• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.363-376
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• 2001

Sandwich plates are widely used in lightweight design due to their high strength and stiffness to weight ratio. Due to the heterogeneous structure of sandwich plates, they can exhibit local instabilities (wrinkling), which lead to a sudden loss of stiffness in the structure. This paper presents an analytical solution to the wrinkling problem of sandwich plates. The solution is based on the Rayleigh-Ritz method, by assuming an appropriate deformation field. In contrast to the other approaches up to now, this model takes arbitrary and different orthotropic face layers, finite core thickness and orthotropic core material into account. This approach is the first to cover the wrinkling of unsymmetric sandwiches and sandwiches composed of orthotropic FRP face layers, which are most common in advanced lightweight design. Despite the generality of the solution, the computational effort is kept within bounds. The results have been verified using other analytical solutions and unit cell 3D FE calculations.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.303-309
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• 2008

Deficiency of collagen regeneration, denaturalization of elastic fibers, and promotion of reactive oxygen species formation are important factors for deterioration of skin function. They induce wrinckle formation and decrease skin elasticity. Vitamin C and its derivatives have been used as cosmetic ingredients for anti-aging effects but their chemical instability has been a major problem. In an attempt to develop a novel anti-aging agent with a improved stability and bioactivity, the anti-wrinkle effect of 3-O-cetyl-L-ascorbic acid (VCCE), a new vitamin C derivative, was investigated in this study. VCCE increased procollagen type-1 synthesis in a dose-dependent manner (149% at 0.002%) in cultured fiboroblasts. Its potent anti-wrinkle effect was confirmed in vivo by analyzing human skin replica by a visiometer and the PRIMOS system. It did not cause any irritation in human patch test. Taken together, our findings suggest that the VCCE has potential benefits applicable to cosmetics for anti-wrinkle effects.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.3 no.5
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• pp.719-747
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• 2012

In this paper a novel approach is proposed to address the problem of deriving non-stationary stochastic processes which are compatible in the mean sense with a given (target) response (uniform hazard) spectrum (UHS) as commonly desired in the aseismic structural design regulated by contemporary codes of practice. The appealing feature of the approach is that it is non-iterative and "one-step". This is accomplished by solving a standard over-determined minimization problem in conjunction with appropriate median peak factors. These factors are determined by a plethora of reported new Monte Carlo studies which on their own possess considerable stochastic dynamics merit. In the proposed approach, generation and treatment of samples of the processes individually on a deterministic basis is not required as is the case with the various "two-step" approaches found in the literature addressing the herein considered task. The applicability and usefulness of the approach is demonstrated by furnishing extensive numerical data associated with the elastic design UHS of the current European (EC8) and the Chinese (GB 50011) aseismic code provisions. Purposely, simple and thus attractive from a practical viewpoint, uniformly modulated processes assuming either the Kanai-Tajimi (K-T) or the Clough-Penzien (C-P) spectral form are employed. The Monte Carlo studies yield damping and duration dependent median peak factor spectra, given in a polynomial form, associated with the first passage problem for UHS compatible K-T and C-P uniformly modulated stochastic processes. Hopefully, the herein derived stochastic processes and median peak factor spectra can be used to facilitate the aseismic design of structures regulated by contemporary code provisions in a Monte Carlo simulation-based or stochastic dynamics-based context of analysis.

• Coupled systems mechanics
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2012

The problem of laterally loaded piles is particularly a complex soil-structure interaction problem. The flexural stresses developed due to the combined action of axial load and bending moment must be evaluated in a realistic and rational manner for safe and economical design of pile foundation. The paper reports the finite element analysis of pile groups. For this purpose simplified models along the lines similar to that suggested by Desai et al. (1981) are used for idealizing various elements of the foundation system. The pile is idealized one dimensional beam element, pile cap as two dimensional plate element and the soil as independent closely spaced linearly elastic springs. The analysis takes into consideration the effect of interaction between pile cap and soil underlying it. The pile group is considered to have been embedded in cohesive soil. The parametric study is carried out to examine the effect of pile spacing, pile diameter, number of piles and arrangement of pile on the responses of pile group. The responses considered include the displacement at top of pile group and bending moment in piles. The results obtained using the simplified approach of the F.E. analysis are further compared with the results of the complete 3-D F.E. analysis published earlier and fair agreement is observed in the either result.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.95-102
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• 2014

In this paper, a coupling scheme for applying finite element analysis(FEA) programs, such as, LS-DYNA and MIDAS/Civil, to a nonlinear soil structure interaction analysis by the boundary reaction method(BRM) is presented. With the FEA programs, the structure and soil media are discretized by linear or nonlinear finite elements. To absorb the outgoing elastic waves to unbounded soil region as much as possible, the PML elements and viscous-spring elements are used at the outer FE boundary, in the LS-DYNA model and in MIDAS/Civil model, respectively. It is also assumed that all the nonlinear elements in the problem are limited to structural region. In this study, the boundary reaction forces for the use in the BRM are calculated using the KIESSI-3D program by solving soil-foundation interaction problem subjected to incident seismic waves. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is demonstrated with a linear SSI seismic analysis problem by comparing the BRM solution with the conventional SSI solution. Numerical comparison indicates that the BRM can effectively be applied to a nonlinear soil-structure analysis if motions at the foundation obtained by the BRM for a linear SSI problem excluding the nonlinear structure is conservative.

• Coupled systems mechanics
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.289-309
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• 2020

The paper studies the fluid flow profile contained between the orthotropic plate and rigid wall under the action of the moving load on the plate and main attention is focused on the fluid velocity profile in the load moving direction. It is assumed that the plate material is orthotropic one and the fluid is viscous and barotropic compressible. The plane-strain state in the plate and the plane flow of the fluid is considered. The motion of the plate is described by utilizing the exact equations of elastodynamics for anisotropic bodies, however, the flow of the fluid by utilizing the linearized Navier-Stokes equations. For the solution of the corresponding boundary value problem, the moving coordinate system associated with the moving load is introduced, after which the exponential Fourier transformation is employed with respect to the coordinate which indicates the distance of the material points from the moving load. The exact analytical expressions for the Fourier transforms of the sought values are obtained, the originals of which are determined numerically. Presented numerical results and their analyses are focused on the question of how the moving load acting on the face plane of the plate which is not in the contact with the fluid can cause the fluid flow and what type profile has this flow along the thickness direction of the strip filled by the fluid and, finally, how this profile changes ahead and behind with the distance of the moving load.

• International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.261-273
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• 2017

The control of the deformative behaviour of pre-stressed concrete roof elements for a satisfactory service performance is a main issue of their structural design. Slender light-weight wing-shaped roof elements, typical of the European heritage, are particularly sensitive to this problem. The paper presents the results of deformation measurements during storage and of both torsional-flexural and purely flexural load tests carried out on a full-scale 40.5 m long innovative wing-shaped roof element. An element-based simplified integral procedure that de-couples the evolution of the deflection profile with the progressive shortening of the beam is adopted to catch the experimental visco-elastic behaviour of the element and the predictions are compared with normative close-form solutions. A linear 3D fem model is developed to investigate the torsional-flexural behaviour of the member. A mechanical non-linear beam model is used to predict the purely flexural behaviour of the roof member in the pre- and post-cracking phases and to validate the loss prediction of the adopted procedure. Both experimental and numerical results highlight that the adopted analysis method is viable and sound for an accurate simulation of the service behaviour of precast roof elements.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.1-28
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• 2015

In this paper, the dynamic response of functionally gradient steel (FGS) composite cylindrical panels in steady-state thermal environments subjected to impulsive loads is investigated for the first time. FGSs composed of graded ferritic and austenitic regions together with bainite and martensite intermediate layers are analyzed. Thermo-mechanical material properties of FGS composites are predicted according to the microhardness profile of FGS composites and approximated with appropriate functions. Based on the three-dimensional theory of thermo-elasticity, the governing equations of motionare derived in spatial and time domains. These equations are solved using the hybrid Fourier series expansion-Galerkin finite element method-Newmark approach for simply supported boundary conditions. The present solution is then applied to the thermo-elastic dynamic analysis of cylindrical panels with three different arrangements of material compositions of FGSs including ${\alpha}{\beta}{\gamma}M{\gamma}$, ${\alpha}{\beta}{\gamma}{\beta}{\alpha}$ and ${\gamma}{\beta}{\alpha}{\beta}{\gamma}$ composites. Benchmark results on the displacement and stress time-histories of FGS cylindrical panels in thermal environments under various pulse loads are presented and discussed in detail. Due to the absence of similar results in the specialized literature, this paper is likely to fill a gap in the state of the art of this problem, and provide pertinent results that are instrumental in the design of FGS structures under time-dependent mechanical loadings.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.1143-1179
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• 2016

Offshore wind turbines are considered as a fundamental part to develop substantial, alternative energy sources. In this highly flexible structures, monopiles are usually used as support foundations. Since the monopiles are large diameter (3.5 to 7 m) deep foundations, they result in extremely stiff short monopiles where the slenderness (length to diameter) may range between 5 and 10. Consequently, their elastic deformation patterns under lateral loading differ from those of small diameter monopiles usually employed for supporting structures in offshore oil and gas industry. For this reason, design recommendations (API and DNV) are not appropriate for designing foundations for offshore wind turbine structures as they have been established on the basis of full-scale load tests on long, slender and flexible piles. Furthermore, as these facilities are very sensitive to rotations and dynamic changes in the soil-pile system, the accurate prediction of monopile head displacement and rotation constitutes a design criterion of paramount importance. In this paper, the Fourier Series Aided Finite Element Method (FSAFEM) is employed for the determination of static impedance functions of monopiles for OWT subjected to horizontal force and/or to an overturning moment, where a non-homogeneous soil profile has been considered. On the basis of an extensive parametric study, and in order to address the problem of head stiffness of short monopiles, approximate analytical formulae are obtained for lateral stiffness $K_L$, rotational stiffness $K_R$ and cross coupling stiffness $K_{LR}$ for both rough and smooth interfaces. Theses expressions which depend only on the values of the monopile slenderness $L/D_p$ rather than the relative soil/monopile rigidity $E_p/E_s$ usually found in the offshore platforms designing codes (DNV code for example) have been incorporated in the expressions of the OWT natural frequency of four wind farm sites. Excellent agreement has been found between the computed and the measured natural frequencies.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.400-425
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• 2018

This study presents the research results and current status of the DECOVALEX-2019 project Task B. Task B named 'Fault slip modelling' is aiming at developing a numerical method to simulate the coupled hydro-mechanical behavior of fault, including slip or reactivation, induced by water injection. The first research step of Task B is a benchmark simulation which is designed for the modelling teams to familiarize themselves with the problem and to set up their own codes to reproduce the hydro-mechanical coupling between the fault hydraulic transmissivity and the mechanically-induced displacement. We reproduced the coupled hydro-mechanical process of fault slip using TOUGH-FLAC simulator. The fluid flow along a fault was modelled with solid elements and governed by Darcy's law with the cubic law in TOUGH2, whereas the mechanical behavior of a single fault was represented by creating interface elements between two separating rock blocks in FLAC3D. A methodology to formulate the hydro-mechanical coupling relations of two different hydraulic aperture models and link the solid element of TOUGH2 and the interface element of FLAC3D was suggested. In addition, we developed a coupling module to update the changes in geometric features (mesh) and hydrological properties of fault caused by water injection at every calculation step for TOUGH-FLAC simulator. Then, the transient responses of the fault, including elastic deformation, reactivation, progressive evolutions of pathway, pressure distribution and water injection rate, to stepwise pressurization were examined during the simulations. The results of the simulations suggest that the developed model can provide a reasonable prediction of the hydro-mechanical behavior related to fault reactivation. The numerical model will be enhanced by continuing collaboration and interaction with other research teams of DECOLVAEX-2019 Task B and validated using the field data from fault activation experiments in a further study.