• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.713-739
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• 2007

Nowadays computers can perform symbolic computations in addition to mere number crunching operations for which they were originally designed. Symbolic computation opens up exciting possibilities in Structural Mechanics and engineering. Classical areas have been increasingly neglected due to the advent of computers as well as general purpose finite element software. But now, classical analysis has reemerged as an attractive computer option due to the capabilities of symbolic computation. The repetitive cycles of simultaneous - equation sets required by the finite element technique can be eliminated by solving a single set in symbolic form, thus generating a truly closed-form solution. This consequently saves in data preparation, storage and execution time. The power of Symbolic computation is demonstrated by six examples by applying symbolic computation 1) to solve coupled shear wall 2) to generate beam element matrices 3) to find the natural frequency of a shear frame using transfer matrix method 4) to find the stresses of a plate subjected to in-plane loading using Levy's approach 5) to draw the influence surface for deflection of an isotropic plate simply supported on all sides 6) to get dynamic equilibrium equations from Lagrange equation. This paper also presents yet another computationally efficient and accurate numerical method which is based on the concept of derivative of a function expressed as a weighted linear sum of the function values at all the mesh points. Again this method is applied to solve the problems of 1) coupled shear wall 2) lateral buckling of thin-walled beams due to moment gradient 3) buckling of a column and 4) static and buckling analysis of circular plates of uniform or non-uniform thickness. The numerical results obtained are compared with those available in existing literature in order to verify their accuracy.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.23-33
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• 2012

Dynamic response measurements from natural excitation were carried out for three 18-story office buildings to determine their inherent properties. The beam-column frame system was adopted as a typical structural form, but a core wall was added to resist the lateral force more effectively, resulting in a mixed configuration. To extract modal parameters such as natural frequencies, mode shapes and damping ratios from a series of vibration records at each floor, the most advanced operational system identification methods based on frequency- and time-domain like FDD, pLSCF and SSI were applied. Extracted frequencies and mode shapes from the different identification methods showed a greater consistency for three buildings, however the three lower frequencies extracted were 1.2 to 1.7 times as stiff as those obtained using the initial FE models. Comparing the extracted fundamental periods with those estimated from the code equations and FE analysis, the FE analysis results showed the most flexible behavior, and the most simple equation that considers the building height as the only parameter correlated fairly well with test results. It is recognized that such a discrepancy arises from the fact that the present tests exclude the stiffness decreasing factors like concrete cracking, while the FE models ignore the stiffness increasing factors, such as the contribution of non-structural elements and the actual material properties used.