• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.311-318
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• 2020

The goal of this study is to analytically and non-stochastically generate structural uncertainty behaviors of isotropic beams and laminated composite plates under plane stress conditions by using an interval finite element method. Uncertainty parameters of structural properties considering resistance and load effect are formulated by interval arithmetic and then linked to the finite element method. Under plane stress state, the isotropic cantilever beam is modeled and the laminated composite plate is cross-ply lay-up [0/90]. Triangular shape with a clamped-free boundary condition is given as geometry. Through uncertainties of both Young's modulus for resistance and applied forces for load effect, the change of structural maximum deflection and maximum von-Mises stress are analyzed. Numerical applications verify the effective generation of structural behavior uncertainties through the non-stochastic approach using interval arithmetic and immediately the feasibility of the present method.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.327-340
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• 2003

Variations in system parameters due to uncertainties of parameters may result in system performance deterioration and create system internal stability problems. Uncertainties in structural modeling of structures are often considered to ensure that the control system is robust with respect to response errors. So the uncertain concept plays an important role in the analysis and design of the engineering structures. In this paper, the active control of the intelligent structures with the uncertainties is studied and a new method for analyzing the robustness of systems with the uncertainties is presented. Firstly, the system with uncertain parameters is considered as the perturbation of the system with deterministic parameters. Secondly, the feedback control law is designed on the basis of deterministic system. Thirdly, perturbation analysis and robustness analysis of intelligent structures with uncertainties are discussed when the feedback control law is applied to the original system and perturbed system. Combining the convex model of uncertainties with the finite element method, the analysis theory of the robustness of intelligent structures with the uncertainties can be developed. The description and computation of the robustness of intelligent structures with uncertain parameters is obtained. Finally, a numerical example of the application of the present method is given to show the validity of the method.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.311-330
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• 2007

Model-based predictions of structural behavior are negatively affected by uncertainties of various type and in various stages of the structural analysis. The present paper focusses on dynamic analysis and addresses the effects of uncertainties concerning material and geometric parameters, mainly in the context of modal analysis of large-scale structures. Given the large number of uncertain parameters arising in this case, highly scalable simulation-based methods are adopted, which can deal with possibly thousands of uncertain parameters. In order to solve the reliability problem, i.e., the estimation of very small exceedance probabilities, an advanced simulation method called Line Sampling is used. In combination with an efficient algorithm for the estimation of the most important uncertain parameters, the method provides good estimates of the failure probability and enables one to quantify the error in the estimate. Another aspect here considered is the uncertainty quantification for closely-spaced eigenfrequencies. The solution here adopted represents each eigenfrequency as a weighted superposition of the full set of eigenfrequencies. In a case study performed with the FE model of a satellite it is shown that the effects of uncertain parameters can be very different in magnitude, depending on the considered response quantity. In particular, the uncertainty in the quantities of interest (eigenfrequencies) turns out to be mainly caused by very few of the uncertain parameters, which results in sharp estimates of the failure probabilities at low computational cost.

• Architectural research
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.31-37
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• 2007

This study presents the so-called Modified Allowable Stress Design (MASD) method for structural designs. The objective of this study is to qualitatively estimate uncertainties of tensile steel member's cross-sectional structural designs and find the optimal resulting design which can resist all uncertainty cases. The design parameters are assumed to be interval associated with lower and upper bounds and consequently interval methods are implemented to non-stochastically produce design results including the structural uncertainties. By seeking optimal uncertainty combinations among interval parameters, engineers can qualitatively describe uncertain design solutions which were not considered in conventional structural designs. Under the assumption that structures have basically uncertainties like displacement responses, the safety range of resulting designs is represented by lower and upper bounds depending on given tolerance error and structural parameters. As a numerical example uncertain cross-sectional areas of members that can resist applied loads are investigated and it demonstrates that the present design method is superior to conventional allowable stress designs (ASD) with respect to a reliably structural safety as well as an economical material.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2007.04a
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• pp.49-54
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• 2007

Structural integrity assessment technique for pavement system is studied considering the uncertainties among the material properties. The artificial neural networks technique is applied for the inverse analysis to estimate the elastic modulus based on the measured deflections from the FWD test. A computer code based on the spectral element method was developed for the accurate and fast analysis of the multi-layered soil structures, and the developed program was used for generating the training and testing patterns for the neural network. Neural networks was applied to estimate the elastic modulus of pavement system using the maximum deflections with and without the uncertainties in the material properties. It was found that the estimation results by the conventiona1 neural networks were very poor when there exist the uncertainties and the estimation results could be significantly improved by adopting the proposed method for generating training patterns considering the uncertainties among material properties.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.219-226
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• 2003

The structures have intrinsic uncertainties in analysis/design parameters contrary to the assumptions of perfect constant over the structural domain. The material and geometrical parameters are the exemplary ones. The influences of uncertainties in Young's modulus, which are the representative random design variables, on the structural response have been the center of focus in the realm of stochastic analysis. In this study, a formulation to obtain the response variability due to the randomness in the Poisson's ratio is given. In that the previous researches in the literature deal with the response variability due mainly to the uncertainty in the elastic modulus, with the results of this research, it can be asserted to obtain the response variability taking into consideration of uncertainties in all the material constants becomes possible.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.86 no.2
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• pp.249-260
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• 2023

The uncertainties involved in structural performances are of importance when the optimum number and property of seismic retrofit devices are determined. This paper proposes a seismic retrofit design framework for asymmetric soft-first-story buildings, considering uncertainties in the soil condition and seismic retrofit device. The effect of the uncertain parameters on the structural performance is used to find a robust and optimal seismic retrofit solution. The framework finds a robust and optimal seismic retrofit solution by finding the optimal locations and mechanical properties of the seismic retrofit device for different realizations of the uncertain parameters. The structural performance for each realization is computed to evaluate the effect of the uncertainty parameters on the seismic performance. The framework utilizes parallel processing to decrease the computationally intensive nonlinear dynamic analysis time. The framework returns a robust design solution that satisfies the given limit state for every realization of the uncertain parameters. The proposed framework is applied to the seismic retrofit design of a five-story asymmetric soft-first-story case study structure retrofitted with a viscoelastic damper. Robust optimal parameters for retrofitting a structure to satisfy the limit state for the different realizations of the uncertain parameter are found using the proposed framework. According to the performance evaluation results of the retrofitted structure, the developed framework is proved effective in the seismic retrofit of the asymmetric structure with inherent uncertainties.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2008.04a
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• pp.65-70
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• 2008

The capacity spectrum method (CSM) is a deterministic seismic analysis approach wherein the expected seismic response of a structure is established as the intersection of the demand and capacity curves. Recently, there are a few studies about a probabilistic CSM where uncertainties in design factors such as material properties, loads, and ground motion are being considered. However, researches show that soil-structure interaction also affects the seismic responses of structures. Thus, their uncertainties should also be taken into account. Therefore, this paper presents a probabilistic approach of using the CSM for seismic analysis considering uncertainties in soil properties. For application, a reinforced concrete bridge column structure is employed as a test model. Considering the randomness of the various design parameters, the structure's probability of failure is obtained. Monte Carlo importance sampling is used as the tool to assess the structure's reliability when subjected to earthquakes. In this study, probabilistic CSM with and without consideration of soil uncertainties are compared and analyzed. Results show that the analysis considering soil structure interaction yields to a greater probability of failure, and thus can lead to a more conservative structural design.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.401-406
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• 2003

This paper deals with stress analysis of single-lap adhesive joints which have uncertain material properties. Basically, material properties have a certain amount of scatter and such uncertainties can affect the performance of joints. In this paper, the convex modeling is introduced to consider such uncertainties in calculating peel and shear stress of adhesive joints and the results are compared with those from the Monte Carlo simulation. Numerical results show that stresses increase when uncertainties considered, which indicates that such uncertainties should not be ignored for estimation of structural safety. Also, the results obtained by the convex modeling and the Monte Carlo simulation show good agreement, which demonstrates the effectiveness of convex modeling.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.85 no.3
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• pp.381-391
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• 2023

The seismic performance of the tall building equipped with a tuned mass damper (TMD) considering soil-structure interaction (SSI) effects is well studied in the literature. However, these studies are performed on the nominal model of the seismic-excited structural system with SSI. Hence, the outcomes of the studies may not valid for the actual structural system. To address the study gap, the reliability theory as a useful and powerful method is utilized in the paper. The present study aims to carry out reliability analyses on tall buildings equipped with TMD under near-field pulse-like (NFPL) ground motions considering SSI effects using a subset simulation (SS) method. In the presence of uncertainties of the structural model, TMD device, foundation, soil, and near-field pulse-like ground motions, the numerical studies are performed on a benchmark 40-story building and the failure probabilities of the structures with and without TMD are evaluated. Three types of soils (dense, medium, and soft soils), different earthquake magnitudes (M_w = 7,0. 7,25. 7,5 ), different nearest fault distances (r = 5. 10 and 15 km), and three seismic performance levels of immediate occupancy (IO), life safety (LS), and collapse prevention (CP) are considered in this study. The results show that tall buildings built near faults and on soft soils are more affected by uncertainties of the structural and ground motion models. Hence, ignoring these uncertainties may result in an inaccurate estimation of the maximum seismic responses. Also, it is found the TMD is not able to reduce the failure probabilities of the structure in the IO seismic performance level, especially for high earthquake magnitudes and structures built near the fault. However, TMD is significantly effective in the reduction of failure probability for the LS and CP performance levels. For weak earthquakes and long fault distances, the failure probabilities of both structures with and without TMD are near zero, and the efficiency of the TMD in the reduction of failure probabilities is reduced by increasing earthquake magnitudes and the reduction of fault distance. As soil softness increases, the failure probability of structures both with and without TMD often increases, especially for severe near-fault earthquake motion.