• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.209-216
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• 2007

Fatigue life prediction methodology of the rubber component made of vulcanized natural rubber under variable amplitude loadings was studied. The displacement-controlled fatigue tests were conducted at different levels and the maximum Green-Lagrange strain was selected as damage parameters. A fatigue life curve of the rubber represented by the maximum Green-Lagrange strain was determined from the nonlinear finite element analysis. The transmission load history of SAE as variable amplitude loading was used to perform the fatigue life prediction. And then a signal processing of variable loading by racetrack and simplified rainflow cycle counting methods were performed. The modified miner's rule as cumulative damage summation was used. Finally, when the gate value is 30%, the predicted fatigue life of the rubber component agreed well with the experimental fatigue lives with a factor of two.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.95-107
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• 2021

In this work, the dynamic response of functionally graded beams on variable elastic foundations is studied using a novel higher-order shear deformation theory (HSDT). Unlike the conventional HSDT, the present one has a new displacement field which introduces undetermined integral variables. The FG beams were assumed to be supported on Winkler-Pasternak type foundations in which the Winkler modulus is supposed to be variable in the length of the beam. The variable rigidity of the elastic foundation is assumed to be linear, parabolic and sinusoidal along the length of the beam. The material properties of the FG porous beam vary according to a power law distribution in terms of the volume fraction of the constituents. The equations of motion are determined using the virtual working principle. For the analytical solution, Navier method is used to solve the governing equations for simply supported porous FG beams. Numerical results of the present theory for the free vibration of FG beams resting on elastic foundations are presented and compared to existing solutions in the literature. A parametric study will be detailed to investigate the effects of several parameters such as gradient index, thickness ratio, porosity factor and foundation parameters on the frequency response of porous FG beams.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.49-64
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• 2022

In this work, the bending and dynamic behaviors of advanced composite plates resting on variable visco-Pasternak foundations are studied using a simple shear deformation integral plate model. The research is carried out with a view to a three-parameter foundation including the influences of the variable Winkler coefficient, the constant Pasternak coefficient and the damping coefficient of the elastic medium. The present theory uses a displacement field with integral terms instead of derivative terms by including also the shear deformation effect without introducing the shear correction factors. The equations of motion for advanced composite plates are obtained using the Hamilton principle. Analytical solutions for the bending and dynamic analysis are deduced for simply supported plates resting on variable visco-Pasternak foundations. Some numerical results are presented to demonstrate the impact of material index, elastic foundation type, and damping coefficient of the foundation, on the bending and dynamic responses of advanced composite plates.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.30 no.6A
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• pp.581-590
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• 2010

This study introduces a layered sectional analysis for a PSC girder with a vaiable cross section and curved tendons. To consider the shear equilibrium at a concrete layer with curved tendons, the shear stress distribution has been computed at each section. In addition, to improve the convergence to the solution, a system identification technique is newly adopted in the solution process for strain computation. To examine the feasibility of the proposed approach, a static load test has been conducted for a full scale PSC girder with variable cross section. The prediction shows a good agreement with experiment. It is seen that a uniform cross section has the same moment capacity with a variable cross section while the variable cross section has more shear capacity than the uniform cross section. It is also noted that the maximum displacement of a variable cross section is a little smaller than a uniform cross section.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.1063-1081
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• 2015

In this paper, a new nonlocal hyperbolic refined plate model is presented for free vibration properties of functionally graded (FG) plates. This nonlocal nano-plate model incorporates the length scale parameter which can capture the small scale effect. The displacement field of the present theory is chosen based on a hyperbolic variation in the in-plane displacements through the thickness of the nano-plate. By dividing the transverse displacement into the bending and shear parts, the number of unknowns and equations of motion of the present theory is reduced, significantly facilitating structural analysis. The material properties are assumed to vary only in the thickness direction and the effective properties for the FG nano-plate are computed using Mori-Tanaka homogenization scheme. The governing equations of motion are derived based on the nonlocal differential constitutive relations of Eringen in conjunction with the refined four variable plate theory via Hamilton's principle. Analytical solution for the simply supported FG nano-plates is obtained to verify the theory by comparing its results with other available solutions in the open literature. The effects of nonlocal parameter, the plate thickness, the plate aspect ratio, and various material compositions on the dynamic response of the FG nano-plate are discussed.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.75-92
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• 2016

The design of a semi-active (SA) control system addressed to mitigate wind induced structural demand to high wind turbine towers is discussed herein. Actually, the remarkable growth in height of wind turbines in the last decades, for a higher production of electricity, makes this issue pressing than ever. The main objective is limiting bending moment demand by relaxing the base restraint, without increasing the top displacement, so reducing the incidence of harmful "p-delta" effects. A variable restraint at the base, able to modify in real time its mechanical properties according to the instantaneous response of the tower, is proposed. It is made of a smooth hinge with additional elastic stiffness and variable damping respectively given by springs and SA magnetorheological (MR) dampers installed in parallel. The idea has been physically realized at the Denmark Technical University where a 1/20 scale model of a real, one hundred meters tall wind turbine has been assumed as case study for shaking table tests. A special control algorithm has been purposely designed to drive MR dampers. Starting from the results of preliminary laboratory tests, a finite element model of such structure has been calibrated so as to develop several numerical simulations addressed to calibrate the controller, i.e., to achieve as much as possible different, even conflicting, structural goals. The results are definitely encouraging, since the best configuration of the controller leaded to about 80% of reduction of base stress, as well as to about 30% of reduction of top displacement in respect to the fixed base case.

• Journal of the Society of Naval Architects of Korea
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.312-320
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• 2017

This paper deals with the development of structural test facility for the strength assessment of marine leisure boat built from carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) materials. The structural test facility consists of test jig, load application and control system, and data acquisition system. Test jig, and load application and control system are designed to accommodate various size and short span to depth ratios of single skin, top-hat stiffened and sandwich constructions in plated structural format such as square and rectangular shapes. A lateral pressure load, typical and important applied load condition to the plates of the hull structure for marine leisure boat, is simulated by employing a number of hydraulic cylinders operated automatically and manually. To examine and operate the structural test facility, five carbon/epoxy based FRP square plates having the test section area of $1m^2$, which are part of CFRP marine leisure boat hull, are prepared and they are subjected to monotonically increasing lateral pressure loads. In the test preparation, considering the symmetry of the plates geometry, various strain gauges and linear variable displacement transformer are used in conjunction with data acquisition system utilizing LabVIEW. From the test observation, the responses of the CFRP hull structure of marine leisure boat are understood by obtaining load to deflection and strain to load curves.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.517-521
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• 2016

General industrial robots are difficult to use for precision assembly because they are operated based on position control. Their position accuracy is also usually higher than the assembly clearance (several tens of ${\mu}m$). In previous researches, force control was suggested as a robotic assembly solution. However, this method is difficult to apply in reality because of speed and cost problems. The RCC provides high speed, but applications are limited because the compliance is fixed, and it cannot detect an assembly condition during a task. A variable passive compliance device (VPCD) was developed herein. The VPCD can detect the assembly condition during tasks. This device can provide proper compliance for successful assembly tasks. The pneumatic system and the Stewart platform with an LVDT sensor were applied for measuring the displacement and variable compliance, respectively. The concept design and analysis were conducted to prove the effectiveness of the developed VPCD.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.37-43
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• 2010

In this paper, a reliability-based design optimization is developed for the topology design of linear structures using a performance measure approach. Spatial domain is discretized using three dimensional Reissner-Mindlin plate elements and design variable is taken as the material property of each element. A continuum based adjoint variable method is employed for the efficient computation of sensitivity with respect to the design and random variables. The performance measure approach of RBDO is employed to evaluate the probabilistic constraints. The topology optimizationproblem is formulated to have probabilistic displacement constraints. The uncertainties such as material property and external loads are considered. Numerical examples show that the developed topology optimization method could effectively yield a reliable design, comparing with the other methods such as deterministic, safety factor, and worst case approaches.

• Journal of Korean Association for Spatial Structures
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• v.4 no.4 s.14
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• pp.113-128
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• 2004

A three-dimensional (3-D) method of analysis is presented for determining the free vibration frequencies and mode shapes of solid paraboloidal and complete (that is, without a top opening) paraboloidal shells of revolution with variable wall thickness. Unlike conventional shell theories, which are mathematically two-dimensional (2-D), the present method is based upon the 3-D dynamic equations of elasticity. The ends of the shell may be free or may be subjected to any degree of constraint. Displacement components $u_r,\;u_{\theta},\;and\;u_z$ in the radial, circumferential, and axial directions, respectively, are taken to be sinusoidal in time, periodic in ${\theta}$, and algebraic polynomials in the r and z directions. Potential (strain) and kinetic energies of the paraboloidal shells of revolution are formulated, and the Ritz method is used to solve the eigenvalue problem, thus yielding upper bound values of the frequencies by minimizing the frequencies. As the degree of the polynomials is increased, frequencies converge to the exact values. Convergence to four digit exactitude is demonstrated for the first five frequencies of the complete, shallow and deep paraboloidal shells of revolution with variable thickness. Numerical results are presented for a variety of paraboloidal shells having uniform or variable thickness, and being either shallow or deep. Frequencies for five solid paraboloids of different depth are also given. Comparisons are made between the frequencies from the present 3-D Ritz method and a 2-D thin shell theory.