• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.148-159
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• 1998

Spot welding palys a key role in increasing productivity and weight reduction of the final products. This paper proposes a systematic approach on the design of spot weld configuration, dealing with the requried number and location of spot weld joints under the given design parameters, such as the applied loads, lap area, and individual spot weld strength. The optimal design of a spot-welded joint is postulated as a state when the safety factors of all spot weld points (i) are evenly distributed and (ii) reach maximum value. A CAD program is developed to arrange the optimal location of each spot weld based on the derived objective function and constraints. The CAD tool integrates the optimization procedure with Finite Element Analysis (FEA) code through an interface. The interface automatically provides geometrical data and mesh configuration for different spot weld locations to FEA model. It also extracts the transmitted load of each spot weld from the FEA code, and allows the optimization code predict an improved arrangement of spot weld locations. The feasibility of the developed approach is demonstrated by the selected examples.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.431-446
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• 2020

This paper presents the flexural performance of double skin composite beams (DSCBs) at different Arctic low temperatures. 12 DSCBs were prepared and tested under two-point loading at different Arctic low temperatures of 20, -30, -50, and -70℃. The studied parameters include low-temperature level (T), steel-faceplate thickness (t), shear span ratio (λ), and spacing of headed studs (S). The experimental investigations under two-point loading tests showed that flexural failure occurred to all DSCBs, even including the specimen designed with the small λ ratio of 2.9. The ultimate strength behaviours of DSCBs were improved due to the improved mechanical properties of constructional materials and the confinement on shear connectors. The DSCB subjected to two-point loading and low temperatures exhibits a five-stage working mechanism. The stiffness and strength indexes of DSCBs increase linearly with temperature and t value increasing, while decreasing as shear span ratio boosts. In the contrast, the change of S value from 150 to 200 mm has little effect on the ultimate strength behavior of DSCB.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.35-48
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• 2020

This paper deals with a comparative study among three different rehabilitation techniques, namely, (i) carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP), (ii) glass fibre reinforced polymer (GFRP) and (iii) ferrocement on the flexural strengthening of reinforced cement concrete (RCC) beams. As these different techniques have to be compared on a level playing field, tensile coupon tests have been carried out initially for GFRP, CFRP and ferrocement and the number of layers required in each of these composites in terms of the tensile strength. It was found that for the selected constituents of the composites, one layer of CFRP was equivalent to three layers of GFRP and five layers of wiremesh reinforcement in ferrocement. Rehabilitation of RCC beams using these equivalent laminates shows that all the three composites performed in a similar way and are comparable. The parameters selected in this study were (i) the strengthening material and (ii) the level of pre-distress induced to the beams prior to the rehabilitation. It was noticed that, as the levels of pre-distress decreases, the percentage attainment of flexural capacity and flexural stiffness of the rehabilitated beams increases for all the three selected composites used for rehabilitation. Load-deflection behavior, failure modes, energy absorption capacity, displacement ductility and curvature ductility were compared among these composites and at different distress levels for each composite. The results indicate that ferrocement showed a better performance in terms of ductility than other FRPs, and between the FRPs, GFRP exhibited a better ductility than the CFRP counterpart.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.61-71
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• 2009

This paper presents the results of an experiment comparing the current circular CFT columns and circular CFT columns that were additionally confined by carbon fiber sheets (CFS) under axial loading. The main experimental parameters are the numbers of CFS layers and the diameter-to-thickness ratio. 10 specimens were prepared according to the experimental parameter plans, and axial compression tests were conducted. From the tests, the failure procedure, load-axial deformation curve, maximum axial strength, and deformation capacity of the CFT columns and confined CFT columns were compared. The test results showed that the maximum axial strengths of CFT columns additionally confined by CFS are increased higher than those of the current CFT columns, and that local buckling can be delayed due to the confinement effect of CFS.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.66 no.5
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• pp.631-636
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• 2018

This study aims to investigate the flexural behaviour of glass fibre reinforced polymer (GFRP) laminated hybrid fibre reinforced concrete (HFRC) beams. The flexural and ductility performance of GFRP laminated HFRC beams having different proportions of polyolefin and steel fibres with 1.0% of total volume fraction were investigated. The parameters of this investigation included: load and deflection at first crack, yield, and ultimate stages, ductility and crack width. A total of seven beams of $150{\times}250mm$ in cross-section were tested in the laboratory over an effective span of 2800 mm. One reinforced concrete (RC) beam without any internal or external GFRP was taken as the reference beam. Of the remaining six beams, one beam was strengthened with GFRP, one beam with 100% steel fibres was strengthened with GFRP and four beams, each with different volume proportions of polyolefin and steel fibres (20:80, 30:70, 40:60, 50:50) were strengthened with GFRP. All the above beams were tested until failure. The experimental results show that a fibre volume proportion of 40:60 (polyolefin-steel) has significantly improved the overall performance of the tested beams.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.30 no.9
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• pp.551-557
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• 2017

It is extremely important to improve methodologies for the lifetime assessment of porcelain insulators. While there has been a considerable amount of work regarding the phenomena of lifetime distributions, most of the studies assume that aging distributions follow the Weibull distribution. However, the true underlying distribution is unknown, giving rise to unrealistic inferences, such as parameter estimations. In this article, we review several distributions that are commonly used in reliability and survival analysis, such as the exponential, Weibull, log-normal, and gamma distributions. Some properties, including the characteristics of failure rates of these distributions, are presented. We use a Bayesian approach for model selection and parameter estimation procedures. A well-known measure, called the Bayes factor, is used to find the most plausible model among several contending models. The posterior mean can be used as a parameter estimate for unknown parameters, once a model with the highest posterior probability is selected. Extensive simulation studies are performed to demonstrate our methodologies.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.811-831
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• 2015

This paper focuses on the strengthening methods used for improving the compression behaviors of perforated box-section walls as provided in the anchorage zones of steel pylons. Rectangular plates containing double-row continuous elliptical holes are investigated by employing the boundary condition of simple supporting on four edges in the out-of-plane direction of plate. Two types of strengthening stiffeners, named flat stiffener (FS) and longitudinal stiffener (LS), are considered. Uniaxial compression tests are first conducted for 18 specimens, of which 5 are unstrengthened plates and 13 are strengthened plates. The mechanical behaviors such as stress concentration, out-of-plane deformation, failure pattern, and elasto-plastic ultimate strength are experimentally investigated. Finite element (FE) models are also developed to predict the ultimate strengths of plates with various dimensions. The results of FE analysis are validated by test data. The influences of non-dimensional parameters including plate aspect ratio, hole spacing, hole width, stiffener slenderness ratio, as well as stiffener thickness on the ultimate strengths are illustrated on the basis of numerous parametric studies. Comparison of strengthening efficiency shows that the continuous longitudinal stiffener is the best strengthening method for such perforated plates. The simplified formulas used for estimating the compression strengths of strengthened plates are finally proposed.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.237-262
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• 2015

In this study, we try to compare different intensity measures for evaluating nonlinear response of bridge structure. This paper presents seismic analytic fragility of a three-span concrete girder highway bridge. A complete detail of bridge modeling parameters and also its verification has been presented. Fragility function considers the relationship of intensities of the ground motion and probability of exceeding certain state of damage. Incremental dynamic analysis (IDA) has been subjected to the bridge from medium to strong ground motions. A suite of 20 earthquake ground motions with different range of PGAs are used in nonlinear dynamic analysis of the bridge. Complete sensitive analyses have been done on the response of bridge and also efficiency and practically of them are studied to obtain a proficient intensity measure for these types of structure by considering its sensitivity to the period of the bridge. Three dimensional finite element (FE) model of the bridge is developed and analyzed. The numerical results show that the bridge response is very sensitive to the earthquake ground motions when PGA and Sa (Ti, 5%) are used as intensity measure (IM) and also indicated that the failure probability of the bridge system is dominated by the bridge piers.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.2389-2394
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• 2016

Background: Multiple myeloma (MM) is influenced by genetic and micro-environmental changes. Malignant plasma cells produce an abnormal monoclonal immunoglobulin, as well as cytokines, such as IL-10 and IL-6 which stimulate cells of the bone marrow microenvironment (BMM) and cause dysfunction and failure of many organs. B cell activating factor (BAFF), IL6, IL10 are known to influence the growth & survival of the malignant clone. Aim: The objectives of the present study were to investigate the circulating levels of BAFF, IL-10 and IL-6, correlate them with well-known parameters of disease activity in patients with MM, and to detect their impact on the patients' survival. Materials and Methods: This study was conducted on 89 newly diagnosed MM patients and seventy apparently healthy volunteers as a normal control group. BAFF, IL6, IL10 were measured by ELISA for both groups. Survival analysis was performed for all patients. Results: Studied markers were higher in the MM patients compared to the normal control subjects. Patients' survival was improved by high serum BAFF levels. Conclusions: High levels of BAFF were found to improve patients' survival. BAFF and IL-6 can be considered probable diagnostic markers for MM.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.213-226
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• 2018

This paper focuses on the seismic protection of slender old masonry structures by the implementation of prestressing devices at key locations. The devices are vertically and externally located inside the towers in order to be reversible and calibrated. An extensive parametric study on a selected slender tower is carried out based on more than 100 nonlinear static simulations aimed at investigating the impact of different parameters on the seismic performance: (i) different prestressing levels; (ii) shape memory alloy superelasticity and (iii) changes in prestressing-forces in all the stages of the analysis until failure and masonry toe crushing. The tendon materials under analysis are conventional prestressing steel, fiber-reinforced polymers of different fibers and shape memory alloys. The parametric study serves to select the most suitable prestressing device and optimal prestressing level able to dissipate more earthquake energy. The seismic energy dissipation is evaluated by comparing the structural capacity curves in original state and retrofitted.