• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• v.18 no.1
• /
• pp.45-56
• /
• 2020

The application of critical excitation method with displacement-based objective function for multi degree of freedom (MDOF) systems is investigated. To this end, a new critical excitation method is developed to find the critical input motion of a MDOF system as a synthetic accelerogram. The upper bound of earthquake input energy per unit mass is considered as a new constraint for the problem, and its advantages are discussed. Considering this constraint, the critical excitation method is then used to generate synthetic accelerograms for MDOF models corresponding to three shear buildings of 10, 16, and 22 stories. In order to demonstrate the reliability of generated accelerograms to estimate dynamic response of the structures, three target ground motions with considerable level of energy contents are selected to represent "real critical excitation" of each model, and the method is used to re-generate these ground motions. Afterwards, linear dynamic analyses are conducted using these accelerograms along with the generated critical excitations, to investigate the key parameters of response including maximum displacement, maximum interstory drift, and maximum absolute acceleration of stories. The results show that the generated critical excitations can make an acceptable estimate of the structural behavior compared to the target ground motions. Therefore, the method can be reliably implemented to generate critical excitation of the structure when real one is not available.

• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• v.4 no.4
• /
• pp.383-396
• /
• 2013

In earthquake engineering area, the critical excitation method is an approach to find the most severe earthquake subjected to the structure. However, given some earthquake constraints, such as intensity and power, the critical excitations have spectral density functions that often resonate with the first modes of the structure. This paper presents a non-stationary critical excitation that is capable of exciting the main modes of the structure using a non-uniform power spectral density (PSD) that is similar to natural earthquakes. Thus, this paper proposes a new method to estimate the power and intensity of earthquakes. Finally, a new method for the linear seismic design of structures using a modified non-stationary critical excitation is proposed.

• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• v.7 no.6
• /
• pp.895-908
• /
• 2014

The main objective of critical excitation methods is to reveal the worst possible response of structures. This goal is accomplished by considering the uncertainties of ground motion, which is subjected to the appropriate constraints, such as earthquake power and intensity limit. The concentration of this current study is on the theoretical optimization aspect, as is the case with the majority of conventional critical excitation methods. However, these previous studies on critical excitation lead to a discontinuous power spectral density (PSD). This paper introduces some critical excitations which contain proper continuity in frequency domain. The main idea for generating such continuous excitations stems from the combination of two continuous functions. On the other hand, in order to provide a non-stationary model, this paper attempts to present an appropriate envelope function, which unlike the previous envelope functions, can properly cover the natural earthquakes' accelerograms based on multi-peak conditions. Finally, the proposed method is developed into the multiple-degree-of-freedom (M.D.O.F) structures.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Combustion
• /
• v.17 no.1
• /
• pp.48-57
• /
• 2012

Laminar lifted propane coflow-jet flames diluted with nitrogen were experimentally investigated to determine heat-loss-related self-excitation regimes in the flame stability map and elucidate the individual flame characteristics. There exists a critical lift-off height over which flame-stabilizing effect becomes minor, thereby causing a normal heat-loss-induced self-excitation with O(0.01 Hz). Air-coflowing can suppress the normal heat-loss-induced self-excitation through increase of a Peclet number; meanwhile it can enhance the normal heat-lossinduced self-excitation through reducing fuel concentration gradient and thereby decreasing the reaction rate of trailing diffusion flame. Below the critical lift-off height. the effect of flame stabilization is superior, leading to a coflow-modulated heat-loss-induced self-excitation with O(0.001 Hz). Over the critical lift-off height, the effect of reducing fuel concentration gradient is pronounced, so that the normal heat-loss-induced self-excitation is restored. A newly found prompt self-excitation, observed prior to a heat-loss-induced flame blowout, is discussed. Heat-loss-related self-excitations, obtained laminar lifted propane coflow-jet flames diluted with nitrogen, were characterized by the functional dependency of Strouhal number on related parameters. The critical lift-off height was also reasonably characterized by Peclet number and fuel mole fraction.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.37 no.4
• /
• pp.463-479
• /
• 2020

Currently, there are many lateral resisting systems utilized in resisting lateral loads being produced in an earthquake. Such systems can significantly reduce the roof's displacement when placed at an optimum location. Since in the design of tall buildings, the minimum distance between adjacent buildings is important. In this paper, the critical excitation method is used to determine the best location of the belt truss system while calculating the minimum required distance between two adjacent buildings. For this purpose, the belt truss system is placed at a specific story. Then the critical earthquakes are computed so that the considered constraints are satisfied, and the value of roof displacement is maximized. This procedure is repeated for all stories; i.e., for each, a critical acceleration is computed. From this set of computed roof displacement values, the story with the least displacement is selected as the best location for the belt truss system. Numerical studies demonstrate that absolute roof displacements induced through critical accelerations range between 5.36 to 1.95 times of the San Fernando earthquake for the first example and 7.67 to 1.22 times of the San Fernando earthquake for the second example. This method can also be used to determine the minimum required distance between two adjacent buildings to eliminate the pounding effects. For this purpose, this value is computed based on different standard codes and compared with the results of the critical excitation method to show the ability of the proposed method.

• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• v.9 no.4
• /
• pp.875-891
• /
• 2015

Earthquake can occur anywhere in the world and it is essential to design important members in special structures based on maximum possible forces that can be produced in them under severe earthquake. In addition, since the earthquake is an accidental phenomena and there are no similar earthquakes, therefore the possibility of strong earthquakes should be taken into account in earthquake-resistant design of important structures. Based on this viewpoint, finding the critical acceleration which maximizes internal forces is an essential factor in structural design. This paper proposes critical excitation method to compute the critical acceleration in design of important members in special structures. These critical accelerations are computed so that the columns' internal shear force at the base of the structure at each time step is maximized under constraints on ground motion. Among computed critical accelerations (of each time step), the one which produces maximum internal shear force is selected. A numerical example presents to show the efficiency of critical excitation method in determining the maximum internal shear force and base moment under variety of constraints. The results show that these method can be used to compute the resonant earthquake which have large enough effective duration of earthquake strong motion (between 12.86 sec to 13.38 sec) and produce the internal shear force and base moment for specific column greater than the same value for selected earthquakes in constructing the critical excitation (for different cases about 2.78 to 1.29 times the San Fernando earthquake). Therefore, a group of them can be utilized in developing the response spectrum for design of special structures.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
• /
• v.24 no.1
• /
• pp.110-116
• /
• 2015

This study investigates the whirling stability of a rotating shaft-disk system under parametric excitation using periodically varying torque. The equations of motion were derived using a lumped-mass model, and the Floquet method was employed to find the effects of torque fluctuation, internal and external damping, and rotational speed on whirling stability. Results indicated that the effect of torque fluctuation was considerable on the instability around resonance, but minimal on supercritical instability. Stability diagrams were sensitive to the parametric excitation frequency; critical torque decreased upon increasing excitation frequency, with faster response convergence or divergence. In addition, internal and external damping had a considerable effect on unstable regions, and reduced the effects of the parametric excitation frequency on critical torque and speed. Results obtained from the Floquet approach were in good agreement with those obtained by numerical integration, except for some cases with Floquet multipliers very close to unity.

• Wind and Structures
• /
• v.16 no.5
• /
• pp.477-490
• /
• 2013

This paper presents results of calculations performed according to our own semi-empirical mathematical model of critical vortex excitation. All calculations are carried out using own computer program, which allows the simulation of both the across-wind action caused by vortices and the lateral response of analysed structures. Vortex excitation simulations were performed in real time taking into account wind-structure interaction. Several structures of circular cross-sections were modelled using a FEM program and calculated under the action of critical vortex excitation. Six steel chimneys, six concrete chimneys and two concrete towers were considered. The method of selection and estimation of the experimental parameters describing the model are also presented. Finally, the results concerning maximum lateral top displacements of the structures are compared with available full-scale data for steel and concrete chimneys.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
• /
• v.58 no.3
• /
• pp.502-508
• /
• 2009

The method to determine the operating current of HTS magnets needs to be different from that of LTS magnets. This paper presented estimation of the critical current of pancake windings. The pancake windings can be excited by a single power source or by multiple power sources. Critical currents were determined by using field dependent E-J relation. For the better estimation of the critical current, a new method to define the magnetic field of the HTS wire has been proposed. Calculated critical currents of pancake windings were compared with measured ones of the HTS BSCCO magnet consisting of 10 pancake windings. According to the test results, the estimated critical currents of pancake windings agreed well with that of measured ones. Effects of the single and multiple power source excitation on the critical currents have been also examined.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
• /
• 2014.10a
• /
• pp.402-403
• /
• 2014

Damping of multi-span tube with loose supports according to the finite support clearances is investigated through the experimental modal analysis. Loose intermediate support leads to strong nonlinearity in tube dynamics, provides statistical nature, and increases tube damping through impacting and friction at the supports. Fraction of critical damping was estimated by the modal curve fitting to parameter estimation from the measured frequency response functions. Magnitude of random excitation force, which can reproduce the in-situ excitation in operating environment, was maintained as constant value with a fine tolerance during vibration testing. Range of input force was carefully selected to cover from the low magnitude excitation for linearly behaved tube motion to high magnitude of force for nonlinearly-behaved tube motion. Estimated critical damping ratio shows scatters in data and tends to increase as the magnitude of rising force and decrease with upward frequency variation. Larger size of support gap increases multi-span tube damping for high magnitude of excitation.