• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.591-603
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• 2020

Dynamic deflection monitoring is an essential and critical part of structural health monitoring for high-speed railway bridges. Two critical problems need to be addressed when using inclinometer sensors for such applications. These include constructing a general representation model of inclination-deflection and addressing the ill-posed inverse problem to obtain the accurate dynamic deflection. This paper provides a dynamic deflection monitoring method with the placement of optimal inclinometer sensors for high-speed railway bridges. The deflection shapes are reconstructed using the inclination-deflection transformation model based on the differential relationship between the inclination and displacement mode shape matrix. The proposed optimal sensor configuration can be used to select inclination-deflection transformation models that meet the required accuracy and stability from all possible sensor locations. In this study, the condition number and information entropy are employed to measure the ill-condition of the selected mode shape matrix and evaluate the prediction performance of different sensor configurations. The particle swarm optimization algorithm, genetic algorithm, and artificial fish swarm algorithm are used to optimize the sensor position placement. Numerical simulation and experimental validation results of a 5-span high-speed railway bridge show that the reconstructed deflection shapes agree well with those of the real bridge.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.87-93
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• 2012

Many longitudinally-arranged pipes in ships are equipped with loops as a measure to reduce stresses caused by displacement loads conveyed from the hull girder bending and/or thermal loads of carried fluid of non-ambient temperature. But as the loops have some negative effects such as causing extra manufacturing cost and occupying extra space, the number and the dimensions of the loops need to be minimized. In the meanwhile, a design formula for pipe loops has been developed by modeling them as a spring element of which stresses and axial stiffness are calculated based on the beam theory. But as the beam theory turns out to be inappropriate to deal with the complex structural behavior in the curved corner portion of the loop, this paper aims at improving the previously developed design formula by adopting correction factors which can allow for the gap between the results of beam theory and a more accurate analysis. This paper adopts a finite element analysis with two-dimensional shell elements with some validation work for it. The paper ends with a sample application of the proposed formulas showing their accuracy and efficiency.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.547-567
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• 2013

Nonlinear behavior of functionally graded material (FGM) plates under thermal loads is investigated here using an efficient sinusoidal shear deformation theory. The displacement field is chosen based on assumptions that the in-plane and transverse displacements consist of bending and shear components, and the shear components of in-plane displacements give rise to the sinusoidal distribution of transverse shear stress through the thickness in such a way that shear stresses vanish on the plate surfaces. Therefore, there is no need to use shear correction factor. Unlike the conventional sinusoidal shear deformation theory, the proposed efficient sinusoidal shear deformation theory contains only four unknowns. The material is graded in the thickness direction and a simple power law based on the rule of mixture is used to estimate the effective material properties. The neutral surface position for such FGM plates is determined and the sinusoidal shear deformation theory based on exact neutral surface position is employed here. There is no stretching-bending coupling effect in the neutral surface-based formulation, and consequently, the governing equations and boundary conditions of functionally graded plates based on neutral surface have the simple forms as those of isotropic plates. The non-linear strain-displacement relations are also taken into consideration. The thermal loads are assumed as uniform, linear and non-linear temperature rises across the thickness direction. Closed-form solutions are presented to calculate the critical buckling temperature, which are useful for engineers in design. Numerical results are presented for the present efficient sinusoidal shear deformation theory, demonstrating its importance and accuracy in comparison to other theories.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.765-784
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• 2014

In comparison with conventional shape memory actuated structures, antagonistic shape memory alloy (SMA) actuators permits a fully reversible two-way response and higher response frequency. However, excessive internal stress could adversely reduce the stroke of the actuators under repeated use. The two-way shape memory effect might further decrease the range of the recovered strain under actuation of an antagonistic SMA actuator unless additional components (e.g., spring and stopper) are added to regain the overall actuation capability. In this paper, the performance of all four possible types of SMA actuation schemes is investigated in detail with emphasis on five key properties: recovered strain, cyclic degradation, response frequency, self-sensing control accuracy, and controllable maximum output. The testing parameters are chosen based on the maximization of recovered strain. Three types of these actuators are antagonistic SMA actuators, which drive with two active SMA wires in two directions. The antagonistic SMA actuator with an additional pair of springs exhibits wider displacement range, more stable performance under reuse, and faster response, although accurate control cannot be maintained under force interference. With two additional stoppers to prevent the over stretch of the spring, the results showed that the proposed structure could achieve significant improvement on all five properties. It can be concluded that, the last type actuator scheme with additional spring and stopper provide much better applicability than the other three in most conditions. The results of the performance analysis of all four SMA actuators could provide a solid basis for the practical design of SMA actuators.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.1543-1567
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• 2015

In this study, a wireless crack sensor is developed for monitoring cracks propagating in two dimensions. This sensor is developed by incorporating a laser-based optical navigation sensor board (ADNS-9500) into a smart wireless platform (Imote2). To measure crack propagation, the Imote2 sends a signal to the ADNS-9500 to collect a sequence of images reflected from the concrete surface. These acquired images can be processed in the ADNS-9500 directly (the navigation mode) or sent to Imote2 for processing (the frame capture mode). The computed crack displacement can then be transmitted wirelessly to a base station. The design and the construction of this sensor are reported herein followed by some calibration tests on one prototype sensor. Test results show that the sensor can provide sub-millimeter accuracy under sinusoidal and step movement. Also, the two modes of operation offer complementary performance as the navigation mode is more accurate in tracking large amplitude and fast crack movement while the frame capture mode is more accurate for small and slow crack movement. These results illustrate the feasibility of developing such a crack sensor as well as point out directions of further research before its actual implementation.

• International Journal of Precision Engineering and Manufacturing
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.3-9
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• 2007

Existing long range piezoelectric motors with friction based transmission mechanisms are limited by the axial load capacity. To overcome this problem, a new linear piezoelectric motor using one piezoelectric actuator combined with a novel stepping mechanism is reported in this paper. To obtain both long range and fine accuracy, dual positioning control strategy consisting of coarse positioning and fine positioning is used. Coarse positioning is used for long travel range by accumulating motion steps obtained by piezoelectric actuator. This is followed by fine positioning where required accuracy is obtained by fine motion displacement of piezoelectric actuator. This prototype is able to provide resolution of 20 nanometers and withstand a maximum axial load of 300N. At maximum load condition, the positioner can move forward to a travel distance of 5mm at a maximum speed of 0.4 mm/sec. This design of nanopositioner can be used in applications for ultra precision positioning and grinding operations where high axial force capacity is required.

• Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
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• 2005.03a
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• pp.145-152
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• 2005

This paper presents a deformable strut-and-tie model of determining the shear strengths and ultimate deformations of the shear-dominant reinforced concrete members. The proposed model originates from the strut-and-tie model concept and satisfies equilibrium, compatibility, constitutive laws, and the geometric conditions of shear deformation. This study attempts to apply deformation patterns to strut-and-tie models. The yielding of flexural reinforcements determines yielding states and the ultimate states of reinforced concrete coupling beam are defined as the ultimate compressive strain of struts and the degradation of compressive strength due to principal tensile strain of struts. The validity and accuracy of the proposed model is then tested against available experimental data. The parameters reviewed include the ratios of truss action and arch action, the reinforcement ratios, and the shear span-depth ratio. It is expected that this model can be applied to displacement-based design methods.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.84 no.6
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• pp.723-731
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• 2022

Functionally graded materials (FGMs) have been spotlighted as an advanced composite material, accordingly the intensive studies have focused on FGMs to examine their mechanical behaviors. Among them is thermal buckling which has been a challenging subject, because its behavior is connected directly to the safety of structural system. In this context, this paper presents the numerical analysis of thermal buckling of metal-ceramic functionally graded (FG) plates. For an accurate and effective buckling analysis, a new numerical method is developed by making use of (1,1,0) hierarchical model and 2-D natural element method (NEM). Based on 3-D elasticity theory, the displacement field is expressed by a product of 1-D assumed thickness monomials and 2-D in-plane functions which are approximated by NEM. The numerical method is compared with the reference solutions through the benchmark test, from which its numerical accuracy has been verified. Using the developed numerical method, the critical buckling temperatures of metal-ceramic FG plates are parametrically investigated with respect to the major design parameters.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2002.04a
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• pp.123-130
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• 2002

A general formulation for shape design sensitivity analysis over three dimensional beam structure is developed based on a variational formulation of the beam in linear elasticity. Sensitivity formula is derived based on variational equations in cartesian coordinates using the material derivative concept and adjoint variable method for the displacement and Von-Mises stress functionals. Shape variation is considered for the beam shape in general 3-dimensional direction as well as for the orientation angle of the beam cross section. In the sensitivity expression, the end points evaluation at each beam segment is added to the integral formula, which are summed over the entire structure. The sensitivity formula can be evaluated with generality and ease even by employing piecewise linear design velocity field despite the bending model is fourth order differential equation. For the numerical implementation, commercial software ANSYS is used as analysis tool for the primal and adjoint analysis. Once the design variable set is defined using ANSYS language, shape and orientation variation vector at each node is generated by making finite difference to the shape with respect to each design parameter, and is used for the computation of sensitivity formula. Several numerical examples are taken to show the advantage of the method, in which the accuracy of the sensitivity is evaluated. The results are found excellent even by employing a simple linear function for the design velocity evaluation. Shape optimization is carried out for the geometric design of an archgrid and tilted bridge, which is to minimize maximum stress over the structure while maintaining constant weight. In conclusion, the proposed formulation is a useful and easy tool in finding optimum shape in a variety of the spatial frame structures.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.397-407
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• 2017

To estimate the structural seismic demand, some methods are based on an equivalent linear system such as the Capacity Spectrum Method, the N2 method and the Equivalent Linearization method. Another category, widely investigated, is based on displacement correction such as the Displacement Coefficient Method and the Coefficient Method. Its basic concept consists in converting the elastic linear displacement of an equivalent Single Degree of Freedom system (SDOF) into a corresponding inelastic displacement. It relies on adequate modifying or reduction coefficient such as the inelastic deformation ratio which is usually developed for systems with known ductility factors ($C_{\mu}$) and ($C_R$) for known yield-strength reduction factor. The present paper proposes a rational approach which estimates this inelastic deformation ratio for SDOF bilinear systems by rigorous nonlinear analysis. It proposes a new inelastic deformation ratio which unifies and combines both $C_{\mu}$ and $C_R$ effects. It is defined by the ratio between the inelastic and elastic maximum lateral displacement demands. Three options are investigated in order to express the inelastic response spectra in terms of: ductility demand, yield strength reduction factor, and inelastic deformation ratio which depends on the period, the post-to-preyield stiffness ratio, the yield strength and the peak ground acceleration. This new inelastic deformation ratio ($C_{\eta}$) is describes the response spectra and is related to the capacity curve (pushover curve): normalized yield strength coefficient (${\eta}$), post-to-preyield stiffness ratio (${\alpha}$), natural period (T), peak ductility factor (${\mu}$), and the yield strength reduction factor ($R_y$). For illustrative purposes, instantaneous ductility demand and yield strength reduction factor for a SDOF system subject to various recorded motions (El-Centro 1940 (N/S), Boumerdes: Algeria 2003). The method accuracy is investigated and compared to classical formulations, for various hysteretic models and values of the normalized yield strength coefficient (${\eta}$), post-to-preyield stiffness ratio (${\alpha}$), and natural period (T). Though the ductility demand and yield strength reduction factor differ greatly for some given T and ${\eta}$ ranges, they remain take close when ${\eta}>1$, whereas they are equal to 1 for periods $T{\geq}1s$.