• Smart Structures and Systems
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• 제9권3호
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• pp.207-230
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• 2012

Full-scale shake table seismic experiments and low-amplitude vibration tests on a masonry building are carried out to assess its seismic performance as well as study the effectiveness of a new multifunctional textile material for retrofitting masonry structures against earthquakes. The un-reinforced and the retrofitted with glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) strips masonry building was subjected to a series of earthquake excitations of increasing magnitude in order to progressively induce various small, moderate and severe levels of damage to the masonry walls. The performance of the original and retrofitted building states is evaluated. Changes in the dynamic characteristics (lowest four modal frequencies and damping ratios) of the building are used to assess and quantify the damage states of the masonry walls. For this, the dynamic modal characteristics of the structure states after each earthquake event were estimated by performing low-amplitude impulse hammer and sine-sweep forced vibration tests. Comparisons between the modal results calculated using traditional accelerometers and those using Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) sensors embedded in the reinforcing textile were carried on to investigate the reliability and accuracy of FBG sensors in tracking the dynamic behaviour of the building. The retrofitting actions restored the stiffness characteristics of the reinforced masonry structure to the levels of the original undamaged un-reinforced structure. The results show that despite a similar dynamic behavior identified, corresponding to reduction of the modal frequencies, the un-reinforced masonry building was severely damaged, while the reinforced masonry building was able to withstand, without visual damage, the induced strong seismic excitations. The applied GFRP reinforcement architecture for one storey buildings was experimentally proven reliable for the most severe earthquake accelerations. It was easily placed in a short time and it is a cost effective solution (covering only 20% of the external wall surfaces) when compared to the cost for full wall coverage by GFRPs.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제54권2호
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• pp.257-289
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• 2015

Shear connectors are generally used to link the slab and girders together in slab-on-girder bridge structures. Damage of shear connectors in such structures will result in shear slippage between the slab and girders, which significantly reduces the load-carrying capacity of the bridge. Because shear connectors are buried inside the structure, routine visual inspection is not able to detect conditions of shear connectors. A few methods have been proposed in the literature to detect the condition of shear connectors based on vibration measurements. This paper proposes a different dynamic condition assessment approach to identify the damage of shear connectors in slab-on-girder bridge structures based on power spectral density transmissibility (PSDT). PSDT formulates the relationship between the auto-spectral densities of two responses in the frequency domain. It can be used to identify shear connector conditions with or without reference data of the undamaged structure (or the baseline). Measured impact force and acceleration responses from hammer tests are analyzed to obtain the frequency response functions at sensor locations by experimental modal analysis. PSDT from the slab response to the girder response is derived with the obtained frequency response functions. PSDT vectors in the undamaged and damaged states can be compared to identify the damage of shear connectors. When the baseline is not available, as in most practical cases, PSDT vectors from the measured response at a reference sensor to those of the slab and girder in the damaged state can be used to detect the damage of shear connectors. Numerical and experimental studies on a concrete slab supported by two steel girders are conducted to investigate the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed approach. Identification results demonstrate that damages of shear connectors are identified accurately and efficiently with and without the baseline. The proposed method is also used to evaluate the conditions of shear connectors in a real composite bridge with in-field testing data.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• 제30권5호
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• pp.501-511
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• 2022

Three-dimensional (3D) models have become crucial for improving civil infrastructure analysis, and they can be used for various purposes such as damage detection, risk estimation, resolving potential safety issues, alarm detection, and structural health monitoring. 3D point cloud data is used not only to make visual models but also to analyze the states of structures and to monitor them using semantic data. This study proposes automating the generation of high-quality 3D point cloud data and removing noise using deep learning algorithms. In this study, large-format aerial images of civilian infrastructure, such as cut slopes and dams, which were captured by drones, were used to develop a workflow for automatically generating a 3D point cloud model. Through image cropping, downscaling/upscaling, semantic segmentation, generation of segmentation masks, and implementation of region extraction algorithms, the generation of the point cloud was automated. Compared with the method wherein the point cloud model is generated from raw images, our method could effectively improve the quality of the model, remove noise, and reduce the processing time. The results showed that the size of the 3D point cloud model created using the proposed method was significantly reduced; the number of points was reduced by 20-50%, and distant points were recognized as noise. This method can be applied to the automatic generation of high-quality 3D point cloud models of civil infrastructures using aerial imagery.

• 농촌계획
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• 제17권3호
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• pp.103-111
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• 2011

The purpose of this study is to review foreign scenic inventory map for the systematic management of natural scenic resources. Several foreign cases were surveyed and analyzed to apply the scenery inventory map in domestic, such as Visual Resource Management(VRM) from United States Bureau of Land Management, Scenery Management System(SMS) from USDA Forest Service and Visual Landscape Inventory(VLI) from British Columbia Ministry of Forest's, that were already established scenery inventory maps. The results are as follows. First, the characteristic of Korean landscape is quite a different from those of north american's, which is much smaller and more complex in topography and land use. So, it would be difficult to apply foreign system directly and we need more researches to our own system. The multi-stepped landscape unit system is highly recommended. Second, scenic quality could be estimated by the pre-built database, such as land forms, vegetation, hydrology and land uses. Historical and cultural attributes should be complemented. Third, existing scenic integrity could be grasped by scenic damage, landscape alteration caused by human activities and land exfoliation. Also, subjective evaluation method should be supplemented by objective criteria through further detailed studies. Finally, about landscape view conditions, landscape control points should be surveyed and established in advance, and viewing distance, viewing frequency, amount of observers and public interests should be considered.