Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Artificial crack'

Over the last decades, numerous techniques have been proposed worldwide to assess the actual damage of critical concrete infrastructure. A method that has progressively been used in North America is a novel microscopic tool, the Damage Rating Index (DRI). This semi-quantitative petrographic tool was developed to reliably appraise both the nature and degree of damage in concrete affected by alkali-silica reaction (ASR), which may threaten the serviceability and the durability of concrete infrastructure around the world. Performing the DRI consists of counting numerous distress features (i.e. closed and open cracks in the aggregate and cement paste) encountered on the surface of polished concrete sections (lab-made specimens or cores extracted from field structures) using a stereomicroscope at 16x magnification; once recognized and counted, the distinct distress features are multiplied by weighting factors whose purpose is to balance their relative importance towards the distress mechanism under consideration (e.g., ASR). Although reliable and efficient, performing the DRI is exceptionally time-consuming, and its results are highly operator sensitive, requiring an experienced petrographer. Therefore, this study proposes using artificial intelligence (AI) through machine learning (ML) techniques to automate the DRI test protocol estimating the damage degree of concrete affected by ASR. The ML subfield known as Deep Learning (DL) was implemented to create human-like intelligence connections using a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) algorithm, which can predict the DRI results (machine assessment) that are close to those expected (human assessment. This research is divided into two phases: 1) performing cracks recognition using sliding windows and 2) an advanced pixel recognition. In the first phase, the results displayed some inconsistencies in cracks classification; yet, for cracks identification in the cement paste, in particular, this method presented promising results. However, the advanced pixel recognition improved the drawbacks of the first phase, providing a more accurate cracks recognition and classification. The DRI number estimation was subsequently implemented into the CNN model achieving a 74.4% accuracy. Hence, the DRI automation is a revolutionary step towards a more ubiquitous use of the method since less time is required to perform the task, besides avoiding variability among petrographers and enabling non/less experienced professionals to take advantage of this powerful microscopic tool. With a more widely accessible diagnostic tool, ASR-affected critical concrete infrastructure could be more efficiently assessed, which would ultimately increase their safety.

Damage identification is an important topic in structural assessment and structural health monitoring (SHM). Vibration-based identification techniques use modal data to identify the existence, location and severity of possible damages in structures, often via a numerical model updating procedure. Among other factors influencing the practicality and reliability of a damage identification approach, two are of primary interest to this study. The first one concerns the amount and quality of modal data that can be used as ‘response’ data for the model updating. It is generally recognised that natural frequencies can be measured with relatively high accuracy; however, their number is limited. Mode shapes, on the other hand, are susceptible to larger measurement errors. Seeking additional modal frequency data is therefore of significant value. The second one concerns the errors at the numerical (finite element) model level, particularly in the representation of the effect of damage on the dynamic properties of the structure. An inadequate damage model can lead to inaccurate and even false damage identification. The first part of the thesis is devoted to enhancing the modal dataset by extracting the so called ‘artificial boundary condition’ (ABC) frequencies in a real measurement environment. The ABC frequencies correspond to the natural frequencies of the structure with a perturbed boundary condition, but can be generated without the need of actually altering the physical support condition. A comprehensive experimental study on the extraction of such frequencies has been conducted. The test specimens included steel beams of relatively flexible nature, as well as thick and stiffer beams made from metal material and reinforced concrete, to cover the typical variation of the dynamic characteristics of real-life structures in a laboratory condition. The extracted ABC frequencies are subsequently applied in the damage identification in beams. Results demonstrate that it is possible to extract the first few ABC frequencies from the modal testing in different beam settings for a variety of ABC incorporating one or two virtual pin supports. The inclusion of ABC frequencies enables the identification of structural damages satisfactorily without the necessity to involve the mode shape information. The second part of the thesis is devoted to developing a robust model updating and damage identification approach for beam cracks, with a special focus on thick beams which present a more challenging problem in terms of the effect of a crack than slender beams. The priority task has been to establish a crack model which comprehensively describes the effect of a crack to reduce the modelling errors. A cracked Timoshenko beam element model is introduced for explicit beam crack identification. The cracked beam element model is formulated by incorporating an additional flexibility due to a crack using the fracture mechanics principles. Complex effects in cracked thick beams, including shear deformation and coupling between transverse and longitudinal vibrations, are represented in the model. The accuracy of the cracked beam element model for predicting modal data of cracked thick beams is first verified against numerically simulated examples. The consistency of predictions across different modes is examined in comparison with the conventional stiffness reduction approach. Upon satisfactory verification, a tailored model updating procedure incorporating an adaptive discretisation approach is developed for the implementation of the cracked beam element model for crack identification. The updating procedure is robust in that it has no restriction on the location, severity and number of cracks to be identified. Example updating results demonstrate that satisfactory identification can be achieved for practically any configurations of cracks in a beam. Experimental study with five solid beam specimens is then carried out to further verify the developed cracked beam element model. Both forward verification and crack damage identification with the tested beams show similar level of accuracy to that with the numerically simulated examples. The cracked beam element model can be extended to crack identification of beams with complex cross sections. To do so the additional flexibility matrix for a specific cross-section type needs to be re-formulated. In the present study this is done for box sections. The stress intensity factors (SIF) for a box section as required for the establishment of the additional flexibility matrix are formulated with an empirical approach combining FE simulation, parametric analysis and regression analysis. The extended cracked beam element model is verified against both FE simulated and experimentally measured modal data. The model is subsequently incorporated in the crack identification for box beams. The successful extension of the cracked beam element model to the box beams paves the way for similar extension to the crack identification of other types of sections in real-life engineering applications.

Elektromagnetisk provning (ECT) har blivit en av de mest använda metoderna för attkvalitetssäkra produkter där icke-destruktiv testning av material krävs. Vid provning av ståltrådinteragerar utrustningen med det testade materialet och upptäcker ytdefekter och, i vissomfattning, om strukturen skiljer sig från det kalibrerade provet. Om produkten befinner sigutanför specifikationen, skrotas den eller ombearbetas. Denna Mastersuppsats undersökerkalibreringsförfarandet för elektromagnetisk provning som utförs av Suzuki Garphyttan, som är enav de största tillverkarna i världen av ventil- och transmissionsfjädrar för bilindustrin. Genom deslutsatser som framgår av denna rapport, som baseras på undersökningar gjorda i vetenskapligaartiklar och genom att analysera den data som inhämtats från produktionen, presenteras enstandardisering av kalibreringsförfarandet. Detta är nödvändigt för att säkerställa såväl testernastillförlitlighet, såväl som minimering av risken för att skrota ut material på grund av felaktigainställningar, till exempel på grund av otillräckligt signal-brus (S/N)-förhållande. Fokus ligger påsond-baserad, roterande testning, i denna avhandling kallad circografen, eftersom den är manuelltkalibrerad.Några av de konstaterade resultaten i rapporten är:● Standard Operating Procedures (SOP)-baserade instruktioner implementeras i företagetskvalitetssystem. Detta för att minska variationer i kvalitet mellan olika operatörer ochmaskiner.● Ett förslag på intervaller för värden (fasvinkel, förstärkning, korrigering av filter och såvidare) presenteras. Detta är baserat på insamlad unik produktionsdata från operatöreroch utförda test.● Fasvinklarna som används varierar inom specifika intervaller och bestäms av materialval iallmänhet och frekvensval i synnerhet.● Konduktivitets- och permeabilitetsvärdena för oljehärdad tråd, liksom penetrationsdjupetför tre olika frekvenser presenteras.● Härdningsfel kan inte detekteras i roterande provning● Ökat kolinnehåll minskar den elektriska ledningsförmågan och ger ökad resistivitet, vilketgör att fasen flyttar sig och resulterar i ett minskande gap mellan brussignal ochspricksignal.
Eddy current testing (ECT) has become one of the most extensively used methods to secure theproducts and constructions when non-destructive testing is required. In typical cases of steel wiretesting, the equipment interacts with the tested material and discovers surface defects and, to alimited extent, if the inner structure is differing from the calibration sample. If the product isfound to be outside specification, it is either scrapped or reworked. This master thesis investigatesthe Eddy current testing calibration procedures performed by steel wire manufacturer SuzukiGarphyttan, which is one of the largest producers in the world of valve and transmission springwire for the automotive industry. By the research shown in this thesis, based on the investigationmade in scientific papers and by analyzing data extracted from production, a standardization ofthe calibration procedure is being presented. This is to secure both the testing reliability, andminimizing the risk of scrapping material due to inaccurate settings, for example due toinsufficient signal to noise (S/N) ratio. The focus is on probe-based, rotating testing, in this thesiscalled the circograph, since it is manually calibrated.Some of the findings established in the report: Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) based instructions is being implemented in thecompany's Quality system. This is to decrease the process variations between differentoperators and machines. Suggestions of intervals for values (Phase angle, gain, filter correction and so forth) arepresented. These values are based on collected unique production data from operators andmachines, as well as performed tests. The phase angles used are ranging between specific value intervals, and set by materialchoice in general and choice of frequency in particular. The conductivity and permeability values for oil-tempered wire, as well as penetrationdepth for three different frequencies, are presented. Hardening error cannot be detected in the circograph. Increased carbon content is decreasing conductivity and increasing resistivity, causing thephase to move slightly and decreasing the gap between noise signal and crack signal.

Le béton armé est connu l’un des matériaux les plus utilisés dans la construction. Néanmoins, après une période de mise en exploitation, il peut se corroder. Les chlorures et la carbonatation sont les principaux facteurs provoquant la corrosion des structures en béton armé. La thèse a pour objectif d’étudier le comportement à la corrosion du béton armé sous l’environnement de carbonatation ou des chlorures, correspondant à l'influence de l’effet de la qualité de l’interface acier/mortier (top-bar effet), du type de ciment ainsi que de la fissure transversale artificielle ou des fissures transversales induites par la charge mécanique.En général, la corrosion induite par la carbonatation est étudiée du point de vue de la corrosion uniforme. Le premier objectif de la thèse est de confirmer l’opinion de la corrosion par macro-cellule ou non uniforme dans la corrosion induite par la carbonatation. Selon les résultats expérimentaux, le taux de corrosion dans les armatures de béton carbonaté est susceptible d'être considéré du point de vue de la corrosion uniforme et macro-cellule, qui est fortement influencée par le rapport cathode/anode. De plus, l'application de CEM III utilisant des laitiers comme addition minérale a montré une réduction efficace de la corrosion non uniforme.La deuxième partie se concentre sur l'influence de l’effet de la qualité de l’interface acier/mortier (top-bar effet) sur le comportement de la corrosion dans le cas d'une corrosion induite par la carbonatation et de la présence d'une fissure induite par la charge mécanique. Le suivi du courant de corrosion par macro-cellule a été utilisée dans les essais expérimentaux. Puis la perte de masse ainsi que la cinétique de corrosion ont été calculée. La corrosion s'est développée principalement au niveau du pré-fissures. En raison de l’effet de la qualité de l’interface acier/mortier, les barres supérieures étaient plus corrodées que les barres inférieures. La valeur du courant de la corrosion mesurée sur les barres supérieures a été observée plus élevée que sur les barres inférieures. La perte de masse de l'acier calculée à partir de la mesure du suivi de courant ne correspond qu'à une petite partie de la perte de masse totale déterminée par la mesure gravimétrique. La corrosion uniforme semble être le phénomène principal.La dernière partie étudie l’effet de la qualité de l’interface acier/mortier (top-bar effet) dans des échantillons de béton fibré avec ou sans fissure artificielle sur la corrosion induite par les chlorures. Les barres supérieures sont plus corrodées que les barres inférieures et la partie supérieure de la barre supérieure présente une corrosion plus élevée que la partie inférieure. En présence de fissures artificielles, le ‘’top-bar effet’’ entraîne la propagation de la corrosion le long de la surface des barres d'acier. La corrosion se développe également le long de la barre supérieure lorsqu'il n'y a pas de fissure artificielle, dans un temps pas si différent du cas d'une fissure artificielle. Cela confirme que l'exposition de la surface supérieure et l’effet de la qualité de l’interface acier/mortier sont très préjudiciables à la corrosion. En comparant le comportement avec un béton sans fibres, il apparaît que l'ajout de fibres dans le béton armé entraîne une augmentation de la résistance à la fissuration induite par la corrosion.Dans chaque partie, les observations expérimentales sont couplées à des simulations numériques pour comparer et démontrer les résultats expérimentaux
Reinforced concrete is known one of the most popular materials applied in construction. Nevertheless after a period of time it can be corroded. Chloride and carbonation are the main factors causing to corrosion in reinforced concrete structure. The thesis aimed to study the corrosion behavior of reinforcement concrete under carbonation or chloride environment, corresponding to the influence of top-bar effect, the cement type as well as artificial transverse crack or load-induced cracks.In general carbonation induced corrosion is usually researched from the point of view that it generates uniform corrosion. The first objective of the thesis is to confirm the opinion of macro cell or non-uniform corrosion in carbonated induced corrosion. According to the results of experiments in this part, corrosion rate in carbonated concrete reinforcement is likely to consider from the point of view of both uniform and macro cell corrosion, which is highly influenced by the ratio cathode/anode. In addition the application of CEM III using slag as addictive exhibited reduction of non-uniform corrosion effectively.The second part focuses on the influence of top-bar effect on corrosion behavior in the case carbonation induced corrosion and presence of load induced crack. Macro cell corrosion current monitoring was utilized in the experiment following the loss of mass as well as corrosion kinetic was calculated. Corrosions mainly developed at the position of the pre-cracks. Due to the top-bar effect upper bars were more corroded than bottom bars. Current corrosion value of top bars was observed higher than bottom bars. Loss of steel mass calculated from macro cell current measurement corresponds to only to a small part of the total loss of mass determined by gravimetric measurement. Uniform corrosion appears to be the main phenomena.The last part investigates the effect of top-bar effect in fibers concrete samples with or without artificial crack on chloride induced corrosion. The top steel bars are more corroded than the bottom bars and the upper part of the top bar is recorded higher corrosion than the lower part. In presence of artificial crack the top casting effect results that corrosions spread along the surface of the steel bars. Corrosion also spread along the top bar when there is no artificial crack, in a time not so different from the case of artificial crack. It confirms that top surface exposure and top bar effect are highly prejudicial for corrosion. By comparing the behavior with concrete without fibers, it appears that the addition of fibers in reinforced concrete leads to an increase of resistance to corrosion induced cracking.For each part, experimental observations are coupled with numerical simulations to compare as well as demonstrate the experimental results

Very often defects are present in rolled products. For wire rods, defects are very deleterious since the wire rods are generally used directly in various applications. For this reason, the market nowadays requires wire rods to be completely defect-free. Any wire with defects must be rejected as scrap which is very costly for the production mill. Thus, it is very important to study the formation and evolution of defects during wire rod rolling in order to better understand and minimize the problem, at the same time improving quality of the wire rods and reducing production costs. The present work is focused on the evolution of artificial defects during rolling. Longitudinal surface defects are studied during shape rolling of an AISI M2 high speed steel and a longitudinal central inner defect is studied in an AISI 304L austenitic stainless steel during ultra-high-speed wire rod rolling. Experimental studies are carried out by rolling short rods prepared with arteficial defects. The evolution of the defects is characterised and compared to numerical analyses. The comparison shows that surface defects generally reduce quicker in the experiments than predicted by the simulations whereas a good agreement is generally obtained for the central defect.

The demand for flat glass is high and increasing significantly in the building industry as a direct result of architectural requirements for lightness, transparency and natural light. Current architectural trends require glass in curvilinear forms for smooth free-form façades. Two principal challenges arise from this: to cost-effectively produce the desired curvature and; to ensure its safe performance after exposure to ageing. The recent availability of high strength glass provides an opportunity to address the first challenge by developing cold bent glass. Cold bending involves the straining of relatively thin glass components, at ambient temperatures, and is a low energy and cost effective manner of creating curvilinear forms. However, cold bending is not yet widely established as a reliable method. The aim of this thesis is to develop the understanding of cold bent glass during the bending process and to evaluate its post-ageing performance. This thesis, firstly, investigates the mechanical response of monolithic glass plates during the cold bending process. The stability of cold bent glass is investigated experimentally by bending it in double curved anticlastic shapes. A parametric numerical analysis involves different boundary conditions, geometrical plate characteristics and bending parameters. The principal outcome is that a local instability, now termed cold bending distortion, occurs when certain displacement limits are exceeded and could degrade the optical quality of the glass. An evaluation procedure is also formulated to set limits and aid designers/manufacturers to predict the mechanical response and the optical quality of the glass. Cold bent glass is subjected to permanent bending stresses throughout its service life and therefore, its strength degradation after ageing needs to be quantified. Analytical, experimental and numerical investigations are undertaken in this thesis to identify the most effective method for estimating glass strength (evaluation of destructive tests, required number of specimens, statistical analysis methods and sub-critical crack growth). The limited availability of naturally aged toughened glass and the absence of a reliable ageing standard impede the evaluation of its aged performance. Therefore, a parametric experimental investigation of artificial ageing methods on glass is undertaken in this thesis. A procedure for the evaluation of the strength of aged glass is finally, formulated to allow the selection of artificial ageing parameters that correspond to a target level of erosion. The knowledge on artificial ageing and strength prediction acquired above is finally implemented on different types of glass to determine their strength after ageing and assess their safe use in cold bending / load bearing applications. The investigation showed that fully toughened glass has a superior performance to chemically toughened or annealed glass. Overall, the research presented in this thesis demonstrates that high quality cold bent toughened glass can be created when certain applied displacement limits are respected. These can be used as a safe, cost-effective and energy efficient replacement to the more conventional hot bent glass. However, cold bending / load bearing applications in which the stressed glass surface is exposed to ageing, require glass with a relatively high case depth such as fully toughened or bi-tempered glass.

The proposed diploma thesis deals with the application of methodology and tools of inverse analysis for design of selected structural parameters using a fully probabilistic analysis to determine the level of its reliability. The method based on artificial neural networks is used to approximate the inverse function. The inverse analysis was carried out in two ways that differs in the method of obtaining reliability indicators. The structure analyzed in this work was an existing bridge. The year of construction is estimated approximately between the years 1955 to 1960. The bridge is located close to the Uherský Ostroh. It is a one-piece concrete slab made of MPD3 and MPD4 girders post-tensioned by tendons. Based on the 2006 and 2007 diagnostic surveys, laboratory tests, normative regulations and recommendations and, last but not least, sensitivity analyses, an inverse design of selected design parameters was performed for required limit states. Various load levels, different alternatives of design parameters and different neural network structures were studied.

Chorin’s method, Incremental Pressure Correction Scheme (IPCS) and Crank-Nicolson’s method (CN) are three numerical methods that were investigated in this study. These methods were here used for solving the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations, which describe the motion of an incompressible fluid, in three different benchmark problems. The methods were stabilized using residual based artificial viscosity, which was introduced to avoid instability. The methods were compared in terms of accuracy and computational time. Furthermore, a theoretical study of adaptivity was made, based on an a posteriori error estimate and an adjoint problem. The implementation of the adaptivity is left for future studies. In this study we consider the following three well-known benchmark problems: laminar 2D flow around a cylinder, Taylor-Green vortex and lid-driven cavity problem. The difference of the computational time for the three methods were in general relatively small and differed depending on which problem that was investigated. Furthermore the accuracy of the methods also differed in the benchmark problems, but in general Crank-Nicolson’s method gave less accurate results. Moreover the stabilization technique worked well when the kinematic viscosity of the fluid was relatively low, since it managed to stabilize the numerical methods. In general the solution was affected in a negative way when the problem could be solved without stabilization for higher viscosities.

博士
國立臺灣大學
機械工程學研究所
87
It is well known that fatigue fracture accounts for a great number of machanical failures. When a fatigue crack is discovered in a critical component during routine maintenance, replacement of component may not be feasible as there may not be stocks or the available down-time is too limited. Some expeditious provisory fixing may then be needed to allow the component to operate safely until more elaborate repair or replacement can be arranged. Research in fatigue has largely been concentrated on understanding the mechanisms and predicting the progress of failures. Relatively little work has been done on repairing fatigue damage. Recently, infiltration of foreign materials into a fatigue crack has previously been shown to be able to retard a crack and extend fatigue life. Systematic investigation in this topic is however still lacking. The methods employed to infiltrate foreign materials into a crack are not very reliable, giving haphazard results most of the time. The aim of the current project is to develop an efficient infiltration method to ensure thorough and reproducible results. With this method, the effect of various parameters such as infiltration load level, mechanical properties of the infiltrants and applied loading level have been investigated. In addition, a successful engineering model to predict the possible outcome of retardation repair has been proposed. This has been compared with experimental results as well as a detailed three-dimensional finite element analysis.

碩士
國立臺灣大學
土木工程學研究所
99
Since World War II, the development of fracture mechanics is becoming complete. In the rock engineering field, fracture plays an important role on rock strength, so crack propagation is a big issue for studying fracture behavior of material. When the rock material damage is caused not by material strength but stress concentration of the pre-exist cracks, it becomes different from intact rock on failure strength and failure behavior, so rock mechanics can not help us do the analysis, design on engineering. On the side of geology, due to the strong orogeny, the rock mass in Taiwan is plenty of discontinuities. The discontinuities, which are perceived as the pre-existing cracks in rock mass, can affect the strength of the rock mass. In view of this, it is benefit to know the pattern of fracture propagation behaviors of artificial rocks with pre-existing cracks under biaxial loading for earthquake disaster prevention. This study was based on numerical analysis of data collected from laboratory test. The numerical simulation is executed by the distinct element method (DEM) based software, Particle Flow Code 2D. In order to acquire the parameters for PFC2D simulating and verification the PFC2D results, this study refers to data of artificial rocks are made to apply the uni-axial compression test, the Brazilian disk test and the Central through Cracked Brazilian Disc test(Huang, 2010). According to the simulation results, the lateral stress caused a great influence on fracture propagation behaviors. Behavior of specimen with single pre-exist crack is different between high and low confining pressure. The fracture propagation behavior was not obvious under higher lateral stress level. The broken area was concentrated near the pre-exist cracks and formed broad fracture lines.

碩士
國立雲林科技大學
環境與安全工程系碩士班
93
The crack has the most influence on strength of structure, therefore it need to understand the crack position and size accurately, and then prevent the great accident from happening, at last this study will research on the crack testing methods of the industry. According to ultrasonic wave has extremely good measuring ability to the metal material crack and defect of welding. And the ultrasonic wave utilized to measure metal material weld and tired caused flaw, for example crack, integration partial, seam, etc. But most judgments of the detection methods between good and bad are by the artificial crack, so this study measures the depth distance of the natural crack from surface, the irregularity of cross-section is the most different from using the artificial crack, asymmetric reflect surface has certain difficulty while transmitting, but measuring the natural crack has higher credibility than measuring the artificial crack. This study will use four methods including ultrasonic A-Scan, RT, TOFD, Ultrasonic Phased-Array to measure the same natural crack and compare with the dependability and restriction of each method, then offer user an effective, accurate and faster examining method.

碩士
國立成功大學
系統及船舶機電工程學系碩博士班
98
Neural networks have been widely used in various fields, such as diagnosis and monitoring of industrial engineering system, digital image processing and analysis, speech recognition, sonar and seismic signal classification, and financial management. The method can process complex information and establish the mapping relationship between input and output by learning and revision. Finally, an identification system is acquired. The aim of this study is to find the depth of the damage of an aluminum bar and to detect the approximate length of the crack of a damaged plate by the discrete wavelet transform and the neural network method. In numerical analysis, the first mode shape of a damaged cantilever beam and plates are simulated by the finite element method. The obtained mode shapes of the damaged cantilever beam and plates are then transformed by the discrete wavelet transform. The damage index of the beam or plates can be obtained by reconstructed the high frequencies detail signals of each layer and used to be the neural networks training samples, and then the damage identification system for beams and plates can finally be established. In experiment analysis, several accelerometers are used to measure the vibration responses of the beam, and the first mode shapes of the beam is attained by using the wavelet packet node norm. Finally, the experimental damage index are obtained and used as inputs of the identification system to find the approximate depth of the damage of a cantilever beam. It is believed that the proposed crack identification system is feasible to identify the damage depths of cantilever beams.

碩士
國立臺灣大學
土木工程學研究所
107
Structural health monitoring becomes more and more important in practice because this technology can elongate the structural life cycle as well as protect structures against natural hazards. Moreover, structural health monitoring systems can automatically inform residents and users for the current condition of structures and engineers for the current performance. In past, structural health monitoring relies on the contact sensors to acquire structural responses and then diagnoses structures in accordance with the measurements. In this research, a new method is developed to detect and quantify the concrete cracks based on the noncontact image measurements. This method integrates computer vision and deep learning to identify the crack existence and geometry. The identified cracks can provide indirect information for experts to further investigate the structural conditions. This study exploits deep learning and transfer learning, e.g., the tools in the category of artificial intelligence, to train and establish a concrete segmentation model that can identify the locations of cracks in images. In this model, the crack features can be obtained from the convolutional neural network and then automatically identify whether the cracks are present and where the cracks are. Then, the image processing and computer vision are implemented to highlight and extract these cracks from images. Finally, the geometry of these cracks (i.e., lengths and widths) can be calculated by image measurement techniques. To verify the proposed method, this study employs the images of concrete surface cracks obtained from the real-world structures and then evaluate the reliability of this method. In the verification, the pre-calibrated stereo camera model with a two-camera setup is used to verify the actual lengths and widths of cracks. The calculated results are compared with the actual measurements. As a result, the proposed method can successfully determine crack geometry. Moreover, the method also benefits users to obtain crack information and to turn into performance evaluation of concrete structures for structural health monitoring.

碩士
國立成功大學
系統及船舶機電工程學系碩博士班
101
Structural damage has been a very important issue in engineering. If damage can be detected in a timely manner, many disasters can be prevented. In recent years, wavelet transform methods have been widely used in various domains, such as image compression, noise removal, edge detection, communication, etc.This study will use the two-dimensional discrete wavelet transform method to detect the position of cracks in plate. Running data through the artificial neural network allows for large computations to be calculated at rapid speeds, and relationships between input and output are quickly achieved. The network will continuously learn and make corrections. The artificial neural network along with the two-dimensional discrete wavelet transform method is used to identify the degree of damage in this study. During the analytical simulation, several plates with cracks are analyzed and damage indexes are assigned to represent the length and the distance between the two cracks. After which, we narrowed our selection area to a single crack on the board to obtain new damage indexes. These new damage indexes, which is the training sample is then inputted into the artificial neural network. We are then able to take the damage indexes from other plate samples to be analyzed with-in the artificial neural network to obtain the length of the crack. As a result we were able to devise a method for analyzing cracks on a plate efficiently and systematically. Lastly, in order to narrow the gap between the simulations and the actual experiments, we eliminated the mode shapes’ difference between simulations and experiments, with the intention to obtain more precise results from the artificial neural network.

碩士
國立成功大學
系統及船舶機電工程學系碩博士班
99
During recent decades, there has been an increase in the number of researchers who have devoted themselves to artificial neural networks. This method has many useful characteristics that appeal to such researchers, including adaptation learning capability, fault-tolerant capability, and the ability to use practice examples to build a neural networks system. The method can process complex information and establish the correspondence between input and output relationships by learning and revision. Therefore, the neural networks have been widely used in various fields, such as analysis and design of industrial engineering system, diagnosis of mechatronics engineering system, digital image processing and analysis, quality of products analysis, and commercial financial management. In this study, two-dimensional discrete wavelet transforms and artificial neural network are utilized to identify single cracks or multi-cracks in stiffened plates. In numerical analysis, based on the dynamic properties of a stiffened plate before and after the damage has been dealt, the mode shapes for the stiffened plates are computed by FEM. The two-dimensional discrete wavelet transforms are applied to analyze the mode shapes of the stiffened plates, and then the obtained training samples of neural networks are used to establish the damage identification system for identifying the damage degree of a crack in stiffened plates. In the experiment analysis, several accelerometers are used to measure the vibration responses of the stiffened plate, and the first mode shapes of the stiffened plate are attained by using the wavelet packet analysis. The experimental damage indices are obtained by two-dimensional discrete wavelet transforms and artificial neural network. Finally, the results of the experiments are compared to the damage identification system used to detect the damage degree of the crack in the stiffened plates.

Trabajo final integrador. (Área de Consolidación Sistemas de Producción Pecuarios) -- UNC- Facultad de Ciencias Agropecuarias, 2014
El siguiente trabajo se centrará en la evaluación del manejo reproductivo postparto de la vaca lechera. El trabajo se hará sobre 4 tambos de la zona de James Craik que forman parte de un grupo: Tambo Biolatto, Tambo Pedernera, Tambo Peréz y Tambo Pineda. El objetivo del trabajo es conocer los distintos manejos reproductivos que lleva adelante cada tambo, comparar los resultados que se obtienen a través de estos distintos manejos, buscar las causas de los problemas reproductivos hallados y a partir de estos formular una serie de propuestas de solución.

Self-consolidating concrete (SCC) has wide use for placement in congested reinforced concrete structures in recent years. SCC represents one of the most outstanding advances in concrete technology during the last two decades. In the current work a great deal of cognizance pertaining to mechanical properties of SCC and comparison of fracture characteristics of notched and unnotched beams of plain concrete as well as using acoustic emission to understand the localization of crack patterns at different stages has been done. An artificial neural network (ANN) is proposed to predict the 28day compressive strength of a normal and high strength of SCC and HPC with high volume fly ash. The ANN is trained by the data available in literature on normal volume fly ash because data on SCC with high volume fly ash is not available in sufficient quantity. Fracture characteristics of notched and unnotched beams of plain self consolidating concrete using acoustic emission to understand the localization of crack patterns at different stages has been done. Considering this as a platform, further analysis has been done using moment tensor analysis as a new notion to evaluate fracture characteristics in terms of crack orientation, direction of crack propagation at nano and micro levels. Analysis of B-value (b-value based on energy) is also carried out, and this has introduced to a new idea of carrying out the analysis on the basis of energy which gives a clear picture of results when compared with the analysis carried out using amplitudes. Further a new concept is introduced to analyze crack smaller than micro (could be hepto cracks) in solid materials. Each crack formation corresponds to an AE event and is processed and analyzed for crack orientation, crack volume at hepto and micro levels using moment tensor analysis based on energy. Cracks which are tinier than microcracks (could be hepto), are formed in large numbers at very early stages of loading prior to peak load. The volume of hepto and micro cracks is difficult to measure physically, but could be characterized using AE data in moment tensor analysis based on energy. It is conjectured that the ratio of the volume of hepto to that of micro could reach a critical value which could be an indicator of onset of microcracks after the formation of hepto cracks.

Self-consolidating concrete (SCC) has wide use for placement in congested reinforced concrete structures in recent years. SCC represents one of the most outstanding advances in concrete technology during the last two decades. In the current work a great deal of cognizance pertaining to mechanical properties of SCC and comparison of fracture characteristics of notched and unnotched beams of plain concrete as well as using acoustic emission to understand the localization of crack patterns at different stages has been done. An artificial neural network (ANN) is proposed to predict the 28day compressive strength of a normal and high strength of SCC and HPC with high volume fly ash. The ANN is trained by the data available in literature on normal volume fly ash because data on SCC with high volume fly ash is not available in sufficient quantity. Fracture characteristics of notched and unnotched beams of plain self consolidating concrete using acoustic emission to understand the localization of crack patterns at different stages has been done. Considering this as a platform, further analysis has been done using moment tensor analysis as a new notion to evaluate fracture characteristics in terms of crack orientation, direction of crack propagation at nano and micro levels. Analysis of B-value (b-value based on energy) is also carried out, and this has introduced to a new idea of carrying out the analysis on the basis of energy which gives a clear picture of results when compared with the analysis carried out using amplitudes. Further a new concept is introduced to analyze crack smaller than micro (could be hepto cracks) in solid materials. Each crack formation corresponds to an AE event and is processed and analyzed for crack orientation, crack volume at hepto and micro levels using moment tensor analysis based on energy. Cracks which are tinier than microcracks (could be hepto), are formed in large numbers at very early stages of loading prior to peak load. The volume of hepto and micro cracks is difficult to measure physically, but could be characterized using AE data in moment tensor analysis based on energy. It is conjectured that the ratio of the volume of hepto to that of micro could reach a critical value which could be an indicator of onset of microcracks after the formation of hepto cracks.