Relationship between Shear Velocities Recorded by Microtremor Observations and Seismic Cone Penetration Test Results

This research proposes a relationship between two methods such as a numerical approach by conducting a microtremor array observation and field survey by using the seismic cone penetration test unit (SCPTu). A database of shear-wave velocity (Vs) measurements was established using the microtremor array technique and seismic cone penetration test unit (SCPTu) on high-quality samples of rock and soft soil in Padang city, Indonesia. The study also demonstrates that the Vs values obtained from the different methods are consistent with the microtremor array technique. This technique may thus be deemed a valuable tool, as it can be used in engineering practice with confidence. Comparison of the Vs for different soils at the first layer between the microtremor array observation results and the SCPTu results exhibited the microtremor array method is unable to determine the Vs at the layer where its Vs changes dramatically, such as at the same layer as station UNP at 2 to 3.5m deep.

Tensile Properties of Natural and Synthetic Rattan Strips Used as Furniture Woven Materials

This study investigated factors on tensile properties of rattan strips commonly used as woven materials for furniture. The factors were rattan type (bast, core, synthetic), gauge length (100, 140 mm), and unit loading speed (0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5 mm/min/mm). Experimental results indicated that natural bast and core rattan strips, when subjected to tensile loading, behaved like synthetic rattan strips in terms of their stress-strain curves showing excessive plastic deformation. There was no significant difference in ultimate tensile strain between bast and synthetic rattan strips. Bast rattan strips had the highest ultimate tensile strength and modulus of elasticity among three materials evaluated in this study, followed by core rattan and synthetic strips. The major tensile properties of natural rattan bast strips can be influenced by their gauge length adapted to their evaluation test. Unit loading speeds, in general, had no significant effects on the major tensile properties of natural bast rattan strips but tended to significantly effect the ultimate strength of synthetic rattan strips, while less significantly for strengths at the proportional limit and yield point.

Microstructural Stress Shape Optimization Using the Level Set Method

This paper applies stress-based shape optimization to microstructures, a scarcely explored topic in the literature. As the actual stresses arising at the macroscopic structure are scale separated, the microstrucural stress is considered herein as the state of a representative volume element (RVE) after applying test unit strain load cases, not related to the macroscale loads. The three stress states in 2D are aggregated via p-norm functions, which are used for stress minimization. A stress-based level set method is applied. The method linearizes the objective and constraint functions and solves an optimization problem at every iteration to obtain the boundary velocities. The Ersatz material approach is used to compute the stiffness of the elements sliced by the boundary. A single hole inclusion microstructure is optimized for minimum stress in order to verify the methodology.