• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.87 no.3
• /
• pp.255-272
• /
• 2023

Spatial cable systems can provide more transverse stiffness and torsional stiffness without sacrificing the vertical bearing capacity compared with conventional vertical cable systems, which is quite lucrative for long-span earth-anchored suspension bridges' development. Higher economy highlights the importance of refined form-finding analysis. Meanwhile, the internal connection between the lateral and vertical sags has not yet been specified. Given this, an analytic algorithm of form-finding for the earth-anchored suspension bridge with spatial cables is proposed in this paper. Through the geometric compatibility condition and mechanical equilibrium condition, the expressions for cable segment, the recurrence relationship between catenary parameters and control equations of spatial cable are established. Additionally, the nonlinear general reduced gradient method is introduced into fast and high-precision numerical analysis. Furthermore, the analytic expression of the lateral and vertical sags is deduced and discussed. This is very significant for the space design above the bridge deck and the optimization of the sag-to-span ratio in the preliminary design stage of the bridge. Finally, the proposed method is verified with the aid of two examples, one being an operational self-anchored suspension bridge (with spatial cables and a 260 m main span), and the other being an earth-anchored suspension bridge under design (with spatial cables and a 500 m main span). The necessity of an iterative calculation for hanger tensions on earth-anchored suspension bridges is confirmed. It is further concluded that the main cable and their connected hangers are in very close inclined planes.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.48 no.4
• /
• pp.479-500
• /
• 2013

This paper presents the experimental as well as analytical study conducted on layer-bonded scrap tire rubber pad (STRP) isolators to develop low-cost seismic isolators applicable to structures in developing countries. The STRP specimen samples were produced by stacking the STRP layers one on top of another with the application of adhesive. In unbonded application, the STRP bearings were placed between the substructure and superstructure without fastening between the contact surfaces which allows roll-off of the contact supports. The vertical compression and horizontal shear tests were conducted with varying axial loads. These results were used to compute the different mechanical properties of the STRP isolators including vertical stiffness, horizontal effective stiffness, average horizontal stiffness and effective damping ratios. The load-displacement relationships of STRP isolators obtained by experimental and finite element analysis results were found to be in close agreement. The tested STRP samples show energy dissipation capacity considerably greater than the natural rubber bearings. The layer-bonded STRP isolators serve positive incremental force resisting capacity up to the shear strain level of 150%.

• Tribology and Lubricants
• /
• v.23 no.3
• /
• pp.123-129
• /
• 2007

This paper presents a theoretical model for the analysis of double-bumped AFBs. The stiffness and damping coefficients of the double bump vary depending on the external load and its friction coefficient. In the case of a lightly loaded condition where only the upper bump contributes to deformation, the double bump is in the single active region. In the case of a heavily loaded condition where both the upper and lower bumps contribute to deformation, the double bump is in the double active region. So the double bump can be either in the single or double active region depending on vertical deflection. The equivalent stiffness and damping coefficients of the bump system are derived from the vertical and horizontal deflection of the bump, including the friction effect. A static and dynamic performance analysis is carried out by using the finite difference method and the perturbation technique. The results of the performance analysis for a double-bumped AFB are compared with those obtained for a single-bumped AFB. This paper successfully proves that a double bumped AFB has higher load capacity, stiffness, and damping than a single-bumped AFB in a heavily loaded condition.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
• /
• 2007.05a
• /
• pp.1730-1733
• /
• 2007

As semiconductor and MEMS devices become smaller, testing process during their production should follow such a high density trend. A circuit inspection tool "probe card" makes contact with electrode pads of the device under test (DUT). Nowadays, electrode pads are irregularly arranged and have height difference. In order to absorb variations in the heights of electrode pads and to generate contact loads, contact probes must have some levels of mechanical spring properties. Contact probes must also yield a force to break the surface native oxide layer or contamination layer on the electrodes to make electric contact. In this research, new vertical micro contact probe with bellows shape is developed to overcome shortage of prior work. Especially, novel bellows shape is used to reduce stress concentration in this design and stopper is used to change the stiffness of micro contact probe. Variable stiffness can be one solution to overcome the height difference of electrode pads.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
• /
• 2005.03a
• /
• pp.338-345
• /
• 2005

Recently, surface-wave methods have been widely used for site investigation due to economic advantage and improved reliability. Specially, the Spectral-Analysis-of-Surface-Wave (SASW) method has been used to evaluate soil properties in geotechnical engineering. In determination of subgrade stiffness by SASW measurements, only the vertical Rayleigh waves have been used. This study proposed a framework to determine shear-wave velocity profiles by using vertical and horizontal Rayleigh waves and Love wave all together. In addition, the Common-Array-Profiling(CAP) SASW method was employed, which subgrade stiffness of profile the local material under two fixed receivers. The procedure proposed in this study was verified by comparing the shear-wave velocity profiles with the shear-wave velocity profiles of downhole testing at two geotechnical sites.

• Journal of Korean Association for Spatial Structures
• /
• v.12 no.3
• /
• pp.71-78
• /
• 2012

The dynamic behavior of spatial structures is different depending on the aspect ration of arch structure, as the rise-span ratio or open-angle, and these spatial structures show differently the character of seismic response in accordance with stiffness and connection of the lower support structures that are directly influenced by earthquake. Therefore, in this paper, dynamic analysis is conducted for seismic response of single layer arch structures by the influence of column's stiffness and connection, to reflect the different vertical and horizontal vibration mode of single layer arch structures. The vertical response of single layer arch structures is more influence by lower columns and the influence of column's connection rotational stiffness is not large, except to the hinged connections.

• Advances in Automotive Engineering
• /
• v.1 no.1
• /
• pp.1-20
• /
• 2018

The aim of this study is the optimization of the parameters of interconnected Hydro-Pneumatic (HP) suspension system of a three-axle vehicle for ride comfort and handling. For HP suspension systems of equivalent vertical stiffness and damping characteristics, interconnected HP suspension systems increase roll and pitch stiffness and damping characteristics of the vehicle as compared to unconnected HP suspension systems. Thus, they result in improved handling and braking/acceleration performances of the vehicle. However, increased roll and pitch stiffness and damping characteristics also increase roll and pitch accelerations, which in turn result in degraded ride comfort performance. Therefore, in order to improve both ride comfort and vehicle handling performances simultaneously, an optimum parameter set of an interconnected HP suspension system is obtained through an optimization procedure. The objective function is formed as the sum of the weighted vertical accelerations according to ISO 2631. The roll angle, one of the important measures of vehicle handling and driving safety, is imposed as a constraint in the optimization study. Upper and lower parameter bounds are used in the optimization in order to get a physically realizable parameter set. Optimization procedure is implemented for a three-axle vehicle with unconnected and interconnected suspension systems separately. Optimization results show that interconnected HP suspension system results in improvements in both ride comfort and vehicle handling performance, as compared to the unconnected suspension system. As a result, interconnected HP suspension systems present a solution to the conflict between ride comfort and vehicle handling which is present in unconnected suspension systems.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
• /
• v.6 no.1
• /
• pp.1-6
• /
• 2002

In order to study the characteristics of fiber reinforced bearing, the steel plates of laminated rubber bearing were replaced with fibers which have same effects of steel plates. The comparison of vertical test and horizontal test of laminated rubber bearing and fiber reinforced bearing shows that the effective damping of fiber reinforced bearing is higher than laminated rubber bearing. This result implies the high energy dissipation ability of fiber reinforced bearing under earthquake excitation. These fiber reinforced bearing can be applied to the low-coast building.

• Journal of Korean Association for Spatial Structures
• /
• v.17 no.3
• /
• pp.45-55
• /
• 2017

The objective of this study is to estimate the mechanical characteristics and nonlinear behaviors on the geometric nonlinear analysis of curved cable-membrane roof systems for long span lightweight roof structures. The weight of a cable-membrane roof dramatically can reduce, but the single layer cable-membrane roof systems are too flexible and difficult to achieve the required structural stiffness. A curved cable roof system with reverse curvature works more effectively as a load bearing system, the pretension of cables can easily increase the structural stiffness. The curved cable roof system can transmit vertical loads in up and downward direction, and work effectively as a load bearing structure to resists self-weights, snow and wind loads. The nonlinear behavior and mechanical characteristics of a cable roof system has greatly an affect by the sag and pretension. This paper is carried out analyzing and comparing the tensile forces and deflection of curved roof systems by vertical loads. The elements for analysis uses a tension only cable element and a triangular membrane element with 3 degree of freedom in each node. The authors will show that the curved cable-membrane roof system with reverse curvature is a very lightweight and small deformation roof for external loads.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.11 no.4
• /
• pp.357-372
• /
• 2001

In this paper, cantilevered tall structures are treated as cantilever bars with varying cross-section for the analysis of their free longitudinal (or axial) vibrations. Using appropriate transformations, exact analytical solutions to determine the longitudinal natural frequencies and mode shapes for a one step non-uniform bar are derived by selecting suitable expressions, such as exponential functions, for the distributions of mass and axial stiffness. The frequency equation of a multi-step bar is established using the approach that combines the transfer matrix procedure or the recurrence formula and the closed-form solutions of one step bars, leading to a single frequency equation for any number of steps. The Ritz method is also applied to determine the natural frequencies and mode shapes in the vertical direction for cantilevered tall structures with variably distributed stiffness and mass. The formulae proposed in this paper are simple and convenient for engineering applications. Numerical example shows that the fundamental longitudinal natural frequency and mode shape of a 27-storey building determined by the proposed methods are in good agreement with the corresponding measured data. It is also shown that the selected expressions are suitable for describing the distributions of axial stiffness and mass of typical tall buildings.