• Earthquakes and Structures
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• 제12권2호
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• pp.153-163
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• 2017

The underlying goal of the present paper is to investigate soil and structural uncertainties on impedance functions and structural response of soil-shallow foundation-structure (SSFS) system using Monte Carlo simulations. The impedance functions of a rigid massless circular foundation resting on the surface of a random soil layer underlain by a homogeneous half-space are obtained using 1-D wave propagation in cones with reflection and refraction occurring at the layer-basement interface and free surface. Firstly, two distribution functions (lognormal and gamma) were used to generate random numbers of soil parameters (layer's thickness and shear wave velocity) for both horizontal and rocking modes of vibration with coefficients of variation ranging between 5 and 20%, for each distribution and each parameter. Secondly, the influence of uncertainties of soil parameters (layer's thickness, and shear wave velocity), as well as structural parameters (height of the superstructure, and radius of the foundation) on the response of the coupled system using lognormal distribution was investigated. This study illustrated that uncertainties on soil and structure properties, especially shear wave velocity and thickness of the layer, height of the structure and the foundation radius significantly affect the impedance functions, and in same time the response of the coupled system.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• 제14권5호
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• pp.389-398
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• 2018

The seismic isolation system makes a structure isolated from ground motions to protect the structure from seismic events. Seismic isolation techniques have been implemented in full-scale buildings and bridges because of their simplicity, economic effectiveness, inherent stability and reliability. As for the responses of an isolated structure due to seismic events, it is well known that the most uncertain aspects are the seismic loading itself and structural properties. Due to the randomness of earthquakes and uncertainty of structures, seismic response distributions of an isolated structure are needed when evaluating the seismic fragility assessment (or probabilistic seismic safety assessment) of an isolated structure. Seismic response time histories are useful and often essential elements in its design or evaluation stage. Thus, a large number of non-linear dynamic analyses should be performed to evaluate the seismic performance of an isolated structure. However, it is a monumental task to gather the design or evaluation information of the isolated structure from too many seismic analyses, which is impractical. In this paper, a new methodology that can evaluate the seismic fragility assessment of an isolated structure is proposed by using stochastic response database, which is a device that can estimate the seismic response distributions of an isolated structure without any seismic response analyses. The seismic fragility assessment of the isolated nuclear power plant is performed using the proposed methodology. The proposed methodology is able to evaluate the seismic performance of isolated structures effectively and reduce the computational efforts tremendously.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• 제14권5호
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• pp.425-436
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• 2018

The design of seismically isolated structures considering the stochastic nature of excitations, base isolators' design parameters, and superstructure properties requires robust reliability analysis methods to calculate the failure probability of the entire system. Here, by applying artificial neural networks, we proposed a robust technique to accelerate the estimation of failure probability of equipped isolated structures. A three-story isolated building with susceptible facilities is considered as the analytical model to evaluate our technique. First, we employed a sensitivity analysis method to identify the critical sources of uncertainty. Next, we calculated the probability of failure for a particular set of random variables, performing Monte Carlo simulations based on the dynamic nonlinear time-history analysis. Finally, using a set of designed neural networks as a surrogate model for the structural analysis, we assessed once again the probability of the failure. Comparing the obtained results demonstrates that the surrogate model can attain precise estimations of the probability of failure. Moreover, our proposed approach significantly increases the computational efficiency corresponding to the dynamic time-history analysis of the structure.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• 제12권5호
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• pp.489-499
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• 2017

The effects of past earthquakes have demonstrated the seismic vulnerability of confined masonry structures (CMSs) to earthquakes. The results of experimental analysis indicate that damage to these structures depends on lateral displacement applied to the walls. Seismic evaluation lacks an analytical approach because of the complexity of the behavior of this type of structure; an empirical approach is often used for this purpose. Seismic assessment and risk analysis of CMSs, especially in area have a large number of such buildings is difficult and could be riddled with error. The present study used analytical and numerical models to develop a simplified nonlinear displacement-based approach for seismic assessment of a CMS. The methodology is based on the concept of ESDOF and displacement demand and is compared with displacement capacity at the characteristic period of vibration according to performance level. Displacement demand was identified using the nonlinear displacement spectrum for a specified limit state. This approach is based on a macro model and nonlinear incremental dynamic analysis of a 3D prototype structure taking into account uncertainty of the mechanical properties and results in a simple, precise method for seismic assessment of a CMS. To validate the approach, a case study was considered in the form of an analytical fragility curve which was then compared with the precise method.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제20권3호
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• pp.293-312
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• 2005

In this paper, free vibration of rotating beam with random properties is studied. The cross-sectional area, elasticity modulus, moment of inertia, shear modulus and density are modeled as random fields and the rotational speed as a random variable. To study uncertainty, stochastic finite element method based on second order perturbation method is applied. To discretize random fields, the three methods of midpoint, interpolation and local average are applied and compared. The effects of rotational speed, setting angle, random property variances, discretization scheme, number of elements, correlation of random fields, correlation function form and correlation length on "Coefficient of Variation" (C.O.V.) of first mode eigenvalue are investigated completely. To determine the significant random properties on the variation of first mode eigenvalue the sensitivity analysis is performed. The results are studied for both Timoshenko and Bernoulli-Euler rotating beam. It is shown that the C.O.V. of first mode eigenvalue of Timoshenko and Bernoulli-Euler rotating beams are approximately identical. Also, compared to uncorrelated random fields, the correlated case has larger C.O.V. value. Another important result is, where correlation length is small, the convergence rate is lower and more number of elements are necessary for convergence of final response.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제17권2호
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• pp.245-266
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• 2004

Incremental launching method is one of the highly competitive techniques for construction of concrete bridges. It avoids costly and time consuming form work and centralizes all construction activities in a small casting yard, thus saving in cost and time against conventional bridge construction. From the quality point of view, it eliminates the uncertainty of monolithic behaviour by allowing high repetitiveness and industrial environment. But, from analysis and design point of view, the most characteristic aspect of incrementally launched bridges is that, it has to absorb the stresses associated with the temporary supports that are gradually taken on by the deck during its launch. So, it is necessary to analyse the structure for each step of launching which is a tedious and time consuming process. Effect of support settlements or temperature variation makes the problem more complex. By using transfer matrix method, this problem can be handled efficiently with minimal computational effort. This paper gives insight into method of analysis, formulation for optimization of the structural system, effect of support settlement and temperature gradient, during construction, on the stress state of incrementally launched bridges.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• 제3권1호
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• pp.33-49
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• 2016

Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) has been attracting numerous research efforts around the world because it targets at monitoring structural conditions and performance to prevent catastrophic failure, and to provide quantitative data for engineers and infrastructure owners to design a reliable and economical asset management strategy. In the past decade, with supports from Australian Research Council (ARC), Cooperative Research Center for Infrastructure and Engineering Asset Management (CIEAM), CSIRO and industry partners, intensive research works have been conducted in the School of Civil, Environmental and Mining Engineering, University of Western Australia and Centre for Infrastructural Monitoring and Protection, Curtin University on various techniques of SHM. The researches include the development of hardware, software and various algorithms, such as various signal processing techniques for operational modal analysis, modal analysis toolbox, non-model based methods for assessing the shear connection in composite bridges and identifying the free spanning and supports conditions of pipelines, vibration based structural damage identification and model updating approaches considering uncertainty and noise effects, structural identification under moving loads, guided wave propagation technique for detecting debonding damage, and relative displacement sensors for SHM in composite and steel truss bridges. This paper aims at summarizing and reviewing the recent research advances on SHM of civil infrastructure in Western Australia.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제54권2호
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• pp.319-336
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• 2015

Life cycle performance of corrosion affected RC structures is an important and challenging issue for effective infrastructure management. The accurate condition assessment of corroded RC structures mainly depends on the effective evaluation of deterioration occurring in the structures. Structural performance deterioration caused by reinforcement corrosion is a complex phenomenon which is generally uncertain and non-decreasing. Therefore, a stochastic modelling such as the gamma process can be an effective tool to consider the temporal uncertainty associated with performance deterioration. This paper presents a time-dependent reliability analysis of corrosion affected RC structures associated bond strength degradation. Initially, an analytical model to evaluate cracking in the concrete cover and the associated loss of bond between the corroded steel and the surrounding cracked concrete is developed. The analytical results of cover surface cracking and bond strength deterioration are examined by experimental data available. Then the verified analytical results are used for the stochastic deterioration modelling, presented here as gamma process. The application of the proposed approach is illustrated with a numerical example. The results from the illustrative example show that the proposed approach is capable of assessing performance of the bond strength of concrete structures affected by reinforcement corrosion during their lifecycle.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제57권3호
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• pp.403-423
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• 2016

The challenges involved with fatigue damage assessment of steel catenary riser (SCR) in the touchdown zone (TDZ) are primarily due to the non-linear behaviour of the SCR-seabed interaction, considerable uncertainty in SCR-seabed interaction modelling and geotechnical parameters. The issue of fatigue damage induced by the cyclic movements of the SCR with the seabed has acquired prominence with the touch down point (TDP) interaction in the TDZ. Therefore, the SCR-seabed response is critical for reliable estimation of fatigue life in the TDZ. Various design approaches pertaining to the lateral pipe-soil resistance model are discussed. These techniques have been applied in the finite element model that can be used to analyse the lateral SCR-seabed interaction under hydrodynamic loading. This study investigates the sensitivity of fatigue performance to geotechnical parameters through a parametric study. In this study, global analyses are performed to assess the influence of vertical linear seabed springs, the lateral seabed model and the non-linear seabed model, including trench evolution into seabed, seabed normalised stiffness, re-penetration offset parameter and soil suction resistance ratio, on the fatigue life of SCRs in the TDZ.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제54권2호
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• pp.337-362
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• 2015

This paper presents a feasibility study on structural damage alarming and localization of long-span cable-supported bridges using multi-novelty indices formulated by monitoring-derived modal parameters. The proposed method which requires neither structural model nor damage model is applicable to structures of arbitrary complexity. With the intention to enhance the tolerance to measurement noise/uncertainty and the sensitivity to structural damage, an improved novelty index is formulated in terms of auto-associative neural networks (ANNs) where the output vector is designated to differ from the input vector while the training of the ANNs needs only the measured modal properties of the intact structure under in-service conditions. After validating the enhanced capability of the improved novelty index for structural damage alarming over the commonly configured novelty index, the performance of the improved novelty index for damage occurrence detection of large-scale bridges is examined through numerical simulation studies of the suspension Tsing Ma Bridge (TMB) and the cable-stayed Ting Kau Bridge (TKB) incurred with different types of structural damage. Then the improved novelty index is extended to formulate multi-novelty indices in terms of the measured modal frequencies and incomplete modeshape components for damage region identification. The capability of the formulated multi-novelty indices for damage region identification is also examined through numerical simulations of the TMB and TKB.