• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제8권1호
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• pp.35-52
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• 2008

The paper investigates the seismic performance of a Partially-Restrained (PR) steel-concrete composite frame using the probabilistic approach. The analysed frame was tested at the ELSA laboratory of the Joint Research Centre of Ispra (Italy), while the representative beam-to-column composite connections were tested at the Universities of Pisa, Milan and Trento (Italy). The component modelling of both interior and exterior composite joints is described first, including the experimental-numerical validation. The Latin Hypercube method has been used to draw the probabilistic distribution curves of joints, and then the whole PR composite frame has been analysed. Pushover and incremental dynamic analyses have been carried out using the non-linear FE code SAP2000 version 9.1. The fragility and performance curves of the PR composite frame have been determined for four damage limit states.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제55권8호
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• pp.3010-3016
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• 2023

In recent years, the development of radioactive waste containers for nuclear facility decommissioning and dismantling is a critical issue because the Taiwan domestic boiling water reactor nuclear power plant is going to be decommissioned. The main purpose of this research is to design a metal container that meets the structural requirements of related regulations. At first, the shielding analysis was performed by varying dimensions of radioactive waste to determine the storage efficiency of the container. Then, a series of structural analyses for operational and accidental conditions of the container with full load were conducted, such as lifting, stacking, and drop impact conditions. On the other hand, the field drop impact tests were carried out to ensure structural integrity. The present research demonstrates the structural safety of the developed container for decommissioned nuclear facilities in Taiwan.

• 한국해양공학회지
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• 제24권2호
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• pp.25-33
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• 2010

Collision between vessels may lead to structural damage and penetration of hulls. The structural damage of a hull may eventually bring about global collapse of the hull girder and outflow of oil, which would contaminate seawater. Therefore, various regulations require the strength of a vessel after collision to satisfy given criteria, and owners usually request collision analyses to confirm the structural safety of their vessels. In the process of designing a vessel to satisfy the collision strength criteria, the strength has been assessed mostly by conducting collision analyses using numerical techniques, such as dynamic, non-linear, finite-element analysis. Design is an inherently iterative process during which many changes are necessary due to the endless needs for reinforcement and modification. Numerical techniques are not adequate for coping with a situation in which collision analysis is frequently required to provide the revised results that reflect the repetitive changes in designs. Numerical techniques require a lot of time and money to conduct in spite of recent improvements in computing power and in the productivity of modeling tools. Therefore, in this paper, an analytical technique is introduced and a collision problem is idealized and simplified using reasonable assumptions based on appropriate background. The technique was applied to an example of an actual FPSO and verified by comparing the results with results from the numerical technique. A good correlation was apparent between the results of the analytical and numerical techniques.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• 제25권6호
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• pp.443-454
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• 2023

Steel shear walls are used to strengthen steel and concrete structures. One such system is Partial Attached Steel Shear Walls (PASSW), which are only connected to frame beams. This system offers both structural and architectural advantages. This study first calibrated the numerical model of RC frames with and without PASSW using an experimental sample. The seismic performance of the RC frame was evaluated by 30 non-linear static analyses, which considered stiffness, ductility, lateral strength, and energy dissipation, to investigate the effect of PASSW width and column axial load. Based on numerical results and a curve fitting technique, a lateral stiffness equation was developed for frames equipped with PASSW. The effect of the shear wall location on the concrete frame was evaluated through eight analyses. Nonlinear dynamic analysis was performed to investigate the effect of the shear wall on maximum frame displacement using three earthquake records. The results revealed that if PASSW is designed with appropriate stiffness, it can increase the energy dissipation and ductility of the frame by 2 and 1.2 times, respectively. The stiffness and strength of the frame are greatly influenced by PASSW, while axial force has the most significant negative impact on energy dissipation. Furthermore, the location of PASSW does not affect the frame's behavior, and it is possible to have large openings in the frame bay.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• 제37권4호
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• pp.258-264
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• 2012

Purpose: This review aims at introducing 3 modeling approaches classified into 3 categories based on the purpose (estimation or prediction), structure (linear or non-linear) and phase (steady-state or dynamic-state); 1) statistical approaches, 2) kinetic modeling and 3) mechanistic modeling. We hope that this review can be a useful guide in the model-based approach of calcium metabolism as well as illustrates an application of engineering tools in studying biosystems. Background: The meaning of biosystems has been expanded, including agricultural/food system as well as biological systems like genes, cells and metabolisms. This expansion has required a useful tool for assessing the biosystems and modeling has arisen as a method that satisfies the current inquiry. To suit for the flow of the era, examining the system which is a little bit far from the traditional biosystems may be interesting issue, which can enlarge our insights and provide new ideas for prospective biosystem-researches. Herein, calcium metabolic models reviewed as an example of application of modeling approaches into the biosystems. Review: Calcium is an essential nutrient widely involved in animal and human metabolism including bone mineralization and signaling pathways. For this reason, the calcium metabolic system has been studied in various research fields of academia and industries. To study calcium metabolism, model-based system analyses have been utilized according to the purpose, subject characteristics, metabolic sites of interest, and experimental design. Either individual metabolic pathways or a whole homeostasis has been modeled in a number of studies.

• International Journal of Automotive Technology
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• 제7권5호
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• pp.555-564
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• 2006

The aim of this paper is to contribute to the efficient design of traffic light poles involved in vehicle frontal collisions by developing a computer-based, finite-element model capable of capturing the impact characteristics. This is achieved by using the available non-linear dynamic analysis software "LS-DYNA3D", which can accurately predict the dynamic response of both the vehicle and the traffic light pole. The fiber reinforced polymer(FRP) as a new pole's material is proposed in this paper to increase energy absorption capabilities in the case of a traffic pole involved in a vehicle head-on collision. Numerical analyses are conducted to evaluate the effects of key parameters on the response of the pole embedded in soil when impacted by vehicles, including: soil type(clay and sand) and pole material type(FRP and steel). It is demonstrated from the numerical analysis that the FRP pole-soil system has favorable advantages over steel poles, where the FRP pole absorbed vehicle impact energy in a smoother behavior, which leads to smoother acceleration pulse and less deformation of the vehicle than those encountered with steel poles. Also, it was observed that clayey soil brings a slightly more resistance than sandy soil which helps reducing pole movement at ground level. Finally, FRP pole system provides more energy absorbing leading to protection during minor impacts and under service loading, and remain flexible enough to avoid influencing vehicle occupants, thus reducing fatalities and injuries resulting from the crash.

• 한국지진공학회논문집
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• 제5권2호
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• pp.59-66
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• 2001

구조물 내진설계의 개념은 기존요구조건이라는 조항으로 시방서에 규정되어 있으며 구조물이 지진발생시에 안전성과 경제성을 최대한 확보할 수 있으며 비선형시간 이력해석을 수행하여 자진시의 동적거동을 기술함으로써 확인할 수 있다. 내진설계에 보편적으로 적용하는 응답스펙트럼해석법은 선형해석법으로 구조물의 비선형동적거동의 영향을 거동계수로 반영하므로 파괴메카니즘 및 기본 요구조건의 만족여부를 거동계수를 구하는 과정으로 결정할 수 있다. 이 연구에서는 내진설계방식에 의해 설계된 약진지역에 의한 화학공장건물의 모델인 3차원 철골뼈대구조물을 선정하고 거동계수를 결정하는 과정을 수행하여 지진시의 동적거동을 확인하였다. 이 연구의 결과, 현 시방서의 응답스펙트럼해석법에 적용되는 거동계수는 강진지역의 구조물의 경우 기능성 및 안정성 한계를 제시하지만 약진지역 구조물의 경우는 실제 동적거동과 무관하다는것과 약진 지역에 위치한 구조물의 내진설계에는 시방서가 제시한 내진설계방식을 적용하는 것이 주요한 사항임을 확인하였다.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• 제18권1호
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• pp.45-56
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• 2020

The application of critical excitation method with displacement-based objective function for multi degree of freedom (MDOF) systems is investigated. To this end, a new critical excitation method is developed to find the critical input motion of a MDOF system as a synthetic accelerogram. The upper bound of earthquake input energy per unit mass is considered as a new constraint for the problem, and its advantages are discussed. Considering this constraint, the critical excitation method is then used to generate synthetic accelerograms for MDOF models corresponding to three shear buildings of 10, 16, and 22 stories. In order to demonstrate the reliability of generated accelerograms to estimate dynamic response of the structures, three target ground motions with considerable level of energy contents are selected to represent "real critical excitation" of each model, and the method is used to re-generate these ground motions. Afterwards, linear dynamic analyses are conducted using these accelerograms along with the generated critical excitations, to investigate the key parameters of response including maximum displacement, maximum interstory drift, and maximum absolute acceleration of stories. The results show that the generated critical excitations can make an acceptable estimate of the structural behavior compared to the target ground motions. Therefore, the method can be reliably implemented to generate critical excitation of the structure when real one is not available.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제68권5호
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• pp.621-632
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• 2018

Soft-story buildings have bottom stories much less rigid than the top stories and are susceptible to earthquake damage. Therefore, the seismic design specifications need strict design considerations in such cases. In this paper, a four-story building was investigated as a case study and the effects of X-braces elimination in its lower stories studied. In addition, the possibility of replacement of the X-braces in soft-stories with equivalent moment resisting frame inspected in two different phases. In first phase, the stiffness of X-braces and equivalent moment-resisting frames evaluated using classic equations. In final phase, diagonals removed from the lowest story to develop a soft-story and replaced with moment resisting frames. Then, the seismic stiffness variation of moment-resisting frame evaluated using nonlinear static and dynamic analyses. The results show that substitution of braced frames with an equivalent moment-resisting frame of the same stiffness increases story drift and reduces energy absorption capacity. However, it is enough to consider the needs of building codes, even using equivalent moment resisting frame instead of X-Braces, to avoid soft-story stiffness irregularity in seismic design of buildings. Besides, soft-story development in the second story may be more critical under strong ground excitations, because of interaction of adjacent stories.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• 제21권6호
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• pp.627-639
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• 2021

Fragility curves are being more significant as a useful tool for evaluating the relationship between the earthquake intensity measure and the effects of the engineering demand parameter on the buildings. In this paper, the effect of different site conditions on the vulnerability of the structures was examined through the fragility curves taking into account different strength capacities of the precast columns. Thus, typical existing single-story precast RC industrial buildings which were built in Turkey after the year 2000 were examined. The fragility curves for the three typical existing industrial structures were derived from an analytical approach by performing non-linear dynamic analyses considering three different soil conditions. The Park and Ang damage index was used in order to determine the damage level of the members. The spectral acceleration (Sa) was used as the ground motion parameter in the fragility curves. The results indicate that the fragility curves were derived for the structures vary depending on the site conditions. The damage probability of exceedance values increased from stiff site to soft site for any Sa value. This difference increases in long period in examined buildings. In addition, earthquake demand values were calculated by considering the buildings and site conditions, and the effect of the site class on the building damage was evaluated by considering the Mean Damage Ratio parameter (MDR). Achieving fragility curves and MDR curves as a function of spectral acceleration enables a quick and practical risk assessment in existing buildings.