• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.49 no.1
• /
• pp.29-42
• /
• 2017

The purpose of the present study is the presentation of the appropriate element and shape function in the solution of the neutron diffusion equation in two-dimensional (2D) geometries. To this end, the multigroup neutron diffusion equation is solved using the Galerkin finite element method in both rectangular and hexagonal reactor cores. The spatial discretization of the equation is performed using unstructured triangular and quadrilateral finite elements. Calculations are performed using both linear and quadratic approximations of shape function in the Galerkin finite element method, based on which results are compared. Using the power iteration method, the neutron flux distributions with the corresponding eigenvalue are obtained. The results are then validated against the valid results for IAEA-2D and BIBLIS-2D benchmark problems. To investigate the dependency of the results to the type and number of the elements, and shape function order, a sensitivity analysis of the calculations to the mentioned parameters is performed. It is shown that the triangular elements and second order of the shape function in each element give the best results in comparison to the other states.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.86 no.3
• /
• pp.349-359
• /
• 2023

This paper presents a technique for determining the optimal number of elements in stochastic finite element analysis based on reliability analysis. Using the change-of-variable perturbation stochastic finite element approach, the probability density function of the dynamic responses of stochastic structures is explicitly determined. This method combines the perturbation stochastic finite element method with the change-of-variable technique into a united model. To further examine the relationships between the random fields, discretization of the random field parameters, such as the variance function and the scale of fluctuation, is also performed. Accordingly, the reliability index is calculated based on the explicit probability density function of responses with Gaussian or non-Gaussian random fields in any number of elements corresponding to the random field discretization. The numerical examples illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method for a one-dimensional cantilever reinforced concrete column and a two-dimensional steel plate shear wall. The benefit of this method is that the probability density function of responses can be obtained explicitly without the use simulation techniques. Any type of random variable with any statistical distribution can be incorporated into the calculations, regardless of the restrictions imposed by the type of statistical distribution of random variables. Consequently, this method can be utilized as a suitable guideline for the efficient implementation of stochastic finite element analysis of structures, regardless of the statistical distribution of random variables.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.65 no.3
• /
• pp.213-222
• /
• 2018

The purpose of this paper is to study free vibration analysis of thick plates resting on Winkler foundation using Mindlin's theory with shear locking free fourth order finite element, to determine the effects of the thickness/span ratio, the aspect ratio, subgrade reaction modulus and the boundary conditions on the frequency paramerets of thick plates subjected to free vibration. In the analysis, finite element method is used for spatial integration. Finite element formulation of the equations of the thick plate theory is derived by using higher order displacement shape functions. A computer program using finite element method is coded in C++ to analyze the plates free, clamped or simply supported along all four edges. In the analysis, 17-noded finite element is used. Graphs are presented that should help engineers in the design of thick plates subjected to earthquake excitations. It is concluded that 17-noded finite element can be effectively used in the free vibration analysis of thick plates. It is also concluded that, in general, the changes in the thickness/span ratio are more effective on the maximum responses considered in this study than the changes in the aspect ratio.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
• /
• v.15 no.5
• /
• pp.18-24
• /
• 2016

An electromagnetic linear actuator is controlled precisely and securely and is useful in devices that require linear motion. The most commonly used method in the performance verification process for an electromagnetic actuator is finite element analysis that utilizes CAE. However, finite element analysis has the disadvantage that modeling and analysis consume a lot of time. Accordingly, lumped parameter analysis can be an alternative approach to the finite element method because of its computation iteration capability with fair accuracy. In this paper, the lumped parameter model and simulation results are presented. In addition, the results of the lumped parameter analysis are compared with those obtained from finite element analysis for verification.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
• /
• v.16 no.12
• /
• pp.1687-1692
• /
• 2002

The problem analyzed here is a sheet metal forming process which requires a drawbead. The drawbead provides the sheet metal enough tension to be deformed plastically along the punch face and consequently, ensures a proper shape of final products by fixing the sheet to the die. Therefore, the optimum design of drawbead is indispensable in obtaining the desired formability. A static-explicit finite element analysis is carried out to provide a perspective tool for designing the drawbead. The finite element formulation is constructed from static equilibrium equation and takes into account the boundary condition that involves a proper contact condition. The deformation behavior of sheet material is formulated by the elastic-plastic constitutive equation. The finite element formulation has been solved based on an existing method that is called the static-explicit method. The main features of the static-explicit method are first that there is no convergence problem. Second, the problem of contact and friction is easily solved by application of very small time interval. During the analysis of drawbead processes, the strain distribution and the drawing force on drawbead can be analyzed. And the effects of bead shape and number of beads on sheet forming processes were investigated. The results of the static explicit analysis of drawbead processes show no convergence problem and comparatively accurate results even though severe high geometric and contact-friction nonlinearity. Moreover, the computational results of a static-explicit finite element analysis can supply very valuable information for designing the drawbead process in which the defects of final sheet product can be removed.

• Journal of KSNVE
• /
• v.10 no.2
• /
• pp.319-324
• /
• 2000

This paper shows hot to model the submerged elastic structures and adequate analysis tools for modal behavior when using finite element and boundary element method. Four different cases are reviewed depending on the location of the water and air. First case is that structures are filled with air and water is located outside. Second case is opposite to case one. These cases are solved by direct approach using collocation procedure. Third case is that water is located both sides of structures. Last case is that air is located both sides. These cases are solved by indirect approach using variational procedure. As analysis tools harmonic frequency sweep analysis and eigenvalue iteration method are selected to obtain the natural frequencies of vibrating submerged structures depending on the cases. Results are compared with closed form solutions of submerged spherical shell.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.5 no.5
• /
• pp.645-662
• /
• 1997

A nonlinear semi-three-dimensional layered finite element procedure is developed for cracking and failure analysis of reinforced concrete beams and the spandrel beam-column-slab connections of flat plates. The layered element approach takes the elasto-plastic failure behaviour and geometric nonlinearity into consideration. A strain-hardening plasticity concrete model and a smeared steel model are incorporated into the layered element formulation. Further, shear failure, transverse reinforcement, spandrel beams and columns are successfully modelled. The proposed method incorporating the nonlinear constitutive models for concrete and steel is implemented in a finite element program. Test specimens including a series of reinforced concrete beams and beam-column-slab connections of flat plates are analysed. Results confirm the effectiveness and accuracy of the layered procedure in predicting both flexural and shear cracking up to failure.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.29 no.5
• /
• pp.469-488
• /
• 2008

Finite element methods have often been used for structural analyses of various mechanical problems. When finite element analyses are utilized to resolve mechanical systems, numerical uncertainties in the initial data such as structural parameters and loading conditions may result in uncertainties in the structural responses. Therefore the initial data have to be as accurate as possible in order to obtain reliable structural analysis results. The typical finite element method may not properly represent discrete systems when using uncertain data, since all input data of material properties and applied loads are defined by nominal values. An interval finite element analysis, which uses the interval arithmetic as introduced by Moore (1966) is proposed as a non-stochastic method in this study and serves a new numerical tool for evaluating the uncertainties of the initial data in structural analyses. According to this method, the element stiffness matrix includes interval terms of the lower and upper bounds of the structural parameters, and interval change functions are devised. Numerical uncertainties in the initial data are described as a tolerance error and tree graphs of uncertain data are constructed by numerical uncertainty combinations of each parameter. The structural responses calculated by all uncertainty cases can be easily estimated so that structural safety can be included in the design. Numerical applications of truss and frame structures demonstrate the efficiency of the present method with respect to numerical analyses of structural uncertainties.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
• /
• v.28 no.10
• /
• pp.1590-1597
• /
• 2004

Three methods of design sensitivity analysis for structures such as numerical method, analytical method and semi-analytical method have been developed for the last three decades. Although analytical design sensitivity analysis can provide very exact result, it is difficult to implement into practical design problems. Therefore, numerical method such as finite difference method is widely used to simply obtain the design sensitivity in most cases. The numerical differentiation is sufficiently accurate and reliable fur most linear problems. However, it turns out that the numerical differentiation is inefficient and inaccurate in nonlinear design sensitivity analysis because its computational cost depends on the number of design variables and large numerical errors can be included. Thus the semi-analytical method is more suitable for complicated design problems. Moreover, semi-analytical method is easy to be performed in design procedure, which can be coupled with an analysis solver such as commercial finite element package. In this paper, implementation procedure fur the semi-analytical design sensitivity analysis outside of the commercial finite element package is studied and the computational technique is proposed for evaluating the partial differentiation of internal nodal force, so called pseudo-load. Numerical examples coupled with commercial finite element package are shown to verify usefulness of proposed semi-analytical sensitivity analysis procedure and computational technique for pseudo-load.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
• /
• v.23 no.6 s.183
• /
• pp.128-135
• /
• 2006

Rational dynamic modeling and analysis method f3r complex structures are studied with special attention to slide way joints. For modeling of slide way joints, a general modeling technique is used by using the influence coefficients method which is applied to the conversion of detailed finite element model to the equivalent reduced joint model. The theoretical part of this method is illustrated and the method is applied to the structure with slide way joint. In this method, the non-linearity of the contact surfaces is considered within a proper range and the boundary effect of the joint model could be eliminated. The proposed method was applied to finite element modal analysis of a clamp jointed cantilever beam and slide way joints of the vertical type lathe. The method can also be used to other kinds of joint modeling. The results of these analysis were compared with those of Yoshimura models and rigid joint models, which demonstrated the practical applicability of the proposed method.