• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.225-238
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• 2012

Steel structural elements with web-tapered I cross section, are usually made of welded thin plates. Due to the nonrectangular shape of the element, thin web section may be obtained at the maximum cross section height. The buckling strength is directly influenced by lateral restraining, end support and initial imperfections. If no lateral restraints, or when they are not effective enough, the global behaviour of the members is characterized by the lateral torsional mode and interaction with sectional buckling modes may occur. Actual design codes do not provide a practical design approach for this kind of elements. The paper summarizes an experimental study performed by the authors on a relevant number of elements of this type. The purpose of the work was to evaluate the actual behaviour of the web tapered beam-columns when applying different types of lateral restraints and different web thickness.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.207-223
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• 2012

This paper deals with critical thermal buckling load optimization of symmetrically laminated four layered angle-ply plates with one or two different intermediate line supports. The design objective is the maximization of the critical thermal buckling load and a design variable is the fibre orientation in the layers. The first order shear deformation theory and nine-node isoparametric finite element model are used for the finite element solution of the laminates. The modified feasible direction (MFD) method is used for the optimization routine. For this purpose, a program based on FORTRAN is used. Finally, the numerical analysis is carried out to investigate the effects of location of the internal line supports, plate aspect ratios and boundary conditions on the optimal designs and the results are compared.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.173-189
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• 2009

This paper presents a study on the behavior and design of bolted stainless steel plates under in-plane tension. Using an experimentally validated finite element (FE) program strength of stainless steel bolted plates under tension is examined with an emphasis on plate bearing mode of failure. A numerical parametric study was carried out which includes examining the behavior of stainless steel plate models with various proportions, bolt locations and in two different material grades. The models were designed to fail particularly in bolt tear-out and material piling-up modes. In the numerical simulation of the models, non-linear stress-strain material behavior of stainless steel was considered by using expressions which represent the full range of strains up to the ultimate tensile strain. Using the results of the parametric study, the effect of variations in bolt positions, such as end and edge distance and bolt pitch distance on bearing resistance of stainless steel bolted plates under in-plane tension has been investigated. Finally, the results obtained are critically examined using design estimations of the currently available international design guidance.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.521-535
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• 2016

A Harmony Search (HS) and Genetic Algorithms (GA), two powerful metaheuristic search techniques, are used for minimum weight designs of different truss structures by selecting suitable profile sections from a specified list taken from American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC). A computer program is coded in MATLAB interacting with SAP2000-OAPI to obtain solution of design problems. The stress constraints according to AISC-ASD (Allowable Stress Design) and displacement constraints are considered for optimum designs. Three different truss structures such as bridge, dome and tower structures taken from literature are designed and the results are compared with the ones available in literature. The results obtained from the solutions for truss structures show that optimum designs by these techniques are very similar to the literature results and HS method usually provides more economical solutions in multi-element truss problems.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.747-753
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• 2019

Metaheuristic algorithm is used to solve the weight minimization problem of truss structures considering shape, and sizing design variables. The cross-sectional areas of the line element in trusses are the design variables for size optimization and the changeable joint coordinates are the shape optimization used in this study. The design of plane and spatial truss structures are optimized by metaheuristic technique named Teaching-Learning-Based Optimization (TLBO). Finite element analyses of structures and optimization process are carried out by the computer program visually developed by the authors coded in MATLAB. The four benchmark problems (trusses 2D ten-bar, 3D thirty-seven-bar, 3D seventy-two-bar and 2D two-hundred-bar) taken from literature are optimized and the optimal solution compared the results given by previous studies.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.887-897
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• 1991

본 연구에서는 이와 같은 배경에서, Fig. 1(f)와 같이 가장 일반적인 이방성 재료가 접합된 경우의 응력확대계수를 명확히 정의하고, 수치해석법으로 구할 수 있는 외삽식을 제안한다. 또한, 탄성문제의 수치해석 방법으로 적은 요소의 분할로써 고 정밀도의 수치해석 결과를 얻을 수 있는 경계요소법(boundary element method:BEM), 특히 저자들이 개발한 복합재료에 대한 2차원 경계요소법 프로그램을 이용하여 이방성 이종재료 접합계면 균열의 응력확대계수를 해석하고, 복합재료내의 섬유방향에 대한 접합계면 균열의 정성적 거동을 고찰하고자 한다.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.231-244
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• 2001

The strengthening of reinforced concrete structures using externally bonded steel or advanced fibre reinforced plastic (FRP) composites is becoming increasingly common. A key factor affecting the behaviour and reliability of such strengthened structures is the bond strength between the steel or FRP plate and the concrete substrate. Several different experimental set-ups have previously been used to determine bond strength. This paper presents a careful finite element analysis of the stress distributions in these test set-ups. Results show that stress distributions can be significantly different for different set-ups, for similar materials and geometry.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.519-533
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• 2005

The numerical simulations on the influence of mesoscopic structures on the macroscopic strength and fracture characteristics are carried out based on that the concrete is assumed to be a three-phase composite composed of matrix (mortar), aggregate and bond between them by using a numerical code named MFPA. The finite element program is employed as the basic stress analysis tool when the elastic damage mechanics is used to describe the constitutive law of meso-level element and the maximum tensile strain criterion and Mohr-Coulomb criterion are utilized as damage threshold. It can be found from the numerical results that the bond between matrix and aggregate has a significant effect on the macroscopic mechanical performance of concrete.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.693-709
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• 2015

In this article, nonlinear free vibration behaviour of functionally graded spherical panel is analysed. A nonlinear mathematical model is developed based on higher order shear deformation theory for shallow shell by taking Green-Lagrange type of nonlinear kinematics. The material properties of functionally graded material are assumed to be varying continuously in transverse direction and evaluated using Voigt micromechanical model in conjunction with power-law distribution. The governing equation of the shell panel is obtained using Hamilton's principle and discretised with the help of nonlinear finite element method. The desired responses are evaluated through a direct iterative method. The present model has been validated by comparing the frequency ratio (nonlinear frequency to linear frequency) with those available published literatures. Finally, the effect of geometrical parameters (curvature ratio, thickness ratio, aspect ratio and support condition), power law indices and amplitude of vibration on the frequency ratios of spherical panel have been discussed through numerical experimentations.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.711-737
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• 2015

Steel Plate Shear Walls (SPSWs) have been accepted widely as an effective lateral load resisting system. For seismic performance evaluation of a multi-story building with SPSWs, detailed finite element models or a strip model can be used to represent the SPSW components. However, such models often require significant effort for tall or medium height buildings. In order to simplify the analysis process, discrete elements for the framing members can be used. This paper presents development of a simplified equivalent braced model to study the behavior of the SPSWs. The proposed model is expected to facilitate a simplification to the structural modeling of large buildings with SPSWs in order to evaluate the seismic performance using regular structural analysis tools. It is observed that the proposed model can capture the global behavior of the structures quite accurately and potentially aid in the performance-based seismic design of SPSW buildings.