• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.82 no.2
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• pp.205-224
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• 2022

This paper presents a refined finite element formulation for nonlinear static and dynamic analysis of sliding cable structures, overcoming the limitation of the existing approaches that neglect or approximate the friction, pulley dimension, temperature and geometric nonlinearity. A new family of elements with the same framework is proposed, consisting of the cable-pulley (CP) elements considering sliding friction, and the non-sliding cable-pulley (NSCP) elements considering static friction. Thereafter, the complete procedure of static and dynamic analysis using the proposed elements is developed, with the capability of accurately dealing with the friction at each pulley. Several examples are utilized to verify the validity and accuracy of the proposed elements and analysis strategy, and investigate the frictional, thermal and pulley-dimension effects as well. The numerical examples show that the results obtained in this work are in good accordance with the existing works when using the same approximations of friction, pulley dimension and temperature. By avoiding the approximations, the proposed formulation can be effectively adopted in predicting the more precise nonlinear responses of sliding cable structures.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.89 no.4
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• pp.399-409
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• 2024

Assessment of existing concrete bridges is a challenge for owners. It has greater economic impact when compared to designing new bridges. When using conventional linear analyses, judgment of the engineer is required to understand the behavior of redundant structures after the first element in the structural system reaches its ultimate capacity. The alternative is to use a predictive tool such as advanced nonlinear finite element analyses (ANFEA) to assess the overall structural behavior. This paper proposes a new reliability framework for the assessment of existing bridge structures using ANFEA. A general framework defined in previous works, accounting for material uncertainties and concrete model performance, is adapted to the context of the assessment of existing bridges. A "shifted" reliability problem is defined under the assumption of quasi-deterministic dead load effects. The overall exercise is viewed as a progressive pushover analysis up to structural failure, where the actual safety index is compared at each event to a target reliability index.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.295-307
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• 2024

The funnel-shaped vortex structure of tornadoes results in a spatiotemporally varying wind velocity (speed and direction) field. However, very limited full-scale tornado data along the height and radius positions are available to identify and reliably establish a description of complex vortex structure together with the resulting aerodynamic effects on the high-speed train (HST). In this study, the improved delayed detached eddy simulation (IDDES) for flow structures and aerodynamic pressures around an HST under tornado-like winds are conducted to provide high-fidelity computational fluid dynamics (CFD) results. To demonstrate the accuracy of the numerical method adopted in this study, both field observations and wind-tunnel data are utilized to respectively validate the simulated tornado flow fields and HST aerodynamics. Then, the flow structures and aerodynamic pressures (as well as aerodynamic forces and moments) around the HST at various locations within the tornado-like vortex are comprehensively compared to highlight the importance of considering the complex spatiotemporal wind features in the HST-tornado interactions.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.73-79
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• 2011

The various properties of concrete have been required, as civil engineering structures are getting larger and complicated. Therefore, the high performance of concrete, such as high strength, high fluidity, and low hydration heat, has been investigated largely. In this study, the properties of lightweight concrete-reducing self-weight of structure member have been studied in order to check the applicability of lightweight aggregate concrete to structural material. The experiments on compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, unit weight, and modulus of elasticity have been conducted with varying PLC, LWCI, LWCII, LWCII-SF5, LWCII-SF15 to check the basic properties. The compressive strength of 21MPa was obtained easily by using lightweight aggregate concrete and the addition of silica fume to increase the compressive strength slightly. To use lightweight aggregate concrete for civil engineering structures, systematic and rigorous studies are necessary.

• Korean Journal of Computational Design and Engineering
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.80-90
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• 2014

In architecture projects, BIM library has widely been using for prefabrication of products and design process. However, since the shape of structures is different by each project in civil engineering projects and a shape representation system is complicated, it is not easy to develop a standardized BIM library. To solve these issues, this study develops BIM library based on standardized 2D shop drawings for civil structures. The standardized shop drawings, which are the targets of the BIM library model, should be first selected. Besides, in order to define modeling scope with the level of general and shop drawings for each structure, LOD(Level of Detail) and breakdown structure are determined, and development methods of families of 3D object type including 2D profile and rebar through commercial software are established. With these, properties of BIM library are configured, and a utilization model of the BIM libraries is constructed for 3D modeling and a simulation using the BIM library. Therefore, this study can identify properties that are necessary when IFC schema is configured for civil engineering projects. For future, it is expected that easiness of BIM design for the civil engineering projects and generation, management, and analysis system of BIM library for road projects will be secured.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.115-134
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• 2003

The Ting Kau Bridge in Hong Kong is a cable-stayed bridge comprising two main spans and two side spans. The bridge deck is supported by three towers, an end pier and an abutment. Each of the three towers consists of a single reinforced concrete mast which reduces its section in steps, and it is strengthened by transverse cables and struts in the transverse vertical plane. The bridge deck is supported by four inclined planes of cables emanating from anchorages at the tower tops. In view of the threat from typhoons, the dynamic behaviour of long-span cable-supported bridges in the region is always an important consideration in their design. This paper is devoted to the ambient vibration measurements of the bridge for evaluation of dynamic characteristics including the natural frequencies and mode shapes. It also describes the modelling of the bridge. A few finite element models are developed and calibrated to match with the field data and the results of subsequent structural health monitoring of the bridge.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.311-324
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• 2018

This work examines vibration and bending response of carbon nanotube-reinforced composite plates resting on the Pasternak elastic foundation. Four types of distributions of uni-axially aligned single-walled carbon nanotubes are considered to reinforce the plates. Analytical solutions determined from mathematical formulation based on hyperbolic shear deformation plate theory are presented in this study. An accuracy of the proposed theory is validated numerically by comparing the obtained results with some available ones in the literature. Various considerable parameters of carbon nanotube volume fraction, spring constant factors, plate thickness and aspect ratios, etc. are considered in the present investigation. According to the numerical examples, it is revealed that the vertical displacement of the plates is found to diminish as the increase of foundation parameters; while, the natural frequency increase as the increment of the parameters for every type of plate.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.56 no.2
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• pp.223-240
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• 2015

In this work, a nonlocal quasi-3D trigonometric plate theory for micro/nanoscale plates is proposed. In order to introduce the size influences, the Eringen's nonlocal elasticity theory is utilized. In addition, the theory considers both shear deformation and thickness stretching effects by a trigonometric variation of all displacements within the thickness, and respects the stress-free boundary conditions on the top and bottom surfaces of the plate without considering the shear correction factor. The advantage of this theory is that, in addition to considering the small scale and thickness stretching effects (${\varepsilon}_z{\neq}0$), the displacement field is modelled with only 5 unknowns as the first order shear deformation theory (FSDT). Analytical solutions for vibration of simply supported micro/nanoscale plates are illustrated, and the computed results are compared with the available solutions in the literature and finite element model using ABAQUS software package. The influences of the nonlocal parameter, shear deformation and thickness stretching on the vibration behaviors of the micro/nanoscale plates are examined.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.193-200
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• 2017

To overcome the difficulty of performing multi-point response spectrum analysis for engineering structures under spatially varying ground motions (SVGM) using the general finite element code such as ANSYS, an approach has been developed by improving the modelling of the input ground motions in the spectral analysis. Based on the stochastic vibration analyses, the cross-power spectral density (c-PSD) matrix is adopted to model the stationary SVGM. The design response spectra are converted into the corresponding PSD model with appropriate coherency functions and apparent wave velocities. Then elements of c-PSD matrix are summarized in the row and the PSD matrix is transformed into the response spectra for a general spectral analysis. A long-span high-pier bridge under multiple support excitations is analyzed using the proposed approach considering the incoherence, wave-passage and site-response effects. The proposed approach is deemed to be an efficient numerical method that can be used for seismic analysis of large engineering structures under SVGM.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.82 no.1
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• pp.31-40
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• 2022

In structural engineering, the material properties of the structures such as elastic modulus, shear modulus, density, and size may not be deterministic and may vary at different locations. The dynamic response analysis of such structures may need to consider these properties as stochastic. This paper introduces a stochastic finite element method (SFEM) approach to analyze moving loads problems. Firstly, Karhunen-Loéve expansion (KLE) is applied for expressing the stochastic field of material properties. Then the mathematical expression of the random field is substituted into the finite element model to formulate the corresponding random matrix. Finally, the statistical moment of the dynamic response is calculated by the point estimation method (PEM). The accuracy and efficiency of the dynamic response obtained from the KLE-PEM are demonstrated by the example of a moving load passing through a simply supported Euler-Bernoulli beam, in which the material properties (including elastic modulus and density) are considered as random fields. The results from the KLE-PEM are compared with those from the Monte Carlo simulation. The results demonstrate that the proposed method of KLE-PEM has high accuracy and efficiency. By using the proposed SFEM, the random vertical deflection of a high-speed railway (HSR) bridge is analyzed by considering the random fields of material properties under the moving load of a train.