• Smart Structures and Systems
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• 제18권2호
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• pp.197-216
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• 2016

The increased speed of a train causes increased loads that act on the track substructures. To ensure the safety of the track substructures, proper maintenance and repair are necessary based on an accurate characterization of strength and stiffness. The objective of this study is to develop and apply a cone penetrometer incorporated with the dynamic cone penetration method (CPD) for investigating track substructures. The CPD consists of an outer rod for dynamic penetration in the ballast layer and an inner rod with load cells for static penetration in the subgrade. Additionally, an energy-monitoring module composed of strain gauges and an accelerometer is connected to the head of the outer rod to measure the dynamic responses during the dynamic penetration. Moreover, eight strain gauges are installed in the load cells for static penetration to measure the cone tip resistance and the friction resistance during static penetration. To investigate the applicability of the developed CPD, laboratory and field tests are performed. The results of the CPD tests, i.e., profiles of the corrected dynamic cone penetration index (CDI), profiles of the cone tip and friction resistances, and the friction ratio are obtained at high resolution. Moreover, the maximum shear modulus of the subgrade is estimated using the relationships between the static penetration resistances and the maximum shear modulus obtained from the laboratory tests. This study suggests that the CPD test may be a useful method for the characterization of track substructures.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제72권4호
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• pp.421-432
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• 2019

In high-speed railway (HSR) system, the structure-borne noise inside viaduct at low frequency has been extensively investigated for its mitigation as a research hotspot owing to its harm to the nearby residents. This study proposed a novel acoustic optimization method for declining the structure-borne noise in viaduct-like structures by separating the acoustic contribution of each structural component in the measured acoustic field. The structural vibration and related acoustic sourcing, propagation, and radiation characteristics for the viaduct box girder under passing vehicle loading are studied by incorporating Finite Element Method (FEM) with Modal Acoustic Vector (MAV) analysis. Based on the Modal Acoustic Transfer Vector (MATV), the structural vibration mode that contributes maximum to the structure-borne noise shall be hereinafter filtered for the acoustic radiation. With vibration mode shapes, the locations of maximum amplitudes for being ribbed to mitigate the structure-borne noise are then obtained, and the structure-borne noise mitigation performance shall be eventually analyzed regarding to the ribbing conduction. The results demonstrate that the structural vibration and structure-borne noise of the viaduct box girder mainly occupy both in the range within 100 Hz, and the dominant frequency bands both are [31.5, 80] Hz. The peak frequency for the structure-borne noise of the viaduct box girder is mainly caused by $16^{th}$ and $62^{th}$ vibration modes; these two mode shapes mainly reflect the local vibration of the wing plate and top plate. By introducing web plate at the maximum amplitude of main mode shapes that contribute most to the acoustic modal contribution factors, the acoustic pressure peaks at the field-testing points are hereinafter obviously declined, this implies that the structure-borne noise mitigation performance is relatively promising for the viaduct.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• 제7권3호
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• pp.317-331
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• 2014

An experimental study was performed to investigate the seismic performance of solid steel reinforced concrete (SRC) frames with special-shaped columns that are composed of SRC special-shaped columns and reinforced concrete beams. For this purpose, two models of two-bay and three-story frame, including an edge frame and a middle frame, were designed and tested. The failure process and patterns were observed. The mechanical behaviors such as load-displacement hysteretic loops and skeleton curves, load bearing capacity, drift ratio, ductility, energy dissipation and stiffness degradation of test specimens were analyzed. Test results show that the failure mechanism of solid SRC frame with special-shaped columns is the beam-hinged mechanism, satisfying the seismic design principle of "strong column and weak beam". The hysteretic loops are plump, the ductility is good and the capacity of energy dissipation is strong, indicating that the solid SRC frame with special-shaped columns has excellent seismic performance, which is better than that of the lattice SRC frame with special-shaped columns. The ultimate elastic-plastic drift ratio is larger than the limit value specified by seismic code, showing the high capacity of collapse resistance. Compared with the edge frame, the middle frame has higher carrying capacity and stronger energy dissipation, but the ductility and speed of stiffness degradation are similar. All these can be helpful to the designation of solid SRC frame with special-shaped columns.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제70권2호
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• pp.169-178
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• 2019

The replacement of damaged components is an important task for long-span bridges. Conventional strategy for component replacement is to close the bridge to traffic, so that the influence of the surrounding environment is reduced to a minimum extent. However, complete traffic interruption would bring substantial economic losses and negative social influence nowadays. This paper investigates traffic control technologies without interruption for component replacement of long-span bridges. A numerical procedure of traffic control technologies is proposed incorporating traffic microsimulation and site-specific data, which is then implemented through a case study of cable replacement of a long-span cable-stayed bridge. Results indicate traffic load effects on the bridge are lower than the design values under current low daily traffic volume, and therefore cable replacement could be conducted without traffic control. However, considering a possible medium or high level of daily traffic volume, traffic load effects of girder bending moment and cable force nearest to the replaced cable become larger than the design level. This indicates a potential risk of failure, and traffic control should be implemented. Parametric studies show that speed control does not decrease but increase the load effects, and flow control using lane closure is not effectual. However, weight control and gap control are very effective to mitigate traffic load effects, and it is recommended to employ a weight control with gross vehicle weight no more than 65 t or/and a gap control with minimum vehicle gap no less than 40 m for the cable replacement of the case bridge.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제78권2호
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• pp.163-174
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• 2021

Track-bridge interaction has become an essential part in the design of bridges and rails in terms of modern railways. As a unique ballastless slab track, the longitudinal continuous slab track (LCST) or referred to as the China railway track system Type-II (CRTS II) slab track, demonstrates a complex force mechanism. Therefore, a comprehensive track-bridge interaction study between multi-span simply supported beam bridges and the LCST is presented in this work. In specific, we have developed an integrated finite element model to investigate the overall interaction effects of the LCST-bridge system subjected to the actions of temperature changes, traffic loads, and braking forces. In that place, the deformation patterns of the track and bridge, and the distributions of longitudinal forces and the interfacial shear stress are studied. Our results show that the additional rail stress has been reduced under various loads and the rail's deformation has become much smoother after the transition of the two continuous structural layers of the LCST. However, the influence of the temperature difference of bridges is significant and cannot be ignored as this action can bend the bridge like the traffic load. The uniform temperature change causes the tensile stress of the concrete track structure and further induce cracks in them. Additionally, the influences of the friction coefficient of the sliding layer and the interfacial bond characteristics on the LCST's performance are discussed. The systematic study presented in this work may have some potential impacts on the understanding of the overall mechanical behavior of the LCST-bridge system.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제77권2호
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• pp.167-177
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• 2021

Due to various benefits such as unlimited degrees of freedom, environment adaptability, and safety for humans, engineers have used soft materials with hyperelastic behavior in various industrial, medical, rescue, and other sectors. One of the applications of these materials in the fabrication of bending soft actuators (SA) is that they have eliminated many problems in the actuators such as production cost, mechanical complexity, and design algorithm. However, SA has complexities, such as predicting and monitoring behavior despite the many benefits. The first part of this paper deals with the prediction of SA behavior through mathematical models such as Ogden and Darijani, and its comparison with the results of experiments. At first, by examining different geometric models, the cubic structure was selected as the optimal structure in the investigated models. This geometrical structure at the same pressure showed the most significant bending in the simulation. The simulation results were then compared with experimental, and the final gripper model was designed and manufactured using a 3D printer with silicone rubber as for the polymer part. This geometrical structure is capable of bending up to a 90-degree angle at 70 kPa in less than 2 seconds. The second section is dedicated to monitoring the bending behavior created by the strain sensors with different sensitivity and stretchability. In the fabrication of the sensors, silicon is used as a soft material with hyperelastic behavior and carbon fiber as a conductive material in the soft material substrate. The SA designed in this paper is capable of deforming up to 1000 cycles without changing its characteristics and capable of moving objects weigh up to 1200 g. This SA has the capability of being used in soft robots and artificial hand making for high-speed objects harvesting.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• 제8권4호
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• pp.345-360
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• 2021

This paper presents an analytical approach to calculate the buckling load of the cylindrical ring structures subjected to both hydrostatic and hydrodynamic pressures. Based on the conservative law of energy and Timoshenko beam theory, a theoretical formula, which can be used to evaluate the critical pressure of buckling, is first derived for the simplified cylindrical ring structures. It is assumed that the hydrodynamic pressure can be treated as an equivalent hydrostatic pressure as a cosine function along the perimeter while the thickness ratio is limited to 0.2. Note that this paper limits the deformed shape of the cylindrical ring structures to an elliptical shape. The proposed analytical solutions are then compared with the numerical simulations. The critical pressure is evaluated in this study considering two possible failure modes: ultimate failure and buckling failure. The results show that the proposed analytical solutions can correctly predict the critical pressure for both failure modes. However, it is not recommended to be used when the hydrostatic pressure is low or medium (less than 80% of the critical pressure) as the analytical solutions underestimate the critical pressure especially when the ultimate failure mode occurs. This implies that the proposed solutions can still be used properly when the subsea vehicles are located in the deep parts of the ocean where the hydrostatic pressure is high. The finding will further help improve the geometric design of subsea vehicles against both hydrostatic and hydrodynamic pressures to enhance its strength and stability when it moves underwater. It will also help to control the speed of the subsea vehicles especially they move close to the sea bottom to prevent a catastrophic failure.

• Advances in nano research
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• 제12권2호
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• pp.151-165
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• 2022

Micro-scale serpentine structure fibers are widely used as flexible sensor in the manufacturing of micro-nano flexible electronic devices because of their outstanding non-linear mechanical properties and organizational flexibility. The use of melt electrowriting (MEW) technology, combined with the axial bending effect of the Taylor cone jet in the process, can achieve the micro-scale serpentine structure fibers. Due to the interference of the process parameters, it is still challenging to achieve the precise deposition of micro-scale and high-consistency serpentine structure fibers. In this paper, the micro-scale serpentine structure fiber is produced by MEW combined with axial bending effect. Based on the controlled deposition of MEW, applied voltage, collector speed, nozzle height and nozzle diameter are adjusted to achieve the precise deposition of micro-scale serpentine structure fibers with different morphologies in a single motion dimension. Finally, the influence mechanism of the above four parameters on the precise deposition of micro-scale serpentine fibers is explored.

• Wind and Structures
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• 제34권2호
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• pp.173-183
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• 2022

The galloping of iced conductors has long been a severe threat to the safety of overhead transmission lines. Compared with normal transmission lines, the ultra-high-voltage (UHV) transmission lines are more prone to galloping, and the damage caused is more severe. To control the galloping of UHV lines, it is necessary to conduct a comprehensive analysis of galloping characteristics. In this paper, a large-span 1000-kV UHV transmission line in China is taken as a practical example where an 8-bundled conductor with D-shaped icing is adopted. Galerkin method is employed for the time history calculation. For the wind attack angle range of 0°~180°, the galloping amplitudes in vertical, horizontal, and torsional directions are calculated. Furthermore, the vibration frequencies and galloping shapes are analyzed for the most severe conditions. The results show that the wind at 0°~10° attack angles can induce large torsional displacement, and this range of attack angles is also most likely to occur in reality. The galloping with largest amplitudes in all three directions occurs at the attack angle of 170° where the incoming flow is at the non-iced side, due to the strong aerodynamic instability. In addition, with wind speed increasing, galloping modes with higher frequencies appear and make the galloping shape more complex, indicating strong nonlinear behavior. Based on the galloping amplitudes of three directions, the full range of wind attack angles are divided into five galloping regions of different severity levels. The results obtained can promote the understanding of galloping and provide a reference for the anti-galloping design of UHV transmission lines.

• Advances in materials Research
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• 제11권4호
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• pp.375-390
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• 2022

Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) composite provides outstanding mechanical capabilities and is therefore popular in the automotive and aerospace industries. Drilling is a common final production technique for composite laminates however, drilling high-strength composite laminates is extremely complex and challenging. The delamination of composites during the drilling at the entry and exit of the hole has a severe impact on the results of the holes surface and the material properties. The major goal of this research is to investigate contemporary industry solutions for drilling CFRP composites: enhanced edge geometries of cutting tools. This study examined the occurrence of delamination at the entry and exit of the hole during the drilling. For each of the 80°, 90°, and 118°point angle uncoated Brad point, Dagger, and Twist solid carbide drills, Taguchi design of experiments were undertaken. Cutting parameters included three variable cutting speeds (100-125-150 m/min) and feed rates (0.1-0.2-0.3 mm/rev). Brad point drills induced less delamination than dagger and twist drills, according to the research, and the best cutting parameters were found to be a combination of maximum cutting speed, minimum feed rate, and low drill point angle (V:150 m/min, f: 0.1 mm/rev, θ: 80°). The feed rate was determined to be the most efficient factor in preventing hole entry and exit delamination using analysis of variance (ANOVA). Regression analysis was used to create first-degree mathematical models for each cutting tool's entrance and exit delamination components. The results of optimization, mathematical modelling, and experimental tests are thought to be reasonably coherent based on the information obtained.