• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제58권5호
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• pp.905-929
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• 2016

This paper assesses efficiency of the continuum method as the idealized system of building structures. A modified Coupled Two-Beam (CTB) model equipped with classical and non-classical damping has been proposed and solved analytically. In this system, complementary (non-classical) damping models composed of bending and shear mechanisms have been defined. A spatial shear damping model which is non-homogeneously distributed has been adopted in the CTB formulation and used to equivalently model passive dampers, viscous and viscoelastic devices, embedded in building systems. The application of continuum-based models for the dynamic analysis of shear wall systems has been further discussed. A reference example has been numerically analyzed to evaluate the efficiency of the presented CTB, and the optimization problems of the shear damping have been finally ascertained using local and global performance indices. The results reveal the superior performance of non-classical damping models against the classical damping. They show that the critical position of the first modal rotation in the CTB is reliable as the optimum placement of the shear damping. The results also prove the good efficiency of such a continuum model, in addition to its simplicity, for the fast estimation of dynamic responses and damping optimization issues in building systems.

• Progress in Superconductivity
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• 제7권1호
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• pp.6-10
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• 2005

We have studied feasibility of single-layer second-order $high-T_c$ SQUID gradiometers in magnetocardiography. We have measured human cardiomagnetic signals using a short-baseline (5.8 mm) single-layer second-order YBCO gradiometer in partially shielded environments. The gradiometer has an overall size of $17.6\;mm{\times}6\;mm$ and contains three parallel-connected pickup coils which are directly coupled to a step-edge junction SQUID. The gradiometer showed an unshielded gradient noise of $0.84\;pT/cm^2/Hz^{1/2}$ at 1 Hz, which corresponds to an equivalent field noise of $280\;fT/Hz^{1/2}$. The balancing factor was $10^3$. Based on the same design rules as the short-baseline devices, we have studied fabrication of 30 mm-long baseline gradiometers. The devices had an overall size of $70.2\;mm{\times}10.6\;mm$ with each pickup coil of $10\;mm{\times}10\;mm$ in outer size. As Josephson elements we made two types of submicron bridges, which are variable thickness bridge (VTB) and constant thickness bridge (CTB), from $3\;{\mu}m-wide$ and 300 nm-thick YBCO lines with a thin layer of Au on top by using a focused ion beam (FIB) patterning method. VTB was 300 nm wide, 200 nm thick, 30 nm long with Au removed and CTB 100 nm wide and 30 nm long. In temperature-dependent critical currents, $I_c(T)$, VTB showed an nonmetallic barrier-type behavior and CTB an SNS behavior. We believe that those characteristics are ascribed to naturally formed grain boundaries crossing the bridges.

• Wind and Structures
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• 제38권1호
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• pp.15-42
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• 2024

A flexible-base coupled-two-beam (CTB) discrete model with equivalent tuned mass dampers is used to assess the effect of soil-structure interaction (SSI) and different types of lateral resisting systems on the design of passive dynamic absorbers (PDAs) under the action of along-wind and across-wind loads due to vortex shedding. A total of five different PDAs are considered in this study: (1) tuned mass damper (TMD), (2) circular tuned sloshing damper (C-TSD), (3) rectangular tuned sloshing damper (R-TSD), (4) two-way liquid damper (TWLD) and (5) pendulum tuned mass damper (PTMD). By modifying the non-dimensional lateral stiffness ratio, the CTB model can consider lateral deformations varying from those of a flexural cantilever beam to those of a shear cantilever beam. The Monte Carlo simulation method was used to generate along-wind and across-wind loads correlated along the height of a real shear wall-frame building, which has similar fundamental periods of vibration and different modes of lateral deformation in the xz and yz planes, respectively. Ambient vibration tests were conducted on the building to identify its real lateral behavior and thus choose the most suitable parameters for the CTB model. Both alongwind and across-wind responses of the 144-meter-tall building were computed considering four soil types (hard rock, dense soil, stiff soil and soft soil) and a single PDA on its top, that is, 96 time-history analyses were carried out to assess the effect of SSI and lateral resisting system on the PDAs design. Based on the parametric analyses, the response significantly increases as the soil flexibility increases for both type of lateral wind loads, particularly for flexural-type deformations. The results show a great effectiveness of PDAs in controlling across-wind peak displacements and both along-wind and across-wind RMS accelerations, on the contrary, PDAs were ineffective in controlling along-wind peak displacements on all soil types and different kind of lateral deformation. Generally speaking, the maximum possible value of the PDA mass efficiency index increases as the soil flexibility increases, on the contrary, it decreases as the non-dimensional lateral stiffness ratio of the building increases; therefore, there is a significant increase of the vibration control effectiveness of PDAs for lateral flexural-type deformations on soft soils.