• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.71 no.4
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• pp.391-405
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• 2019

Compared to the ambient vibration test mainly identifying the structural modal parameters, such as frequency, damping and mode shapes, the impact testing, which benefits from measuring both impacting forces and structural responses, has the merit to identify not only the structural modal parameters but also more detailed structural parameters, in particular flexibility. However, in traditional impact tests, an impacting hammer or artificial excitation device is employed, which restricts the efficiency of tests on various bridge structures. To resolve this problem, we propose a new method whereby a moving vehicle is taken as a continuous exciter and develop a corresponding flexibility identification theory, in which the continuous wheel forces induced by the moving vehicle is considered as structural input and the acceleration response of the bridge as the output, thus a structural flexibility matrix can be identified and then structural deflections of the bridge under arbitrary static loads can be predicted. The proposed method is more convenient, time-saving and cost-effective compared with traditional impact tests. However, because the proposed test produces a spatially continuous force while classical impact forces are spatially discrete, a new flexibility identification theory is required, and a novel structural identification method involving with equivalent load distribution, the enhanced Frequency Response Function (eFRFs) construction and modal scaling factor identification is proposed to make use of the continuous excitation force to identify the basic modal parameters as well as the structural flexibility. Laboratory and numerical examples are given, which validate the effectiveness of the proposed method. Furthermore, parametric analysis including road roughness, vehicle speed, vehicle weight, vehicle's stiffness and damping are conducted and the results obtained demonstrate that the developed method has strong robustness except that the relative error increases with the increase of measurement noise.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.9-19
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• 2020

An integrated finite element model composed of a boiler and its supporting steel structure for a 375-MW coal-fired power plant was developed. This study used the developed model for seismic analysis using SAP2000 software. For the complex superheaters, reheaters, economizers, and membrane walls of the boiler, which consisted of numerous tubes, a method of modeling them by the equivalent elements in the viewpoint of stiffness and/or inertia was proposed. In addition, a method of modeling for the connection between the boiler and steel structure was proposed. Many hangers that connect the boiler to the girders of a steel structure were transformed into equivalent hangers by decreasing the number. The displacements of the boiler stoppers on the buckstay and the posts of the steel structure were coupled by considering their interface condition. Static analysis under the self-loading condition for the developed integrated model was implemented, and the results of deformation indicated that the behavior of the steel members and the major components of the boiler were appropriate. In conclusion, the integrated model developed in this study can be used to evaluate the safety of the boiler and steel structure under seismic loads.