Fecundity and Longevity of Spodoptera frugiperda (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) at Constant Temperatures and Development of an Oviposition Model

Fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith), is a notorious invasive pest native to subtropical and tropical regions in the Western Hemisphere. It has recently invaded and established in south Asian countries and in South Korea only seasonally. Longevity, survival, and fecundity of fall armyworm were examined at different temperatures (16, 20, 24, 28, and 32°C) and an oviposition model was developed. The maximum observed fecundity was 1,485 eggs per female at 22.0°C, which decreased to ca. 815 eggs at 32.0°C. Female longevity decreased as the temperature increased up to 24°C, and then was constant around 13-14 d until temperature reached 32°C, ranging from 33.1 d at 16.0°C to 13.1 d at 32.0°C. Temperature-dependent total fecundity (TDF) was well described by the extreme value function. Age-specific cumulative oviposition rate (AOR) and age-specific survival rate (ASR) curves were fitted to logistic and sigmoid functions, respectively. The model of female adults' aging rate (1/mean longevity) as a function of temperature was used to calculate the physiological age of fall armyworm females in AOR and ASR models. Three temperature-dependent components of TDF, AOR, and ASR were incorporated to construct the oviposition model, and it was simulated to project corn damage with tentative parameters. When 10 fall armyworm females were assumed, a total of 68-74 corn ears with kernel damage were predicted. Such loss was estimated to be US$75-83 currently in the Korean market.

Noncontact Damage Topography Reconstruction by Wavenumber Domain Analysis Based on Air-Coupled Ultrasound and Full-Field Laser Vibrometer

Noncontact ultrasonic detection technology is an effective method to detect damage in time. This paper proposes a noncontact damage detection system based on air-coupled ultrasound and full-field laser vibrometer, which realizes the excitation of relatively single-mode guided waves and the wavefield automatic detection. The system performance is verified through experiments, and the experimental wavenumber is consistent with the theoretical dispersion characteristics of the Lamb wave in the A0 mode. Based on this system, the topography reconstruction algorithms, including the Wavenumber Filtering Algorithm and Spatial Wavenumber Algorithm, were tested and compared with the aluminum alloy plate and the carbon fiber reinforced polymer plate. The results show that, based on the air-coupled ultrasound and full-field laser vibrometer detection system, the Spatial Wavenumber Algorithm has better imaging error and contrast, and the damage edge detection is smoother.

Development of a Machine Learning-Based Damage Identification Method Using Multi-Point Simultaneous Acceleration Measurement Results

It is necessary to assess damage properly for the safe use of a structure and for the development of an appropriate maintenance strategy. Although many efforts have been made to measure the vibration of a structure to determine the degree of damage, the accuracy of evaluation is not high enough, so it is difficult to say that a damage evaluation based on vibrations in a structure has not been put to practical use. In this study, we propose a method to evaluate damage by measuring the acceleration of a structure at multiple points and interpreting the results with a Random Forest, which is a kind of supervised machine learning. The proposed method uses the maximum response acceleration, standard deviation, logarithmic decay rate, and natural frequency to improve the accuracy of damage assessment. We propose a three-step Random Forest method to evaluate various damage types based on the results of these many measurements. Then, the accuracy of the proposed method is verified based on the results of a cross-validation and a vibration test of an actual damaged specimen.

Damage Detection and Evaluation for an In-Service Shield Tunnel Based on the Monitored Increment of Neutral Axis Depth Using Long-Gauge Fiber Bragg Grating Sensors

It is difficult to detect and evaluate the structural damage in a shield tunnel during operation because many traditional techniques based on the observation of vibrations are limited in daily monitoring in tunnels. Thus, the curvature radius of a static longitudinal settlement curve is used to identify the residual health and safety of an in-service shield tunnel. However, there are still two problems. The curvature radius is suitable for a qualitative judgment rather than a quantitative evaluation for longitudinal damage detection. Moreover, the curvature radius, which is calculated from the measured settlements of three neighboring points, gives an average damage degree in a wide scope only and is difficult to use to identify the damage’s precise location. By means of the analysis of three kinds of longitudinal failure modes in a shield tunnel, this paper proposes: (1) a damage detection method based on the monitored increment of the neutral axis depth; and (2) an index to evaluate longitudinal damage. The index is composed of the residual ratios of the equivalent flexural stiffness (HFM1) and the equivalent shear stiffness (HFM3). The neutral axis position and the proposed damage index can be determined using long-gauge Fiber Bragg Grating sensors. Results from numerical simulations show that the deviation between the HFM1 and the true value residual ratio of the equivalent flexural stiffness is no more than 1.7%. The HFM3 is equal to its true value in the entire damage process. A loading experiment for a scaled-down model of a shield tunnel using long-gauge Fiber Bragg Grating sensors indicated that the errors in the HFM1 were no more than 5.0% in the case of early damage development (HFM1 ≥ 0.5). The maximum error did not exceed 9.0% even under severe damage conditions in the model. Meanwhile, the HFM3 also coincided with its true value in the entire testing process.

Morphology and Mechanical Properties of Polyimide Films: The Effects of UV Irradiation on Microscale Surface

As an attractive dielectric material, polyimide has been widely used in the field of electronics, aerospace, and automobiles due to its useful mechanical properties and good chemical resistance. UV irradiation was considered to be the main factor related to the damage and failure of polyimide. Here the effects of UV irradiation on the surface morphology and microscale mechanical properties of polyimide films are characterized by atomic force microscopy (AFM). The surface roughness of the UV-irradiated samples developed and the mechanical properties degraded with the radiation dose increased. For comparison, uniaxial tensile test was performed to obtain the macroscale Young’s modulus of polyimide film. The UV-irradiated damaging depth was simulated with finite element method (FEM).