• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.873-889
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• 2015

In civil engineering, probabilistic seismic risk assessment is used to predict the economic damage to a lifeline system of possible future earthquakes. The results are used to plan mitigation measures and to strengthen the structures where necessary. Instead, after an earthquake public authorities need mathematical models that compute: the damage caused by the earthquake to the individual vulnerable components and links, and the global behavior of the lifeline system. In this study, a framework that was developed and used for prediction purpose is modified to assess the consequences of an earthquake in quasi real-time after such earthquake happened. This is possible because nowadays entire seismic regions are instrumented with tight networks of strong motion stations, which provide and broadcast accurate intensity measure maps of the event to the public within minutes. The framework uses the broadcasted map and calculates the damage to the lifeline system and its component in quasi real-time. The results give the authorities the most likely status of the system. This helps emergency personnel to deal with the damage and to prioritize visual inspections and repairs. A highway transportation network is used as a test bed but any lifeline system can be analyzed.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.108-113
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• 2021

Recently, a new concept of a one-touch descending lifeline has been proposed to address the drawbacks of the conventional descending lifeline, which can be easily installed and quickly evacuated in the case of a fire emergency. All separate parts for escape are initially mounted in a box, and the link-type support is spread out of the window by pushing the handle attached to the box. In this study, the proposed double square linkage mechanism was redesigned, and its safety is verified by determining an appropriate moment of inertia of the link through finite element analysis using Abaqus. The shape and assembling method of the reel and speed controller were also modified such that the safety belt was simultaneously unfolded with link-type support. Finally, the feasibility of the proposed one-touch all-in-one descending lifeline was confirmed through fabrication.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.21-26
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• 2020

A descending lifeline is the only self-escape fire apparatus for fire in high-rise buildings and is installed in most buildings according to fire-fighting law. However, it is difficult to properly use and quickly evacuate during an emergency due to its complex installation methods and procedures, even if users are pre-educated. In this paper, a new one-touch descending lifeline, which simplifies usage procedures and can be used regardless of whether users are educated, is proposed to solve the drawbacks of the conventional descending lifeline. All separate parts that require additional installation are initially assembled in a box, and the concept of a double square linkage is proposed to enable escape in a single motion of pushing the handle attached to the box. Three steps of kinematic design are explored to determine an appropriate configuration of double square linkage, and its dimensions are determined using Matlab and NX CAD software. The proposed all-in-one descending lifeline also follows the enforcement decree of the Fire Control Act, and its feasibility is verified through fabrication.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.139-149
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• 2014

Lifeline service disruptions can have significant impacts on local community in the aftermath natural disaster. Although effective restoration strategies with accurate damage assessment are required, the internal complexity of lifeline networks and their interdependency makes the understanding restoration process of lifeline systems a difficult issue. Additionally, the limitations of previous research relating the influence assessment of lifeline to community disaster resilience, highlight the need for understanding of lifeline networks. Therefore, this paper presents an agent-based model to discover emergent behavior and evaluate the interdependency and resiliency in lifeline networks. This research will provide basic guideline of resource allocation in order to mitigate cascading failures of the post disaster restoration processes.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.147-165
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• 2009

This study proposes a certain measure or investment strategy for decision making associated with seismic retrofitting. This strategy reduces the risk of a large-scale malfunction such as water supply loss under seismic risks. The authors developed a stochastic value index that will be used in the overall evaluation of social benefit, income gain, life cycle costs and failure compensation associated with existing lifeline systems damaged by an earthquake during the remaining service period. Optimal seismic disaster prevention investment of deteriorated lifeline systems is discussed. Finally, the present study provides a performance-based design method for seismic retrofitting strategies of existing lifelines which are carried out using the target probabilities of value loss and structural failure.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.33-42
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• 2018

In the aftermath of an earthquake, seismic-damaged infrastructure systems loss estimation is the first step for the disaster response. However, lifeline systems' ability to supply service can be volatile by external factors such as disturbances of nearby facilities, and not by own physical issue. Thus, this research develops the bayesian model for probabilistic inference on common-cause and cascading failure of seismic-damaged lifeline systems. In addition, the authors present network robustness estimation metrics in the context of failure propagation. In order to quantify the functional loss and observe the effect of the mitigation plan, power and water supply system in Daegu-Gyeongbuk in South Korea is selected as case network. The simulation results show that reduction of cascading failure probability allows withstanding the external disruptions from a perspective of the robustness improvement. This research enhances the comprehensive understanding of how a single failure propagates to whole lifeline system performance and affected region after an earthquake.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Hazard Mitigation
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.61-66
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• 2008

As the water distribution system which is one of the critical lifeline system is deteriorated and pipe failures occur frequently, the more efficient pipe monitoring system becomes a critical issue in the water industry. One of the pipe monitoring systems is called "Smart-pipe System" which is permanent, comprehensive and an automated SIM (Structural Integrity Monitoring) system and has superiorities to existing monitoring system. To implement a smart-pipe system on a water distribution system, assessment of its indirect benefit obtaining from smartpipe such as the ratio of preventing water main failures must be preceded. However, only some researches on this field have been performed. In this paper, the concept of smart-pipe system is compared with the current monitoring systems for a water distribution system, and a method to quantify its benefit using the inconvenient time for customers is suggested. The suggested method was applied to a real water distribution system to estimate its applicability and benefit.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.15-21
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• 2014

Many kinds of falling prevention systems with a safety block have been supplied in order to prevent falling accidents and acquire the long life and cost down for the maintenance. However, there are not the reliable and domestic the falling prevention system until now. Almost systems were imported from U.S.A, Japan, U.K and Germany. The structural safety of the imported safety block is satisfied sufficiently, but it has heavy weight due to the cover with the aluminum and thickness. Especially, the falling prevention system as the safety block is very expensive. It brings about flow the enormous money out of country. Furthermore it has a heavy weight when workers climbed the ladder with a falling prevention system and moved, many workers are not feeling themselves. Thus, the aim of this work is to develop a commercial self-escape SRL(Self Retracting Lifeline) with the safety block function that has a light weight and an advanced strength. The cost efficiency and convenience of the system and safety for workers also will be improved remarkably even though this system has a light weight. The results show that the maximum stress is obtained in each part by the lower more than yield strength and has sufficient safety in the developed new safety block.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.9-16
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• 2016

During the 2004 Niigata-ken Chuetsu, Japan, earthquake, more than 1,450 underground structures, known as sewer manhole, were uplifted up to 1.5m in Nagaoka and Ojiya city. The uplift damage can be a serious matter because they not only hinder the flow of wastewater systems, as a part of lifeline systems, but also disturb traffic flows. For restoration works, an open-cut investigation of damaged wastewater system was conducted by the Nagaoka city government. The results from the investigation compiled valuable data sets for buried pipeline damage due to earthquakes. In the present study, the factors affecting the uplift amount of the underground structure is investigated by using the data sets which include locations of damaged sections and inclination of pipeline before and after the earthquake and the SPT borehole logs in the affected area. Correlation analysis between the underground structure uplift and the geological settings in the affected area revealed that ground water depth and original subsoil, including thickness of clay layer, SPT N-value and fill thickness are the key parameters for the uplift phenomenon.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.309-333
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• 2010

Civil infrastructure, in both its construction and maintenance, represents the largest societal investment in this country, outside of the health care industry. Despite being the lifeline of US commerce, civil infrastructure has scarcely benefited from the latest sensor technological advances. Our future should focus on harnessing these technologies to enhance the robustness, longevity and economic viability of this vast, societal investment, in light of inherent uncertainties and their exposure to service and even extreme loadings. One of the principal means of insuring the robustness and longevity of infrastructure is to strategically deploy smart sensors in them. Therefore, the objective is to develop novel, durable, smart sensors that are especially applicable to major infrastructure and the facilities to validate their reliability and long-term functionality. In some cases, this implies the development of new sensing elements themselves, while in other cases involves innovative packaging and use of existing sensor technologies. In either case, a parallel focus will be the integration and networking of these smart sensing elements for reliable data acquisition, transmission, and fusion, within a decision-making framework targeting efficient management and maintenance of infrastructure systems. In this paper, prudent and viable sensor and health monitoring technologies have been developed and used in several large structural systems. Discussion will also include several practical bridge health monitoring applications including their design, construction, and operation of the systems.