• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.21-41
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• 2010

Multi-span steel-concrete composite (SCC) bridges are very sensitive to earthquake loading. Extensive damage may occur not only in the substructures (piers), which are expected to yield, but also in the other components (e.g., deck, abutments) involved in carrying the seismic loads. Current seismic codes allow the design of regular bridges by means of linear elastic analysis based on inelastic design spectra. In bridges with superstructure transverse motion restrained at the abutments, a dual load path behavior is observed. The sequential yielding of the piers can lead to a substantial change in the stiffness distribution. Thus, force distributions and displacement demand can significantly differ from linear elastic analysis predictions. The objectives of this study are assessing the influence of piers-deck stiffness ratio and of soil-structure interaction effects on the seismic behavior of continuous SCC bridges with dual load path, and evaluating the suitability of linear elastic analysis in predicting the actual seismic behavior of these bridges. Parametric analysis results are presented and discussed for a common bridge typology. The response dependence on the parameters is studied by nonlinear multi-record incremental dynamic analysis (IDA). Comparisons are made with linear time history analysis results. The results presented suggest that simplified linear elastic analysis based on inelastic design spectra could produce very inaccurate estimates of the structural behavior of SCC bridges with dual load path.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.517-529
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• 2009

A passive vibration mitigation architecture is proposed to damp transverse vibrations of guyed masts. The scheme is based on a number of pendula attached to the mast and tuned to the vibration modes to be controlled. This scheme differs from the well-known autoparametric pendulum absorber system. The equations of motion of the guyed mast with an arbitrary number of pendula are obtained. The leading bending behaviour of a typical truss mast is described by an equivalent beam model whereas the guys are conveniently modeled as equivalent transverse springs whose stiffness comprises the elastic and geometric stiffness. By assuming a mast with an inertially and elastically isotropic cross-section, a planar model of the guyed mast is investigated. The linearization of the equations of motion of the mast subject to a harmonic distributed force leads to the transfer functions of the structure without the dampers and with the dampers. The transfer functions allow to investigate the mitigation effects of the pendula. By employing one pendulum only, tuned to the frequency of the lowest mode, the effectiveness of the passive vibration potential in reducing the motion and acceleration of the top section of the mast is demonstrated.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.119-127
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• 2019

When a structural wall is subjected to multi-directional ground motion, torsion-induced cracks degrade the stiffness of the wall. The effect of torsion should not be neglected. As a main lateral load resisting member, reinforced concrete (RC) structural wall has been widely studied under the combined action of bending and shear. Unfortunately, its seismic behavior under a combined action of torsion, bending and shear is rarely studied. In this study, torsional performances of the RC structural walls under the combined action is assessed from a comprehensive parametrical study. Finite element (FE) models are built and calibrated by comparing with the available experimental data. The study is then carried out to find out the critical design parameter affecting the torsional stiffness of RC structural walls, including the axial load ratio, aspect ratio, leg-thickness ratio, eccentricity of lateral force, longitudinal reinforcement ratio and transverse reinforcement ratio. Besides, to facilitate the application in practice, an empirical equation is developed to estimate the torsional stiffness of RC rectangular structural walls conveniently, which is found to agree well with the numerical results of the developed FE models.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.281-291
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• 2021

An equivalent single-layer theory (EST) is put forward for analyzing free vibrations of steel-concrete composite beams (SCCB) based on a higher-order beam theory. In the EST, the effect of partial interaction between sub-beams and the transverse shear deformation are taken into account. After using the interlaminar shear force continuity condition and the shear stress free conditions at the top and bottom surface, the displacement function of the EST does not contain the first derivatives of transverse displacement. Therefore, the C0 interpolation functions are just demanded during its finite element implementation. Finally, the EST is validated by comparing the results of two simply-supported steel-concrete composite beams which are tested in laboratory and calculated by ANSYS software. Then, the influencing factors for free vibrations of SCCB are analyzed, such as, different boundary conditions, depth to span ratio, high-order shear terms, and interfacial shear connector stiffness.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.199-223
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• 2003

The formulation of a non-linear shear deformable shell element is presented for the solution of stability problems of stiffened plates and shells. The formulation of the geometrical stiffness presented here is exactly defined on the midsurface and is efficient for analyzing stability problems of thick plates and shells by incorporating bending moment and transverse shear resultant force. As a result of the explicit integration of the tangent stiffness matrix, this formulation is computationally very efficient in incremental nonlinear analysis. The element is free of both membrane and shear locking behaviour by using the assumed strain method such that the element performs very well in the thin shells. By using six degrees of freedom per node, the present element can model stiffened plate and shell structures. The formulation includes large displacement effects and elasto-plastic material behaviour. The material is assumed to be isotropic and elasto-plastic obeying Von Mises's yield condition and its associated flow rules. The results showed good agreement with references and computational efficiency.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.64 no.5
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• pp.591-610
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• 2017

This paper is concerned with the static analysis of variable thickness of two directional functionally graded porous materials (FGPM) circular plate resting on a gradient hybrid foundation (Horvath-Colasanti type) with friction force and subjected to compound mechanical loads (e.g., transverse, in-plane shear traction and concentrated force at the center of the plate).The governing state equations are derived in terms of displacements based on the 3D theory of elasticity, assuming the elastic coefficients of the plate material except the Poisson's ratio varying continuously throughout the thickness and radial directions according to an exponential function. These equations are solved semi-analytically by employing the state space method (SSM) and one-dimensional differential quadrature (DQ) rule to obtain the displacements and stress components of the FGPM plate. The effect of concentrated force at the center of the plate is approximated with the shear force, uniformly distributed over the inner boundary of a FGPM annular plate. In addition to verification study and convergence analysis, numerical results are displayed to show the effect of material heterogeneity indices, foundation stiffness coefficients, foundation gradient indices, loads ratio, thickness to radius ratio, compressibility, porosity and friction coefficient of the foundation on the static behavior of the plate. Finally, the responses of FG and FG porous material circular plates to compound mechanical loads are compared.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.453-475
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• 2009

The literature regarding the free vibration analysis of Bernoulli-Euler and Timoshenko beams on elastic soil is plenty, but the free vibration analysis of Reddy-Bickford beams on elastic soil with/without axial force effect using the Differential Transform Method (DTM) has not been investigated by any of the studies in open literature so far. In this study, the free vibration analysis of axially loaded Reddy-Bickford beam on elastic soil is carried out by using DTM. The model has six degrees of freedom at the two ends, one transverse displacement and two rotations, and the end forces are a shear force and two end moments in this study. The governing differential equations of motion of the rectangular beam in free vibration are derived using Hamilton's principle and considering rotatory inertia. Parameters for the relative stiffness, stiffness ratio and nondimensionalized multiplication factor for the axial compressive force are incorporated into the equations of motion in order to investigate their effects on the natural frequencies. At first, the terms are found directly from the analytical solutions of the differential equations that describe the deformations of the cross-section according to the high-order theory. After the analytical solution, an efficient and easy mathematical technique called DTM is used to solve the governing differential equations of the motion. The calculated natural frequencies of one end fixed and the other end simply supported Reddy-Bickford beam on elastic soil using DTM are tabulated in several tables and figures and are compared with the results of the analytical solution where a very good agreement is observed and the mode shapes are presented in graphs.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.385-397
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• 2018

This study evaluates the interfacial properties of composite specimens consisting of shotcrete and sprayed waterproofing membrane. Two different membrane prototypes were first produced and tested for their waterproofing ability. Then composite specimens were prepared and their interfacial properties assessed in direct shear and uniaxial compression tests. The direct shear test showed the peak shear strength and shear stiffness of the composites' interface decreased as the membrane layer became thicker. The shear stiffness, a key input parameter for numerical analysis, was estimated to be 0.32-1.74 GPa/m. Shear stress transfer at the interface between the shotcrete and membrane clearly emerged when measuring peak shear strengths (1-3 MPa) under given normal stress conditions of 0.3-1.5 MPa. The failure mechanism was predominantly shear failure at the interface in most composite specimens, and shear failure in the membranes. The uniaxial compression test yielded normal stiffness values for the composite specimens of 5-24 GPa/m. The composite specimens appeared to fail by the compressive force forming transverse tension cracks, mainly around the shotcrete surface perpendicular to the membrane layer. Even though the composite specimens had strength and stiffness values sufficient for shear stress transfer at the interfaces of the two shotcrete layers and the membrane, the sprayed waterproofing membrane should be as thin as possible whilst ensuring waterproofing so as to obtain higher strength and stiffness at the interface.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.567-585
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• 2014

The piezoelectric transverse $d_{15}$ shear sensing mechanism is firstly assessed experimentally for a cantilever smart sandwich plate made of a piezoceramic axially poled patched core and glass fiber reinforced polymer composite faces. Different electrical connections are tested for the assessment of the sensor performance under a varying amplitude harmonic (at 24 Hz) force. Also, the dynamic response of the smart sandwich composite structure is monitored using different acquisition devices. The obtained experimentally sensed voltages are compared to those resulting from the benchmark three-dimensional piezoelectric coupled finite element simulations using a commercial code where realistic features, like equipotential conditions on the patches' electrodes and mechanical updating of the clamp, are considered. Numerically, it is found that the stiffness of the clamp, which is much softer than the ideal one, has an enormous influence on the sensed voltage of its adjacent patch; therefore, sensing with the patch on the free side would be more advantageous for a cantilever configuration. Apart from confirming the latter result, the plate benchmark experimental assessment showed that the parallel connection of its two oppositely poled patches has a moderate performance but better than the clamp side patch acting as an individual sensor.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.83 no.6
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• pp.789-798
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• 2022

The stud shear connector is the main force transfer member in the steel-concrete composite member, and the mechanical behavior is very complicated in the concrete. The concrete around the stud is subjected to the pry-out local pressure concentration of the stud, which can easily produce splitting mirco-cracks. In order to solve the problem of pry-out local splitting of stud shear connector, a kind of stud shear connector with constraint measure is proposed in this paper. Through the push-out test, the interface shear behavior of the new stud shear connector between steel and concrete flange plate was studied, and the difference between the new stud shear connector and the traditional stud connector was compared. The results show that the stud shear connector with constraint measure can effectively avoid the adverse effect of local pressure splitting by relying on its own constraint measure. The shear stiffness of the interface between steel and concrete flange plates is greatly improved, which provides a theoretical basis for the design of strong connection coefficient of steel-concrete composite structures.