• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제8권2호
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• pp.207-231
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• 1999

A versatile 4-node shell element which is useful for the analysis of arbitrary shell structures is presented. The element is developed by flat shell approach, i.e., by combining a membrane element with a Mindlin plate element. The proposed element has six degrees of freedom per node and permits an easy connection to other types of finite elements. In the plate bending part, an improved Mindlin plate has been established by the combined use of the addition of non-conforming displacement modes (N) and the substitute shear strain fields (S). In the membrane part, the nonconforming displacement modes are also added to the displacement fields to improve the behavior of membrane element with drilling degrees of freedom and the modified numerical integration (M) is used to overcome the membrane locking problem. Thus the element is designated as NMS-4F. The rigid link correction technique is adopted to consider the effect of out-of-plane warping. The shell element proposed herein passes the patch tests, does not show any spurious mechanism and does not produce shear and membrane locking phenomena. It is shown that the element produces reliable solutions even for the distorted meshes through the analysis of benchmark problems.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제90권3호
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• pp.233-252
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• 2024

This research explores a new finite element model for the free vibration analysis of bi-directional functionally graded (BDFG) beams. The model is based on an efficient higher-order shear deformation beam theory that incorporates a trigonometric warping function for both transverse shear deformation and stress to guarantee traction-free boundary conditions without the necessity of shear correction factors. The proposed two-node beam element has three degrees of freedom per node, and the inter-element continuity is retained using both C1 and C0 continuities for kinematics variables. In addition, the mechanical properties of the (BDFG) beam vary gradually and smoothly in both the in-plane and out-of-plane beam's directions according to an exponential power-law distribution. The highly elevated performance of the developed model is shown by comparing it to conceptual frameworks and solution procedures. Detailed numerical investigations are also conducted to examine the impact of boundary conditions, the bi-directional gradient indices, and the slenderness ratio on the free vibration response of BDFG beams. The suggested finite element beam model is an excellent potential tool for the design and the mechanical behavior estimation of BDFG structures.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제90권3호
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• pp.253-261
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• 2024

This research explores a new finite element model for the free vibration analysis of bi-directional functionally graded (BDFG) beams. The model is based on an efficient higher-order shear deformation beam theory that incorporates a trigonometric warping function for both transverse shear deformation and stress to guarantee traction-free boundary conditions without the necessity of shear correction factors. The proposed two-node beam element has three degrees of freedom per node, and the inter-element continuity is retained using both C1 and C0 continuities for kinematics variables. In addition, the mechanical properties of the (BDFG) beam vary gradually and smoothly in both the in-plane and out-of-plane beam's directions according to an exponential power-law distribution. The highly elevated performance of the developed model is shown by comparing it to conceptual frameworks and solution procedures. Detailed numerical investigations are also conducted to examine the impact of boundary conditions, the bi-directional gradient indices, and the slenderness ratio on the free vibration response of BDFG beams. The suggested finite element beam model is an excellent potential tool for the design and the mechanical behavior estimation of BDFG structures.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• 제33권4호
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• pp.1327-1336
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• 2013

In this study, the effects of corrugated webs on the ultimate behavior of horizontally curved I-shaped girders are investigated. Because of the geometric characteristics of corrugated plates, corrugated webs can be used for enhancing torsional and warping stiffness of plate girders. Many researches have been conducted to study the effects of corrugated webs on the ultimate behavior of straight girders. But, the studies of the ultimate behavior of horizontally curved girders with corrugated webs, which generally show out-of plane behavior manly, have been rarely performed so far. By performing inelastic-nonlinear analysis, the ultimate behavior of curved girders with corrugated webs is studied in this paper. Laterally unsupported length and subtended angle of girders, and length of height of corrugation of webs are considered as the geometric parameters which would be expected to affect the ultimate behavior. By this analytical study with considering the geometric parameters, the changes of ultimate behavior and load carrying capacity of curved girders with corrugated webs are investigated. Also, the effects of corrugated webs on the increase of load carrying capacity for curved girders are studied with comparing to the capacity of general curved girders with flat webs. According to the analytical results, corrugated webs can be used to increase the ultimate load carrying capacity of curved girders, because of their high torsional and warping stiffness. But, it is also indicated that they may decrease the load carrying capacity of curved girders which have relatively small subtended angle or initial curvature, because of an accordion effect.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• 제29권2A호
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• pp.145-153
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• 2009

The lateral-torsional buckling strengths of the parabolic arches are investigated in this study. The curvatures of a parabolic arch vary along the center line of the arch. Thus, the problem is much more complicated comparing that of arches with constant curvature such as circular arches. Moreover, most of previous studies are limited to the circular arches. In this study, lateral-torsional buckling equations are derived for the arches with varying curvatures considering the warping effects. To obtain the buckling strength of parabolic arches, numerical solutions based on the finite difference technique are provided. The numerical solutions are compared with the those of previous researchers and finite element analyses. Then, the lateral-torsional strengths of parabolic arches are successfully verified. Finally, comparison study of critical buckling loads of parabolic arches with those of circular arches for the various rise to span ratios are discussed.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• 제15권3호
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• pp.231-239
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• 2003

Many box girder bridges have been constructed during the past several decades due to their large bending and torsional rigidities as well as aesthetic considerations. However, box girders have shortcoming in that the cross section distorts under an eccentric loading and warps out of the section plane. Therefore, in order to reduce distortional stresses such as distortional warping and transverse bending normal stresses, diaphragms were generally installed in the box girders. Shapes of the diaphragms in steel-box-girder bridges constructed up to date were solid-plate, frame, and truss types. The objectives of this study using parametric study were to evaluate the appropriate stiffness ratio of intermediate diaphragms and then to propose the effective spacing and numbers of intermediate diaphragms based on the evaluated stiffness ratio. Target bridges for this study were straight continuous span bridges with a single-cell steel box section. The parameters for the parametric study were the shape of box section, the span numbers, the equivalent span length, the stiffness of intermediate diaphragms, and the spacing of intermediate diaphragms. From the results of the parametric study, the effective spacing and numbers as well as the stiffness ratio of the intermediate diaphragms will be presented.