• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• 제78권1호
• /
• pp.67-75
• /
• 2021

This work studies the behaviour of a steel portal frame selection under fire exposure, considering both span lengths and fire exposure times as variables. Such structures combine carbon steel (S275), fireproof micro-alloyed steel (FR), and coatings of intumescent paint with variable thicknesses, improving thereby the flame retardant behaviour of the steel structure. Thus, the main contribution of this study is the optimization of the portal frames by combining both steels, analysing the resulting costs influence on the final dimensions. Besides, the topological optimization of each steel component within the structure is also defined, in accordance with the following variables: weather conditions, span, paint thickness, and cost of steel. The results mainly confirmed that using both FR and S275 grades with intumescent painting is the Pareto optimum when considering performance, feasibility and costs of such portal frames widely used for industrial facilities.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• 제8권2호
• /
• pp.165-180
• /
• 1999

The cost effectiveness of using steel roof systems for residential buildings is becoming increasingly apparent with the decrease in manufacturing cost of steel components, reliability and efficiency in construction practices, and the economic and environmental concerns. While steel has been one of the primary materials for structural systems, it is only recently that its use for residential buildings is being explored. A comprehensive system for the design of residential steel roof truss systems is presented. In the first stage of the research the design curves obtained from the AISI-LRFD code for the manufactured cross-sections were verified experimentally. Components of the truss systems were tested in order to determine their member properties when subjected to axial force and bending moments. In addition, the experiments were simulated using finite element analysis to provide an additional source of verification. The second stage of the research involved the development of an integrated design approach that would automatically design a lowest cost roof truss given minimal input. A modified genetic algorithm was used to handle sizing, shape and topology variables in the design problem. The developed methodology was implemented in a software system for the purpose of designing the lowest cost truss that would meet the AISI code provisions and construction requirements given the input parameters. The third stage of the research involved full-scale testing of a typical residential steel roof designed using the developed software system. The full scale testing established the factor of safety while validating the analysis and design procedures. Evaluation of the test results indicates that designs using the present approach provide a structure with enough reserve strength to perform as predicted and are very economical.

• 무역학회지
• /
• 제46권5호
• /
• pp.195-211
• /
• 2021

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship among innovation activities, innovation performance, and management performance of export firms. I first undertake a review of previous studies related to innovation activity, innovation performance, and export firms' innovation. Based on this, I set up a research model and hypotheses. First, The innovation activity is classified into product innovation activity, process innovation activity, and administrative innovation activity. Innovation performance is divided into product quality improvement and cost reduction. And the business performance is regarded as financial performance of export's firms. This study examined whether innovation activity affect innovation performance such as product quality improvement and cost reduction. In addition, I examined whether these innovation performance affects business performance (financial performance). To achieve this, a total of 368 questionnaires are used in this study and PLS (Partial Least Square) was used to analyze structural equation. As a result, this study shows that product innovation activity have a positive effect on product quality improvement, and process innovation activity also have a positive effect on product quality improvement. However, it was found that neither product innovation activity nor process innovation activity had an effect on cost reduction. And it was found that administrative innovation did not affect product quality improvement, but had a positive effect on cost reduction. Also, it was found that quality improvement, which is an innovation performance, did not affect the financial performance of export's firms, and cost reduction, which is an innovation performance, had a positive effect on the financial performance of the export's firms.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• 제50권3호
• /
• pp.257-273
• /
• 2014

This paper introduces a novel optimization technique based on gravitational search algorithm (GSA) for numerical optimization and multi-objective optimization of foundation. In the proposed method, a chaotic time varying system is applied into the position updating equation to increase the global exploration ability and accurate local exploitation of the original algorithm. The new algorithm called global-local GSA (GLGSA) is applied for optimization of some well-known mathematical benchmark functions as well as two design examples of spread foundation. In the foundation optimization, two objective functions include total cost and $CO_2$ emissions of the foundation subjected to geotechnical and structural requirements are considered. From environmental point of view, minimization of embedded $CO_2$ emissions that quantifies the total amount of carbon dioxide emissions resulting from the use of materials seems necessary to include in the design criteria. The experimental results demonstrate that, the proposed GLGSA remarkably improves the accuracy, stability and efficiency of the original algorithm.

• Smart Structures and Systems
• /
• 제4권3호
• /
• pp.305-318
• /
• 2008

The development of a digital signal processor based prototype is described in relation to continuing efforts for realizing a fully self-contained active sensor system utilizing impedance-based structural health monitoring. The impedance method utilizes a piezoelectric material bonded to the structure under observation to act as both an actuator and sensor. By monitoring the electrical impedance of the piezoelectric material, insights into the health of the structured can be inferred. The active sensing system detailed in this paper interrogates a structure utilizing a self-sensing actuator and a low cost impedance method. Here, all the data processing, storage, and analysis is performed at the sensor location. A wireless transmitter is used to communicate the current status of the structure. With this new low cost, field deployable impedance analyzer, reliance on traditional expensive, bulky, and power consuming impedance analyzers is no longer necessary. A complete power analysis of the prototype is performed to determine the validity of power harvesting being utilized for self-containment of the hardware. Experimental validation of the prototype on a representative structure is also performed and compared to traditional methods of damage detection.

• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• 제14권5호
• /
• pp.437-447
• /
• 2018

Computational cost is one of the major obstacles for detailed risk analysis of structures. This paper puts forward a methodology for efficient probabilistic seismic loss assessment of structures using the Endurance Time (ET) analysis and the first-order reliability method (FORM). The ET analysis efficiently yields the structural responses for a continuous range of intensities through a single response-history analysis. Taking advantage of this property of ET, FORM is employed to estimate the annual rate of exceedance for the loss components. The proposed approach is an amalgamation of two analysis approaches, ET and FORM, that significantly lower the computational costs. This makes it possible to evaluate the seismic risk of complex systems. The probability distribution of losses due to the structural and non-structural damage as well as injuries and fatalities of a prototype structure are estimated using the proposed methodology. This methodology is an alternative to the prevalent risk analysis framework of the total probability theorem. Hence, the risk estimates of the proposed approach are compared with those from the total probability theorem as a benchmark. The results indicate a satisfactory agreement between the two methods while a significantly lower computational demand for the proposed approach.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• 제67권6호
• /
• pp.671-682
• /
• 2018

The effect of earthquake induced torsion, due to mass eccentricities, is investigated with the objective of providing practical design guidelines for minimizing the torsional response of building structures. Current code provisions recommend performing three dimensional static or dynamic analyses, which involve shifting the centers of the floor masses from their nominal positions to what is called an accidental eccentricity. This procedure however may significantly increase the design cost of multistory buildings, due to the numerous possible spatial combinations of mass eccentricities and it is doubtful whether such a cost would be justifiable. This paper addresses this issue on a theoretical basis and investigates the torsional response of asymmetric multistory buildings in relation to their behavior when all floor masses lie on the same vertical line. This approach provides an insight on the overall seismic response of buildings and reveals how the torsional response of a structure is influenced by an arbitrary spatial combination of mass eccentricities. It also provides practical guidelines of how a structural configuration may be designed to sustain minor torsion, which is the main objective of any practicing engineer. A parametric study is presented on 9-story common building types having a mixed-type lateral load resisting system (frames, walls, coupled wall bents) and representative heightwise variations of accidental eccentricities.

• International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
• /
• 제8권2호
• /
• pp.198-208
• /
• 2016

The painting process of large ships is an intense manual operation that typically comprises 9-12% of the total shipbuilding cost. Accordingly, shipbuilders need to estimate the required amount of anti-corrosive coatings and painting resources for inventory and cost control. This study aims to develop a software system which enables the shipbuilders to estimate paint area using existing 3D CAD ship structural models. The geometric information of the ships structure are extracted from the existing shipbuilding CAD/CAM system and used to create painting zones. After specifying the painting zones, users can generate the paint faces by clipping structural parts inside each zone. Finally, the paint resources may be obtained from the product of the paint areas and required paint thickness. Implementing the developed software system to real shipbuilders' operations has contributed to improved productivity, faster resource estimation, better accuracy, and fewer coating defects over their conventional manual calculation methods for painting resource estimation.

• 한국세라믹학회지
• /
• 제56권2호
• /
• pp.130-145
• /
• 2019

Widespread commercialization of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) is expected to be realized in various application fields with the advent of cost-effective fabrication of cells and stacks in high volumes. Cost-reduction efforts have focused on production yield, power density, operation temperature, and continuous manufacturing. In this article, we examine several issues associated with processing for SOFCs from the standpoint of the bimodal packing model, considering the external constraints imposed by rigid substrates. Optimum compositions of composite cathode materials with high volume fractions of the second phase (particles dispersed in matrix) have been analyzed using the bimodal packing model. Constrained sintering of thin electrolyte layers is also discussed in terms of bimodal packing, with emphasis on the clustering of dispersed particles during anisotropic shrinkage. Finally, the structural transition of dispersed particle clusters during constrained sintering has been correlated with the structural stability of thin-film electrolyte layers deposited on porous solid substrates.

• 한국자동차공학회논문집
• /
• 제22권3호
• /
• pp.97-104
• /
• 2014

Automobile trunk latches enable trunks to be opened and closed by a latch mechanism, which can be selectively positioned between a locked condition and an open condition. To maintain structural and electronic performance of the trunk latch, the latch needs to endure impact load that occurs in its open and close motion, and a dynamic mechanism needs to be electronically controled by a contact switch connected with a small DC motor. A base plate, which is the most important component relating to the structural safety, commonly uses a high stiffness material SAPH440-P with high manufacturing cost. In this paper, through structural analysis and optimization, production cost is significantly reduced by replacing SAPH440-P used in some region of the base plate with engineering plastic PBT GF 20%. The optimized contact switch reduces difference between distributed pressures of its two legs, which leads to improve the electronic performance of the trunk latch.