• Computers and Concrete
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.735-755
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• 2011

The capability of a multi-directional fixed smeared crack constitutive model to simulate the flexural/punching failure modes of fiber reinforced concrete (FRC) laminar structures is discussed. The constitutive model is implemented in a computer program based on the finite element method, where the FRC laminar structures were simulated according to the Reissner-Mindlin shell theory. The shell is discretized into layers for the simulation of the membrane, bending and out-of-plane shear nonlinear behavior. A stress-strain softening diagram is proposed to reproduce, after crack initiation, the evolution of the normal crack component. The in-plane shear crack component is obtained using the concept of shear retention factor, defined by a crack-strain dependent law. To capture the punching failure mode, a softening diagram is proposed to simulate the decrease of the out-of-plane shear stress components with the increase of the corresponding shear strain components, after crack initiation. With this relatively simple approach, accurate predictions of the behavior of FRC structures failing in bending and in shear can be obtained. To assess the predictive performance of the model, a punching experimental test of a module of a façade panel fabricated with steel fiber reinforced self-compacting concrete is numerically simulated. The influence of some parameters defining the softening diagrams is discussed.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.133-155
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• 2013

The earthquake responses are studied for the tall flexible structures such as TV towers when the vertical eccentricities between the discrete nodes and the corresponding centroids of investigated lumps are considered. In practical analyses, the tall flexible structures can be made into a spatial-discrete system of some certain length of beam elements with different lengths and cross-sectional areas. These elements are used to construct the investigated lumps in this paper. The different cross-sectional areas and the different lengths of two adjacent elements lead to the appearance of vertical eccentricity between the discrete node and the centroid of investigated lump within the same investigated lump. Firstly, the governing equations are established for a typical investigated lump. Secondly, the calculating formulae of the forces and moments acting on the investigated lump are derived and provided. Finally the new dynamic equilibrium equations with modified mass matrix and assemblage of stiffness matrix have been derived for the stick MDOF model based on beam theory when the existing vertical eccentricities are considered. Numerical results demonstrate that these vertical eccentricities should be considered in order to obtain the accurate earthquake responses for the tall flexible structures.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.63 no.4
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• pp.497-507
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• 2017

During recent earthquakes, a significant number of concrete structures suffered extensive damage. Conventional reinforced concrete structures are designed for life-time safety that may see permanent inelastic deformation after severe earthquakes. Hence, there is a need to utilize adequate materials that have the ability to tolerate large deformation and get back to their original shape. Super-elastic shape memory alloy (SMA) is a smart material with unique properties, such as the ability to regain undeformed shape by unloading or heating. In this research, four different stories (three, five, seven and nine) of reinforced concrete (RC) buildings have been studied and subjected to near-field ground motions. For each building, two different types of reinforcement detailing are considered, including (1) conventional steel reinforcement (RC frame) and (2) steel-SMA reinforcement (SMA RC frame), with SMA bars being used at plastic zones of beams and steel bars in other regions. Nonlinear time history analyses have been performed by "SeismoStruct" finite element software. The results indicate that the application of SMA materials in plastic hinge regions of the beams lead to reduction of the residual displacement and consequently post-earthquake repairs. In general, it can be said that shape memory alloy materials reduce structural damage and retrofit costs.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.351-366
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• 2010

A novel system identification and structural health assessment procedure of steel framed structures with semi-rigid connections is presented in this paper. It is capable of detecting damages at the local element level under normal operating conditions; i.e., serviceability limit state. The procedure is a linear time-domain system identification technique in which the structure responses are required, whereas the dynamic excitation force is not required to identify the structural parameters. The procedure tracks changes in the stiffness properties of all the elements in a structure. It can identify damage-free and damaged structural elements very accurately when excited by different types of dynamic loadings. The method is elaborated with the help of several numerical examples. The results indicate that the proposed algorithm identified the structures correctly and detected the pre-imposed damages in the frames when excited by earthquake, impact, and harmonic loadings. The algorithm can potentially be used for structural health assessment and monitoring of existing structures with minimum disruption of operations. Since the procedure requires only a few time points of response information, it is expected to be economic and efficient.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.385-403
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• 2007

The effectiveness of the newly developed smart passive control system employing a magnetorheological (MR) damper and an electromagnetic induction (EMI) part for seismic protection of base isolated structures is numerically investigated. An EMI part in the system consists of a permanent magnet and a coil, which changes the kinetic energy of the deformation of an MR damper into the electric energy (i.e. the induced current) according to the Faraday's law of electromagnetic induction. In the smart passive control system, the damping characteristics of an MR damper are varied with the current input generated from an EMI part. Hence, it does not need any control system consisting of sensors, a controller and an external power source. This makes the system much simpler as well as more economic. To verify the efficacy of the smart passive control system, a series of numerical simulations are carried out by considering the benchmark base isolated structure control problems. The numerical simulation results show that the smart passive control system has the comparable control performance to the conventional MR damper-based semiactive control system. Therefore, the smart passive control system could be considered as one of the promising control devices for seismic protection of seismically excited base isolated structures.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.437-447
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• 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.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.359-368
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• 2018

A method is proposed for the identification of instantaneous frequencies (IFs) in time-varying structures. The proposed method combines a maximum gradient algorithm and a smoothing operation. The maximum gradient algorithm is designed to extract the wavelet ridges of response signals. The smoothing operation, based on a polynomial curve fitting algorithm and a threshold method, is employed to reduce the effects of random noises. To verify the effectiveness and accuracy of the proposed method, a numerical example of a signal with two frequency modulated components is investigated and an experimental test on a steel cable with time-varying tensions is also conducted. The results demonstrate that the proposed method can extract IFs from the noisy multi-component signals and practical response signals successfully. In addition, the proposed method can provide a better IF identification results than the standard synchrosqueezing wavelet transform.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.52 no.1
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• pp.19-33
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• 2014

Structural robustness refers to the ability of a structure to avoid disproportionate consequences to the original cause. Currently attentions focus on the concepts of structural robustness, and discussions on methods of robustness based structural design are rare. Firstly, taking basis in robust $H_{\infty}$ control theory, structural robustness is assessed by $H_{\infty}$ norm of the system transfer function. Then using the SIMP material model, robustness based design of grid structures is formulated as a continuum topology optimization problem, where the relative density of each element and structural robustness are considered as the design variable and the optimization objective respectively. Generalized elitist genetic algorithm is used to solve the optimization problem. As examples, robustness configurations of plane stress model and the rectangular hyperbolic shell model were obtained by robustness based structural design. Finally, two models of single-layer grid structures were designed by conventional and robustness based method respectively. Different interference scenarios were simulated by static and impact experiments, and robustness of the models were analyzed and compared. The results show that the $H_{\infty}$ structural robustness index can indicate whether the structural response is proportional to the original cause. Robustness based structural design improves structural robustness effectively, and it can provide a conceptual design in the initial stage of structural design.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2008.03a
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• pp.359-365
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• 2008

As housing supply ratio has become over 100%, the strategic vision of government's policies has been changed from new construction to maintenance and regeneration of old architectural-structures. This fact has brought a light on the reconstruction and remodeling industries and a need for retrofit and rehabilitation techniques of existing foundation. Various methods of foundation for architectural-structures do exist. Among them, micropiling technologies are increasingly applied in foundation rehabilitation and seismic retrofitting projects. Micropiling techniques provide environmental-friendly methods for minimizing disturbance to adjacent structures, ground, and the environment. The installation is possible in restrictive area and general ground conditions. The fact that the installation procedures cause minimal vibration and noise and require very low ceiling height makes the micropiling methods to be commonly used for underpin existing structures. Specialized drilling equipment is often required to install the micropiles for existing basement facilities. This paper presents a case study in which micropiles were constructed to support a superstructure for vertical extension of existing elevator core and provide accessibility to underground parking lot. It is intended to become useful reference for the similar remodeling project.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.49-61
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• 2020

This paper proposes a novel high performance vibration control device, multiple tuned mass dampers-inerters (MTMDI), to suppress the oscillatory motions of structures. The MTMDI, similar to the MTMD, involves multiple tuned mass damper-inerter (TMDI) units. In order to reveal the basic performance of the MTMDI, it is installed on a single degree-of-freedom (SDOF) structure excited by the ground acceleration, and the dynamic magnification factors (DMF) of the structure-MTMDI system are formulated. The optimization criterion is determined as the minimization of maximum values of the relative displacement's DMF for the controlled structure. Based on the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm to tune the optimum parameters of the MTMDI, its performance has been investigated and evaluated in terms of control effectiveness, strokes, stiffness and damping coefficient, inerter element force, and robustness in frequency domain. Meanwhile, further comparison between the MTMDI with MTMD has been conducted. Numerical results clearly demonstrate the MTMDI outperforms the MTMD in control effectiveness and strokes of mass blocks. Additionally, in the aspects of frequency perturbations on both earthquake excitations and structures, the robustness of the MTMDI is also better than the MTMD.