• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• v.25 no.2
• /
• pp.125-134
• /
• 2023

In the present work, a new global damage index is proposed for the seismic performance and failure analysis of concrete gravity dams. Unlike the existing indices of concrete structures, this index doesn't need scaling with an ultimate or an upper value. For this purpose, the Beni-Haroun dam in north-eastern Algeria, is considered as a case study, for which an average seismic capacity curve is first evaluated by performing several incremental dynamic analyses. The seismic performance point of the dam is then determined using the N2 method, considering multiple modes and taking into account the stiffness degradation. The seismic demand is obtained from the design spectrum of the Algerian seismic regulations. A series of recorded and artificial accelerograms are used as dynamic loads to evaluate the nonlinear responses of the dam. The nonlinear behaviour of the concrete mass is modelled by using continuum damage mechanics, where material damage is represented by a scalar field damage variable. This modelling, which is suitable for cyclic loading, uses only a single damage parameter to describe the stiffness degradation of the concrete. The hydrodynamic and the sediment pressures are included in the analyses. The obtained results show that the proposed damage index faithfully describes the successive brittle failures of the dam which increase with increasing applied ground accelerations. It is found that minor damage can occur for ground accelerations less than 0.3 g, and complete failure can be caused by accelerations greater than 0.45 g.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
• /
• v.28 no.9
• /
• pp.85-95
• /
• 2012

The method of using organic acid is more environment-friendly for it improves the strength of the ground. The method of proliferating microbes makes soil particle bonded, finally improves the strength of the ground and decreasing permeability. Although there has been the research on the effect of strength increasing, there has never been a research on the evaluation of field application. In this paper, through the light drop weight test, the dynamic cone penetration test, the field density test, the variation of strength was investigated in the mixed ground with organic acid for 56 days. As the results of the field test, it was found that the strength and stiffness of the ground increased with organic acid, and that through SEM-EDS, the precipitation of calcium carbonate made by specified microbe obviously increased with organic acid material and so the ground was improved. Therefore, the sustainable development of this method needs to be analysed more in the future.

• Smart Structures and Systems
• /
• v.26 no.6
• /
• pp.681-692
• /
• 2020

Conventional Piezoelectric Energy Harvesters (CPEH) have been extensively studied for maximizing their electrical output through material selection, geometric and structural optimization, and adoption of efficient interface circuits. In this paper, the performance of Stepped Piezoelectric Energy Harvester (SPEH) under harmonic base excitation is studied analytically, numerically and experimentally. The motivation is to compare the energy harvesting performance of CPEH and SPEHs with the same characteristics (resonant frequency). The results of this study challenge the notion of achieving higher voltage and power output through incorporation of geometric discontinuities such as step sections in the harvester beams. A CPEH consists of substrate material with a patch of piezoelectric material bonded over it and a tip mass at the free end to tune the resonant frequency. A SPEH is designed by introducing a step section near the root of substrate beam to induce higher dynamic strain for maximizing the electrical output. The incorporation of step section reduces the stiffness and consequently, a lower tip mass is used with SPEH to match the resonant frequency to that of CPEH. Moreover, the electromechanical coupling coefficient, forcing function and damping are significantly influenced because of the inclusion of step section, which consequently affects harvester's output. Three different configurations of SPEHs characterized by the same resonant frequency as that of CPEH are designed and analyzed using linear electromechanical model and their performances are compared. The variation of strain on the harvester beams is obtained using finite element analysis. The prototypes of CPEH and SPEHs are fabricated and experimentally tested. It is shown that the power output from SPEHs is lower than the CPEH. When the prototypes with resonant frequencies in the range of 56-56.5 Hz are tested at 1 m/s2, three SPEHs generate power output of 482 μW, 424 μW and 228 μW when compared with 674 μW from CPEH. It is concluded that the advantage of increasing dynamic strain using step section is negated by increase in damping and decrease in forcing function. However, SPEHs show slightly better performance in terms of specific power and thus making them suitable for practical scenarios where the ratio of power to system mass is critical.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
• /
• v.5 no.1
• /
• pp.123-132
• /
• 1985

The flexibility of base material gives considerable influences on seismic responses of a structure. The effects of relative stiffness between super-structure and base material on dynamic soil-structure interaction are evaluated by parametric studies. Two 5-story buildings are used for the study; one is shearwall structure with relatively higher fundamental frequency and the other is frame structure with relatively lower fundamental frequency. The structures are modeled as beam-sticks coupled with springs and dashpots representing the base material. Dynamic equilibrium equations of the soil-structure interaction system are sloved by mode superposition method using Rosset modal damping values. Soil-structure interaction effect is found to be major concern in seismic analysis of shearwall structure in most cases while it seldom becomes engineering problem in frame-type structure. It is also found that seismic responses at lower elevation of the super-structure are amplified though they decrease at higher elevation as soil-structure interaction effects of the system increase.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
• /
• v.23 no.7
• /
• pp.58-65
• /
• 2019

Polymer concrete is expected to be widely used as a building material because it has a shorter hardening time and excellent compression, tensile, bending, bond strength, frictional resistance and abrasion loss compared to general concrete. The polymer concrete has excellent vibration damping performance and research on the use of various reinforcing materials is being conducted. However, in order to completely replace the general concrete and the general anti-vibration reinforcement, such polymer concrete requires an overall review of vibration reduction performance considering physical properties, dynamic properties, productivity and field applicability. In this study, the physical and dynamic properties of polymer concrete by epoxy mixing ratio were compared with those of general concrete. It was appeared that compression, tensile, bending and bond strengths of polymer concrete by epoxy mixing were significantly higher than those of general concrete. Especially, the tensile strength was more than 4 ~ 6.5 times. Based on the basic physical properties of polymer concrete, the damping ratio, which is a dynamic characteristic according to the epoxy mixing ratio, was derived through analytical models and experiments. As a result, the dynamic stiffness of polymer concrete was 20% higher than that of general concrete and the loss rate was about 3 times higher.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.27 no.3
• /
• pp.327-335
• /
• 2018

This paper presents structural assessment of a steel railway bridge for current condition using modal parameter to upgrade finite element modeling in order to gather accurate result. An adequate monitoring, such as acceleration, displacement, strain monitoring, is important tool to understand behavior and to assess structural performance of the structure under surround vibration by means of the dynamic analysis. Evaluation of conditions of an existing steel railway bridge consist of 4 decks, three of them are 14 m, one of them is 9.7 m, was performed with a numerical analysis and a series of dynamic tests. Numerical analysis was performed implementing finite element model of the bridge using SAP2000 software. Dynamic tests were performed by collecting acceleration data caused by surrounding vibrations and dynamic analysis is performed by Operational Modal Analysis (OMA) using collected acceleration data. The acceleration response of the steel bridge is assumed to be governing response quantity for structural assessment and provide valuable information about the current statute of the structure. Modal identification determined based on response of the structure play significant role for upgrading finite element model of the structure and helping structural evaluation. Numerical and experimental dynamic properties are compared and finite element model of the bridge is updated by changing of material properties to reduce the differences between the results. In this paper, an existing steel railway bridge with four spans is evaluated by finite element model improved using operational modal analysis. Structural analysis performed for the bridge both for original and calibrated models, and results are compared. It is demonstrated that differences in natural frequencies are reduced between 0.2% to 5% by calibrating finite element modeling and stiffness properties.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
• /
• v.18 no.4
• /
• pp.337-347
• /
• 2009

Generally, finite element models used in structural analysis have some uncertainties of the geometric dimensions, applied loads and boundary conditions, as well as in material properties due to the manufacturability of aluminum intensive body. Therefore, it is very important to refine or update a finite element model by correlating it with dynamic and static tests. The structural optimization problems of automotive body are considered for mechanical structures with initial stiffness due to preloading and in operation condition or manufacturing. As the mean compliance and deflection under preloading are chosen as the objective function and constraints, their sensitivities must be derived. The optimization problem is iteratively solved by a sequential convex approximation method in the commercial software. The design variables are corrected by the strain energy scale factor in the element levels. This paper presents an updated method based on the sensitivities of structural responses and the residual error vectors between experimental and simulation models.

• Computers and Concrete
• /
• v.13 no.2
• /
• pp.209-220
• /
• 2014

Vibration based damage detection is very popular in the civil engineering area. Especially, special structures like dams, long-span bridges and high-rise buildings, need continues monitoring in terms of mechanical properties of material, static and dynamic behavior. It has been stated in the International Commission on Large Dams that more than half of the large concrete dams were constructed more than 50 years ago and the old dams have subjected to repeating loads such as earthquake, overflow, blast, etc.,. So, some unexpected failures may occur and catastrophic damages may be taken place because of theloss of strength, stiffness and other physical properties of concrete. Therefore, these dams need repairs provided with global damage evaluation in order to preserve structural integrity. The paper aims to show the effectiveness of the model updating method for global damage detection on a laboratory arch dam model. Ambient vibration test is used in order to determine the experimental dynamic characteristics. The initial finite element model is updated according to the experimentally determined natural frequencies and mode shapes. The web thickness is selected as updating parameter in the damage evaluation. It is observed from the study that the damage case is revealed with high accuracy and a good match is attained between the estimated and the real damage cases by model updating method.

• Advances in nano research
• /
• v.12 no.1
• /
• pp.101-115
• /
• 2022

Some researchers pointed out that the nonlocal cantilever models do not predict the dynamic softening behavior for nanostructures (including nanobeams) with clamped-free (CF) ends. In contrast, some indicate that the nonlocal cantilever models can capture the stiffness softening characteristics. There are substantial differences on this issue between them. The vibration analysis of porosity-dependent functionally graded nanoscale tubes with variable boundary conditions is investigated in this study. Using a modified power-law model, the tube's porosity-dependent material coefficients are graded in the radial direction. The theory of nonlocal strain gradients is used. Hamilton's principle is used to derive the size-dependent governing equations for simply-supported (S), clamped (C) and clamped-simply supported (CS). Following the solution of these equations by the extended differential quadrature technique, the effect of various factors on vibration issues was investigated further. It can be shown that these factors have a considerable effect on the vibration characteristics. It also can be found that our numerical results can capture the unexpected softening phenomena for cantilever tubes.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.47 no.1
• /
• pp.79-90
• /
• 2023

Nonlinear forced vibration properties of three-layered plates containing graphene platelets (GPL) filled skins and an auxetic core have been inquired within the present paper. Owning reduced weight as well as reduced stiffness, rectangle-shaped auxetic cores have been frequently made from novel techniques such as additive manufacturing. Here, the rectangle shape core is amplified via the graphene-filled layers knowing that the layers possess uniform and linear graphene gradations. The rectangle shape core has the equivalent material specifications pursuant to relative density value. The sandwich plate is formulated pursuant to Kirchhoff plate theory while a numerical trend has been represented to discretize the plate equations. Next, an analytical trend has been performed to establish the deflection-frequency plots. Large deflections, core density and GPL amplification have showed remarkable impacts on dynamic response of three-layered plates.