• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• v.16 no.6
• /
• pp.679-690
• /
• 2019

This paper presents machine learning methods using Support Vector Machine (SVM) and Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) to analyze optimal damper distribution for structural vibration control. Regarding different building structures, a genetic algorithm based optimization method is used to determine optimal damper distributions that are further used as training samples. The structural features, the objective function, the number of dampers, etc. are used as input features, and the distribution of dampers is taken as an output result. In the case of a few number of damper distributions, multi-class prediction can be performed using SVM and MLP respectively. Moreover, MLP can be used for regression prediction in the case where the distribution scheme is uncountable. After suitable post-processing, good results can be obtained. Numerical results show that the proposed method can obtain the optimized damper distributions for different structures under different objective functions, which achieves better control effect than the traditional uniform distribution and greatly improves the optimization efficiency.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.27 no.1
• /
• pp.13-25
• /
• 2018

The main objective of this study is to develop a dual approach for geometrically nonlinear finite element analysis of plane truss structures. The geometric nonlinearity is considered using the Total Lagrangian formulation. The nonlinear solution is obtained by introducing and minimizing an objective function subjected to displacement-type constraints. The proposed method can fully trace the whole equilibrium path of geometrically nonlinear plane truss structures not only before the limit point but also after it. No stiffness matrix is used in the main approach and the solution is acquired only based on the direct classical stress-strain formulations. As a result, produced errors caused by linearization and approximation of the main equilibrium equation will be eliminated. The suggested algorithm can predict both pre- and post-buckling behavior of the steel plane truss structures as well as any arbitrary point of equilibrium path. In addition, an equilibrium path with multiple limit points and snap-back phenomenon can be followed in this approach. To demonstrate the accuracy, efficiency and robustness of the proposed procedure, numerical results of the suggested approach are compared with theoretical solution, modified arc-length method, and those of reported in the literature.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.52 no.6
• /
• pp.1085-1098
• /
• 2014

Plastic mechanism analysis of structures subjected to large deformation has long been used in order to determine collapse mechanisms of steel structures, and the energy absorbed in plastic deformation during such collapses. In this paper the technique is applied to vehicle roof structures that undergo large plastic deformation as a result of rollover crashes. The components of such roof structures are typically steel spot-welded hat-type sections. Ten different deformation mechanisms are defined from investigations of real-world rollover crashes, and an analytical technique to determine the plastic collapse load and energy absorption of such mechanisms is determined. The procedure is presented in a generic manner, such that it may be applied to any vehicle structure undergoing a rollover induced collapse. The procedure is applied to an exemplar vehicle, in order to demonstrate its application in determining the energy absorbed in the deformation of the identified collapse mechanisms. The procedure will be useful to forensic crash reconstructionists, in order to accurately determine the initial travel velocity of a vehicle that has undergone a rollover and for which the post-crash vehicle deformation is known. It may also be used to perform analytical studies of the collapse resistance of vehicle roof structures for optimisation purposes, which is also demonstrated with an analysis of the effect of varying the geometric and material properties of the roof structure components of the exemplar vehicle.

• Computational Structural Engineering
• /
• v.10 no.3
• /
• pp.195-202
• /
• 1997

The charateristics of stabilization for stabilized truss unit-structures with cable and truss are investigated in this paper. This unit system is composed of a central post and eight cables, and is connected by hinge joints, and stabilized by self-equilibrated stress field. As this unit structure itself is a statically closed and stabilized system individually, it can be employed to assemble structures with various configurations. In this study, for stabilization of truss structures stabilized by cable tension, the structural concept of unit structures, the range of various geometrical parameters and the relationship of governing parameters about unit systems are explained.

• Smart Structures and Systems
• /
• v.18 no.2
• /
• pp.293-315
• /
• 2016

Seismic isolation is often used in protecting mission-critical structures including hospitals, data centers, telecommunication buildings, etc. Such structures typically house vibration-sensitive equipment which has to provide continued service but may fail in case sustained accelerations during earthquakes exceed threshold limit values. Thus, peak floor acceleration is one of the two main parameters that control the design of such structures while the other one is peak base displacement since the overall safety of the structure depends on the safety of the isolation system. And in case peak base displacement exceeds the design base displacement during an earthquake, rupture and/or buckling of isolators as well as bumping against stops around the seismic gap may occur. Therefore, obtaining accurate peak floor accelerations and peak base displacement is vital. However, although nominal design values for isolation system and superstructure parameters are calculated in order to meet target peak design base displacement and peak floor accelerations, their actual values may potentially deviate from these nominal design values. In this study, the sensitivity of the seismic performance of structures equipped with linear and nonlinear seismic isolation systems to the aforementioned potential deviations is assessed in the context of a benchmark shear building under different earthquake records with near-fault and far-fault characteristics. The results put forth the degree of sensitivity of peak top floor acceleration and peak base displacement to superstructure parameters including mass, stiffness, and damping and isolation system parameters including stiffness, damping, yield strength, yield displacement, and post-yield to pre-yield stiffness ratio.

• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• v.13 no.1
• /
• pp.59-66
• /
• 2017

Modern seismic codes rely on performance-based seismic design methodology which requires that the structures withstand inelastic deformation. Many studies have focused on the inelastic deformation ratio evaluation (ratio between the inelastic and elastic maximum lateral displacement demands) for various inelastic spectra. This paper investigates the inelastic response spectra through the ductility demand ${\mu}$, the yield strength reduction factor $R_y$, and the inelastic deformation ratio. They depend on the vibration period T, the post-to-preyield stiffness ratio ${\alpha}$, the peak ground acceleration (PGA), and the normalized yield strength coefficient ${\eta}$ (ratio of yield strength coefficient divided by the PGA). A new inelastic deformation ratio $C_{\eta}$ is defined; it is related to the capacity curve (pushover curve) through the coefficient (${\eta}$) and the ratio (${\alpha}$) that are used as control parameters. A set of 140 real ground motions is selected. The structures are bilinear inelastic single degree of freedom systems (SDOF). The sensitivity of the resulting inelastic deformation ratio mean values is discussed for different levels of normalized yield strength coefficient. The influence of vibration period T, post-to-preyield stiffness ratio ${\alpha}$, normalized yield strength coefficient ${\eta}$, earthquake magnitude, ruptures distance (i.e., to fault rupture) and site conditions is also investigated. A regression analysis leads to simplified expressions of this inelastic deformation ratio. These simplified equations estimate the inelastic deformation ratio for structures, which is a key parameter for design or evaluation. The results show that, for a given level of normalized yield strength coefficient, these inelastic displacement ratios become non sensitive to none of the rupture distance, the earthquake magnitude or the site class. Furthermore, they show that the post-to-preyield stiffness has a negligible effect on the inelastic deformation ratio if the normalized yield strength coefficient is greater than unity.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.34 no.1
• /
• pp.107-122
• /
• 2020

Moment resisting stub columns (MRSCs) have increasingly adopted in special moment-resisting frame (SMF) systems in steel building structures, especially in Asian countries. The MRSCs typically provide a lower deformation capacity compared to shear-panel stub columns, a limited post-yield stiffness, and severe strength degradation as adopting slender webs. A new MRSC design with cored configuration, consisting of a core-segment and two side-segments using different steel grades, has been proposed in the study to improve the demerits mentioned above. Several full-scale components of the cored MRSC were experimentally investigated focusing on the hysteretic performance of plastic hinges at the ends. The effects of the depths of the core-segment and the adopted reduced column section details on the hysteretic behavior of the components were examined. The measured hysteretic responses verified that the cored MRSC enabled to provide early yielding, great ductility and energy dissipation, enhanced post-yield stiffness and limited strength degradation due to local buckling of flanges. A parametric study upon the dimensions of the cored MRSC was then conducted using numerical discrete model validated by the measured responses. Finally, a set of model equations were established based on the results of the parametric analysis to accurately estimate strength backbone curves of the cored MRSCs under increasing-amplitude cyclic loadings.

• Smart Structures and Systems
• /
• v.31 no.4
• /
• pp.365-381
• /
• 2023

The existing vision-based techniques for inspection and condition assessment of civil infrastructure are mostly manual and consequently time-consuming, expensive, subjective, and risky. As a viable alternative, researchers in the past resorted to deep learning-based autonomous damage detection algorithms for expedited post-disaster reconnaissance of structures. Although a number of automatic damage detection algorithms have been proposed, the scarcity of labeled training data remains a major concern. To address this issue, this study proposed a semi-supervised learning (SSL) framework based on consistency regularization and cross-supervision. Image data from post-earthquake reconnaissance, that contains cracks, spalling, and exposed rebars are used to evaluate the proposed solution. Experiments are carried out under different data partition protocols, and it is shown that the proposed SSL method can make use of unlabeled images to enhance the segmentation performance when limited amount of ground truth labels are provided. This study also proposes DeepLab-AASPP and modified versions of U-Net++ based on channel-wise attention mechanism to better segment the components and damage areas from images of reinforced concrete buildings. The channel-wise attention mechanism can effectively improve the performance of the network by dynamically scaling the feature maps so that the networks can focus on more informative feature maps in the concatenation layer. The proposed DeepLab-AASPP achieves the best performance on component segmentation and damage state segmentation tasks with mIoU scores of 0.9850 and 0.7032, respectively. For crack, spalling, and rebar segmentation tasks, modified U-Net++ obtains the best performance with Igou scores (excluding the background pixels) of 0.5449, 0.9375, and 0.5018, respectively. The proposed architectures win the second place in IC-SHM2021 competition in all five tasks of Project 2.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
• /
• v.40 no.1
• /
• pp.1-11
• /
• 2020

Medium to large post structures installed along the roadside without proper protection can lead to serious vehicle damage and occupant injury at the impact. In North America and Europe, splitting systems such as slip base or breakaway device are used to reduce impacts. But the system has the risk of secondary accident when the splitted post falls down to the traffic or pedestrian. Sliding Post have been proposed as a way to solve this problem. By studying the crash test results of the 1.3ton and 0.9ton vehicle with 60 km/h and 80 km/h to a Rigidly Fixed Post (RFP) and Sliding Post (SP), danger of the conventional RFP and crashworthiness of the SP have been proven. While collision analysis only from the acceleration measured at the center of the vehicle assumes the motion of the post is the same as that of the vehicle, in this paper, by adding high speed film data to the analysis with vehicle acceleration could have separate the post motion from the vehicle motion. It gives better explanations on the movement of post and vehicle in each distinctive time step and provides basics to the crashworthy post design.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
• /
• v.17 no.2 s.75
• /
• pp.139-149
• /
• 2005

Post-local buckling behavior is a very important consideration in plastic and seismic design of steel structures. It describes the structural behavior up to the final collapse state. In order to assess the actual reliability of structures under severe repeated loading, such as strong earthquakes, it is necessary to evaluate the progressive cyclic deterioration of stiffness as well as the strength and energy dissipation capacity of the structures after local buckling happens. In this study, a simple analytical model developed for predicting post-local buckling behavior for cyclic and non-proportional loading histories, has been proposed. This analytical model uses the stress resultant model based on the two surface model. Analytical moment-curvature relationship using this model compare well with the experimental results in constant amplitude cycling, and linearized energy deterioration which is very important in seismic design can be predicted from the proposed model.