• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.61 no.1
• /
• pp.77-90
• /
• 2017

Glazed curtain walls are façade systems frequently chosen in modern architecture for mid and high-rise buildings. From recent earthquakes surveys it is observed the large occurrence of non-structural components failure, such as storefronts and curtain walls, which causes sensitive economic losses and represents an hazard for occupants and pedestrians safety. In the present study, the behavior of curtain wall stick systems under seismic actions has been investigated through experimental in-plane racking tests conducted at the laboratory of the Construction Technologies Institute (ITC) of the Italian National Research Council (CNR) on two full-scale aluminium/glass curtain wall test units. A finite element model has been calibrated according to experimental results in order to simulate the behavior of such components under seismic excitation. The numerical model investigates the influence of the interaction between glass panels and aluminium frame, the gasket friction and the stiffness degradation of aluminium-to-glass connections due to the high deformation level on the curtain walls behavior. This study aims to give a practical support to researchers and/or professionals who intend to numerically predict the lateral behavior of similar façade systems, so as to avoid or reduce the need of performing expensive experimental tests.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
• /
• v.8 no.3
• /
• pp.27-32
• /
• 2009

In this study, static and dynamic stability estimations on the diecutter with finite element modelling were carried out to be creased and cut away printed sheet exactly. To cut away the sheet exactly, the large force should be pressured on diecutter. And which affects not only the quality of produced sheets but also the stability of diecutter. The analyses with and without the tare of diecutter were carried out with NASTRAN software on applying 400 ton force to its top and moving table respectively. It was known that maximum von-Mises stress of 221 Mpa in diecutter was occurred at the toggle, and it was smaller than the yield stress of 280 Mpa. And maximum deformation of 0.75 mm was occurred at the top table. The natural frequencies of 41, 102, 108, 115, and 134 Hz for the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th mode, which had been determined by numerical simulation, were not coincided with the max. speeds of motor and moving table of 29 and 2 Hz. And which was verified by vibration test. Therefore it may be estimated that the structure of the diecutter is statically and dynamically stable.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.8 no.3
• /
• pp.233-242
• /
• 1999

In the present study, the elasto-plastic analysis of prismatic plate structures subjected to pure bending is carried out using the finite strip method. The end cross-sections of the structure are assumed to remain plane during deformation, and the compatibility along corner lines is ensured by choosing proper displacement functions. The effects of both the initial geometrical imperfections and residual stresses due to fabrication are included in the combined geometrically and materially nonlinear simulation. The von-Mises yield criterion and the Prandtl-Reuss flow theory of plasticity are applied in modelling the elasto-plastic behavior of material. Newton-Raphson iterations are carried out as the rotation of the end cross sections of the structure is increased step by step. The parameter representing the overall axial strain of structure is adjusted constantly during the iteration process in order to eliminate the resulting overall axial force on any cross-section of the structure in correspondence with the assumption of zero axial force in pure bending. Several numerical examples are presented to validate the present method and to investigate the effects of some material and geometrical parameters.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.24 no.6
• /
• pp.727-740
• /
• 2017

The present paper studies the stability analysis of the continuously graded CNT-Reinforced Composite (CNTRC) panel stiffened by rings and stringers. The Stiffened Panel (SP) subjected to axial and lateral loads is reinforced by agglomerated CNTs smoothly graded through the thickness. A two-parameter Eshelby-Mori-Tanaka (EMT) model is adopted to derive the effective material moduli of the CNTRC. The stability equations of the CNRTC SP are obtained by means of the adjacent equilibrium criterion. Notwithstanding most available literature in which the stiffener effects were smeared out over the respective stiffener spacing, in the present work, the stiffeners are modeled as Euler-Bernoulli beams. The Generalized Differential Quadrature Method (GDQM) is employed to discretize the stability equations. A numerical study is performed to investigate the influences of different types of parameters involved on the critical buckling of the SP reinforced by agglomerated CNTs. The results achieved reveal that continuously distributing of CNTs adjacent to the inner and outer panel's surface results in improving the stiffness of the SP and, as a consequence, inclining the critical buckling load. Furthermore, it has been concluded that the decline rate of buckling load intensity factor owing to the increase of the panel angle is significantly more sensible for the smaller values of panel angle.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.57 no.1
• /
• pp.105-126
• /
• 2016

In the present study, modelling and vibration control of axially moving laminated Carbon nanotubes/fiber/polymer composite (CNTFPC) plate under initial tension are investigated. Orthotropic visco-Pasternak foundation is developed to consider the influences of orthotropy angle, damping coefficient, normal and shear modulus. The governing equations of the laminated CNTFPC plates are derived based on new form of first-order shear deformation plate theory (FSDT) which is simpler than the conventional one due to reducing the number of unknowns and governing equations, and significantly, it does not require a shear correction factor. Halpin-Tsai model is utilized to evaluate the material properties of two-phase composite consist of uniformly distributed and randomly oriented CNTs through the epoxy resin matrix. Afterwards, the structural properties of CNT reinforced polymer matrix which is assumed as a new matrix and then reinforced with E-Glass fiber are calculated by fiber micromechanics approach. Employing Hamilton's principle, the equations of motion are obtained and solved by Hybrid analytical numerical method. Results indicate that the critical speed of moving laminated CNTFPC plate can be improved by adding appropriate values of CNTs. These findings can be used in design and manufacturing of marine vessels and aircrafts.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.57 no.1
• /
• pp.45-63
• /
• 2016

Fiber metal laminates (FMLs) represent a high-performance family of hybrid materials which consist of thin metal sheets bonded together with alternating unidirectional fiber layers. In this study, the buckling behavior of a FML circular cylindrical shell under axial compression is investigated via both analytical and finite element approaches. The governing equations are derived based on the first-order shear deformation theory and solved by the Navier solution method. Also, the buckling load of a FML cylindrical shell is calculated using linear eigenvalue analysis in commercial finite element software, ABAQUS. Due to lack of experimental and analytical data for buckling behavior of FML cylindrical shells in the literature, the proposed model is simplified to the full-composite and full-metal cylindrical shells and buckling loads are compared with the available results. Afterwards, the effects of FML parameters such as metal volume fraction (MVF), composite fiber orientation, stacking sequence of layers and geometric parameters are studied on the buckling loads. Results show that the FML layup has the significant effect on the buckling loads of FML cylindrical shells in comparison to the full-composite and full-metal shells. Results of this paper hopefully provide a useful guideline for engineers to design an efficient and economical structure.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
• /
• v.9 no.6
• /
• pp.815-827
• /
• 2015

The mechanical behavior of soil and soil-rock mixture is investigated via the discrete element method. A non-overlapping combination method of spheres is used to model convex polyhedron rock blocks of soil-rock mixture in the DEM simulations. The meso-mechanical parameters of soil and soil-rock interface in DEM simulations are obtained from the in-situ tests. Based on the Voronoi cell, a method representing volumtric strain of the sample at the particle scale is proposed. The numerical results indicate that the particle rotation, occlusion, dilatation and self-organizing force chains are a remarkable phenomena of the localization band for the soil and soil-rock mixture samples. The localization band in a soil-rock mixture is wider than that in the soil sample. The current research shows that the 3D discrete element method can effectively simulate the mechanical behavior of soil and soil-rock mixture.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
• /
• v.16 no.5
• /
• pp.539-545
• /
• 2018

Longitudinal Displacement Profile (LDP) is an appropriate tool for determination of the displacement magnitude of the tunnel walls as a function of the distance to the tunnel face. Some useful formulations for calculation of LDP have been developed based on the monitoring data on site or by 3D numerical simulations. However, the presented equations are only based on the tunnel dimensions and for different quality of rock masses proposed a unique LDP. In the present study, it is tried to present a new formulation, for calculation of LDP, on the basis of Rock mass quality. For this purpose, a comprehensive numerical simulation program was developed to investigate the effect of rock mass quality on the LDP. Results of the numerical modelling were analyzed and the least square technique was used for fitting an appropriate curve on the derived data from the numerical simulations. The proposed formulation in the present study, is a logistic function and the constants of the logistic function were predicted by rock mass quality index (GSI). Results of this study revealed that, the LDP curves of the tunnel surrounded by rock masses with high quality (GSI>60) match together; because the rock mass deformation varies over an elastic range.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.32 no.4
• /
• pp.455-466
• /
• 2019

Despite the rapid advancement in computing resources, many real-life design and optimization problems in structural engineering involve huge computation costs. To counter such challenges, approximate models are often used as surrogates for the highly accurate but time intensive finite element models. In this paper, surrogates for first-order shear deformation based finite element models are built using a polynomial regression approach. Using statistical techniques like Box-Cox transformation and ANOVA, the effectiveness of the surrogates is enhanced. The accuracy of the surrogate models is evaluated using statistical metrics like $R^2$, $R^2{_{adj}}$, $R^2{_{pred}}$ and $Q^2{_{F3}}$. By combining these surrogates with nature-inspired multi-criteria decision-making algorithms, namely multi-objective genetic algorithm (MOGA) and multi-objective particle swarm optimization (MOPSO), the optimal combination of various design variables to simultaneously maximize fundamental frequency and frequency separation is predicted. It is seen that the proposed approach is simple, effective and good at inexpensively producing a host of optimal solutions.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.70 no.4
• /
• pp.431-443
• /
• 2019

The present paper illustrates a numerical investigation on the failure behaviour of ring-stiffened cylinder subjected to external hydrostatic pressure. The published test data of steel welded ring-stiffened cylinder are surveyed and collected. Eight test models are chosen for the verification of the modelling and FE analyses procedures. The imperfection as the consequences of the fabrication processes, such as initial geometric deformation and residual stresses due to welding and cold forming, which reduced the ultimate strength, are simulated. The results show that the collapse pressure and failure mode predicted by the nonlinear FE analyses agree acceptably with the experimental results. In addition, the failure mode parameter obtained from the characteristic pressure such as interframe buckling pressure known as local buckling pressure, overall buckling pressure, and yield pressure are also examined through the collected data and shows a good correlation. A parametric study is then conducted to confirm the failure progression as the basic parameters such as the shell radius, thickness, overall length of the compartment, and stiffener spacing are varied.