• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
• /
• 2007.04a
• /
• pp.471-474
• /
• 2007

A domain/boundary decomposition technique is applied to carry out efficient finite element analyses of 3-D contact problems. Appropriate penalty functions are selected for connecting an interface and contact interfaces with neighboring subdomains that satisfy continuity constraints. As a consequence, all the effective stiffness matrices have positive definiteness, and computational efficiency can be improved to a considerable degree. If necessary, any complex-shaped 3-D domain can be divided into several simple-shaped subdomains without considering the conformity of meshes along the interface. With a set of numerical examples, the basic characteristics of computational efficiency are investigated carefully.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
• /
• v.5 no.1
• /
• pp.228-236
• /
• 2001

When RC beams are strengthened for flexure with steel plate, reinforced member has initial strain due to the dead load and is subject to partial damage. Strain of steel strengthening is zero at initial state. The effect of strengthening flexural member might be influenced by the quantity of initial strain. In this study, when He beams are strengthened for flexure with steel plate, its behavior is experimentally compared for the reinforcement efficiency of members due to the existence of different levels of initial strain. It is confirmed that reinforcement efficiency varies depending on the difference of initial strain.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.14 no.1
• /
• pp.57-70
• /
• 2002

This work presents an iterative mesh partitioning approach to improve the efficiency of parallel substructure finite element computations. The proposed approach employs an iterative strategy with a set of empirical rules derived from the results of numerical experiments on a number of different finite element meshes. The proposed approach also utilizes state-of-the-art partitioning techniques in its iterative partitioning kernel, a cost function to estimate the computational cost of each submesh, and a mechanism that adjusts element weights to redistribute elements among submeshes during iterative partitioning to partition a mesh into submeshes (or substructures) with balanced computational workloads. In addition, actual parallel finite element structural analyses on several test examples are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach proposed herein. The results show that the proposed approach can effectively improve the efficiency of parallel substructure finite element computations.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.28 no.1
• /
• pp.20-27
• /
• 2014

In view of the importance of material reduction and rational structural design due to the rapid increase in oil and steel prices, an optimized structural hybrid design system for the doubler plate of a ship's hull structure was developed. A direct design process by a structural designer was added to this developed optimized system to increase the design efficiency and provide a way of directly inserting a designer's decisions into the design system process. As the first step of the doubler design system development, the design formulas used in doubler design system were introduced. Based on the introduction of influence coefficients $K_{t_c}$ $K_{t_d}$, $K_{b_d}$ and $K_{a_d}$ according to the variations in the doubler length, breadth, doubler thickness, and average corrosion thickness of the main plate, the design formulas for an equivalent plate thickness were developed, and a hybrid design system using these formulas was suggested for the slender doubler plate of a ship structure subjected to a longitudinal in-plane compression load. By using this developed design system, a more rational doubler plate design can be expected considering the efficient reinforcement of the plate members of ship structures. Additionally, a more detailed structural analysis through local strength evaluations will be performed to verify the efficiency of the optimum structural design for the doubler plate.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.30 no.4
• /
• pp.294-302
• /
• 2016

Because of the importance of steel material saving and rational ship structural design due to the rapid increase in steel prices, a ship structural design system was developed for plate members reinforced by doubler plates subjected to biaxial in-plane compressive loads. This paper mainly emphasizes the design system improvement and upgrade according to the change in the in-plane loading condition of the doubler plate from the single load discussed in a previous paper to the biaxial in-plane compressive load discussed in this paper. A direct design process by a structural designer was added to this developed optimized system to increase the design efficiency and provide a way of directly inserting a designer's decisions into the design system process. As the second stage of preliminary steps of doubler design system development, design formulas subjected to these biaxial loads used in the doubler plate design system were suggested. Based on the introduction of influence coefficients $K_t_c$, $K_t_d$, $K_b_d$ and $K_a_d$ based on the variations in the doubler length, breadth, doubler thickness, and average corrosion thickness of the main plate reinforced by the doubler plate, respectively, the design formulas for the equivalent plate thickness of the main plate reinforced by the doubler plate were also developed, and a hybrid design system using these formulas was suggested for the doubler plate of a ship structure subjected to a biaxial in-plane compressive load. Using this developed design system for a main plate reinforced by a doubler plate was expected to result in a more rational reinforced doubler plate design considering the efficient reinforcement of ship plate members subjected to these biaxial loads. Additionally, a more detail structural analysis through local strength evaluations will be performed to verify the efficiency of the optimum structural design for a plate member reinforced by a doubler plate.

• Macromolecular Research
• /
• v.17 no.10
• /
• pp.797-806
• /
• 2009

The mechanical and thermal behaviors of polyamide-6/clay nanocomposites were studied using the continuum-based, micromechanical models such as Mori-Tanaka, Halpin-Tsai and shear lag. Mechanic-based model prediction provides a better understanding regarding the dependence of the nanocomposites' reinforcement efficiency on conventional filler structural parameters such as filler aspect ratio ($\alpha$), filler orientation (S), filler weight fraction (${\Psi}_f$), and filler/matrix stiffness ratio ($E_f/E_m$). For an intercalated and exfoliated nanocomposite, an effective, filler-based, micromechanical model that includes effective filler structural parameters, the number of platelets per stack (n) and the silicate inter-layer spacing ($d_{001}$), is proposed to describe the mesoscopic intercalated filler and the nanoscopic exfoliated filler. The proposed model nicely captures the experimental modulus behaviors for both intercalated and exfoliated nanocomposites. In addition, the model prediction of the heat distortion temperature is examined for nanocomposites with different filler aspect ratio. The predicted heat distortion temperature appears to be reasonable compared to the heat distortion temperature obtained by experimental tests. Based on both the experimental results and model prediction, the reinforcement efficiency and heat resistance of the polyamide-6/clay nanocomposites definitely depend on both conventional (${\alpha},\;S,\;{\Psi}_f,\;E_f/E_m$) and effective (n, $d_{001}$) filler structural parameters.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
• /
• v.27 no.4
• /
• pp.50-61
• /
• 2012

In recent years, various research and developments to introduce composite bridges of new concept have been performed. The types of integral bridge and portal rigid frame bridge are having advantages in bridge maintenance and structural efficiency by eliminating expansion joints and bridge supports. However, the detail of typical girder-abutment connection has problems such as complexity of construction and increase of the construction cost. A new type of bridge, called prestress integral composite girder(PIC girder) bridge, is proposed in this study, which decreases the cost of construction and improves the efficiency of construction by simplifying the detail of construction for girder-abutment connection. PIC girder bridge has the connection detail in which the steel girder and the abutment are integrated by using the PS bar installed in the connection. In this study, finite element analysis and mock-up load test are conducted to evaluate the propriety of design, the effective of fabrication and structural safety for PIC girder bridge. The adequacy of the PIC giredr bridge is verified by the results of static/dynamic load test and finite element analyses.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.64 no.1
• /
• pp.45-58
• /
• 2017

This paper presents the application of topology optimization as a design tool for a steel railway bridge. The choice of a steel railway bridge is dictated by the particular situation that it is suitable for topology optimization design. On the one hand, the current manufacturing techniques for steel structures (additive manufacturing techniques not included) are highly appropriate for material optimization and weight reduction to improve the overall structural efficiency, improve production efficiency, and reduce costs. On the other hand, the design of a railway bridge, especially at higher speeds, is dominated by minimizing the deformations, this being the basic principle of compliance optimization. However, a classical strategy of topology optimization considers typically only one or a very limited number of load cases, while the design of a steel railway bridge is characterized by relatively concentrated convoy loads, which may be present or absent at any location of the structure. The paper demonstrates the applicability of considering multiple load configurations during topology optimization and proves that a different and better optimal layout is obtained than the one from the classical strategy.

• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• v.7 no.6
• /
• pp.1119-1139
• /
• 2014

A damage-based seismic design procedure for steel frame structures is formulated as an optimization problem, in which minimization of the initial construction cost is treated as the objective of the problem. The performance constraint of the design procedure is to achieve "repairable" damage state for earthquake demands that are less severe than the design ground motions. The Park-Ang damage index is selected as the seismic damage measure for the quantification of structural damage. The charged system search (CSS) algorithm is employed as the optimization algorithm to search the optimum solutions. To improve the time efficiency of the solution algorithm, two simplifying strategies are adopted: first, SDOF idealization of multi-story building structures capable of estimating the actual seismic response in a very short time; second, fitness approximation decreasing the number of fitness function evaluations. The results from a numerical application of the proposed framework for designing a twelve-story 3D steel frame structure demonstrate its efficiency in solving the present optimization problem.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.83 no.5
• /
• pp.593-607
• /
• 2022

To solve the problem of detecting structural damage, a two-stage method using the Kalman filter and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) is proposed. In this method, the first PSO population is enhanced using the Kalman filter method based on dynamic responses. Due to noise in the sensor responses and errors in the damage detection process, the accuracy of the damage detection process is reduced. This method proposes a novel approach for solve this problem by integrating the Kalman filter and sensitivity analysis. In the Kalman filter, an approximate damage equation is considered as the equation of state and the damage detection equation based on sensitivity analysis is considered as the observation equation. The first population of PSO are the random damage scenarios. These damage scenarios are estimated using a step of the Kalman filter. The results of this stage are then used to detect the exact location of the damage and its severity with the PSO algorithm. The efficiency of the proposed method is investigated using three numerical examples: a 31-element planer truss, a 52-element space dome, and a 56-element space truss. In these examples, damage is detected for several scenarios in two states: using the no noise responses and using the noisy responses. The results show that the precision and efficiency of the proposed method are appropriate in structural damage detection.