• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.91-105
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• 2016

One of the most commonly used techniques to strengthen steel reinforced concrete structures is the application of externally bonded patches in the form of carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRP) or recently, textile reinforced cements (TRC). These external patches undertake the tensile stress of bending constraining concrete cracking. Development of full-field inspection methodologies for fracture monitoring are important since the reinforcing layers are not transparent, hindering visual observation of the material condition underneath. In the present study acoustic emission (AE) and digital image correlation (DIC) are applied during four-point bending tests of large beams to follow the damage accumulation. AE helps to determine the onset of fracture as well as the different damage mechanisms through the registered shifts in AE rate, location of active sources and change in waveform parameters. The effect of wave propagation distance, which in large components and in-situ can well mask the original information as emitted by the fracture incidents is also discussed. Simultaneously, crucial information is supplied by DIC concerning the moments of stress release of the patches due to debonding, benchmarking the trends monitored by AE. From the point of view of mechanics, conclusions on the reinforcing contribution of the different repair methodologies are also drawn.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.103-113
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• 2023

This study focused on understanding the relationship between the design of a tunnel boring machine disc cutter ring and its rock-breaking efficiency, as well as the applicable conditions of different cutter ring types. The discrete element method was used to establish a numerical model of the rock-breaking process using disc cutters with different ring types to reveal the development of rock damage cracks and variation in cutter penetration load. The calculation results indicate that a sharp-edged (V-shaped) disc cutter penetrates a rock mass to a given depth with the lowest load, resulting in more intermediate cracks and few lateral cracks, which leads to difficulty in crack combination. Furthermore, the poor wear resistance of a conventional V-shaped cutter can lead to an exponential increase in the penetration load after cutter ring wear. In contrast, constant-cross-section (CCS) disc cutters have the highest quantity of crack extensions after penetrating rock, but also require the highest penetration loads. An arch-edged (U-shaped) disc cutter is more moderate than the aforementioned types with sufficient intermediate and lateral crack propagation after cutting into rock under a suitable penetration load. Additionally, we found that the cutter ring wedge angle and edge width heavily influence cutter rock-breaking efficiency and that a disc cutter with a 16 to 22 mm edge width and 20° to 30° wedge angle exhibits high performance. Compared to V-shaped and U-shaped cutters, the CCS cutter is more suitable for soft or medium-strength rocks, where the penetration load is relatively small. Additionally, two typical case studies were selected to verify that replacing a CCS cutter with a U-shaped or optimized V-shaped disc cutter can increase cutting efficiency when encountering hard rocks.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.91 no.3
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• pp.251-262
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• 2024

Numerical modeling using the finite element method (FEM) offers crucial insights into the mechanical behavior of prostheses, including stress and strain distribution, load transfer, and stress intensity factors. Analyzing cracking in PMMA surgical cement (polymethylmethacrylate) for total hip prostheses (THP) is essential for understanding the loosening phenomenon, as the rupture of orthopedic cement is a primary cause. By understanding various failure mechanisms, significant advancements in cemented total prostheses can be achieved. This study performed a numerical analysis using a 3D FEM model to evaluate stress levels in different THP models, aiming to model damage in the orthopedic cement used in total hip arthroplasty. Utilizing ABAQUS software, FEM, and XFEM, the damage in three types of THPs-Charnley (CMK3), Osteal (BM3), and THOMPSON was modeled under stumbling loading conditions. XFEM allowed for the consideration of crack propagation between the cement and bone, while the GEARING criterion employed a user-defined field subroutine to model damage parameters. The study's findings can contribute to improving implant fixation techniques and preventing postoperative complications in orthopedic surgery.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.351-354
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• 2008

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.81-97
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• 2011

In this research, the wavelet transform is used to analyze time response of a cracked beam carrying moving mass for damage detection. In this respect, a new damage detection method based on the combined use of continuous and discrete wavelet transforms is proposed. It is shown that this method is more capable in making damage signature evident than the traditional two approaches based on direct investigation of the wavelet coefficients of structural response. By the proposed method, it is concluded that strain data outperforms displacement data at the same point in revealing damage signature. In addition, influence of moving mass-induced terms such as gravitational, Coriolis, centrifuge forces, and pure inertia force along the deflection direction to damage detection is investigated on a sample case. From this analysis it is concluded that centrifuge force has the most influence on making both displacement and strain data damage-sensitive. The Coriolis effect is the second to improve the damage-sensitivity of data. However, its impact is considerably less than the former. The rest, on the other hand, are observed to be insufficient alone.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.231-244
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• 2013

An efficient method is proposed here to identify multiple damage cases in structural systems using the concepts of flexibility matrix and strain energy of a structure. The flexibility matrix of the structure is accurately estimated from the first few mode shapes and natural frequencies. Then, the change of strain energy of a structural element, due to damage, evaluated by the columnar coefficients of the flexibility matrix is used to construct a damage indicator. This new indicator is named here as flexibility strain energy based index (FSEBI). In order to assess the performance of the proposed method for structural damage detection, two benchmark structures having a number of damage scenarios are considered. Numerical results demonstrate that the method can accurately locate the structural damage induced. It is also revealed that the magnitudes of the FSEBI depend on the damage severity.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.37-51
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• 2000

Identification of damage location based on modal measurement is an important problem in structural health monitoring. The damage index method that attempts to evaluate the changes in modal strain energy distribution has been found to be effective under certain circumstances. In this paper two damage index methods using bending strain energy and shear strain energy have been evaluated for numerous cases at different locations and degrees of damage. The objective is to evaluate the feasibility of the damage index method to localize the damage on large span concrete bridge. Finite element models were used as the test structures. Finally this method was used to predict the damage location in an actual structure, using the results of a modal survey from a large concrete bridge.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.178-188
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• 2005

This paper introduces a structural damage identification method to identify 4he multiple directional damages generated within a cylindrical shell by using the measured frequency response function (FRF). The equations of motion for a damaged cylindrical shell are derived. by using a theory of continuum damage mechanics in which a small material volume containing a directional damage is represented by the effective orthotropic elastic stiffness. In contrast with most existing vibration-based structural damage identification methods which require the modal Parameters measured in both intact and damaged states, the present method requires only the FRF-data measured at damaged state. Numerically simulated damage identification tests are conducted to verify the feasibility of the Proposed structural damage identification method.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.425-448
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• 2012

In this paper, a new damage detection and quantification method has been presented to perform detection and quantification of structural damage under ambient vibration loadings. To extract modal properties of the structural system under ambient excitation, natural excitation technique (NExT) and eigensystem realization algorithm (ERA) are employed. Sensitivity matrices of the dynamic residual force vector have been derived and used in the parameter subset selection method to identify multiple damaged locations. In the sequel, the steady state genetic algorithm (SSGA) is used to determine quantified levels of the identified damage by minimizing errors in the modal flexibility matrix. In this study, performance of the proposed damage detection and quantification methodology is evaluated using a finite element model of a truss structure with considerations of possible experimental errors and noises. A series of numerical examples with five different damage scenarios including a challengingly small damage level demonstrates that the proposed methodology can efficaciously detect and quantify damage under noisy ambient vibrations.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.59 no.1
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• pp.123-132
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• 2016

Many military and commercial aging aircrafts flying beyond their design life may experience severe crack and corrosion damage, and thus lead to catastrophic failures. In this paper, were used in a finite element model to evaluate the effect of corrosion on the adhesive damage in bonded composite repair of aircraft structures. The damage zone theory was implemented in the finite element code in order to achieve this objective. In addition, the effect of the corrosion, on the repair efficiency. Four different patch shapes were chosen to analyze the adhesive damage: rectangular, trapezoidal, circular and elliptical. The modified damage zone theory was implemented in the FE code to evaluate the adhesive damage. The obtained results show that the adhesive damage localized on the level of corrosion and in the sides of patch, and the rectangular patch offers high safety it reduces considerably the risk of the adhesive failure.