Performance evaluation of RC frame building by nonlinear static pushover analysis that accounts for elastic and post elastic behavior is becoming very popular as a valid decision making tool in seismic hazard resistant designs. Available literature suggests great amount of interest has shown by researchers in suggesting refinements to geometric and material modelling to bridge the gap between analytical predictions and observed performances. Notwithstanding the attempts gaps still exists. Sequence of plastic hinge formation which has great influence on pushover analysis results is an area less investigated. This paper attempts to highlight the importance of hinge sequence considerations to make analysis results more meaningful. Variation in analysis results due to different hinge sequences have been quantified, compared and bounds on analysis results have been presented.

This paper examines the seismic responses of a reinforced concrete (RC) frame core-tube building with pre-pressed spring self-centering energy dissipation (PS-SCED) braces. The PS-SCED brace system consists of friction devices for energy dissipation, pre-pressed combination disc springs for self-centering and tube members as guiding elements. A constitutive model of self-centering flag-shaped hysteresis for PS-SCED brace is developed to better simulate the seismic responses of the RC frame core-tube building with PS-SCED braces, which is also verified by the tests of two braces under low cyclic reversed loading. Results indicate that the self-centering and energy dissipation capabilities are well predicted by the proposed constitutive model of the PS-SCED brace. The structure with PS-SCED braces presents similar peak story drift ratio, smaller peak acceleration, smaller base shear force and much smaller residual deformations as compared to the RC frame core-tube building with bucking-restrained braces (BRBs).

Energy induced by minor earthquake and micro vibration cannot be dissipated by traditional buckling-restrained braces (BRBs). To solve this problem, a new type of hybrid passive control device, named as VE-BRB, which is configured by a BRB with high-damping viscoelastic (VE) layers, is developed and studied. Theoretical analysis, performance tests, numerical simulation and case analysis are conducted to study the seismic behavior of VE-BRBs. The results indicate that the combination of hysteretic and damping devices lead to a multi-phased nature and good performance. VE-BRB's working state can be divided into three phases: before yielding of the steel core, VE layers provide sufficient damping ratio to mitigate minor vibrations; after yielding of the steel core, the steel's hysteretic deformations provide supplemental dissipative capacity for structures; after rupture of the steel core, VE layers are still able to work normally and provide multiple security assurance for structures. The simulation results agreed well with the experimental results, validating the finite element analysis method, constitutive models and the identified parameters. The comparison of the time history analysis on a 6-story frame with VE-BRBs and BRBs verified the advantages of VE-BRB for seismic protection of structures compared with traditional BRB. In general, VE-BRB had the potential to provide better control effect on structural displacement and shear in all stages than BRB as expected.

Subway tunnel structure has been rapidly developed in many cities for its strong transport capacity. The model-based damage detection of subway tunnel structure is usually difficult due to the complex modeling of soil-structure interaction, the indetermination of boundary and so on. This paper proposes a new data-based method for the damage detection of subway tunnel structure. The root mean square acceleration and cross correlation function are used to derive a statistical pattern recognition algorithm for damage detection. A damage sensitive feature is proposed based on the root mean square deviations of the cross correlation functions. X-bar control charts are utilized to monitor the variation of the damage sensitive features before and after damage. The proposed algorithm is validated by the experiment of a full-scale two-rings subway tunnel lining, and damages are simulated by loosening the connection bolts of the rings. The results verify that root mean square deviation is sensitive to bolt loosening in the tunnel lining and X-bar control charts are feasible to be used in damage detection. The proposed data-based damage detection method is applicable to the online structural health monitoring system of subway tunnel lining.

Detection of damages in fibre reinforced plastic (FRP) composite structures is important from the safety and serviceability point of view. Usually, damage is realized as a local reduction of stiffness and if dynamic responses of the structure are sensitive enough to such changes in stiffness, then a well posed inverse problem can provide an efficient solution to the damage detection problem. Usually, such inverse problems are solved within the framework of pattern recognition. Support Vector Machine (SVM) Algorithm is one such methodology, which minimizes the weighted differences between the experimentally observed dynamic responses and those computed using the finite element model- by optimizing appropriately chosen parameters, such as stiffness. A damage detection strategy is hereby proposed using SVM which perform stepwise by first locating and then determining the severity of the damage. The SVM algorithm uses simulations of only a limited number of damage scenarios and trains the algorithm in such a way so as to detect damages at unknown locations by recognizing the pattern of changes in dynamic responses. A rectangular fiber reinforced plastic composite plate has been investigated both numerically and experimentally to observe the efficiency of the SVM algorithm for damage detection. Experimentally determined modal responses, such as natural frequencies and mode shapes are used as observable parameters. The results are encouraging since a high percentage of damage cases have been successfully determined using the proposed algorithm.

The commonly used TMD design method in the project assumes the TMD has pure linearity. However, in real engineering TMD will exhibit nonlinear behaviors. Without considering the nonlinearity of TMD, the control effect of the TMD that is designed by the linear design method, may be worse and even enlarge the structural response. In this paper, based on the previous study results of nonlinear TMD, the improved design method for engineering application is proposed. The linear design method and the improved design method are compared. Taking the best parameter obtained by the improved design method is less than or equal to 90% of that obtained by the original design method as the dividing line. The critical nonlinear coefficient, reaching which value the improved design method needs to be used, is given. Finally, numerical simulations on two engineering examples are conducted to proof the results.

In this study, an investigation of a damage detection methodology for global condition assessment is presented. A particular emphasis is put on the utilization of wireless sensors for more practical, less time consuming, less expensive and safer monitoring and eventually maintenance purposes. Wireless sensors are deployed with a sensor roving technique to maintain a dense sensor field yet requiring fewer sensors. The time series analysis method called ARX models (Auto-Regressive models with eXogeneous input) for different sensor clusters is implemented for the exploration of artificially induced damage and their locations. The performance of the technique is verified by making use of the data sets acquired from a 4-span bridge-type steel structure in a controlled laboratory environment. In that, the free response vibration data of the structure for a specific sensor cluster is measured by both wired and wireless sensors and the acceleration output of each sensor is used as an input to ARX model to estimate the response of the reference channel of that cluster. Using both data types, the ARX based time series analysis method is shown to be effective for damage detection and localization along with the interpretations and conclusions.

Plate and shell structure is widely applied in engineering, i.e. building roofs, aircraft wings, ship platforms, and satellite solar arrays. Its vibration problem has become increasingly prominent due to the tendency of lightening, upsizing and flexibility. As a new smart material with great actuating force and toughness, macro-fiber composite (MFC) is composed of piezoelectric fiber and epoxy resin basal body, which can be directly pasted onto the surface of plate and shell and is suitable for vibration control. This paper deduces the actuation equation of MFC coupled plate in different boundary conditions, an equivalent finite element modeling method is proposed which uses MFC actuating force as the applied excitation, and on this basis the active control simulation and experiment of MFC over plate and shell structure vibration are accomplished. The results indicate that MFC is able to implement effective control over plate and shell structure vibration in multi-band range. The comparison between experiment and simulation proves that the actuation equation deduced herein, effective and practicable, can be applied into the simulation calculation of MFC vibration control over plate and shell structure.

The presence of water inside concrete structures is an essential condition for the deterioration of the structures. The free water in the concrete pores and micro-cracks is the culprit for the durability related problems, such as alkali-aggregate reaction, carbonation, freeze-thaw damage, and corrosion of steel reinforcement. To ensure the integrity and safe operation of the concrete structures, it is very important to monitor water seepage inside the concrete. This paper presents the experimental investigation of water seepage monitoring in a concrete slab using piezoelectric-based smart aggregates. In the experimental setup, an $800mm{\times}800mm{\times}100mm$ concrete slab was fabricated with 15 SAs distributed inside the slab. The water seepage process was monitored through interrogating the SA pairs. In each SA pair, one SA was used as actuator to emit harmonic sine wave, and the other was used as sensor to receive the transmitted stress wave. The amplitudes of the received signals were able to indicate the water seepage process inside the concrete slab.