• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.331-343
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• 2002

Because of the increasing span of arch bridges, ultimate capacity analysis recently becomes more focused both on design and construction. This paper investigates the static and ultimate behavior of a long-span steel arch bridge up to failure and evaluates the overall safety of the bridge. The example bridge is a long-span steel arch bridge with a 550 m-long central span under construction in Shanghai, China. This will be the longest central span of any arch bridge in the world. Ultimate behavior of the example bridge is investigated using three methods. Comparisons of the accuracy and reliability of the three methods are given. The effects of material nonlinearity of individual bridge element and distribution pattern of live load and initial lateral deflection of main arch ribs as well as yield stresses of material and changes of temperature on the ultimate load-carrying capacity of the bridge have been studied. The results show that the distribution pattern of live load and yield stresses of material have important effects on bridge behavior. The critical load analyses based on the linear buckling method and geometrically nonlinear buckling method considerably overestimate the load-carrying capacity of the bridge. The ultimate load-carrying capacity analysis and overall safety evaluation of a long-span steel arch bridge should be based on the geometrically and materially nonlinear buckling method. Finally, the in-plane failure mechanism of long-span steel arch bridges is explained by tracing the spread of plastic zones.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.561-580
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• 2020

Buckling restrained braces (BRBs) were developed as an enhanced alternative to conventional braces by restraining their global buckling, thus allowing development of a stable quasi-symmetric hysteretic response. A wider adoption of buckling restrained braced frames is precluded due to proprietary character of most BRBs and the code requirement for experimental qualification. To overcome these problems, BRBs with capacities corresponding to typical steel multi-storey buildings in Romania were developed and experimentally tested in view of prequalification. In the second part of this paper, a complex nonlinear numerical model for the tested BRBs was developed in the finite element environment Abaqus. The calibration of the numerical model was performed at both component (material models: steel, concrete, unbonding material) and member levels (loading, geometrical imperfections). Geometrically and materially nonlinear analyses including imperfections were performed on buckling restrained braces models under cyclic loading. The calibrated models were further used to perform a parametric study aiming at assessing the influence of the strength of the buckling restraining mechanism, concrete class of the infill material, mechanical properties of steel used for the core, self-weight loading, and frame effect on the cyclic response of buckling restrained braces.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.123-134
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• 2017

Ultimate axial strength of longitudinally stiffened cylindrical steel shells for wind turbine tower was investigated by applying the geometrically and materially nonlinear finite element method. The effects of radius to thickness ratio of shell, shape and amplitude of initial imperfections, area ratio between effective shell and stiffener, and stiffener spacing on the ultimate axial strength of cylindrical shells were analyzed. The ultimate axial strengths of stiffened cylindrical shells by FEA were compared with design buckling strengths specified in DNV-RP-C202. The shell buckling modes obtained from a linear elastic bifurcation FE analysis as well as the weld depression during fabrication specified in Eurocode 3 were introduced in the nonlinear FE analysis as initial geometric imperfections. The radius to thickness ratio of cylindrical shell models was selected to be in the range of 50 to 200. The longitudinal stiffeners were designed according to DNV-RP-C202 to prevent the lateral torsional buckling and local buckling of stiffeners.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.109-118
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• 2015

Ultimate flexural buckling strength of cylindrical steel shells for the wind turbine tower structure was investigated by applying the geometrically and materially nonlinear finite element method. The effects of initial imperfection, radius to thickness ratio, and type of steel on the ultimate flexural strength of cylindrical shell were analyzed. The flexural strengths of cylindrical shells obtained by FEA were compared with design flexural strengths specified in Eurocode 3 and AISI. The shell buckling modes recommended in DNV-RP-C202 and the out-of-roundness tolerance and welding induced imperfections specified in Eurocode 3 were used in the nonlinear FE analysis as initial geometrical imperfections. The radius to thickness ratios of cylindrical shell in the range of 60 to 210 were considered and shells are assumed to be made of SM520 or HSB800 steel.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.25-35
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• 2018

Resisting strength of ring-stiffened cylindrical steel shell under uniform external pressure was evaluated by geometrically and materially nonlinear finite element method. The effects of shape and amplitude of geometric initial imperfection, radius to thickness ratio, and spacing of ring stiffeners on the resisting strength of ring-stiffened shell were analyzed. The resisting strength of ring-stiffened cylindrical shells made of SM490 obtained by FEA were compared with design strengths specified in Eurocode 3 and DNV-RP-C202. The shell buckling modes obtained from a linear elastic bifurcation FE analysis were introduced in the nonlinear FE analysis as initial geometric imperfections. The radius to thickness ratios of cylindrical shell in the range of 250 to 500 were considered.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.429-438
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• 2011

In this study, the explicit numerical algorithm was proposed to simulate the stress erection process and ultimate-load analysis of the strarch (stressed arch) system. The strarch system is a unique and innovative structural system and member prestress comprising prefabricated plane truss frames erected through a post-tensioning stress erection procedure. The flexible bottom chord, which has sleeve and gap details, is closed by the reaction force of the prestressing tendon. The prestress imposed on the tendon will enable the strarch system to be erected. This post-tensioning process is called "stress erection process." During this process, plastic rigid-body rotation occurs to the flexible top chord due to the excessive amount of plastic strain, and the structural characteristic is unstable. In this study, the dynamic relaxation method (DRM) was adopted to calculate the nonlinear equilibrium equation of the system, and a displacement-based finite-element-formulated filament beam element was used to simulate the nonlinear behavior of the top chord sections of the strarch system. The section of the filament beam element was composed by the amount of filaments, which can be modeled by various material models. The Ramberg-Osgood and bilinear kinematic elastic plastic material models were formulated for the nonlinear material behaviors of the filaments. The numerical results that were obtained in the present study were compared with the experiment results of the stress erection and with the results of the ultimate-load analysis of the strarch unit frame. The results of the present studies are in good agreement with the previous experiment results, and the explicit DRM enabled the analysis of the post-buckling behaviors of the strarch unit frame.