• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.25 no.5
• /
• pp.52-57
• /
• 2011

Most ships and offshore structures are equipped with a variety of pipes, which inevitably contain curved portions. While it has been a usual practice to conduct bending stress analyses of these curved pipes using the straight-beam theory, this paper adopts two different types of finite elements, straight-beam elements and two-dimensional shell elements, for finite element analyses of a variety of curved pipes. It then compares the analysis results for two different types of elements to determine correction factors, which can be used to transform the bending displacements and bending stresses obtained by straight-beam elements to those obtainable by two-dimensional shell elements. The paper ends with a practical suggestion on how to efficiently use these correction factors to estimate the combined axial and normal stresses in a curved portion of a pipe.

• Journal of Power System Engineering
• /
• v.11 no.1
• /
• pp.92-97
• /
• 2007

It is important to compute the structural analysis of plate structures in structural design. In this paper, the author uses the finite element-transfer stiffness coefficient method (FE-TSCM) for the structural analysis of plate structures. The FE-TSCM is based on the concept of the successive transmission of the transfer stiffness coefficient method and the modeling technique of the finite element method (FEM). The algorithm for in-plane structural analysis of a rectangular plate structure is formulated by using the FE-TSCM. In order to confirm the validity of the FE-TSCM for structural analysis of plate structures, two numerical examples for the in-plane structural analysis of a plate with triangular elements and the bending structural analysis of a plate with rectangular elements are computed. The results of the FE-TSCM are compared with those of the FEM on a personal computer.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
• /
• v.15 no.11
• /
• pp.1499-1506
• /
• 2001

Various transition elements are used in general for the effective finite element analysis of complicated mechanical structures. In this paper, a solid-to-beam transition finite element, which can b e used for connecting a C1-continuity beam element to a continuum solid element, is proposed. The shape functions of the transition finite element are derived to meet the compatibility condition, and a transition element equation is formulated by the conventional finite element procedure. In order to show the effectiveness and convergence characteristics of the proposed transition element, numerical tests are performed for various examples. As a result of this study, following conclusions are obtained. (1) The proposed transition element, which meets the compatibility of the primary variables, exhibits excellent accuracy. (2) In case of using the proposed transition element, the number of nodes in the finite element model may be considerably reduced and the model construction becomes more convenient. (3) This formulation method can be applied to the usage of higher order elements.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
• /
• v.23 no.3
• /
• pp.8-15
• /
• 1995

This analytical study was carried out to make quality and productivity up in designing the frame-type furniture with semi-rigid joint by understanding the mechanical and structural behavior of the joint and by evaluating the validity of application of the time-saving Finite Element Method to its structural analysis. Slope deflection equation for rigid joint was modified to describe the moment-rotation behavior of semi-rigid joint and the joint stiffness factor(Z) could be calculated to lessen the experimental expense. It was proved that Finite Element Analysis with imaginary elements having equivalent MOE to the semi-rigid joint could be the alternative method for the structural analysis of the frame-type furniture, comparing the internal rotation of the 2-dimensional beam-to-column model with two-pin(wooden dowel) from the finite element method with other available theoretical and experimental rotation value.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
• /
• v.28 no.10
• /
• pp.1517-1525
• /
• 2004

Shell finite elements are widely used for the analysis of thin section objects such as sheet metal parts, automobile bodies and et al. due to their computational efficiency. Since many of input data for finite element analysis are given as solid models or triangulated surface models, one should extract midsurface information from these input data initially and then construct shell meshes on the extracted midsurfaces. In this paper, a method of generating shell elements on midsurfaces directly from input models has been proposed, in which midsurface generating process can be omitted. In order to construct shell meshes, the input models should be triangulated on surfaces first, and then tetrahedral elements are generated by using an advancing front method, and finally mid shell surfaces are obtained from tetrahedral meshes. Some examples are given to demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed method.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
• /
• 2007.04a
• /
• pp.271-274
• /
• 2007

The finite element linear buckling analysis of folded plate structures using adaptive h-refinement methods is presented in this paper. The variable-node flat shell element used in this study possesses the drilling D.O.F. which, in addition to improvement of the element behavior, permits an easy connection to other elements with six degrees of freedom per node. The Box-typed structures can be analyzed using these developed flat shell elements. By introducing the variable node elements some difficulties associated with connecting the different layer patterns, which are common in the adaptive h-refinement on quadrilateral mesh, can be overcome. To obtain better stress field for the error estimation, the super-convergent patch recovery is used. The convergent buckling modes and the critical loads associated with these modes can be obtained.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.30 no.1
• /
• pp.119-129
• /
• 2008

A small strain and elastoplastic formulation of Polygonal Element Method (PEM) is developed for efficient analysis of elastoplastic solids. In this work, the polygonal elements are constructed based on traditional triangular finite meshes. The construction method of polygonal mesh can directly utilize the sophisticated triangularization algorithm and reduce the difficulty in generating polygonal elements. The Wachspress rational finite element basis function is used to construct the approximations of polygonal elements. The incremental variational form and a von Mises type model are used for non-linear elastoplastic analysis. Several small strain elastoplastic numerical examples are presented to verify the advantages and the accuracy of the numerical formulation.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
• /
• 2003.10a
• /
• pp.444-451
• /
• 2003

In this study, a new three-dimensional finite element analysis model of high-speed railway bridges considering train-bridge interaction, in which various improved finite elements are used for modeling structural members, is proposed. The box-type bridge deck of a railway bridge is modeled by the NFS(Nonconforming Flat Shell) elements with 6 degrees of freedom. Track structures are idealized using the beam finite elements with the offset of beam nodes and those on Winkler foundation with two parameters. And, the vehicle model devised for a high-speed train is employed, which has an articulated bogie system. By Lagrange's equations of motion, the equations of motion of a bridge-train system can be formulated. Finally, by deriving the equations of the forces acting on a bridge considering bridge-train interaction the complete system matrices of total bridge-train system can be constructed. As numerical examples of this study, 2-span PC box-girder bridge is analyzed and results are compared with experimental results.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.5 no.2
• /
• pp.137-148
• /
• 1997

In computing eigenvalues for a large finite element system it has been observed that the eigenvalue extractors produce eigenvectors that are in some sense more accurate than their corresponding eigenvalues. From this observation the paper uses a patch type technique based on the eigenvector for one mesh quality to provide an eigenvalue error indicator. Tests show this indicator to be both accurate and reliable. This technique was first observed by Stephen and Steven for an error estimation for buckling and natural frequency of beams and two dimensional in-plane and out-of-plane structures. This paper produces and error indicator for the more difficult problem of three dimensional brick elements.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.22 no.5
• /
• pp.575-597
• /
• 2006

Enhanced three-dimensional finite elements for geometrically nonlinear analysis of cable-supported structures are presented. The cable element, derived by using the concept of an equivalent modulus of elasticity and assuming the deflection curve of a cable as catenary function, is proposed to model the cables. The stability functions for a frame member are modified to obtain a numerically stable solution. Various numerical examples are solved to illustrate the versatility and efficiency of the proposed finite element model. It is shown that the finite elements proposed in this study can be very useful for geometrically nonlinear analysis as well as free vibration analysis of three-dimensional cable-supported structures.