• International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials
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• 제8권2호
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• pp.157-164
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• 2014

Ground granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBS) is a green construction material used to produce durable concrete. The secondary pozzolanic reactions can result in reduced pore connectivity; therefore, replacing partial amount of Portland cement (PC) with GGBS can significantly reduce the risk of sulfate attack, alkali-silica reactions and chloride penetration. However, it may also reduce the concrete resistance against carbonation. Due to the time consuming process of concrete carbonation, many researchers have used accelerated carbonation test to shorten the experimental time. However, there are always some uncertainties in the accelerated carbonation test results. Most importantly, the moisture content and moisture profile of the concrete before the carbonation test can significantly affect the test results. In this work, more than 200 samples with various water-cementitious material ratios and various replacement percentages of GGBS were cast. The compressive strength, electrical resistivity, chloride permeability and carbonation tests were conducted. The moisture loss and microstructure of concrete were studied. The partial replacement of PC with GGBS produced considerable improvement on various properties of concrete.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• 제7권5호
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• pp.525-537
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• 2014

The typical design of ground improvement with prefabricated vertical drains (PVD) and surcharge preloading involves a series of deterministic analyses using averaged or mean soil properties for the various combination of the PVD spacing and surcharge preloading height that would meet the criteria for minimum consolidation time and required degree of consolidation. The optimum design combination is then selected in which the total cost of ground improvement is a minimum. Considering the variability and uncertainties of the soil consolidation parameters, as well as considering the effects of soil disturbance (smear zone) and drain resistance in the analysis, this study presents a stochastic cost optimization of ground improvement with PVD and surcharge preloading. Direct Monte Carlo (MC) simulation and importance sampling (IS) technique is used in the stochastic analysis by limiting the sampled random soil parameters within the range from a minimum to maximum value while considering their statistical distribution. The method has been verified in a case study of PVD improved ground with preloading, in which average results of the stochastic analysis showed a good agreement with field monitoring data.

• 한국안전학회지
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• 제23권2호
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• pp.7-13
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• 2008

In a long-span bridge which is constructed on soft soil, it is requested to make a plan considering soil-structure interaction, and soil-structure interaction is partially under consideration at the actual bridge plan. Many researches on dynamic behavior of a bridge affected by soil-structure interacting have been accomplished, but it is difficult to estimate dynamic behavior of a bridge on soft soil accurately because of many uncertainties. This paper presents the results about dynamic response of a long-span suspension bridge in the site composed of soft soil considering incident angle of input ground motion. The effect of soft soil was evaluated by the use o computer program SASSI and a long-span suspension bridge was modeled by finite element program MIDAS. The effect of incident angle of input ground motion was investigated on the dynamic response of a long-span bridge.

• Computational Structural Engineering : An International Journal
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• 제1권1호
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• pp.59-69
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• 2001

This study is intended to propose a systematic approach for reliability-based assessment of life cycle cost (LCC) effectiveness and economic efficiency for cost-effective seismic upgrading of existing bridges. The LCC function is expressed as the sum of the upgrading cost and all the discounted life cycle damage costs, which is formulated as a function of the Park-Ang damage index and structural damage probability. The damage costs are expressed in terms of direct damage costs such as repair/replacement costs, human losses and property damage costs, and indirect damage costs such as road user costs and indirect regional economic losses. For dealing with a variety of uncertainties associated with earthquake loads and capacities, a simulation-based reliability approach is used. The SMART-DRAIN-2DX, which is a modified version of the well-known DRAIN-2DX, is extended by incor-porating LCC analysis based on the LCC function developed in the study. Economic efficiencies for optimal seismic upgradings of the continuous PC segmental bridges are assessed using the proposed LCC functions and benefit-cost ratio.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• 제19권1호
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• pp.49-58
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• 2004

It is important to select a risk based priority area for environmental policy formation and decision-making. We estimated the health risks and associated damage costs from exposure to fine particles and assigned priority areas for twenty -five districts in Seoul. In order to estimate the theoretical mortality incidence of the health risk, baseline risks were estimated from mortality rates in two low level areas of fine particles, Seocho Gu and Cheju city To estimate the damage cost from the risk estimates, we investigated and estimated the willingness to pay (WTP) for specific risk reduction. We assumed two different locations as the reference area, Cheju city as Scenario I and Seocho gu as Scenario II. From the results, the five districts, Kwangjin, Chungnang, Kangbuk, Nowon, and Kangnam, ranked high in the categories of both health risk and economic risk. Damage costs were over twenty billion won in each of these districts. As there are uncertainties in these results, the parameter values such as PM$_{2.5}$ level, dose -response slope factor, baseline risk, exposure population and WTP should be continuously validated and refined.d.

• 환경영향평가
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• 제20권5호
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• pp.765-777
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• 2011

According to the total pollution load management system, exact prediction and analysis of water quality and discharge has been required in order to allocate the amount of pollution load to each local government. In this study, QUAL2E model was used for comparison with other water quality models and improve the inadequate to forecast future water quality. And Various calibration and verification methods were applied to deal with existing uncertainties of parameter during modeling water quality. For user convenience, A GUI(Graphical User Interface) system named "QL2-XP" model is developed by object-oriented language for the user convenience and practical usage. Suggested GUI system consist of hydraulic analysis, water quality analysis, optimized model calibration processes, and postprocessing the simulation results. Therefore this model will be effectively utilized to manage practical and efficient water quality.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제34권1호
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• pp.15-38
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• 2010

In order to predict the shear strengths of reinforced concrete beams, many deterministic models have been developed based on rules of mechanics and on experimental test results. While the constant and variable angle truss models are known to provide reliable bases and to give reasonable predictions for the shear strengths of members with shear reinforcement, in the case of members without shear reinforcement, even advanced models with complicated procedures may show lack of accuracy or lead to fairly different predictions from other similar models. For this reason, many research efforts have been made for more accurate predictions, which resulted in important recent publications. This paper develops probabilistic shear strength models for reinforced concrete beams without shear reinforcement based on deterministic shear strength models, understanding of shear transfer mechanisms and influential parameters, and experimental test results reported in the literature. Using a Bayesian parameter estimation method, the biases of base deterministic models are identified as algebraic functions of input parameters and the errors of the developed models remaining after the bias-correction are quantified in a stochastic manner. The proposed probabilistic models predict the shear strengths with improved accuracy and help incorporate the model uncertainties into vulnerability estimations and risk-quantified designs.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제69권4호
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• pp.361-369
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• 2019

The determination of Paris' law parameters based on crack growth experiments is an important procedure of fatigue life assessment. However, it is a challenging task because it involves various sources of uncertainty. This paper proposes a novel probabilistic method, termed the S-N Paris law (SNPL) method, to quantify the uncertainties underlying the Paris' law parameters, by finding the best estimates of their statistical parameters from the S-N curve data using a Bayesian approach. Through a series of steps, the SNPL method determines the statistical parameters (e.g., mean and standard deviation) of the Paris' law parameters that will maximize the likelihood of observing the given S-N data. Because the SNPL method is based on a Bayesian approach, the prior statistical parameters can be updated when additional S-N test data are available. Thus, information on the Paris' law parameters can be obtained with greater reliability. The proposed method is tested by applying it to S-N curves of 40H steel and 20G steel, and the corresponding analysis results are in good agreement with the experimental observations.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• 제28권2호
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• pp.145-155
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• 2022

Safety is a most important parameters in underground railway transportation; Also stability of underground tunnel is very important in tunneling engineering. Design of a reliable support system requires an evaluation of both ground demand and support capacity. Iran's traditional railway tunnels are mainly supported with masonry structures or unsupported in high quality rock masses. A decrease in rock mass quality due to changes in groundwater regime creep and fatigue in rock and similar phenomena causes tunnel safety to decrease during time. The case study is an old tunnel in Iran, called "Keshvar"; it is more than 50 years old railway organization. In operating this Tunnel, until the several problems came up based on stability and leaking water. The goal of study is evaluation of the various reinforcement systems for supporting of the tunnel. The optimal selection of the reinforcement system is examined using TOPSIS Fuzzy method in light of the looming and available uncertainties. Several factors such as; the tunnel span, maintenance, drainage, sealing, ventilation, cost and safety were based to choose the method and system of designing. Therefore, by identifying these parameters, an optimal reinforcement system was selected and introduced. Based on optimization system for analysis, it is revealed that the systematic rock bolts and shotcrete protection had a most appropriate result for these kind of tunnel in Iran.

• 한국입자에어로졸학회지
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• 제20권1호
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• pp.13-24
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• 2024

The concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and elemental carbon (EC) in particulate matter, typical primary aerosols have decreased in Seoul between 2003 and 2018 (80% for PAHs and 85% for EC). The yearly mean benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) concentration has been lower than 1 ng/m3 since 2010-2011, the target value set by the European Union (EU) and China. A series of policies related to solid fuel and vehicle in South Korea and China should be effective in the reduction of the ambient PAHs and EC concentrations. But the emission data of PAHs and EC at both countries did not support that hypothesis. Possible causes are uncertainties in the emission inventories of primary carbonaceous aerosols in South Korea and China, although there may be a minor effect of the emissions from North Korea on the concentrations in Seoul. Thus the further policy directions against PAHs and EC such as improvements of emissions inventories and measurements, intensive regulation of non-road mobile sources and control of PAHs derivatives are discussed.