• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.47-65
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• 2012

The presence of crack-like defects in mechanical and structural elements produces failures during their service life that in some cases can be catastrophic. So, the early detection of the fatigue cracks is particularly important because they grow rapidly, with a propagation velocity that increases exponentially, and may lead to long out-of-service periods, heavy damages of machines and severe economic consequences. In this work, a non-destructive method for the detection and identification of elliptical cracks in shafts based on stress wave propagation is proposed. The propagation of a stress wave in a cracked shaft has been numerically analyzed and numerical results have been used to detect and identify the crack through the genetic algorithm optimization method. The results obtained in this work allow the development of an on-line method for damage detection and identification for cracked shaft-like components using an easy and portable dynamic testing device.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.687-704
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• 2014

A great number of moment-resisting steel structures collapsed due to ductile crack initiation at welded beam-column connections, followed by explosive brittle fracture in the Kobe (Hyogoken-Nanbu) earthquake in 1995. A series of experimental and numerical studies on cracking behaviors of beam-column connections in steel bridge piers were carried out by the authors' team. This paper aims to study the effect of post weld treatment on cracking behaviors of the connections during a strong earthquake event. Experiments of three specimens with different weld finishes, i.e., as-welded, R-finish, and burr grinding, were conducted. The experimental results indicate that the instants of ductile crack initiation are greatly delayed for the specimens with R-finish and burr grinding finishes compared with the as-welded one. The strain concentration effect in the connection is also greatly reduced in the specimens with post weld treatment compared with the as-welded one, which was also verified in the tests.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.99-118
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• 2013

Earthquakes, which are unavoidable natural phenomena in Turkey, have often produced economic and social disaster. The latest destructive earthquakes happened in Van city. Van, Turkey, earthquakes with M = 7.2 occurred on 23 October 2011 at 13:41 (local time), whose epicenter was about 16 km north of Van (Tabanlivillage) and M = 5.6 on 9 November 2011 epicentered near the town of Edremit south of Van in eastern Turkey and caused the loss of life and heavy damages. Both earthquakes killed 644 people and 2608 people were injured. Approximately 4000 buildings collapsed or were seriously damaged. The majority of the damaged structures were seismically insufficient, unreinforced masonry and adobe buildings in rural areas. In this paper, site surveys of the damaged masonry and adobe buildings are presented and the reasons for the caused damages are discussed in detail.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.183-191
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• 2019

A piezoelectric paper feeder actuator using Micro Virtual Roller (MVR) is proposed, designed, fabricated and tested. This actuator can drive a sheet of paper forward or backward without any mechanical parts, such as the costly and heavy rollers used in traditional paper feeders. In this paper feeder actuator, two vibrating stators which produce traveling waves are used to drive the paper. The vibrations of the stators are similar to those of piezoelectric motors and follow a similar procedure to move the paper. A feasibility study simulated the actuator in COMSOL Multiphysics Software. Traveling wave and elliptical trajectories were obtained and the dimensions of the stator were optimized using FEM so that the paper could move at top speed. Next, the eigenfrequencies of the actuator was determined. Experimental testing was done in order to validate the FEM results that revealed the relationships between speed and parameters such as frequency and voltage. Advantages of this new mechanism are the sharp decrease in power consumption and low maintenance.

• Coupled systems mechanics
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.415-437
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• 2019

The present research deals with two-dimensional axisymmetric deformation in transversely isotropic magneto thermoelastic solid with and without energy dissipation, with two temperature and time-harmonic source. The proposed model is helpful for finding the type of relations between mechanical and thermal fields as most of the structural elements of heavy industries are frequently related to mechanical and thermal stresses at a higher temperature. The Hankel transform has been used to find a solution to the problem. The displacement components, stress components, and temperature distribution with the horizontal distance in the physical domain are calculated numerically. The effect of time-harmonic source and two temperature is depicted graphically on the resulting quantities.

• Coupled systems mechanics
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.147-168
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• 2019

This work aims to simulate three-dimensional heavy oil flow in a reservoir with heater-wells. Mass, momentum and energy balances, as well as correlations for rock and fluid properties, are used to obtain non-linear partial differential equations for the fluid pressure and temperature, and for the rock temperature. Heat transfer is simulated using a two-equation model that is more appropriate when fluid and rock have very different thermal properties, and we also perform comparisons between one- and two-equation models. The governing equations are discretized using the Finite Volume Method. For the numerical solution, we apply a linearization and an operator splitting. As a consequence, three algebraic subsystems of linearized equations are solved using the Conjugate Gradient Method. The results obtained show the suitability of the numerical method and the technical feasibility of heating the reservoir with static equipment.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.509-514
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• 2020

In the preliminary design phase of explosion-proof structures, the use of P-I diagram is useful. Based on the fact that the deformation criteria at failure or heavy damage is significantly larger than the yield deformation, a closed form solution of normalized P-I diagram is proposed using the complete plastic resistance curve. When actual sizes and material properties of RC structural component are considered, the complete plasticity assumption shows only a maximum error of 6% in terms of strain energy, and a maximum difference of 9% of the amount of explosives in CWSD. Thru comparison with four field test results, the same damage pattern was predicted in all four specimens.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.78 no.4
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• pp.379-386
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• 2021

A numerical and computer simulation for dynamic stability analysis of graded porous nanoplates has been provided using a Chebyshev-Ritz-Bolotin approach. The nanoplate has been formulated according to the nonlocal elasticity and a 3-unkown plate model capturing neutral surface location. All of material properties are assumed to be dependent of porosity factor which determines the amount or volume of pores. The nano-size plate has also been assumed to be under temperature and moisture variation. It will be shown that stability boundaries of the nanoplate are dependent on static and dynamical load factors, porosity factor, temperature variation and nonlocal parameter.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.349-357
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• 2022

Abnormal climate events are occurring frequently around the world. In particular, cold waves and heavy snow lead to damage and deterioration of facilities, which can cause loss of life or property damage, such as shortening the lifespan of facilities. Therefore, it is very important to prepare an appropriate maintenance system and to establish a strategy to cope with abnormal weather conditions. In this study, laboratory freezing experiments were performed to analyze the freeze-thaw characteristics affecting the tunnel concrete lining, and heat flow analysis was carried out based on the test results. Based on these experimental and theoretical analysis results, quantitative freeze-thaw evaluation criteria for tunnel concrete linings were proposed.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.111-119
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• 2022

In this research, bentonite was intercalated with CMC and then two different percentages of glutaraldehyde (5 & 10%) were added as a crosslink agent to achieve non water-soluble composites. Then the composites were coated on clay-based microfiltration membranes which were synthesized in the previous work of the authors. The XRD technique was used to track the intercalation mechanism and FTIR was used to study the crosslink procedure. SEM was used to study the microstructure and morphology of the coated samples and then the ability of non-coated and coated samples for removal of Cr³⁺ ions was studied and compared. It was seen that the samples coated with the synthesized composite including 10% of glutaraldehyde showed the best results and removed 99.7% of Cr³⁺ ions from water polluted with 5 ppm of Cr³⁺ ions.