• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.91 no.2
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• pp.211-225
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• 2024

Soft bending actuators have gained significant interest in robotic applications due to their compliance and lightweight nature. Their compliance allows for safer and more natural interactions with humans or other objects, reducing the risk of injury or damage. However, the nonlinear behaviour of soft actuators presents challenges in accurately predicting their bending motion and force exertion. In this research, a new comprehensive study has been conducted by employing a developed 3D finite element model (FEM) to investigate the effect of geometrical and material parameters on the bending behaviour of a soft pneumatic actuator reinforced with Kevlar fibres. A series of experiments are designed to validate the FE model, and the FE model investigates the improvement of actuator performance. The material used for fabricating the actuator is RTV-2 silicone rubber. In this study, the Cauchy stress was expanded for hyperelastic models and the best model to express the stress-strain behaviour based on ASTM D412 Type C tensile test for this material has been obtained. The results show that the greatest bending angle was achieved for the semi-elliptical actuator made of RTV2 material with a pitch of 1.5 mm and second layer thickness of 1 mm. In comparison, the maximum response force was obtained for the semi-elliptical actuator made of RTV2 material with a pitch of 6 mm and a second layer thickness of 2 mm. Additionally, this research opens up new possibilities for development of safer and more efficient robotic systems that can interact seamlessly with humans and their environment.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.91 no.3
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• pp.315-324
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• 2024

An expansive soil in 4970 special railway line in Dangyang City, China, has encountered a series of landslides due to the expansion characteristics of expansive soil over the past 50 years. Thereafter, a sheet-pile retaining structure was adopted to fortify the expansive soil slope after a comprehensive discussion. In order to evaluate the efficacy of engineering measure of sheet-pile retaining structure, the field test was carried out to investigate the lateral pressure and pile bending moment subjected to construction and service conditions, and the local daily rainfall was also recorded. It took more than 500 days to carry out the field investigation, and the general change laws of lateral pressure and pile bending moment versus local daily rainfall were obtained. The results show that the effect of rainfall on the moisture content of backfill behind the wall decreases with depth. The performance of sheet-pile retaining structure is sensitive to the intensity of rainfall. The arching effect is reduced significantly by employing a series of sheet behind piles. The lateral pressure behind the sheet exhibits a single-peak distribution. The turning point of the horizontal swelling pressure distribution is correlated with the self-weight pressure distribution of soil and the variation of soil moisture content. The measured pile bending moment is approximately 44% of the ultimate pile capacity, which indicates that the sheet-pile retaining structure is in a stable service condition with enough safety reserve.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.291-300
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• 2024

Uncertainty of the model, system delay and drive dynamics can be considered as normal uncertainties, and the main source of uncertainty in the seismic control system is related to the nature of the simulated seismic error. In this case, optimizing the management strategy for one particular seismic record will not yield the best results for another. In this article, we propose a framework for online management of active structural management systems with seismic uncertainty. For this purpose, the concept of reinforcement learning is used for online optimization of active crowd management software. The controller consists of a differential controller, an unplanned gain ratio, the gain of which is enhanced using an online reinforcement learning algorithm. In addition, the proposed controller includes a dynamic status forecaster to solve the delay problem. To evaluate the performance of the proposed controllers, thousands of ground motion data sets were processed and grouped according to their spectrum using fuzzy clustering techniques with spatial hazard estimation. Finally, the controller is implemented in a laboratory scale configuration and its operation is simulated on a vibration table using cluster location and some actual seismic data. The test results show that the proposed controller effectively withstands strong seismic interference with delay. The goals of this paper are towards access to adequate, safe and affordable housing and basic services, promotion of inclusive and sustainable urbanization and participation, implementation of sustainable and disaster-resilient buildings, sustainable human settlement planning and manage. Simulation results is believed to achieved in the near future by the ongoing development of AI and control theory.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.35-45
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• 2013

The concrete-filled tube column has the excellent structural performance. But it is difficult to connect with column and beam because of closed section. It suggests that pipe should be produced by welding two sides together where two shapes are joined after a channel is pre-welded onto the three sides in order to form an internal diaphragm. The upper diaphragm of the connection used the horizontal plate and the lower diaphragm used the Vertical plate. This research performed 6 monotonic tension experiments describing the connection upside and downside in order to evaluate the structural capability of the offered connection. And the cyclic loading experiment was performed about 2 T-Type column to beam connections. As to the experimental result edge cutting geometry, there was no big effect. An increase in the number of holes of the plate ultimate strength was increased by 5% and The thickness of the plate increases, the maximum strength was increased by 4%. T-Type connections until it reaches the plastic moment showed a stable behavior.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.27-35
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• 2012

Facings of mechanically stabilized earth retaining walls have function to fix the reinforcement and prevent backfill loss, but the walls are lack of structural rigidity capable of resisting applied loads. The reinforced subgrade with rigid wall was developed to have the structural functions under train loading. Though it has lots of advantages such as small deformation after construction, its negative side effects of economics and difficult construction were mainly mentioned and not practically used. To apply it for railroad subgrade, this study focus on the construction cost down and the enhancement of constructability without functional loss. To do so, the behaviors of reinforced subgrade with rigid wall were evaluated with the change of the vertical spacing and length of reinforcement. Small scale model tests (1/10 scale) and 3 m full scale tests were performed to evaluate deformation characteristics of reinforced subgrade under simulated train loading. Even though it uses short reinforcement, it showed small horizontal displacement of wall and plastic settlement of subgrade. Also, it was verified that not only 30 cm but also 40 cm of vertical spacing of reinforcement had good performance in serviceability aspects.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.38 no.10
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• pp.1093-1100
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• 2014

The purpose of this paper is to suggest a weight-reduction design method for the hybrid carbody of a high-speed maglev train that uses aluminum extrusion profiles and sandwich composites. A sandwich composite was used on the roof as a secondary member to minimize the weight. In order to assemble the sandwich composite roof and aluminum extrusion side frame of the carbody using welding, a guide aluminum frame located at the four sides of the sandwich composite roof was introduced in this study. The clamping force of this guide aluminum frame was verified by three-point bending test. The structural integrity and crashworthiness of the hybrid carbody of a high-speed maglev train were evaluated and verified according to the Korean Railway Safety Law using a commercial finite element analysis program. The results showed that the hybrid carbody composed of aluminum extrusion frames and a sandwich composite roof was lighter in weight than a carbody made only of aluminum extrusion profiles and had better structural performance.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.543-550
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• 2018

The rapid growth of IoT technology induced by the fourth industrial revolution has resulted in research into various types of wireless sensors, and applications based on this technology are prevalent in many areas. However, among the various sites where this technology is used, railway bridges and tunnels with lengths of tens of kilometers have problems with data acquisition, due to the signal noise induced by the long distance measurement and EMI induced by the high voltage power feeding system, when conventional electric sensors are used. To overcome these problems, many studies on fiber optic sensors have been conducted as a substitute for the conventional electric sensors. However, restrictions on the types of fiber optic sensors have limited their application in railways. For this reason, a hybrid measurement system with IoT based wireless data communication, in which both electric and fiber optic sensors can be applied simultaneously, has been developed. In this study, in order to evaluate the applicability of the hybrid measurement system developed in the previous study, a real-time test for 4 types of measurement environments, which reflect possible railway sites, is performed. As a result, it was confirmed that the signals from both the electric and fiber optic sensors, which were acquired at a remote area in real-time, showed good agreement with each other and that this measurement system has the potential to handle sensors with a sampling rate of 2.5 kHz. In the future, it is expected that the IoT-based hybrid measurement system will contribute to the improvement of structural safety by enabling real-time structural health monitoring when applied to various measurement sites.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.237-248
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• 2017

Frequent terror or military attack by explosion, impact, fire accidents have occurred recently. These attacks and incidents raised public concerns and anxiety of potential terrorist attacks on important infrastructures. However, structural behavioral researches on prestressed concrete (PSC) infrastructures such as Prestressed Concrete Containment Vessel (PCCV) and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) storage tanks under extreme loading are significantly lacking at this time. Also, researches on possible secondary fire scenarios after terror and bomb explosion has not been performed yet. Therefore, a study on PSC structural behavior from an blast-induced fire scenario was undertaken. To evaluate the blast-fire combined resistance capacity and its protective performance of bi-directional unbonded PSC member, blast-fire tests were carried out on $1,400mm{\times}1,000mm{\times}300mm$ PSC specimens. Blast loading tests were performed by the detonation of 25 kg ANFO explosive charge at 1.0 m standoff distance. Also, fire and blast-fire combined loading were tested using RABT fire loading curve. The test results are discussed in detail in the paper. The results can be used as basic research references for related research areas, which include protective design simulation under blast-fire combined loading.

• The Journal of Information Systems
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.1-25
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• 2016

Purpose The innovation capability nowadays has become increasingly prominent in the universities not only for schools but also for teachers. However, due to less attention to the knowledge utilization and management, also some objective constraints, which caused the low level of the innovation capacity for our universities teachers under the current development in China. Meanwhile, transactive memory system (TMS) and knowledge sharing are important contents in knowledge management. The combination of both systems will contribute to a much more comprehensive understanding and performance of knowledge management. The purpose of this study is to investigate the structural relationships between TMS, knowledge sharing, and innovation capability among Chinese university teachers' teams, and to propose the practical implication to integrate effectively internal knowledge of the team to improve innovation capability. Design/methodology/approach In order to exam and verify the hypothesis proposed, we developed a questionnaire with 16 survey items, and each item comes with a five-point Likert-type scale. Hyperlink of online questionnaire was shared through WeChat. It's collected 201 responses from 14 universities in China, and the responders are teaching groups' leaders. And all together 191 responses were filtered out as the valid samples. And we analyze the data set and test research hypotheses by using SPSS 22.0 and AMOS 22.0. Findings All hypotheses are supported. The results reveal that knowledge sharing plays an important role in this study as the mediating role. TMS is positively associated with the innovation capability. And the knowledge sharing plays a significant role as mediating value between them, and influences the TMS's effect on innovation capability. It's thus cleared that if our teachers could well communicate, exchange and collaborate with other teachers in the same group, the innovation capability among the teachers would be improved effectively.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.45-52
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• 2015

Fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) has been generally accepted by civil engineers as an alternative for steel reinforcing bars (rebar) due to its advantageous specific tensile strength and non-corrosiveness. Even though some glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) rebars are available on a market, GFRP is still somewhat uncompetitive over steel rebar due to their high cost and relatively low elastic modulus, and brittle failure characteristic. If the price of component materials of GFRP rebar is not reduced, it would be another solution to increase the performance of each material to the highest degree. The tensile strength generally decreases with increasing diameter of FRP rebar. One of the reasons is that only fibers except for fibers in center resist the external force due to the lack of force transfer and the deformation of only outer fibers by gripping system. Eliminating fibers in the center, which do not play an aimed role fully, are helpful to reduce the price and finally FRP rebar would be optimized over the price. In this study, the effect of the hollow section in a cross-section of a GFRP rebar was investigated. A GFRP rebar with 19 mm diameter was selected and an analysis was performed for the tensile test results. Parameter was the ratio of hollow section over solid cross-section. Four kinds of hollow sections were planned. A total of 27 specimens, six specimens for each hollow section and three specimens with a solid cross-section were manufactured and tested. The change by the ratio of hollow section over solid cross-section was analyzed and an optimized cross-section design was proposed.