• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• v.19 no.11
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• pp.1988-1997
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• 2005

This study is concerned with structural integrity evaluations for the interference-fit flywheels in reactor coolant pumps (RCPs) of nuclear power plants. Stresses in the flywheel due to the shrinkage loads and centrifugal loads at the RCP normal operation speed, design overspeed and joint-release speed are obtained using the finite element method (FEM), where release of the deformation-controlled stresses as a result of structural interactions during rotation is considered. Fracture mechanics evaluations for a series of cracks assumed to exist in the flywheel are conducted, considering ductile (fatigue) and non-ductile fracture, and stress intensity factors are obtained for the cracks using the finite element alternating method (FEAM). From analysis results, it is found that fatigue crack growth rates calculated are negligible for smaller cracks. Meanwhile, the material resistance to non-ductile fracture in terms of the critical stress intensity factor (K$_{IC}$) and the nil-ductility transition reference temperature (RT$_{NDT}$) are governing factors for larger cracks.

• Ocean Systems Engineering
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.77-89
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• 2015

As the exploitation of oil and gas resources advances into deeper waters and harsher environments, the design and analysis of the flexible risers has become the research focus in the offshore engineering filed. Due to the complexity of the components and the sliding between the adjacent layers, the bending response of the flexible risers is highly non-linear. This paper presents the finite element analysis of the flexible risers under bending loads. The detailed finite element model of the flexible riser is established in ABAQUS software. This finite element model incorporates all the fine details of the riser to accurately predict its nonlinear structural behavior. Based on the finite element model, the bending moment-curvature relationships of a flexible riser under various axisymmetric loads have been investigated. The results have been compared with the analytical ones obtained from the literature and good agreements have been found. Moreover, the stress of the tendon armors has been studied. The non-linear relationship between the armor tendons' stress and the bending loads has been obtained.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.479-492
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• 2003

Non-conforming membrane elements which have variable number of mid-side nodes with drilling degrees of freedom and which is designated as NMDx have been presented in this paper. The non-conforming elements with variable number of mid-side nodes can be efficiently used in the local mesh refinement for the in-plane structures. To guarantee the developed elements always pass the patch test, the direct modification method is incorporated into the element formulation. Detailed numerical tests in this study show the validity of the variable node NC elements developed in this study and a wide applicability of these elements to practical problems.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.66 no.1
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• pp.27-36
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• 2018

The objective of this work is to analyze geometrically nonlinear static analysis a simply supported laminated composite beam subjected to a non-follower transversal point load at the midpoint of the beam. In the nonlinear model of the laminated beam, total Lagrangian finite element model of is used in conjunction with the Timoshenko beam theory. The considered non-linear problem is solved considering full geometric non-linearity by using incremental displacement-based finite element method in conjunction with Newton-Raphson iteration method. There is no restriction on the magnitudes of deflections and rotations in contradistinction to von-Karman strain displacement relations of the beam. In the numerical results, the effects of the fiber orientation angles and the stacking sequence of laminates on the nonlinear deflections and stresses of the composite laminated beam are examined and discussed. Convergence study is performed. Also, the difference between the geometrically linear and nonlinear analysis of laminated beam is investigated in detail.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.579-596
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• 2016

This paper describes a method of the refined plastic hinge approach in the framework of the higher-order element formulation that can efficaciously evaluate the limit state capacity of a whole reinforced concrete structural system using least number of element(s), whereas the traditional design of a reinforced concrete structure (i.e. AS3600; Eurocode 2) is member-based approach. Hence, in regard to the material nonlinearities, the efficient and economical cross-section analysis is provided to evaluate the element section capacity of non-uniform and arbitrary concrete section subjected to the interaction effects, which is helpful to formulate the refined plastic hinge method. In regard to the geometric nonlinearities, this paper relies on the higher-order element formulation with element load effect. Eventually, the load redistribution can be considered and make full use of the strength reserved owing to the redundancy of an indeterminate structure. And it is particularly true for the performance-based design of a structure under the extreme loads, while the uncertainty of the extreme load is great that the true behaviour of a whole structural system is important for the economical design approach, which is great superiority over the conservative optimal strength of an individual and isolated member based on traditional design (i.e. AS3600; Eurocode 2).

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.565-581
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• 2018

This paper proposes a new analytical formulation for computing the seismic input at various levels of a structure in terms of floor response spectra. The approach, which neglects the dynamic interaction between primary structure and secondary element, is particularly useful for the seismic assessment of secondary and non-structural elements. The proposed formulation has a robust theoretical basis and it is based on few meaningful dynamic parameters of the main building. The method has been validated in the linear and nonlinear behavior of the main building through results coming from both experimental tests (available in literature) and parametric numerical analyses. The conditions, for which the Floor Spectrum Approach and its simplified assumptions are valid, have been derived in terms of specific interval ratios between the mass of the secondary element and the participant mass of the main structure. Finally, a practice-oriented formulation has been derived, which could be easily implementable also at code level.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2006.04a
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• pp.849-856
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• 2006

This paper is to examine the applicability of ordinary Kriging interpolation(OK) to the p-adaptivity of the finite element analysis that is based on variogram. In the p-refinement, the analytical domain has to be refined automatically to obtain an acceptable level of accuracy by increasing the p-level non-uniformly or selectively. In case of non-uniform p-distribution, the continuity between elements with different polynomial orders is achieved by assigning zero higher-order derivatives associated with the edge in common with the lower-order derivatives. It is demonstrated that the validity of the proposed approach by analyzing results for stress singularity problem.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2003.04a
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• pp.504-512
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• 2003

Simulation programs have been developed and used as an attempt to improve the accuracy of Non-Destructive Evaluation(NDE) techniques. The applicability of these programs is very limited, however, because it is difficult to describe the delicacy of the propagation of stress waves. To investigate the applicability of the finite element analysis for stress wave-based NDE techniques numerical simulation for Impact-Echo method and SASW method is performed. The numerical studies are performed to determine the essential parameters such as contact time of impact load, mesh size and time step size. These studies show that the choice of parameter is very important for improving the accuracy and confidence of the numerical procedure and, thereby, the applicability of the numerical analysis for stress wave-based NDE techniques

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2006.04a
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• pp.589-596
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• 2006

An improved numerical method to obtain the exact element stiffness matrix is newly proposed to perform the spatially coupled elastic and stability analyses of non-symmetric thin-walled beam-columns with two-types of elastic foundation. This method overcomes drawbacks of the previous method to evaluate the exact stiffness matrix for the spatially coupled stability analysis of thin-walled beam-column. This numerical technique is firstly accomplished via a generalized eigenproblem associated with 14 displacement parameters by transforming equilibrium equations to a set of first order simultaneous ordinary differential equations. Then exact displacement functions are constructed by combining eigensolutions and polynomial solutions corresponding to non-zero and zero eigenvalues, respectively. Consequently an exact stiffness matrix is evaluated by applying the member force-deformation relationships to these displacement functions.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.295-313
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• 2005

This paper evaluates the effective width of composite steel beams with precast hollowcore slabs numerically using the finite element method. A parametric study, carried out on 27 beams with different steel cross sections, hollowcore unit depths and spans, is presented. The effective width of the slab is predicted for both the elastic and plastic ranges. 8-node three-dimensional solid elements are used to model the composite beam components. The material non-linearity of all the components is taken into consideration. The non-linear load-slip characteristics of the headed shear stud connectors are included in the analysis. The moment-deflection behaviour of the composite beams, the ultimate moment capacity and the modes of failure are also presented. Finally, the ultimate moment capacity of the beams evaluated using the present FE analysis was compared with the results calculated using the rigid - plastic method.