• Wind and Structures
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.145-167
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• 2010

By using the 'failure' model approach, the effects of wind direction on the flight of sheathing panels from the roof of a model house in extreme winds was investigated. A complex relationship between the initial conditions, failure velocities, flight trajectories and speeds was observed. It was found that the local flow field above the roof and in the wake of the house have important effects on the flight of the panels. For example, when the initial panel location is oblique to the wind direction and in the region of separated flow near the roof edge, the panels do not fly from the roof since the resultant aerodynamic forces are small, even though the pressure coefficients at failure are high. For panels that do fly, wake effects from the building are a source of significant variation of flight trajectories and speeds. It was observed that the horizontal velocities of the panels span a range of about 20% - 95% of the roof height gust speed at failure. Numerical calculations assuming uniform, smooth flow appear to be useful for determining panel speeds; in particular, using the mean roof height, 3 sec gust speed provides a useful upper bound for determining panel speeds for the configuration examined. However, there are significant challenges for estimating trajectories using this method.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.27 no.8
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• pp.28-34
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• 2010

Railway wheel and axle is the most critical components in railway system. A wheel and axle failure can cause a derailment with its attendant loss of life and property. The service conditions of railway vehicles have become severe in recent years due to a general increase in operating speeds. Therefore, more precise evaluate of wheelset strength and safety has been desired. Fracture mechanics characteristics such as dynamic fracture toughness, fatigue threshold and charpy impact energy with respect to the tread, plate, disc hole of wheel and the surface of press fitted axle are evaluated. This paper describes the difference of fracture toughness, fatigue crack growth and fatigue threshold at the locations of wheel and axle. The results show that the dynamic fracture toughness, $K_{ID}$, is obviously lower than static fracture toughness, $K_{IC}$ and the fracture mechanics characteristics are difference to the location of wheel tread and hole.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.21-46
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• 2011

The natural frequencies of continuous systems depend on the governing partial differential equation and can be numerically estimated using the finite element method. The accuracy and convergence of the finite element method depends on the choice of basis functions. A basis function will generally perform better if it is closely linked to the problem physics. The stiffness matrix is the same for either static or dynamic loading, hence the basis function can be chosen such that it satisfies the static part of the governing differential equation. However, in the case of a rotating beam, an exact closed form solution for the static part of the governing differential equation is not known. In this paper, we try to find an approximate solution for the static part of the governing differential equation for an uniform rotating beam. The error resulting from the approximation is minimized to generate relations between the constants assumed in the solution. This new function is used as a basis function which gives rise to shape functions which depend on position of the element in the beam, material, geometric properties and rotational speed of the beam. The results of finite element analysis with the new basis functions are verified with published literature for uniform and tapered rotating beams under different boundary conditions. Numerical results clearly show the advantage of the current approach at high rotation speeds with a reduction of 10 to 33% in the degrees of freedom required for convergence of the first five modes to four decimal places for an uniform rotating cantilever beam.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.1-15
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• 2012

High-resolution wind data were acquired from a 100-m high offshore tower during the passage of Typhoon Hagupit in September, 2008. The meteorological tower was equipped with an ultrasonic anemometer and a number of cup anemometers at heights between 10 and 100 m. Wind characteristics of the strong typhoon, such as mean wind speed and wind direction, turbulence intensity, turbulence integral length scale, gust factor and power spectra of wind velocity, vertical profiles of mean wind speed were investigated in detail based on the wind data recorded during the strong typhoon. The measured results revealed that the wind characteristics in different stages during the typhoon varied remarkably. Through comparison with non-typhoon wind measurements, the phenomena of enhanced levels of turbulence intensity, gust factors, turbulence integral length scale and spectral magnitudes in typhoon boundary layer were observed. The monitored data and analysis results are expected to be useful for the wind-resistant design of offshore structures and buildings on seashores in typhoon-prone regions.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.77 no.2
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• pp.231-243
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• 2021

In this paper, a dynamic response mapping model of the wheel-rail system is established by using the support vector regression (SVR) method, and the hierarchical safety thresholds of the subgrade void are proposed based on the reliability theory. Firstly, the vehicle-track coupling dynamic model considering the subgrade void is constructed. Secondly, the subgrade void area, the subgrade compaction index K30 and the fastener stiffness are selected as random variables, and the mapping model between these three random parameters and the dynamic response of the wheel-rail system is built by using the orthogonal test and the SVR. The sensitivity analysis is carried out by the range analysis method. Finally, the hierarchical safety thresholds for the subgrade void are proposed. The results show that the subgrade void has the most significant influence on the carbody vertical acceleration, the rail vertical displacement, the vertical displacement and the slab tensile stress. From the range analysis, the subgrade void area has the largest effect on the dynamic response of the wheel-rail system, followed by the fastener stiffness and the subgrade compaction index K30. The recommended safety thresholds for the subgrade void of level I, II and III are 4.01㎡, 6.81㎡ and 9.79㎡, respectively.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.93-105
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• 2023

This paper examines a high-speed railway CRTS-II ballastless track-bridge system. Using the stationary potential energy theory, the mapping analytical solution between the bridge deformation and the rail vertical geometric irregularity was derived. A theoretical model (TM) considering the nonlinear stiffness of interlayer components was also proposed. By comparing with finite element model results and the measured field data, the accuracy of the TM was verified. Based on the TM, the effect of bridge deformation amplitude, girder end cantilever length, and interlayer nonlinear stiffness (fastener, cement asphalt mortar layer (CA mortar layer), extruded sheet, etc.) on the rail vertical geometric irregularity were analyzed. Results show that the rail vertical deformation extremum increases with increasing bridge deformation amplitude. The girder end cantilever length has a certain influence on the rail vertical geometric irregularity. The fastener and CA mortar layer have basically the same influence on the rail deformation amplitude. The extruded sheet and shear groove influence the rail geometric irregularity significantly, and the influence is basically the same. The influence of the shear rebar and lateral block on the rail vertical geometric irregularity could be negligible.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.473-488
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• 2022

A high-speed railway (HSR) bridge may undergo long-term deformation due to the degradation of material stiffness, or foundation settlement during its service cycle. In this study, an analytical model is set up to evaluate the influence of this long-term vertical bridge deformation on the track geometry. By analyzing the structural characteristics of the HSR track-bridge system, the energy variational principle is applied to build the energy functionals for major components of the track-bridge system. By further taking into account the interlayer's force balancing requirements, the mapping relationship between the deformation of the track and the one of the bridge is established. In order to consider the different behaviors of the interlayers in compression and tension, an iterative method is introduced to update the mapping relationship. As for the validation of the proposed mapping model, a finite element model is created to compare the numerical results with the analytical results, which show a good agreement. Thereafter, the effects of the interlayer's different properties of tension and compression on the mapping deformations are further evaluated and discussed.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.90 no.1
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• pp.41-49
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• 2024

In recent years, China's high-speed railway (HSR) line continues to expand into seismically active regions. Analyzing the features of earthquake rail irregularity is crucial in this situation. This study first established and experimentally validated a finite element (FE) model of bridge-track. The FE model was then combined with earthquake record database to generate the earthquake rail irregularity library. The sample library was used to construct a model of desired earthquake rail irregularity based on signal processing (SFT) and hypothesis principle. Finally, the effects of random pier height and random span number on desired irregularity were analyzed. Herein, an equivalent method of calculating earthquake rail irregularities for random structures was proposed. The results of this study show that the amplitude of desired irregularity is found to increase with increasing pier height. When calculating the desired irregularity of a structure with unequal pier heights, the structure can be regarded as that with equal pier heights (taking the largest pier height). For a structure with the span number large than 9, its desired irregularity can be considered equal to that of a 9-span structure. For the structures with both random pier heights and random span number, their desired irregularities are obtained by equivalent calculations for pier height and span number, respectively.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.38 no.6
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• pp.411-425
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• 2024

To investigate the optimal aerodynamic parameters of wind barriers for the T-beam of high-speed railway (HSR) bridge and the wind field of the wind barrier-train-bridge system, the three-component forces of the system and the wind pressure on the vehicle surface were tested and analyzed through the sectional model wind test. The effects of wind velocity, with/without wind barrier, the height of wind barrier, and the air permeability of the wind barrier on the aerodynamic characteristics of the train-bridge system are discussed. Additionally, a CFD numerical model is constructed to evaluate the wind environment of the bridge surface with/without the wind barrier, and the impact of wind barrier on the running safety of vehicles are analyzed. Comprehensively considering the running safety of the train and the wind-resistant stability of the bridge, it is more appropriate to set the wind barrier height H as 3.5 m and the porosity 𝛽 as 30% respectively.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.1-22
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• 2006

The response characteristics and suppression of flow-induced vibrations of rectangular prisms with various width-to-depth ratios were experimentally investigated. The prisms were rigid and elastically mounted at both ends to enable constrained torsional vibrations only. The present study focused on torsional vibrations, one of the three types of flow-induced vibrations generated in a rectangular prism. First, the response characteristics of torsional vibrations generated in rectangular prisms were investigated by free-vibration tests. It was found that the response characteristics of torsional vibrations generated in rectangular prisms could be classified into six patterns depending on the width-to-depth ratio. Next, the response characteristics of torsional vibrations observed in the free-vibration tests were reproduced by forced-vibration tests, and the mechanisms by which the three types of flow-induced vibrations, low-speed torsional flutter, vortex excitation and high-speed torsional flutter, are generated in the rectangular prisms were elucidated on the basis of characteristics of fluid forces and visualized flow patterns. Experiments were also carried out to establish an effective method for suppressing flow-induced vibrations generated in the rectangular prisms, and it was found that low-speed torsional flutter and high-speed torsional flutter could be suppressed by placing a small normal plate upstream of the prism, which results in suppression of the alternating rolling-up of the shear layers separating from the leading edges of the prism. It was also found that vortex excitation could be suppressed by placing a splitter plate downstream of the prism, which results in suppression of the generation of wake vortices.