• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.1449-1466
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• 2015

Mixed structures consist of two parts: a lower part and an upper part. The lower part is usually made of concrete while the upper part is made of steel. Analyzing these structures is complicated and code-based design of them has many associated problems. In this research, the seismic behavior of mixed structures which have reinforced concrete frames and shear walls in their lower storeys and steel frames with bracing in their upper storeys were studied. For this purpose, seventeen structures in three groups of 5, 9 and 15 storey structures with different numbers of concrete and steel storeys were designed. Static pushover analysis, linear dynamic analysis and incremental dynamic analysis (IDA) using 15 earthquake records were performed by OpenSees software. Seismic parameters such as period, response modification factor and ductility factor were then obtained for the mixed (hybrid) structures using more than 4600 nonlinear dynamic analysis and used in the regression analysis for achieving proper formula. Finally, some formulas, effective in designing such structures, are presented for the mentioned parameters. According to the results obtained from this research, the response modification factor values of mixed structures are lower compared to those of steel or concrete ones with the same heights. This fact might be due to the irregularities of stiffness, mass, etc., at different heights of the structure. It should be mentioned that for the first time, the performance and seismic response of such structures were studied against real earthquake accelerations using nonlinear dynamic analysis, andresponse modification factor was obtained by IDA.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.451-463
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• 2005

Structural members commonly employed in marine and off-shore structures are usually fabricated from plates and shells. Collision of this class of structures is usually modeled as plate and shell structures subjected to dynamic impact loading. The understanding of the dynamic response and energy transmission of the structures subjected to low velocity impact is useful for the efficient design of this type of structures. The transmissions of transient energy flow and dynamic transient response of these structures under low velocity impact are presented in the paper. The structural intensity approach is adopted to study the elastic transient dynamic characteristics of the plate structures under low velocity impact. The nine-node degenerated shell elements are adopted to model both the target and impactor in the dynamic impact response analysis. The structural intensity streamline representation is introduced to interpret energy flow paths for transient dynamic response of the structures. Numerical results, including contact force and transient energy flow vectors as well as structural intensity stream lines, demonstrate the efficiency of the present approach and attenuating impact effects on this type of structures.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.21-46
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• 2014

This paper presents a simple n-order four variable refined theory for the bending and vibration analyses of functionally graded plates. By dividing the transverse displacement into bending and shear parts, the number of unknowns and governing equations of the present theory is reduced, and hence, makes it simple to use. The present theory is variationally consistent, uses the n-order polynomial term to represent the displacement field, does not require shear correction factor, and gives rise to transverse shear stress variation such that the transverse shear stresses vary parabolically across the thickness satisfying shear stress free surface conditions. The governing equations are derived by employing the Hamilton's principle and the physical neutral surface concept. The accuracy of the present solutions is verified by comparing the obtained results with available published ones.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.197-218
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• 2020

In this work, thermomechanical flexural analysis of functionally graded material sandwich plates with P-FGM face sheets and E-FGM and symmetric S-FGM core is performed by employing a nth-order shear deformation theory. A novel type of S-FGM sandwich plates, namely, both P-FGM face sheets and a symmetric S-FGM hard core are considered. By employing only four unknown variables, the governing equations are obtained based on the principle of virtual work and then Navier method is used to solve these equations. Analytical solutions are deduced to compute the stresses and deflections of simply supported S-FGM sandwich plates. The effects of volume fraction variation, geometrical parameters and thermal load on thermomechanical flexural behavior of the symmetric FGM sandwich plates are investigated.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.219-229
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• 2018

In this paper, a modified rigid body spring model (RBSM) is proposed and used to analyze the damage and failure process of reinforced concrete (RC) structures. In the proposed model, the concrete is represented by an assembly of rigid blocks connected with a uniform distribution of normal and tangential springs to simulate the macroscopic mechanical behavior of concrete. Steel bars are evenly dispersed into rigid blocks as a kind of homogeneous axial material, and an additional uniform distribution of axial and dowel springs is defined to consider the axial stiffness and dowel action of steel bars. Perfect bond between the concrete and steel bars is assumed, and tension stiffening effect of steel bars is modeled by adjusting the constitutive relationship for the tensile reinforcement. Adjacent blocks are allowed to separate at the contact interface, which makes it convenient and easy to simulate the cracking process of concrete. The failure of the springs is determined by the Mohr-Coulomb type criterion with the tension and compression caps. The effectiveness of the proposed method is confirmed by elastic analyses of a cantilever beam under different loading conditions and failure analyses of a RC beam under two-point loading.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.99-110
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• 2017

Service life assessments which do not include the synergy between mechanical and environmental loading are neglecting a factor that can have a significant impact on structural safety and durability assessment. The degradation of concrete structure is a result of the combined effect of environmental and mechanical factors. In order to make service life design realistic it is necessary to consider both of these factors acting simultaneously. This paper deals with the advanced modelling of concrete carbonation and chloride ingress into concrete using stochastic 1D and 2D models. Widely accepted models incorporated into the new fib Model Code 2010 are extended to include factors that reflect the coupled effects of mechanical and environmental loads on the durability and reliability of reinforced concrete structures. An example of cooling tower degradation by carbonation and an example of a bended reinforced concrete beam kept for several years in salt fog are numerically studied to show the capability of the stochastic approach. The modelled degradation measures are compared with experimental results, leading to good agreement.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.249-261
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• 2020

Seismic loss estimation studies require fragility curves which are usually derived using ground motion datasets. Ground motion records can be either in the form of recorded or simulated time histories compatible with regional seismicity. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the use of alternative ground motion datasets (simulated and real) on the fragility curves. Simulated dataset is prepared considering regional seismicity parameters corresponding to Erzincan using the stochastic finite-fault technique. In addition, regionally compatible records are chosen from the NGA-West2 ground motion database to form the real dataset. The paper additionally studies the effects of hazard variability and two different fragility curve derivation approaches on the generated fragility curves. As the final step for verification purposes, damage states estimated for the fragility curves derived using alternative approaches are compared with the observed damage levels from the 1992 Erzincan (Turkey) earthquake (Mw=6.6). In order to accomplish all these steps, a set of representative masonry buildings from Erzincan region are analyzed using simplified structural models. The results reveal that regionally simulated ground motions can be used alternatively in fragility analyses and damage estimation studies.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.7 no.5
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• pp.691-704
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• 2014

Reinforced concrete (RC) shear walls are commonly used for building structures to resist seismic loading. While the RC shear walls can have a high load-carrying capacity, they tend to fail in a brittle mode under shear, accompanied by forming large diagonal cracks and bond splitting between concrete and steel reinforcement. Improving seismic performance of shear walls has remained a challenge for researchers all over the world. Engineered Cementitious Composite (ECC), featuring incredible ductility under tension, can be a promising material to replace concrete in shear walls with improved performance. Currently, the application of ECC to large structures is limited due to the lack of the proper constitutive models especially under shear. In this paper, a new Cyclic Softening Membrane Model for reinforced ECC is proposed. The model was built upon the Cyclic Softening Membrane Model for reinforced concrete by (Hsu and Mo 2010). The model was then implemented in the OpenSees program to perform analysis on several cases of shear walls under seismic loading. The seismic response of reinforced ECC compared with RC shear walls under monotonic and cyclic loading, their difference in pinching effect and energy dissipation capacity were studied. The modeling results revealed that reinforced ECC shear walls can have superior seismic performance to traditional RC shear walls.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.74 no.2
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• pp.201-214
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• 2020

This study aims at evaluating composite moment frame structures (CFS) using wavelet analysis of the displacement behavior of these structures. Five seismic damage mitigation systems' models of 9-story CFS are examined namely, basic (Model 1), reinforced (Model 2), buckling restrained braced (BRB) (Model 3), lead rubber bearing (LRB) (Model 4), and composite (Model 5) moment frames. A novel integration between continuous and discrete wavelet transforms is designed to estimate the wavelet power energy and variance of measurements' behaviors. The behaviors of the designed models are evaluated under influence of four seismic loads to study the dynamic performance of CFS in the frequency domain. The results show the behaviors of models 3 and 5 are lower than other models in terms of displacement and frequency performances. Model 3 has been shown lower performances in terms of energy and variance wavelets along the monitoring time; therefore, Model 3 demonstrates superior performance and low probability of failure under seismic loads. Furthermore, the wavelet variance analysis is shown a powerful tool that can be used to assess the CFS under seismic hazards.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.6 no.5_6
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• pp.505-524
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• 2010

Wireless structural monitoring systems consist of networks of wireless sensors installed to record the loading environment and corresponding response of large-scale civil structures. Wireless monitoring systems are desirable because they eliminate the need for costly and labor intensive installation of coaxial wiring in a structure. However, another advantageous characteristic of wireless sensors is their installation modularity. For example, wireless sensors can be easily and rapidly removed and reinstalled in new locations on a structure if the need arises. In this study, the reconfiguration of a rapid-to-deploy wireless structural monitoring system is proposed for monitoring short- and medium-span highway bridges. Narada wireless sensor nodes using power amplified radios are adopted to achieve long communication ranges. A network of twenty Narada wireless sensors is installed on the Yeondae Bridge (Korea) to measure the global response of the bridge to controlled truck loadings. To attain acceleration measurements in a large number of locations on the bridge, the wireless monitoring system is installed three times, with each installation concentrating sensors in one localized area of the bridge. Analysis of measurement data after installation of the three monitoring system configurations leads to reliable estimation of the bridge modal properties, including mode shapes.