• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제80권6호
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• pp.677-688
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• 2021

The building design codes and standards in many countries usually are either fully or partially adopted from the international codes. However, regional conditions like the quality of construction industry and different statistical parameters of load and resistance have essential roles in the code calibration of building design codes. This paper presents a probabilistic approach to assess the reliability level of adopted national building codes by simulating design situations and considering all load combinations. The impact of the uncertainty of wind and earthquake loads, which are entirely regional condition dependent and have a high degree of uncertainty, are quantified. In this study, the design situation is modeled by generating thousands of numbers for load effect ratios, and the reliability level of steel elements for all load combinations and different load ratios is established and compared to the target reliability. This approach is applied to the Iranian structural steel code as a case study. The results indicate that the Iranian structural steel code lacks safety in some load combinations, such as gravity and earthquake load combinations, and is conservative for other load combinations. The present procedure can be applied to the assessment of the reliability level of other national codes.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제69권1호
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• pp.1-10
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• 2019

In the construction of flat plate slabs, which are widely used for tall buildings but have relatively low flexural stiffness, serviceability problems such as excessive deflections and cracks are of great concern. To prevent excessive deflections at service load levels, current design codes require the minimum slab thickness, but the requirement could be unconservative because it is independent on loading and elastic modulus of concrete, both of which have significant effects on slab deflections. In the present study, to investigate the effects of the construction load of shored slabs, reduced flexural stiffness and moment distribution of early-age slabs, and creep and shrinkage of concrete on immediate and time-dependent deflections, numerical analysis was performed using the previously developed numerical models. A parametric study was performed for various design and construction conditions of practical ranges, and a new minimum permissible thickness of flat plate slabs was proposed satisfying the serviceability requirement for deflection. The proposed minimum slab thickness was compared with current design code provisions and numerical analysis results, and it agreed well with the numerical analysis results.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제51권4호
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• pp.363-375
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• 2024

Within the optimization field, addressing the intricate posed by fluidic pressure loads on functionally graded structures with frequency-related designs is a kind of complex design challenges. This paper thus introduces an innovative density-based topology optimization strategy for frequency-constraint functionally graded structures incorporating Darcy's law and a drainage term. It ensures consistent treatment of design-dependent fluidic pressure loads to frequency-related structures that dynamically adjust their direction and location throughout the design evolution. The porosity of each finite element, coupled with its drainage term, is intricately linked to its density variable through a Heaviside function, ensuring a seamless transition between solid and void phases. A design-specific pressure field is established by employing Darcy's law, and the associated partial differential equation is solved using finite element analysis. Subsequently, this pressure field is utilized to ascertain consistent nodal loads, enabling an efficient evaluation of load sensitivities through the adjoint-variable method. Moreover, this novel approach incorporates load-dependent structures, frequency constraints, functionally graded material models, and polygonal meshes, expanding its applicability and flexibility to a broader range of engineering scenarios. The proposed methodology's effectiveness and robustness are demonstrated through numerical examples, including fluidic pressure-loaded frequency-constraint structures undergoing small deformations, where compliance is minimized for structures optimized within specified resource constraints.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제14권2호
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• pp.171-190
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• 2002

Two cases of design are performed for the hyperbolic paraboloid saddle shell (Lin-Scordelis saddle shell) and the hyperbolic cooling tower (Grand Gulf cooling tower) to check the design strength against a consistent design load, therefore to verify the adequacy of the design algorithm. An iterative numerical computational algorithm is developed for combined membrane and flexural forces, which is based on equilibrium consideration for the limit state of reinforcement and cracked concrete. The design algorithm is implemented in a finite element analysis computer program developed by Mahmoud and Gupta. The amount of reinforcement is then determined at the center of each element by an elastic finite element analysis with the design ultimate load. Based on ultimate nonlinear analyses performed with designed saddle shell, the analytically calculated ultimate load exceeded the design ultimate load from 7% to 34% for analyses with various magnitude of tension stiffening. For the cooling tower problem the calculated ultimate load exceeded the design ultimate load from 26% to 63% with similar types of analyses. Since the effective tension stiffening would vary over the life of the shells due to environmental factors, a degree of uncertainty seems inevitable in calculating the actual failure load by means of numerical analysis. Even though the ultimate loads are strongly dependent on the tensile properties of concrete, the calculated ultimate loads are higher than the design ultimate loads for both design cases. For the cases designed, the design algorithm gives a lower bound on the design ultimate load with respect to the lower bound theorem. This shows the adequacy of the design algorithm developed, at least for the shells studied. The presented design algorithm for the combined membrane and flexural forces can be evolved as a general design method for reinforced concrete plates and shells through further studies involving the performance of multiple designs and the analyses of differing shell configurations.

• 대한기계학회:학술대회논문집
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• 대한기계학회 2000년도 추계학술대회논문집A
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• pp.357-362
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• 2000

Allowable stress design(ASD) method has been widely used to design steel structures such as boiler and heat recovery steam generator(HRSG) of power plant. However, many researchers are recently intrested in road and resistance factor design(LRFD) method which may take the place of ASD. In this work, the weight calculation of steel structure was compared when ASD and LRFD were applied respectively. For the calculation of weight of steel structure, computer program was developed and applied to obtain beam weight. Using this program and GTSTRUDL, structural design program, weight of steel structure is calculated. As a result of weight calculation, maximum 5.4% of weight reduction is achieved among examples of this study by applying LRFD comparing with the result of ASD, and those results quite dependent on the applied load and member classification.

• 한국화재소방학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국화재소방학회 2008년도 춘계학술논문발표회 논문집
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• pp.7-10
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• 2008

Heat release characteristics of live fire load are an important parameter for performance oriented fire safety design of a building. While investigations have been carried out on the fire load and its burning behavior in office, residential and commercial buildings and so on, little effort has been paid for the rational treatment of fire load in post office buildings in Japan. In this report, burning behavior of typical combustible objects in post office buildings are studied by measuring heat release rates of plastic palettes with and without postal envelopes or packages and special containers loading numbers of palettes. The test results suggest that dynamic heat release rate is highly dependent on the condition of palettes especially if they load appropriate amount of postal envelopes or not.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• 제16권4호
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• pp.449-461
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• 2018

The load sharing ratio (${\alpha}_{pr}$) of piles is one of the most common problems in the preliminary design of piled raft foundations. A series of 3D numerical analysis are conducted so that special attentions are given to load sharing characteristics under varying conditions, such as pile configuration, pile diameter, pile length, raft thickness, and settlement level. Based on the 3D FE analysis, influencing factors on load sharing behavior of piled raft are investigated. As a result, it is shown that the load sharing ratio of piled raft decreases with increasing settlement level. The load sharing ratio is not only highly dependent on the system geometries of the foundation but also on the settlement level. Based on the results of parametric studies, the load sharing ratio is proposed as a function of the various influencing factors. In addition, the parametric analyses suggest that the load sharing ratios to minimize the differential settlement of piled raft are ranging from 15 to 48% for friction pile and from 15 to 54% for end-bearing pile. The recommendations can provide a basis for an optimum design that would be applicable to piled rafts taking into account the load sharing characteristics.

• 대한기계학회논문집A
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• 제29권3호
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• pp.369-386
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• 2005

Various aspects of structural optimization techniques under transient loads are extensively reviewed. The main themes of the paper are treatment of time dependent constraints, calculation of design sensitivity, and approximation. Each subject is reviewed with the corresponding papers that have been published since 1970s. The treatment of time dependent constraints in both the direct method and the transformation method is discussed. Two ways of calculating design sensitivity of a structure under transient loads are discussed - direct differentiation method and adjoint variable method. The approximation concept mainly focuses on re- sponse surface method in crashworthiness and local approximation with the intermediate variable Especially, as an approximated optimization technique, Equivalent Static Load method which takes advantage of the well-established static response optimization technique is introduced. And as an application area of dynamic response optimization technique, the structural optimization in flexible multibody dynamic systems is re- viewed in the viewpoint of the above three themes

• Advances in nano research
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• 제16권4호
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• pp.395-412
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• 2024

This article develops a nonclassical size dependent nanoplate model to study the dynamic response of functionally graded carbon nanotube (FGCNT) nanoplates under a moving load. Both nonlocal and microstructure effects are incorporated through the nonlocal strain gradient elasticity theory. To investigate the effect of reinforcement orientation of CNT, four different configurations are studied and analysed. The FGM gradation thorough the thickness direction is simulated using the power law. In the context of the first order shear deformation theory, the dynamic equations of motion and the associated boundary conditions are derived by Hamilton's principle. An analytical solution of the dynamic equations of motion is derived based on the Navier methodology. The proposed model is verified and compared with the available results in the literature and good agreement is found. The numerical results show that the dynamic performance of FGCNT nanoplates could be governed by the reinforcement pattern and volume fraction in addition to the non-classical parameters and the moving load dimensionless parameter. Obtained results are reassuring in design and analysis of nanoplates reinforced with CNTs.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제46권1호
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• pp.53-73
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• 2013

Prediction of prestressed concrete girder integral abutment bridge (IAB) load effect requires understanding of the inherent uncertainties as it relates to thermal loading, time-dependent effects, bridge material properties and soil properties. In addition, complex inelastic and hysteretic behavior must be considered over an extended, 75-year bridge life. The present study establishes IAB displacement and internal force statistics based on available material property and soil property statistical models and Monte Carlo simulations. Numerical models within the simulation were developed to evaluate the 75-year bridge displacements and internal forces based on 2D numerical models that were calibrated against four field monitored IABs. The considered input uncertainties include both resistance and load variables. Material variables are: (1) concrete elastic modulus; (2) backfill stiffness; and (3) lateral pile soil stiffness. Thermal, time dependent, and soil loading variables are: (1) superstructure temperature fluctuation; (2) superstructure concrete thermal expansion coefficient; (3) superstructure temperature gradient; (4) concrete creep and shrinkage; (5) bridge construction timeline; and (6) backfill pressure on backwall and abutment. IAB displacement and internal force statistics were established for: (1) bridge axial force; (2) bridge bending moment; (3) pile lateral force; (4) pile moment; (5) pile head/abutment displacement; (6) compressive stress at the top fiber at the mid-span of the exterior span; and (7) tensile stress at the bottom fiber at the mid-span of the exterior span. These established IAB displacement and internal force statistics provide a basis for future reliability-based design criteria development.