Most of wall or plate structures subjected to nonuniform earth or water pressure has variable thickness. These problems were generally solved by models with uniform thickness and pressure. To obtain more accurate and economic solution for this type of problem. efficient isoparametric plate element considering variable thickness and nonuniform pressure were developed. Some example problems demonstrated efficiency of the proposed element.

The transition membrane elements with drilling freedom have been developed. The functionals for the linear problem, in which the drilling rotations are introduced as independent variables, have been presented by Hughes & Bressi. And 4-node membrane elements with drilling degrees of freedom were developed by Ibrahimbegovic. The transition elements can be efficiently used in modelling the in-plane structures, in particular, where the stress concentration exists. A modified Gaussian quadrature adopted to evaluate the stiffness matrices of these transition elements which have slope discontinuity of displacement within the elements. Detailed numerical studies show the excellent performance of the transition elements.

The new p-version crack model is proposed to estimate the bending stress intensity factors of the thick cracked plate under flexure. The proposed model is based on high order theory and $C^{\circ}$-plate element including shear deformation. The displacements fields are defined by integrals of Legerdre polynomials which can be classified into three groups such as basic mode, side mode and internal mode. The computer implementation allows arbitrary variations of p-level up to a maximum value of 10. The bending stress intensity factors are computed by virtual crack extention approach. The effects of ratios of thickness to crack length(h/a), crack length to width(a/W) and boundary conditions are investigated. Very good agreement with the existing solution in the literature are shown for the uncracked plate as well as the cracked plate.

In the design of column, computation of effective length factor for calculation of allowable compressive stress is inevitable. In this study. computer code which automatically generates effective length factor in the finite element analysis is developed. The program is developed to be used for orthogonal and nonorthogonal frame structure. Some i1lustrative examples verify that the computation results we correct for various cases.

A method of tunnel analysis for a new type of tunnel construction method (ACLCM, Automatic Concrete Lining Construction Method) is presented here. ACLCM is an unique tunnel construction method which provides concrete lining at the end of shield machine by extruding concrete into the space between the excavated ground surface and the inner form (Automatic Concrete Lining Machine). Since behaviors of tunnel and the surrounding soils are greatly influenced by the construction method, existing tunnel design methods may not be applicable to the design of ACLCM tunnel. In this study, a method of ACLCM tunnel analysis is suggested to provide the prediction of behavior of ACLCM tunnel and surrounding soils as well as to check up the safety during the construction and after the completion of ACLCM tunnel

It is one of classical problems in the elastic theory to analyze contact stresses between elastic bodies. Concrete pavements under traffic wheel loads can be considered as one of these typical problems. In this paper, an elastic plate resting on tensionless elastic half-space is analyzed by finite element method. The Boussinesq's solution of elastic half-space is used to evaluate the flexibility of foundation. One of the principal difficulties in solving the local seperation phenomena between plate and foundation is that the geometry of the system is unknown. To obtain the boundary of contact area, the flexibility matrix of foundation is modified after each cycle of analysis iteratively. Some numerical examples are presented by using these method.

This paper is concerned with the geometrically nonlinear behavior of elastic systems under conservative loading conditions. In particular, the topic are snap through problems and the arc-length method to pass limit points of space trusses is used. And numerical examples are presented to trace nonlinear equilibrium paths.

Elastic failures of cantilevered cylindrical shells subject to lateral load are caused mainly by geometrical nonlinearlity. Geometerally nonlinear analysis is call for so as to investigate failure mechanisms. In this paper the geometericlly nonlinear analysis of cantilevered cylindrical shells under transverse load by the Rayleigh-Ritz Method is presented to examine the collapse loads and the process of cross-sectional deformations. The critical stress for relatively long cylinders have a tendency to show low level in comparison with the classical buckling stress for compression.

In single-layer latticed domes with two-way grid, if we use the cross-membered junction's method for the advantage in fabrication and construction, the eccentricity is occurred in the nodal point of crossing members. This paper is aimed at investigating the buckling characteristics for the effect of eccentricity. Analysis method is based on FEM dealing with the geometically nonlinear deflection problems. As a result of the study, in the case of having eccentricity, the values of buckling strength are about 0.7 times than or not but the characteristics of buckling and deflection except buckling strength have a similar tendency each other.

The geometrical initial imperfection is generally described that a dome digeresses from ideal shape. In actual domes the mode and amplitude for initial imperfection appear variously and affect buckling-strength sensitively. This study investigates the buckling characteristics of single-layer latticed domes with triangular network subjected to initial imperfection. Additionally, this study is to get the data that are to formulate the general equation taking initial imperfection into consideration.

Compared with rigid-jointed latticed dome, in pinned-joint latticed dome, results of Ref.1 showed reduction of buckling strength by decline of junction's rotational rigidity. Moreover, with decline of junction's rotational rigidity, geometrical initial imperfection incurs more and more reduction of buckling-strength. This study, subsequently the case of rigid-joint domes, is aimed at analyzing buckling-characteristics of pinned-joint single-layer latticed domes with triangular network subjected to initial imperfection.

The optimum design of a structure requires the determination of the economical member size and shape of the structure which satisfies the design condition and function. In this study, the process of design automatization of three-dimensional truss structure introduces the optimization technique tests its application in the design automatization, proposes its application method and applies the example structure of the parabolic antenna truss. Using the Formex Algebra of configuration function, the structure's mesh-generation is automatized. By using the program developed in this study, the input member array, member size and load condition designer can generate the input data file for the structure analysis and optimum design. This study is aimed at the development of a design automatization system that search for tile optimum value of a structure design by observing the structure's sensitivity from the modification of member array and member property.

The purpose of this investigation is to find the optimum values of the steel ratio, the effective depth, and the width of band for an economical design of the underground parking place by SB(slab-band) System. To simplify the optimization procedure, the final optimum ultimate strength design of SB system is obtained by combining the optimum design of each of the three component parts of SB system, namely : slab, band, and marginal beam. In this paper, nonlinear optimum GINO(General Interactive Optimizer) programming used in optimization procedure is described. Example is included to illustrate the application of the algorithm presented herein.

A method for shape design sensitivity analysis for axisymmetric shells of general shapes is developed. The basic approach is to divide the structures into many segments. For each of the segments, the formula for a shallow arch or shell can be applied and the results assembled. To interconnect those segments, the existing sensitivity formula, obtained for a variation only in the direction perpendicular to the plane on which the structure is mapped, has been extended to include a variation normal to the middle surface. The method follows the adjoint variable approach based on the material derivative concept as established in the literature. Numerical examples are taken to illustrate the method and the applicability to practical design problems.

This paper presents the optimum design of reinforced concrete conical shell which is fixed at the base and free at the top. The calculation of stresses is done using the SMAP(Segmented Matrix Analysis Package)program which uses the simple finite element method of analysis. The objective function contains the ratios of the unit cost of reinforcements and formwork to that of concrete. To Simplify the optimization procedure, the final optimum design of conical shell is obtained by combining the result of each element. The results are presented and discussed.

Atrium being on fire, the flame is spread vertically, the methods of fire protection and the standards of security are different respectively. Therefore, in the case of atrium, it has many problems on the fire protection and the application of statute according to the space properties. So it is important to analysis, atrium being on fire, fire properties to space properties. From these points of view, the purpose of this study is to analysis the fire properties of atrium .

This paper is concerned with the integrated computer program system aiming at efficiently performing the structural analysis and design. The developed computer program system is introduced and applied to a simple two-dimensional structure to show the general concept of the integrated system. Some design modifications and re-analyses are illustrated including local mesh refinement, These show the efficiency in doing design modification and analysis.

To analysis machanical behavior for RC frame under monotonic & Cyclic load, it is needed to investigate elasto-plastic behavior for steel & concrete. Therefore, in this study, we idealized material model(steel and concrete) to take into account elasto-plastic, limit state, and developed structural analysis program that consider complex non-linearity. We investigated simple beam and portal frame under cyclic & monotonic loading, so we confirmed the propriety.

A computerized numerical method is presented for the design and/or the investigation of RC members with general shape and material properties subjected to axial load and biaxial bending moment. Slenderness effects can also be considered with the use of the moment magnification factor. The method is based on the summation of stress result- ants on a small area of the cross section which enables the determination of strength interaction diagrams, load contours and moment-curvature relationships for the general section. Thus the presented program HYCOL can be used as a direct tool for design and/or investigation of RC members with general shape subjected to biaxial bending. The accuracy of program HYCOL is established by comparison with experimental results.

Precast concrete (P.C.) large panel structures have usually weaker stiffness at joints than that of monolithic in-situ reinforced concrete structures. But structural designers do not in general take into account this characteristics of P. C. large panel structures and use the same analytical models as for the monolithic structure. Therefore, the results of analysis obtained by using these models may be quite different from those actually occuring in real P.C. structure. In this study, the change in force and stress distribution and deflections of structure caused by applying lower shear stiffness at vertical joints are investigated through trying several finite element modeling schemes specific for P.C. structures. Finally, for engineers in practice. a simplified model, which takes account of the effect of lower shear stiffness at vertical joints, is proposed with the understanding on possible amount of errors.

During earthquakes, the joints provide a principal means for energy dissipation, and these are also responsible for introducing a nonlinear behavior to the overall building system, while large panels remain in the elastic range. In analysis for the precast concrete large panel system, it is difficult to make a general analysis for their behavior because of differences in joint details. Therefore, in case of presence of vertical joints, it is more difficult because of the interaction between the horizontal joints and vertical joints, In this study, a nonlinear finite element analysis is performed using the gap element, friction element, and concrete material model, and the results are compared with the experimental results.

This paper presents a database approach to integrating the structural analysis and design processes for a typical shear wall apartment building design. Our initial efforts have focused on extracting various graphic information from CAD(AutoCAD™) systems. But now, we concentrate our research efforts on organizing specific information generated during the structural analysis and design processes. The proposed overall system consists of a conventional structural analysis package, a conventional CAD system, and different application interface programs. This system is based on an engineering database which is developed by using an object-oriented data modelling approach. The system is actually implemented on an ORACLE™-based relational database management system.

A new method for the vibration analysis of arbitrarily-shaped beams is proposed on the assumption of imaginary seperation of the beams into prismatic beams and the remaining portions. The stiffness and mass of the beams are devided into two portions according to the seperation. Applying the mode shapes of prismatic beams and Lagrange's equations give new characteristics equation. This equation has a low dimension of matrix with the coupling terms showing the effect of remaining portions on the vibration of arbitrarily-shaped beams

A useful finite element method to determine the stiffness of assembled member by stud bolt was introduced in this paper. Since threads on clamped members and stud bolts may produce different stress distribution, brief theories and equations based on bolt and nut may produce less conservative results or, this case. A finite element model using non-linear gap element was indtroduced to find out the basic feature of stress distribution caused by threads on both stud and member.

Proto-type seismic isolation rubber bearings are investigated through nonlinear hyperelasticity finite elements using the ANSYS general purpose structural analysis code. The purpose of the analysis was to determine the maximum horizontal strain range which can be obtained with a 250KN hydraulic actuator. A Mooney-Rivlin strain energy density function was used as a constitutive law for rubber. The results are compared with the test data available in the literature and found to in good agreement only in the higy strain range. The analysis results can be used with conservatism to predict the necessary force required to a specified displacement such as the purpose of this analysis. However, more precise constitutive model will be required to simulate the bearing behavior with accuracy in the mid-range strain.

This paper presents a systematic procedure to obtain shape functions of the infinite elements for soil-structure interaction analysis. The function spaces are derived from the analytical solutions and appropriate assumptions based on physical interpretation. The function spaces are complete for the surface wave components, but approximate for the body wave components. Three different infinite elements are developed by using the wave functions of the derived function spaces. Numerical example analysis is presented for demonstrating the effectiveness of the present infinite elements.

Noise and vibration induced by subway operation are one of the major factor that annoying residents living near the. railway. In general, lateral vibration was the major concern when we are considering vibration of the building. Since the energy due to earthquake is enormous it affects wide area. However, the vertical vibration became a major concern in considering the vibration induced by subway because relatively smaller energy affects only nearby areas than that of earthquake. Analysis model of the structure for the vertical vibration should consider the effect of beam vibration. Thus, the model of the structure for the lateral vibration can not be applied. Appropriate analysis model which can consider the inertia force of the beam is necessary when analyzing a structure for the vertical vibration. Modeling technique for the vertical vibration analysis of structures has been studied on this paper. It is recommeneded to use 2 or more elements for columns and to use 3 or more elements for beams when analyzing structures for vertical vibration induced by subway.

With the aid of finite element method, this paper deals with the problem of structural response variability of transmission tower subjected to the spatial variability of material properties, Young's modulus herein. The spatial variability of material property are modeled as two-dimensional stochastic field which has an isotropic auto-correlation function. Response variability has been computed based on two numerical techniques, such as the Neumann expansion method in conjunction with the Monte Carlo simulation method. The results by these numerical methods are compared with those by the deterministic approach.

The safety factors of current standard code are considered to be not appropriate compared to design and construction practices, even this safety factors are not determined from probabilistic study but merely from experiences and practices. This study pripose the optimum safety indices based on expected total cost minimization using only three parameters, which are the level of the failure cost to the initial cost by improvement in safety, and the order of the initial cost function.

This paper is concerned with the influence of changes in stochastic parameters of the important resistance variables such as the strength modelling parameter and material and geometric properties, on the system safety level of TLP structures. The effect of parameters governing the post-ultimate behaviour is also addressed. An extended incremental load method is employed for the present study, which has been successfully applied to the system reliability analysis of continuous structures. The Hutton Field TLP and its one variant called herein TLP-B, are chosen as TLP models in this paper. The results of several parameteric studies lead to useful conclusions relating to the importance of reducing uncertainties in strength formulae and relating the importance of component post-ultimate behaviour to the systems reliability of such structures.

The vibration damping of structure is increased by thermal actuator. The thermal actuator causes thermal stress across the section of structure. The several kinds of control theories are proposed and the proposed control theories are successful in increasing vibration damping. This scheme can be effectively applied to large space structure [LSS] having very low natural frequencies.

The precise prediction of reserved carrying capacity of bridge as a system is extremely difficult especially when the bridges are highly redundant and significantly deteriorated or damaged. This paper is intended to propose a new approach for the evaluation of reserved system carrying capacity of bridges in terms of equivalent system-strength, which may be defined as a bridge system-strength corresponding to the system reliability of the bridge. This can be derived from an inverse process based on the concept of FOSM form of system reliability index. It may be emphasized that this approach is very useful for the evaluation of the deterministic system redundancy and reserve strength which are measured in terms of either probabilistic system redundancy factor and reserve factor or deterministic system redundancy factor and reserve factor. The system reliability of bridges is formulated as a parallel-series model obtained from the FAM(Failure Mode Approach) based on the major failure mechanisms. AFOSM and IST methods are used for the reliability analysis of the proposed models. The proposed approach and method for the system redundancy and reserve safety/strength are applied to the safety assessment of actual RC and steel box-girder bridges. The results of the evaluation of reserved system safety or bridge system-strength in terms of the system redundancy and the system safety/strength are significantly different from those of element reliability-based or conventional methods.

Recently, due to the increasing attention to the structural safety under uncertain environments, many researches on the structural reliability analysis have been peformed. Some useful methods are available to evaluate performance reliability of structures with explicit limit states. However, for large structures, in which structural behaviors can be analyzed with finite element models and the limit states are only expressed implicitly, Monte-Carlo simulation method has been mainly used. However, Monte-Carlo simulation method spends too much computational time on repetitive structural analysis. Many alternative methods are suggested to reduce the computational work required in Monte-Carlo simulation. Response surface method is widely used to improve the efficiency of structural reliability analysis. Response surface method is based on the concept of approximating simple polynomial function of basic random variables for the limit state which is not easily expressed in explicit forms of design random variables. The response surface method has simple algorithm. However, the accuracy of results highly depends on how properly the stochastic characteristics of the original limit state has been represented by approximated function, In this study, an improved response surface method is proposed in which the sampling points for creating response surface are modified to represent the failure surface more adequately and the combined use of a linear response surface function and Rackwitz-Fiessler method has been employed. The method is found to be more effective and efficient than previous response surface methods. In addition more consistent convergence is achieved, Accuracy of the proposed method has been investigated through example.