• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.49 no.5
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• pp.645-660
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• 2014

This paper presents the design and project of an innovative concept for a Single Point Incremental Forming (SPIF) Machine. Nowadays, equipment currently available for conducting SPIF result mostly from the adaptation of conventional CNC machine tools that results in a limited range of applications in terms of materials and geometries. There is also a limited market supply of equipment dedicated to Incremental Sheet Forming (ISF), that are costly considering low batches, making it unattractive for industry. Other factors impairing a quicker spread of SPIF are large forming times and poor geometrical accuracy of parts. The following sections will depict the development of a new equipment, designed to overcome some of the limitations of machines currently used, allowing the development of a sounding basis for further studies on the particular features of this process. The equipment here described possesses six-degrees-of freedom for the tool, for the sake of improved flexibility in terms of achievable tool-paths and an extra stiffness provided by a parallel kinematics scheme. A brief state of the art about the existing SPIF machines is provided to support the project's guidelines.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.427-447
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• 2011

The progressive collapse phenomenon is generally regarded as dynamic. Due to the impracticality of nonlinear dynamic computations for practitioners, an interest arises for the development of equivalent static pushover procedures. The present paper proposes a methodology to identify such a procedure for sudden column removals, using energetic evaluations to determine the pushover loads to apply. In a dynamic context, equality between the cumulated external and internal works indicates a vanishing kinetic energy. If such a state is reached, the structure is sometimes assumed able to withstand the column removal. Approximations of these works can be estimated using a static computation, leading to an estimate of the displacements at the zero kinetic energy configuration. In comparison with other available procedures based on such criteria, the present contribution identifies loading patterns to associate with the zero-kinetic energy criterion to avoid a single-degree-of-freedom idealisation. A parametric study over a family of regular steel structures of varying sizes uses non-linear dynamic computations to assess the proposed pushover loading pattern for the cases of central and lateral ground floor column failure. The identified quasi-static loading schemes are shown to allow detecting nearly all dynamically detected plastic hinges, so that the various beams are provided with sufficient resistance during the design process. A proper accuracy is obtained for the plastic rotations of the most plastified hinges almost independently of the design parameters (loads, geometry, robustness), indicating that the methodology could be extended to provide estimates of the required ductility for the beams, columns, and beam-column connections.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.90 no.3
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• pp.233-252
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• 2024

This research explores a new finite element model for the free vibration analysis of bi-directional functionally graded (BDFG) beams. The model is based on an efficient higher-order shear deformation beam theory that incorporates a trigonometric warping function for both transverse shear deformation and stress to guarantee traction-free boundary conditions without the necessity of shear correction factors. The proposed two-node beam element has three degrees of freedom per node, and the inter-element continuity is retained using both C1 and C0 continuities for kinematics variables. In addition, the mechanical properties of the (BDFG) beam vary gradually and smoothly in both the in-plane and out-of-plane beam's directions according to an exponential power-law distribution. The highly elevated performance of the developed model is shown by comparing it to conceptual frameworks and solution procedures. Detailed numerical investigations are also conducted to examine the impact of boundary conditions, the bi-directional gradient indices, and the slenderness ratio on the free vibration response of BDFG beams. The suggested finite element beam model is an excellent potential tool for the design and the mechanical behavior estimation of BDFG structures.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.90 no.3
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• pp.253-261
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• 2024

This research explores a new finite element model for the free vibration analysis of bi-directional functionally graded (BDFG) beams. The model is based on an efficient higher-order shear deformation beam theory that incorporates a trigonometric warping function for both transverse shear deformation and stress to guarantee traction-free boundary conditions without the necessity of shear correction factors. The proposed two-node beam element has three degrees of freedom per node, and the inter-element continuity is retained using both C1 and C0 continuities for kinematics variables. In addition, the mechanical properties of the (BDFG) beam vary gradually and smoothly in both the in-plane and out-of-plane beam's directions according to an exponential power-law distribution. The highly elevated performance of the developed model is shown by comparing it to conceptual frameworks and solution procedures. Detailed numerical investigations are also conducted to examine the impact of boundary conditions, the bi-directional gradient indices, and the slenderness ratio on the free vibration response of BDFG beams. The suggested finite element beam model is an excellent potential tool for the design and the mechanical behavior estimation of BDFG structures.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.1-24
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• 2017

This paper presents a 1:25 multi-freedom aero-elastic model for a high lighting pole at the Zhoushan stadium. To validate the similarity characteristics of the model, a free vibration test was performed before the formal test. Beat phenomenon was found and eliminated by synthesis of vibration in the X and Y directions, and the damping ratio of the model was identified by the free decay method. The dynamic characteristics of the model were examined and compared with the real structure; the similarity results were favorable. From the test results, the major along-wind dynamic response was the first vibration component. The along-wind wind vibration coefficient was calculated by the China code and Eurocode. When the peak factor equaled 3.5, the coefficient calculated by the China code was close to the experimental result while Eurocode had a slight overestimation of the coefficient. The wind vibration coefficient during typhoon flow was analyzed, and a magnification factor was suggested in typhoon-prone areas. By analyzing the power spectrum of the dynamic cross-wind base shear force, it was found that a second-order vortex-excited resonance existed. The cross-wind response in the test was smaller than Eurocode estimation. The aerodynamic damping ratio was calculated by random decrement technique and the results showed that aerodynamic damping ratios were mostly positive at the design wind speed, which means that the wind-induced galloping phenomenon is predicted not to occur at design wind speeds.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.319-334
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• 2023

Localizing damages is an essential task to monitor the health of the structures since they may not be able to operate anymore. Among the damage detection techniques, non-destructive methods are considerably more preferred than destructive methods since damage can be located without affecting the structural integrity. However, these methods have several drawbacks in terms of detecting abilities, time consumption, cost, and hardware or software requirements. Employing artificial intelligence techniques could overcome such issues and could provide a powerful damage detection model if the technique is utilized correctly. In this study, the crack localization in flat and folded plate structures has been conducted by employing a Backpropagated Artificial Neural Network (BPANN). For this purpose, cracks with 18 different dimensions in thin, flat, and folded structures having 15⁰, 30⁰, 45⁰, and 60⁰ folding angle have been modeled and subjected to free vibration analysis by employing the Classical Plate Theory with Finite Element Method. A Four-nodded quadrilateral element having six degrees of freedom has been considered to represent those structures mathematically. The first ten natural frequencies have been obtained regarding healthy and cracked structures. To localize the crack, the ratios of the frequencies of the cracked flat and folded structures to those of healthy ones have been taken into account. Those ratios have been given to BPANN as the input variables, while the crack locations have been considered as the output variables. A total of 500 crack locations have been regarded within the dataset obtained from the results of the free vibration analysis. To build the best intelligent model, a feature search has been conducted for BAPNN regarding activation function, the number of hidden layers, and the number of hidden neurons. Regarding the analysis results, it is concluded that the BPANN is able to localize the cracks with an average accuracy of 95.12%.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.27-44
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• 2020

This work presents a comparison of three performance-based seismic design methods (PBSD) as applied to plane steel frames having eccentric braces (EBFs) and buckling restrained braces (BRBFs). The first method uses equivalent modal damping ratios (ξ_k), referring to an equivalent multi-degree-of-freedom (MDOF) linear system, which retains the mass, the elastic stiffness and responds in the same way as the original non-linear MDOF system. The second method employs modal strength reduction factors (${\bar{q}}_k$) resulting from the corresponding modal damping ratios. Contrary to the behavior factors of code based design methods, both ξ_k and ${\bar{q}}_k$ account for the first few modes of significance and incorporate target deformation metrics like inter-storey drift ratio (IDR) and local ductility as well as structural characteristics like structural natural period, and soil types. Explicit empirical expressions of ξ_k and ${\bar{q}}_k$, recently presented by the present authors elsewhere, are also provided here for reasons of completeness and easy reference. The third method, developed here by the authors, is based on a hybrid force/displacement (HFD) seismic design scheme, since it combines the force-base design (FBD) method with the displacement-based design (DBD) method. According to this method, seismic design is accomplished by using a behavior factor (q_h), empirically expressed in terms of the global ductility of the frame, which takes into account both non-structural and structural deformation metrics. These expressions for q_h are obtained through extensive parametric studies involving non-linear dynamic analysis (NLDA) of 98 frames, subjected to 100 far-fault ground motions that correspond to four soil types of Eurocode 8. Furthermore, these factors can be used in conjunction with an elastic acceleration design spectrum for seismic design purposes. Finally, a comparison among the above three seismic design methods and the Eurocode 8 method is conducted with the aid of non-linear dynamic analyses via representative numerical examples, involving plane steel EBFs and BRBFs.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.295-328
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• 2015

In recent years the monitoring of structural behavior through acquisition of vibrational data has become common practice. In addition, recent advances in sensor development have made the collection of diverse dynamic information feasible. Other than the commonly collected acceleration information, Global Position System (GPS) receivers and non-contact, optical techniques have also allowed for the synchronous collection of highly accurate displacement data. The fusion of this heterogeneous information is crucial for the successful monitoring and control of structural systems especially when aiming at real-time estimation. This task is not a straightforward one as measurements are inevitably corrupted with some percentage of noise, often leading to imprecise estimation. Quite commonly, the presence of noise in acceleration signals results in drifting estimates of displacement states, as a result of numerical integration. In this study, a new approach based on a time domain identification method, namely the Unscented Kalman Filter (UKF), is proposed for correcting the "drift effect" in displacement or rotation estimates in an online manner, i.e., on the fly as data is attained. The method relies on the introduction of artificial white noise (WN) observations into the filter equations, which is shown to achieve an online correction of the drift issue, thus yielding highly accurate motion data. The proposed approach is demonstrated for two cases; firstly, the illustrative example of a single degree of freedom linear oscillator is examined, where availability of acceleration measurements is exclusively assumed. Secondly, a field inspired implementation is presented for the torsional identification of a tall tower structure, where acceleration measurements are obtained at a high sampling rate and non-collocated GPS displacement measurements are assumed available at a lower sampling rate. A multi-rate Kalman Filter is incorporated into the analysis in order to successfully fuse data sampled at different rates.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.6 no.6
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• pp.451-470
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• 2003

The classical two-degree-of-freedom (2-d-o-f) "sectional model" is of common use to study the dynamics of suspension bridges. It takes into account the first pair of vertical and torsional modes of the bridge and describes well global oscillations caused by wind actions on the deck, yielding very useful information on the overall behaviour and the aerodynamic and aeroelastic response; however, it does not consider relative oscillations between main cables and deck. On the contrary, the 4-d-o-f model described in the two Parts of this paper includes longitudinal deformability of the hangers (assumed linear elastic in tension and unable to react in compression) and thus allows to take into account not only global oscillations, but also relative oscillations between main cables and deck. In particular, when the hangers go slack, large nonlinear oscillations are possible; if the hangers remain taut, the oscillations remain small and essentially linear: the latter behaviour has been the specific object of Part I (Sepe and Augusti 2001), while the present Part II investigates the nonlinear behaviour (coexisting large and/or small amplitude oscillations) under harmonic actions on the cables and/or on the deck, such as might be generated by vortex shedding. Because of the discontinuities and strong nonlinearity of the governing equations, the response has been investigated numerically. The results obtained for sample values of mechanical and forcing parameters seems to confirm that relative oscillations cannot a priori be excluded for very long span bridges under wind-induced loads, and they can stimulate a discussion on the actual possibility of such phenomena.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.343-360
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• 2017

The post-flutter state of streamlined steel box girder is studied in this paper. Firstly, the nonlinear aerodynamic self-excited forces of the bridge deck cross section were investigated by CFD dynamic mesh technique and then the nonlinear flutter derivatives were identified on this basis. Secondly, based on the 2-degree-of-freedom (DOF) coupling flutter theory, the torsional amplitude and the nonlinear flutter derivatives were introduced into the traditional direct flutter calculation method, and the original program was improved to the "post-flutter state analysis program" so that it can predict not only the critical flutter velocity but also the movement of the girder in the post-flutter state. Finally, wind tunnel tests were set to verify the method proposed in this paper. The results show that the effect of vertical amplitude on the nonlinear flutter derivatives is negligible, but the torsional amplitude is not; with the increase of wind speed, the post-flutter state of streamlined steel box girder includes four stages, namely, "little amplitude zone", "step amplitude zone", "linearly growing amplitude zone" and "divergence zone"; damping ratio has limited effect on the critical flutter velocity and the steady state response in the post-flutter state; after flutter occurs, the vibration form is a single frequency vibration coupled with torsional and vertical DOF.