• Coupled systems mechanics
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.27-42
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• 2018

Behavior of soil is usually described with continuum type of failure models such as Mohr-Coulomb or Drucker-Prager model. The main advantage of these models is in a relatively simple and efficient way of predicting the main tendencies and overall behavior of soil in failure analysis of interest for engineering practice. However, the main shortcoming of these models is that they are not able to capture post-peak behavior of soil nor the corresponding failure modes under extreme loading. In this paper we will significantly improve on this state-of-the-art. In particular, we propose the use of a discrete beam lattice model to provide a sharp prediction of inelastic response and failure mechanisms in coupled soil-foundation systems. In the discrete beam lattice model used in this paper, soil is meshed with one-dimensional Timoshenko beam finite elements with embedded strong discontinuities in axial and transverse direction capable of representing crack propagation in mode I and mode II. Mode I relates to crack opening, and mode II relates to crack sliding. To take into account material heterogeneities, we determine fracture limits for each Timoshenko beam with Gaussian random distribution. We compare the results obtained using the discrete beam lattice model against those obtained using the modified three-surface elasto-plastic cap model.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.27-41
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• 2023

This study focused on nonlinear effective stress site response analysis using two coupled constitutive models, that is, the DM model (Dafalias and Manzari 2004), which incorporated a simple plasticity sand model accounting for fabric change effects, and the PMDY03 model (Khosravifar et al. 2018), that is, a 3D model for earthquake-induced liquefaction triggering and postliquefaction response. A detailed parametric study was conducted to validate the effectiveness of nonlinear site response analysis and porewater pressure (PWP) generation through a true coupled formulation for assessing the initiation of liquefaction at ground level. The coupled models demonstrated accurate prediction of liquefaction triggering, which was in line with established empirical liquefaction triggering relations in published databases. Several limitations were identified in the evaluation of liquefaction using the cyclic stress method, despite its widespread implementation for calculating liquefaction triggering. Variations in shear stiffness, represented by changes in shear wave velocity (Vs1), exerted the most significant influence on site response. The study further indicated that substantial differences in response spectra between nonlinear total stress and nonlinear effective stress analyses primarily occurred when liquefaction was triggered or on the verge of being triggered, as shown by excess PWP ratios approaching unity. These differences diminished when liquefaction occurred towards the later stages of intense shaking. The soil response was predominantly influenced by the higher stiffness values present prior to liquefaction. A key contribution of this study was to validate the criteria used to assess the triggering of level-ground liquefaction using true coupled effective-stress constitutive models, while also confirming the reliability of numerical approximations including the PDMY03 and DM models. These models effectively captured the principal characteristics of liquefaction observed in field tests and laboratory experiments.

• International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.275-284
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• 2017

A formula to estimate the yield displacement observed in the pushover analysis of coupled wall lateral force-resisting systems is presented. The estimate is based on the results of an analytical study of coupled walls ranging from 8 to 20 stories in height, with varied amounts of reinforcement in the reinforced concrete coupling beams and walls, subjected to first-mode pushover analysis. An example illustrates the application of these estimates to the performance-based seismic design of coupled walls.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.65 no.4
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• pp.359-368
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• 2018

Dynamic analysis of complex and large structures may be costly from a numerical point of view. For coupled vibroacoustic finite element models, the importance of reducing the size becomes obvious because the fluid degrees of freedom must be added to the structural ones. In this paper, a component mode synthesis method is proposed for large vibroacoustic interaction problems. This method couples fluid subdomains and dynamical substructuring of Craig and Bampton type. The acoustic formulation is written in terms of the velocity potential, which implies several advantages: coupled algebraic systems remain symmetric, and a potential formulation allows a direct extension of Craig and Bampton's method to acoustics. Those properties make the proposed method easy to implement in an existing finite element code because the local numerical treatment of substructures and fluid subdomains is undifferentiated. Test cases are then presented for axisymmetric geometries. Numerical results tend to prove the validity and the efficiency of the proposed method.

• Journal of international Conference on Electrical Machines and Systems
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.349-355
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• 2013

This paper presents the multi-objective optimisation of an Inductive Coupled Power Transfer (ICPT) device. A setup as complicated as the one at hand in this paper is extremely hard to model analytically. To acquire some knowledge about the influence of the geometric factors, a sensitivity analysis is first performed using design of experiment (DoE) and finite-element modelling (FEM). It allows validating that the choice of the free factors is relevant. This being done, the optimisation itself is performed using a genetic algorithm (GA), with two objectives and a strict functioning constraint.

• International Journal of Fluid Machinery and Systems
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.142-154
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• 2015

Nowadays, computational fluid dynamics is commonly used by design engineers to evaluate and compare losses in hydraulic components as it is less expensive and less time consuming than model tests. For that purpose, an automatic tool for casing and distributor analysis will be presented in this paper. An in-house mesh generator and a Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes equation solver using the standard $k-{\omega}$ shear stress transport (SST) turbulence model will be used to perform all computations. Two solvers based on the C++ OpenFOAM library will be used and compared to a commercial solver. The performance of the new fully coupled block solver developed by the University of Lucerne and Andritz will be compared to the standard 1.6ext segregated simpleFoam solver and to a commercial solver. In this study, relative comparisons of different geometries of casing and distributor will be performed. The present study is thus aimed at validating the block solver and the tool chain and providing design engineers with a faster and more reliable analysis tool that can be integrated into their design process.

• Coupled systems mechanics
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.263-277
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• 2015

This paper presents a coupled FEM-BEM strategy for the numerical analysis of elastodynamic problems where infinite-domain models and complex heterogeneous media are involved, rendering a configuration in which neither the Finite Element Method (FEM) nor the Boundary Element Method (BEM) is most appropriate for the numerical analysis. In this case, the coupling of these methodologies is recommended, allowing exploring their respective advantages. Here, frequency domain analyses are focused and an iterative FEM-BEM coupling technique is considered. In this iterative coupling, each sub-domain of the model is solved separately, and the variables at the common interfaces are iteratively updated, until convergence is achieved. A relaxation parameter is introduced into the coupling algorithm and an expression for its optimal value is deduced. The iterative FEM-BEM coupling technique allows independent discretizations to be efficiently employed for both finite and boundary element methods, without any requirement of matching nodes at the common interfaces. In addition, it leads to smaller and better-conditioned systems of equations (different solvers, suitable for each sub-domain, may be employed), which do not need to be treated (inverted, triangularized etc.) at each iterative step, providing an accurate and efficient methodology.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.449-464
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• 2023

Advanced nonlinear effective stress constitutive models are started to be frequently used in one-dimensional (1D) and two-dimensional (2D) site response analysis for assessment of porewater generation and liquefaction potential in soft soil deposits. The emphasis of this research is on the assessment of the implementation of this category of models at the element stage. Initially, the performance of a coupled porewater pressure (PWP) and constitutive models were evaluated employing a catalogue of 40 unidirectional cyclic simple shear tests with a variety of relative densities between 35% and 80% and effective vertical stresses between 40 and 80 kPa. The authors evaluated three coupled constitutive models (PDMY02, PM4SAND and PDMY03) using cyclic direct simple shear tests and for decide input parameters used in the model, procedures are recommended. The ability of the coupled model to capture dilation as strength is valuable because the studied models reasonably capture the cyclic performance noted in the experiments and should be utilized to conduct effective stress-based 1D and 2D site response analysis. Sandy soils may become softer and liquefy during earthquakes as a result of pore-water pressure (PWP) development, which may have an impact on seismic design and site response. The tested constitutive models are mathematically coupled with a cyclic strain-based PWP generation model and can capture small-strain stiffness and large-strain shear strength. Results show that there are minor discrepancies between measured and computed excess PWP ratios, indicating that the tested constitutive models provide reasonable estimations of PWP increase during cyclic shear (r_u) and the banana shape is reproduced in a proper way indicating that dilation and shear- strain behavior is well captured by the models.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.52 no.1
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• pp.173-203
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• 2014

The cross-section warping due to the passage of high-speed trains can be a relevant issue to consider in the dynamic analysis of bridges due to (i) the usual layout of railway systems, resulting in eccentric moving loads; and (ii) the use of cross-sections prone to warping deformations. A thin-walled beam formulation for the dynamic analysis of bridges including the cross section warping is presented in this paper. Towards a numerical implementation of the beam formulation, a finite element with seven degrees of freedom is proposed. In order to easily consider the compatibility between elements, and since the coupling between flexural and torsional effects occurs in non-symmetric cross-sections due to dynamic effects, a single axis is considered for the element. The coupled flexural-torsional free vibration of thin-walled beams is analysed through the presented beam model, comparing the results with analytical solutions presented in the literature. The dynamic analysis due to an eccentric moving load, which results in a coupled flexural-torsional vibration, is considered in the literature by analytical solutions, being therefore of a limited applicability in practice engineering. In this paper, the dynamic response due to an eccentric moving load is obtained from the proposed finite element beam model that includes warping by a modal analysis.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.3 no.3_4
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• pp.297-313
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• 2012

This paper is intended to show the robustness and capabilities of a coupled boundary element-finite element technique for the analysis of vibrations generated by high-speed trains under different geometrical, mechanical and operation conditions. The approach has been developed by the authors and some results have already been presented. Nevertheless, a more comprehensive study is presented in this paper to show the relevance and robustness of the method which is able to predict vibrations due to train passage at the vehicle, the track, the free-field and any structure close to the track. Local soil discontinuities, underground constructions such as underpasses, and coupling with nearby structures that break the uniformity of the geometry along the track line can be represented by the model. Non-linear behaviour of the structures can be also considered. Results concerning the excitation mechanisms, track behaviour and sub-Rayleigh and super-Rayleigh train speed are summarized in this work.