• Computers and Concrete
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.365-386
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• 2010

This paper presents the physical formulation of a 1D material model suitable for seismic applications. It is written within the framework of thermodynamics with internal variables that is, especially, very efficient for the phenomenological representation of material behaviors at macroscale: those of the representative elementary volume. The model can reproduce the main characteristics observed for concrete, that is nonsymetric loading rate-dependent (viscoelasticity) behavior with appearance of permanent deformations and local hysteresis (continuum plasticity), stiffness degradation (continuum damage), cracking due to displacement localization (discrete plasticity or damage). The parameters have a clear physical meaning and can thus be easily identified. Although this point is not detailed in the paper, this material model is developed to be implemented in a finite element computer program. Therefore, for the benefit of the robustness of the numerical implementation, (i) linear state equations (no local iteration required) are defined whenever possible and (ii) the conditions in which the presented model can enter the generalized standard materials class - whose elements benefit from good global and local stability properties - are clearly established. To illustrate the capabilities of this model - among them for Earthquake Engineering applications - results of some numerical applications are presented.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.195-220
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• 2017

Nowadays, railway system plays a significant role in transportation, conveying cargo, passengers, minerals, grains, and so forth. Railway ballasted track is a conventional railway track as can be seen all over the world. Ballast, located underneath the sleepers, is the most important elements on ballasted track, which has many functions and requires routine maintenance. Ballast needs to be maintained frequently to prevent rail buckling, settlement, misalignment so that ballast has to be modelled accurately. Continuum model was introduced to model granular material and was extended in ballast. However, ballast is a heterogeneous material with highly nonlinear behaviour. Hence, ballast could not be modelled accurately in continuum model due to the discontinuities nature and material degradation of ballast. Discrete element modelling (DEM) is proposed as an alternative approach that provides insight into constitutive model, realistic particle, and contact algorithm between each particle. DEM has been studied in many recent decades. However, there are limitations due to the high computational time and memory consumption, which cause the lack of using in high range. This paper presents a review of recent ballast modelling with benefits and drawbacks. Ballast particles are illustrated either circular, circular crump, spherical, spherical crump, super-quadric, polygonal and polyhedral. Moreover, the gaps and limitations of previous studies are also summarized. The outcome of this study will help the understanding into different ballast modelling and particle. The insight information can be used to improve ballast modelling and monitoring for condition-based track maintenance.

• Journal of computational fluids engineering
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.49-57
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• 2014

In the present study, 2-D gas-kinetic flow solver on unstructured meshes was developed for flows from continuum to transitional regimes. The gas-kinetic BGK scheme is based on numerical solutions of the BGK simplification of the Boltzmann transport equation. In the initial reconstruction, the unstructured version of the linear interpolation is applied to compute left and right states along a cell interface. In the gas evolution step, the numerical fluxes are computed from the evaluation of the time-dependent gas distribution function around a cell interface. Two-dimensional compressible flow calculations were performed to verify the accuracy and robustness of the current gas-kinetic approach. Gas-kinetic BGK scheme was successfully applied to two-dimensional steady and unsteady flow simulations with strong contact discontinuities. Exemplary hypersonic viscous simulations have been conducted to analyze the performances of the gas-kinetic scheme. The computed results show fair agreement with other standard particle-based approaches for both continuum part and transitional part.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.38 no.6
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• pp.717-737
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• 2021

A theoretical energy-based model to capture the mechanical response of thick woven composite laminates, which are used in such applications as maritime or aerospace, to high-velocity impact was developed. The dependences of the impact phenomenon on material and geometrical parameters were analysed making use of the Vaschy-Buckingham Theorem to provide a non-dimensional framework. The model was divided in three different stages splitting the physical interpretation of the perforation process: a first where different dissipative mechanisms such as compression or shear plugging were considered, a second where a transference of linear momentum was assumed and a third where only friction took place. The model was validated against experimental data along with a 3D finite element model. The numerical simulations were used to validate some of the new hypotheses assumed in the theoretical model to provide a more accurate explanation of the phenomena taking place during a high-velocity impact.

• Coupled systems mechanics
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.429-444
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• 2023

The comprehension and structural modeling of masonry constructions is fundamental to safeguard the integrity of built cultural assets and intervene through adequate actions, especially in earthquake-prone regions. Despite the availability of several modeling strategies and modern computing power, modeling masonry remains a great challenge because of still demanding computational efforts, constraints in performing destructive or semi-destructive in-situ tests, and material uncertainties. This paper investigates the shear behavior of masonry walls by applying a plane-stress FE continuum model with the Modified Masonry-like Material (MMLM). Epistemic uncertainty affecting input parameters of the MMLM is considered in a probabilistic framework. After appointing a suitable probability density function to input quantities according to prior engineering knowledge, uncertainties are propagated to outputs relying on gPCE-based surrogate models to considerably speed up the forward problem-solving. The sensitivity of the response to input parameters is evaluated through the computation of Sobol' indices pointing out the parameters more worthy to be further investigated, when dealing with the seismic assessment of masonry buildings. Finally, masonry mechanical properties are calibrated in a probabilistic setting with the Bayesian approach to the inverse problem based on the available measurements obtained from the experimental load-displacement curves provided by shear compression in-situ tests.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.42 no.11
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• pp.927-936
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• 2014

This paper presents development and verification of the progressive failure analysis upon the composite laminates. Strength and stiffness of the fiber-reinforced composite are analyzed by property degradation approach with emphasis on the material nonlinearity and continuum damage mechanics (CDM). Longitudinal and transverse tensile modes derived from Hashin's failure criterion are used to predict the thresholds for damage initiation and growth. The modified Newton-Raphson iterative procedure is implemented for determining nonlinear elastic and viscoelastic constitutive relations. Laminar properties of the composite are obtained by experiments. Prediction on the un-notched tensile (UNT) specimen is performed under the laminate level. Stress-strain curves and strength results are compared with the experimental measurement. It is concluded that the present nonlinear CDM approach is capable of predicting the strength and stiffness more accurately than the corresponding linear CDM one does.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.223-240
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• 2013

In the present study an attempt was made to predict the complex nonlinear parameters of the soil-pile system subjected to the vertical vibration of rotating machines. A three dimensional (3D) finite element (FE) model was developed to predict the nonlinear dynamic response of full-scale pile foundation in a layered soil medium using ABAQUS/CAE. The frequency amplitude responses for different eccentric moments obtained from the FE analysis were compared with the vertical vibration test results of the full-scale single pile. It was found that the predicted resonant frequency and amplitude of pile obtained from 3D FE analysis were within a reasonable range of the vertical vibration test results. The variation of the soil-pile separation lengths were determined using FE analysis for different eccentric moments. The Novak's continuum approach was also used to predict the nonlinear behaviour of soil-pile system. The continuum approach was found to be useful for the prediction of the nonlinear frequency-amplitude response of full-scale pile after introducing the proper boundary zone parameters and soil-pile separation lengths.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.47 no.5
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• pp.569-585
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• 2023

This paper proposes an efficient approach for the structural topology optimization of bi-directional functionally graded structures by incorporating popular radial basis functions (RBFs) into an implicit level set (ILS) method. Compared to traditional element density-based methods, a level set (LS) description of material boundaries produces a smoother boundary description of the design. The paper develops RBF implicit modeling with multiquadric (MQ) splines, thin-plate spline (TPS), exponential spline (ES), and Gaussians (GS) to define the ILS function with high accuracy and smoothness. The optimization problem is formulated by considering RBF-based nodal densities as design variables and minimizing the compliance objective function. A LS-RBF optimization method is proposed to transform a Hamilton-Jacobi partial differential equation (PDE) into a system of coupled non-linear ordinary differential equations (ODEs) over the entire design domain using a collocation formulation of the method of lines design variables. The paper presents detailed mathematical expressions for BiDFG beams topology optimization with two different material models: continuum functionally graded (CFG) and mechanical functionally graded (MFG). Several numerical examples are presented to verify the method's efficiency, reliability, and success in accuracy, convergence speed, and insensitivity to initial designs in the topology optimization of two-dimensional (2D) structures. Overall, the paper presents a novel and efficient approach to topology optimization that can handle bi-directional functionally graded structures with complex geometries.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.623-649
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• 2016

Most of the early studies on plates vibration are focused on two-dimensional theories, these theories reduce the dimensions of problems from three to two by introducing some assumptions in mathematical modeling leading to simpler expressions and derivation of solutions. However, these simplifications inherently bring errors and therefore may lead to unreliable results for relatively thick plates. The main objective of this research paper is to present 3-D elasticity solution for free vibration analysis of continuously graded carbon nanotube-reinforced (CGCNTR) rectangular plates resting on two-parameter elastic foundations. The volume fractions of oriented, straight single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) are assumed to be graded in the thickness direction. In this study, an equivalent continuum model based on the Eshelby-Mori-Tanaka approach is employed to estimate the effective constitutive law of the elastic isotropic medium (matrix) with oriented, straight carbon nanotubes (CNTs). The proposed rectangular plates have two opposite edges simply supported, while all possible combinations of free, simply supported and clamped boundary conditions are applied to the other two edges. The formulations are based on the three-dimensional elasticity theory. A semi-analytical approach composed of differential quadrature method (DQM) and series solution is adopted to solve the equations of motion. The fast rate of convergence of the method is demonstrated and comparison studies are carried out to establish its very high accuracy and versatility. The 2-D differential quadrature method as an efficient and accurate numerical tool is used to discretize the governing equations and to implement the boundary conditions. The convergence of the method is demonstrated and to validate the results, comparisons are made between the present results and results reported by well-known references for special cases treated before, have confirmed accuracy and efficiency of the present approach. The novelty of the present work is to exploit Eshelby-Mori-Tanaka approach in order to reveal the impacts of the volume fractions of oriented CNTs, different CNTs distributions, various coefficients of foundation and different combinations of free, simply supported and clamped boundary conditions on the vibrational characteristics of CGCNTR rectangular plates. The new results can be used as benchmark solutions for future researches.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.325-330
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• 2016

The second phase of low- and intermediate-level waste (LILW) disposal facility is under planned on the sedimentary rock in unsaturated zone. In this study, we created two meshes which were a matrix continuum mesh and a fracture continuum mesh to carry out 2 dimensional numerical modeling for groundwater flow in the unsaturated zone containing fractures focused on the second phase of LILW disposal facility. Two continuum meshes were developed using MINC in meshmaker module of TOUGH2 code. A fracture continuum mesh was included the k-field distribution of the permeability derived from the Discrete Fractured Network (DFN) modeling. To apply the unsaturated zone for the modeling, the gridding steps to generate mesh were developed. Each step to generate a mesh consisted of definition of materials, setting the initial conditions and creating grids using MINC. The methodology development of meshes in this study will be applied for more precise modeling of groundwater flow and mass transport.