In this work, a review of mechanical metamaterials and seismic protection systems that use them is carried out, focusing on passive protection systems. During the last years, a wide variety of classical systems of seismic protection have demonstrated to be an effective and practical way of reducing the seismic vulnerability of buildings, maintaining their health and structural integrity. However, with the emergence of metamaterials, which allow obtaining uncommon mechanical properties, new procedures and devices with high performance have been developed, reducing the seismic risk through novel approaches such as: seismic shields and the redirection of seismic waves; the use of stop band gaps and the construction of buried mass resonators; the design of pentamodal base isolators. These ideas are impacting traditional areas of structural engineering such as the design and building of highly efficient base isolation systems. In this work, recent advances in new seismic protection technologies and researches that integrate mechanical metamaterials are presented. A complete bibliometric analysis was carried out to identify and classify relevant authors and works related with passive seismic protection system based on mechanical metamaterial (pSPSmMMs). Finally, possible future scenarios for study and development of seismic isolators based on mechanical metamaterials are shown, identifying the relevant topics that have not yet been explored, as well as those with the greatest potential for future application.

This study proposes a novel longitudinal self-centering earthquake resistant system for reinforced concrete (RC) continuous bridges by using superelastic shape memory alloy (SMA) reinforcement and friction dissipation mechanism. The SMA reinforcing bars are implemented in the fixed piers to provide self-recentering forces, while the friction dampers are used at the movable substructures like end abutments to enhance the energy dissipation of the bridge system. A reasonable balance between self-centering and energy dissipation capacities should be well achieved by properly selecting the parameters of the SMA rebars and friction dampers. A two-span continuous bridge with one fixed pier and two abutments is chosen as a prototype for illustration. Different longitudinal earthquake resistant systems including the proposed one in this study are investigated and compared. The results indicate that compared with the designs of over-dissipation (e.g., excessive friction) and over-self-centering (e.g., pure SMAs), the proposed system with balanced design between self-centering and energy dissipation would perform satisfactorily in controlling both the peak and residual displacement ratios of the bridge system.

Some of the control systems used in engineering structures that use sensors and decision systems have some time delay reducing efficiency of the control system or even might make it unstable. In this research, in addition to considering the effect of the time delay in vibration control process, predictive control is used to compensate the time delay. A semi-active vibration control approach with the help of magneto-rheological dampers is implemented. In addition to using fuzzy inference system to determine the appropriate control voltage for MR damper, structural behavior prediction system and specifying future responses are also used such that the time delays occurring within control process are overcome. For this purpose, determination of prediction horizon is conducted for one, five, and ten steps ahead for single degree of freedom structures with periods ranging from 0.1 to 4 seconds, subjected to twenty earthquake excitations. The amount of time delay applied to the control system is 0.1 seconds. The obtained results indicate that for 0.1 second time delay, average prediction error values compared to the case without time delay is 3.47 percent. Having 0.1 second time delay in a semi-active control system reduces its efficiency by 11.46 percent; while after providing the control system with structure behavior prediction, the difference in the results for the control system without time delay is just 1.35 percent on average; indicating a 10.11 percent performance improvement for the control system.

We investigated the influence of variable thermal conductivity on waves propagating through the elastic medium. Infinitesimal deformation results in generation of thermal signal, and is analyzed by using dual phase lag heat (DPL) conduction model. The medium considered is homogenous, isotropic and bounded by thermal shock. The elastic waves propagating through the medium are considered to be harmonic in nature, and expressions for the physical variables are obtained accordingly. Analytically, we obtained the expressions for displacement components, temperature, micro-temperature component and stresses. The theoretical results obtained are computed graphically for the particular medium by using MATLAB.

A mathematical model of Lord-Shulman photo-thermal theorem induced by pulse heat flux is presented to study the propagations waves for plasma, thermal and elastic in two-dimensional semiconductor materials. The medium is assumed initially quiescent. By using Laplace-Fourier transforms with the eigenvalue method, the variables are obtained analytically. A semiconductor medium such as silicon is investigated. The displacements, stresses, the carrier density and temperature distributions are calculated numerically and clarified graphically. The outcomes show that thermal relaxation time has varying degrees of effects on the studying fields.

This article investigates the nonlinear behavior of two-directional functionally graded materials (TDFGM) doubly curved panels with porosities for the first time. An improved and effectual approach is established based on the improved first-order shear deformation shell theory (IFSDST) and von Karman's type nonlinearity. The IFSDST considers the effects of shear deformation without the need for a shear correction factor. The composition of TDFGM constitutes four different materials, and the modified power-law function is employed to vary the material properties continuously in both thickness and longitudinal directions. A nonlinear finite element method in conjunction with Hamilton's principle is used to obtain the governing equations. Then, the direct iterative method is incorporated to accomplish the numerical results using the frequency-amplitude, nonlinear central deflection relations. Finally, the influence of volume fraction grading indices, porosity distributions, porosity volume, curvature ratio, thickness ratio, and aspect ratio provides a thorough insight into the linear and nonlinear responses of the porous curved panels. Meanwhile, this study emphasizes the influence of the volume fraction gradation profiles in conjunction with the various material and geometrical parameters on the linear frequency, nonlinear frequency, and deflection of the TDFGM porous shells. The numerical analysis reveals that the frequencies and nonlinear deformations can be significantly regulated by changing the volume fraction gradation profiles in a specified direction with an appropriate combination of materials. Hence, TDFGM panels can overcome the drawbacks of the functionally graded materials with a gradation of properties in a single direction.

A model experiment with a scale of 1:150 has been conducted to investigate the dynamic responses of a freestanding four-column bridge tower subjected to regular wave, random wave and coupled wave-current actions. The base shear forces of the caisson foundation and the dynamic behaviors of the superstructure were measured and analyzed. The comparisons of the test values with the theoretical values shows that wave-induced base shear forces on the bridge caisson foundation can be approximated by using a wave force calculation method in which the structure is assumed to be fixed and rigid. Although the mean square errors of the base shear forces excited by joint random wave and current actions are approximately equal to those excited by pure random waves, the existence of a forward current increases the forward base shear forces and decreases the backward base shear forces. The tower top displacements excited by wave-currents are similar to those excited by waves, suggesting that a current does not significantly affect the dynamic responses of the superstructure of the bridge tower. The experiment results can be used as a reference for similar engineering design.

The multi-rigid-body matrix method (MRBMM) is a generalized modeling method for obtaining the displacements, forces, and dynamic characteristics of a compliant mechanism without performing inner-force analysis. The method discretizes a compliant mechanism of any type into flexure hinges and rigid bodies by implementing a multi-body mass-spring model using coordinate transformations in a matrix form. However, in this method, the deformations of bodies that are assumed to be rigid are inherently omitted. Consequently, it may yield erroneous results in certain mechanisms. In this paper, we present a multi-compliant-body matrix-method (MCBMM) that considers a rigid body as a compliant element, while retaining the generalized framework of the MRBMM. In the MCBMM, a rigid body in the MRBMM is segmented into a certain number of body nodes and flexure hinges. The proposed method was verified using two examples: the first (an XY positioning stage) demonstrated that the MCBMM outperforms the MRBMM in estimating the static deformation and dynamic mode. In the second example (a bridge-type displacement amplification mechanism), the MCBMM estimated the displacement amplification ratio more accurately than several previously proposed modeling methods.

The effect of mean angle of wind attack on the flutter critical wind speed of two generic bridge deck cross-sections, viz, one closed box type streamlined section (deck-1) and closed box trapezoidal bluff type section with extended flanges/overhangs (deck-2) type of section have been studied using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) based forced vibration simulation method. Owing to the importance of the effect of the amplitude of forcing oscillation on the flutter onset, its effect on the flutter derivatives and flutter onset have been studied, especially at non-zero mean angles of wind attack. The flutter derivatives obtained have been used to evaluate flutter critical wind speeds and flutter index of the deck sections at non-zero mean angles of wind attack studied and the same have been validated with those based on experimental results reported in literature. The value of amplitude of forcing oscillation in torsional degree of freedom for CFD based simulations is suggested to be in the range of 0.5° to 2°, especially for bluff bridge deck sections. Early onset of flutter from numerical simulations, thereby conservative estimate of occurrence of instability has been observed from numerical simulations in case of bluff bridge deck section. The study aids in gaining confidence and the extent of applicability of CFD during early stages of bridge design, especially towards carrying out studies on mean incident wind effects.

Fly ash (FA) is the main additive to concretes currently produced. This substitute of ordinary Portland cement (OPC) have a positive effect on the structure and mechanical parameters of mature concrete. Unfortunately, the problem of using FA as the OPC replacement is that it significantly reduces the performance of concretes in the early stages of their curing. This limits the possibility of using this type of concrete, e.g., in the prefabrication, where it is required to obtain high strength composites after short periods of their curing. In order to minimize these negative effects, research has been undertaken to increase the early strength of the concretes with FA through the application of a specially dedicated chemical nanoadmixture (NA) in the form of seeds of the C-S-H phase. Therefore, this paper presents results of tests of modified concretes both with the addition of FA and with NA. The analyses were carried out based on the results of the macroscopic and microstructural tests in 5 time periods, i.e. after: 4, 8, 12, 24 and 72 hours. The greatest increase in mechanical strength parameters and rapid development of the basic matrix phases in composites in the first 12 hours of composites curing was observed.