• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.1-15
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• 2009

Many aspects of the behavior of sands are affected by the content of non-plastic fine particles and these various aspects should be included in a constitutive model for the soil behavior. The fines content affects maximum and minimum void ratios, compressibility, shear strength, and static liquefaction under undrained conditions. Twenty-eight undrained triaxial compression tests were performed on mixtures of sand and fine particles with fines contents of 0, 10, 20, 30, 50, 75, and 100% to study the effects of fines on void ratio, compressibility, and the occurrence of static liquefaction. The experiments were performed at low consolidation pressures at which liquefaction may occur in near-surface, natural deposits. The presence of fines creates a particle structure in the soil that is highly compressible, enhancing the potential for liquefaction, and the fines also alter the basic stress-strain and volume change behavior, which should be modeled to predict the occurrence of static liquefaction in the field. The void ratio at which liquefaction occurs for each sand/fines mixture was determined, and the variation of compressibility with void ratio was determined for each mixture. This allowed a relation to be determined between fines content, void ratio, compressibility, and the occurrence of static liquefaction. Such relations may vary from sand to sand, but the present results are believed to indicate the trend in such relations.

• Coupled systems mechanics
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• v.1 no.3
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• pp.269-283
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• 2012

In the present paper, a multilevel approach for the local nanobuckling analysis of carbon nanotube (CNT) based composite materials is proposed and described. The approach comprises four levels, all of them at nanoscale. The first level aims to propose the potential that describes the interatomic forces between carbon atoms. In the second level, molecular dynamics simulations are performed to extract the elastic properties of the CNT. The third level aims to determine the stiffness of the material that surrounds the CNT (matrix), using the annular membrane analysis. In the fourth level, finite strip analysis of the CNT elastically restrained by the matrix is performed to calculate the critical strain at which the CNT buckles locally. In order to achieve accurate results and take the CNT-matrix interaction into account, the $3^{rd}$ and $4^{th}$ steps may be repeated iteratively until convergence is achieved. The proposed multilevel approach is applied to several CNTs embedded in a cylindrical representative volume element and illustrated in detail. It shows that (i) the interaction between the CNT and the matrix should be taken into account and (ii) the buckling at nanoscale is sensitive to several types of local buckling modes.

• Advances in Computational Design
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.147-163
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• 2018

Cementitious composites are multiphase heterogeneous materials with distinct dissimilarity in strength under compression and tension (high under compression and very low under tension). At macro scale, the phenomenon can be well-explained as the material contains physical heterogeneity and pores. But, it is interesting to note that this dissimilarity initiates at molecular level where there is no heterogeneity. In this regard, molecular dynamics based computational investigations are carried out on cement clinkers and calcium silicate hydrate (C-S-H) under tension and compression to trace out the origin of dissimilarity. In the study, effect of strain rate, size of computational volume and presence of un-structured atoms on the obtained response is also investigated. It is identified that certain type of molecular interactions and the molecular structural parameters are responsible for causing the dissimilarity in behavior. Hence, the judiciously modified or tailored molecular structure would not only be able to reduce the extent of dissimilarity, it would also be capable of incorporating the desired properties in heterogeneous composites. The findings of this study would facilitate to take step to scientifically alter the structure of cementitious composites to attain the desired mechanical properties.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.193-200
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• 2018

This paper presents an experimental work for short circular steel tube columns filled with normal concrete (NAC), recycled aggregate concrete (RAC), and RAC with silica fume and steel fiber. Ten specimens were tested under axial compression to research the effect of silica fume and steel fiber volume percentage on the behavior of recycled aggregate concrete-filled steel tube columns (RACFST). The failure modes, ultimate loads and axial load- strain relationships are presented. The test results indicate that silica fume and steel fiber would not change the failure mode of the RACFST column, but can increase the mechanical performances of the RACFST column because of the filling effect and pozzolanic action of silica fume and the confinement effect of steel fiber. The ultimate load, ductility and energy dissipation capacity of RACFST columns can exceed that of corresponding natural aggregate concrete-filled steel tube (NACFST) column. Design formulas EC4 for the load capacity NACFST and RACFST columns are proposed, and the predictions agree well with the experimental results from this study.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.525-536
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• 2018

This paper focuses on the application of the first-order shear deformation theory (FSDT) to thermo-elastic static problems of functionally graded carbon nanotubes reinforced composite (FG-CNTRC) cylindrical pressure vessels. A symmetric displacement field is considered as unknown function along the longitudinal direction, whereas a linear distribution is assumed along the thickness direction. The cylindrical pressure vessels are subjected to an inner and outer pressure under a temperature increase. Different patterns of reinforcement are applied as distribution of CNTs. The effective material properties of FG-CNTRC cylindrical pressure vessels are measured based on the rule of mixture, whereas the governing equations of the problem are here derived through the principle of virtual works. A large parametric investigation studies the effect of some significant parameters, such as the pattern and volume fraction of CNTs, on the longitudinal distribution of deformation, strain and stress components, as useful tool for practical engineering applications.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.595-605
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• 2017

The present article reported the thermal buckling strength of the sandwich shell panel structure and subsequent improvement of the same by embedding shape memory alloy (SMA) fibre via a general higher-order mathematical model in conjunction with finite element method. The geometrical distortion of the panel structure due to the temperature is included using Green-Lagrange strain-displacement relations. In addition, the material nonlinearity of SMA fibre due to the elevated thermal environment also incorporated in the current analysis through the marching technique. The final form of the equilibrium equation is obtained by minimising the total potential energy functional and solved computationally with the help of an original MATLAB code. The convergence and the accuracy of the developed model are demonstrated by solving similar kind of published numerical examples including the necessary input parameter. After the necessary establishment of the newly developed numerical solution, the model is extended further to examine the effect of the different structural parameters (side-to-thickness ratios, curvature ratios, core-to-face thickness ratios, volume fractions of SMA fibre and end conditions) on the buckling strength of the SMA embedded sandwich composite shell panel including the different geometrical configurations.

• Proceeding of KASS Symposium
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• 2006.05a
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• pp.233-238
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• 2006

This paper provides a new topology optimization technique which is intended to maximize the fundamental frequency with simultaneous consideration of other natural frequencies in the form of multi-frequency problems. The modal strain energy is considered as the objective function to be minimized and the initial volume of structures is used as the constraint function. The resizing algorithm based on the optimality criteria is adopted to update the hole size existing inside the material. From numerical tests, the proposed technique is found to be very effective to maximize the fundamental frequency of the structure and it can also successfully consider several higher mode effects into the optimum topology of structure through the introduction of weights.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2017.05a
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• pp.160-162
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• 2017

When rubber elastomer has contact with fuel, since the component and additive having low molecular weight can flow out, the physical properties of both elastomer and fuel could be hindered. In order to predict the life of the rubber elastomer, this study is to determine the change of weight, thickness, hardness, strain, and compression set as mechanical properties of the sealant rubber O-ring, which was dependent on volume, temperature, and storage time of the contacted fuel. We also determined purity of fuel via GC analysis and measured gross heat of combution. The results could be used as a reference to evaluate the life of the rubber elastomer.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.551-570
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• 2012

An experimental program was carried out to investigate the influence of fibre reinforcement on the mechanical behaviour of high strength reinforced concrete beams. Eighteen beams, loaded in four-point bending tests, were examined by applying monotonically increasing controlled displacements and recording the response in terms of load-deflection curves up to failure. The major test variables were the volume fraction of steel fibres and the transverse steel amount for two different values of shear span. The contribution of the stirrups to the shear strength was derived from the deformations of their vertical legs, measured by means of strain gauges. The structural response of the tested beams was analyzed to evaluate strength, stiffness, energy absorption capacity and failure mode. The experimental results and observed behaviour are in good agreement with those obtained by other authors, confirming that an adequate amount of steel fibres in the concrete can be an alternative solution for minimizing the density of transverse reinforcement. However, the paper shows that the use of different theoretical or semi-empirical models, available in literature, leads to different predictions of the ultimate load in the case of dominant shear failure mode.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.545-560
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• 2010

Two or more distinct materials are combined into a single functionally graded material (FGM) where the microstructural composition and properties change gradually. Thermal post-buckling behavior of uniform slender FGM beams is investigated independently using the classical Rayleigh-Ritz (RR) formulation and the versatile Finite Element Analysis (FEA) formulation developed in this paper. The von-Karman strain-displacement relations are used to account for moderately large deflections of FGM beams. Bending-extension coupling arising due to heterogeneity of material through the thickness is included. Simply supported and clamped beams with axially immovable ends are considered in the present study. Post-buckling load versus deflection curves and buckled mode shapes obtained from both the RR and FEA formulations for different volume fraction exponents show an excellent agreement with the available literature results for simply supported ends. Response of the FGM beam with clamped ends is studied for the first time and the results from both the RR and FEA formulations show a very good agreement. Though the response of the FGM beam could have been studied more accurately by FEA formulation alone, the authors aim to apply the RR formulation is to find an approximate closed form post-buckling solutions for the FGM beams. Further, the use of the RR formulation clearly demonstrates the effect of bending-extension coupling on the post-buckling response of the FGM beams.