• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.127-138
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• 2017

A series of high-pressure isotropic compression tests were performed on four types of poorly graded silica sand that were artificially prepared based on representative grading curves and similar mineralogy composition of seabed sediment containing different fines contents existing in the Nankai Trough. The addition of fines steepens the initial compression path and increases the decrement of the void ratio after loading. The transitional behaviour of the poorly graded sand with a larger amount of fines content was identified. The slope of the normal compression line shows a slight decreasing tendency with the level of fines content. The bulk modulus of silica sand with fines was lower when compared with the published results of silica sand without fines. A small amount of particle crushing of the four types of poorly graded sand with variable fines content levels was noticed, and the results indicated that the degree of particle crushing tended to decrease as the fines content increased.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.62 no.6
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• pp.771-780
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• 2017

In this study, free vibration and damping behaviors of multilayered symmetric sandwich beams and single layered beams made of Functionally Graded Materials were investigated, experimentally and numerically. The beams were composed of Aluminum and Silicon Carbide powders and they were produced by powder metallurgy. Three beam models were used in the experiments. The first model was isotropic, homogeneous beams produced by using different mixing ratios. In the second model, the pure metal layers were taken in the middle of the beam and the weight fraction of the ceramic powder of each layer was increased towards to the surfaces of the beam in the thickness direction. In the third model, the pure metal layers were taken in the surfaces of the beam and the weight fraction of the ceramic powder of each layer was increased towards to middle of the beam. Then the vibration tests were performed. Consequently, the effects of stacking sequence and mixing ratio on the natural frequencies and damping responses of functionally graded beams were discussed from the results obtained. Furthermore, the results obtained from the tests were supported with a finite-element-based commercial program, and it was found to be in harmony.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2018

In this paper an efficient and simple refined shear deformation theory is presented for the free vibration of Functionally Graded Plates Under Various Boundary Conditions. The theory accounts for a quadratic variation of the transverse shear strains across the thickness, and satisfies the zero traction boundary conditions on the top and bottom surfaces of the plate without using shear correction factors. The number of independent unknowns of present theory is four, as against five in other shear deformation theories. The plates are considered of the type having two opposite sides simply-supported, and the two other sides having combinations of simply-supported, clamped, and free boundary conditions. The mechanical properties of functionally graded material are assumed to vary according to power law distribution of the volume fraction of the constituents. Equations of motion are derived using Hamilton's principle. The results of this theory are compared with those of other shear deformation theories. Various numerical results including the effect of boundary conditions, power-law index, plate aspect ratio, and side-to-thickness ratio on the free vibration of FGM plates are presented.

• Water Engineering Research
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.17-30
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• 2005

The bed evolution of the stretch of the River Rhine between km-812.5 and km-821.5 is characterised by general bed degradation as a result of the river training works and dredging activities of the last two centuries. The degradation of the river bed affects the water levels, and so the navigation conditions. To combat the erosion of the river bed with the aim to keep up the shipping traffic and to avoid the ecological system damages due to water level reductions, sand-gravel-mixtures were added to the river (so called artificial grain feeding activities). This paper presents the results of an application of a graded sediment transport model in order to study morpholodynamical characteristics due to artificial grain feeding activities in the river stretch. The finite element code TELEMAC2D was used for flow calculation by solving the 2D shallow water equation on non-structured grids. The sediment transport module SISYPHE has been developed for graded sediment transport using a multiple layer model. The needs to apply such graded sediment transport approaches to study morphological processes in the domain are discussed. The calculations have been carried out for the case of middle water flow and different size-fraction distributions. The results show that the grain feeding process could be well simulated by the model.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.215-222
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• 2017

Obesity has been directly associated with the development of hypertension and cardiovascular disease. The purpose of this study was to investigate the blood pressure response during graded exercise test in obese adults. 189 subjects (age: $47.96{\pm}10.23$) were assigned to two groups: non-obese group (N=105, BMI: $22.05{\pm}1.57$, waist circumference: $76.90{\pm}6.17$) and obese group (N=84, BMI: $26.96{\pm}2.51$, waist circumference: $88.29{\pm}6.41$). The subjects underwent health screening and exercise treadmill test from January 2012 to December 2014. Graded exercise test was performed according to the Bruce protocol. Exercise duration (P=0.046) and METs (P=0.015) were significantly lower in obese group than non-obese group. There was no difference in the rate of change in blood pressure response between obese group and non-obese group during exercise, and the recovery rate of systolic blood pressure was delayed in the obese group compared to non-obese group in the first recovery period (P=0.020). The significant factors of increasing rate of change in maximum systolic blood pressure was waist (P=0.046) and hip circumference (P=0.008). In conclusion, these results demonstrate that, for hypertension prevention in obese adults, waist and hip circumference levels should be managed within normal range.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.21 no.10
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• pp.1571-1579
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• 1997

The development of a new material which should be continuously use under severe environment of very high temperature has been urgently requested. For the development of such super-heat resistant materials, the main problem is not only to make the superior thermal barrier properties but also to actively release thermal stress. So, a new concept of functionally graded material(FGM) has been proposed to overcome this problem. A composition and microstructure of FGM are varied continuously from place to place in ways designed to provide it with the maximum function of mitigating the induced thermal stress. So, FGM can be applied in the aerospace, the electronic and the medical field, etc.. In this study, thermal stress analysis of sintering PSZ/NiCrAlY graded material was conducted theoretically using a finite-element program. The temperature condition was sintering temperature assuming a cooling-down process up to room temperature. Fracture damage mechanism was anlayzed by the parameters of residual stress. It could be known that FGM provided with the function of mitigating the induced thermal stress.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.865-875
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• 2019

The current article proposed to develop a geometrical model for the analysis and modelling of the uniaxial functionally graded structure using the higher-order displacement kinematics with and without the presence of porosity including the distribution. Additionally, the formulation is capable of modelling three different kinds of grading patterns i.e., Power-law, sigmoid and exponential distribution of the individual constituents through the thickness direction. Also, the model includes the distribution of porosity (even and uneven kind) through the panel thickness. The structural governing equation of the porous graded structure is obtained (Hamilton's principle) and solved mathematically by means of the isoparametric finite element technique. Initially, the linear frequency parameters are obtained for different geometrical configuration via own computer code. The comparison and the corresponding convergence studies are performed for the unidirectional FG structure for the validation purpose. Finally, the impact of different influencing parameters like aspect ratio (O), thickness ratio (S), curvature ratio (R/h), porosity index (λ), type of porosity (even or uneven), power-law exponent (n), boundary condition on the free vibration characteristics are obtained for the FG panel and discussed in details.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.60 no.4
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• pp.547-565
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• 2016

In this work a new 3-unknown non-polynomial shear deformation theory for the buckling and vibration analyses of functionally graded material (FGM) sandwich plates is presented. The present theory accounts for non-linear in plane displacement and constant transverse displacement through the plate thickness, complies with plate surface boundary conditions, and in this manner a shear correction factor is not required. The main advantage of this theory is that, in addition to including the shear deformation effect, the displacement field is modelled with only 3 unknowns as the case of the classical plate theory (CPT) and which is even less than the first order shear deformation theory (FSDT). The plate properties are assumed to vary according to a power law distribution of the volume fraction of the constituents. Equations of motion are derived from the Hamilton's principle. Analytical solutions of natural frequency and critical buckling load for functionally graded sandwich plates are obtained using the Navier solution. The results obtained for plate with various thickness ratios using the present non-polynomial plate theory are not only substantially more accurate than those obtained using the classical plate theory, but are almost comparable to those obtained using higher order theories with more number of unknown functions.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.63 no.2
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• pp.161-169
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• 2017

In this paper, using consistent couple stress theory and Hamilton's principle, the free vibration analysis of Euler-Bernoulli nano-beams made of bi-directional functionally graded materials (BDFGMs) with small scale effects are investigated. To the best of the researchers' knowledge, in the literature, there is no study carried out into consistent couple-stress theory for free vibration analysis of BDFGM nanostructures with arbitrary functions. In addition, in order to obtain small scale effects, the consistent couple-stress theory is also applied. These models can degenerate into the classical models if the material length scale parameter is taken to be zero. In this theory, the couple-tensor is skew-symmetric by adopting the skew-symmetric part of the rotation gradients as the curvature tensor. The material properties except Poisson's ratio are assumed to be graded in both axial and thickness directions, which it can vary according to an arbitrary function. The governing equations are obtained using the concept of Hamilton principle. Generalized differential quadrature method (GDQM) is used to solve the governing equations for various boundary conditions to obtain the natural frequencies of BDFG nano-beam. At the end, some numerical results are presented to study the effects of material length scale parameter, and inhomogeneity constant on natural frequency.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.1-16
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• 2017

This paper is presented to solve the buckling problem of functionally graded truncated conical shells subjected to displacement-dependent pressure which remains normal to the shell middle surface throughout the deformation process by the semi-analytical finite strip method. Material properties are assumed to be temperature dependent, and varied continuously in the thickness direction according to a simple power law distribution in terms of the volume fraction of a ceramic and metal. The governing equations are derived based on first-order shear deformation theory which accounts for through thickness shear flexibility with Sanders-type of kinematic nonlinearity. The element linear and geometric stiffness matrices are obtained using virtual work expression for functionally graded materials. The load stiffness also called pressure stiffness matrix which accounts for variation of load direction is derived for each strip and after assembling, global load stiffness matrix of the shell which may be un-symmetric is formed. The un-symmetric parts which are due to load non-uniformity and unconstrained boundaries have been separated. A detailed parametric study is carried out to quantify the effects of power-law index of functional graded material and shell geometry variations on the difference between follower and non-follower lateral buckling pressures. The results indicate that considering pressure stiffness which arises from follower action of pressure causes considerable reduction in estimating buckling pressure.