• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.17 no.6 s.90
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• pp.939-946
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• 2005

The stiffness properties of heterogeneous concrete materials and their degradation were investigated at different-levels of observations with aids of the opportunities and limitations of multi-resolution wavelet analysis. The successive Haw transformations lead to a recursive separation of the stiffness properties and the response into coarse-and fine-scale features. In the limit, this recursive process results in a homogenization parameter which is an average measure of stiffness and strain energy capacity at the coarse scale. The basic concept of multi-resolution analysis is illustrated with one and two-dimensional model problems of a two-phase particulate composite representative of the morphology of concrete materials. The computational studies include the meso-structural features of concrete in the form of a hi-material system of aggregate particles which are immersed in a hardened cement paste taking due to account of the mismatch of the two elastic constituents.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.171-190
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• 2002

Two cases of design are performed for the hyperbolic paraboloid saddle shell (Lin-Scordelis saddle shell) and the hyperbolic cooling tower (Grand Gulf cooling tower) to check the design strength against a consistent design load, therefore to verify the adequacy of the design algorithm. An iterative numerical computational algorithm is developed for combined membrane and flexural forces, which is based on equilibrium consideration for the limit state of reinforcement and cracked concrete. The design algorithm is implemented in a finite element analysis computer program developed by Mahmoud and Gupta. The amount of reinforcement is then determined at the center of each element by an elastic finite element analysis with the design ultimate load. Based on ultimate nonlinear analyses performed with designed saddle shell, the analytically calculated ultimate load exceeded the design ultimate load from 7% to 34% for analyses with various magnitude of tension stiffening. For the cooling tower problem the calculated ultimate load exceeded the design ultimate load from 26% to 63% with similar types of analyses. Since the effective tension stiffening would vary over the life of the shells due to environmental factors, a degree of uncertainty seems inevitable in calculating the actual failure load by means of numerical analysis. Even though the ultimate loads are strongly dependent on the tensile properties of concrete, the calculated ultimate loads are higher than the design ultimate loads for both design cases. For the cases designed, the design algorithm gives a lower bound on the design ultimate load with respect to the lower bound theorem. This shows the adequacy of the design algorithm developed, at least for the shells studied. The presented design algorithm for the combined membrane and flexural forces can be evolved as a general design method for reinforced concrete plates and shells through further studies involving the performance of multiple designs and the analyses of differing shell configurations.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.57 no.2
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• pp.327-355
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• 2016

A new analytical derivation of the elastodynamic point load solutions for an isotropic multi-layered half-space is presented by means of the precise integration method (PIM) and the approach of dual vector. The time-harmonic external load is prescribed either on the external boundary or in the interior of the solid medium. Starting with the axisymmetric governing motion equations in a cylindrical coordinate system, a second order ordinary differential matrix equation can be gained by making use of the Hankel integral transform. Employing the technique of dual vector, the second order ordinary differential matrix equation can be simplified into a first-order one. The approach of PIM is implemented to obtain the solutions of the ordinary differential matrix equation in the Hankel integral transform domain. The PIM is a highly accurate algorithm to solve sets of first-order ordinary differential equations and any desired accuracy of the dynamic point load solutions can be achieved. The numerical simulation is based on algebraic matrix operation. As a result, the computational effort is reduced to a great extent and the computation is unconditionally stable. Selected numerical trials are given to validate the accuracy and applicability of the proposed approach. More examples are discussed to portray the dependence of the load-displacement response on the isotropic parameters of the multi-layered media, the depth of external load and the frequency of excitation.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.163-180
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• 2009

In the design of tall reinforced concrete (R/C) buildings, the serviceability stiffness criteria in terms of maximum lateral displacement and inter-story drift must be satisfied to prevent large second-order P-delta effects. To accurately assess the lateral deflection and stiffness of tall R/C structures, cracked members in these structures need to be identified and their effective member flexural stiffness determined. In addition, the implementation of the geometric nonlinearity in the analysis can be significant for an accurate prediction of lateral deflection of the structure, particularly in the case of tall R/C building under lateral loading. It can therefore be important to consider the cracking effect together with the geometric nonlinearity in the analysis in order to obtain more accurate results. In the present study, a computer program based on the iterative procedure has been developed for the three dimensional analysis of reinforced concrete frames with cracked beam and column elements. Probability-based effective stiffness model is used for the effective flexural stiffness of a cracked member. In the analysis, the geometric nonlinearity due to the interaction of axial force and bending moment and the displacements of joints are also taken into account. The analytical procedure has been demonstrated through the application of R/C frame examples in which its accuracy and efficiency in comparison with experimental and other analytical results are verified. The effectiveness of the analytical procedure is also illustrated through a practical four story R/C frame example. The iterative procedure provides equally good and consistent prediction of lateral deflection and effective flexural member stiffness. The proposed analytical procedure is efficient from the viewpoints of computational effort and convergence rate.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.49 no.6
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• pp.705-726
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• 2014

In general, cylindrically curved plates are used in ships and offshore structures such as wind towers, spa structures, fore and aft side shell plating, and bilge circle parts in merchant vessels. In a number of studies, it has been shown that curvature increases the buckling strength of a plate under compressive loading, and the ultimate load-carrying capacity is also expected to increase. In the present paper, a series of elastic and elastoplastic large deflection analyses were performed using the commercial finite element analysis program (MSC.NASTRAN/PATRAN) in order to clarify and examine the fundamental buckling and collapse behaviors of curved plates subjected to combined axial compression and lateral pressure. On the basis of the numerical results, the effects of curvature, the magnitude of the initial deflection, the slenderness ratio, and the aspect ratio on the characteristics of the buckling and collapse behavior of the curved plates are discussed. On the basis of the calculated results, the design formula was developed to predict the buckling and ultimate strengths of curved plates subjected to combined loads in an analytical manner. The buckling strength behaviors were simulated by performing elastic large deflection analyses. The newly developed formulations were applied in order to perform verification analyses for the curved plates by comparing the numerical results, and then, the usefulness of the proposed method was demonstrated.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.345-360
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• 2020

Modern swarm intelligence heuristic search methods are widely applied in the field of structural health monitoring due to their advantages of excellent global search capacity, loose requirement of initial guess and ease of computational implementation etc. To this end, a hybrid strategy is proposed based on butterfly optimization algorithm (BOA) and differential evolution (DE) with purpose of effective combination of their merits. In the proposed identification strategy, two improvements including mutation and crossover operations of DE, and dynamic adaptive operators are introduced into original BOA to reduce the risk to be trapped in local optimum and increase global search capability. The performance of the proposed algorithm, hybrid butterfly optimization and differential evolution algorithm (HBODEA) is evaluated by two numerical examples of a simply supported beam and a 37-bar truss structure, as well as an experimental test of 8-story shear-type steel frame structure in the laboratory. Compared with BOA and DE, the numerical and experimental results show that the proposed HBODEA is more robust to detect the reduction of stiffness with limited sensors and contaminated measurements. In addition, the effect of search space, two dynamic operators, population size on identification accuracy and efficiency of the proposed identification strategy are further investigated.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.75 no.6
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• pp.747-769
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• 2020

This paper provides a semi-analytical approach to investigate the variations of 3D displacement components, electric potential, stresses, electric displacements and transverse vibration frequencies in laminated piezoelectric composite plates based on the scaled boundary finite element method (SBFEM) and the precise integration algorithm (PIA). The proposed approach can analyze the static and dynamic responses of multilayered piezoelectric plates with any number of laminae, various geometrical shapes, boundary conditions, thickness-to-length ratios and stacking sequences. Only a longitudinal surface of the plate is discretized into 2D elements, which helps to improve the computational efficiency. Comparing with plate theories and other numerical methods, only three displacement components and the electric potential are set as the basic unknown variables and can be represented analytically through the transverse direction. The whole derivation is built upon the three dimensional key equations of elasticity for the piezoelectric materials and no assumptions on the plate kinematics have been taken. By virtue of the equilibrium equations, the constitutive relations and the introduced set of scaled boundary coordinates, three-dimensional governing partial differential equations are converted into the second order ordinary differential matrix equation. Furthermore, aided by the introduced internal nodal force, a first order ordinary differential equation is obtained with its general solution in the form of a matrix exponent. To further improve the accuracy of the matrix exponent in the SBFEM, the PIA is employed to make sure any desired accuracy of the mechanical and electric variables. By virtue of the kinetic energy technique, the global mass matrix of the composite plates constituted by piezoelectric laminae is constructed for the first time based on the SBFEM. Finally, comparisons with the exact solutions and available results are made to confirm the accuracy and effectiveness of the developed methodology. What's more, the effect of boundary conditions, thickness-to-length ratios and stacking sequences of laminae on the distributions of natural frequencies, mechanical and electric fields in laminated piezoelectric composite plates is evaluated.

• Advances in biomechanics and applications
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.41-55
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• 2014

Acellular intra-myocardial biomaterial injections have been shown to be therapeutically beneficial in inhibiting ventricular remodelling of myocardial infarction (MI). Based on a biventricular canine cardiac geometry, various finite element models were developed that comprised an ischemic (II) or scarred infarct (SDI) in left ventricular (LV) antero-apical region, without and with intra-myocardial biomaterial injectate in layered (L) and bulk (B) distribution. Changes in myocardial properties and LV geometry were implemented corresponding to infarct stage (tissue softening vs. stiffening, infarct thinning, and cavity dilation) and injectate (infarct thickening). The layered and bulk injectate increased ejection fraction of the infarcted LV by 77% (II+L) and 25% (II+B) at the ischemic stage and by 61% (SDI+L) and 63% (SDI+B) at the remodelling stage. The injectates decreased the mean end-systolic myofibre stress in the infarct by 99% (II+L), 97% (II+B), 70% (SDI+L) and 36% (SDI+B). The bulk injectate was slightly more effective in improving LV function at the remodelling stage whereas the layered injectate was superior in functional improvement at ischemic stage and in reduction of wall stress at ischemic and remodelling stage. These findings may stimulate and guide further research towards tailoring acellular biomaterial injectate therapies for MI.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.547-564
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• 2014

This study focuses on the application of an active tuned mass damper (ATMD) for controlling the seismic response of an 11-story building. The control action is achieved by combination of a fuzzy logic controller (FLC) and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) method. FLC is used to handle the uncertain and nonlinear phenomena while PSO is used for optimization of FLC parameters. The FLC system optimized by PSO is called PSFLC. The optimization process of the FLC system has been performed for an 11-story building under the earthquake excitations recommended by International Association of Structural Control (IASC) committee. Minimization of the top floor displacement has been used as the optimization criteria. The results obtained by the PSFLC method are compared with those obtained from ATMD with GFLC system which is proposed by Pourzeynali et al. and non-optimum FLC system. Based on the parameters obtained from PSFLC system, a global controller as PSFLCG is introduced. Performance of the designed PSFLCG has been checked for different disturbances of far-field and near-field ground motions. It is found that the ATMD system, driven by FLC with the help of PSO significantly reduces the peak displacement of the example building. The results show that the PSFLCG decreases the peak displacement of the top floor by about 10%-30% more than that of the FLC system. To show the efficiency and superiority of the adopted optimization method (PSO), a comparison is also made between PSO and GA algorithms in terms of success rate and computational processing time. GA is used by Pourzeynali et al for optimization of the similar system.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.68 no.5
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• pp.575-589
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• 2018

It is well known that the incidence angle of seismic excitation has an influence on the structural response of buildings, and this effect can be more significant in the case of near-fault signals. However, current seismic codes do not include detailed requirements regarding the direction of application of the seismic action and they have only recently introduced specific provisions about near-fault earthquakes. Thus, engineers have the task of evaluating all the relevant directions or the most critical conditions case by case, in order to avoid underestimating structural demand. To facilitate the identification of the most critical incidence angle, this paper presents a procedure which makes use of a two-degree of freedom model for representing a building. The proposed procedure makes it possible to avoid the extensive computational effort of multiple dynamic analyses with varying angles of incidence of ground motion excitation, which is required if a spatial multi-degree of freedom model is used for representing a building. The procedure is validated through the analysis of two case studies consisting of an eight- and a six-storey reinforced concrete frame building, selected as representative of existing structures located in Italy. A set of 124 near-fault ground motion records oriented along 8 incidence angles, varying from 0 to 180 degrees, with increments of 22.5 degrees, is used to excite the structures. Comparisons between the results obtained with detailed models of the two structures and the proposed procedure are used to show the accuracy of the latter in the prediction of the most critical angle of seismic incidence.