• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.17-31
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• 2017

Since extensometers are used to determine the absolute deformation of foundation and abutments and all results are obtained in reference to the base rod, the accuracy of these results has been constantly a subject of debate. In this regard, locating and installing extensometers outside the range of effect zone is also another challenge. The main purpose of this paper is to investigate and modify extensometers results based on the mentioned issues. For this aim, the concrete RCC Zhaveh dam in Iran was selected as the case study. To study the results of extensometers installed in this dam, first, the 3DEC_DP 5.00 software was applied for numerical modeling. Parameters such as discontinuities, dead load and piezometric pressure in the interface of concrete and rock were considered. Next, using the results obtained from 6 extensometers in foundation and abutments and 4 clinometers in dam body, the numerical model was calibrated through back analysis method. The results indicate that the base rod is moved and is not recommended being used as the base point. In other words, because installation of base anchor outside the range of effect zone is not possible due to the operational and economic considerations, the obtained results are not accurate enough. The results indicate a considerable 2-3 mm displacement of the base rod (location of the base anchor) in reference to the real zero point location, which must be added to the base rod results.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.324-333
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• 2012

The conventional medium and large caliber gun, in general, utilize the hydro-pneumatic recoil mechanism to control the firing impulse and to return to the battery position. However, this kind of mechanism may cause the problems like the leakages and the property changes in oil and gas due to the temperature variations between low and high temperatures. Accordingly, the friction spring mechanism has recently been researched as an alternative system. The friction spring mechanism consists of a set of closed inner and outer rings with the concentric tapered contact surfaces assembled in the columnar form, and can only be used under the compression load. When the spring column is axially loaded, the tapered surfaces become overlapped, causing the outer rings to expand while the inner rings are being contracted in diameter allowing an axial displacement. Because of friction between tapered contact surfaces, much higher spring stiffness is obtained on the stroke at the increase in load than the stroke at the decrease. In this paper, the dynamic equations regarding the friction spring system and the design approach have been investigated. It is also tried for a dynamic model representing the recoil motion and the friction spring forces. And the model has been proved from firing test using a gun system with friction springs. All the results show that the recoil mechanism using friction springs can substitute for the classic hydro-pneumatic recoil system.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.9 no.3 s.32
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• pp.377-390
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• 1997

The objective of this study is to investigate the structural behavior of concrete-filled steel tubular column to H-beam connections with reinforced bar. As a preliminary test, simple tensile test on the column to H-beam connections stiffened were conducted. The parameters of tensile test are the diameters of each rebars. The simple tensile test were conducted to 5 kinds of specimens. Estimating the load. displacement and strain for specimens, the result of tensile test were compared with the results of main test. On the basis of simple tensile test, tests are conducted to montonic and cyclic loading column to H-beam connections with the same diameters of rebars. Specimens of 5 are made for monotonic and cyclic loading test. In analysis, estimating the yielding strength and maximum strength of specimens on the basis of yield line theory, strength formula of beam-to column connections with concrete-filled steel tubular column was suggested.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2001

The purpose of this study is to examine the utility of concretefilled steel tubular column to H-beam connections with tubular stiffener. As a preliminary step. a tensile experiment was undertaken to scrutinize characteristics of the structural behavior that take place between beam flanges and column with tubular stiffener. A total of 4 types of experimental settings were developed as tabular stiffeners are made up 9, 18, and 27 mm of thickness and 50 and 80 mm of height respetively Along with the overall load subsequently the degree of displacement and strain were recorded. Based on the yield line theory results of this of this study were evaluated and further critically reviewed the applicability of the strength formula. This study found that collapse mechanism was emerged on the beam flange as reinforcing tabular stiffeners Complementary studies of this sort, including numerical analyses should be undertaken in order to develope specific design critera.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.29-40
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• 2013

Seismic response of single degree of freedom system supported by shallow foundation was analyzed by using nonlinear explicit finite difference element code. Numerical analysis results were verified with dynamic centrifuge test results of the same soil profile and structural dimensions with the numerical analysis model at a centrifugal acceleration of 20 g. Differences between the analysis and the test results induced by the boundary conditions of control points can be reduced by adding additional local damping to the natural born cyclic hysteretic damping of the soil strata. The analysis results show good agreement with the test results in terms of both time histories and response spectra. Thus, it can be concluded that the nonlinear explicit finite difference element code will be a useful technique for estimating seismic residual displacement, earthpressure etc. which are difficult to measure during laboratory tests and real earthquake.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.45 no.5
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• pp.677-691
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• 2013

A semi-analytical finite strip method is developed for analyzing the post-buckling behavior of rectangular composite laminated plates of arbitrary lay-up subjected to progressive end-shortening in their plane and to normal pressure loading. In this method, all the displacements are postulated by the appropriate harmonic shape functions in the longitudinal direction and polynomial interpolation functions in the transverse direction. Thin or thick plates are assumed and correspondingly the Classical Plate Theory (CPT) or Higher Order Plate Theory (HOPT) is applied. The in-plane transverse deflection is allowed at the loaded ends of the plate, whilst the same deflection at the unloaded edges is either allowed to occur or completely restrained. Geometric non-linearity is introduced in the strain-displacement equations in the manner of the von-Karman assumptions. The formulations of the finite strip methods are based on the concept of the principle of the minimum potential energy. The Newton-Raphson method is used to solve the non-linear equilibrium equations. A number of applications involving isotropic plates, symmetric and unsymmetric cross-ply laminates are described to investigate the through-thickness shearing effects as well as the effect of pressure loading, end-shortening and boundary conditions. The study of the results has revealed that the response of the composite laminated plates is particularly influenced by the application of the Higher Order Plate Theory (HOPT) and normal pressure loading. In the relatively thick plates, the HOPT results have more accuracy than CPT.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.943-966
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• 2016

Recently, magnetorheological elastomer (MRE) material and its devices have been developed and attracted a good deal of attention for their potentials in vibration control. Among them, a highly adaptive base isolator based on MRE was designed, fabricated and tested for real-time adaptive control of base isolated structures against a suite of earthquakes. To perfectly take advantage of this new device, an accurate and robust model should be built to characterize its nonlinearity and hysteresis for its application in structural control. This paper first proposes a novel hysteresis model, in which a nonlinear hyperbolic sine function spring is used to portray the strain stiffening phenomenon and a Voigt component is incorporated in parallel to describe the solid-material behaviours. Then the fruit fly optimization algorithm (FFOA) is employed for model parameter identification using testing data of shear force, displacement and velocity obtained from different loading conditions. The relationships between model parameters and applied current are also explored to obtain a current-dependent generalized model for the control application. Based on the proposed model of MRE base isolator, a second-order sliding mode controller is designed and applied to the device to provide a real-time feedback control of smart structures. The performance of the proposed technique is evaluated in simulation through utilizing a three-storey benchmark building model under four benchmark earthquake excitations. The results verify the effectiveness of the proposed current-dependent model and corresponding controller for semi-active control of MRE base isolator incorporated smart structures.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.63 no.2
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• pp.147-160
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• 2017

In this study, the optimum parameters of Tuned Mass Dampers (TMDs) are proposed using Gravity Search Algorithm (GSA) and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) to reduce the responses of the structures. A MATLAB program is developed to apply the new approach to the benchmark 10 and 40-story structures. The obtained results are compared to those of other optimization methods used in the literature to verify the developed code. To show the efficiency and accuracy of the proposed methods, nine far-field and near-field worldwide earthquakes are applied to the structures. The results reveal that in the 40-story structure, GSA algorithm can reduce the Relative Displacement (RD) and Absolute Acceleration (AA) up to 43% and 21%, respectively while the PSO decreases them by 50% and 25%, respectively. In contrast, both GSA and PSO algorithms reduce the RD and AA about 29% and 21% for the 10-story structure. Furthermore, using the proposed approach the required TMD parameters reduce by 47% and 63% in the 40 and 10-story buildings in comparison with the referenced ones. Result evaluation and related comparison indicate that these methods are more effective even by using smaller TMD parameters resulting in the reduction of acting force from TMD, having smaller stiffness and damping factors while being more cost effective due to its decreased parameters. In other words, the TMD with optimum parameters can play a positive role in both tall and typical structures.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.64 no.5
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• pp.641-652
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• 2017

In general, conventional analysis and design of reinforced concrete (RC) frame structures overlook the role of beam-column (RCBC) joints. Nowadays, the rigid joint model is one of the most common for RCBC joints: the joint is assumed to be rigid (unable to deform) and stronger than the adjacent beams and columns (does not fail before them). This model is popular because (i) the application of the capacity design principles excludes the possibility of the joint failing before the adjacent beams and (ii) many believe that the actual behaviour of RCBC joints designed according to the seismic codes produced mainly after the 1980s can be assumed to be nominally rigid. This study investigates the relevance of the deformation of RCBC joints in a standard pushover analysis at several levels: frame, storey, element and cross-section. Accordingly, a RC frame designed according to preliminary versions of EN 1992-1-1 and EN 1998-1 was analysed, considering the nonlinear behaviour of beams and columns by means of a standard sectional fibre model. Two alternative models were used for the RCBC joints: the rigid model and an explicit component based nonlinear model. The effect of RCBC joints modelling was found to be twofold: (i) the flexibility of the joints substantially increases the frame lateral deformation for a given load (30 to 50%), and (ii) in terms of seismic performance, it was found that joint flexibility (ii-1) appears to have a minor effect on the force and displacement corresponding to the performance point (seismic demand assessed at frame level), but (ii-2) has a major influence on the seismic demand when assessed at storey, element and cross-section levels.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.267-277
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• 2017

Base-isolation is now being adopted as a retrofitting strategy to improve seismic behaviour of reinforced concrete (r.c.) framed structures subjected to far-fault earthquakes. However, the increase in deformability of a base-isolated framed building may lead to amplification in the structural response under the long-duration horizontal pulses of high-magnitude near-fault earthquakes, which can become critical once the strength level of a fire-weakened r.c. superstructure is reduced. The aim of the present work is to investigate the nonlinear seismic response of fire-damaged r.c. framed structures retrofitted by base-isolation. For this purpose, a five-storey r.c. framed building primarily designed (as fixed-base) in compliance with a former Italian seismic code for a medium-risk zone, is to be retrofitted by the insertion of elastomeric bearings to meet the requirements of the current Italian code in a high-risk seismic zone. The nonlinear seismic response of the original (fixed-base) and retrofitted (base-isolated) test structures in a no fire situation are compared with those in the event of fire in the superstructure, where parametric temperature-time curves are defined at the first level, the first two and the upper levels. A lumped plasticity model describes the inelastic behaviour of the fire-damaged r.c. frame members, while a nonlinear force-displacement law is adopted for the elastomeric bearings. The average root-mean-square deviation of the observed spectrum from the target design spectrum together with a suitable intensity measure are chosen to select and scale near- and far-fault earthquakes on the basis of the design hypotheses adopted.