• Computers and Concrete
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• v.3 no.2_3
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• pp.103-122
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• 2006

Drying shrinkage of concrete occurs due to the loss of moisture and thus, it is controlled by moisture diffusion process. On the other hand, the shrinkage causes cracking of concrete and affects its moisture diffusion properties. Therefore, moisture diffusion and drying shrinkage are two coupled processes and their interactive effect is important for the durability of concrete structures. In this paper, the two material parameters in the moisture diffusion equation, i.e., the moisture capacity and humidity diffusivity, are modified by two different methods to include the effect of drying shrinkage on the moisture diffusion. The effect of drying shrinkage on the humidity diffusivity is introduced by the scalar damage parameter. The effect of drying shrinkage on the moisture capacity is evaluated by an analytical model based on non-equilibrium thermodynamics and minimum potential energy principle for a two-phase composite. The mechanical part of drying shrinkage is modeled as an elastoplastic damage problem. The coupled problem of moisture diffusion and drying shrinkage is solved using a finite element method. The present model can predict that the drying shrinkage accelerates the moisture diffusion in concrete, and in turn, the accelerated drying process increases the shrinkage strain. The coupling effects are demonstrated by a numerical example.

• Water Engineering Research
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.31-44
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• 2002

The effect of diurnal cycle, intermittent visit of observation satellite, sensor installation, partial coverage of remote sensing, heterogeneity of soil properties and precipitation to the soil moisture estimation error were analyzed to present the global sampling strategy of soil moisture. Three models, the theoretical soil moisture model, WGR model proposed Waymire of at. (1984) to generate rainfall, and Turning Band Method to generate two dimensional soil porosity, active soil depth and loss coefficient field were used to construct sufficient two-dimensional soil moisture data based on different scenarios. The sampling error is dominated by sampling interval and design scheme. The effect of heterogeneity of soil properties and rainfall to sampling error is smaller than that of temporal gap and spatial gap. Selecting a small sampling interval can dramatically reduce the sampling error generated by other factors such as heterogeneity of rainfall, soil properties, topography, and climatic conditions. If the annual mean of coverage portion is about 90%, the effect of partial coverage to sampling error can be disregarded. The water retention capacity of fields is very important in the sampling error. The smaller the water retention capacity of the field (small soil porosity and thin active soil depth), the greater the sampling error. These results indicate that the sampling error is very sensitive to water retention capacity. Block random installation gets more accurate data than random installation of soil moisture gages. The Walnut Gulch soil moisture data show that the diurnal variation of soil moisture causes sampling error between 1 and 4 % in daily estimation.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.25-29
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• 1994

The effect of moisture content on acoustic absorption coefficient and impedance of the woods of Pinus densiflora, Chamaecyparis pisifela, Cryptomeria japonica, Abies koreana, Melia azedarch var. japonica, Shorea bracteolata and Shorea acuminata was investigated by standing wave method. The results obtained are summarized as follows: The acoustic absorption coefficient increased with increasing moisture content, but acoustic impedance decreased with increasing moisture content.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.117-124
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• 2011

The possibility of using the properties of an ultrasonic wave as a means for monitoring the moisture content of a board during drying was investigated. The ultrasonic wave signals are influenced by moisture content and other factors such as temperature, moisture gradient and coupling area. The effect of temperature was examined by measuring the transit times, amplitudes and velocities of ultrasonic waves transmitted through air, a metal bar and a board at various temperatures. The effect of a moisture gradient was studied using a model specimen composing five wood pieces of various moisture contents. The velocity and amplitude of the ultrasonic waves transmitted through air increase with temperature, while those through a metal bar and a board decrease. It was confirmed that the temperature effect is partially attributed to the change of transducer's properties. The effect of a moisture gradient on the velocity of an ultrasonic wave varies with the average moisture content of a board. As the dimension of the end face of a board increases the velocity of an ultrasonic wave increases and low frequency components more dominates than high frequency components. The transit times of ultrasonic waves transmitted through a board during kiln drying reflect the temperature steps in the drying schedule and the transducer temperatures.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.267-272
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• 2019

In order to study the effect of moisture on the compressive strength of low-strength hollow concrete blocks, an experimental study was carried out on 96 samples of locally manufactured hollow concrete blocks collected from three different locations. Uniaxial compression tests were conducted on dry specimens and three types of saturated specimens with moisture contents of 30%, 50% and 80% respectively. The range of moisture content adopted covered the range within which the concrete block samples are saturated in the dry and monsoon seasons. The compressive strength of low-strength hollow concrete blocks decreases with increase in moisture content and the relationship between compressive strength of hollow concrete blocks and their moisture content can be considered to be linear. However, the strength degradation of 30% moist concrete blocks with respect to dry blocks is relatively low and can be considered to be comparable to dry concrete blocks. A formula indicating the relationship between the moisture content and compressive strength of low-strength hollow concrete blocks is also proposed.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Combustion
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.23-32
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• 2008

Gasification characteristics in the fluidized bed reactor are essential for the design of a gasification furnace to optimize the operation condition. Moisture content of the solid fuel is one of the important factors to influence directly the gasification characteristics. So it is necessary to investigate the effect of moisture content of solid fuel in partial oxidation condition. Gasification characteristics are investigated with results from thermogravimetric analyzer and lab-scale fluidized bed reactor for wood and RDF samples along with changing moisture contents. Additionally lab-scale fluidized bed reactor was run continuously and gas concentrations at the exit were measured. It is observed that the rate of reaction in partial oxidation condition is between the results from the combustion environment and from the inert condition. Moisture content in a particle slows down the heating rate of a particle. So, reaction is delayed by the moisture content. However, RDF samples those are easy to break-up don't show the effect of moisture content. The result of continuous operation condition shows that proper moisture content promotes gasification because steam from the particles helps gasification of the solid fuel. A simulation to predict the syn-gas composition was conducted by the Aspen Plus process simulator. The cold gas efficiency of the experiment was compared with results from the simulation.

• 한국연소학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2007.05a
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• pp.161-167
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• 2007

Gasification characteristics in the fluidized bed reactor are essential for the design of a gasification furnace to optimize the operation condition. Moisture content of the solid fuel is one of the important factors to influence directly the gasification characteristics. So it is necessary to investigate the effect of moisture content of solid fuel in gasification process. Gasification characteristics are investigated with results from thermogravimetric analyser and lab-scale fluidized bed reactor for wood and RDF samples along with changing moisture contents. Additionally lab-scale fluidized bed reactor was run continuously and gas concentrations at the exit were measured. It is observed that the rate of reaction in partial oxidation condition is in between the results from the combustion environment and from the inert condition. Moisture content in a particle slows down the heating rate of a particle. So, reaction time is delayed by the moisture content. However, RDF samples that are easy to break-up doesn't show the effect of moisture content. The results of continuous operation condition shows that proper moisture content promotes gasification because steam from the particles helps gasifcation of the sold fuel.

• International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials
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• v.10 no.sup3
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• pp.19-31
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• 2016

The objective of this paper is to investigate the effect of thickness and moisture on temperature distributions of reinforced concrete walls under fire conditions. Toward this goal, the first three wall specimens having different thicknesses are heated for 2 h according to ISO standard heating curve and the temperature distribution through the wall thickness is measured. Since the thermal behavior of the tested walls is influenced by thickness, as well as moisture content, three additional walls are prepared and preheated to reduce moisture content and then tested under fire exposure. The experimental results clearly show the temperatures measured close to the fire exposed surface of the thickest wall with 250 mm thickness is the highest in the temperatures measured at the same location of the thinner wall with 150 mm thickness because of the moisture clog that is formed inside the wall with 250 mm of thickness. This prevents heat being transferred to the opposite side of the heated surface. This is also confirmed by the thermal behavior of the preheated walls, showing that the temperature is well distributed in the preheated walls as compared to that in non-preheated walls. Finite element models including moisture clog zone are generated to simulate fire tests with consideration of moisture clog effect. The temperature distributions of the models predicted from the transient heat analyses are compared with experimental results and show good agreements. In addition, parametric studies are performed with various moisture contents in order to investigate effect of moisture contents on the thermal behaviors of the concrete walls.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Tobacco Science
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.30-40
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• 1981

The moisture sorption and desorption isotherms of various tobaccos were obtained over a relative humidity range from 0 to 90% at $20^{\circ}C$ and $30^{\circ}C$. The hysteresis effect, constant and rate of moisture sorption and desorption, monomolecular-layer moisture content, and specific surface area were analyzed from the obtained data. The moisture sorption and desorption isotherms showed a different characteristics for different tobacco varieties. At a lower humidity range below 50% RH, Burley tobacco had higher moisture sorption and desorption figures than Hicks and Basma, while, at a higher humidity range above 50% RH, Hicks had higher values than the others. The hysteresis effect of tobacco were greater in an intermediate humidity range (40-70% RN), and Basma showed a greater effect than the others. The sorption and desorption constant (K) increased with temperature, but decreased with RH, and Burley tobacco had larger K values, while Hicks had smaller K values than others. The sorption and desorption rate of Burley tobacco were greater than the other tobaccos. The monomolecular-layer moisture was 27.8 and 51.4mg/g, and the specific surface was 101 and $186m^2/g$, for Basma and Burley, respectively.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.54 no.3
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• pp.190-196
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• 2011

Effectiveness of edible coatings containing soy protein isolate (SPI), in reducing oxidative browning and moisture loss during storage ($4^{\circ}C$) of cut apples, potatoes, carrots, and onions was investigated. The SPI coatings were shown to have antioxidative activity. Furthermore, addition of carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) to the formulations significantly improved its antioxidative activity. Oxidative discoloration, as determined by Commission Internationale De I'Eclairage (CIE) lightness ($L^*$), redness ($a^*$), and yellowness ($b^*$) color scale, was significantly reduced (p <0.05) by SPI coating treatments over a storage time of 120 min. Loss of lightness was reduced by SPI coatings with and without CMC. These respectively showed 4.03 and 3.71% change of $L^*$ value compared to 8.56% for control. Browning of the control in cut potatoes was significantly increased by 106.6% in contrast to 34.3 and 35.2% for SPI coatings with and without CMC, respectively. The $b^*$ values also reflected effectiveness of SPI. Moisture barrier effect was significantly better for the treatments, compared to the control. SPI coatings reduced moisture loss in apples and potatoes, respectively, by 21.3 and 29.6% over the control. Cut onions did not show any treatment effect both in terms of browning and moisture loss. SPI coatings prove to be good moisture barrier and antioxidative property.