• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.283-300
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• 2015

Visual condition inspections remain paramount to assessing the current deterioration status of a bridge and assigning remediation or maintenance tasks so as to ensure the ongoing serviceability of the structure. However, in recent years, there has been an increasing backlog of maintenance activities. Existing research reveals that this is attributable to the labour-intensive, subjective and disruptive nature of the current bridge inspection method. Current processes ultimately require lane closures, traffic guidance schemes and inspection equipment. This not only increases the whole-of-life costs of the bridge, but also increases the risk to the travelling public as issues affecting the structural integrity may go unaddressed. As a tool for bridge condition inspections, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) or, drones, offer considerable potential, allowing a bridge to be visually assessed without the need for inspectors to walk across the deck or utilise under-bridge inspection units. With current inspection processes placing additional strain on the existing bridge maintenance resources, the technology has the potential to significantly reduce the overall inspection costs and disruption caused to the travelling public. In addition to this, the use of automated aerial image capture enables engineers to better understand a situation through the 3D spatial context offered by UAV systems. However, the use of UAV for bridge inspection involves a number of critical issues to be resolved, including stability and accuracy of control, and safety to people. SLAM (Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping) is a technique that could be used by a UAV to build a map of the bridge underneath, while simultaneously determining its location on the constructed map. While there are considerable economic and risk-related benefits created through introducing entirely new ways of inspecting bridges and visualising information, there also remain hindrances to the wider deployment of UAVs. This study is to provide a context for use of UAVs for conducting visual bridge inspections, in addition to addressing the obstacles that are required to be overcome in order for the technology to be integrated into current practice.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.56 no.1
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• pp.118-130
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• 2023

Decay or large cavities inside trees are the main causes of trees overturning and broken branches, and structurally weakened trees are more vulnerable to strong winds and heavy snowfall. Recently, as strong winds and typhoons increase due to climate change, the damage to human life and property due to trees overturning continues to increase, and cultural assets are in a similar situation. In particular, old big trees are structurally vulnerable to external shocks such as strong winds and heavy snowfall. This study was aimed at providing a scientific basis for preventive protection measures by conducting a structural stability diagnosis of seven retusa fringe trees designated as natural monuments. For the structural stability diagnosis, tree risk assessment and internal tree defect measurements were performed. As a result of the tree risk assessment, the Retusa Fringe Trees in Sinjeon-ri, Yangsan and Gwangyangeupsu had the highest risk of broken branches due to weak branch attachment strength. As a result of the diagnosis of internal defects of cross sections of measured trees, there were suspected cavities or severe decay in all except two trees of the population of Retusa Fringe Trees in Pyeongji-ri. Natural disasters due to climate change are increasing, and the scale is getting larger, so it is very important to preemptively manage large old trees through scientific structural safety diagnosis to manage trees that are vulnerable to environmental changes.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.87-105
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• 2023

Seismic regulations have been updated from time to time to accommodate an increase in seismic hazards. Comparison of seismic fragility of the existing bridges in Indonesia from different historical periods since the era before 1990 will be the basis for seismic assessment of the bridge stock in Indonesia, most of which are located in earthquake-prone areas, especially those built many years ago with outdated regulations. In this study, seismic fragility curves were developed using incremental non-linear time history analysis and more holistically according to the actual strength of concrete and steel material in Indonesia to determine the uncertainty factor of structural capacity, βc. From the research that has been carried out, based on the current seismic load in SNI 2833:2016/Seismic Map 2017 (7% probability of exceedance in 75 years), the performance level of the bridge in the era before SNI 2833:2016 was Operational-Life Safety whereas the performance level of the bridge designed with SNI 2833:2016 was Elastic - Operational. The potential for more severe damage occurs in greater earthquake intensity. Collapse condition occurs at As = F_PGA x PGA value of bridge Era I = 0.93 g; Era II = 1.03 g; Era III = 1.22 g; Era IV = 1.54 g. Furthermore, the fragility analysis was also developed with geometric variations in the same bridge class to see the effect of these variations on the fragility, which is the basis for making bridge risk maps in Indonesia.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.11
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• pp.18-23
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• 2018

FPSO consists of topside modularized plants for production of crude oil, and hullside structures that serve as support for the topside and storage of produced crude oil. The structural behavior of the FPSO topside module and its supporting hull depends on the interface structure that connects them, and the interface structure consists of a combination of individual unit support structures called Module Support Seat (MSS). Types of interface structures are various and, accordingly, the basic design of the FPSO topside module structure is greatly influenced, so various design methods should be considered from the initial design phase. Structural design of FPSO topside module requires consideration of the number of MSSs, connection type, and structural analysis options such as the range of finite element models, load conditions, and boundary conditions for verification of structural strength. In this study, the comparison combination cases for the above considerations were derived and the strength evaluation was performed, and the structural behavior characteristics of the topside module were compared and analyzed through a detailed review of the analysis results. The results of this study are considered to be a good reference for designing a more reliable topside module structure.

• Journal of Aerospace System Engineering
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.106-111
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• 2018

Hydrodynamic ram phenomenon could be generated by external threats such as impact and blast in the aircraft. High strain rate deformation caused by the hydrodynamic ram phenomenon is one of the main factors to influence structural survivability. Mechanical properties of composite structure change rapidly under conditions of high strain rate. Therefore, it is necessary to experimentally investigate the influence of strain rates for aircraft structural survivability. In this paper, tensile tests of composite material were conducted for low and high strain rates to investigate the influence of the various strain rates. Tensile modulus increases more compared to tensile strength at high strain rate under hydrodynamic ram condition. Regression analysis was conducted to predict tensile modulus at various strain rates because it is one of the main damaging factors for composite structures under high strain rate conditions. Also, the mechanical properties of composite materials were acquired and analyzed under high strain rate conditions. It is hypothesized that the results from this study would be used for designing aircraft composite structures and evaluation considering structural survivability.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.441-454
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• 2020

The tunnel collapse, large deformation of surrounding rock, water and mud inrush are the major geological disasters in soft rock tunnel construction. Among them, tunnel collapse has the most serious impact on tunnel construction. Current research backed theories have certain limitations in identifying the collapse risk of soft rock tunnels. Examining the Zhengwan high-speed railway tunnel, eight soft rock tunnel collapse influencing factors were selected, and the combination of indicator weights based on the analytic hierarchy process and entropy weighting methods was obtained. The results show that the groundwater condition and the integrity of the rock mass are the main influencing factors leading to a soft rock tunnel collapse. A comprehensive fuzzy evaluation model for the collapse risk of soft rock tunnels is being proposed, and the real-time collapse risk assessment of the Zhengwan tunnel is being carried out. The results obtained via the fuzzy evaluation model agree well with the actual situation. A tunnel section evaluated to have an extremely high collapse risk and experienced a local collapse during excavation, verifying the feasibility of the collapse risk evaluation model. The collapse risk evaluation model proposed in this paper has been demonstrated to be a promising and innovative method for the evaluation of the collapse risk of soft rock tunnels, leading to safer construction.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.609-615
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• 2012

In recent years, the development of computer technique was possible to the simulation analysis of the structure caused by ground vibration. Generally, finite element method(FEM) has been used in these structural analysis. In this study, it was calculated to the vibration energy as measuring vibration waveform, and estimated about principal stress due to medium characteristics of the ground as processing dynamic analysis by the vibration energy. The results are as follows : Firstly, the principal stress distribution in all mediums was different due to a medium condition, and the principal stress at concrete medium was represented to difference due to physical characteristics. Secondly, the principal stress by time increasing was represented to maximum amplitude within 0.03 second. And also, the principal stress after maximum amplitude was very large at concrete medium, which was considered to be formed compression or tension range at a medium boundary. Thirdly, the variation of principal stress at concrete medium was represented in the order of RC medium, NC=H medium, NC=S medium. It was considered that the vibration energy propagated fast when a medium have a big elasticity and density.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.199-213
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• 2020

This paper proposes a Global-Local Analysis Method (GLAM) to assess the progressive collapse of steel framed structures under fire-induced column failure. GLAM obtains the overall structural response by combining dynamic analysis of the heated column (local) with static analysis of the overall structure (global). Test results of two steel frames which explicitly consider the dynamic effect during fire-induced column failure were employed to validate the proposed GLAM. Results show that GLAM gives reasonable predictions to the test frames in terms of both whether to collapse and the displacement verse temperature curves. Besides, several case studies of a two-dimensional (2D) steel frame and a three-dimensional (3D) steel frame with concrete slabs were conducted by using GLAM. Results show that GLAM gives the same collapse predictions to the studied cases with nonlinear dynamic analysis of the whole structure model. Compared with nonlinear dynamic analysis of the whole structure model, GLAM saves approximately 70% and 99% CPU time for the cases of 2D and 3D steel frame, respectively. Results also show that the load level of a structure has notable effects on the restraint condition of a heated column in the structure.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.19-34
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• 2015

One of the main causes of a limited use of nondestructive evaluation (NDE) technologies in bridge deck assessment is the speed of data collection and analysis. The paper describes development and implementation of the RABIT (Robotics Assisted Bridge Inspection Tool) for data collection using multiple NDE technologies. The system is designed to characterize three most common deterioration types in concrete bridge decks: rebar corrosion, delamination, and concrete degradation. It implements four NDE technologies: electrical resistivity (ER), impact echo (IE), ground-penetrating radar (GPR), and ultrasonic surface waves (USW) method. The technologies are used in a complementary way to enhance the interpretation. In addition, the system utilizes advanced vision to complement traditional visual inspection. Finally, the RABIT collects data at a significantly higher speed than it is done using traditional NDE equipment. The robotic system is complemented by an advanced data interpretation. The associated platform for the enhanced interpretation of condition assessment in concrete bridge decks utilizes data integration, fusion, and deterioration and defect visualization. This paper concentrates on the validation and field implementation of two NDE technologies. The first one is IE used in the delamination detection and characterization, while the second one is the USW method used in the assessment of concrete quality. The validation of performance of the two methods was conducted on a 9 m long and 3.6 m wide fabricated bridge structure with numerous artificial defects embedded in the deck.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.372-379
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• 2023

International oil prices are expected to increase from $85 a barrel this year to up to $100 a barrel in the second half of the year; this is likely to increase orders for offshore plants in the global market. One main characteristic of offshore plants is that a large helideck is located on the top side, and aluminum alloys are used as the basic material of the structure for weight reduction and corrosion resistance. Shipowners are increasing the size of helicopters to quickly evacuate lives in the event of an emergency, and the safety use load of devices that can stably secure helicopters to the deck is also required to increase. Owing to the nature of the aluminum material, the structural strength caused by welding is greatly reduced; therefore, the fixing device must be designed by embedding it in the deck and fixing it with bolts. In this study, a model applying aluminum alloy 6082-T6 was developed to develop a helicopter fastening device that can be used for large helidecks (diameter = 28 m). The developed item was verified through nonlinear structural strength calculation to satisfy the load used for the actual fastening condition. The load condition with a 45° showed a lower ultimate strength than the 90° case owing to local plastic collapse. The nonlinear structural collapse behavior showed a result similar to that of the experimental test. The main contents derived from this study are considered to be reference materials when evaluating the structural strength of similar aluminum equipment.