Development of vehicle-recognition method on water surfaces using LiDAR data:SPD^(2)(spherically stratified point projection with diameter and distance)

Swarm robot systems are an important application of autonomous unmanned surface vehicles on water surfaces.For monitoring natural environments and conducting security activities within a certain range using a surface vehicle,the swarm robot system is more efficient than the operation of a single object as the former can reduce cost and save time.It is necessary to detect adjacent surface obstacles robustly to operate a cluster of unmanned surface vehicles.For this purpose,a LiDAR(light detection and ranging)sensor is used as it can simultaneously obtain 3D information for all directions,relatively robustly and accurately,irrespective of the surrounding environmental conditions.Although the GPS(global-positioning-system)error range exists,obtaining measurements of the surface-vessel position can still ensure stability during platoon maneuvering.In this study,a three-layer convolutional neural network is applied to classify types of surface vehicles.The aim of this approach is to redefine the sparse 3D point cloud data as 2D image data with a connotative meaning and subsequently utilize this transformed data for object classification purposes.Hence,we have proposed a descriptor that converts the 3D point cloud data into 2D image data.To use this descriptor effectively,it is necessary to perform a clustering operation that separates the point clouds for each object.We developed voxel-based clustering for the point cloud clustering.Furthermore,using the descriptor,3D point cloud data can be converted into a 2D feature image,and the converted 2D image is provided as an input value to the network.We intend to verify the validity of the proposed 3D point cloud feature descriptor by using experimental data in the simulator.Furthermore,we explore the feasibility of real-time object classification within this framework.

Molecular dynamics study of primary radiation damage in TiVTa concentrated solid-solution alloy

The primary radiation damage in pure V and TiVTa concentrated solid-solution alloy(CSA)was studied using a molecular dynamics method.We have performed displacement cascade simulations to explore the generation and evolution behavior of irradiation defects.The results demonstrate that the defect accumulation and agglomeration in TiVTa CSA are significantly suppressed compared to pure V.The peak value of Frenkel pairs during cascade collisions in TiVTa CSA is much higher than that in pure V due to the lower formation energy of point defects.Meanwhile,the longer lifetime of the thermal spike relaxation and slow energy dissipation capability of TiVTa CSA can facilitate the recombination of point defects.The defect agglomeration rate in TiVTa CSA is much lower due to the lower binding energy of interstitial clusters and reduced interstitial diffusivity.Furthermore,the occurrence probability of dislocation loops in TiVTa CSA is lower than that in pure V.The reduction in primary radiation damage may enhance the radiation resistance of TiVTa CSA,and the improved radiation tolerance is primarily attributed to the relaxation stage and long-term defect evolution rather than the ballistic stage.These results can provide fundamental insights into irradiation-induced defects evolution in refractory CSAs.

Twin lintel belt in steel for seismic strengthening of brick masonry buildings

A single-room,single-storey full-scale brick masonry building with precast RC roofing system was tested thrice under displacement controlled lateral cyclic loading,to assess the effectiveness of the basic repair and seismic strengthening techniques.Initially,the virgin building specimen was loaded laterally to f^tilure.In the second stage,the damaged building was repaired by stitching across the cracks,and tested under the same lateral loading.In the third stage,the twice-damaged structure was repaired once more by stitching and strengthened by twin lintel belt in steel and vertical comer reinforcement, and re-tested.The building strengthened by twin lintel belt in steel showed about 28% higher strength under lateral loading than the virgin building.

Dynamic Characteristics Evaluation of Innovative UHPC Pedestrian Cable Stayed Bridge

KICT (Korea Institute of Construction Technology) is conducting a project called “SUPER BRIDGE 200—Development of Low Cost and Long Life Hybrid Cable Stayed Bridge”. This project aims to reduce the construction and main- tenance costs of long-span bridges by 20% and double their lifetime through the exploitation of ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC). This paper presents the design and construction of the first pedestrian cable stayed bridge using UHPC developed by KICT. UHPC, compared to conventional concrete, has not only high compressive and tensile strengths but also high ductility. The UHPC developed at KICT is a steel fiber-reinforced cement compound presenting design compressive strength larger than 180 MPa and design tensile strength exceeding 10 MPa with water-to-binder ratio below 0.24 and admixing of 2 volume percentage of steel fiber. To show the applicability of UHPC to structures, a pedestrian cable stayed bridge (Super Bridge I) exploiting the characteristics of the developed UHPC has been planned, designed and erected at KICT. The dimension of UHPC deck is 2.7 m × 7 m as a precast segment with a typical thickness of deck of only 7 cm. However, harmful crack was observed in the deck at the time of the fabrication of the deck segments. Accordingly, new fabrication method was conceived and applied to prevent cracking of the UHPC slender deck. Four UHPC deck segments were fabricated successfully without any crack. After construction, the dynamic characteristics (natural frequencies and mode shapes) were evaluated through vibration tests since several users felt excess vibration. A vertical tuned mass damper (TMD) was proposed and installed on the parapet of the bridge. The TMD reduces the acceleration by about 30% from 0.0316 g to 0.0244 g when two pedestrians are crossing the bridge.

High frequency S wave envelope synthesis using a multiple non-isotropic scattering model: application to aftershocks from the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake

Based on the formulation of a multiple non-isotropic scattering process, a characteristic source time is introduced to define the initial impulse width of energy density at the source. An analytical expression of the initial intensity spectral density of a seismic wave is incorporated into the integral equation of seismic wave energy density. And, a recursive formula of Green＇s function is derived to obtain the higher order Green＇s function, which is included to describe the stronger non-isotropic scattering process. Then, the effect of the scattering pattern on the energy density envelope is investigated by the modified scattering theory. Significant differences arc found in the decay of the energy density envelopes with distances using different scattering patterns. The envelope synthesized by the forward dominated scattering pattern is larger than the results obtained by the isotropic and backward dominated scattering pattern. Different scattering patterns are also used to fit the observation data from the aftershocks of the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. It is concluded that the envelopes synthesized by the forward scattering pattern can match the data better than the isotropic and backward dominated scattering cases, and a new interpretation of the coda wave is given. Finally, using the forward dominated scattering pattern, the envelope broadening of the observed data is reproduced.

Evaluation of the Shear Strength of Perfobond Rib Connectors in Ultra High Performance Concrete

Since the previous strength prediction models for the perfobond rib connector were proposed based upon the results of push-out tests conducted on concretes with compressive strength below 50 MPa, push-out test is performed on perfobond shear connectors applying ultra high performance concretes with compressive strength higher than 80 MPa to evaluate their shear resistance. The test variables are chosen to be the diameter and number of dowel holes and, the change in the shear strength of the perfobond rib connector is examined with respect to the strength of two types of UHPC: steel fiber-reinforced concrete with compressive strength of 180 MPa and concrete without steel fiber with compressive strength of 80 MPa. The test results reveal that higher concrete strength and larger number of holes increased the shear strength, and that higher increase rate in the shear strength was achieved by the dowel action. The comparison with the predictions obtained by the previous models shows that the experimental results are close to the values given by the model proposed by Oguejiofor and Hosain [1].

Application of thermodynamics-based rate-dependent constitutive models of concrete in the seismic analysis of concrete dams

This paper discusses the seismic analysis of concrete dams with consideration of material nonlinearity. Based on a consistent rate-dependent model and two thermodynamics-based models, two thermodynamics-based rate-dependent constitutive models were developed with consideration of the influence of the strain rate. They can describe the dynamic behavior of concrete and be applied to nonlinear seismic analysis of concrete dams taking into account the rate sensitivity of concrete. With the two models, a nonlinear analysis of the seismic response of the Koyna Gravity Dam and the Dagangshan Arch Dam was conducted. The results were compared with those of a linear elastic model and two rate-independent thermodynamics-based constitutive models, and the influences of constitutive models and strain rate on the seismic response of concrete dams were discussed. It can be concluded from the analysis that, during seismic response, the tensile stress is the control stress in the design and seismic safety evaluation of concrete dams. In different models, the plastic strain and plastic strain rate of concrete dams show a similar distribution. When the influence of the strain rate is considered, the maximum plastic strain and plastic strain rate decrease.

DISSIPATION-BASED CONSISTENT RATE-DEPENDENT MODEL FOR CONCRETE

An energy-dissipation based viscoplastic consistency model is presented to describe the performance of concrete under dynamic loading. The development of plasticity is started with the thermodynamic hypotheses in order that the model may have a sound theoretical background. Independent hardening and softening and the rate dependence of concrete are described separately for tension and compression. A modified implicit backward Euler integration scheme is adopted for the numerical computation. Static and dynamic behavior of the material is illustrated with certain numerical examples at material point level and structural level, and compared with existing experimental data. Results validate the effectiveness of the model.

Conceptual Design of Hybrid Cable-Stayed Bridge with Central Span of 1000 m Using UHPC

Ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) is featured by a compressive strength 5 times higher than that of ordinary concrete and by a high durability owing to the control of the chloride penetration speed by its dense structure. The high strength characteristics of UHPC offer numerous advantages like the reduction of the quantities of cables and foundations by the design of a lightweight superstructure in the case of the long-span bridge preserving its structural performance through axial forces and structures governed by compression. This study conducted the conceptual design of a hybrid cable-stayed bridge with central span of 1000 m and exploiting 200 MPa-class UHPC. The economic efficiency of the conceptual design results of the hybrid cable-stayed bridge with central span of 1000 m and of Sutong Bridge, the longest cable-stayed bridge in the world, was analyzed.

Preparation of PVC/PVP composite polymer membranes via phase inversion process for water treatment purposes

In this work, new composite membranes were successfully prepared via phase inversion technique using polyvinyl chloride(PVC) and polyvinylpyrrolidone(PVP) as polymers and tetrahydrofuran(THF) and N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone(NMP) as solvents. The prepared membranes have been characterized by scanning electron microscope(SEM), and fourier transforms infrared spectroscopy(FTIR). The scanning electron microscope results prove that the prepared membranes are smooth and their pores are distributed throughout the whole surface and bulk body of the membrane without any visible cracks. The stress–strain mechanical test showed an excellent mechanical behavior enhanced by the presence of PVP in the prepared membranes. The membranes performance results showed that the salt rejection reached 98% with a high flux. This, in turn, makes the prepared membranes can be applied for sea and brackish water treatment through membrane distillation technology.

Rolling Fatigue Test of Large-Sized UHPC Member for Cable Stayed Bridge

Recently, research strives to apply Ultra High Performance Concrete (UHPC) to large-sized structures owing to its remarkable mechanical performance and durability compared to normal concrete. The Korea Institute of Construction Technology proposed SuperBridge800, an edge girder type UHPC cable stayed bridge with central span of 800 m, through its detailed design. The bridge is designed to be erected through the connection of precast UHPC segments. The precast UHPC segment is monolithically composed of one ribbed deck slab and edge girders at each side. The connection between the precast segments is achieved by steel bars at the edge girders and by UHPC cast-in-place wet joint at the slab. Despite of the outstanding mechanical performance of UHPC, the fabrication of large-sized members is a difficult task since UHPC hardens faster than normal concrete and requires a special curing process. Therefore, the constructability of large-sized UHPC segment should be secured to achieve SuperBridge800. Besides, the performance of the connection between segments should also be guaranteed, especially in terms of the fatigue performance of the UHPC cast-in-place joint, which constitutes a weak point. To that goal, two half-scaled UHPC segments are manufactured and the constructability is examined by fabricating a large-sized UHPC member connected with respect to the design conditions. This study conducts rolling fatigue test on the so-fabricated large-sized UHPC member. Rolling fatigue test is carried out up to 2 million cycles considering actual vehicle load at each center and quarter points of the member. The test results confirm that the service limit state is satisfied.

A Study on the Characteristics for the Ground Vibration Due to the Travelling Tilting Train

The development of the tilting train can contribute to solve the economic burden and enhance the transportation means of areas that did not share the benefits of the high speed railway. But the dynamic behavior caused by the interaction between the train and the track as well as the environmental vibrations along the railway should be evaluated to secure the safety of the train and riding comfort. In this paper a study on the characteristics for ground vibration due to the tilting train travelling in the conventional line are carried out. The transmitted load into the ground is computed through a study on the interrelation between the tilting car and the line. This load is applied into the numerical model which is one for the analysis of ground vibration due to the travelling tilting car. The far fields on the numerical model are formed by the absorbing boundary using dashpot, one of the most widely used absorbing boundary in finite element analysis. Using this numerical model, the analysis of the ground vibration characteristics caused by travelling tilting car is performed. From the analysis, it is shown that the transferred load due to the tilting train is larger than that of the conventional train.

Development of Optimal Structural System for Hybrid Cable-Stayed Bridges Using Ultra High Performance Concrete

This study developed an optimal structural system for the hybrid cable-stayed bridge expected to have a durable lifetime of 200 years and of which major structural members are made of ultra high performance concrete (UHPC) with 200 MPa-class compressive strength. This innovative cable-stayed bridge system makes it possible to reduce each of the construction and maintenance costs by 20% compared to the conventional concrete cable-stayed bridge by improving significantly the weight and durability of the bridge. Therefore, detail design is carried out considering a real 800 m cable-stayed bridge and the optimal structure of the hybrid cable-stayed bridge is proposed and verified.

Experimental Study on the Mechanical Properties of FRP Bars by Hybridizing with Steel Wires

Many studies on fiber reinforced polymer composite bars, as a substitute for reinforcing bars, have been conducted to solve corrosion of steel in reinforced concrete structures since 1960s’. However, FRP Bars have a lower elastic modulus than steel rebar as a structural component of concrete structures. Material properties with brittleness fracture and low elastic modulus can be improved by combining cheaper steel than carbon or aramid fibers. In this study, prototypes of FRP Bars with inserted steel wires (i.e., “FRP Hybrid Bars”) were developed and their tensile performance was compared depending on the proportion and diameter of steel. The FRP Hybrid Bars were made by dividing them into D13 and D16 according to the diameter and proportion of inserted wires: GFRPs were combined with wires having different diameters of 0.5 mm, 1.0 mm, and 2.0 mm in the proportion of 10%, 30%, 50%, and 70%, respectively. As a result of tensile tests, the elastic modulus of FRP Hybrid Bars were improved as 20% - 190% in comparison with the fully GFRP Bars.

A Study on the Flexural Performance of UHPC Precast Deck-Joint Interface by the Exposure of Steel Fiber

As a solution against the serviceability problem caused by the cracks occurring at the UHPC precast deck-joint interface, this study proposes a method exposing the steel fiber at the interface and evaluates the corresponding flexural performance of the lap spliced construction joint. After having slowed down the strength development of the concrete placed in the joint of the precast deck by means of a curing retardant, the concrete at the interface is crushed so as to expose the steel fibers and the change in the flexural performance is observed experimentally according to the exposure of the steel fibers. The results show that, even if the ultimate strength and stiffness of the UHPC precast deck including the joint are mostly determined by the arrangement details of the rebar lap splice, the exposure of the steel fibers can secure stable ductile behavior and reduce the width of the cracks generated at the precast deck-joint interface under service load.

Deformation Characteristics of Mono Strand Anchor Head

This paper investigates experimentally the deformation characteristics of the mono strand anchor head used in prestressed concrete bridge. Since the strains measurable in the anchor head are the axial and hoop strains, the deformation characteristics of the anchor head are examined by measuring these strains at various positions and according to the jacking force exerted on the pre-stressing strand. Moreover, the possibility to estimate the jacking force acting in the tendon based upon the measured strains and the corresponding error are evaluated.

Development of Highly Efficient Construction Technologies for Super Long Span Bridge

This paper presents highly efficient cable erection equipments and methods related to the construction of super-long-span bridges, construction technology of high towers and, technology for offshore foundations currently developed through a R&D on accelerated and cost-saving construction technology for long-span cable bridges to secure our international competitiveness. In the field of cable erection technology, AS and PPWS equipments for highly efficient erection of cable longer than 2000 m, world-class clamping bolt tensioning equipment and shape control system for super-long cable are under development. The technologies developed in the domain of construction of towers are tapered slip form system for the construction of 400 m high tower, shape and erection precision control of elevated tower and, lightweight and modular formwork for slip form system. In the domain of foundation construction, remote controlled survey equipment and analysis system for water-depth of 100 m and depth of 50 m, prediction and evaluation technology of optimal load carrying capacity and settlement complying with international standard and, highly efficient hybrid foundation construction technology suitable for ground acceleration of 0.5 g and deep soft soil are currently developed.

Behavior Characteristics of Bonded Type Anchorage for CFRP Tendon

This paper examines the shear stress and displacement occurring in CFRP tendons through finite element analysis on the parameters influencing the anchoring performance to evaluate the behavioral characteristics of the bonded type anchorage for CFRP tendon. The selected parameters are the inner angle of the anchorage barrel, the friction between the barrel and filling material, and the elastic modulus of the filling material. The difference in the behavioral characteristics is examined for each parameter. In view of the analytic results, the shear stress developed in the CFRP tendon reduces with larger inner angle of the barrel and lower elastic modulus of the filling material. However, such combination provokes also the increase of the relative displacement of the CFRP tendon. Especially, slip failure may occur due to the lack of the confining force necessary for the anchorage due to the sudden loss of vertical force brought by the wedge force. The experimental results relative to barrel inner angles of 2° and 4° showed that the specimen with an angle of 2° preserved its anchoring performance up to tensile failure whereas the specimen with an angle of 4°?failed in developing its maximum anchoring performance due to slip failure.

Load Transfer Test of Post-Tensioned Anchorage Zone in Ultra High Performance Concrete

Researches on ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) have been conducted worldwide owing to its outstanding durability and strength performances. The exploitation of the mechanical properties of UHPC will render it possible to achieve economic design through substantial reduction in the cross sectional dimensions and simplification in the reinforcement arrangement. This paper investigates experimentally the load transfer in the prestressed concrete anchorage zone. To provide distinctive features of UHPC compared to ordinary concrete, the cross sectional dimensions of the member were reduced and the stress distribution, deformation and cracking pattern of the PS anchorage zone were examined experimentally according to the degree of reinforcement of the members chosen. The distributions of the bursting stress, spalling stress and longitudinal edge stress in the specimens were observed according to the various types of reinforcement. All the specimens satisfied the load-bearing capacity criterion specified by the European ETAG-013 guidelines and their stress distributions were similar to those in the PS anchorages of post-tensioned members applying ordinary concrete. The cracks propagated longitudinally with lengths up to twice the cross sectional dimensions and their width was smaller than when applying ordinary concrete owing to the bridging effect of the steel fibers in UHPC. Accordingly, the exploitation of the high strength of UHPC enabled us to secure the resistance of the anchorage with no need for particular reinforcing devices.