• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.1-27
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• 2015

In this paper Fragility Curves (FCs) relevant to existing RC framed building types representative of the Italian building population designed only to vertical load and regular in-plan have been derived from an extensive campaign of non-linear dynamic analyses. In the generation of the FCs, damage states according to the EMS98 scale have been considered while the intensity measure has been defined by adopting an integral parameter, such as the Housner intensity. FCs have been generated by varying different parameters, including building age, number of storeys, presence and position of infill panels, plan dimensions, external beams stiffness and concrete strength. In order to verify the effectiveness of the damage prediction, comparisons were made between the results obtained from the proposed FCs with those deriving from both prominent fragility studies available in the technical literature and damage distributions observed in past earthquakes. Results show that damage grades obtained by adopting the proposed FCs are generally lower than those provided by the other approaches considered. A comparison with real damage data, shows that the proposed FCs generally estimate more severe damage distributions than those observed in past earthquakes, although they give lower differences with respect to the other approaches.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.157-179
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• 2013

Vulnerability studies on the existing building stock require that a large number of buildings is analyzed to obtain statistically significant evaluations of the seismic performance. Therefore, analytical evaluation methods need to be based on simplified methodologies of analysis which can afford the treatment of a large building population with a reasonable computational effort. Simplified Pushover-Based Earthquake Loss Assessment approach (SP-BELA), where a simplified methodology to identify the structural capacity of the building through the definition of a pushover curve is adopted, was developed on these bases. Main objective of the research work presented in this paper is to validate the simplified methodology implemented in SP-BELA against the results of more sophisticated nonlinear dynamic analyses (NLDAs). The comparison is performed for RC buildings designed only to vertical loads, representative of the "as built" in Italy and in Mediterranean countries with a building stock very similar to the Italian one. In NLDAs the non linear and degrading behaviour, typical of the structures under consideration when subjected to high seismic loads, is evaluated using models able to capture, with adequate accuracy, the non linear behaviour of RC structural elements taking into account stiffness degradation, strength deterioration, and pinching effect. Results show when simplified analyses are in good agreement with NLDAs. As a consequence, unsatisfactory results from simplified analysis are pointed out to address their current applicability limits.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.1-16
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• 2001

A reliable and accurate method has been developed to predict the flexural deformation response of structural concrete members subject to service load. The method that has been developed relates the extent of concrete cracking, measured as a function of the magnitude of applied moment in a member, to the reduction in the effective moment of inertia of cracked reinforced concrete members under service load conditions. The ratio of the area of the moment diagram where the moment exceeds the cracking moment, to the total area of the moment diagram for any loading, provides the basis for the calculation of the effective moment of inertia. This ratio also represents mathematically a probability of crack occurrence. Verification of this method for the determination of the effective moment of inertia has been achieved from an experimental test program, and has included beam tests with different loading configurations, and shear wall tests subjected to a range of vertical and lateral load levels. Further verification of this method has been made with reference to the experimental investigation of other recently published work.

• Ocean Systems Engineering
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.203-217
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• 2013

A PTO (power-take-off) mechanism by using relative heave motions between a floating buoy and its inner mass (magnet or amateur) is suggested. The inner power take-off system is characterized by a mass with linear stiffness and damping. A vertical truncated cylinder is selected as a buoy and a special station-keeping system is proposed to minimize pitch motions while not affecting heave motions. By numerical examples, it is seen that the maximum power can actually be obtained at the optimal spring and damper condition, as predicted by the developed WEC(wave energy converter) theory. Then, based on the developed theory, several design strategies are proposed to further enhance the maximum PTO, which includes the intentional mismatching among heave natural frequency of the buoy, natural frequency of the inner dynamic system, and peak frequency of input wave spectrum. By using the intentional mismatching strategy, the generated power is actually increased and the required damping value is significantly reduced, which is a big advantage in designing the proposed WEC with practical inner LEG (linear electric generator) system.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.61 no.6
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• pp.775-784
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• 2017

This study is devoted to developing many new substructure models for ballasted railway track by using the pyramid model philosophy. As the effect of railway embankment has been less considered in the previous studies in the field of vehicle/track interaction, so the present study develops the pyramid models in the presence of railway embankment and implements them in vehicle/track interaction dynamic analyses. Considering a moving car body as multi bodies with 10 degrees of freedom and the ballasted track including rail, sleeper, ballast, subgrade and embankment, two categories of numerical analyses are performed by considering the new substructure systems including type A (initiation of stress overlap areas in adjacent sleepers from the ballast layer) or type B (initiation of stress overlap areas in adjacent sleepers from the subgrade layer). A comprehensive sensitivity analyses are performed on effective parameters such as ballast height, sleepers spacing and sleeper width. The results indicate that the stiffness of subgrade, embankment and foundation increased by increasing the ballast height. Also, by increasing the ballast height, rail and ballast vertical displacement decreased.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.1-13
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• 2017

In order to improve the deformation capacity of the high-strength concrete shear wall, five high-strength concrete shear wall specimens confined with high-strength rectangular spiral reinforcement (HRSR) possessing different parameters, were designed in this paper. One specimen was only adopted high-strength rectangular spiral hoops in embedded columns, the rest of the four specimens were used high-strength rectangular spiral hoops in embedded columns, and high-strength spiral horizontal distribution reinforcement were used in the wall body. Pseudo-static test were carried out on high-strength concrete shear wall specimens confined with HRSR, to study the influence of the factors of longitudinal reinforcement ratio, hoop reinforcement form and the spiral stirrups outer the wall on the failure modes, failure mechanism, ductility, hysteresis characteristics, stiffness degradation and energy dissipation capacity of the shear wall. Results showed that using HRSR as hoops and transverse reinforcements could restrain concrete, slow load carrying capacity degeneration, improve the load carrying capacity and ductility of shear walls; under the vertical force, seismic performance of the RC shear wall with high axial compression ratio can be significantly improved through plastic hinge area or the whole body of the shear wall equipped with outer HRSR.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.431-446
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• 2017

As concrete is most usable material in construction industry it's been required to improve its quality. Nowadays, nanotechnology offers the possibility of great advances in construction. In this study, buckling of horizontal concrete columns reinforced with Zinc Oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles is analyzed. Due to the presence of ZnO nanoparticles which have piezoelectric properties, the structure is subjected to electric field for intelligent control. The Column is located in foundation with vertical springs and shear modulus constants. Sinusoidal shear deformation beam theory (SSDBT) is applied to model the structure mathematically. Micro-electro-mechanic model is utilized for obtaining the equivalent properties of system. Using the nonlinear stress-strain relation, energy method and Hamilton's principal, the motion equations are derived. The buckling load of the column is calculated by Difference quadrature method (DQM). The aim of this study is presenting a mathematical model to obtain the buckling load of structure as well as investigating the effect of nanotechnology and electric filed on the buckling behavior of structure. The results indicate that the negative external voltage applied to the structure, increases the stiffness and the buckling load of column. In addition, reinforcing the structure by ZnO nanoparticles, the buckling load of column is increased.

• Journal of Industrial Technology
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• v.28 no.B
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• pp.81-89
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• 2008

This paper is results of investigating the dominant factors influencing to coefficient of consolidation in horizontal direction of Korean marine clays and their correlations through literature review. From the results of analyzing data obtained from field tests such as piezocone penetration and dilatometer tests as well as laboratory tests, coefficient of consolidation in the horizontal direction was found to increase with increase of stiffness index of soil while it decreases with the increase of dissipation time of pore pressure developed during field tests. In general, the coefficient of consolidation in the horizontal direction tends to increase with increase of undrained shear strength and preconsolidation pressure although correlation between them are relatively low. Friction ratio has a high correlation with coefficient of consolidation in the horizontal direction in case of friction ratio being greater than 1.0. For methods of estimating coefficient of consolidation in the horizontal direction with different testing device, values obtained from methods of P2-logt and DMT-A with dilatometer were quite similar to values from piezocone penetration test. Consistency of soil is quite proportional to coefficient of consolidation in the horizontal direction. Clear correlation between coefficients of consolidation in the horizontal and the vertical directions could not be found. coefficient of consolidation in the horizontal direction estimated from the results of field test tends to be 1.13~3.11 times greater than that obtained from laboratory tests.

• Interaction and multiscale mechanics
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.365-372
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• 2010

Station is an important building in high-speed railway, and its vibration and noise may significantly affect the comfort of waiting passengers. A coupling vibration model for train-structure system is established to analyze and evaluate the vibration level of a typical waiting hall under dynamic train load. The motion of a four-axle vehicle with two suspension system is modeled in multi-body dynamics with linear springs and dampers employed. The station is modeled as a whole finite element structure which is 113 m in longitudinal and 163.5 m in lateral, and the stiffness of the station foundation is considered. According to the assumptions that both wheel and rail are rigid bodies and keep contact to each other in vertical direction, and the wheel/rail interaction and displacement coordination in horizontal direction is defined by the simplified Kalker creep theory, the vehicle spatial vibration model has 27 degrees-of-freedom. An overall analysis procedure is made of the train moving through the station, by which the dynamic responses of the train and the station are calculated. According to the comparison between analysis and test results, the actual connection status between different parts of the station is estimated and the vibration level of the waiting hall is evaluated.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.349-356
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• 2011

In this paper, the optimal diagrid angle of atypical tall buildings has been found using diagrid optimization technique which is based on parametric algorithm. A diagrid is a diagonal grid which can be seen among atypical tall buildings and structures which effectively resist horizontal and vertical direction loads. Therefore, it is also the objective of this studyto find the maximum stiffness of atypical tall buildings by optimizing diagrid angle. Moreover, this study touches on both cylindrical and tapered off cylindrical structures, as shown in the examples to check the compatibility of optimum diagrid angle, which effectively resists horizontal deformation on top by optimization algorithm.