• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제62권4호
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• pp.465-475
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• 2017

Photovoltaic (PV) panels are used in high-rise buildings to convert solar energy to electricity. Due to the considerable energy consumption of high-rise buildings, applying PV technology is of great significance to energy saving. In the application of PV panels, one of the most important construction issues is the connection of the PV panel with the main structures. One major difficulty of the connection design is that the PV panel connection consists of two separate components with coupling and indeterminate dimension. In this paper, the gap element is employed in these two separated but coupled components, i.e., hook and catch. Topology optimization is applied to optimize and design the cross-section of the PV panel connection. Pareto optimization is conducted to operate the optimization subject to multiple load scenarios. The initial design for the topology optimization is determined by the common design specified by the Technical Code for Glass Curtain Wall Engineering (JGJ 102-2003). Gravity and wind load scenarios are considered for the optimization and numerical analysis. Post analysis is conducted for the optimal design obtained by the topology optimization due to the manufactory requirements. Generally, compared with the conventional design, the optimized connector reduces material use with improved structural characteristics.

• 국제강구조저널
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• 제18권5호
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• pp.1801-1817
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• 2018

This paper presents the numerical parametric analysis on the loading capacity of Channel purlins with screw-fastened sheeting, in which the effects of anti-sag bar and corrugated steel sheet on the ultimate capacity are studied. Results show that the setup of anti-sag bars can reduce the deformations and improve the ultimate capacity of C purlins. The traditional method of setting the anti-sag bars in the middle of the web is favorable. The changing of sheeting type, sheeting thickness and rib spacing has significant effects on the ultimate capacity of C purlins without anti-sag bars, compared with those with anti-sag bars. The proposed design formulas are relatively consistent with the calculations of EN 1993-1-3:2006, which is different from those of GB 50018-2002.

• Computers and Concrete
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• 제8권2호
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• pp.163-176
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• 2011

By virtue of chord-length density function from the field of statistical physics, this paper introduced a quantitative approach to estimate the distribution of cement paste thickness between aggregates in concrete. Dynamics mixing method based on molecular dynamics was employed to generate one model structure, then image analysis algorithm was used to obtain the distribution of thickness of cement paste in model structure for the purpose of verification. By comparison of probability density curves and cumulative probability curves of the cement paste thickness among neighboring aggregates, it is found that the theoretical results are consistent with the simulation. Furthermore, for the model mortar and concrete mixtures with practical volume fraction of Fuller-type aggregate, this analytical formula was employed to predict the influence of aggregate volume fraction and aggregate fineness. And evolution of its mean values were also investigated with the variation of volume fraction of aggregate as well as the fineness of aggregates in model mortars and concretes.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제20권6호
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• pp.655-672
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• 2005

Seismic random responses due to the wave passage effect are extensively investigated by using the pseudo excitation method (PEM). Two examples are used. The first is very simple but also very informative, while the second is a realistic suspension bridge. Numerical results show that the seismic responses vary significantly with wave speed, especially for low velocity or large span. Such variations are not monotonic, especially for flexible structures. The contributions of the dynamic and quasi-static components depend heavily on the seismic wave velocity and the natural frequencies of structures. For the lower natural frequency cases, the dynamic component has significant effects on the dynamic responses of the structure, whereas the quasi-static component dominates for higher natural frequencies unless the wave speed is also high. It is concluded that if insufficient data on local seismic wave velocity is available, it is advisable to select several possible velocity values in the seismic analysis and to choose the most conservative of the results thus obtained as the basis for design.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제21권5호
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• pp.1145-1156
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• 2016

To study the effects of foam core density and face-sheet thickness on the mechanical properties and failure modes of aluminum foam sandwich (AFS) beam, especially when the aluminum foam core is made in aluminum alloy and the face sheet thickness is less than 1.5 mm, three-point bending tests were investigated experimentally by using WDW-50E electronic universal tensile testing machine. Load-displacement curves were recorded to understand the mechanical response and photographs were taken to capture the deformation process of the composite structures. Results demonstrated that when foam core was combined with face-sheet thickness of 0.8 mm, its carrying capacity improved with the increase of core density. But when the thickness of face-sheet increased from 0.8 mm to 1.2 mm, result was opposite. For AFS with the same core density, their carrying capacity increased with the face-sheet thickness, but failure modes of thin face-sheet AFS were completely different from the thick face-sheet AFS. There were three failure modes in the present research: yield damage of both core and bottom face-sheet (Failure mode I), yield damage of foam core (Failure mode II), debonding between the adhesive interface (Failure mode III).

• Computers and Concrete
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• 제21권4호
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• pp.471-484
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• 2018

Refined analysis depicting mass transportation and physicochemical reaction and reasonable computing load with acceptable DOFs are the two major challenges of numerical simulation for concrete durability. Mesoscopic numerical simulation for chloride diffusion considering binder, aggregate and interfacial transition zone is unable to be expended to the full structure due to huge number of DOFs. In this paper, a multiscale approach of combining both mesoscopic model including full-graded aggregate and equivalent macroscopic model was introduced. An equivalent conversion of chloride content at the Interfacial Transition Layer (ITL) connecting both models was considered. Feasibility and relative error were discussed by analytical deduction and numerical simulation. Case study clearly showed that larger analysis model in multiscale model expanded the diffusion space of chloride ion and decreased chloride content in front of rebar. Difference for single-scale simulation and multiscale approach was observed. Finally, this paper addressed some worth-noting conclusions about the chloride distribution and rebar corrosion regarding the configuration of rebar placement, rebar diameter, concrete cover and exposure period.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제33권3호
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• pp.375-388
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• 2019

This paper aims to investigate the axial load behavior and stability strength of square tubed steel-reinforced concrete (TSRC) columns. Unlike concrete filled steel tubular (CFST) column, the outer steel tube of a TSRC column is mainly used to provide confinement to the core concrete. Ten specimens were tested under axial compression, and the main test variables included length-to-width ratio (L/B) of the specimens, width-to-thickness ratio (B/t) of the steel tubes, and with or without stud shear connectors on the steel sections. The failure mode, ultimate strength and load-tube stress response of each specimen were summarized and analyzed. The test results indicated that the axial load carried by square tube due to friction and bond of the interface increased with the increase of L/B ratio, while the confinement effect of tube was just the opposite. Parametric studies were performed through ABAQUS based on the test results, and the feasibility of current design codes has also been examined. Finally, a method for calculating the ultimate strength of this composite column was proposed, in which the slenderness effect on the tube confinement was considered.

• Computers and Concrete
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• 제10권1호
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• pp.79-93
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• 2012

This paper estimates theoretically the diffusion-reaction behaviour of sulfate ion in concrete caused by environmental sulfate attack. Based on Fick's second law and chemical reaction kinetics, a nonlinear and nonsteady diffusion-reaction equation of sulfate ion in concrete, in which the variable diffusion coefficient and the chemical reactions depleting sulfate ion concentration in concrete are considered, is proposed. The finite difference method is utilized to solve the diffusion-reaction equation of sulfate ion in concrete, and then it is used to simulate the diffusion-reaction process and the concentration distribution of sulfate ion in concrete. Afterwards, the experiments for measuring the sulfate ion concentration in concrete are carried out by using EDTA method to verify the proposal model, and results show that the proposed model is basically in agreement with the experimental results. Finally, Numerical example has been completed to investigate the diffusion-reaction behavior of sulfate ion in the concrete plate specimen immersed into sulfate solution.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• 제25권1호
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• pp.17-30
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• 2021

This paper develops a convenient approach for deterministic and probabilistic evaluations of tunnel face stability using support vector machine classifiers. The proposed method is comprised of two major steps, i.e., construction of the training dataset and determination of instance-based classifiers. In step one, the orthogonal design is utilized to produce representative samples after the ranges and levels of the factors that influence tunnel face stability are specified. The training dataset is then labeled by two-dimensional strength reduction analyses embedded within OptumG2. For any unknown instance, the second step applies the training dataset for classification, which is achieved by an ad hoc Python program. The classification of unknown samples starts with selection of instance-based training samples using the k-nearest neighbors algorithm, followed by the construction of an instance-based SVM-KNN classifier. It eventually provides labels of the unknown instances, avoiding calculate its corresponding performance function. Probabilistic evaluations are performed by Monte Carlo simulation based on the SVM-KNN classifier. The ratio of the number of unstable samples to the total number of simulated samples is computed and is taken as the failure probability, which is validated and compared with the response surface method.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제51권1호
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• pp.53-61
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• 2024

Aluminum foams sandwich panel (AFSP) has been used in engineering field, where cyclic loading is used in most of the applications. In this paper, the fatigue life of AFSP prepared by the bonding method was investigated through a three-point bending test. The mathematical statistics method was used to analyze the influence of different plate thicknesses and core densities on the bending fatigue life. The macroscopic fatigue failure modes and damage mechanisms were observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results indicate that panel thickness and core layer density have a significant influence on the bending fatigue life of AFSP and their dispersion. The damage mechanism of fatigue failure to cells in aluminum foam is that the initial fatigue crack begins the cell wall, the thinnest position of the cell wall or the intersection of the cell wall and the cell ridge, where stress concentrations are more likely to occur. The fatigue failure of aluminum foam core usually starts from the semi-closed unit of the lower layer, and the fatigue crack propagates layer by layer along the direction of the maximum shear stress. The results can provide a reference for the practical engineering design and application of AFSP.