• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.711-726
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• 2017

In the present work, by considering the agglomeration effect of single-walled carbon nanotubes, free vibration characteristics of functionally graded (FG) nanocomposite sandwich plates resting on Pasternak foundation are presented. The volume fractions of randomly oriented agglomerated single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) are assumed to be graded in the thickness direction. To determine the effect of CNT agglomeration on the elastic properties of CNT-reinforced composites, a two-parameter micromechanical model of agglomeration is employed. In this research work, an equivalent continuum model based on the Eshelby-Mori-Tanaka approach is employed to estimate the effective constitutive law of the elastic isotropic medium (matrix) with oriented straight CNTs. The 2-D generalized differential quadrature method (GDQM) as an efficient and accurate numerical tool is used to discretize the equations of motion and to implement the various boundary conditions. The proposed rectangular plates have two opposite edges simply supported, while all possible combinations of free, simply supported and clamped boundary conditions are applied to the other two edges. The benefit of using the considered power-law distribution is to illustrate and present useful results arising from symmetric and asymmetric profiles. The effects of two-parameter elastic foundation modulus, geometrical and material parameters together with the boundary conditions on the frequency parameters of the laminated FG nanocomposite plates are investigated. It is shown that the natural frequencies of structure are seriously affected by the influence of CNTs agglomeration. This study serves as a benchmark for assessing the validity of numerical methods or two-dimensional theories used to analysis of laminated plates.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.119-133
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• 2015

This paper proposed a structural time-varying damage detection method by using synchrosqueezing wavelet transform. The instantaneous frequencies of a structure with time-varying damage are first extracted using the synchrosqueezing wavelet transform. Since the proposed synchrosqueezing wavelet transform is invertible, thus each individual component can be reconstructed and the modal participation factor ratio can be extracted based on the amplitude of the analytical signals of the reconstructed individual components. Then, the new time-varying damage index is defined based on the extracted instantaneous frequencies and modal participation factor ratio. Both free and forced vibrations of a classical Duffing nonlinear system and a simply supported beam structure with abrupt and linear time-varying damage are simulated. The proposed synchrosqueezing wavelet transform method can successfully extract the instantaneous frequencies of the damaged structures under free vibration or vibration due to earthquake excitation. The results also show that the defined time-varying damage index can effectively track structural time-varying damage.

• Advances in aircraft and spacecraft science
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.95-112
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• 2016

This paper presents the free vibration analysis of damaged beams by means of 1D (beam) advanced finite element models. The present 1D formulation stems from the Carrera Unified Formulation (CUF), and it leads to a Component-Wise (CW) modelling. By means of the CUF, any order 2D and 1D structural models can be developed in a unified and hierarchical manner, and they provide extremely accurate results with very low computational costs. The computational cost reduction in terms of total amount of DOFs ranges from 10 to 100 times less than shell and solid models, respectively. The CW provides a detailed physical description of the real structure since each component can be modelled with its material characteristics, that is, no homogenization techniques are required. Furthermore, although 1D models are exploited, the problem unknown variables can be placed on the physical surfaces of the real 3D model. No artificial surfaces or lines have to be defined to build the structural model. Global and local damages are introduced by decreasing the stiffness properties of the material in the damaged regions. The results show that the proposed 1D models can deal with damaged structures as accurately as a shell or a solid model, but with far lower computational costs. Furthermore, it is shown how the presence of damages can lead to shell-like modal shapes and torsional/bending coupling.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.71 no.5
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• pp.553-562
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• 2019

This paper presents the results of a study into the dynamic behaviour of a support structure of a mobile elevating work platform. The vibrations of the mechanical system of the observed structure are examined analytically, numerically, and experimentally. Within the analytical examination, a simple mathematical model is developed to describe free and forced vibrations. The dynamic analysis of the mechanical system is conducted using a discrete dynamic model with a reduced number of vibrational degrees of freedom. On the basis of the expression for the system energy, and by applying Lagrange's equations of the second kind, differential equations are derived for system vibrations, frequencies are determined, and the laws of forced platform vibration are established. At the same time, a nonlinear FEM model is developed and the laws of free and forced vibration are determined. The experimental and numerical part of the study deal with the examination of the real structure in extreme conditions, taking into account: the lowest eigenfrequency, forced actions that could endanger the general stability, the maximal amplitudes, and the acceleration of the work platform. The obtained analytical and numerical results are compared with the experiments. The experimental verification points to the adverse behaviour of the platform in excitation cases - swaying. In such a situation, even a relatively small physical force can lead to unacceptably high amplitudes of displacement and acceleration - exceeding the usual work values.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.209-219
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• 2019

Unbonded Post-Tensioned (UPT) precast concrete systems have been shown to provide excellent seismic resistance. In order to improve understanding of the dynamic response of UPT systems, a series of snap back tests on four UPT systems was undertaken consisting of one Single Rocking Wall (SRW) and three Precast Wall with End Columns (PreWEC) systems. The snap back tests provided both a static pushover and a nonlinear free vibration response of a system. As expected the SRW exhibited an approximate bi-linear inertia force-drift response during the free vibration decay and the PreWEC walls showed an inertia force-drift response with increased strength and energy dissipation due to the addition of steel O-connectors. All walls exhibited negligible residual drifts regardless of the number of O-connectors or the post-tensioning force. When PreWEC systems of the same strength were compared the inclusion of further energy dissipating O-connectors was found to decrease the measured peak wall acceleration. Both the local and global wall parameters measured at pseudo-static and dynamic loading rates showed similar behaviour, which demonstrates that the dynamic behaviour of UPT walls is well represented by pseudo-static tests. The SRW was found to have Equivalent Viscous Damping (EVD) between 0.9-3.8% and the three PreWEC walls were found to have maximum EVD of between 14.7-25.8%.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.68 no.5
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• pp.527-536
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• 2018

The free vibration frequency responses of the graded flat and curved (cylindrical, spherical, hyperbolic and elliptical) panel structures investigated in this research considering the rectangular and tilted planforms under unlike temperature loading. For the numerical implementation purpose, a micromechanical model is prepared with the help of Voigt's methodology via the power-law type of material model. Additionally, to incur the exact material strength, the temperature-dependent properties of each constituent of the graded structure included due to unlike thermal environment. The deformation kinematics of the rectangular/tilted graded shallow curved panel structural is modeled via higher-order type of polynomial functions. The final form of the eigenvalue equation of the heated structure obtained via Hamilton's principle and simultaneously solved numerically using finite element steps. To show the solution accuracy, a series of comparison the results are compared with the published data. Some new results are exemplified to exhibit the significance of power-law index, shallowness ratio, aspect ratio and thickness ratio on the combined thermal eigen characteristics of the regular and tilted graded panel structure.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.387-393
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• 2019

In this study, the free motion of a riser due to vortex shedding was numerically simulated with Large Eddy Simulation (LES) and Detached Eddy Simulation (DES) turbulence models. A numerical simulation program was developed by applying the Rhie-Chow interpolation method to the pressure correction of the OpenFOAM standard solver pimpleDyMFoam. To verify the developed program, the vortex shedding around the fixed riser at Re = 3900 was calculated, and the results were compared with the existing experimental and numerical data. Moreover, the vortex-induced vibration of a riser supported by a linear spring was numerically simulated while varying the spring constant. The results are compared with published direct numerical simulation (DNS) results. The present calculation results show that the numerical method is appropriate for simulating the vortex-induced motion of a riser, including lock-in phenomena.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.267-292
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• 2019

The present article addresses the coupled free vibration problem of skew magneto-electro-elastic plates (SMEE) considering the temperature-moisture dependent material properties. The plate kinematics follows Reddy's higher order shear deformation theory. With the aid of finite element methods, the governing equations of motion are derived considering the Hamilton's principle and solved by adopting condensation technique. The influence of different temperature and moisture dependent empirical constants on the frequency response of SMEE plate has been assessed. In addition, the natural frequencies corresponding to various fields are evaluated and the effect of empirical constants on these coupled frequencies is determined. A detailed parametric study has been carried out to assess the individual effects of temperature and moisture dependent empirical constants along with their combined effect, aspect ratio, length-to-width ratio, stacking sequence and boundary conditions. The results reveal that the external environment as well as the geometrical skewness has a significant influence on the stiffness of the SMEE plates.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.70 no.5
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• pp.535-549
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• 2019

This study aimed to develop a high-order shear deformation theory to predict the free vibration of hybrid cross-ply laminated plates under different boundary conditions. The equations of motion for laminated hybrid rectangular plates are derived and obtained by using Hamilton's principle. The closed-form solutions of anti-symmetric cross-ply and angle-ply laminates are obtained by using Navier's solution. To assess the validity of our method, we used the finite element method. Firstly, the analytical and the numerical implementations were validated for an antisymmetric cross-ply square laminated with available results in the literature. Then, the effects of side-to-thickness ratio, aspect ratio, lamination schemes, and material properties on the fundamental frequencies for different combinations of boundary conditions of hybrid composite plates are investigated. The comparison of the analytical solutions with the corresponding finite element simulations shows the good accuracy of the proposed analytical closed form solution in predicting the fundamental frequencies of hybrid cross-ply laminated plates under different boundary conditions.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.19-30
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• 2019

This article present the free vibration analysis of simply supported perfect and imperfect (porous) FG beams using a high order trigonometric deformation theory. It is assumed that the material properties of the porous beam vary across the thickness. Unlike other theories, the number of unknown is only three. This theory has a parabolic shear deformation distribution across the thickness. So it is useless to use the shear correction factors. The Hamilton's principle will be used herein to determine the equations of motion. Since, the beams are simply supported the Navier's procedure will be retained. To show the precision of this model, several comparisons have been made between the present results and those of existing theories in the literature.