• Ocean Systems Engineering
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• 제4권2호
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• pp.137-150
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• 2014

In the marine industry although there has been significant growth towards safety, security and risk assessments or risk-based strategies such as marine insurance and regulations to avoid the risks of damage to properties and the environment or the prospect of premature death caused by accidents etc, the moves toward managing the risks which are linked directly to the business functions and decision making processes have been very slow. Furthermore in the marine industry most perceptions, methodologies and frameworks of dealing with hazards, risks, safety and security issues are for their assessment rather than their management. This trend reveals the fact that in different marine industry sectors such as logistics and shipping there is a lack of coherent risk management framework or methodology from which to understand the risk-based decisions especially for the purpose of design, construction, operation, management and even decommissioning of the marine related applications. On the other hand risk management is not yet viewed holistically in the marine industry in order to, for example, assign a right person, i.e. risk manager, who can act as a coordinator and advisor with responsibilities that are only specific to risk management. As a result this paper, by examining the present physical borders and risk-based activities in the marine industry, aims to propose an appropriate risk management methodology in addition to the emergent role of risk managers which will enable the industry users initially to become familiar with the concept of risk management at its holistic level. In the later stages this eventually can lead to development of risk management capabilities at an exclusive level and its integration into the marine industry functions in future.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제61권5호
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• pp.675-684
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• 2017

In this paper, a hybrid seismic response control (HSRC) system was developed to control bridge behavior caused by the seismic load. It was aimed at optimum vibration control, composed of a rubber bearing of passive type and MR-damper of semi-active type. Its mathematical modeling was driven and applied to a bridge model so as to prove its validity. The bridge model was built for the experiment, a two-span bridge of 8.3 meters in length with the HSRC system put up on it. Then, inflicting the EI Centro seismic load on it, shaking table tests were carried out to confirm the system's validity. The experiments were conducted under the basic structure state (without an MR-damper applied) first, and then under the state with an MR-damper applied. It was also done under the basic structure state with a reinforced rubber bearing applied, then the passive on/off state of the HSRC system, and finally the semi-active state where the control algorithm was applied to the system. From the experiments, it was observed that pounding rather increased when the MR-damper alone was applied, and also that the application of the HSRC system effectively prevented it from occurring. That is, the experiments showed that the system successfully mitigated structural behavior by 70% against the basic structure state, and, further, when control algorithm is applied for the operation of the MR-damper, relative displacement was found to be effectively mitigated by 80%. As a result, the HSRC system was proven to be effective in mitigating responses of the two-span bridge under seismic load.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• 제25권5호
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• pp.559-567
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• 2020

Vibration at the tip of various flexible manipulators may affect their operation accuracy and work efficiency. To suppress such vibrations, the feasibility of using MFC actuators and sensors is investigated in this paper. Considering the convergence of the famous filtered-x least mean square (FXLMS) algorithm could not be guaranteed while it is employed for vibration suppression of plants with varying secondary path, this paper proposes a new multiple model switching adaptive control algorithm to implement the real time active vibration suppression tests with a new multiple switching strategy. The new switching strategy is based on a cost function with reconstructed error signal and disturbance signal instead of the error signal from the error sensor. And from a robustness perspective, a new variable step-size sign algorithm (VSSA) based FXLMS algorithm is proposed to improve the convergence rate. A cantilever beam with varying tip mass is employed as flexible manipulator model. MFC layers are attached on both sides of it as sensors and actuators. A co-simulation platform was built using ADAMS and MATLAB to test the feasibility of the proposed algorithms. And an experimental platform was constructed to verify the effectiveness of MFC actuators and sensors and the real-time vibration control performance. Simulation and experiment results show that the proposed FXLMS algorithm based multiple model adaptive control approach has good convergence performance under varying load conditions for the flexible cantilever beam, and the proposed FX-VSSA-LMS algorithm based multiple model adaptive control algorithm has the best vibration suppression performance.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• 제11권4호
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• pp.303-312
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• 2020

This study aims to investigate at a laboratory scale fluorides removal from an industrial wastewater having excessive F^- concentration through a hybrid process combining neutralization and membrane separation. For the membrane separation operation, both Reverse Osmosis (RO) and Nanofiltration (NF) were investigated and confronted. The optimized neutralization step with hydrated lime allowed reaching fluoride removal rates of 99.1± 0.4 %. To simulate continuous process, consecutive batch treatments with full recirculation of membrane process brines were conducted. Despite the relatively high super saturations with respect to CaF₂, no membrane cloaking was observed. The RO polishing treatment allowed decreasing the permeate fluoride concentration to 0.9± 0.3 mg/L with a fluoride rejection rate of 93± 2% at the optimal transmembrane pressure of around 100 psi. When NF membrane was used to treat neutralization filtrate, the permeate fluoride concentration dropped to 1.1± 0.4 mg/L with a fluoride rejection rate of 88± 5% at the optimal pressure of around 80 psi. Thus, with respect to RO, NF allowed roughly 20% decrease of the driving pressure at the expense of only 5% drop of rejection rate. Both NF and RO permeates at optimal operating transmembrane pressures respect environmental regulations for reject streams discharge into the environment.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• 제11권4호
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• pp.257-274
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• 2020

There are many previous review articles are available to summarize either the characterization methods of effluent organic matter (EfOM) or the individual control treatment options. However, there has been no attempt made to compare in parallel the physicochemical treatment options that target the removal of EfOM from biological treatments. This review deals with the recent progress on the characterization of EfOM and the novel technologies developed for EfOM treatment. Based on the publications after 2010, the advantages and the limitations of several popularly used analytical tools are discussed for EfOM characterization, which include UV-visible and fluorescence spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), size exclusion chromatography (SEC), and Fourier transform-ion cyclotron resonance-mass spectrometry (FT-ICR-MS). It is a recent trend to combine an SEC system with various types of detectors, because it can successfully track the chemical/functional composition of EfOM, which varies across a continuum of different molecular sizes. FT-ICR-MS is the most powerful tool to detect EfOM at molecular levels. However, it is noted that this method has rarely been utilized to understand the changes of EfOM in pre-treatment or post-treatment systems. Although membrane filtration is still the preferred method to treat EfOM before its discharge due to its high separation selectivity, the minimum requirements for additional chemicals, the ease of scaling up, and the continuous operation, recent advances in ion exchange and advanced oxidation processes are greatly noteworthy. Recent progress in the non-membrane technologies, which are based on novel materials, are expected to enhance the removal efficiency of EfOM and even make it feasible to selectively remove undesirable fractions/compounds from bulk EfOM.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• 제12권3호
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• pp.361-397
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• 2017

The unloading effect from excavations can cause the deformation of adjacent tunnels, which may seriously influence the operation and safety of those tunnels. However, systematic studies of the deformation characteristics of tunnels located along side excavations are limited, and simplified methods to predict the influence of excavations on tunnels are also rare. In this study, the simulation capability of a finite element method (FEM) considering the small-strain characteristics of soil was verified using a case study. Then, a large number of FEM simulations examining the influence of excavations on adjacent tunnels were conducted. Based on the simulation results, the deformation characteristics of tunnels at different positions and under four deformation modes of the retaining structure were analyzed. The results indicate that the deformation mode of the retaining structure has a significant influence on the deformation of certain tunnels. When the deformation magnitudes of the retaining structures are the same, the influence degree of the excavation on the tunnel increased in this order: from cantilever type to convex type to composite type to kick-in type. In practical projects, the deformation mode of the retaining structure should be optimized according to the tunnel position, and kick-in deformation should be avoided. Furthermore, two methods to predict the influence of excavations on adjacent tunnels are proposed. Design charts, in terms of normalized tunnel deformation contours, can be used to quantitatively estimate the tunnel deformation. The design table of the excavation influence zones can be applied to determine which influence zone the tunnel is located in.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• 제8권5호
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• pp.449-462
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• 2017

Direct treatment of municipal wastewater by forward osmosis (FO) process was evaluated in terms of water flux decline, reverse salt diffusion, pollutants rejection and concentration efficiency by using synthetic seawater as the draw solution. It was found that when operating in PRO mode (active layer facing the draw solution), although the FO membrane exhibited higher osmotic water flux, more severe flux decline and reverse salt diffusion was also observed due to the more severe fouling of pollutants in the membrane support layer and accompanied fouling enhanced concentration polarization. In addition, although the water flux decline was shown to be lower for the FO mode (active layer facing the feed solution), irreversible membrane fouling was identified in both PRO and FO modes as the water flux cannot be restored to the initial value by physical flushing, highlighting the necessity of chemical cleaning in long-term operation. During the 7 cycles of filtration conducted in the experiments, the FO membrane exhibited considerably high rejection for TOC, COD, TP and $NH_4{^+}-N$ present in the wastewater. By optimizing the volume ratio of seawater draw solution/wastewater feed solution, a concentration factor of 3.1 and 3.7 was obtained for the FO and PRO modes, respectively. The results demonstrated the validity of the FO process for direct treatment of municipal wastewater by using seawater as the draw solution, while facilitating the subsequent utilization of concentrated wastewater for bioenergy production, which may have special implications for the coastline areas.

• Ocean Systems Engineering
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• 제6권4호
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• pp.377-400
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• 2016

Dropped objects are among the top ten causes of fatalities and serious injuries in the oil and gas industry (DORIS, 2016). Objects may accidentally fall down from platforms or vessels during lifting or any other offshore operation. Proper planning of lifting operations requires the knowledge of the risk-free zone on the sea bed to protect underwater structures and equipment. To this end a three-dimensional (3D) theory of dynamic motion of dropped cylindrical object is expanded to also consider ocean currents. The expanded theory is integrated into the authors' Dropped Objects Simulator (DROBS). DROBS is utilized to simulate the trajectories of dropped cylinders falling through uniform currents originating from different directions (incoming angle at $0^{\circ}$, $90^{\circ}$, $180^{\circ}$, and $270^{\circ}$). It is found that trajectories and landing points of dropped cylinders are greatly influenced by the direction of current. The initial conditions after the cylinders have fallen into the water are treated as random variables. It is assumed that the corresponding parameters orientation angle, translational velocity, and rotational velocity follow normal distributions. The paper presents results of DROBS simulations for the case of a dropped cylinder with initial drop angle at $60^{\circ}$ through air-water columns without current. Then the Monte Carlo simulations are used for predicting the landing point distributions of dropped cylinders with varying drop angles under current. The resulting landing point distribution plots may be used to identify risk free zones for offshore lifting operations.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• 제22권4호
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• pp.339-348
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• 2020

The uncertain geotechnical properties of frozen soil are important evidence for the design, operation and maintenance of the frozen ground. The complex geological, environmental and physical effects can lead to the spatial variations of the frozen soil, and the uncertain mechanical properties are the key factors for the uncertain analysis of frozen soil engineering. In this study, the elastic modulus, strength and Poisson ratio of warm frozen soil were measured, and the statistical characteristics under different temperature conditions are obtained. The autocorrelation distance (ACD) and autocorrelation function (ACF) of uncertain mechanical properties are estimated by random field (RF) method. The results show that the mean elastic modulus and mean strength decrease with the increase of temperature while the mean Poisson ratio increases with the increase of temperature. The average values of the ACD for the elastic modulus, strength and Poisson ratio are 0.64m, 0.53m and 0.48m, respectively. The standard deviation of the ACD for the elastic modulus, strength and Poisson ratio are 0.03m, 0.07m and 0.03m, respectively. The ACFs of elastic modulus, strength and Poisson ratio decrease with the increase of ratio of local average distance and scale of fluctuation. The ACF of uncertain mechanical properties is different when the temperature is different. This study can improve our understanding of the spatial autocorrelation variations of uncertain geotechnical properties and provide a basis and reference for the uncertain settlement analysis of frozen soil foundation.

• Ocean Systems Engineering
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• 제10권3호
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• pp.243-266
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• 2020

In-place analysis for offshore platforms is required to make proper design for new structures and true assessment for existing structures. In addition, ensure the structural integrity of platforms components under the maximum and minimum operating loads and environmental conditions. In-place analysis was carried out to verify the robustness and capability of structural members with all appurtenances to support the applied loads in either operating condition or storm conditions. A nonlinear finite element analysis is adopted for the platform structure above the seabed and the pile-soil interaction to estimate the in-place behavior of a typical fixed offshore platform. The SACS software is utilized to calculate the natural frequencies of the model and to obtain the response of platform joints according to in-place analysis then the stresses at selected members, as well as their nodal displacements. The directions of environmental loads and water depth variations have an important effect on the results of the in-place analysis behavior. The influence of the soil-structure interaction on the response of the jacket foundation predicts is necessary to estimate the loads of the offshore platform well and real simulation of offshore foundation for the in-place analysis. The result of the study shows that the in-place response investigation is quite crucial for safe design and operation of offshore platform against the variation of environmental loads.