• Wind and Structures
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• 제34권2호
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• pp.185-197
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• 2022

This study aimed to analyze the wind-induced mechanical energy (WME) of a proposed super high-rise and long-span transmission tower-line system (SHLTTS), which, in 2021, is the tallest tower-line system with the longest span. Anew index - the WME, accounting for the wind-induced vibration behavior of the whole system rather than the local part, was first proposed. The occurrence of the maximum WME for a transmission tower, with or without conductors, under synoptic winds, was analyzed, and the corresponding formulae were derived based on stochastic vibration theory. Some calculation data, such as the drag coefficient, dynamic parameters, windshielding areas, mass, calculation point coordinates, mode shape and influence function, derived from wind tunnel testing on reducedscale models and finite element software were used in calculating the maximum WME of the transmission tower under three cases. Then, the influence of conductors, wind speed, gradient wind height and wind yaw angle on WME components and the energy transfer relationship between substructures (transmission tower and conductor) were analyzed. The study showed that the presence of conductors increases the WME of transmission towers and changes the proportion of the mean component (MC), background component (BC) and resonant component (RC) for WME; The RC of WME is more susceptible to the wind speed change. Affected by the gradient wind height, the WME components decrease. With the RC decreasing the fastest and the MC decreasing the slowest; The WME reaches the its maximum value at the wind yaw angle of 30°. Due to the influence of three factors, namely: the long span of the conductors, the gradient wind height and the complex geometrical profile, it is important that the tower-line coupling effect, the potential for fatigue damage and the most unfavorable wind yaw angle should be given particular attention in the wind-resistant design of SHLTTSs

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제45권3호
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• pp.437-454
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• 2022

Elliptic-braced simple resisting frame as a new lateral bracing system installed in the middle bay of frame in building facades has been recently introduced. This system not only creates a problem for opening space from the architectural viewpoint but also improves the structural behavior. Despite the researches on the seismic performance of lateral bracing systems, there are few studies performed on the effect of the stiffness parameters on the elastic story drift and calculation of period in simple braced steel frames. To overcome this shortcoming, in this paper, for the first time, an analytical solution is presented for calculating elastic lateral stiffness in a simple steel frame equipped with elliptic brace subjected to lateral load. In addition, for the first time, in this study, a precise formulation has been developed to evaluate the elastic stiffness variation in a steel frame equipped with a two-dimensional single-story single-span elliptic brace using strain energy and Castigliano's theorem. Thus, all the effective factors, including axial and shear loads as well as bending moments of elliptic brace could be considered. At the end of the analysis, the lateral stiffness can be calculated by an improved and innovative relation through the energy method based on the geometrical properties of the employed sections and specification of the used material. Also, an equivalent element of an elliptic brace was presented for the ease of modeling and use in linear designs. Application of the proposed relation have been verified through a variety of examples in OpenSees software. Based on the results, the error percentage between the elastic stiffness derived from the developed equations and the numerical analyses of finite element models was very low and negligible.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제86권4호
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• pp.443-459
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• 2023

This study investigates the theoretical thermal buckling analyses of thick porous rectangular functionally graded (FG) plates with different geometrical boundary conditions resting on a Winkler-Pasternak elastic foundation using a new higher-order shear deformation theory (HSDT). This new theory has only four unknowns and involves indeterminate integral variables in which no shear correction factor is required. The variation of material properties across the plate's thickness is considered continuous and varied following a simple power law as a function of volume fractions of the constituents. The effect of porosity with two different types of distribution is also included. The current formulation considers the Von Karman nonlinearity, and the stability equations are developed using the virtual works principle. The thermal gradients are involved and assumed to change across the FG plate's thickness according to nonlinear, linear, and uniform distributions. The accuracy of the newly proposed theory has been validated by comparing the present results with the results obtained from the previously published theories. The effects of porosity, boundary conditions, foundation parameters, power index, plate aspect ratio, and side-to-thickness ratio on the critical buckling temperature are studied and discussed in detail.

• Computers and Concrete
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• 제32권2호
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• pp.217-232
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• 2023

Numerous studies have been performed on the behavior of pile foundations in cold regions. This study first attempted to employ artificial neural networks (ANN) to predict pile-bearing capacity focusing on pile data recorded primarily on cold regions. As the ANN technique has disadvantages such as finding global minima or slower convergence rates, this study in the second phase deals with the development of an ANN-based predictive model improved with an Elephant herding optimizer (EHO), Dragonfly Algorithm (DA), Genetic Algorithm (GA), and Evolution Strategy (ES) methods for predicting the piles' bearing capacity. The network inputs included the pile geometrical features, pile area (m²), pile length (m), internal friction angle along the pile body and pile tip (Ø°), and effective vertical stress. The MLP model pile's output was the ultimate bearing capacity. A sensitivity analysis was performed to determine the optimum parameters to select the best predictive model. A trial-and-error technique was also used to find the optimum network architecture and the number of hidden nodes. According to the results, there is a good consistency between the pile-bearing DA-MLP-predicted capacities and the measured bearing capacities. Based on the R2 and determination coefficient as 0.90364 and 0.8643 for testing and training datasets, respectively, it is suggested that the DA-MLP model can be effectively implemented with higher reliability, efficiency, and practicability to predict the bearing capacity of piles.

• 분석과학
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• 제20권1호
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• pp.61-69
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• 2007

$C_{16}H_{16}O_3$의 중성분자, 음이온, 그리고 양이온에 대하여 양자역학적 방법을 사용하여, 분자구조, 진동주파수 그리고 HOMO-LUMO 차이와 재편성에너지(reorganization energy)를 통한 전하이동성 특성을 연구하였다. 분자구조는 $B3LYP/6-311G^{**}$ 수준까지 최적화 하여 안정한 구조를 찾았다. 또한 진동주파수를 계산하여 안정한 상태의 분자구조를 확인하였으며, 액정의 전하이동성 특성을 분석하기 위해서 HOMO-LUMO 에너지 차이와 재편성에너지를 계산하였다. $C_{16}H_{16}O_3$의 HOMO-LUMO 에너지 차이는 중성분자의 경우 4.45 eV, 음이온과 양이온에 대해서는 각각 1.46 eV, 1.53 eV로 계산되었고, 재편성에너지는 음이온의 경우 0.59 eV, 그리고 양이온의 경우 0.43 eV로 계산되었다.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제84권4호
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• pp.437-452
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• 2022

For the first time, the higher-order shear and normal deformable plate theory (HOSNDPT) is used for the vibration and flutter analyses of the multilayer functionally graded graphene platelets reinforced composite (FG-GPLRC) plates under supersonic airflow. For modeling the supersonic airflow, the linear piston theory is adopted. In HOSNDPT, Legendre polynomials are used to approximate the components of the displacement field in the thickness direction. So, all stress and strain components are encountered. Either uniform or three kinds of non-uniform distribution of graphene platelets (GPLs) into polymer matrix are considered. The Young modulus of the FG-GPLRC plate is estimated by the modified Halpin-Tsai model, while the Poisson ratio and mass density are determined by the rule of mixtures. The Hamilton's principle is used to obtain the governing equations of motion and the associated boundary conditions of the plate. For solving the plate's equations of motion, the Galerkin approach is applied. A comparison for the natural frequencies obtained based on the present investigation and those of three-dimensional elasticity theory shows a very good agreement. The flutter boundaries for FG-GPLRC plates based on HOSNDPT are described and the effects of GPL distribution patterns, the geometrical parameters and the weight fraction of GPLs on the flutter frequencies and flutter aerodynamic pressure of the plate are studied in detail. The obtained results show that by increasing 0.5% of GPLs into polymer matrix, the flutter aerodynamic pressure increases approximately 117%, 145%, 166% and 196% for FG-O, FG-A, UD and FG-X distribution patterns, respectively.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• 제25권6호
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• pp.417-427
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• 2023

If the center of mass and center of stiffness or strength of a structure plan do not coincide, the structure is considered asymmetric. During an earthquake, in addition to lateral vibration, the structure experiences torsional vibration as well. Lateraltorsional coupling in asymmetric structures in the plan will increase lateral displacement at the ends of the structure plan and, as a result, uneven deformation demand in seismically resistant frames. The demand for displacement in resistant frames depends on the magnitude of transitional displacement to rotational displacement in the plan and the correlation between these two. With regard to the inability to eliminate the asymmetrical condition due to various reasons, such as architectural issues, this study has attempted to use supplemental viscous dampers to decrease the correlation between lateral and torsional acceleration or displacement in the plan. This results in an almost even demand for lateral deformation and acceleration of seismic resistant frames. On this basis, using the concept of Torsional Balance, adequate distribution of viscous dampers for the decrease of this correlation was determined by transferring the "Empirical Center of Balance" (ECB) to the geometrical center of the structure plan and thus obtaining an equal mean square value of displacement and acceleration of the plan edges. This study analyzed stiff and flexible torsional structures with one-way and two-way mass asymmetry in the Opensees software. By implementing the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm, the optimum formation of dampers for controlling lateral displacement and acceleration is determined. The results indicate that with the appropriate distribution of viscous dampers, not only does the lateral displacement and acceleration of structure edges decrease but the lateral displacement or acceleration of the structure edges also become equal. It is also observed that the optimized center of viscous dampers for control of displacement and acceleration of structure depends on the amount of mass eccentricity, the ratio of uncoupled torsional-to-lateral frequency, and the amount of supplemental damping ratio. Accordingly, distributions of viscous dampers in the structure plan are presented to control the structure's torsion based on the parameters mentioned.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제89권3호
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• pp.253-263
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• 2024

Slope stability is generally paid more attention to in slope protection works, especially for slope containing weak layers. Two indexes of safety factor and failure model are selected to perform slope stability. Moreover, the finite element limit analysis method comprehensively combines the advantage of the limit analysis method and the finite element method obtaining the upper and lower bounds of the safety factor and the failure mode under the slope stability limit state. In this study, taking a waste dump containing a weak layer as an engineering background, the finite element limit analysis method is adopted to explore the potential failure mode. Meanwhile, the sensitivity analysis of slope stability is performed on geometrical and geotechnical parameters of the waste dump. The results show that the failure mode of the waste dump slope is two wedges if the weak layer is located on the ground surface (Model A), while the slope can be observed as three wedges failure if the weak layer is below the ground surface (Model B). In addition, both failure modes are highly sensitive to the friction angle of the weak layer and the shear strength of waste disposal, and moderately sensitive to the heap height, the dip angle and cohesion of the weak layer, while the toe cutting has limited effect on the slope stability. Moreover, the sensitivity to the excavation of the ground depends on the location of the weak layer and failure mode.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제91권2호
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• pp.211-225
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• 2024

Soft bending actuators have gained significant interest in robotic applications due to their compliance and lightweight nature. Their compliance allows for safer and more natural interactions with humans or other objects, reducing the risk of injury or damage. However, the nonlinear behaviour of soft actuators presents challenges in accurately predicting their bending motion and force exertion. In this research, a new comprehensive study has been conducted by employing a developed 3D finite element model (FEM) to investigate the effect of geometrical and material parameters on the bending behaviour of a soft pneumatic actuator reinforced with Kevlar fibres. A series of experiments are designed to validate the FE model, and the FE model investigates the improvement of actuator performance. The material used for fabricating the actuator is RTV-2 silicone rubber. In this study, the Cauchy stress was expanded for hyperelastic models and the best model to express the stress-strain behaviour based on ASTM D412 Type C tensile test for this material has been obtained. The results show that the greatest bending angle was achieved for the semi-elliptical actuator made of RTV2 material with a pitch of 1.5 mm and second layer thickness of 1 mm. In comparison, the maximum response force was obtained for the semi-elliptical actuator made of RTV2 material with a pitch of 6 mm and a second layer thickness of 2 mm. Additionally, this research opens up new possibilities for development of safer and more efficient robotic systems that can interact seamlessly with humans and their environment.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제50권5호
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• pp.563-581
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• 2024

This paper presents a novel finite element model for the free vibration analysis of variable-thickness functionally graded porous (FGP) microplates resting on Pasternak's medium in the hygro-thermal environment. The governing equations are established according to refined higher-order shear deformation plate theory (RPT) in construction with the modified couple stress theory. For the first time, three-node triangular elements with twelve degrees of freedom for each node are developed based on Hermitian interpolation functions to describe the in-plane displacements and transverse displacements of microplates. Two laws of variable thickness of FGP microplates, including the linear law and the nonlinear law in the x-direction are investigated. Effects of thermal and moisture changes on microplates are assumed to vary continuously from the bottom surface to the top surface and only cause tension loads in the plane, which does not change the material's mechanical properties. The numerical results of this work are compared with those of published data to verify the accuracy and reliability of the proposed method. In addition, the parameter study is conducted to explore the effects of geometrical and material properties such as the changing law of the thickness, length-scale parameter, and the parameters of the porosity, temperature, and humidity on the free vibration response of variable thickness FGP microplates. These results can be applied to design of microelectromechanical structures in practice.