• Wind and Structures
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.97-120
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• 2008

Wind and wave loadings have a predominant role in the design of offshore structures in general, and articulated tower in particular for a successful service and survival during normal and extreme environmental conditions. Such towers are very sensitive to the dynamic effects of wind and wind generated waves. The exposed superstructure is subjected to aerodynamic loads while the submerged substructure is subjected to hydrodynamic loads. Articulated towers are designed such that their fundamental frequency is well below the wave frequency to avoid dynamic amplification. Dynamic interaction of these towers with environmental loads (wind, waves and currents) acts to impart a lesser overall shear and overturning moment due to compliance to such forces. This compliancy introduces geometric nonlinearity due to large displacements, which becomes an important consideration in the analysis of articulated towers. Prediction of the nonlinear behaviour of these towers in the harsh ocean environment is difficult. However, simplified realistic mathematical models are employed to gain an important insight into the problem and to explore the dynamic behaviour. In this paper, various modeling approaches and solution methods for articulated towers adopted by past researchers are reviewed. Besides, reliability of articulation system, the paper also discussed the design, installation and performance of articulated towers around the world oceans.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.1-20
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• 2005

The expertise required in the judicious use of nonlinear finite element (FE) packages for design-assistance purposes is not widely available to the average engineer, whose sole aim may be to obtain an estimate for a single design parameter, such as the limit load capacity of a structure. Such a parameter may be required for the design of a proposed reinforced concrete (RC) floor slab or bridge deck with a given set of geometrical and material details. This paper outlines a procedure for developing design-assistance equations for carrying out such predictions for partially restrained RC slabs under uniformly distributed loading condition, based on a database of FE results previously generated from a large number of 'numerical model' slabs. The developed equations have been used for predicting the peak loads of a number of experimental RC slabs having varying degrees of edge restraints; with results showing a reasonable degree of accuracy and low level of scatter. The simplicity of the equations makes them attractive and their successful use in the field of application reported in this paper suggest that the outlined procedure may also be extended to other classes of concrete structures.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.41-58
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• 2004

The postbuckling behaviour of thin shells has fascinated researchers because the theoretical prediction and their experimental verification are often different. In reality, shell panels possess small imperfections and these can cause large reduction in static buckling strength. This is more relevant in thin laminated composite shells. To study the postbuckling behaviour of thin, imperfect laminated composite shells using finite elements, explicit incremental or secant matrices have been presented in this paper. These incremental matrices which are derived using Marguerre's shallow shell theory can be used in combination with any thin plate/shell finite element (Classical Laminated Plate Theory - CLPT) and can be easily extended to the First Order Shear deformation Theory (FOST). The advantage of the present formulation is that it involves no numerical approximation in forming total potential energy of the shell during large deformations as opposed to earlier approximate formulations published in the literature. The initial imperfection in shells could be modeled by simply adjusting the ordinate of the shell forms. The present formulation is very easy to implement in any existing finite element codes. The secant matrices presented in this paper are shown to be very accurate in tracing the postbuckling behaviour of thin isotropic and laminated composite shells with general initial imperfections.

• Proceedings of the KWS Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.595-599
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• 2002

Edge welding of thin sheets is very difficult because of the fit-up problem and small weld area In laser welding, joint fit-up and penetration are critical for sound weld quality, which can be monitored by appropriate methods. Among the various monitoring systems, visual monitoring method is attractive because various kinds of weld pool information can be extracted directly. In this study, a vision sensor was adopted for the weld pool monitoring in pulsed Nd:YAG laser edge welding to monitor whether the penetration is enough and the joint fit-up is within the requirement. Pulsed Nd:YAG laser provides a series of periodic laser pulses, while the shape and brightness of the weld pool change temporally even in one pulse duration. The shutter-triggered and non-interlaced CCD camera was used to acquire a temporally changed weld pool image at the moment representing the weld status well. The information for quality monitoring can be extracted from the monitored weld pool image by an image processing algorithm. Weld pool image contains not only the information about the joint fit-up, but the penetration. The information about the joint fit-up can be extracted from the weld pool shape, and that about a penetration from the brightness. Weld pool parameters that represent the characteristics of the weld pool were selected based on the geometrical appearance and brightness profile. In order to achieve accurate prediction of the weld penetration, which is nonlinear model, neural network with the selected weld pool parameters was applied.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.343-355
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• 2011

This paper presented the model to predict the chloride diffusion coefficient in tension zone of plain concrete under flexural cyclic load. The fictitious crack based analytical model was used together with the stress degradation law in cracked zone to predict crack growth of plain concrete beams under flexural cyclic load. Then, under cyclic load, the chloride diffusion, in the steady state and one dimensional regime, through the tension zone of the plain concrete beam, in which microcracks were formed by a large number of cycles, was simulated with assumptions of continuously straight crack and uniform-size crack. The numerical analysis in terms of the chloride diffusion coefficient, $D_{tot}$, normalized $D_{tot}$, crack width and crack length was issued as a function of the load cycle, N, and load level, SR. The nonlinear model as regarding with the chloride diffusion coefficient in tension zone and the load level was proposed. According to this model, the chloride diffusion increases with increasing load level. The predictions using model fit well with experimental data when we adopted suitable crack density and tortuosity parameter.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.13-25
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• 2012

The purpose of this study was to investigate the seismic behavior of hollow circular reinforced concrete bridge columns with confinement steel, and to develop improved seismic design criteria. Three hollow circular columns were tested under a constant axial load and a quasi-static, cyclically reversed horizontal load. The accuracy and objectivity of the assessment process can be enhanced by using a sophisticated nonlinear finite element analysis program. The numerical method used gives a realistic prediction of the seismic performance throughout the loading cycles for the several test specimens investigated. Based on the experimental and analytical results, design recommendations are presented to improve current practice in the design and construction of hollow circular reinforced concrete bridge columns.

• Journal of IKEEE
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.96-105
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• 2014

This paper proposes a battery lifetime enhancement method based on the nonlinear discharge charisteristics called recovery effect. In general, the stored energy in a battery is considered in the prediction of battery lifetime. However, due to the chemical reaction in a battery, more energy can be drawn from a battery when it is not continuously but intermittently discharged, which is called recovery effect. In the proposed method, several battery cells are alternately discharged, and some battery cells rest while maintaining the system power supply. This makes recovery effect of battery cells, which extends battery lifetime. In the experiment, battery lifetime increases about 7% in the alternating discharge of two battery cells, when compared with conventional parallel discharge.

• Computational Structural Engineering
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.159-171
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• 1995

The parameters describing a complete hysteresis loop include pinch force, drift offset, effective stiffness, unloading and reloading trangential stiffness. Analytical equations proposed to quantify the nonlinear, inelastic behavior of reinforced shear walls can be used to predict these parameters as a function of axial load and drift ratio. For example, drift offset, effective stiffness, and first and second unloading and reloading tangential stiffness are calculated using equations obtained from test data for a desired drift ratio or ductility level. Pinch force can also be estimated for a given drift ratio and axial load. The effective virgin stiffness at the first yield and its post yield reduction can be estimated. The load deflection response of flexural reinforced concrete shear walls can now be estimated based on the effective wall stiffness that is a function of axial force and drift ratio.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.65-74
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• 2003

Data mining differs primarily from traditional data analysis on an important dimension, namely the scale of the data. That is the reason why not only statistical but also computer science principles are needed to extract information from large data sets. In this paper we briefly review data mining, its characteristics, typical data mining algorithms, and potential and ongoing applications of data mining at biopharmaceutical industries. The distinguishing characteristics of data mining lie in its understandability, scalability, its problem driven nature, and its analysis of retrospective or observational data in contrast to experimentally designed data. At a high level one can identify three types of problems for which data mining is useful: description, prediction and search. Brief review of data mining algorithms include decision trees and rules, nonlinear classification methods, memory-based methods, model-based clustering, and graphical dependency models. Application areas covered are discovery compound libraries, clinical trial and disease management data, genomics and proteomics, structural databases for candidate drug compounds, and other applications of pharmaceutical relevance.

• International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.373-381
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• 2016

As part of this study, has been developed a numerical method which allows to establish abacuses connecting the normal force with bending moment for a circular section and therefore to predict the rupture of this type of section. This may be for reinforced concrete (traditional steel) or concrete reinforced with steel fibers. The numerical simulation was performed in nonlinear elasticity up to exhaustion of the bearing capacity of the section. The rupture modes considered occur by plasticization of the steel or rupture of the concrete (under compressive stresses or tensile stresses). Regarding the fiber-reinforced concrete, the rupture occurs, usually, by tearing of the fibers. The behavior laws of the different materials (concrete and steel) correspond to the real behavior. The influence of several parameters was investigated, namely; diameter of the section, concrete strength, type of steel, percentage of reinforcement and contribution of concrete in tension between two successive cracks of bending. A comparison was made with the behavior of a section considering the conventional diagrams of materials; provided by the BAEL rules. A second comparative study was performed for fibers reinforced section.