• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.75 no.2
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• pp.271-282
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• 2020

The preservation of historic masonry-arch railway bridges is of paramount importance due to their economic benefits. These bridges which belong to past centuries may nowadays be expected to carry loads higher than those for which they were designed. Such an increase in loads may be because of increase in transportation speed or in the capacity of freight-wagons. Anyway, adequate increase in their load-carrying-capacity through structural-strengthening is required. Moreover, the increasing costs of material/construction urge engineers to optimize their designs to obtain the minimum-cost one. This paper proposes a novel numerical optimization method to minimize the costs associated with strengthening of masonry-arch railway bridges. To do so, the stress/displacement responses of Sahand-Goltappeh bridge are assessed under ordinary train pass as a case study. For this aim, 3D-Finite-Element-Model is created and calibrated using experimental test results. Then, it is strengthened such that following goals are achieved simultaneously: (1) the load-carrying-capacity of the bridge is increased; (2) the structural response of the bridge is reduced to a certain limit; and, (3) the costs needed for such strengthening are minimized as far as possible. The results of the case study demonstrate the applicability/superiority of the proposed approach. Some economic measures are also recommended to further reduce the total strengthening cost.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetic Resonance Society
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.137-142
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• 2015

NMR-based structural studies on membrane proteins are appreciated quite challenging due to various reasons, generally including the narrow dispersion of NMR spectra, the severe peak broadening, and the lack of long range NOEs. In spite of the poor biophysical properties, structural studies on membrane proteins have got to go on, considering their functional importance in biological systems. In this review, we provide a simple overview of the techniques generally used in structural studies of membrane proteins by solution NMR, with experimental examples of a helical membrane protein, caveolin 3. Detergent screening is usually employed as the first step and the selection of appropriate detergent is the most important for successful approach to membrane proteins. Various tools can then be applied as specialized NMR techniques in solution that include sample deteuration, amino-acid selective isotope labeling, residual dipolar coupling, and paramagnetic relaxation enhancement.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 1990.10a
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• pp.22-27
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• 1990

Since an eigenvalue problem in structural analysis has been recognized as an important process for the assessment of structural strength, it is usually to be carried out the eigenvalue analysis or buckling analysis of structures when the compression behabiour of the member is dorminant. In general, various variables involved in the eigenvalue problem have also shown their variability. So it is natural to apply the probabilistic analysis into such problem. Since the limit state equation for the eigenvalue analysis or buckling reliability analysis is expressed implicitly in terms of random variables involved, the probabilistic finite element method is combined with the conventional reliability method such as MVFOSM and AFOSM for the determination of probability of failure due to buckling. The accuracy of the results obtained by this method is compared with results from the Monte Carlo simulations. Importance sampling method is specially chosen for overcomming the difficulty in a large simulation number needed for appropriate accurate result. From the results of the case study, it is found that the method developed here has shown good performance for the calculation of probability of buckling failure and could be used for checking the safety of the calculation of probability of buckling failure and could be used for checking the safely of frame structure which might be collapsed by either yielding or buckling.

• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.171-178
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• 2013

The emergence of a growing number of tall buildings, often with unusual shapes and innovative structural systems, has led to the realization of the need for and the importance of field measurements. The new China Central Television (CCTV) Tower in Beijing is one of tall buildings with a highly unusual shape and a complex structural system, requiring field measurements to identify its dynamic characteristics for the subsequent dynamic analysis of the tower under wind excitation, seismic-induced ground motion and traffic-induced ground motion. The structural system and the finite element model of the CCTV Tower are first introduced in this paper. The computed natural frequencies and mode shapes are then presented as a reference for the field measurement. After introducing the arrangement of the ambient vibration measurement, the field measured natural frequencies and damping ratios of the CCTV Tower are presented and the measured natural frequencies are finally compared with the computed ones. It was found that the structural damping ratios of the CCTV Tower are small and the computed natural frequencies are smaller than the measured ones by about 12~17%.

• Journal of the Society of Naval Architects of Korea
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• v.43 no.2 s.146
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• pp.206-212
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• 2006

Structural reliability of electrical panels installed in naval vessels is of critical importance from structural performance viewpoint. The electrical panels may be exposed to vibration and fatigue loadings from internal and external sources as well as wave loadings which result into a crack and fracture due to the decrease of fatigue strength. It is also well known that welded joints including brackets within steel structures .such as vessels and bridges are vulnerable against such repeated loadings. This study introduces a preliminary result of the optimized shape of frame bracket consisting of electrical panels in navel vessels against fatigue loading and their fatigue life at brackets of electrical panels by means of hot spot stress and structural stress methods.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.72 no.2
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• pp.181-190
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• 2019

Topology optimization of structures seeking the best distribution of mass in a design space to improve the structural performance and reduce the weight of a structure is one of the most comprehensive issues in the field of structural optimization. In addition to structures stiffness as the most common objective function, frequency optimization is of great importance in variety of applications too. In this paper, an efficient multi-objective Bi-directional Evolutionary Structural Optimization (BESO) method is developed for topology optimization of frequency and stiffness in continuum structures simultaneously. A software package including a Matlab code and Abaqus FE solver has been created for the numerical implementation of multi-objective BESO utilizing the weighted function method. At the same time, by considering the weaknesses of the optimized structure in single-objective optimizations for stiffness or frequency problems, slight modifications have been done on the numerical algorithm of developed multi-objective BESO in order to overcome challenges due to artificial localized modes, checker boarding and geometrical symmetry constraint during the progressive iterations of optimization. Numerical results show that the proposed Multiobjective BESO method is efficient and optimal solutions can be obtained for continuum structures based on an existent finite element model of the structures.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.379-393
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• 2012

Of the various methods of splicing reinforcing bar in reinforced concrete structure, mortar-filled sleeve reinforcement splice offers diverse benefits, not only in terms of structural performance but also for the construction process. Consequently, after the mortar-filled sleeve splices have been developed in recent years, research and development on these splices has been actively carried out, in order to evaluate its macro structural performance, such as its strength and stiffness, with the aim of enabling this system to be applied to construction in the field as early as possible. However, to make a proper evaluation on the overall structural performance of the mortar-filled sleeve reinforcing bar splice, it is of critical importance to understand the lateral confining action of the sleeve, which is known to affect the bond strength between the embedded bar and mortar in the sleeve. Accordingly, in this study, an experiment of monotonic loading and cyclic loading was conducted with a full-sized mortar-filled sleeve splice attaching strain gauges on the sleeve surface with experimental variables such as development length of bar, etc. Based on the test results, the effect of the lateral confining action of the sleeve was analyzed and considered in terms of the bond strength between the bar and mortar in this splice.

• Special Issue of the Society of Naval Architects of Korea
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• 2015.09a
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• pp.69-73
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• 2015

An evaluation of the accidental limit state (ALS) for design of a semi-submersible drilling rig is one of the essential design requirements as well as ultimate limit state (ULS) and fatigue limit state (FLS). This paper describes the ALS evaluation on the explosion accident at shale shaker room of semi-submersible drilling rig. There are three steps for the ALS evaluation such as structural analysis at concept design, risk based safety design and structural analysis at detailed design. For the ALS evaluation at concept design, conceptual explosion overpressure from the Rule guided by the classification society was used in the structural analysis that was carried out using LS-DYNA. To set up the design accidental load (DAL), explosion analysis was carried out using FLACS taking safety barriers into consideration. Then, the structural analysis was carried out applying DAL for the ALS evaluation at detailed design. Through the ALS evaluation on the explosion at shale shaker room, the importance of the risk based safety design was described.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.5
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• pp.1079-1092
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• 2020

A parametric study of several parameters relevant to design safety on the spent nuclear fuel (SNF) rod response under a drop accident is presented. In the view of the complexity of interactions between the independent safety-related parameters, a factorial design of experiment is employed as an efficient method to investigate the main effects and the interactions between them. A detailed single full-length fuel rod is used with consideration of post-irradiated fuel conditions under horizontal and vertical free-drops onto an unyielding surface using finite-element analysis. Critical drop heights and critical g-loads that yield the threshold plastic strain in the cladding are numerically estimated to evaluate the fuel rod structural resistance to impact load. The combinatory effects of four uncertain parameters (pellet-cladding interfacial bonding, material properties, spacer grid stiffness, rod internal pressure) and the interactions between them on the fuel rod response are investigated. The principal finding of this research showed that the effects of above-mentioned parameters on the load-carrying capacity of fuel rod are significantly different. This study could help to prioritize the importance of data in managing and studying the structural integrity of the SNF.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.20 no.12
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• pp.65-70
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• 2021

Electric kickboards are inviting attention as next-generation transportation systems with their number of users increasing rapidly every year. However, the number of related accidents similarly increases with the increase in the number of users. The purpose of this study is to analyze the structural safety of electric kickboards according to the shape of the connection parts. For this purpose, four different shapes of the connection parts, i.e., cube, cylinder, toroid, and divided cube were selected. Subsequently, the safety was analyzed based on the finite element (FE) analysis under the front collision scenario. The results showed that the shape of the divided cube induced the lowest von Mises stress and the highest safety factor amongst the four models. Moreover, only the shape showed a safety factor higher than 1. However, the shape of the cylinder exhibited the lowest structural vulnerability. These results demonstrate the importance of the shape of the connection part in maintaining the overall safety of an electric kickboard.