• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.239-253
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• 2009

This paper reviews the concept of tensegrity structures and proposes a new type of dismountable steel tensegrity grids for possible deployment as light-weight roof structures. It covers the fabrication of the prototype structures followed by their instrumentation, destructive testing and numerical analysis. First, a single module, measuring $1m{\times}1m$ in size, is fabricated based on half-cuboctahedron configuration using galvanised iron (GI) pipes as struts and high tensile stranded cables as tensile elements. Detailed instrumentation of the structure is carried out right at the fabrication stage. The structure is thereafter subjected to destructive test during which the strain and the displacement responses are carefully monitored. The structure is modelled and analyzed using finite element method (FEM) and the model generated is updated with the experimental results. The investigations are then extended to a $2{\times}2$ grid, measuring $2m{\times}2m$ in size, fabricated uniquely by the cohesive integration of four single tensegrity modules. After updating and validating on the $2{\times}2$ grid, the finite element model is extended to a $8{\times}8$ grid (consisting of 64 units and measuring $8m{\times}8m$) whose behaviour is studied in detail for various load combinations expected to act on the structure. The results demonstrate that the proposed tensegrity grid structures are not only dismountable but also exhibit satisfactory behaviour from strength and serviceability point of view.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.205-215
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• 2017

The use of advanced fibre composite materials in bridge engineering offers alternative solutions to structural problems compared to traditional construction materials. Advanced composite or fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) materials have high strength to weight ratios, which can be especially beneficial where dead load or material handling considerations govern a design. However, the reduced weight and stiffness of FRP footbridges results in generally poorer dynamic performance, and vibration serviceability is likely to govern their design to avoid the footbridge being "too lively". This study investigates the dynamic behaviour of the 51.3 m span Wilcott FRP suspension footbridge. The assessment is performed through a combination of field testing and finite element analysis, and the measured performance of the bridge is being used to calibrate the model through an updating procedure. The resulting updated model allowed detailed interpretation of the results. It showed that non-structural members such as the parapets can influence the dynamic behaviour of slender, lightweight footbridges, and consequently their contribution must be included during the dynamic assessment of a structure. The test data showed that the FRP footbridge is prone to pedestrian induced vibrations, although the measured response levels were lower than limits specified in relevant standards.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.695-705
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• 2013

The purpose of this paper is to identify through experiments the finite element (FE) model of a building structure using a magnetorheological (MR) fluid damper. The FE model based system identification (FEBSI) technique evaluates the control performance of an MR damper that has nonlinear characteristics as equivalent linear properties such as mass, stiffness, and damping. The Bingham and Bouc-Wen models were used for modeling the MR damper and the equivalent damping increased by the MR damper was predicted by applying an equivalent linearization technique. Experimental results indicate that the predicted equivalent damping matches well with the experimentally obtained damping.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.527-544
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• 2009

In this study, the periodic seismic performance evaluation scheme is proposed using a structural health monitoring system in terms of seismic fragility. An instrumented highway bridge is used to demonstrate the evaluation procedure involving (1) measuring ambient vibration of a bridge under general vehicle loadings, (2) identifying modal parameters from the measured acceleration data by applying output-only modal identification method, (3) updating a preliminary finite element model (obtained from structural design drawings) with the identified modal parameters using real-coded genetic algorithm, (4) analyzing nonlinear response time histories of the structure under earthquake excitations, and finally (5) developing fragility curves represented by a log-normal distribution function using maximum likelihood estimation. It is found that the seismic fragility of a highway bridge can be updated using extracted modal parameters and can also be monitored further by utilizing the instrumented structural health monitoring system.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.157-172
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• 2011

A new method for both local damage(s) identification and input excitation force identification of beam structures is presented using the dynamic response sensitivity-based finite element model updating method. The state-space approach is used to calculate both the structural dynamic responses and the responses sensitivities with respect to structural physical parameters such as elemental flexural rigidity and with respect to the force parameters as well. The sensitivities of displacement and acceleration responses with respect to structural physical parameters are calculated in time domain and compared to those by using Newmark method in the forward analysis. In the inverse analysis, both the input excitation force and the local damage are identified from only several acceleration measurements. Local damages and the input excitation force are identified in a gradient-based model updating method based on dynamic response sensitivity. Both computation simulations and the laboratory work illustrate the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed method.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.291-309
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• 2020

To study oceanic and meteorological problems related to climate change, Korea has been operating several ocean research stations (ORSs). In 2011, the Gageocho ORS was attacked by Typhoon Muifa, and its structural members and several observation devices were severely damaged. After this event, the Gageocho ORS was rehabilitated with 5 m height to account for 100-yr extreme wave height, and the vibration measurement system was equipped to monitor the structural vibrational characteristics including natural frequencies and modal damping ratios. In this study, a mass reallocation method is presented for structural model updating of the Gageocho ORS based on the experimentally identified natural frequencies. A preliminary finite element (FE) model was constructed based on design drawings, and several of the candidate baseline FE models were manually built, taking into account the different structural conditions such as corroded thickness. Among these candidate baseline FE models, the most reasonable baseline FE model was selected by comparing the differences between the identified and calculated natural frequencies; the most suitable baseline FE model was updated based on the identified modal properties, and by using the pattern search method, which is one of direct search optimization methods. The mass reallocation method is newly proposed as a means to determine the equivalent mass quantities along the height and in a floor. It was found that the natural frequencies calculated based on the updated FE model was very close to the identified natural frequencies. In conclusion, it is expected that these results, which were obtained by updating a baseline FE model, can be useful for establishing the reference database for jacket-type offshore structures, and assessing the structural integrity of the Gageocho ORS.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.25-41
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• 2012

Kriging surrogate model provides explicit functions to represent the relationships between the inputs and outputs of a linear or nonlinear system, which is a desirable advantage for response estimation and parameter identification in structural design and model updating problem. However, little research has been carried out in applying Kriging model to crack identification. In this work, a scheme for crack identification based on a Kriging surrogate model is proposed. A modified rectangular grid (MRG) is introduced to move some sample points lying on the boundary into the internal design region, which will provide more useful information for the construction of Kriging model. The initial Kriging model is then constructed by samples of varying crack parameters (locations and sizes) and their corresponding modal frequencies. For identifying crack parameters, a robust stochastic particle swarm optimization (SPSO) algorithm is used to find the global optimal solution beyond the constructed Kriging model. To improve the accuracy of surrogate model, the finite element (FE) analysis soft ANSYS is employed to deal with the re-meshing problem during surrogate model updating. Specially, a simple method for crack number identification is proposed by finding the maximum probability factor. Finally, numerical simulations and experimental research are performed to assess the effectiveness and noise immunity of this proposed scheme.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2011

The accurate results of finite element analysis are directly related to reliability FE model which is exactly describing dynamic characteristics of target structure. So, a model updating is necessary to establish reliable FE(Finite Element) model with a lot of experience and effort using modal testing. A large structure is too difficult to obtain the dynamic characteristics owing to its weight and size. In this work, using main gun firing test, modal testing was performed to obtain dynamic characteristics of large naval vessel, which is difficult to tap the general modal testing method. The result of experiment was considered its possibility and future plans.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.1233-1250
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• 2016

Cracks in plate-like structures are some of the main reasons for destruction of the entire structure. In this study, a novel two-stage methodology is proposed for damage detection of flexural plates using an optimized artificial neural network. In the first stage, location of damages in plates is investigated using curvature-moment and curvature-moment derivative concepts. After detecting the damaged areas, the equations for damage severity detection are solved via Bat Algorithm (BA). In the second stage, in order to efficiently reduce the computational cost of model updating during the optimization process of damage severity detection, multiple damage location assurance criterion index based on the frequency change vector of structures are evaluated using properly trained cascade feed-forward neural network (CFNN) as a surrogate model. In order to achieve the most generalized neural network as a surrogate model, its structure is optimized using binary version of BA. To validate this proposed solution method, two examples are presented. The results indicate that after determining the damage location based on curvature-moment derivative concept, the proposed solution method for damage severity detection leads to significant reduction of computational time compared with direct finite element method. Furthermore, integrating BA with the efficient approximation mechanism of finite element model, maintains the acceptable accuracy of damage severity detection.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.271-284
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• 2019

This paper describes the application of a novel virtual prototyping methodology to wind turbine blade design. Numeric modelling data and experimental data about turbine blade geometry and structural/dynamical behaviour are combined to obtain an affordable digital twin model useful in reducing the undesirable uncertainties during the entire turbine lifecycle. Moreover, this model can be used to track and predict blade structural changes, due for example to structural damage, and to assess its remaining life. A new interactive and recursive process is proposed. It includes CAD geometry generation and finite element analyses, combined with experimental data gathered from the structural testing of a new generation wind turbine blade. The goal of the research is to show how the unique features of a complex wind turbine blade are considered in the virtual model updating process, fully exploiting the computational capabilities available to the designer in modern engineering. A composite Sandia National Laboratories Blade System Design Study (BSDS) turbine blade is used to exemplify the proposed process. Static, modal and fatigue experimental testing are conducted at Clarkson University Blade Test Facility. A digital model was created and updated to conform to all the information available from experimental testing. When an updated virtual digital model is available the performance of the blade during operation can be assessed with higher confidence.