• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.64 no.6
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• pp.765-781
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• 2017

The out-of-plane response of infill walls has recently gained a growing attention and has been recognised fundamental in the damage assessment of reinforced concrete and steel framed buildings subjected to seismic loads. The observation of damage after earthquakes highlighted that out-of-plane collapse of masonry infills may occur even during seismic events of low or moderate intensity, causing both casualty risks and unfavourable situations affecting the overall structural response. Even though studies concerning the out-of-plane behaviour of infills are not as many as those focused on the in-plane response, in the last decades, a substantial number of researches have been carried out on the out-of-plane behaviour of infills. In this study, the out-of-plane response is investigated considering different aspects. First, damages observed after past earthquakes are examined, with the aim of identifying the main parameters involved and the most critical configurations. Secondly, the response recorded in about 150 experimental tests is deeply examined, focusing on the influence of geometrical characteristics, boundary conditions, prior in-plane damage, presence of reinforcing elements and openings. Finally, different theoretical capacity models and code provisions are discussed and compared, giving specific attention to those based on the arching theory. The reliability of some of these models is herein tested with reference to experimental results. The comparison between analytically predicted and experimental values allows to appreciate the extent of approximation of such methods.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.831-835
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• 2003

The objective of this paper is to suggest an experimental technique to measure the out-of-plane vibration intensity of a coupled plate. In order to measure the out-of-plane vibration intensity of the plate, the frequency response technique has been implemented. In this technique, the 2-D intensity vector at a measurement point has been estimate from the frequency response functions measured at 4 points in the neighborhood of the measurement point. The experimental result has been compared with a theoretical result. It showed that the experimental technique can be effectively used to measure the out-of-plane vibration intensity of plates.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.69 no.6
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• pp.677-691
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• 2019

In recent years, interest is growing in the engineering community on the experimental assessment and the theoretical prediction of the out-of-plane (OOP) seismic response of unreinforced masonry (URM) infills, which are widespread in Reinforced Concrete (RC) buildings in Europe and in the Mediterranean area. In the literature, some mechanical-based models for the prediction of the entire OOP force-displacement response have been formulated and proposed. However, the small number of experimental tests currently available has not allowed, up to current times, a robust and reliable evaluation of the predictive capacity of such response models. To enrich the currently available experimental database, six pure OOP tests on URM infills in RC frames were carried out at the Department of Structures for Engineering and Architecture of the University of Naples Federico II. Test specimens were built with the same materials and were different only for the thickness of the infill walls and for the number of their edges mortared to the confining elements of the RC frames. In this paper, the results of these experimental tests are briefly recalled. The main aim of this study is comparing the experimental response of test specimens with the prediction of mechanical models presented in the literature, in order to assess their effectiveness and contribute to the definition of a robust and reliable model for the evaluation of the OOP seismic response of URM infill walls.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.6 no.5
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• pp.515-537
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• 2014

Current seismic codes (e.g. the NTC08 Italian code and the EC8 European code) adopt a performance-based approach for both the design of new buildings and the assessment of existing ones. Different limit states are considered by verifying structural members as well as non structural elements and facilities which have generally been neglected in practice. The key role of non structural elements on building performance has been shown by recent earthquakes (e.g. L'Aquila 2009) where, due to the extensive damage suffered by infills, partitions and ceilings, a lot of private and public buildings became unusable with consequent significant socio-economic effects. Furthermore, the collapse of infill panels, particularly in the case of out-of-plane failure, represented a serious source of risk to life safety. This paper puts forward an infill model capable of accounting for the effects arising from prior in-plane damage on the out-of-plane capacity of infill panels. It permits an assessment of the seismic performance of existing RC buildings with reference to both structural and non structural elements, as well as of their mutual interaction. The model is applied to a building type with RC framed structure designed only to vertical loads and representative of typical Italian buildings. The influence of infill on building performance and the role of the out-of-plane response on structural response are also discussed.

• Composites Research
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.297-310
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• 2015

This study aims to develop efficient composite laminates for buckling load enhancement, interlaminar shear stress minimization, and weight reduction. This goal is achieved through cover-skin lay-ups around skins and stiffeners, which amplify bending stiffness and defer delamination by means of effective stress distribution. The design problem is formulated as multi-objective optimization that maximizes buckling load capability while minimizing both maximum out-of-plane shear stress and panel weight. For efficient optimization, response surface methodology is employed for buckling load, two out-of-plane shear stresses, and panel weight with respect to one ply thickness, six fiber orientations of a skin, and four stiffener heights. Numerical results show that skin-covered composite stiffened panels can be devised for maximum buckling load and minimum interlaminar shear stresses under compressive load. In addition, the effects of different material properties are investigated and compared. The obtained results reveal that the composite stiffened panel with Kevlar material is the most effective design.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.83-96
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• 2020

The main structural elements of historical masonry arch bridges are arches, spandrel walls, piers and foundations. The most vulnerable structural elements of masonry arch bridges under transverse seismic loads, particularly in the case of out-of-plane actions, are spandrel wall. The vulnerability of spandrel walls under transverse loads increases with the increasing of their length and height. This paper computationally investigates the out-of-plane nonlinear seismic response of spandrel walls of long-span and high masonry stone arch bridges. The Malabadi Bridge with a main arch span of 40.86m and rise of 23.45m built in 1147 in Diyarbakır, Turkey, is selected as an example. The Concrete Damage Plasticity (CDP) material model adjusted to masonry structures, and cohesive interface interaction between the infill and the spandrel walls and the arch are considered in the 3D finite element model of the selected bridge. Firstly, mode shapes with and without cohesive interfaces are evaluated, and then out-of-plane seismic failure responses of the spandrel walls with and without the cohesive interfaces are determined and compared with respect to the displacements, strains and stresses.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.521-535
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• 2018

The main purpose of this paper is to predict missing absolute out-of-plane displacements and failure limits of infill walls by artificial neural network (ANN) models. For this purpose, two shake table experiments are performed. These experiments are conducted on a 1:1 scale one-bay one-story reinforced concrete frame (RCF) with an infill wall. One of the experimental models is composed of unreinforced brick model (URB) enclosures with an RCF and other is composed of an infill wall with bed joint reinforcement (BJR) enclosures with an RCF. An artificial earthquake load is applied with four acceleration levels to the URB model and with five acceleration levels to the BJR model. After a certain acceleration level, the accelerometers are detached from the wall to prevent damage to them. The removal of these instruments results in missing data. The missing absolute maximum out-of-plane displacements are predicted with ANN models. Failure of the infill wall in the out-of-plane direction is also predicted at the 0.79 g acceleration level. An accuracy of 99% is obtained for the available data. In addition, a benchmark analysis with multiple regression is performed. This study validates that the ANN-based procedure estimates missing experimental data more accurately than multiple regression models.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.16 no.2 s.107
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• pp.198-206
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• 2006

The dynamic responses of both the in-plane and out-of-plane vibrations are investigated for an axially moving membrane. The equations of motion are derived for the moving membrane with no-slip boundary conditions by using the extended Hamilton principle. Based on the Galerkin method, the discretized equations of motion are derived. The generalized-time integration method is applied to compute the dynamic responses for the in-plane and out-of-plane motions. From the computed results, the responses are compared between the in-plane and out-of-plane vibrations. Furthermore. the effects of velocity and acceleration on the dynamic behaviours for displacements and stresses are presented.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.26 no.9
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• pp.1905-1913
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• 2002

Using the finite element method, this study investigates the dynamic time responses of a flexible spinning disk of which axis of rotation is misaligned with the axis of symmetry. The misalignment between the axes of symmetry and rotation is one of the major vibration sources in optical disk drives such as CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW and DVD drives. Based upon the Kirchhoff plate theory and the von-Karman strain theory, three coupled equations of motion for the misaligned disk are obtained: two of the equations are for the in-plane motion while the other is for the out-of-plane motion. After transforming these equations into two weak forms for the in-plane and out-of-plane motions, the weak forms are discretized by using newly defined annular sector finite elements. Applying the generalized-$\alpha$ time integration method to the discretized equations, the time responses and the displacement distributions are computed and then the effects of the misalign ment on the responses and the distributions are analyzed. The computation results show that the misalignment has an influence on the magnitudes of the in-plane displacements and it results in the amplitude modulation or the beat phenomenon in the time responses of the out-of-plane displacement.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.361-375
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• 1999

This paper presents an analytic method of examining the out-of-plane vibration of continuous curved beam on periodical supports. The orthogonality of two distinct sets of mode shape functions is derived. The forced vibration of beam due to moving loads is examined. Two types of moving loads, which are concentrated load and uniformly distributed load, are considered. The response characteristics of beam induced by these loads are investigated as well.