• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.93-109
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• 2019

In the present study, vibration analysis of double bonded micro sandwich cylindrical shells with saturated porous core and carbon/boron nitride nanotubes (CNT/BNNT) reinforced composite face sheets under multi-physical loadings based on Cooper-Naghdi theory is investigated. The material properties of the micro structure are assumed to be temperature dependent, and each of the micro-tubes is placed on the Pasternak elastic foundations, and mechanical, moisture, thermal, electrical, and magnetic forces are effective on the structural behavior. The distributions of porous materials in three distributions such as non-linear non-symmetric, nonlinear-symmetric, and uniform are considered. The relationship including electro-magneto-hydro-thermo-mechanical loadings based on modified couple stress theory is obtained and moreover the governing equations of motion using the energy method and the Hamilton's principle are derived. Also, Navier's type solution is also used to solve the governing equations of motion. The effects of various parameters such as material length scale parameter, temperature change, various distributions of nanotube, volume fraction of nanotubes, porosity and Skempton coefficients, and geometric parameters on the natural frequency of double bonded micro sandwich cylindrical shells are investigated. Increasing the porosity and the Skempton coefficients of the core in micro sandwich cylindrical shell lead to increase the natural frequency of the structure. Cylindrical shells and porous materials in the industry of filters and separators, heat exchangers and coolers are widely used and are generally accepted today.

• Composites Research
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.211-215
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• 2019

The cell culture process under in vitro condition is much different from the actual human body environment. Therefore, in order to precisely simulate the human body environment, a dynamic cell culture device capable of delivering mechanical stimulation to cells is essential. However, conventional dynamic cell culture devices require relatively complicated devices such as tubes, pumps, and motors, and the mechanical stimuli delivered is also simple. In this study, an electro-active polymer actuator as a driving component is introduced to design simply driven dynamic cell culture device without complicated components. The device is capable of delivering relatively complex mechanical stimuli to the cells.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.38 no.5
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• pp.497-521
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• 2021

In this study, an effective numerical method is introduced for nonlinear inelastic analyses of rectangular concrete-filled steel tubular (CFST) frames for the first time. A steel-concrete composite fiber beam-column element model is developed that considers material, and geometric nonlinearities, and residual stresses. This is achieved by using stability functions combined with integration points along the element length to capture the spread of plasticity over the composite cross-section along the element length. Additionally, a multi-spring element with a zero-length is employed to model the nonlinear semi-rigid beam-to-column connections in CFST frame models. To solve the nonlinear equilibrium equations, the generalized displacement control algorithm is adopted. The accuracy of the proposed method is firstly verified by a large number of experiments of CFST members subjected to various loading conditions. Subsequently, the proposed method is applied to investigate the nonlinear inelastic behavior of rectangular CFST frames with fully rigid, semi-rigid, and hinged connections. The accuracy of the predicted results and the efficiency pertaining to the computation time of the proposed method are demonstrated in comparison with the ABAQUS software. The proposed numerical method may be efficiently utilized in practical designs for advanced analysis of the rectangular CFST structures.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.759-772
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• 2022

Concrete-filled double skinned steel tubular (CFDST) columns have been used to construct modern structures such as tall buildings and bridges as well as infrastructures as they provide better, lesser weight, and greater stiffness in structural performance than conventional reinforced concrete or steel members. Different shapes of CFDST columns may be needed to satisfy the architectural and aesthetic criteria. In the study, three-dimensional FE simulations of circular and elliptical CFDST columns under axial compression were developed and verified through the experimental test data from the perspectives of full load-displacement histories, ultimate axial strengths, and failure modes. The verified FE models were used to investigate and compare the structural performance of CFDST columns with circular and elliptical cross-section shapes by evaluating the overall load-deformation curves, interaction stress-deformation responses, and composite actions of the column. At last, the accuracy of available design models in predicting the ultimate axial strengths of CFST columns were investigated. Research results showed that circular and elliptical CFDST column behaviors were generally similar. The overall structural performance of circular CFDST columns was relatively improved compared to the elliptical CFDST column.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.833-852
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• 2015

Self-compacting Concrete Filled steel Tubes (SCFT), which combines the advantages of steel and concrete materials, can be applied to strengthen the RC columns. In order to investigate the eccentric loading behavior of the strengthened columns, this paper presents an experimental and numerical investigation on them. The experimental results showed that the use of SCFT is interesting since the ductility and the bearing capacity of the RC columns are greatly improved. And the performance of strengthened columns is significantly affected by four parameters: column section type (circular and square), wall thickness of the steel tube, designed strength grade of strengthening concrete and initial eccentricity. In the numerical program, a generic fiber element model which takes in account the effect of confinement is developed to predict the behavior of the strengthened columns subjected to eccentric loading. After the fiber element analysis was verified against experimental results, a simple design formula based on the model is proposed to calculate the ultimate eccentric strength. Calibration of the calculated results against the test results shows that the design formula closely estimates the ultimate capacities of the eccentrically compressed strengthened columns by 5%.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.97-114
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• 2014

This paper deals with a study on ultimate strength behaviour of eccentrically loaded CFT columns with and without shear connectors. Thirty specimens are subjected to experimental investigation under eccentric loading condition. P-M curves are generated for all the test specimens and critical eccentricities are evaluated. Three different D/t ratios such as 21, 25 and 29 and L/D ratios varying from 5 to 20 are considered as experimental parameters. Six specimens of bare steel tubes as reference specimens, twelve specimens of CFT columns without shear connectors and twelve specimens of CFT columns with shear connectors, in total thirty specimens are tested. The P-M values at the ultimate failure load of experimental study are found to be well agreed with the results of the proposed P-M interaction model. The load-deflection and load-strain behaviour of the experimental column specimens are presented. The behaviour of the CFT columns with and without shear connectors is compared. Experimental results indicate that the percentage increase in load carrying capacity of CFT columns with shear connectors compared to the ordinary CFT columns is found to be insignificant with a value ranging from 6% to 13%. However, the ductility factor of columns with shear connectors exhibit higher values than that of the CFT columns without shear connectors. This paper presents the proposed P-M interaction model and experimental results under varying parameters such as D/t and L/D ratios.

• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.223-232
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• 2018

Two novel types of construction detailings, including using the distributive beam and the inner ring diaphragm in the joint between large-section CFT columns and outrigger truss to enhance the transferring efficiency of huge vertical load, and using the T-shaped stiffeners in the steel tube of large-section CFT columns to promote the local buckling capacity of steel tubes, were tested to investigate their working mechanism and design methods. Experimental results show that the co-working performance between steel tube and inner concrete could be significantly improved by setting the distributive beam and the inner ring diaphragm which can transfer the vertical load directly in the large-section CFT columns. Meanwhile, the T-shaped stiffeners are very helpful to improve the local bulking performance of steel tubes in the column components by the composite action of T-shaped stiffeners together with the core concrete under the range of flange of T-shaped stiffeners. These two approaches can result in a lower steel cost in comparison to normal steel reinforced concrete columns. Finally, a practical engineering case was introduced to illustrate the economy benefits achieved by using the two typical detailings.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.821-835
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• 2016

The paper presents an experimental study of the structural behavior of circular flyash-concrete-filled steel tubular stub columns under axial compressive loads. In this study, 90% and 100% by weight of the cement in the concrete core was replaced with flyash. Twenty-seven specimens were tested to study the influence of flyash content, wall thickness of the steel tube, and curing age on the ultimate capacity and confinement effect. The experimental results were compared with the design values calculated using AISC-LRFD (1999), ACI (1999), AIJ (1997) and Eurocode 4 (1994). From the experimental study, it was determined that the confinement effect of circular steel tubes filled with high content flyash concrete was better than that of specimens filled with ordinary Portland cement concrete. The 5.88-mm-thick steel tube filled with 100% flyash concrete was equivalent in strength to a steel tube filled with C30 concrete at 28 days.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.1193-1203
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• 2016

This paper focuses on the analytical behavior of modular circular concrete-filled tubular (CFT) column with enhanced bracing details. To design a full-scale bridge pier of multiple circular concrete-filled tubes, numerical analysis was used to evaluate structural performance according to load directivity. In previous research (Ma et al. 2012, Shim et al. 2014), low cycle fatigue failure at bracing joints was observed, so enhanced bracing details to prevent premature failure are proposed in this analysis. The main purpose of this research is to investigate seismic performance for the diagonal direction load without premature failure at the joints when the structure reaches the ultimate load. The ABAQUS finite-element software is used to evaluate experimental performance. A quasi-static loading condition on a modular bridge pier is introduced to investigate structural performance. The results obtained from the analysis are evaluated by comparing with load-displacement responses from experiments. The concrete-filled tubes with enhanced bracing details showed higher energy dissipation capacity and proper performance without connection failure for a diagonal load.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.1323-1343
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• 2016

This paper presents the results of an extensive numerical analysis program devoted to the investigation of the mechanical behaviour of bolted ball-cylinder joints. The analysis program is developed by means of finite element (FE) models implemented in the non-linear code ABAQUS. The FE models have been accurately calibrated on the basis of available experimental results. It is indicated that the FE models could be used effectively to describe the mechanical performance of bolted ball-cylinder joints, including failure modes, stress distributions and load-displacement curves. Therefore, the proposed FE models could be regarded as an efficient and accurate tool to investigate the mechanical behavior of bolted ball-cylinder joints. In addition, to develop a further investigation, parametric studies were performed, varying the dimensions of hollow cylinders, rectangular tubes, convex washers and ribbed stiffener. It is found that the dimensions of hollow cylinders, rectangular tubes and ribbed stiffener influenced the mechanical behaviour of bolted ball-cylinder joints significantly. On the contrary, the effects of the dimensions of convex washers were negligible.