• Advances in Computational Design
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.91-109
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• 2020

Over the past few decades, the impact of natural, manmade and natech (natural hazard triggering technological disasters) disasters has been devastating, affecting over 4.4 billion people. In spite of recent technological advances, the increasing frequency and intensity of natural disasters and the escalation of manmade threats is presenting a number of challenges that warrant immediate attention. This paper explores the integration of drones or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV's) into infrastructure monitoring and post-disaster assessment. Through reviewing some of the recent disasters, effectiveness of utilizing UAV's in different stages of disaster life cycle is demonstrated and needed steps for successful integration of UAV's in infrastructure monitoring, hazard mitigation and post-incident assessment applications are discussed. In addition, some of the challenges associated with implementing UAV's in disaster monitoring, together with research needs to overcome associated knowledge gaps, is presented.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.101-117
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• 2019

Structural strengthening of reinforced concrete (RC) beams is becoming essential to meet the up-gradation of existing structures due to the infrastructure development. Strengthening is also essential for damaged structural element due to the adverse environmental condition and other distressing factors. This article reviews the state of the field on repair, retrofitting and rehabilitation techniques for the strengthening of RC beams. Strengthening of RC beams using various promising techniques such as externally bonded steel plates, concrete jacketing, fibre reinforced laminates or sheets, external prestressing/external bar reinforcement technique and ultra-high performance concrete overlay have been extensively investigated for the past four decades. The primary objective of this article is to discuss investigations on various strengthening techniques over the years. Various parameters that have been discussed include the flexural capacity, shear strength, failure modes of various strengthening techniques and advances in techniques over the years. Firstly, background information on strengthening, including repair, retrofitting, and rehabilitation of RC beams is provided. Secondly, the existing strengthening techniques for reinforced concrete beams are discussed. Finally, the relative comparisons and limitations in the existing techniques are presented.

• Advances in environmental research
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.51-59
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• 2016

In this study, nitrate reduction of real groundwater sample by 2.2%Cu-1.6%Pd-hematite catalyst was evaluated at different nitrate concentrations, catalyst concentrations, and recycling. Results show that the nitrate reduction is improved by increasing the catalyst concentration. Specific nitrate removal by 2.2%Cu-1.6%Pd-hematite increased linearly with the increase of nitrate concentration showing that the catalyst possesses significantly higher reduction capacity. More than 95% nitrate reduction was observed over five recycles by 2.2%Cu-1.6%Pd-hematite with ~56% nitrogen selectivity in all recycling batches. The results from this study indicate that stable reduction of nitrate in groundwater can be achieved by 2.2%Cu-1.6%Pd-hematite over the wide range of initial nitrate inputs.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.629-660
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• 2013

This paper reviews the current state-of-the-art in the numerical evaluation of wind loads on buildings. Important aspects of numerical modeling including (i) turbulence modeling, (ii) inflow boundary conditions, (iii) ground surface roughness, (iv) near wall treatments, and (vi) quantification of wind loads using the techniques of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) are summarized. Relative advantages of Large Eddy Simulation (LES) over Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) and hybrid RANS-LES over LES are discussed based on physical realism and ease of application for wind load evaluation. Overall LES based simulations seem suitable for wind load evaluation. A need for computational wind load validations in comparison with experimental or field data is emphasized. A comparative study among numerical and experimental wind load evaluation on buildings demonstrated generally good agreements on the mean values, but more work is imperative for accurate peak design wind load evaluations. Particularly more research is needed on transient inlet boundaries and near wall modeling related issues.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.70 no.5
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• pp.563-570
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• 2019

To analyze the seismic reliability of concrete rectangular liquid storage structures (CRLSSs), assuming that the wall thickness and internal liquid depth of CRLSSs are random variables, calculation models of CRLSSs are established by using the Monte Carlo finite element method (FEM). The principal stresses of the over-ground and buried CRLSSs are calculated under three rare fortification intensities, and the failure probabilities of CRLSSs are obtained. The results show that the seismic reliability increases with the increase of wall thickness, whereas it decreases with the increase of liquid depth. Between the two random factors, the seismic reliability of CRLSSs is more sensitive to the change in wall thickness. Compared with the over-ground CRLSS, the buried CRLSS has better reliability.

• Ocean Systems Engineering
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.179-190
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• 2019

This paper deals with the problem of the global stabilization for a class of ocean structure systems. It is well known that, in general, the global asymptotic stability of the ocean structure subsystems does not imply the global asymptotic stability of the composite closed-loop system. The classical fuzzy inference methods cannot work to their full potential in such circumstances because given knowledge does not cover the entire problem domain. However, requirements of fuzzy systems may change over time and therefore, the use of a static rule base may affect the effectiveness of fuzzy rule interpolation due to the absence of the most concurrent (dynamic) rules. Designing a dynamic rule base yet needs additional information. In this paper, we demonstrate this proposed methodology is a flexible and general approach, with no theoretical restriction over the employment of any particular interpolation in performing interpolation nor in the computational mechanisms to implement fitness evaluation and rule promotion.

• Coupled systems mechanics
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.521-538
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• 2020

The present study is concerned with the thermoelastic interactions in a two dimensional homogeneous, transversely isotropic thermoelastic solid with new modified couple stress theory without energy dissipation and with two temperatures in frequency domain. The time harmonic sources and Hankel transform technique have been employed to find the general solution to the field equations.Concentrated normal force, normal force over the circular region, thermal point source and thermal source over the circular region have been taken to illustrate the application of the approach. The components of displacements, stress, couple stress and conductive temperature distribution are obtained in the transformed domain. The resulting quantities are obtained in the physical domain by using numerical inversion technique. Numerically simulated results are depicted graphically to show the effect of angular frequency on the resulted quantities.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.137-145
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• 2022

As steel is highly sensitive to temperature variations, fire exposure is more destructive in the case of steel structures in comparison to the concrete ones. The performance of an intermediate three-story steel moment frame with 4 spans was studied under the service load, thermal load and post-earthquake fire in this paper. Also, the effects of passive fire-protection materials such as ordinary cement-based and fire-retardant coatings were investigated. To model and analyze the structure; Abaqus software is utilized. In order to apply the earthquake effect, the push-over analysis method is employed. Changes in the stories deflection, endurance time and growth of nonlinear regions due to losses in the steel stiffness and strength, are among the issues considered in this study. As an interesting finding, the beams protected by ordinary cement-based coating could sustain the fire exposure at least for 30 minutes in all cases. The mentioned time is increased by employing a new fire-retardant protection, which could prevent significant loss in the structure resistance against fire, even after 60 minutes of exposure to fire.

• Advances in nano research
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.91-104
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• 2023

Development of thin carbon nanotubes (CNTs) nanoliquid film over the rough surface of a horizontal rotating disk is investigated by considering symmetric roughness either along the azimuthal or radial directions. The disk surface is either heated or cooled axisymmetrically from below. The effects of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs), multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) are analyzed on the film thinning process with different types of base liquids. Closed form solutions for velocity and temperature field are obtained for small values of Reynolds number whereas the numerical solution is derived for moderate values of Reynolds number. It is found that fluid retention / depletion takes place when the roughness is symmetric along the azimuthal / radial directions. It is also seen that the film thinning rate enhances for MWCNTs compare to SWCNTs. Further it is found that two different heat transfer regions exits within the flow domain depending on the fact that heat is transferred from disk to liquid film and vice-versa.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.86 no.2
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• pp.277-290
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• 2023

A supplementary reinforced concrete wall can be used to improve the seismic behavior of a buckling restrained braced frame as a mixed system. In such a novel system, the total lateral force is resisted by the combination of the RC wall system and the BRBF. There is not enough research on the response modification factor of such a mixed system. This paper investigates the response modification factor, and such relevant factors as ductility reduction factor and over strength factor for a system consisting of reinforced concrete wall and buckling restrained braced frame. To this purpose, nonlinear incremental dynamic analysis as well as static push over analysis are used for 6- to 14-story sample structures. The results show that for mixed considered systems, the mean value of response modification factor varies approximately from 7 to 9.