• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.33-60
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• 2011

The purpose of the article is to compare the impacts of energy efficiency and economic growth for energy demand through production frontier approach in OECD countries. We compared the traditional energy intensity with energy efficiencies of production frontier approach, slack efficiency on the frontier, and estimated elasticity of energy demand for GDP growth. First, the energy intensity has a low relationship with energy efficiency by radial approach, but has constant correlations with slack energy efficiency, slack-adjusted efficiency by non-radial approach, and energy efficiency by horizon approach. If we measure energy efficiency only with energy elasticity, it may make a mistake. Especially the energy efficiency by radial approach has a tendency to overestimate most OECD countries. Second, as many countries have excess energy consumption of 17.3% even on the points of the frontier, reduction of energy consumption is necessary in addition. Third, the average energy elasticity of OECD countries is 1.1 close to elasticity 1. There exists the difference of elasticity among countries and the energy demands are also high in countries with high elasticity.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.703-716
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• 2018

In this study, the different energy demands in reinforced concrete (RC) wall piers, coupled by buckling restrained braces (BRBs), are investigated. As well as this, a single plastic hinge approach (SPH) and an extended plastic hinge (EPH) approach is considered for the wall piers. In the SPH approach, plasticity can extend only in the 0.1H adjacent to the wall base while, in the EPH approach, the plasticity can extend anywhere in the wall. The seismic behavior of 10-, 20- and 30-storey structures, subjected to near-fault (NF) as well as far-fault (FF) earthquakes, is studied with respect to the energy concepts involved in each storey. Different kinds of energy, including inelastic, damping, kinetic, elastic and total input energy demand, are investigated. The energy contribution from the wall piers, as well as the BRBs in each model, are studied. On average, for EPH approach, the inelastic demand portion pertaining to the BRBs for NF and FF records, is more than 60 and 80%, respectively. In the SPH approach, these ratios are 77 and 90% for the NF and FF events, respectively. It appears that utilizing the BRBs as energy dissipation members between two wall piers is an efficient concept.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.12 no.12
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• pp.1090-1097
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• 2000

Predicting building energy use can be useful to evaluate its energy performance. This study proposed empirical approach for predicting building energy use with regression analysis. For the empirical analysis, simple regression models were developed based on the historical energy consumption data as a function of daily outside temperature, the predicting equations were derived for different operational modes and day types, then the equations were applied for predicting energy use in a building. BY selecting a real building as a case study, the feasibilities of the empirical approach for predicting building energy use were examined. The results showed that empirical approach with regression analysis was fairly reliable by demonstrating prediction accuracy of $pm10%$ compared with the actual energy consumption data. It was also verified that the prediction by regression models could be simple and fairly accurate. Thus, it is anticipated that the empirical approach will be useful and reliable tool for many purposes: retrofit savings analysis by estimating energy usage in an existing building or the diagnosis of the building operational problems with real time analysis.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.589-611
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• 2016

The primary objectives of this research are to investigate the energy factor response of steel moment resisting frame (MRF) systems equipped with fuses subject to ground motions and to develop an energy-based evaluation approach for evaluating the damage-control behavior of the system. First, the energy factor of steel MRF systems with fuses below the resilience threshold is derived utilizing the energy balance equation considering bilinear oscillators with significant post-yielding stiffness ratio, and the effect of structural nonlinearity on the energy factor is investigated by conducting a parametric study covering a wide range of parameters. A practical transformation approach is also proposed to associate the energy factor of steel MRF systems with fuses with classic design spectra based on elasto-plastic systems. Then, the energy balance is extended to structural systems, and an energy-based procedure for damage-control evaluation is proposed and a damage-control index is also derived. The approach is then applied to two types of steel MRF systems with fuses to explore the applicability for quantifying the damage-control behavior. The rationality of the proposed approach and the accuracy for identifying the damage-control behavior are demonstrated by nonlinear static analyses and incremental dynamic analyses utilizing prototype structures.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.689-699
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• 2017

An energy-based approach for determining earthquake safety of reinforced concrete frame structures is presented. The developed approach is based on comparison of plastic energy capacities of the structures with plastic energy demands obtained for selected earthquake records. Plastic energy capacities of the selected reinforced concrete frames are determined graphically by analyzing plastic hinge regions with the developed equations. Seven earthquake records are chosen to perform the nonlinear time history analyses. Earthquake plastic energy demands are determined from nonlinear time history analyses and hysteretic behavior of earthquakes is converted to monotonic behavior by using nonlinear moment-rotation relations of plastic hinges and plastic axial deformations in columns. Earthquake safety of selected reinforced concrete frames is assessed by using plastic energy capacity graphs and earthquake plastic energy demands. The plastic energy dissipation capacities of the frame structures are examined whether these capacities can withstand the plastic energy demands for selected earthquakes or not. The displacements correspond to the mean plastic energy demands are obtained quite close to the displacements determined by using the procedures given in different seismic design codes.

• International Journal of Fuzzy Logic and Intelligent Systems
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.112-120
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• 2003

This paper reports the development work carried out in respect of a proposed application of Neural Network approach for the Korean Next generation Reactor (KNGR) now referred as APR-1400. The emphasis is on establishing the methodology and the approach to be adopted towards realizing this application in the next generation reactors. Keeping in view the advantages and limitation of Artificial Neural Network Approach, the role of ANN has been limited to plant status or to be more precise plant transient monitoring. The simulation work carried out so far and the results obtained shows that artificial neural network approach caters to the requirements of plant status monitoring and qualifies to be incorporated as a part of proposed operator support systems of the referenced nuclear power plant.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.11-18
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• 2023

This study explores a new energy partitioning approach to determine the fracture toughness of 3-D printed pristine/recycled high density polyethylene (HDPE) blends employing the essential work of fracture (EWF) concept. The traditional EWF approach conducts a uniaxial tensile test with double-edge notched tensile (DENT) specimens and measures the total energy defined by the area under a load-displacement curve until failure. The approach assumes that the entire total energy contributes to the fracture process only. This assumption is generally true for extruded polymers that fracture occurs in a material body. In contrast to the traditional extrusion manufacturing process, the current 3-D printing technique employs fused deposition modeling (FDM) that produces layer-by-layer structured specimens. This type of specimen tends to include separation energy even after the complete failure of specimens when the fracture test is conducted. The separation is not relevant to the fracture process, and the raw experimental data are likely to possess random variation or noise during fracture testing. Therefore, the current EWF approach may not be suitable for the fracture characterization of 3-D printed specimens. This paper proposed a new energy partitioning approach to exclude the irrelevant energy of the specimens caused by their intrinsic structural issues. The approach determined the energy partitioning location based on experimental data and observations. Results prove that the new approach provided more consistent results with a higher coefficient of correlation.

• International Area Studies Review
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.3-22
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• 2016

This paper uses Dynamic OLS(DOLS) approach to estimate the long-run energy demand functions. The results are compared with those of standard cointegration approach. Cointegration tests verify that there is a cointegration among energy consumption, real GDP, and energy price in China. Johansen approach and DOLS approach are more appropriate to estimate for the long-run energy demand function than Engle-Granger Cointegration approach. DOLS provided significant negative sign of price while Engle-Granger did not. Based on the DOLS results, the elasticities of real GDP and energy price on energy consumption are 0.83 and -0.45 respectively, and their statistical significances are high.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.82 no.6
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• pp.785-799
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• 2022

The effect of earthquakes in earthquake resistant structure design stages is influenced by the highest ground acceleration value, which is generally a strength-based approach in seismic codes. In this context, an energy-oriented approach can be suggested as an alternative to evaluate structure demands. Contrary to the strength-based approach, the strength and displacement demands of the structure cannot be evaluated separately, but can be evaluated together. In addition, in the energy-oriented approach, not only the maximum effects of earthquakes are taken into account, but also the duration of the earthquake. In this respect, it can be said that the use of energy-oriented earthquake parameters is a more rational approach besides being an alternative. In this study, strength and energy-oriented approaches of earthquake parameters of 11 different periods of single degree of freedom systems were evaluated over 28 different earthquake situations. The energy spectra intended to be an alternative to the traditional acceleration spectra were created using the acceleration parameter equivalent to the input energy. Two new energy parameters, which take into account the effective duration of the earthquake, are proposed, and the relationship between the strength-oriented spectral acceleration parameters and the energy parameters used in the literature is examined by correlation study. According to the results obtained, it has been seen that energy oriented earthquake parameters, which give close values in similar period situations, will be a good alternative to strength oriented earthquake parameters. It was observed that the energy parameters were affected by the effective duration of the earthquake, unlike the strength-based parameters. It has been revealed that the newly proposed energy parameters considering the effective duration give good correlations. Finally, it was concluded that the energy parameters can be used in the design, and the newly proposed effective energy parameters can shorten the analysis durations.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.111-121
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• 2018

It has been argued that fracture energy of composite laminates depends on their thickness and number of layers. In this paper a modified direct energy balance approach (DEBA) has been developed to evaluate the mode-II shear fracture energy for E-glass/Epoxy laminates from finite element model at an arbitrary thickness. This approach considers friction and damage/plasticity deformations using cohesive zone modeling (CZM) and nonlinear finite element modeling. The presence of compressive stress and resulting friction was argued to be a possible cause for the thickness dependency of fracture energy. In the finite element modeling, CZM formulation has been developed with bilinear cohesive constitutive law combined with friction consideration. Also ply element have been developed with shear plastic damage model. Modified direct energy balance approach has been proposed for estimation of mode-II shear fracture energy. Experiments were performed on laminates of glass epoxy specimens for characterization of material parameters and determination of mode-II fracture energies for different thicknesses. Effect of laminate thickness on fracture energy of transverse crack tension (TCT) and end notched flexure (ENF) specimens has been numerically studied and comparison with experimental results has been made. It is shown that the developed numerical approach is capable of estimating increase in fracture energy due to size effect.