• Wind and Structures
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.145-167
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• 2014

Wind-vehicle-bridge (WVB) interaction can be regarded as a coupled vibration system. Aerodynamic forces and moment on vehicles and bridge decks play an important role in the vibration analysis of the coupled WVB system. High-speed vehicle motion has certain effects on the aerodynamic characteristics of a vehicle-bridge system under crosswinds, but it is not taken into account in most previous studies. In this study, a new testing system with a moving vehicle model was developed to directly measure the aerodynamic forces and moment on the vehicle and bridge deck when the vehicle model moved on the bridge deck under crosswinds in a large wind tunnel. The testing system, with a total length of 18.0 m, consisted of three main parts: vehicle-bridge model system, motion system and signal measuring system. The wind speed, vehicle speed, test objects and relative position of the vehicle to the bridge deck could be easily altered for different test cases. The aerodynamic forces and moment on the moving vehicle and bridge deck were measured utilizing the new testing system. The effects of the vehicle speed, wind yaw angle, rail track position and vehicle type on the aerodynamic characteristics of the vehicle and bridge deck were investigated. In addition, a data processing method was proposed according to the characteristics of the dynamic testing signals to determine the variations of aerodynamic forces and moment on the moving vehicle and bridge deck. Three-car and single-car models were employed as the moving rail vehicle model and road vehicle model, respectively. The results indicate that the drag and lift coefficients of the vehicle tend to increase with the increase of the vehicle speed and the decrease of the resultant wind yaw angle and that the vehicle speed has more significant effect on the aerodynamic coefficients of the single-car model than on those of the three-car model. This study also reveals that the aerodynamic coefficients of the vehicle and bridge deck are strongly influenced by the rail track positions, while the aerodynamic coefficients of the bridge deck are insensitive to the vehicle speed or resultant wind yaw angle.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.687-694
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• 2018

The problem of wheel tread defects has become a major challenge for the health management of high-speed rail as a wheel defect with small radius deviation may suffice to give rise to severe damage on both the train bogie components and the track structure when a train runs at high speeds. It is thus highly desirable to detect the defects soon after their occurrences and then conduct wheel turning for the defective wheelsets. Online wheel condition monitoring using wheel impact load detector (WILD) can be an effective solution, since it can assess the wheel condition and detect potential defects during train passage. This study aims to develop an FBG-based track-side wheel condition monitoring method for the detection of wheel tread defects. The track-side sensing system uses two FBG strain gauge arrays mounted on the rail foot, measuring the dynamic strains of the paired rails excited by passing wheelsets. Each FBG array has a length of about 3 m, slightly longer than the wheel circumference to ensure a full coverage for the detection of any potential defect on the tread. A defect detection algorithm is developed for using the online-monitored rail responses to identify the potential wheel tread defects. This algorithm consists of three steps: 1) strain data pre-processing by using a data smoothing technique to remove the trends; 2) diagnosis of novel responses by outlier analysis for the normalized data; and 3) local defect identification by a refined analysis on the novel responses extracted in Step 2. To verify the proposed method, a field test was conducted using a test train incorporating defective wheels. The train ran at different speeds on an instrumented track with the purpose of wheel condition monitoring. By using the proposed method to process the monitoring data, all the defects were identified and the results agreed well with those from the static inspection of the wheelsets in the depot. A comparison is also drawn for the detection accuracy under different running speeds of the test train, and the results show that the proposed method can achieve a satisfactory accuracy in wheel defect detection when the train runs at a speed higher than 30 kph. Some minor defects with a depth of 0.05 mm~0.06 mm are also successfully detected.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.111-123
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• 2023

The slope of an open cut tunnel is located above the exit of the Leijia tunnel on the Changgan high-speed railway. During the excavation of the open cut tunnel foundation pit, the slope slipped twice, a large landslide of 92500 m³ formed. The landslide body and unstable slope body not only caused the foundation pit of the open cut tunnel to be buried and the anchor piles to be damaged but also directly threatened the operational safety of the later high-speed railway. Therefore, to study the stability change in the slope of the open cut tunnel under heavy rain and excavation conditions, a 3D numerical calculation model of the slope is carried out by Midas GTS software, the deformation mechanism is analyzed, anti-sliding measures are proposed, and the effectiveness of the anti-sliding measures is analyzed according to the field monitoring results. The results show that when rainfall occurs, rainwater collects in the open cut tunnel area, resulting in a transient saturation zone on the slope on the right side of the open cut tunnel, which reduces the shear strength of the slope soil; the excavation at the slope toe reduces the anti-sliding capacity of the slope toe. Under the combined action of excavation and rainfall, when the soil above the top of the anchor pile is excavated, two potential sliding surfaces are bounded by the top of the excavation area, and the shear outlet is located at the top of the anchor pile. After the excavation of the open cut tunnel, the potential sliding surface is mainly concentrated at the lower part of the downhill area, and the shear outlet moves down to the bottom of the open cut tunnel. Based on the deformation characteristics and the failure mechanism of the landslides, comprehensive control measures, including interim emergency mitigation measures and long-term mitigation measures, are proposed. The field monitoring results further verify the accuracy of the anti-sliding mechanism analysis and the effectiveness of anti-sliding measures.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.91-102
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• 2023

To study the evaluation standard and control limit of mortar filling layer void length, in this paper, the train sub-model was developed by MATLAB and the track-bridge sub-model considering the mortar filling layer void was established by ANSYS. The two sub-models were assembled into a train-track-bridge coupling dynamic model through the wheel-rail contact relationship, and the validity was corroborated by the coupling dynamic model with the literature model. Considering the randomness of fastening stiffness, mortar elastic modulus, length of mortar filling layer void, and pier settlement, the test points were designed by the Box-Behnken method based on Design-Expert software. The coupled dynamic model was calculated, and the support vector regression (SVR) nonlinear mapping model of the wheel-rail system was established. The learning, prediction, and verification were carried out. Finally, the reliable probability of the amplification coefficient distribution of the response index of the train and structure in different ranges was obtained based on the SVR nonlinear mapping model and Latin hypercube sampling method. The limit of the length of the mortar filling layer void was, thus, obtained. The results show that the SVR nonlinear mapping model developed in this paper has a high fitting accuracy of 0.993, and the computational efficiency is significantly improved by 99.86%. It can be used to calculate the dynamic response of the wheel-rail system. The length of the mortar filling layer void significantly affects the wheel-rail vertical force, wheel weight load reduction ratio, rail vertical displacement, and track plate vertical displacement. The dynamic response of the track structure has a more significant effect on the limit value of the length of the mortar filling layer void than the dynamic response of the vehicle, and the rail vertical displacement is the most obvious. At 250 km/h - 350 km/h train running speed, the limit values of grade I, II, and III of the lengths of the mortar filling layer void are 3.932 m, 4.337 m, and 4.766 m, respectively. The results can provide some reference for the long-term service performance reliability of the ballastless track-bridge system of HRS.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.739-749
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• 2015

Field measurement of wind characteristics is of great significance for the wind engineering community. High-frequency anemometers such as ultrasonic anemometers are widely used to obtain the high-frequency fluctuating wind speed time history. However, conventional instrumentation systems may suffer from low efficiency, non-real time transmission and higher maintenance cost, and thus are not very appropriate in the field measurement of strong winds in remote areas such as mountain valleys. In order to improve the field measurement performance in those remote areas, a wireless high-frequency anemometer instrumentation system for field measurement has been developed. In this paper, the architecture of the proposed instrumentation system, and measured data transmission and treatment will be presented firstly. Then a comparison among existing instrumentation systems and the proposed one is made. It shows that the newly-developed system has considerable advantages. Furthermore, the application of this system to the bridge site located in the mountain valley is discussed. Finally, typical samples of measured data from this area are presented. It can be expected that the proposed system has a great application potential in the wind field measurement for remote areas such as the mountainous or island or coastal area, and hazardous structures such as ultra-voltage transmission tower, due to its real-time transmission, low cost and no manual collection of data and convenience.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.441-456
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• 2023

Aiming at the development trend of light weight and high strength of engineering structures, this paper experimentally investigated the seismic performance of circular-in-square high-strength concrete-filled double skin steel tubular (HCFDST) stub columns with out-of-code width-to-thickness (B/t) ratios. Typical failure mode of HCFDST stub columns appeared with the infill material crushing, steel fracture and local buckling of outer tubes as well as the inner buckling of inner tubes. Subsequently, the detailed analysis on hysteretic curves, skeleton curves and ductility, energy dissipation, stiffness degradation and lateral force reduction was conducted to reflect the influences of hollow ratios, axial compression ratios and infill types, e.g., increasing hollow ratio from 0.54 to 0.68 and 0.82 made a slight effect on bearing capacity compared to the ductility coefficients; the higher axial compression ratio (e.g., 0.3 versus 0.1) significantly reduced the average bearing capacity and ductility; the HCFDST column SCFST-6 filled with concrete obviously displayed the larger initial secant stiffness with a percentage 34.20% than the column SCFST-2 using engineered cementitious composite (ECC); increasing hollow ratios, axial compression ratios could accelerate the drop speed of stiffness degradation. The out-of-code HCFDST stub columns with reasonable design could behave favorable hysteretic performance. A theoretical model considering the tensile strength effect of ECC was thereafter established and verified to predict the moment-resisting capacity of HCFDST columns using ECC. The reported research on circular-in-square HCFDST stub columns can provide significant references to the structural application and design.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.35 no.8
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• pp.1048-1054
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• 2011

Laser surface hardening process is the method of hardening surface by inducing rapid self quenching of laser injected area through transfer of surface heat to inside after rapid heating of laser injected area only by high density energy heat source. This surface treatment method does not involve virtually any thermal deformation by heat treatment nor accompanies any other process after surface hardening treatment. In addition, allowing local machining, this method is a surface treatment method suitable for die with complicated shape. In this study, die material cast iron was surface-treated by using high power diode laser with beam profile suitable for heat treatment. Since the shapes of die differ by press die process, specimens were heat-treated separately on plane and corner depending on the applied parts. At this time, corner heat treatment was done with optic head inclined at $10^{\circ}$. As a result, corner heat treatment easily involves concentration of heat input due to limitation of heat transfer route by the shapes compared with plane part, so the treatment accomplished hardening at faster conveying speed than plane heat treatment.

• 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.

• Advances in Computational Design
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.309-325
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• 2023

An innovative inertial reactive armor is being developed through a multi-discipline project. Unlike the well-known explosive or non-explosive reactive armour that uses high-energy explosives or bulging effect, the proposed inertial reactive armour uses active disc elements that is set to rotate rapidly upon impact to effectively deflect and disrupt shaped charges and kinetic energy penetrators. The effectiveness of the proposed armour highly depends on the tangential velocity of the impact point on the rotating disc. However,for a single layer armour with an array of high-speed rotating discs, the tangential velocity is relatively low near the center of the disc and is not available between the gap of the discs. Therefore, it is necessary to configure the armor with double layers to increase the tangential velocity at the point of impact. This paper explores a multi-objective geometry design optimization for the double-layered armor using Nelder-Mead optimization algorithm and integration tools of the python programming language. The optimization objectives include maximizing both average tangential velocity and high tangential velocity areas and minimizing low tangential velocity area. The design parameters include the relative position (translation and rotation) of the disc element between two armor layers. The optimized design results in a significant increase of the average tangential velocity (38%), increase of the high tangential velocity area (71.3%), and decrease of the low tangential velocity area (86.2%) as comparing to the single layer armor.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.339-352
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• 2014

This paper discusses the appropriate duration for basic gust wind speeds in wind loading codes and standards, and in wind engineering generally. Although various proposed definitions are discussed, the 'moving average' gust duration has been widely accepted internationally. The commonly-specified gust duration of 3-seconds, however, is shown to have a significant effect on the high-frequency end of the spectrum of turbulence, and may not be ideally suited for wind engineering purposes. The effective gust durations measured by commonly-used anemometer types are discussed; these are typically considerably shorter than the 'standard' duration of 3 seconds. Using stationary random process theory, the paper gives expected peak factors, $g_u$, as a function of the non-dimensional parameter ($T/{\tau}$), where T is the sample, or reference, time, and ${\tau}$ is the gust duration, and a non-dimensional mean wind speed, $\bar{U}.T/L_u$, where $\bar{U}$ is a mean wind speed, and $L_u$ is the integral length scale of turbulence. The commonly-used Durst relationship, relating gusts of various durations, is shown to correspond to a particular value of turbulence intensity $I_u$, of 16.5%, and is therefore applicable to particular terrain and height situations, and hence should not be applied universally. The effective frontal areas associated with peak gusts of various durations are discussed; this indicates that a gust of 3 seconds has an equivalent frontal area equal to that of a tall building. Finally a generalized gust response factor format, accounting for fluctuating and resonant along-wind loading of structures, applicable to any code is presented.