• Geomechanics and Engineering
• /
• v.7 no.3
• /
• pp.317-333
• /
• 2014

The study of the mechanical behavior of rockfill materials under three-dimensional loading conditions is a current research focus area. This paper presents a microscale numerical study of rockfill deformation and strength characteristics using the Combined Finite-Discrete Element Method (FDEM). Two features unique to this study are the consideration of irregular particle shapes and particle crushability. A polydisperse assembly of irregular polyhedra was prepared to reproduce the mechanical behavior of rockfill materials subjected to axial compression at a constant mean stress for a range of intermediate principal stress ratios in the interval [0, 1]. The simulation results, including the stress-strain characteristics, relationship between principal strains, and principal deviator strains are discussed. The stress-dilatancy behavior is described using a linear dilatancy equation with its material constants varying with the intermediate principal stress ratio. The failure surface in the principal stress space and its traces in the deviatoric and meridian plane are also presented. The modified Lade-Duncan criterion most closely describes the stress points at failure.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.50 no.4
• /
• pp.525-539
• /
• 2014

Bonded composite-patch repair has been widely used to restore or extend the service life of damaged structures due to its effectiveness as a mechanical repair technique. In this paper using extended finite element method (XFEM), three-dimensional crack models are developed to examine the fracture behavior of centrally cracked aluminum plates repaired with single and double sided composite patches. Stress intensity factor (SIF) at the crack tip is used as the fracture criterion. In this regard, the effects of the crack lengths, patch materials, orientation of plies, adhesive and patch thickness are examined to estimate the SIF of the repaired plate and the repair performance. The obtained results show that composite patches have significant effect on reduction of the SIF at the crack tip. It is also proved that using double symmetric repair, in comparison to single one, reduces considerably SIF at the crack tip. Hence, the residual strength can be improved significantly as well as fatigue life of the structure. Investigation of ply orientation effects shows SIF increase as the ply orientation is changed from $0^{\circ}$ (perpendicular to the advancing crack) to $90^{\circ}$ (parallel to the crack line). However, the effectiveness of the ply orientation depends on the loading direction and the crack direction.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.47 no.3
• /
• pp.401-419
• /
• 2013

In this study, the efficiency of adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) and genetic expression programming (GEP) in predicting the effects of infill walls on base reactions and roof drift of reinforced concrete frames were investigated. Current standards generally consider weight and fundamental period of structures in predicting base reactions and roof drift of structures by neglecting numbers of floors, bays, shear walls and infilled bays. Number of stories, number of bays in x and y directions, ratio of shear wall areas to the floor area, ratio of bays with infilled walls to total number bays and existence of open story were selected as parameters in GEP and ANFIS modeling. GEP and ANFIS have been widely used as alternative approaches to model complex systems. The effects of these parameters on base reactions and roof drift of RC frames were studied using 3D finite element method on 216 building models. Results obtained from 3D FEM models were used to in training and testing ANFIS and GEP models. In ANFIS and GEP models, number of floors, number of bays, ratio of shear walls and ratio of infilled bays were selected as input parameters, and base reactions and roof drifts were selected as output parameters. Results showed that the ANFIS and GEP models are capable of accurately predicting the base reactions and roof drifts of RC frames used in the training and testing phase of the study. The GEP model results better prediction compared to ANFIS model.

• Advances in aircraft and spacecraft science
• /
• v.5 no.6
• /
• pp.653-669
• /
• 2018

This work has the objective to analyze multibody mechanisms of inflatable structures for manned space applications. The focus is on the evaluation of the main characteristics of MaxFlex, a new module of MSC Adams including the effect of nonlinear flexible bodies. MaxFlex integrates the nonlinear Finite Element Analysis (FEA) of Nastran-SOL400-and the Adams multibody capabilities in one unique solver, providing an improvement concerning the concept and technology based on the co-simulation among solvers. MaxFlex converts the equations of motion of the nonlinear FEA into phase-space form and discretizes them according to the multibody system integrator framework. The numerical results deal with an inflatable manned space module having rigid components and a flexible coating made of Kevlar. This paper is a preliminary assessment of the computational capabilities of the software and does not provide realistic guidelines for the actual design of the structure. The analysis leads to some recommendations related to the main issues to consider in a nonlinear simulation including both rigid and flexible components. The results underline the importance of realistic deployment times and applied forces. Also, a proper structural modeling is necessary, but can lead to excessive computational overheads.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.36 no.2
• /
• pp.197-211
• /
• 2020

Application of the steel ring as a type of seismic fuse has been one of the efforts made by researchers in recent years aiming to enhance the ductility of the bracing systems which in turn, possesses various advantages and disadvantages. Accordingly, to alleviate these disadvantages, an innovative bracing system with a diamond scheme equipped with a steel ring is introduced in this paper. In this system, the braces and yielding circular damper act in parallel whose main functionality is to increase ductility, energy absorption and mitigate drawbacks of the existing bracing systems, in which the braces and yielding circular damper act in parallel. To conduct the experimental tests, specimens with three types of rigid, semi-rigid and pinned connections were built and subjected to cyclic loading so that their performance could be analyzed. Promisingly, the results indicate both great applicability and efficiency of the proposed system in energy absorption and ductility. Moreover, it was concluded that as the braces and damper are in parallel, the use of a steel ring with smaller size and thickness would result in higher energy absorption and load-resisting capacity when compared to the other existing systems. Finally, to assess the potential of numerically modeling the proposed system, its finite element model was simulated by ABAQUS software and observed that there is a great agreement between the numerical and experimental results.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
• /
• v.7 no.3
• /
• pp.261-281
• /
• 2020

Civil structures may experience progressive deterioration and damage under environmental and operational conditions over their service life. Finite element (FE) model updating method is one of the most important approaches for damage identification in structures due to its capabilities in structural health monitoring. Although various damage detection approaches have been investigated on structures, there are limited studies on large-sized space structures. Thus, this paper aims to investigate the applicability and efficiency of sensitivity-based FE model updating framework for damage identification in large space structures from a distinct point of view. This framework facilitates modeling and model updating in large and geometric complicated space structures. Considering sensitivity-based FE model updating and vibration measurements, the discrepancy between acceleration response data in real damaged structure and hypothetical damaged structure have been minimized through adjusting the updating parameters. The feasibility and efficiency of the above-mentioned approach for damage identification has finally been demonstrated with two numerical examples: a flat double layer grid and a double layer diamatic dome. According to the results, this method can detect, localize, and quantify damages in large-scaled space structures very accurately which is robust to noisy data. Also, requiring a remarkably small number of iterations to converge, typically less than four, demonstrates the computational efficiency of this method.

• Computers and Concrete
• /
• v.26 no.3
• /
• pp.257-273
• /
• 2020

Concrete bond strength with steel re-bars depends on multiple factors including concrete-steel interface and mechanical properties of concrete. However, the hydration development of cementitious paste, and in turn the mechanical properties of concrete, are negatively affected by cold weather. This study aimed at exploring the concrete-steel bonding behavior in concrete cast and cured under freezing temperatures. Three concrete mixtures were cast and cured at -10 and -20℃. The mixtures were protected using conventional insulation blankets and a hybrid system consisting of insulation blankets and phase change materials. The mixtures comprised General Use cement, fly ash (20%), nano-silica (6%) and calcium nitrate-nitrite as a cold weather admixture system. The mixtures were tested in terms of internal temperature, compressive, tensile strengths, and modulus of elasticity. In addition, the bond strength between concrete and steel re-bars were evaluated by a pull-out test, while the quality of the interface between concrete and steel was assessed by thermal and microscopy studies. In addition, the internal heat evolution and force-slip relationship were modeled based on energy conservation and stress-strain relationships, respectively using three-dimensional (3D) finite-element software. The results showed the reliability of the proposed models to accurately predict concrete heat evolution as well as bond strength relative to experimental data. The hybrid protection system and nano-modified concrete mixtures produced good quality concrete-steel interface with adequate bond strength, without need for heating operations before casting and during curing under freezing temperatures down to -20℃.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
• /
• v.30 no.4
• /
• pp.279-287
• /
• 2009

Magnetic resonance electrical impedance tomography (MREIT) is a new medical imaging modality providing cross-sectional images of a conductivity distribution inside an electrically conducting object. MREIT has rapidly progressed in its theory, algorithm and experimental technique and now reached the stage of in vivo animal and human experiments. Conductivity image reconstructions in MREIT require various steps of carefully implemented numerical computations. To facilitate MREIT research, there is a pressing need for an MREIT software package with an efficient user interface. In this paper, we present an example of such a software, called CoReHA which stands for conductivity reconstructor using harmonic algorithms. It offers various computational tools including preprocessing of MREIT data, identification of boundary geometry, electrode modeling, meshing and implementation of the finite element method. Conductivity image reconstruction methods based on the harmonic $B_z$ algorithm are used to produce cross-sectional conductivity images. After summarizing basics of MREIT theory and experimental method, we describe technical details of each data processing task for conductivity image reconstructions. We pay attention to pitfalls and cautions in their numerical implementations. The presented software will be useful to researchers in the field of MREIT for simulation as well as experimental studies.

• Advances in Computational Design
• /
• v.1 no.1
• /
• pp.105-117
• /
• 2016

The objective of this work is to study the restraining effect in fire resistance of framed structures and to evaluate the global response of reinforced concrete frames when exposed to fire based on advanced finite element method. To study the response a single portal frame is analyzed. The effect of floor slab on this frame is studied by modeling a beam-column-slab assembly. The evolution of temperature distribution, internal stresses and deformations of the frame subjected to ISO 834 standard fire curve for both the frames are studied. The thermal and structural responses are evaluated and a comparison of results of individual members and entire structure is done. From the study it can be seen that restraining forces has significant influence on both stresses and deflection and overall response of the structure when compared to individual structural member. Among the various structural elements, columns are the critical members in fire and failure of column causes the failure of entire structure. The fire rating of various structural elements of the frame is determined by various failure criteria and is compared with IS456 2000 tabulated fire rating.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.49 no.4
• /
• pp.479-489
• /
• 2014

In the present study a parametric analysis is conducted to study the effect of pile dimension and soil properties on the nonlinear dynamic response of pile subjected to lateral sinusoidal load at the pile head. The study is conducted on soil-pile model of different pile diameter, pile length and soil modulus, and results are compared to get the effect. The soil-pile system is modelled using Finite element method. The programming is done in MATLAB. Time history analysis of model is done for varying non-dimensional frequency of load and the results are compared to get the non-dimensional frequency at which pile head displacement is maximum in each case. Maximum possible bending moment and soil-pile interacting forces for the dynamic excitation of the pile is also compared. When results are compared with the linear response, it is observed that non-dimensional frequency is reduced in nonlinear response on account of reduction in the soil stiffness due to yielding. Nonlinear response curve shows high amplitude as compared to linear response curve.