Precast concrete (PC) members are currently being employed for general construction or partial replacement to reduce construction period. As assembly work in PC construction requires connecting PC members accurately, measuring the 6-DOF (degree of freedom) relative displacement is essential. Multiple planar markers and camera-based displacement measurement systems can monitor the 6-DOF relative displacement of PC members. Conventional methods, such as direct linear transformation (DLT) for homography estimation, which are applied to calculate the 6-DOF relative displacement between the camera and marker, have several major problems. One of the problems is that when the marker is partially hidden, the DLT method cannot be applied to calculate the 6-DOF relative displacement. In addition, when the images of markers are blurred, error increases with the DLT method which is employed for its estimation. To solve these problems, a hybrid method, which combines the advantages of the DLT and MCL (Monte Carlo localization) methods, is proposed. The method evaluates the 6-DOF relative displacement more accurately compared to when either the DLT or MCL is used alone. Each subsystem captures an image of a marker and extracts its subpixel coordinates, and then the data are transferred to a main system via a wireless communication network. In the main system, the data from each subsystem are used for 3D visualization. Thereafter, the real-time movements of the PC members are displayed on a tablet PC. To prove the feasibility, the hybrid method is compared with the DLT method and MCL in real experiments.

Traditional experimental verification for nonlinear system identification often faces the problem of experiment model repeatability. In our research, a steel frame experimental model is developed to imitate the behavior of a single story steel frame under horizontal excitation. Two adjustable rotational dampers are used to simulate the plastic hinge effect of the damaged beam-column joint. This model is suggested as a benchmark model for nonlinear dynamics study. Since the nonlinear form provided by the damper is unknown, a Morlet wavelet based method is introduced to identify the mathematical model of this structure under different damping cases. After the model identification, earthquake excitation tests are carried out to verify the generality of the identified model. The results show the extensive applicability and effectiveness of the identification method.

One of the suitable structural damage detection methods using vibrational characteristics are damage-index-based methods. In this study, a damage index for identifying damages in plate structures using frequency response function (FRF) data has been provided. One of the significant challenges of identifying the damages in plate structures is high number of degrees of freedom resulting in decreased damage identifying accuracy. On the other hand, FRF data are of high volume and this dramatically decreases the computing speed and increases the memory necessary to store the data, which makes the use of this method difficult. In this study, FRF data are compressed using two-dimensional principal component analysis (2D-PCA), and then converted into damage index vectors. The damage indices, each of which represents a specific condition of intact or damaged structures are stored in a database. After computing damage index of structure with unknown damage and using algorithm of lookup tables, the structural damage including the severity and location of the damage will be identified. In this study, damage detection accuracy using the proposed damage index in square-shaped structural plates with dimensions of 3, 7 and 10 meters and with boundary conditions of four simply supported edges (4S), three clamped edges (3C), and four clamped edges (4C) under various single and multiple-element damage scenarios have been studied. Furthermore, in order to model uncertainties of measurement, insensitivity of this method to noises in the data measured by applying values of 5, 10, 15 and 20 percent of normal Gaussian noise to FRF values is discussed.

The objective of this work is to present a conceptual design and the modelling of a distributed sensor system based on fiber optic devices (Fiber Bragg Grating, FBG), aimed at measuring span-wise and chord-wise variations of an adaptive (morphing) trailing edge. The network is made of two different integrated solutions for revealing deformations of the reference morphing structure. Strains are confined to typical values along the span (length) but they are expected to overcome standard ranges along the chord (width), up to almost 10%. In this case, suitable architectures may introduce proper modulations to keep the measured deformation low while preserving the information content. In the current paper, the designed monitoring system combines the use of a span-wise fiber reinforced patch with a chord-wise sliding beam. The two elements make up a closed grid, allowing the reconstruction of the complete deformed shape under the acceptable assumption that the transformation refers to regular geometry variations. Herein, the design logic and some integration issues are reported. Preliminary experimental test results are finally presented.

This work produces a new model of nonlocal thermoelastic nanobeams of temperature-dependent physical properties. A nanobeam is excited by harmonically varying heat and subjected to an exponential decaying time varying load. The analytical solution is obtained by means of Laplace transform method in time domain. Inversions of transformed solutions have been preceded by using calculus of residues. Effects of nonlocal parameter, variability thermal conductivity, varying load and angular frequency of thermal vibration on studied fields of nanobeam are investigated and discussed.

Explicit design formulae of liquid column vibration absorber (LCVA) for suppressing harmonic vibration of structures with small inherent structural damping are developed in this study. The developed design formulae are also applicable to the design of a tuned mass damper (TMD) and a tuned liquid column damper (TLCD) for damped structures under harmonic force excitation. The optimum parameters of LCVA for suppressing harmonic vibration of undamped structures are first derived. Numerical searching of the optimum parameters of tuned vibration absorber system for suppressing harmonic vibration of damped structure is conducted. Explicit formulae for these optimum parameters are then obtained by a series of curve fitting techniques. The analytical result shows that the control performance of TLCD for reducing harmonic vibration of undamped structure is always better than that of non-uniform LCVA for same mass and length ratios. As for the effects of structural damping on the optimum parameters, it is found that the optimum tuning ratio decreases and the optimum damping ratio increases as the structural damping is increased. Furthermore, the optimum head loss coefficient is inversely proportional to the amplitude of excitation force and increases as the structural damping is increased. Numerical verification of the developed explicit design expressions is also conducted and the developed expressions are demonstrated to be reasonably accurate for design purposes.

This study suggests a simple, convenient and non-destructive method for investigation of the Young's modulus detection in stepped shafts which only utilizes the first-order resonant frequency in flexural mode and dimensions of structures. The method is based on the impulse excitation technique (IET) to pick up the fundamental resonant frequencies. The standard Young's modulus detection formulas for rectangular and circular cross-sections are well investigated in literatures. However, the Young's modulus of stepped shafts can not be directly detected using the formula for a beam with rectangular or circular cross-section. A response surface method (RSM) is introduced to design numerical simulation experiments to build up experimental formula to detect Young's modulus of stepped shafts. The numerical simulation performed by finite element method (FEM) to obtain enough simulation data for RSM analysis. After analysis and calculation, the relationship of flexural resonant frequencies, dimensions of stepped shafts and Young's modulus is obtained. Numerical simulations and experimental investigations show that the IET method can be used to investigate Young's modulus in stepped shafts, and the FEM simulation and RSM based IET formula proposed in this paper is applicable to calculate the Young's modulus in stepped shaft. The method can be further developed to detect mechanical parameters of more complicated structures using the combination of FEM simulation and RSM.

Real-Time Hybrid Simulation (RTHS) is a powerful and cost-effective dynamic experimental technique. To implement a stable and accurate RTHS, time delay present in the experiment loop needs to be compensated. This delay is mostly introduced by servo-hydraulic actuator dynamics and can be reduced by applying appropriate compensators. Existing compensators have demonstrated effective performance in achieving good tracking performance. Most of them have been focused on their application in cases where the structure under investigation is subjected to inputs with relatively low frequency bandwidth such as earthquake excitations. To advance RTHS as an attractive technique for other engineering applications with broader excitation frequency, a discrete-time feedforward compensator is developed herein via various optimization techniques to enhance the performance of RTHS. The proposed compensator is unique as a discrete-time, model-based feedforward compensator. The feedforward control is chosen because it can substantially improve the reference tracking performance and speed when the plant dynamics is well-understood and modeled. The discrete-time formulation enables the use of inherently stable digital filters for compensator development, and avoids the error induced by continuous-time to discrete-time conversion during the compensator implementation in digital computer. This paper discusses the technical challenges in designing a discrete-time compensator, and proposes several optimal solutions to resolve these challenges. The effectiveness of compensators obtained via these optimal solutions is demonstrated through both numerical and experimental studies. Then, the proposed compensators have been successfully applied to RTHS tests. By comparing these results to results obtained using several existing feedforward compensators, the proposed compensator demonstrates superior performance in both time delay and Root-Mean-Square (RMS) error.

The ionic polymer-metal composite (IPMC) is an electroactive polymer material and has a promising potential as actuators for propulsion and locomotion in underwater systems. In this paper a physics based model is used to analyse the actuation dynamics of the IPMC propulsor. Moreover, proportional-integral (PI) controller is used for position control of the tip displacement of IPMC propulsor. PI parameter tuning is performed using particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm. Several performance indices have been used as an objective function to optimize the error of the system. Finally, the best tuning method is found out by comparing the results under various performance indices.

In this article, a free vibration analysis of functionally graded (FG) plates resting on elastic foundations is presented using a quasi-3D hybrid-type higher order shear deformation theory. Undetermined integral terms are employed in the proposed displacement field and modeled based on a hybrid-type (sinusoidal and parabolic) quasi-3D HSDT with five unknowns in which the stretching effect is taken into account. Thus, it can be said that the significant feature of this theory is that it deals with only 5 unknowns as the first order shear deformation theory (FSDT). The elastic foundation parameters are introduced in the present formulation by following the Pasternak (two-parameter) mathematical model. Equations of motion are obtained via the Hamilton's principles and solved using Navier's method. Accuracy of the proposed theory is confirmed by comparing the results of numerical examples with the ones available in literature.