• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.85 no.2
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• pp.163-177
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• 2023

The design of segmental bridges, a structure that typically employs precast prestressed concrete elements and the balanced cantilever construction method for the deck, may demand a highly complex structural analysis for increased precision of the results. This work presents a comprehensive numerical analysis of a 3D finite element model using the software ANSYS, version 21.2, to simulate the constructive deck stages of the New Guaiba Bridge, a structure located in Porto Alegre city, southern Brazil. The materials concrete and steel were considered viscoelastic. The concrete used a Generalized Kelvin model, with subroutines written in FORTRAN and added to the main model through the customization tool UPF (User Programmable Features). The steel prestressing tendons used a Generalized Maxwell model available in ANSYS. The balanced cantilever constructive steps of a span of the New Guaiba Bridge were then numerically simulated to follow the actual constructive sequence of the bridge. A comparison between the results obtained with the numerical model and the actual vertical displacement data monitored during the bridge's construction was carried out, showing a good correlation.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.88 no.1
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• pp.67-81
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• 2023

The reinforced concrete (RC) structures might need strengthening or upgradation due to adverse environmental conditions, design defects, modification requirements, and to prolong the expected lifespan. The RC beams have been efficiently strengthened using the near surface mounted (NSM) approach over the externally bonded reinforcing (EBR) system. In this study, the performance of RC beam elements strengthened with NSM-steel rebars was investigated using an experimental program and nonlinear finite element modeling (FEM). Nine medium-sized, rectangular cross-section RC beams total in number made up for the experimental evaluation. The beams strengthened with varying percentages of NSM reinforcement, and the number of grooves was assessed in four-point bending experiments up to failure. Based on the experimental evaluation, the load-displacement response, crack features, and failure modes of the strengthened beams were recorded and considered. According to the experimental findings, NSM steel greatly improved the flexural strength (up to about 84%) and stiffness of RC beams. The flexural response of the tested beams was simulated using a 3D non-linear finite element (FE) model. The findings of the experiments and the numerical analysis showed good agreement. The effect of the NSM groove and reinforcement on the structural response was then assessed parametrically.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.163-173
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• 2024

Fiber-reinforced polymers (FRP) have a proven strength enhancement capability when installed into Reinforced Concrete (RC) beams. The brittle failure of traditional FRP strengthening systems has attracted researchers to develop novel materials with improved strength and ductility properties. One such material is that known as polyethylene terephthalate (PET). This study presents a numerical investigation of the flexural behavior of reinforced concrete beams externally strengthened with PET-FRP systems. This material is distinguished by its large rupture strain, leading to an improvement in the ductility of the strengthened structural members compared to conventional FRPs. A three-dimensional (3-D) finite element (FE) model is developed in this study to predict the load-deflection response of a series of experimentally tested beams published in the literature. The numerical model incorporates constitutive material laws and bond-slip behavior between concrete and the strengthening system. Moreover, the validated model was applied in a parametric study to inspect the effect of concrete compressive strength, PET-FRP sheet length, and reinforcing steel bar diameter on the overall performance of concrete beams externally strengthened with PET-FRP.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.24 no.9 s.180
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• pp.2397-2405
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• 2000

The remeshing is a method to replace a distorted mesh by a new mesh without interrupting the finite element calculation. The remeshing procedure in this paper refers to the rezoning, for which a sm oothing process is developed to alleviate the distortions of mesh. In the paper, an automatic finite element rezoning system with tetrahedral elements for large deformation analysis has been developed. Our smoothing process is composed of two steps, a surface smoothing and a volume smoothing. In the surface smoothing, checking the dihedral angle and projection on surface patch reduced the change of shape and nodes penetrating die. The constrained Laplacian smoothing has been employed for the volume smoothing process. The state variables are mapped from old mesh to new mesh by using volume coordinates within a tetrahedral element. All these procedures have been linked to the NIKE3D program As illustrated in the examples the overall strategy ensures a robust and efficient rezoning scheme for finite element simulation of metal-forming processes.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.199-207
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• 2013

In this paper, a $64{\times}8$ channel 1.75D ultrasonic transducer made of piezoelectric single crystals was designed, fabricated, and evaluated. First, a structure of the transducer was selected to be suitable for wiring on a planar array, and components were fabricated to correspond to the structure. Detailed structure of the transducer was designed through finite element analyses. As main performance factors, the crosstalk between neighboring elements was reduced through the control of kerf width and material, and desired frequency bandwidth of the transducer was achieved by designing the optimal thicknesses of the piezoelectric single crystal and matching layers. An experimental prototype of the transducer was fabricated following the design, and its performance was measured. Then the experimental results were compared with those of the finite element analysis, which led to the evaluation of the transducer developed in this work.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.63-72
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• 2020

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of the application of various numerical models and frequency contents of earthquakes on the performances of the reactor containment building (RCB) in a nuclear power plant (NPP) equipped with an advanced power reactor 1400. Two kinds of numerical models are developed to perform time-history analyses: a lumped-mass stick model (LMSM) and a full three-dimensional finite element model (3D FEM). The LMSM is constructed in SAP2000 using conventional beam elements with concentrated masses, whereas the 3D FEM is built in ANSYS using solid elements. Two groups of ground motions considering low- and high-frequency contents are applied in time-history analyses. The low-frequency motions are created by matching their response spectra with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission 1.60 design spectrum, whereas the high-frequency motions are artificially generated with a high-frequency range from 10Hz to 100Hz. Seismic responses are measured in terms of floor response spectra (FRS) at the various elevations of the RCB. The numerical results show that the FRS of the structure under low-frequency motions for two numerical models are highly matched. However, under high-frequency motions, the FRS obtained by the LMSM at a high natural frequency range are significantly different from those of the 3D FEM, and the largest difference is found at the lower elevation of the RCB. By assuming that the 3D FEM approximates responses of the structure accurately, it can be concluded that the LMSM produces a moderate discrepancy at the high-frequency range of the FRS of the RCB.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.1101-1111
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• 2018

This study aims to present accurate soil modeling and validation of a single roadside guardrail post as well as a single concrete pile installed near cut slopes or compacted sloping embankment. The conventional Winkler's elastic spring model and p-y curve approach for horizontal ground cannot directly be applied to sloping ground where ultimate soil resistance is significantly dependent on ground inclination. In this study, both grid-based 3-D FE model and particle-based SPH (smoothed particle hydrodynamics) model available in LS-DYNA have been adopted to predict the static behavior of a laterally loaded guardrail post. The SPH model has potential to eliminate any artificial soil stiffness due to the deterioration of the node-connected Lagrangian soil mesh. For this purpose, this study comprises two parts. Firstly, only 3-D FE modeling has been tested to show the numerical validity for a single concrete pile in sloping ground using Mohr-Coulomb material. However, this material option cannot be implemented for SPH elements. Nevertheless, Mohr-Coulomb model has been used since this material model requires six input soil data that can be obtained from the comparative papers in literatures. Secondly, this work is extended to compute the lateral resistance of a guardrail post located near the slope using the hybrid approach that combines Lagrange FE elements and SPH elements by the suitable node-merging option provided by LS-DYNA. For this analysis, the FHWA soil material developed for application to road-base soils has been used and also allows the application of SPH element.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Railway
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.240-247
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• 2011

Finite element analysis was undertaken to investigate the effect of freezing force of water unexpectedly penetrated into inserts used in railway sleeper on pullout capacity of anchor bolts for fixing base-plate onto concrete sleeper. Based on the in-situ investigation and measurement of geometry of railway sleeper and rail-fastener, the railway sleeper was modeled by 3D solid elements. Nonlinear and fracture properties for the finite element model were assumed according to CEB-FIP 1990 model code. And the pullout maximum load of anchor bolt obtained from the model developed was compared with experimental pullout maximum load presented by KRRI for verification of the model. Using this model, the effect of position of anchor bolt, amount of fastening force applied to the anchor bolt, and compressive strength of concrete on pull-out capacity of anchor bolts installed in railway sleeper was investigated. As a result, it is found that concrete railway sleepers could be damaged by the pressure due to freezing of water penetrated into inserts. And the pullout capacity of anchor bolt close to center of railway is slightly greater than that of the others.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.239-255
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• 2017

Various centrifuge model tests on the pile foundations were performed to investigate fundamental characteristics of a pile-soil-foundation system recently, but it is hard to find numerical analysis results of a pile foundation system considering the nonlinear behavior of soil layers due to the dynamic excitations. Numerical analyses for a pile-soil system were carried out to verify the experimental results of centrifuge model tests. Centrifuge model tests were performed at the laboratory applying 1.5 Hz sinusoidal base input motions, and nonlinear numerical analyses were performed utilizing a finite element program of P3DASS in the frequency domain and applying the same input motions with the intensities of 0.05 g~0.38 g. Nonlinear soil properties of soil elements were defined by Ramberg-Osgood soil model for the nonlinear dynamic analyses. Nonlinear numerical analyses with the P3DASS program were helpful to predict the trend of experimental responses of a centrifuge model efficiently, even though there were some difficulties in processing analytical results and to find out unintended deficits in measured experimental data. Also nonlinear soil properties of elements in the system can be estimated adequately using an analytical program to compare them with experimental results.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.853-862
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• 2020

In recent years, due to the many advantages cable-stayed bridges have often constructed in medium and long span. These advantages can be listed as an aesthetically pleasing appearance, economic and easy construction, etc. The main structural elements of cable-stayed bridges are listed as deck, pylon, cables and foundation. Perhaps one of the most vital and expensive of these structural elements is stay-cables. Stay-cables ensure the allowable displacement and distribution of bending moments along the bridge deck with prestressing force. Therefore the optimum design of the stay-cables and prestressing force are very important in achieving the performance expected from the cable-stayed bridges. This paper aims to obtain the stay-cables size and prestressing force optimization of the cable-stayed bridge. For this purpose, single pylon and fan type cable configuration Manavgat Cable-Stayed Bridge was selected as an example. The three dimensional (3D) finite element model (FEM) of the bridge was created with SAP2000. Analysis of the 3D FEM of the bridge was conducted under the different combined effects of the self-weight of the structural element, prestressing force of stay-cable and live load. Stay-cable stress and deck displacement were taken into account as constraints for the optimization problem. To optimize this existing bridge a metaheuristic algorithm named Jaya was used in the optimization process. 3D FEM of the selected bridge was repeatedly analyzed by using Open Applicable Programming Interface (OAPI) properties of SAP2000. To carry out the optimization process the developed program which integrates the Jaya algorithm and the required codes for calling SAP2000 is coded in MATLAB. At the end of the study, the total weight of the stay-cables was reduced more than 40% according to existing stay cables under loads taken into account.