponding corrections or compensations. Analysis of similarity is conducted to conclude the non-dimensional force ratios that account for the dynamic similarity in the interaction of downburst with wave between the prototype and the scale model, along with the corresponding scale factors. The fractional volume of fluid (VOF) method in association with the impinging jet model is employed to explore the characteristics of the downburst-generated wave numerically, and the validity of the proposed scaling method is verified. The study shows that the location of the maximum radial wind velocity in a downburst-wave field is a little higher than that identified in a downburst over the land, which might be attributed to the presence of the wave which changes the roughness of the underlying surface of the downburst. The impinging airflow would generate a concavity in the free surface of the water around the stagnation point of the downburst, with a diameter of about two times the jet diameter (D_jet). The maximum wave height appears at the location of 1.5D_jet from the stagnation point. Reynolds number has an insignificant influence on the scale effects, in accordance with the numerical investigation of the 30 scale models with the Reynolds number varying from 3.85 × 10⁴ to 7.30 × 10⁹. The ratio of the inertial force of air to the gravitational force of water, which is denoted by G, is found to be the most significant factor that would affect the interaction of downburst with wave. For the correction or compensation of the scale effects, fitting curves for the measures of the downburst-wave field (e.g., wind profile, significant wave height), along with the corresponding equations, are presented as a function of the parameter G.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.62-69
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• 2024

Ensuring swift on-site access to fire engines is crucial in preserving the golden time and minimizing damage. However, various mobility constraints in alleyways hinder the timely entry of fire engines to the fire scene, significantly impairing their initial response capabilities. Therefore, this study analyzed the significant mobility constraints of fire engines, focusing on Seoul, which has many old town areas. By leveraging survey responses from firefighting experts and actual observations, this study quantitatively assessed the frequency and severity of mobility constraint factors affecting the disaster responses of fire engines. Survey results revealed a consistent set of top five factors regarding the frequency and disturbance level, including illegally parked cars, narrow paths, motorcycles, poles, and awnings/banners. A comparison with actual road-view images showed notable consistency between the survey and observational results regarding the appearance frequency of mobility constraint factors in vulnerable areas in Seoul. Furthermore, the study emphasized the importance of tailored management strategies for each mobility constraint factor, considering its characteristics, such as dynamic or static. The findings of this study can serve as foundational data for creating more detailed fire safety maps and advancing technologies that monitor the mobility of fire engines through efficient vision-based inference using CCTVs in the future.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.781-790
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• 2019

Objective: To assess the relationship between contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) parameters and perfusion CT (PCT) parameters of gastric cancers and their correlation with histologic features. Materials and Methods: This prospective study was approved by our Institutional Review Board. We included 43 patients with pathologically-proven gastric cancers undergoing CEUS using SonoVue^® (Bracco) and PCT on the same day. Correlation between the CEUS parameters (peak intensity [PI], area under the curve [AUC], rise time [RT] from 10% to 90% of PI, time to peak [TTP_US], and mean transit time [MTT_US]) and PCT parameters (blood flow, blood volume, TTP_CT, MTT_CT, and permeability surface product) of gastric cancers were analyzed using Spearman's rank correlation test. In cases of surgical resection, the CEUS and PCT parameters were compared according to histologic features using Mann-Whitney test. Results: CEUS studies were of diagnostic quality in 88.4% (38/43) of patients. Among the CEUS parameters of gastric cancers, RT and TTP_US showed significant positive correlations with TTP_CT (rho = 0.327 and 0.374, p = 0.045 and 0.021, respectively); PI and AUC were significantly higher in well-differentiated or moderately-differentiated tumors (n = 4) than poorly-differentiated tumors (n = 18) (p = 0.026 and 0.033, respectively), whereas MTT_CT showed significant differences according to histologic types (poorly cohesive carcinoma [PCC] vs. non-PCC), T-staging (≤ T2 vs. ≥ T3), N-staging (N0 vs. N-positive), and epidermal growth factor receptor expression (≤ faint vs. ≥ moderate staining) (p values < 0.05). Conclusion: In patients with gastric cancers, CEUS is technically feasible for the quantification of tumor perfusion and may provide correlative and complementary information to that of PCT, which may allow prediction of histologic features.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.167-181
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• 2024

The soil-structure relative stiffness is a key factor affecting the seismic response of underground structures. It is of great significance to study the soil-structure relative stiffness for the soil-structure interaction and the seismic disaster reduction of subway stations. In this paper, the dynamic shear modulus ratio and damping ratio of an inhomogeneous soft soil site under different buried depths which were obtained by a one-dimensional equivalent linearization site response analysis were used as the input parameters in a 2D finite element model. A visco-elasto-plastic constitutive model based on the Mohr-Coulomb shear failure criterion combined with stiffness degradation was used to describe the plastic behavior of soil. The damage plasticity model was used to simulate the plastic behavior of concrete. The horizontal and vertical relative stiffness ratios of soil and structure were defined to study the influence of relative stiffness on the seismic response of subway stations in inhomogeneous soft soil. It is found that the compression damage to the middle columns of a subway station with a higher relative stiffness ratio is more serious while the tensile damage is slighter under the same earthquake motion. The relative stiffness has a significant influence on ground surface deformation, ground acceleration, and station structure deformation. However, the effect of the relative stiffness on the deformation of the bottom slab of the subway station is small. The research results can provide a reference for seismic fortification of subway stations in the soft soil area.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.390-398
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• 2024

FoxO1, a member of the Forkhead transcription factor family subgroup O (FoxO), is expressed in a range of cell types and is crucial for various pathophysiological processes, such as apoptosis and inflammation. While FoxO1's roles in multiple diseases have been recognized, the target has remained largely unexplored due to the absence of cost-effective and efficient inhibitors. Therefore, there is a need for natural FoxO1 inhibitors with minimal adverse effects. In this study, docking, MMGBSA, and ADMET analyses were performed to identify natural compounds that exhibit strong binding affinity to FoxO1. The top candidates were then subjected to molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. A natural product library was screened for interaction with FoxO1 (PDB ID-3CO6) using the Glide module of the Schrödinger suite. In silico ADMET profiling was conducted using SwissADME and pkCSM web servers. Binding free energies of the selected compounds were assessed with the Prime-MMGBSA module, while the dynamics of the top hits were analyzed using the Desmond module of the Schrödinger suite. Several natural products demonstrated high docking scores with FoxO1, indicating their potential as FoxO1 inhibitors. Specifically, the docking scores of neochlorogenic acid and fraxin were both below -6.0. These compounds also exhibit favorable drug-like properties, and a 25 ns MD study revealed a stable interaction between fraxin and FoxO1. Our findings highlight the potential of various natural products, particularly fraxin, as effective FoxO1 inhibitors with strong binding affinity, dynamic stability, and suitable ADMET profiles.