• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• 제20권1호
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• pp.29-41
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• 2020

It is extremely important to obtain rock strength parameters for geological engineering. In this paper, the evolution of sandstone cohesion and internal friction angle with plastic shear strain was obtained by simulating the cyclic loading and unloading tests under different confining pressures using Particle Flow Code software. By which and combined with the micro-crack propagation process, the mesoscopic mechanism of parameter evolution was studied. The results show that with the increase of plastic shear strain, the sandstone cohesion decreases first and then tends to be stable, while the internal friction angle increases first, then decreases, and finally maintains unchanged. The evolution of sandstone shear strength parameters is closely related to the whole process of crack formation, propagation and coalescence. When the internal micro-cracks are less and distributed randomly and dispersedly, and the rock shear strength parameters (cohesion, internal friction angle) are considered to have not been fully mobilized. As the directional development of the internal micro-fractures as well as the gradual formation of macroscopic shear plane, the rock cohesion reduces continuously and the internal friction angle is in the rise stage. As the formation of the macroscopic shear plane, both the rock cohesion and internal friction angle continuously decrease to a certain residual level.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제37권2호
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• pp.215-231
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• 2011

As a brittle and heterogeneous material, concrete behaves differently under different stress conditions and its bulk strength is loading rate dependent. To a large extent, the varying behavioural properties of concrete can be explained by the mechanical failure processes at a mesoscopic level. The development of a computational mesoscale model in a general finite element environment, as presented in the preceding companion paper (Part 1), makes it possible to investigate into the underlying mechanisms governing the bulk-scale behaviour of concrete under a variety of loading conditions and to characterise the variation in quantitative terms. In this paper, we first present a series of parametric studies on the behaviour of concrete material under quasi-static compression and tension conditions. The loading-face friction effect, the possible influences of the non-homogeneity within the mortar and ITZ phases, and the effect of randomness of coarse aggregates are examined. The mesoscale model is then applied to analyze the dynamic behaviour of concrete under high rate loading conditions. The potential contribution of the mesoscopic heterogeneity towards the generally recognized rate enhancement of the material compressive strength is discussed.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• 제16권6호
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• pp.277-290
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• 2023

In order to study the mechanical properties of basalt fiber reinforced ultra-fine fly ash concrete (BFUFARC), the effects of ultra-fine fly ash (UFA) content, basalt fiber content, basalt fiber length and water reducing agent content on the compressive strength, splitting tensile strength and flexural strength of the composite material were studied through experimental and theoretical analysis. Also, a scanning electron microscope (SEM) was employed to analyze the mesoscopic structure in the fracture surface of composite material specimens at magnifications of 500 and 3500. Besides, the energy release rate (G_c) and surface free energy (γ_s) of crack tip cracking on BFUFARC in different basalt fiber content were studied from the perspective of fracture mechanics. Further, the cracking resistance, reinforcement, and toughening mechanisms of basalt fibers on concrete substrate were revealed by surface free energy of BFUFARC. The experimental results indicated that basalt fiber content is the main influence factor on the splitting tensile strength of BFUFARC. In case that fiber content increased from 0 to 0.3%, the concrete surface free energy at the tip of single-sided crack showed a trend of increased at first and then decreased. The surface free energy reached at maximum, about 3.59 × 10^-5 MN/m. During the process of increasing fiber content from 0 to 0.1%, G_C-2_γS showed a gradually decreasing trend. As a result, an appropriate amount of basalt fiber can play a preventing cracking role by increasing the concrete surface free energy, further effectively improve the concrete splitting tensile performance.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• 제31권10호
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• pp.2830-2834
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• 2010

The degradation efficiencies of phenol in aqueous solution were studied by semi-continuous experiments in the processes of ozone alone, ozone/bulky $Co_3O_4$ and ozone/$Co_3O_4$ nanoparticles. Catalyst samples (bulky $Co_3O_4$ and $Co_3O_4$ nanoparticles) were characterized by X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. The Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area, $pH_{pzc}$ and the density of surface hydroxyl groups of the two catalyst samples were also measured. The catalytic activity of $Co_3O_4$ nanoparticles was investigated for the removal of phenol in aqueous solutions under different reaction temperatures. Tert-butyl alcohol had little effect on the catalytic ozonation processes. Based on these results, the possible catalytic ozonation mechanism of phenol by $Co_3O_4$ nanoparticles was proposed as a reaction process between ozone molecules and pollutants.

• Computers and Concrete
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• 제15권2호
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• pp.305-319
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• 2015

On mesoscopic level, concrete can be treated as a three-phase composite material consisting of mortar, aggregates and interfacial transition zone (ITZ) between mortar and aggregate. A lot of research has confirmed that ITZ plays a crucial role in the mechanical fracture process of concrete. The aim of the present study is to propose a numerical method on mesoscale to analyze the failure mechanism of reinforced concrete (RC) structures under mechanical loading, and then it will help precisely predict the damage or the cracking initiation and propagation of concrete. Concrete is meshed by means of the Rigid Body Spring Model (RBSM) concept, while the reinforcing steel bars are modeled as beam-type elements. Two kinds of RC members, i.e. subjected to uniaxial tension and beams under bending, the fracture process of concrete and the distribution of cracks, as well as the load-deflection relationships are investigated and compared with the available test results. It is found that the numerical results are in good agreement with the experimental observations, indicating that the model can successfully simulate the failure process of the RC members.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• 제7권4호
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• pp.375-401
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• 2014

It is generally accepted that material heterogeneity has a great influence on the deformation, strength, damage and failure modes of rock. This paper presents numerical simulation on rock failure process based on the characterization of rock heterogeneity by using a digital image processing (DIP) technique. The actual heterogeneity of rock at mesoscopic scale (characterized as minerals) is retrieved by using a vectorization transformation method based on the digital image of rock surface, and it is imported into a well-established numerical code Rock Failure Process Analysis (RFPA), in order to examine the effect of rock heterogeneity on the rock failure process. In this regard, the numerical model of rock could be built based on the actual characterization of the heterogeneity of rock at the meso-scale. Then, the images of granite are taken as an example to illustrate the implementation of DIP technique in simulating the rock failure process. Three numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the impact of actual rock heterogeneity due to spatial distribution of constituent mineral grains (e.g., feldspar, quartz and mica) on the macro-scale mechanical response, and the associated rock failure mechanism at the meso-scale level is clarified. The numerical results indicate that the shape and distribution of constituent mineral grains have a pronounced impact on stress distribution and concentration, which may further control the failure process of granite. The proposed method provides an efficient tool for studying the mechanical behaviors of heterogeneous rock and rock-like materials whose failure processes are strongly influenced by material heterogeneity.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• 제14권4호
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• pp.307-314
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• 2018

Strength of loess that experienced cyclic freeze and thaw is of great significance for evaluating stability of slopes and foundations in loess regions. This paper takes the frequently encountered loess in the Northwestern China as the study object and carried out three kinds of laboratory tests including freeze-thaw test, direct shear test and SEM test to investigate the strength behaviors of loess after cyclic freeze and thaw, and the correlation with meso-level changes in soil structure. Results show that for loess specimens at four dry densities, the cohesion decreases with freeze-thaw cycles until a residual value is reached and thus an exponential equation is proposed. Besides, little change in the angle of internal friction was observed as freeze-thaw proceeds. This may depend on the varying of soil structure, based on which a clue can be found from the surface morphology and mesoscopic scanning of loess specimens. Clearly we observed significant changes in surface morphology of loess and it tends to aggravate at higher water contents or more cycles of freeze and thaw. Moreover, freeze-thaw cycling leads to obvious changes in the meso-structure of loess including lowering the particle aggregates and increasing both the proportion of fine particles and porosity area ratio. A damage variable dependent on the ratio of porosity area is introduced based on the continuum damage mechanics and its correlation with cohesion is discussed.

• 한국ITS학회 논문지
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• 제15권2호
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• pp.36-49
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• 2016

도시 철도는 도시 광역권 교통수단으로, 주요 노선들이 만나는 환승역사의 경우, 역사내 보행 통행시 극심한 혼잡을 야기하며, 승강장 내 교통약자를 포함한 이용객들의 안전사고 위험이 높게 나타난다. 반영구적 도시교통 기반시설로의 도시철도역사는 초기 건설 당시 장기 이용 수요 예측을 실시하지만, 향후 신설 노선 및 환승(예정)역을 정확히 파악할 수 없고 건설완료 이후 토지이용계획이 급변할 경우, 예측 수요와 실제 수요는 상이하게 나타날 수 있으며, 확장이 제한적이고 대규모 추가공사 비용이 요구되기 때문에 도시철도 역사가 지닌 물리적 특성 및 이용자 요구에 따라 효율적인 개선이 필요하다. 본 연구에서는 도시철도역사 구조, 이동 동선 등 물리적 요소와 시시각각 변하는 도시철도 내 이용수요 등 변수를 고려하여 다양한 시나리오에 대한 효과분석이 가능한 도시철도역사 평가용 시뮬레이터 핵심 모형을 소개하고, 해당 시뮬레이터를 활용하여, 사당역 대피 시나리오를 분석하였다. 분석결과, 시뮬레이터 활용하여 유사상황 발생시 입체 공간 상에서 다양한 조건을 고려한 다수의 대피 경로 탐색이 용이하였으며, 사당역의 경우, 대피경로 정보제공을 통해 기존 대비 약 60% 대피시간을 절감할 수 있는 것으로 분석되었다.