• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.39-56
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• 2010

Structural Control relies, with a great deal, on the ability of the control algorithm to identify the current state of the system, at any given point in time. When such algorithms are designed to perform in a smart manner, several smart technologies/devices are called upon to perform tasks that involve pattern recognition and control. Smart pattern recognition is proposed to replace/enhance traditional state identification techniques, which require the extensive manipulation of intricate mathematical equations. Smart pattern recognition techniques attempt to emulate the behavior of the human brain when performing abstract pattern identification. Since these techniques are largely heuristic in nature, it is reasonable to ensure their reliability under real life situations. In this paper, a neural network pattern recognition scheme is explored. The pattern identification of three structural systems is considered. The first is a single bay three-story frame. Both the second and the third models are variations on benchmark problems, previously published for control strategy evaluation purposes. A Neural Network was developed and trained to identify the deformed shape of structural systems under earthquake excitation. The network was trained, for each individual model system, then tested under the effect of a different set of earthquake records. The proposed smart pattern identification scheme is considered an integral component of a Smart Structural System. The Reliability assessment of such component represents an important stage in the evaluation of an overall reliability measure of Smart Structural Systems. Several studies are currently underway aiming at the identification of a reliability measure for such smart pattern recognition technique.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.6 no.7
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• pp.811-833
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• 2010

Vibration control and health monitoring of building structures have been actively investigated in recent years but treated separately according to the primary objective pursued. This paper presents a general approach in the time domain for integrating vibration control and health monitoring of a building structure to accommodate various types of control devices and on-line damage detection. The concept of the time-domain approach for integrated vibration control and health monitoring is first introduced. A parameter identification scheme is then developed to identify structural stiffness parameters and update the structural analytical model. Based on the updated analytical model, vibration control of the building using semi-active friction dampers against earthquake excitation is carried out. By assuming that the building suffers certain damage after extreme event or long service and by using the previously identified original structural parameters, a damage detection scheme is finally proposed and used for damage detection. The feasibility of the proposed approach is demonstrated through detailed numerical examples and extensive parameter studies.

• International Journal of Knowledge Content Development & Technology
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.19-42
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• 2019

This study examined activities involving the finding, organizing, managing, and re-finding of information by knowledge workers in Kuwait. This research also conducted a review of the tools needed for effective personal information management (PIM) and assessed perceptions about improving PIM through Internet use. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews conducted among 26 graduates of the Department of Information Studies at Kuwait University. These participants are currently employed in different sectors engaged in a variety of information-related activities. This study's findings indicated that participants gathered different types of information from a variety of sources. This information was stored using several devices and services, including desktop computers, shared drives, clouds, bookmarked websites, e-mail correspondence, and favorites lists. Participants organized information in personal folders according to categories such as subject/topic, time, project, document type, and geographical region. Preferred methods for information re-finding included searching by keyword and browsing through folders. Interviewees reported problems of information overload, fragmentation, and anxiety. Most were active in social media via mobile device, while some of them used Siri or Ask Google to retrieve information. Tools used for PIM included calendars, tasks, schedules, e-mail management tools, clouds, and social networking tools. Participants reported that the Internet helped with personal information management practices, but that some privacy issues arose in this context.

• Journal of Korean Association for Spatial Structures
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.99-108
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• 2012

Vibration control devices are classified into passive, semi-active and active device. TMD(Tuned Mass Damper) is one of the passive control device that is mainly used to reduce vibration level of building structure and bridge structure. In this study, the application of passive tuned mass damper(TMD) to seismic response control of dome structures has been investigated. Because star dome structure has primary characteristics of dome structures, star dome structure was used as an example dome structure that is subjected to horizontal or vertical seismic loads. From this numerical analysis, it is shown that seismic response are influenced by vibration modes and it is reasonable to install TMD to the dominant points of each mode. And it is found that the passive TMD could effectively reduce the seismic responses of dome structure.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.02a
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• pp.334-334
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• 2013

In the past decade, the infrared detectors based on intersubband transition in quantum dots (QDs) have attracted much attention due to lower dark currents and increased lifetimes, which are in turn due a three-dimensional confinement and a reduction of scattering, respectively. In parallel, focal plane array development for infrared imaging has proceeded from the first to third generations (linear arrays, 2D arrays for staring systems, and large format with enhanced capabilities, respectively). For a step further towards the next generation of FPAs, it is envisioned that a two-dimensional metal hole array (2D-MHA) structures will improve the FPA structure by enhancing the coupling to photodetectors via local field engineering, and will enable wavelength filtering. In regard to the improved performance at certain wavelengths, it is worth pointing out the structural difference between previous 2D-MHA integrated front-illuminated single pixel devices and back-illuminated devices. Apart from the pixel linear dimension, it is a distinct difference that there is a metal cladding (composed of a number of metals for ohmic contact and the read-out integrated circuit hybridization) in the FPA between the heavily doped gallium arsenide used as the contact layer and the ROIC; on the contrary, the front-illuminated single pixel device consists of two heavily doped contact layers separated by the QD-absorber on a semi-infinite GaAs substrate. This paper is focused on analyzing the impact of a two dimensional metal hole array structure integrated to the back-illuminated quantum dots-in-a-well (DWELL) infrared photodetectors. The metal hole array consisting of subwavelength-circular holes penetrating gold layer (2DAu-CHA) provides the enhanced responsivity of DWELL infrared photodetector at certain wavelengths. The performance of 2D-Au-CHA is investigated by calculating the absorption of active layer in the DWELL structure using a finite integration technique. Simulation results show the enhanced electric fields (thereby increasing the absorption in the active layer) resulting from a surface plasmon, a guided mode, and Fabry-Perot resonances. Simulation method accomplished in this paper provides a generalized approach to optimize the design of any type of couplers integrated to infrared photodetectors.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.943-966
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• 2016

Recently, magnetorheological elastomer (MRE) material and its devices have been developed and attracted a good deal of attention for their potentials in vibration control. Among them, a highly adaptive base isolator based on MRE was designed, fabricated and tested for real-time adaptive control of base isolated structures against a suite of earthquakes. To perfectly take advantage of this new device, an accurate and robust model should be built to characterize its nonlinearity and hysteresis for its application in structural control. This paper first proposes a novel hysteresis model, in which a nonlinear hyperbolic sine function spring is used to portray the strain stiffening phenomenon and a Voigt component is incorporated in parallel to describe the solid-material behaviours. Then the fruit fly optimization algorithm (FFOA) is employed for model parameter identification using testing data of shear force, displacement and velocity obtained from different loading conditions. The relationships between model parameters and applied current are also explored to obtain a current-dependent generalized model for the control application. Based on the proposed model of MRE base isolator, a second-order sliding mode controller is designed and applied to the device to provide a real-time feedback control of smart structures. The performance of the proposed technique is evaluated in simulation through utilizing a three-storey benchmark building model under four benchmark earthquake excitations. The results verify the effectiveness of the proposed current-dependent model and corresponding controller for semi-active control of MRE base isolator incorporated smart structures.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.359-371
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• 2018

Strong seismic events commonly cause large drift and deformation, and functionality failures in the superstructures. One way to prevent functionality failures is to design structures which are ductile and flexible through yielding when subjected to strong ground excitations. By developing forces that assist motion as "negative stiffness forces", yielding can be achieved. In this paper, we adopt the weakening and damping method to achieve a new approach to reduce all of the structural responses by further adjusting damping phase. A semi-active control system is adopted to perform the experiments. In this adaptation, negative stiffness forces through certain devices are used in weakening phase to reduce structural strength. Magneto-rheological (MR) dampers are then added to preserve stability of the structure. To adjust the voltage in MR dampers, an inverse model is employed in the control system to command MR dampers and generate the desired control forces, where a velocity control algorithm produces initial required control force. An extensive numerical study is conducted to evaluate proposed methodology by using the smart base-isolated benchmark building. Totally, nine control systems are examined to study proposed strategy. Based on the numerical results of seven earthquakes, the use of proposed strategy not only reduces base displacements, base accelerations and base shear but also leads to reduction of accelerations and inter story drifts of the superstructure. Numerical results shows that the usage of inverse model produces the desired regulated damping, thus improving the stability of the structure.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.02a
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• pp.341-341
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• 2012

Recently, oxide semi-conductor materials have been investigated as promising candidates replacing a-Si:H and poly-Si semiconductor because they have some advantages of a room-temperature process, low-cost, high performance and various applications in flexible and transparent electronics. Particularly, amorphous indium-gallium-zinc-oxide (a-IGZO) is an interesting semiconductor material for use in flexible thin film transistor (TFT) fabrication due to the high carrier mobility and low deposition temperatures. In this work, we demonstrated improvement of flexibility in IGZO TFTs, which were fabricated on polyimide (PI) substrate. At first, a thin poly-4vinyl phenol (PVP) layer was spin coated on PI substrate for making a smooth surface up to 0.3 nm, which was required to form high quality active layer. Then, Ni gate electrode of 100 nm was deposited on the bare PVP layer by e-beam evaporator using a shadow mask. The PVP and $Al_2O_3$ layers with different thicknesses were used for organic/inorganic multi gate dielectric, which were formed by spin coater and atomic layer deposition (ALD), respectively, at $200^{\circ}C$. 70 nm IGZO semiconductor layer and 70 nm Al source/drain electrodes were respectively deposited by RF magnetron sputter and thermal evaporator using shadow masks. Then, IGZO layer was annealed on a hotplate at $200^{\circ}C$ for 1 hour. Standard electrical characteristics of transistors were measured by a semiconductor parameter analyzer at room temperature in the dark and performance of devices then was also evaluated under static and dynamic mechanical deformation. The IGZO TFTs incorporating hybrid gate dielectrics showed a high flexibility compared to the device with single structural gate dielectrics. The effects of mechanical deformation on the TFT characteristics will be discussed in detail.