Cu-Ti thin films were fabricated using a combinatorial sputtering system to realize highly sensitive surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices. The Cu-Ti sample library was grown with various chemical compositions and electrical resistivity, providing important information for selecting the most suitable materials for SAW devices. Considering that acoustic waves generated from piezoelectric materials are significantly affected by the resistivity and density of interdigital transducer (IDT) electrodes, three types of Cu-Ti thin films with different Cu contents were fabricated. The thickness of the Cu-Ti thin films used in the SAW-IDT electrode was fixed at 150 nm. As the Cu content of the Cu-Ti films was increased from 31.2 to 71.3 at%, the resistivity decreased from 10.5 to 5.8 × 10-5 ohm-cm, and the density increased from 5.5 to 7.3 g/cm3, respectively. A SAW device composed of Cu-Ti IDT electrodes resonated at exactly 143 MHz without frequency shifts, but the full width at half maximum (FWHM) values of the resonant frequency gradually increased as the Cu content increased. This means that although the increase in Cu content in the Cu-Ti thin film helps to improve the electrical properties of the IDT electrode, the increased density of the IDT electrode deteriorates the acoustic performance of SAW devices.

도시공원에서 발생하는 생물음향은 도시의 전반적인 소리 다양성을 높여 조화로운 음환경을 조성하고 사운드스케이 프의 균형을 유지시킨다. 그러나 현대 사회의 급속한 도시화 과정으로 인해 소음이 증가하면서 도시공원의 음환경이 지속적으로 악화되고 있다. 본 연구에서는 남산 도시자연공원을 대상으로 사운드스케이프를 분석함으로써 도시공원의 음환경을 모니터링할 수 있는 접근법을 제시하고자 하였다. 음향자료는 자율형 녹음장비를 이용하여 서울 남산도시공원 의 4개 시설지구에서 2021년 8월부터 1달간 연속으로 수집하여 총 2,784시간의 자료를 획득하였다. 또한 사운드스케이 프 변동성, 음향 다양성, 생물음향 발생정도, 그리고 인위적 소리에 의한 교란을 나타내는 음향지수(ACI, ADI, BI, NDSI)를 이용하여 각 지구에서 시간 흐름에 따른 사운드스케이프 특징을 비교하였다. 분석 결과, 생물음향 발생과 관련된 음향지수는 지역 간 차이를 보였으나 그 외 대부분의 지수는 인위적 소리의 영향으로 인해 유사한 패턴을 보였다. 특히, 생물활동이 높은 시간이라도 인간의 활동 또한 많은 시간대에는 지역별 차이가 좁혀졌다. 이를 통해 도시공원의 사운드스케이프 특징 분석을 위해서는 음향지수의 소리 반영 특성을 고려하고, 여러 지수를 함께 활용하는 복합적 접근법이 필요함을 확인하였다. 본 연구결과는 사운드스케이프 기반의 도시생태계 건강성을 평가하는 기초자료 를 제공하고 나아가 복잡한 도시공원의 음환경을 모니터링하는 데 활용 가능할 것으로 기대된다.

We presented foundational findings regarding the occurrence and acoustic characteristics of the finless porpoise through passive acoustic and visual surveys conducted on the southern coast of Korea, specifically at Hadong Jungpyeong Port. Over a survey period spanning from July 8 to August 16, 2023, totaling 40 days, we observed peaks in the number of clicks produced by this species on July 15, July 24, August 4, August 11, and August 16. The highest count, totaling 18,924 clicks, was recorded on July 15th, while the lowest count, at 3,888 clicks, occurred on August 8th. Examining the acoustic characteristics throughout the diurnal cycle, we found that the peak activity in terms of DPM (detection positive minute for one hour), DP10M (DPM for ten minutes), and overall number of click sounds was observed between 05:00 and 08:00, with a secondary peak occurring from 17:00 to 18:00. The quietest period was noted between 23:00 and 02:00. Furthermore, there was a significant increase in the number of clicks from sunrise, with the maximum count of 21,581 clicks recorded at 6 AM. This count gradually decreased until noon, experienced a slight increase thereafter, peaked again at sunset, and then declined. The dominant frequency mode of this species was 126 kHz, with a concentration ranging from 112 to 136 kHz. The average duration of a click sound was 127 ㎲, with approximately 16 sinusoids (cycles) within each click sound and an average cycle length of approximately 7.9 ㎲. These findings from our study are anticipated to serve as foundational data for the development of a Korean pinger and acoustic warning system.

Research has been conducted on acoustic metamaterials that control the transmission characteristics of reflected and refracted waves using phase delay by resonators. Using one-dimensional theory, the phase delay equations for the 1/4 wavelength and Helmholtz resonator are presented. These one-dimensional analysis results are compared with the results predicted by three-dimensional FEM. The advantages and disadvantages of 1/4 wavelength and Helmholtz resonator were confirmed in implementing phase delay. An acoustic metamaterial with a refraction angle of 30° was manufactured using multiple tubes and then the sound pressure distribution was measured. A relatively large sound pressure was measured at the target position of 30°, which was compared with the 3D FEM analysis results. Simulations confirmed that a phase delay range closer to 2π was more effective in refraction, but varying the number of resonators was found to have minimal impact on which additional research is needed for generalization.

In this study, the seasonal distribution was surveyed using acoustic in the coastal waters around nuclear power plants. Acoustic surveys were conducted in June, September, December 2022, and March 2023 in the coastal waters of Uljin-gun. According to the results of this study, zooplankton were distributed at the depths from 0 m to 50 m in the waters around nuclear power plants. Zooplankton appeared in summer (June), autumn (September), and spring (March). In the survey area, fish were distributed at the depths from 25 m to 190 m, appearing in the summer (June), autumn (September), winter (December) and spring (March). The SV of zooplankton appearing in the survey area ranged from -98.0 dB to -78.0 dB, and it exhibited a one-class in the frequency distribution of SV. The SV of fish appearing in the survey area ranged from -36.0 dB to -35.0 dB and -98.0 dB to -53.0 dB, and it exhibited two-class in the frequency distribution of SV.

Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (“KAERI”) has been developing various studies related to the nuclear fuel cycle. Among them, KAERI was focusing on the pyroprocess, which recycles some useful elements white reducing the volume and toxicity of spent nuclear fuel (SNF). Pyroprocess involves the handling of SNF, which cannot be handled directly by the facility worker. Therefore, SNF is handled and processed through remote handling device within a shielded facility such as a hot cell. Nuclear Facilities with such hot cells are called nuclear fuel cycle facilities, and unlike other facilities, heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) system are particularly important in nuclear fuel cycle facilities to maintain the atmosphere in the hot cell and remove radioactive materials. In addition, due to the nature of the pyroprocess, which uses molten salt, corrosion is a problem in air atmosphere, so the process can only be carried out in an inert gas atmosphere. KAERI has a nuclear fuel cycle facility called the Irradiation Material Examination Facility (IMEF), and has built and operated the ACPF inside the IMEF, which operates an inert atmosphere hot cell for the demonstration of the pyroprocess. For efficient process development of the pyroprocess, it is necessary to put the developed equipment into the hot cell, which is a radiationcontrolled area, after sufficient verification in a mock-up facility. For this purpose, the ACPF mock-up facility, which simulates the system, space, and remote handling equipment of the ACPF, is operated separately in the general laboratory area. The inert gas conditioning system of the ACPF consists of very complex piping, blowers, and valves, requires special attention to maintenance. In addition, if there is a small leak in the piping within these valves or piping, radioactive materials can be directly exposed to facility workers, so continuous monitoring and maintenance are required to prevent accident. In this study, the applicability of acoustic emission technology and ultrasonic technology for leak detection in the inert gas conditioning system of ACPF mock-up facility was investigated. For this purpose, new bypass pipes and valves were installed in the existing system to simulate the leakage of pipes and valves. Acoustic emission sensors are attached directly to pipes or valves to detect signals, while ultrasonic sensors are installed at a distance to detect signals. The optimal parameters of each technology to effectively suppress background noise were derived and, and the feasibility of identifying normal and abnormal scenarios in the system was analyzed.

During the initial construction of Won buddhism, the sound absorbing material and diffusion material were used in the interior of the Won buddhism, so the sound performance at each buddhism could not be secured above a certain level, and even in the case of the Won buddhism Bukil dharma hall, the reverberation and volume of the sound generated inside the sanctum was too loud, and since the establishment of the buddhism continued to be dissatisfied, the improvement of the acoustic performance was very urgent. From this perspective, this study measured acoustic performance of the Bukil dharma hall before remodeling, determined the acoustic defects and status, and used acoustic simulation to present three plans for improving acoustic performance. Taking economic feasibility, construction, and construction duration into account, remodeling was performed on the basis of Plan 1 and post-remodeling acoustic performance was measured for comparative analysis of acoustic performance between before and after the improvement. The results of study, before and after sound performance improvement sound pressure level (SPL500Hz) was 71.9dB at 79.4dB , the weighted sound level (SPLdB(A)) was 79.7dB(A) at 89.4dB(A), reverberation time (RT500Hz) was 1.12sec at 1.49sec, early decay time (EDT500Hz) was 1.39sec at 1.63sec, definition (D50,500Hz) was 34.9% at 32.3%, clarity (C80.500Hz) was 1.0dB at –0.4dB, and RASTI was 60.0%(“Good”) at 51.3%(“Fair”) was evaluated. Therefore, the Bukil dharma hall was after remodeling, neither definition(D50) improved notably but excessive volume and reverberation and sound mixing almost disappeared and acoustic performance improved so much that many different events and services could be held.

In the fluid-structure interaction analysis, the finite element formulation is performed for the wave equation for dynamic fluid pressure, and the dynamic pressure is defined as a degree of freedom at the fluid nodes. Therefore, to connect the fluid to the structure, it is necessary to connect the degree of freedom of fluid dynamic pressure and the degree of freedom of structure displacement through an interface element derived from the relationship between dynamic pressure and displacement. The previously proposed fluid-structure interface elements use conformal finite element meshes in which the fluid and structure match. However, it is challenging to construct conformal meshes when complex models, such as water purification plants and wastewater treatment facilities, are models. Therefore, to increase modeling convenience, a method is required to model the fluid and structure domains by independent finite element meshes and then connect them. In this study, two fluid-structure interface elements, one based on constraints and the other based on the integration of nonsmooth functions, are proposed in nonconformal finite element meshes for structures and fluids, and their accuracy is verified.

The acoustic emission (AE) method as a passive non-destructive monitoring technique is proposed for real-time monitoring of mechanical degradation in underground structures, such as deep geological disposal of high-level nuclear waste (HLW). This study investigates the low-frequency characteristics of AE signals emitted during the fracturing of meter-scale concrete specimens; uniaxial compression tests (UCT) in a lab scale and Goodman jack (GJ) tests in a 1.3 m-long concrete block were conducted while acquiring the AE signals using low-frequency AE sensors. The results indicate a sharp increase in AE energy emission at approximately 60% and 80% of the yield stresses in the UCT and GJ tests, respectively. The collected AE signals were primarily found in two frequency bands: the 4-28 kHz range and the 56-80 kHz range. High-frequency AE signals were captured more as the stress increased in the GJ tests, which was in contrast to the UCT tests. Furthermore, the AE signals obtained from the Goodman jack tests tended to lower RA values than the UCT results. This study presents unique experimental data with low-frequency AE sensors under different loading conditions, which provides insights into field-scale AE monitoring practices.

The objective of this study was the acoustic analysis of vocalizations of domestic dogs when they want to play with humans. Using a digital camcorder and microphone, we recorded and acoustically analyzed the vocalizations of six 7-month-old dogs (beagle) when they wanted to play with humans. The vocalizations were classified into five types, namely, barking (type Ⅰ, type Ⅱ), whining (type Ⅰ, type Ⅱ), and howling, based on the shapes of waveforms and spectrograms. There was a significant difference in the fundamental frequency (p<0.01), intensity (p<0.0001), 1st formant (p<0.001), 2nd formant (p<0.0001), 3rd formant (p<0.001), and 4th formant (p<0.05) among the vocalizations, whereas the duration was not different (p<0.05). Whining type I showed high values in the fundamental frequency and 3rd formant, while whining type II showed high values in the fundamental frequency and 1st, 2nd, and 4th formant. Further, bark types I and II showed high intensity values, with bark type II having a high value in the 1st formant. Finally, whining showed high values in the 4th formant only and significantly lower values in the 1st and 2nd formants than other vocalizations. Domestic dogs mainly exhibited barking and whining with differences in characteristics of fundamental frequency, intensity, and formant dispersion when they wanted to play with humans during the experiment. Accordingly, we suggest that vocalization could be a useful method for identifying dogs’ intentions or emotional state in a non-invasive manner.

The integrity of the disposal repository structure must be guaranteed for few hundreds to few hundred thousand years until toxicity of radioactive waste is surely degraded. Acoustic emission (AE) method is widely utilized to evaluate the integrity of the structure because it can detect crack wave signals of the structures. It is well known that the cracking AE energy is proportional to the volume of the structure (Fractal theory). However, it is hard to destroy whole structures for obtaining AE energy. Therefore, the scaled specimens are prepared to obtain the relationship between volume of the structure and AE energy. The specimens are prepared with same of Wolsong Low and Intermediate Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Center (WLDC) silo concrete recipe. Their diameters are from 50 mm to 150 mm in each 10 mm and their heights are twice of the diameter. One set of 50 mm to 150 mm specimens (11 specimens in one set) are made in single mixers to maintain uniformity. Surface of the specimens are flatten with cement milk to prevent from applying load with eccentricity. The uniaxial compression test is performed by controlling displacement as 0.1 mm/min. The fractal constant is obtained using least square function from volume-cumulative AE energy relationship.

The underground environment has an advantage to minimize the external influences because it is isolated space with surrounded rock medium. Therefore, underground rock has been used recently as the target for a disposal system of spent fuel with high-level radioactive. The disposal system mainly consists of natural barrier (i.e., surrounded rock medium) and engineered barrier (i.e., concrete lining, plug, backfill, canister, and buffer). In particular, the engineered barrier is important for long-term storage because it has to preferentially block the leakage of radioactive nuclide. Non-destructive technologies (NDT) have been utilized to monitor the state of disposal system for considering the limitation in deep depth conditions such as limited environment for direct damage inspection. Acoustic emission (AE) monitoring technique is an effective method to monitor the damage (crack) magnitude, history (i.e., crack evolution), and location using high-frequency elastic waves. To apply the AE monitoring method in the disposal system, the characteristics of damaged materials should be considered. The concrete lining has multi-failure behavior (i.e., brittle and ductile) resulted from composition as cement and reinforcing steel bar. Therefore, it important to investigate the AE characteristics according to the failure level of reinforced concrete for damage monitoring of the disposal systems. In this study, the four-point bending tests were carried out to measure the AE signals from the cracking of reinforce concrete specimens in laboratory. The test specimens were prepared with different strength. After the experiment, the AE characteristics were analyzed using the AE parameters with loading and failure state in the curve of time-stress. This study will be helpful for damage monitoring using AE technique in the field of high-level radioactive disposal system.

The acoustic emission (AE) is proposed as a feasible method for the real-time monitoring of the structural damage evolution in concrete materials that are typically used in the storage of nuclear wastes. However, the characteristics of AE signals emitted from concrete structures subjected to various environmental conditions are poorly identified. Therefore, this study examines the AE characteristics of the concrete structures during uniaxial compression, where the storage temperature and immersion conditions of the concrete specimens varied from 15℃ to 75℃ and from completely dry to water-immersion, respectively. Compared with the dry specimens, the water-immersed specimens exhibited significantly reduced uniaxial compressive strengths by approximately 26%, total AE energy by approximately 90%, and max RA value by approximately 70%. As the treatment temperature increased, the strength and AE parameters, such as AE count, AE energy, and RA value, of the dry specimens increased; however, the temperature effect was only minimal for the immersed specimens. This study suggests that the AE technique can capture the mechanical damage evolution of concrete materials, but their AE characteristics can vary with respect to the storage conditions.

Recently, wideband acoustic technology has been introduced and started to be used in fisheries acoustic surveys in various waters worldwide. Wideband acoustic data provides high vertical resolution, high signal-to-noise ratio and continuous frequency characteristics over a wide frequency range for species identification. In this study, the main characteristics of wideband acoustic systems were elaborated, and a general methodology for wideband acoustic data analysis was presented using data collected in frequency modulation mode for the first time in Republic of Korea. In particular, this study described the data recording method using the mission planner of the wideband autonomous acoustic system, wideband acoustic data signal processing, calibration and the wideband frequency response graph. Since wideband acoustic systems are currently installed on many training and research vessels, it is expected that the results of this study can be used as basic knowledge for fisheries acoustic research using the state-of-the-art system.

Low and intermediate radioactive wastes in South Korea have been disposed in Wolsong Low and Intermediate Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Center (WLDC), Gyeongju. This repository structure is planned to be operated few hundred years while toxicity of the waste is sufficiently decayed. The structural integrity of the repository is required to protect the waste in safe. The integrity of the structure is commonly estimated using acoustic emission (AE) method. The integrity of the structure using AE is obtained by following process: 1) Estimation of maximum acoustic crack energy of the structure, 2) Acoustic signal measurement and filtering, and 3) Measurement of simultaneous acoustic cracking energy. The damage of the structure can be obtained from cumulative cracking energy from the structure divided by the predicted maximum cracking energy of the structure. Estimation of maximum cracking energy is gained by the specimens whose components are identical to the repository structure. The cracking energy of the different specimens are obtained during uniaxial compressive test and volume of the specimen is calculated. Then, the fractal coefficient for the structure is obtained and the maximum crack energy of the target structure can be calculated. The specimens whose diameters vary from 50 mm to 150 mm and heights are twice of the diameter are made with same recipe of WLDC silo concrete. The uniaxial compression test is conducted with loading rate of 0.1 mm·min−1. The fractal coefficient is obtained by least square method from the volume-cumulative energy relationship.