Compressive sensing (CS) is a newly developed data acquisition and processing technique that takes advantage of the sparse structure in signals. Normally signals in their primitive space or format are reconstructed from their compressed measurements for further treatments, such as modal analysis for vibration data. This approach causes problems such as leakage, loss of fidelity, etc., and the computation of reconstruction itself is costly as well. Therefore, it is appealing to directly work on the compressed data without prior reconstruction of the original data. In this paper, a direct approach for modal analysis of damped systems is proposed by decomposing the compressed measurements with an appropriate dictionary. The damped free vibration function is adopted to form atoms in the dictionary for the following sparse decomposition. Compared with the normally used Fourier bases, the damped free vibration function spans a space with both the frequency and damping as the control variables. In order to efficiently search the enormous two-dimension dictionary with frequency and damping as variables, a two-step strategy is implemented combined with the Orthogonal Matching Pursuit (OMP) to determine the optimal atom in the dictionary, which greatly reduces the computation of the sparse decomposition. The performance of the proposed method is demonstrated by a numerical and an experimental example, and advantages of the method are revealed by comparison with another such kind method using POD technique.

There has been a sustained interest towards the non-contact structural displacement measurement by means of videogrammetric technique. On the way forward, one of the major concerns is the spurious image drift induced by temperature variation. This study therefore carries out an investigation into the temperature effect of videogrammetric technique, focusing on the exploration of the mechanism behind the temperature effect and the elimination of the temperature-caused measurement error. 2D videogrammetric measurement tests under monotonic or cyclic temperature variation are first performed. Features of measurement error and the casual relationship between temperature variation and measurement error are then studied. The variation of the temperature of digital camera is identified as the main cause of measurement error. An excellent linear relationship between them is revealed. After that, camera parameters are extracted from the mapping between world coordinates and pixels coordinates of the calibration targets. The coordinates of principle point and focal lengths show variations well correlated with temperature variation. The measurement error is thought to be an outcome mainly attributed to the variation of the coordinates of principle point. An approach for eliminating temperature-caused measurement error is finally proposed. Correlation models between camera parameters and temperature are formulated. Thereby, camera parameters under different temperature conditions can be predicted and the camera projective matrix can be updated accordingly. By reconstructing the world coordinates with the updated camera projective matrix, the temperature-caused measurement error is eliminated. A satisfactory performance has been achieved by the proposed approach in eliminating the temperature-caused measurement error.

This paper demonstrates a real-time hybrid substructuring (RTHS) shake table test to evaluate the seismic performance of a base isolated building. Since RTHS involves a feedback loop in the test implementation, the frequency dependent magnitude and inherent time delay of the actuator dynamics can introduce inaccuracy and instability. The paper presents a robust stability and performance analysis method for the RTHS test. The robust stability method involves casting the actuator dynamics as a multiplicative uncertainty and applying the small gain theorem to derive the sufficient conditions for robust stability and performance. The attractive feature of this robust stability and performance analysis method is that it accommodates linearized modeled or measured frequency response functions for both the physical substructure and actuator dynamics. Significant experimental research has been conducted on base isolators and dampers toward developing high fidelity numerical models. Shake table testing, where the building superstructure is tested while the isolation layer is numerically modeled, can allow for a range of isolation strategies to be examined for a single shake table experiment. Further, recent concerns in base isolation for long period, long duration earthquakes necessitate adding damping at the isolation layer, which can allow higher frequency energy to be transmitted into the superstructure and can result in damage to structural and nonstructural components that can be difficult to numerically model and accurately predict. As such, physical testing of the superstructure while numerically modeling the isolation layer may be desired. The RTHS approach has been previously proposed for base isolated buildings, however, to date it has not been conducted on a base isolated structure isolated at the ground level and where the isolation layer itself is numerically simulated. This configuration provides multiple challenges in the RTHS stability associated with higher physical substructure frequencies and a low numerical to physical mass ratio. This paper demonstrates a base isolated RTHS test and the robust stability and performance analysis necessary to ensure the stability and accuracy. The tests consist of a scaled idealized 4-story superstructure building model placed directly onto a shake table and the isolation layer simulated in MATLAB/Simulink using a dSpace real-time controller.

Sensor placement is a crucial aspect of bridge health monitoring (BHM) dedicated to accurately estimate and locate structural damages. In addressing this goal, a sensor placement framework based on the deflection influence line (DIL) analysis is here proposed, for the optimal design of damage detection-oriented BHM system. In order to improve damage detection accuracy, we explore the change of global stiffness matrix, damage coefficient matrix and DIL vector caused by structural damage, and thus develop a novel sensor placement framework based on the Fisher information matrix. Our approach seeks to determine the contribution of each sensing node to damage detection, and adopts a distance correction coefficient to eliminate the information redundancy among sensors. The proposed damage detection-oriented optimal sensor placement (OSP) method is verified by two examples: (1) a numerically simulated three-span continuous beam, and (2) the Pinghu bridge which has existing real damage conditions. These two examples verify the performance of the distance corrected damage sensitivity of influence line (DSIL) method in significantly higher contribution to damage detection and lower information redundancy, and demonstrate the proposed OSP framework can be potentially employed in BHM practices.

Mineral admixtures have been widely used to produce concrete. Pozzolans have been utilized as partially replacement for Portland cement or blended cement in concrete based on the materials' properties and the concrete's desired effects. Several environmental problems associated with producing cement have led to partial replacement of cement with other pozzolans. Furnace slag and fly ash are two of the pozzolans which can be appropriately used as partial replacements for cement in concrete. However, replacing cement with these materials results in significant changes in the mechanical properties of concrete, more specifically, compressive strength. This paper aims to intelligently predict the compressive strength of concretes incorporating furnace slag and fly ash as partial replacements for cement. For this purpose, a database containing 1030 data sets with nine inputs (concrete mix design and age of concrete) and one output (the compressive strength) was collected. Instead of absolute values of inputs, their proportions were used. A hybrid artificial neural network-genetic algorithm (ANN-GA) was employed as a novel approach to conducting the study. The performance of the ANN-GA model is evaluated by another artificial neural network (ANN), which was developed and tuned via a conventional backpropagation (BP) algorithm. Results showed that not only an ANN-GA model can be developed and appropriately used for the compressive strength prediction of concrete but also it can lead to superior results in comparison with an ANN-BP model.

In this work, thermomechanical flexural analysis of functionally graded material sandwich plates with P-FGM face sheets and E-FGM and symmetric S-FGM core is performed by employing a nth-order shear deformation theory. A novel type of S-FGM sandwich plates, namely, both P-FGM face sheets and a symmetric S-FGM hard core are considered. By employing only four unknown variables, the governing equations are obtained based on the principle of virtual work and then Navier method is used to solve these equations. Analytical solutions are deduced to compute the stresses and deflections of simply supported S-FGM sandwich plates. The effects of volume fraction variation, geometrical parameters and thermal load on thermomechanical flexural behavior of the symmetric FGM sandwich plates are investigated.

This work presents a modified continuum model to explore and investigate static and vibration behaviors of perforated piezoelectric NEMS structure. The perforated nanostructure is modeled as a thin perforated nanobeam element with Euler-Bernoulli kinematic assumptions. A size scale effect is considered by included a nonlocal constitutive equation of Eringen in differential form. Modifications of geometrical parameters of perforated nanobeams are presented in simplified forms. To satisfy the Maxwell's equation, the distribution of electric potential for the piezoelectric nanobeam model is assumed to be varied as a combination of a cosine and linear functions. Hamilton's principle is exploited to develop mathematical governing equations. Modified numerical finite model is adopted to solve the equation of motion and equilibrium equation. The proposed model is validated with previous respectable work. Numerical investigations are presented to illustrate effects of the number of perforated holes, perforation size, nonlocal parameter, boundary conditions, and external electric voltage on the electro-mechanical behaviors of piezoelectric nanobeams.

In this research, toggled actuator forces were examined. For achieving to this object, an actuator was installed in a toggle pattern in a S.D.O.F frame and actuator forces were investigated thru a numerical analysis process. Within past twenty years, researchers tried to use strong bracing systems as well as huge dampers to stabilize tall buildings during intensive earthquakes. Eventually, utilizing of active control systems containing actuators to counter massive excitations in structures was emerged. However, the more powerful earthquake excitations, the more robust actuators were required to be installed in the system. Subsequently, the latter process made disadvantage to the active control system due to very high price of the robust actuators as well as their large demands for electricity. Therefore, through a numerical process (Part I), influence of toggled actuator pattern was investigated. The algorithm used in the system was LQR and ATmega328 was selected as a control platform. For comparison, active tendon control system was chosen. The final results show clearly that using the toggle pattern mitigates the required actuator forces enormously leading to deploy much lighter actuators.

Using confined shape memory alloy (SMA) bar or plate, this study proposes an innovative self-centering damper. The damper is essentially properly machined SMA core, i.e., bar or plate, that encased in buckling-restrained device. To prove the design concept, cyclic loading tests were carried out. According to the test results, the damper exhibited desired flag-shape hysteretic behaviors upon both tension and compression actions, although asymmetric behavior is noted. Based on the experimental data, the hysteretic parameters that interested by seismic applications, such as the strength, stiffness, equivalent damping ratio and recentering capacity, are quantified. Processed in the Matlab/Simulink environment, a preliminary evaluation of the seismic control effect for this damper was conducted. The proposed damper was placed at the first story of a multi-story frame and then the original and controlled structures were subjected to earthquake excitations. The numerical outcome indicated the damper is effective in controlling seismic deformation demands. Besides, a companion SMA damper which represents a popular type in previous studies is also introduced in the analysis to further reveal the seismic control characteristics of the newly proposed damper. In current case, it was found that although the current SMA damper shows asymmetric tension-compression behavior, it successfully contributes comparable seismic control effect as those having symmetrical cyclic behavior. Additionally, the proposed damper even shows better global performance in controlling acceleration demands. Thus, this paper reduces the concern of using SMA dampers with asymmetric cyclic behavior to a certain degree.

This paper deals with a defect classification technique that considers the structural characteristics of a refrigerant compressor. First, the pressure pulsation of the refrigerant flowing in the suction pipe of a normal compressor was measured at the same time as the acceleration of the shell surface, and then the transfer function between the two signals was estimated. Next, the frequency-weighted acceleration signals of the defect classification target compressors were generated using the estimated transfer function. The estimation of the variance of the transfer function is presented to formulate the frequency-weighted acceleration signals. The estimated frequency-weighted accelerations were applied to defect classification using frequency-domain features. Experiments were performed using commercial compressors to verify the technique. The results confirmed that it is possible to perform an effective defect classification of the refrigerant compressor by the shell surface acceleration of the compressor. The proposed method could make it possible to improve the total inspection performance for compressors in a mass-production line.