• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.459-468
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• 2018

In this paper, the effect of non-persistent joints was determined on the behavior of concrete specimens subjected to biaxial loading through numerical modeling using particle flow code in two dimensions (PFC2D). Firstly, a numerical model was calibrated by uniaxial, Brazilian and triaxial experimental results to ensure the conformity of the simulated numerical model's response. Secondly, sixteen rectangular models with dimension of 100 mm by 100 mm were developed. Each model contains two non-persistent joints with lengths of 40 mm and 20 mm, respectively. The angularity of the larger joint changes from $30^{\circ}$ to $90^{\circ}$. In each configuration, the small joint angularity changes from $0^{\circ}$ to $90^{\circ}$ in $30^{\circ}$ increments. All of the models were under confining stress of 1 MPa. By using of the biaxial test configuration, the failure process was visually observed. Discrete element simulations demonstrated that macro shear fractures in models are because of microscopic tensile breakage of a large number of bonded discs. The failure pattern in Rock Bridge is mostly affected by joint overlapping whereas the biaxial strength is closely related to the failure pattern.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.19-30
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• 2019

Recent research on the behavior of silty sand tends to advocate the use of equivalent skeleton void ratio to characterize the density state of this type of soil. This paper presents an investigation to explore the physical meaning of the equivalent skeleton void ratio by means of DEM simulations for assemblies of coarse and fine particles under biaxial shear. The simulations reveal that the distribution pattern of fine particles in the soil skeleton plays a crucial role in the overall macroscopic response: The contractive response observed at the macro scale is mainly caused by the movement of fine particles out of the force chains whereas the dilative response is mainly associated with the migration of fine particles into the force chains. In an assembly of coarse and fine particles, neither all of the fine particles nor all of the coarse ones participate in the force chains to carry the external loads, and therefore a more reasonable definition for equivalent skeleton void ratio is put forward in which a new parameter d is introduced to take into account the fraction of coarse particles absent from the force chains.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.41-54
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• 2019

Reinforced Concrete (RC) shear walls are widely used in Nuclear power plants as effective lateral force resisting elements of the structure and these may experience nonlinear behavior for higher earthquake demand. Short shear walls of aspect ratio less than 1.5 generally experience combined shear flexure interaction. This paper presents the results of the displacement-controlled experiments performed on six RC short shear walls with varying aspect ratios (1, 1.25 and 1.5) for monotonic and reversed quasi-static cyclic loading. Simulation of the shear walls is then carried out by Finite element modeling and also by macro modeling considering the coupled shear and flexure behaviour. The shear response is estimated by softened truss theory using the concrete model given by Vecchio and Collins (1994) with a modification in softening part of the model and flexure response is estimated using moment curvature relationship. The accuracy of modeling is validated by comparing the simulated response with experimental one. Moreover, based on the experimental work a multi-linear hysteretic model is proposed for short shear walls. Finally ultimate load, drift, ductility, stiffness reduction and failure pattern of the shear walls are studied in details and hysteretic energy dissipation along with damage index are evaluated.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.289-299
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• 2022

Based on the random cracking theory, the cylinder RVE model of reinforced concrete is established and the damage process is divided into three stages as the evolution of the cracks. The stress distribution along longitude direction of the concrete and the steel bar in the cylinder model are derived. The equivalent elastic modulus of the RVE are derived and the user-defined field variable subroutine (USDFLD) for the equivalent elastic modulus is well integrated into the ABAQUS. Regarding the tensile rebars and the concrete surrounding the rebars as the equivalent homogeneous transversely isotropic material, and the FEM analysis for the reinforced concrete beams is conducted with the USDFLD subroutine. Considering the concrete cracking and interfacial debonding, the macroscopic damage process of the reinforced concrete beam under four-point bending loading in the simulation. The volume fraction of rebar and the cracking degree are mainly discussed to reveal their influence on the macro-performance and they are calibrated with experimental results. Comparing with the bending experiment performed with 8 reinforced concrete beams, the bending stiffness of the second stage and the ultimate load simulated are in good agreement with the experimental values, which verifies the effectiveness and the accuracy of the improved finite element method for reinforced concrete beam.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.85 no.1
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• pp.89-104
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• 2023

This work presents a proposal for employing reduced numerical integration in the formulation of the 4-node quadrilateral solid finite element. The use of these low-order integration rules leads to numerical instabilities such as those producing the hourglass effect. The proposed procedure allows evaluating a given constitutive model only in one integration point, achieving an attractive computational cost reduction and, also, successfully controls the hourglass effect. A validation of the proposal is included and discussed throughout the paper. To show the efficiency of the proposal, several application examples of masonry structures are studied and discussed. To represent the non-linear mechanical behaviour of masonry a plastic-damage model is implemented within the application of this sub-integration scheme. Also, in order to have a full and computationally efficient strategy to determine the behaviour of masonry structures, involving its evolution to collapse, a homogenization technique with a macro-modeling approach is used. The methodology discussed throughout this paper demonstrates a substantial computational cost reduction and an improved approximation of the non-linear problem evidenced by a reduction of up to 85% of the computational time for some cases.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.47 no.5
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• pp.601-613
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• 2023

Numerous methods have been proposed in predicting formability of sheet metals based on microstructural and macro-scale properties of sheets. However, there are limited number of papers on the optimization problem to increase formability of sheet metals. In the present study, we aim to use novel optimization algorithms in neural networks to maximize the formability of sheet metals based on tensile curve and texture of aluminum sheet metals. In this regard, experimental and numerical evaluations of effects of texture and tensile properties are conducted. The texture effects evaluation is performed using Taylor homogenization method. The data obtained from these evaluations are gathered and utilized to train and validate an artificial neural network (ANN) with different optimization methods. Several optimization method including grey wolf algorithm (GWA), chimp optimization algorithm (ChOA) and whale optimization algorithm (WOA) are engaged in the optimization problems. The results demonstrated that in aluminum alloys the most preferable texture is cube texture for the most formable sheets. On the other hand, slight differences in the tensile behavior of the aluminum sheets in other similar conditions impose no significant decreases in the forming limit diagram under stretch loading conditions.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.11 no.9
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• pp.3176-3183
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• 2010

A multi-scale fatigue life prediction methodology of composite pressure vessels subjected to multi-axial loading has been proposed in this paper. The multi-scale approach starts from the constituents, fiber, matrix and interface, leading to predict behavior of ply, laminates and eventually the composite structures. The multi-scale fatigue life prediction methodology is composed of two steps: macro stress analysis and micro mechanics of failure based on fatigue analysis. In the macro stress analysis, multi-axial fatigue loading acting at laminate is determined from finite element analysis of composite pressure vessel, and ply stresses are computed using a classical laminate theory. The micro stresses are calculated in each constituent from ply stresses using a micromechanical model. Three methods are employed in predicting fatigue life of each constituent, i.e. a maximum stress method for fiber, an equivalent stress method for multi-axially loaded matrix, and a critical plane method for the interface. A modified Goodman diagram is used to take into account the generic mean stresses. Damages from each loading cycle are accumulated using Miner's rule. Monte Carlo simulation has been performed to predict the overall fatigue life of a composite pressure vessel considering statistical distribution of material properties of each constituent, fiber volume fraction and manufacturing winding angle.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.101-107
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• 2001

The experiment was conducted to investigate the agricultural utility of macro-porous calcium-silicate rnineral(CellCaSi) as topsoil mixture, as well as to estimate as a soil conditioner. The bulk density of CellCaSi which is consisted of various particle sizes ranging from 1mm to 3.35mm was about $0.42g/cm^3$, and its maximum porosity was approximately 81.4%. We also investigate gerrnination rates for Cabbage and Lettuce to obtain the suitable mixing ratios of CellCaSi with topsoil. Among 4 different mixing ratios, the germination rates of ropsoil mixed with 10% of CellCaSi were 94.1% and 64.6% for Cabbage and Lettuce, respectively resulted in the mosr suitable for germination. The growth rates for Cabbage and Lettuce showed thar 10% and 20% of CellCaSi treatments signification influenced the fresh weight. To observe the adsorption capacity of CellCaSi, CellCaSi was treated with a chemical fertlizer(N:P:K=18:18:18). lncreasing the contents of N, P and K, the amounts of adsorption by CellCaSi for these element also increased. The most suitable types nutrient resources for growth condition of Cabbage, and Lettuce were Fer-1 and Fer-0.5.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.45-54
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• 2011

A simple model for reinforced concrete shear walls with boundary elements is proposed, which is a macro-model composed of spring elements representing flexure and shear behaviors. The flexural behaviour is represented by vertical springs at the wall ends, where the moment strength and rotational capacity of the wall are based on section analysis. The shear behaviour is represented by a horizontal spring at the wall center, where the key parameters for the shear behavior are based on the flexural behaviour since the shear walls with boundary elements are governed by the flexure. The proposed model was prepared with the results of hysteretic tests of the shear walls, and then the reliability of the hysteretic rule and variables was investigated by nonlinear dynamic analyses. Using parametric study with nonlinear dynamic analyses, the effect of the variables on demand and capacity, which are major parameters in seismic performance evaluation, are investigated. Results show that the measured and calculated shear forces versus the shear distortion relationships are slightly different, but the global response is well simulated. Furthermore, the demand and capacity are also changed in a similar way to the change in the major parameters so that the proposed model may be appropriate for reinforced concrete shear walls with boundary elements.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.484-487
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• 2012

A discrimination technique for domestic and imported Scutellaria baicalensis was developed using an energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometer (ED-XRF). Mineral content ratios, of a total of 43 species, including P, S, Cl, K, Ca, Mn, Fe, Cu, and Zn, were measured among 204 samples. Macro element content ratios and trace element content ratios were determined using the standardless fundamental parameters (SLFP) analysis. Inorganic element ratios of P, S, K, Ca, Cl, Mn, and Fe were significantly different between domestic and imported samples. The result from the canonical discriminant analysis showed that the accuracy of geographical origin discrimination was 95.15%; the correlation coefficient was 0.888. It was concluded that this technique could be used as a useful method in discriminating the geographical origins between domestic and imported Scutellaria baicalensis.