• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2001.10a
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• pp.337-344
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• 2001

This paper is concerned with the change of joint rigidity in estimating the degree of semi-rigidity of connections and the buckling load in a single layer latticed dome. The estimations are based on information about the ratio for the rotational stiffness of the connection to the flexural stiffness of the member and the minimum eigenvalue of a structure for pinned, semi-rigid and completely rigid cases, respectively. Connection characteristics are reflected in the ratio control of joint rigidity for the DOFs to be related using the spring element by FEM.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.320-328
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• 2007

This paper presents a stiffness modeling of a low-DOF parallel robot, which takes into account of elastic deformations of joints and links, A low-DOF parallel robot is defined as a spatial parallel robot which has less than six degrees of freedom. Differently from serial chains in a full 6-DOF parallel robot, some of those in a low-DOF parallel robot may be subject to constraint forces as well as actuation forces. The reaction forces due to actuations and constraints in each serial chain can be determined by making use of the theory of reciprocal screws. It is shown that the stiffness of an F-DOF parallel robot can be modeled such that the moving platform is supported by 6 springs related to the reciprocal screws of actuations (F) and constraints (6-F). A general $6{\times}6$ stiffness matrix is derived, which is the sum of the stiffness matrices of actuations and constraints, The compliance of each spring can be precisely determined by modeling the compliance of joints and links in a serial chain as follows; a link is modeled as an Euler beam and the compliance matrix of rotational or prismatic joint is modeled as a $6{\times}6$ diagonal matrix, where one diagonal element about the rotation axis or along the sliding direction is infinite. By summing joint and link compliance matrices with respect to a reference frame and applying unit reciprocal screw to the resulting compliance matrix of a serial chain, the compliance of a spring is determined by the resulting infinitesimal displacement. In order to illustrate this methodology, the stiffness of a Tricept parallel robot has been analyzed. Finally, a numerical example of the optimal design to maximize stiffness in a specified box-shape workspace is presented.

• Korean Journal of Applied Biomechanics
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.109-116
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• 2017

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the relationship between leg stiffness and kinematic variables according to load while running. Method: Participants included eight healthy men (mean age, $22.75{\pm}1.16years$; mean height: $1.73{\pm}0.01m$; mean body weight, $71.37{\pm}5.50kg$) who ran with no load or a backpack loaded with 14.08% or 28.17% of their body weight. The analyzed variables included leg stiffness, ground contact time, center of gravity (COG) displacement and Y-axis velocity, lower-extremity joint angle (hip, knee, ankle), peak vertical force (PVF), and change in stance phase leg length. Results: Dimensionless leg stiffness increased significantly with increasing load during running, which was the result of increased PVF and contact time due to decreased leg lengths and COG displacement and velocity. Leg length and leg stiffness showed a negative correlation (r = -.902, $R^2=0.814$). COG velocity showed a similar correlation with COG displacement (r = .408, $R^2=.166$) and contact time (r = -.455, $R^2=.207$). Conclusion: Dimensionless leg stiffness increased during running with a load. In this investigation, leg stiffness due to load increased was most closely related to the PVF, knee joint angle, and change in stance phase leg length. However, leg stiffness was unaffected by change in contact time, COG velocity, and COG displacement.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.175-183
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• 2022

To study the working mechanism and size effect of an innovative dovetail UHPC joint originated from the 5th Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge, a large-scale testing subject to negative bending moment was conducted and compared with the previous scaled specimens. The static responses, i.e., the crack pattern, failure mode, ductility and stiffness degradation were analyzed. It was found that the scaled specimens presented similar working stages and working mechanism with the large-scale ones. However, the post-cracking ductility and relative stiffness degradation all decrease with the enlarged length/scale, apart from the relative stiffness after flexural cracking. The slab stiffness at the flexural cracking stage is 90% of the initial stiffness while only 24% of the initial stiffness reserved in the ultimate stage. Finite element model (FEM) was established and compared with the experiments to verify its effectiveness in exploring the working mechanism of the innovative joint. Based on this effective method, a series of FEMs were established to further study the influence of material strength, pre-stressing level and ratio of reinforcement on its deflection-load relationship. It is found that the ratio of reinforcement can significantly improve its load-carrying capacity among the three major-influenced factors.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.101-112
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• 2023

When a submerged floating tunnel is connected to the ground, there is a risk of stress concentration at the shore connection owing to the displacement imbalance caused by low confinement pressures in water and high confinement pressures in the ground. Here, the effects of the boundary condition and stiffness of the joints installed at the shore connection on the behaviors of a submerged floating tunnel and its shore connection were analyzed using a numerical method. The analysis results obtained with fixed and ground boundaries were similar due to the high stiffness of the ground boundary. However, the stability of the shore connection was found to be improved with the ground boundary as a small displacement was allowed at the boundary. The effect of the joint stiffness was evaluated by investigating the dynamic behavior of the submerged floating tunnel, the magnitude of the load acting on the bored tunnel, and the stress distribution at the shore connection. A lower joint stiffness was found to correspond to more effective relief of the stress concentration at the shore connection. However, it was confirmed that joints with low stiffness also increase the submerged floating tunnel displacement and decrease the frequency of the dynamic behavior, causing a risk of increased resonance when wave loads with low frequency are applied. Therefore, it is necessary to derive the optimal joint stiffness that can achieve both stress concentration relief and resonance prevention during the design of shore connections to secure their dynamic stability.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.271-282
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• 2008

Specific joint devices composed of end-plates and through bolts are under development to assemble steel beams to PC columns efficiently by dry construction method for the PCS structural system, of which major structural components are precast concrete columns and steel beams. Seismic performance of the joint devices had been evaluated by experimental tests in the previous studies and it was showed that all the performance requirements regarding to strength deterioration, stiffness degradation and energy dissipation capacity were satisfied to the criteria of ACI requirements, but the initial stiffness was not. In order to find out possible causes of the insufficient rigidity of the joint devices and provide the proper measures to improve the performance of the joint accordingly, numerical analyses were carried out by using ABAQUS. Parameters, such as thickness of neoprene pad, conditions of surface between PC column and end-plate, magnitude of pretension forces of through bolts, stiffness of end-plate were taken into consideration. As the result, it was found that the rigidity of the PCS system was negatively affected by the magnitude of initial gaps between PC columns and end-plates, and insufficient stiffness of neoprene fillers and end plates. In order to improve the initial stiffness performance of the joints, measures such as increase of the magnitude of pretension forces on through bolts and increase of the stiffness of end-plate by reducing the bolt pitch and providing adequate stiffeners are recommended.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.104-109
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• 1998

This document is a experimental study on fatigue life of brace mounting weld joint. A brace is used to put sub-frame together on the main frame with high strength bolts. It has low fatigue life so a patch is in need for improving a fatigue characteristics of welded joint in brace mounting This paper presents the most pertinent patch size for truck. For this, a critical stress is computed at the point of fatigue crack occurred on truck frame by finite Element Analysis. Using by this critical stress. Designers are able to determin whether fatigue crack is occurred and are able to select a pertinent patch type. And then, with a selected patch type, structural joint stiffness was estimated to compare to the conventional and other patch type or brace mounting Finally, fatigue test were performed to prove a suitability of selected prototype compare with the conventional and other patch type or brace mounting.

• Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
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• 1998.04a
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• pp.131-138
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• 1998

Structural damage is used to be modeled through reductions in the stiffness of structural elements for the purpose of damage estimation of structural system. In this study, the concept of joint damage is employed for more realistic damage assessment of a steel structure. The joint damage is estimated damage based on the mode shape informations using neural networks. The beam-to-column connection in a steel frame structure is represented by a rotational spring at the fixed end of a beam element. The severity of joint damage is defined as the reduction ratio of the connection stiffness with respect to the value of the intact joint. The concept of the substructural identification is used for the localized damage assessment in a large structure. The feasibility of the proposed method is examined using an example with simulated data. It has been found that the joint damages can be reasonably estimated for the case with the measurements of the mode vectors subjected to noise.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2007.04a
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• pp.757-762
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• 2007

The lining segment which is the main structure of the shield tunnel consists of joints, not continua. Past international and domestic design data have been commonly used for design practices without specific verification about the structural analysis model, design load, and affection of the soil constant of the lining segment. In this study, the propriety is estimated through the comparison between analytical solution and numerical solution for segment analysis and design models of the shield tunnel which is being used internationally and domestically. As a result, the full. circumferential beam jointed spring model (1R-S0) is suggested by considering aspects of convenient use, application to field condition, and accuracy of analysis result. With suggested model, the parameter analysis was conducted for joint stiffness, ground rigidity, joint distribution, and joint number.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.181-189
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• 2000

This paper presents the optimal redundant actuation of parallel manipulators for complicated robotic applications such as cutting grinding drilling and digging that require a high degree of operational stiffness as well as the balance between force applicability and dexterity. First by taking into account the distribution(number and location) of active joints the statics and the operational stiffness of a redundant parallel manipulator are formulated and the effects of actuation redundancy are analyzed, Second for given task requirements including joint torque limit task force maximum allowable disturbance and maximum allowable deflection the task execution conditions of a redundant parallel manipulator are derived and the efficient testing formulas are provided. Third to achieve high operational stiffness while maintaining moderate dexterity the redundant actuation of a parallel manipulator is optimized which determines the optimal distribution of active joints and the optimal internal joint torque, Finally the simulation results for the optimal redundant actuation of a planar parallel manipulator are given.