• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.217-240
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• 2010

A semi-analytical method is presented for accurately prediction of the free vibration behavior of generally laminated composite plates with arbitrary boundary conditions. The method employs the technique of separation of spatial variables within Hamilton's principle to obtain the equations of motion, including two systems of coupled ordinary homogeneous differential equations. Subsequently, by applying the laminate constitutive relations into the resulting equations two sets of coupled ordinary differential equations with constant coefficients, in terms of displacements, are achieved. The obtained differential equations are solved for the natural frequencies and corresponding mode shapes, with the use of the exact state-space approach. The formulation is exploited in the framework of the first-order shear deformation theory to incorporate the effects of transverse shear deformation and rotary inertia. The efficiency and accuracy of the present method are demonstrated by obtaining solutions to a wide range of problems and comparing them with finite element analysis and previously published results.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.223-243
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• 2010

This paper reports recent developments concerning the application of Generalised Beam Theory (GBT) to the structural analysis of steel-concrete composite bridges. The potential of GBT-based semi-analytical or finite element-based analyses in this field is illustrated/demonstrated by showing that both accurate and computationally efficient solutions may be achieved for a wide range of structural problems, namely those associated with the bridge (i) linear (first-order) static, (ii) vibration and (iii) lateral-torsional-distortional buckling behaviours. Several illustrative examples are presented, which concern bridges with two distinct cross-sections: (i) twin box girder and (ii) twin I-girder. Allowance is also made for the presence of discrete box diaphragms and both shear lag and shear connection flexibility effects.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.70 no.2
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• pp.199-207
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• 2019

In this paper, a semi-analytical method will be discussed for free vibration analysis of rotating beams with variable cross sectional area. For this purpose, the rotating beam is discretized through applying the transfer matrix method and assumed the axial force is constant for each element. Then, the transfer matrix is derived based on Euler-Bernoulli's beam differential equation and applying boundary conditions. In the following, the frequencies of the rotating beam with constant and variable cross sections are determined using the transfer matrix method in several case studies. In order to eliminate numerical difficulties in the transfer matrix method, the Riccati transfer matrix is employed for high rotation speed and high modes. The results are compared with the results of the finite elements method and Rayleigh-Ritz method which show good agreement in spite of low computational cost.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.48-56
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• 2006

The fatigue strength of the welds is affected by such factors as the weld geometry, microstructures, tensile properties and residual stresses caused by fabrication. It is very important to evaluate the structural integrity of the welds in nuclear power plant because the weldment undergoes the most of damage and failure mechanisms. In this study, the fatigue assessments for a reactor vessel outlet nozzle with the weldment to the piping system are performed considering the welding residual stresses as well as the effect of local brittle zone in the vicinity of the weld fusion line. The analytical approaches employed are the microstructure and mechanical properties prediction by semi-analytical method, the thermal and stress analysis including the welding residual stress analysis by finite element method, the fatigue life assessment by following the ASME Code rules. The calculated results of cumulative usage factors(CUF) are compared for cases of the elastic and elasto-plastic analysis, and with or without residual stress and local brittle zone effects, respectively. Finally, the fatigue life of reactor vessel outlet nozzle weld is slightly affected by the local brittle zone and welding residual stresses.

• Journal of Korean Association for Spatial Structures
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.57-66
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• 2018

Recently various composite beams in which concrete is filled in the U-shaped steel plate have been developed for saving story height and reducing construction period. Due to the high flexural stiffness and strength, they are widely being used for the building with large loads and long spans. The semi-slim AU composite beam has proven to take highly improved stability compared to the existing composite beams, because it consists of the closed steel section by attaching cap-type shear connectors to the upper side of U-shaped steel plate. In this study the finite element analyses were performed to evaluate the safety of the AU composite beam with unconsolidated concrete which were sustained through the closed steel section during the construction phase. The analyses were performed on the two types of cross section applied to the fabrication of AU composite beams, and the results were compared to the those of 2-point bending tests. In addition, the flexural performance according to the space of intermittent cap-type shear connectors and the location of reinforcing steel bars for compression was comparatively investigated. Through the results of analytical studies, it is preferable to adopt the yield moment of AU composite beam for evaluating the safety in the construction phase, and to limit the space of intermittent shear connectors to 400 mm or less for the construction load.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.75 no.6
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• pp.747-769
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• 2020

This paper provides a semi-analytical approach to investigate the variations of 3D displacement components, electric potential, stresses, electric displacements and transverse vibration frequencies in laminated piezoelectric composite plates based on the scaled boundary finite element method (SBFEM) and the precise integration algorithm (PIA). The proposed approach can analyze the static and dynamic responses of multilayered piezoelectric plates with any number of laminae, various geometrical shapes, boundary conditions, thickness-to-length ratios and stacking sequences. Only a longitudinal surface of the plate is discretized into 2D elements, which helps to improve the computational efficiency. Comparing with plate theories and other numerical methods, only three displacement components and the electric potential are set as the basic unknown variables and can be represented analytically through the transverse direction. The whole derivation is built upon the three dimensional key equations of elasticity for the piezoelectric materials and no assumptions on the plate kinematics have been taken. By virtue of the equilibrium equations, the constitutive relations and the introduced set of scaled boundary coordinates, three-dimensional governing partial differential equations are converted into the second order ordinary differential matrix equation. Furthermore, aided by the introduced internal nodal force, a first order ordinary differential equation is obtained with its general solution in the form of a matrix exponent. To further improve the accuracy of the matrix exponent in the SBFEM, the PIA is employed to make sure any desired accuracy of the mechanical and electric variables. By virtue of the kinetic energy technique, the global mass matrix of the composite plates constituted by piezoelectric laminae is constructed for the first time based on the SBFEM. Finally, comparisons with the exact solutions and available results are made to confirm the accuracy and effectiveness of the developed methodology. What's more, the effect of boundary conditions, thickness-to-length ratios and stacking sequences of laminae on the distributions of natural frequencies, mechanical and electric fields in laminated piezoelectric composite plates is evaluated.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.249-264
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• 2017

In this paper free linear vibration of lattice composite conical shells will be investigated. Lattice composite conical shell consists of composite helical ribs and thin outer skin. A smeared method is employed to obtain the variable coefficients of stiffness of conical shell. The ribs are modeled as a beam and in addition to the axial loads, endure shear loads and bending moments. Therefore, theoretical formulations are based on first-order shear deformation theory of shell. For verification of the obtained results, comparison is made with those available in open literature. Also, using FEM software the 3D finite element model of composite lattice conical shell is built and analyzed. Comparing results of analytical and numerical analyses show a good agreement between them. Some special cases as variation of geometric parameters of lattice part, effect of the boundary conditions and influence of the circumferential wave numbers on the natural frequencies of the conical shell are studied. It is concluded, when mass and the geometrical ratio of the composite lattice conical shell do not change, increment the semi vertex angle of cone leads to increase the natural frequencies. Moreover for shell thicknesses greater than a specific value, the presence of the lattice structure has not significant effect on the natural frequencies. The obtained results have novelty and can be used for further and future researches.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.61 no.2
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• pp.231-244
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• 2017

The aim of this study is to develop a semi-analytical method to investigate fluid-structure coupling of concentric double shells with different lengths and elastic behaviours. Co-axial shells constitute a cylindrical circular container and a baffle submerged inside the stored fluid. The container shell is made of functionally graded materials with mechanical properties changing through its thickness continuously. The baffle made of steel is fixed along its top edge and submerged inside fluid such that its lower edge freely moves. The developed approach is verified using a commercial finite element computer code. Although the model is presented for a specific case in the present work, it can be generalized to investigate coupling of shell-plate structures via fluid. It is shown that the coupling between concentric shells occurs only when they vibrate in a same circumferential mode number, n. It is also revealed that the normalized vibration amplitude of the inner shell is about the same as that of the outer shell, for narrower radial gaps. Moreover, the natural frequencies of the fluid-coupled system gradually decrease and converge to the certain values as the gradient index increases.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.243-250
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• 2009

The adjoint variable method can reduce computation time and save computer resources because it can selectively provide the sensitivity information for the positions that designers wish to measure. However, the adjoint variable method commonly employs exact analytical differentiation with respect to the design variables. It can be cumbersome to precisely differentiate every given type of finite element. This trouble can be overcome only if the numerical differentiation scheme can replace this exact manner of differentiation. But, the numerical differentiation scheme causes of severe inaccuracy due to the perturbation size dilemma. For assuring the accurate sensitivity without any dependency of perturbation size, this paper employs a complex variable that has been mainly used for computational fluid dynamics problems. The adjoint variable method combined with complex variables is applied to obtain the shape and size sensitivity for structural optimization. Numerical examples demonstrate that the proposed method can predict stable sensitivity results and that its accuracy is remarkably superior to traditional sensitivity evaluation methods.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.349-362
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• 2018

This paper presents a semi-analytical solution for the creep analysis and life assessment of 304L austenitic stainless steel thick truncated conical shells using multilayered method based on the first order shear deformation theory (FSDT). The cone is subjected to the non-uniform internal pressure and temperature gradient. Damages are obtained in thick truncated conical shell using Robinson's linear life fraction damage rule, and time to rupture and remaining life assessment is determined by Larson-Miller Parameter (LMP). The creep response of the material is described by Norton's law. In the multilayer method, the truncated cone is divided into n homogeneous disks, and n sets of differential equations with constant coefficients. This set of equations is solved analytically by applying boundary and continuity conditions between the layers. The results obtained analytically have been compared with the numerical results of the finite element method. The results show that the multilayered method based on FSDT has an acceptable amount of accuracy when one wants to obtain radial displacement, radial, circumferential and shear stresses. It is shown that non-uniform pressure has significant influences on the creep damages and remaining life of the truncated cone.