• Advances in Computational Design
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• 제7권3호
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• pp.229-251
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• 2022

In 2017, an intraplate earthquake of Mw 7.1 occurred 120 km from Mexico City (CDMX). Most collapsed structural buildings stroked by the earthquake were flat slab systems joined to reinforced concrete (RC) columns, unreinforced masonry, confined masonry, and dual systems. This article presents the simulated response of an actual six-story RC frame building with masonry infill walls that did not collapse during the 2017 earthquake. It has a structural system similar to that of many of the collapsed buildings and is located in a high seismic amplification zone. Five 3D numerical models were used in the study to model the seismic response of the building. The building dynamic properties were identified using an ambient vibration test (AVT), enabling validation of the building's finite element models. Several assumptions were made to calibrate the numerical model to the properties identified from the AVT, such as the presence of adjacent buildings, variations in masonry properties, soil-foundation-structure interaction, and the contribution of non-structural elements. The results showed that the infill masonry wall would act as a compression strut and crack along the transverse direction because the shear stresses in the original model (0.85 MPa) exceeded the shear strength (0.38 MPa). In compression, the strut presents lower stresses (3.42 MPa) well below its capacity (6.8 MPa). Although the non-structural elements were not considered to be part of the lateral resistant system, the results showed that these elements could contribute by resisting part of the base shear force, reaching a force of 82 kN.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제83권3호
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• pp.327-340
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• 2022

The Collapse Margin Ratio (CMR) is a notable index used for seismic assessment of the structures. As proposed by FEMA P695, a set of analyses including the Nonlinear Static Analysis (NSA), Incremental Dynamic Analysis (IDA), together with Fragility Analysis, which are typically time-taking and computationally unaffordable, need to be conducted, so that the CMR could be obtained. To address this issue and to achieve a quick and efficient method to estimate the CMR, the Artificial Neural Network (ANN), Response Surface Method (RSM), and Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) will be introduced in the current research. Accordingly, using the NSA results, an attempt was made to find a fast and efficient approach to derive the CMR. To this end, 5016 IDA analyses based on FEMA P695 methodology on 114 various Reinforced Concrete (RC) frames with 1 to 12 stories have been carried out. In this respect, five parameters have been used as the independent and desired inputs of the systems. On the other hand, the CMR is regarded as the output of the systems. Accordingly, a double hidden layer neural network with Levenberg-Marquardt training and learning algorithm was taken into account. Moreover, in the RSM approach, the quadratic system incorporating 20 parameters was implemented. Correspondingly, the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) has been employed to discuss the results taken from the developed model. Additionally, the essential parameters and interactions are extracted, and input parameters are sorted according to their importance. Moreover, the ANFIS using Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy system was employed. Finally, all methods were compared, and the effective parameters and associated relationships were extracted. In contrast to the other approaches, the ANFIS provided the best efficiency and high accuracy with the minimum desired errors. Comparatively, it was obtained that the ANN method is more effective than the RSM and has a higher regression coefficient and lower statistical errors.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• 제22권6호
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• pp.539-548
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• 2022

Steel plate shear walls (SPSWs) are one of the most important and widely used lateral load-bearing systems. The reason for this is easier execution than reinforced concrete (RC) shear walls, faster construction time, and lower final weight of the structure. However, the main drawback of SPSWs is premature buckling in low drift ratios, which affects the energy absorption capacity and global performance of the system. To address this problem, two groups of SPSWs under cyclic loading were investigated using the finite element method (FEM). In the first group, several series of circular rings have been used and in the second group, a new type of SPSW with concentric circular rings (CCRs) has been introduced. Numerous parameters include in yield stress of steel plate wall materials, steel panel thickness, and ring width were considered in nonlinear static analysis. At first, a three-dimensional (3D) numerical model was validated using three sets of laboratory SPSWs and the difference in results between numerical models and experimental specimens was less than 5% in all cases. The results of numerical models revealed that the full SPSW undergoes shear buckling at a drift ratio of 0.2% and its hysteresis behavior has a pinching in the middle part of load-drift ratio curve. Whereas, in the two categories of proposed SPSWs, the hysteresis behavior is complete and stable, and in most cases no capacity degradation of up to 6% drift ratio has been observed. Also, in most numerical models, the tangential stiffness remains almost constant in each cycle. Finally, for the innovative SPSW, a relationship was suggested to determine the shear capacity of the proposed steel wall relative to the wall slenderness coefficient.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제81권6호
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• pp.665-675
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• 2022

The safety problems of giant hydraulic structures such as dams caused by terrorist attacks, earthquakes, and wars often have an important impact on a country's economy and people's livelihood. For the national defense department, timely and effective assessment of damage to or impending damage to dams and other structures is an important issue related to the safety of people's lives and property. In the field of damage assessment and vulnerability analysis, it is usually necessary to give the damage assessment results within a few minutes to determine the physical damage (crack length, crater size, etc.) and functional damage (decreased power generation capacity, dam stability descent, etc.), so that other defense and security departments can take corresponding measures to control potential other hazards. Although traditional numerical calculation methods can accurately calculate the crack length and crater size under certain combat conditions, it usually takes a long time and is not suitable for rapid damage assessment. In order to solve similar problems, this article combines simulation calculation methods with machine learning technology interdisciplinary. First, the common concrete gravity dam shape was selected as the simulation calculation object, and XFEM (Extended Finite Element Method) was used to simulate and calculate 19 cracks with different initial positions. Then, an LSTM (Long-Short Term Memory) machine learning model was established. 15 crack paths were selected as the training set and others were set for test. At last, the LSTM model was trained by the training set, and the prediction results on the crack path were compared with the test set. The results show that this method can be used to predict the crack propagation path rapidly and accurately. In general, this article explores the application of machine learning related technologies in the field of mechanics. It has broad application prospects in the fields of damage assessment and vulnerability analysis.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• 제13권1호
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• pp.71-81
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• 2022

Aluminosilicate materials as precursors are heterogenous in nature, consisting of inert and partially reactive portion, and have varying proportions depending upon source materials. It is essential to assess the reactivity of precursor prior to synthesize geopolymers. Moreover, reactivity may act as decisive factor for setting molar concentration of NaOH, curing temperature and setting proportion of different precursors. In this experimental work, the reactivities of two precursors, low calcium (fly ash (FA)) and high calcium (ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS)), were assessed through the dissolution of aluminosilicate at (i) three molar concentrations (8, 12, and 16 M) of NaOH solution, (ii) 6 to 24 h dissolution time, and (iii) 20-100℃. Based on paratermeters influencing the reactivity, different proportions of ternary binders (two precursors and ordinary cement) were activated by the combined NaOH and Na2SiO3 solutions with two alkaline activators to precursor ratios, to synthesize the geopolymer. Reactivity results revealed that GGBS was 20-30% more reactive than FA at 20℃, at all three molar concentrations, but its reactivity decreased by 32-46% with increasing temperature due to the high calcium content. Setting time of geopolymer paste was reduced by adding GGBS due to its fast reactivity. Both GGBS and cement promoted the formation of all types of gels (i.e., C-S-H, C-A-S-H, and N-A-S-H). As a result, it was found that a specified mixing proportion could be used to improve the compressive strength over 30 MPa at both the ambient and hot curing conditions.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제42권4호
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• pp.501-511
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• 2022

Earthquake Resistant Design Philosophy seeks (a) no damage, (b) no significant structural damage, and (c) significant structural damage but no collapse of normal buildings, under minor, moderate and severe levels of earthquake shaking, respectively. A procedure is proposed for seismic design of low-rise reinforced concrete special moment frame buildings, which is consistent with this philosophy; buildings are designed to be ductile through appropriate sizing and reinforcement detailing, such that they resist severe level of earthquake shaking without collapse. Nonlinear analyses of study buildings are used to determine quantitatively (a) ranges of design parameters required to assure the required deformability in normal buildings to resist the severe level of earthquake shaking, (b) four specific limit states that represent the start of different structural damage states, and (c) levels of minor and moderate earthquake shakings stated in the philosophy along with an extreme level of earthquake shaking associated with the structural damage state of no collapse. The four limits of structural damage states and the three levels of earthquake shaking identified are shown to be consistent with the performance-based design guidelines available in literature. Finally, nonlinear analyses results are used to confirm the efficacy of the proposed procedure.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• 제29권3호
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• pp.281-290
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• 2022

The direct shear test is commonly used to evaluate the shear behavior of frozen soil-structure interfaces under normal stress. However, failure criteria, such as the Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion, are needed to obtain the unconfined shear strength. Hence, the punch shear test, which is usually used to estimate the shear strength of rocks without confinement, was examined in this study to directly determine the adfreezing strength. It is measured as the shear strength of the frozen soil-structure interface under unconfined conditions. Different soils of silica sand, field sand, and field clay were prepared inside the steel and concrete ring structures. Soil and ring structures were frozen at the target temperature for more than 24 h. A punch shear test was then conducted. The test results show that the adfreezing strength increased with a decrease in the target temperature and increase in the initial water content, owing to the increase in ice content. The adfreezing strength of field clay was the smallest when compared with the other soil specimens because of the large amount of unfrozen water content. The field sand with the larger normalized roughness showed greater adfreezing strength than the silica sand with a lower normalized roughness. From the experiment and analysis, the applicability of the punch shear test was examined to measure the adfreezing strength of the frozen soil-structure interface. To find a proper sample dimension, supplementary experiments or numerical analysis will be needed in further research.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• 제13권1호
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• pp.83-99
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• 2022

The two, NBD and SCB tests using gypsum circular discs each containing a single notch have been experimentally accomplished in a rock mechanics laboratory. These specimens have also been numerically modelled by a two-dimensional particle flow which is based on Discrete Element Method (DEM). Each testing specimen had a thickness of 5 cm with 10 cm in diameter. The specimens' lengths varied as 2, 3, and 4 cm; and the specimens' notch angles varied as 0°, 45° and 90°. Similar semi-circular gypsum specimens were also prepared each contained one edge notch with angles 0° or 45°. The uniaxial testing machine was used to perform the experimental tests for both NBD and SCB gypsum specimens. At the same time, the numerical simulation of these tests were performed by PFC2D. The experimental results showed that the failure mechanism of rocks is mainly affected by the orientations of joints with respect to the loading directions. The failure mechanism and fracturing patterns of the gypsum specimens are directly related to the final failure loading. It has been shown that the number of induced tensile cracks showing the specimens' tensile behavior, and increases by decreasing the length and angle of joints. It should be noted that the fracture toughness of rocks' specimens obtained by NBD tests was higher than that of the SCB tests. The fracture toughness of rocks usually increases with the increasing of joints' angles but increasing the joints' lengths do not change the fracture toughness. The numerical solutions and the experimental results for both NDB and SCB tests give nearly similar fracture patterns during the loading process.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• 제12권6호
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• pp.479-490
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• 2021

Present research is mainly focused on, microstructural and durability analysis of Graphene Oxide (GO) in Wollastonite (WO) induced cement mortar with silica fume. The study was conducted by evaluating the mechanical properties (compressive and flexural strength), durability properties (water absorption, sorptivity and sulphate resistance) and microstructural analysis by SEM. Cement mortar mix prepared by replacing 10% ordinary portland cement with SF was considered as the control mix. Wollastonite replacement level varied from 0 to 20% by weight of cement. The optimum replacement of wollastonite was found to be 15% and this was followed by four sets of mortar specimens with varying substitution levels of cementitious material with GO at dosage rates of 0.1%, 0.2%, 0.3% and 0.4% by weight. The results indicated that the addition of up to 15%WO and 0.3% GO improves the hydration process and increase the compressive strength and flexural strength of the mortar due to the pore volume reduction, thereby strengthening the mortar mix. The resistance to water penetration and sulphate attack of mortar mixes were generally improved with the dosage of GO in presence of 15% Wollastonite and 10% silica fume content in the mortar mix. Furthermore, FE-SEM test results showed that the WO influences the lattice framework of the cement hydration products increasing the bonding between silica fume particles and cement. The optimum mix containing 0.3% GO with 15% WO replacement exhibited extensive C-S-H formation along with a uniform densified structure indicating that calcium meta-silicate has filled the pores.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• 제8권4호
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• pp.309-328
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• 2021

The objective of this work was to develop a methodology for geodetic monitoring on onshore wind towers, to ascertain the existence of displacements from object points located in the tower and at the foundation's base. The geodesic auscultation was carried out in the Gravatá 01 and 02 wind towers of the Eólica Gravatá wind farm, located in the Brazilian municipality of Gravatá-PE, using a stable Measurement Reference System. To verify the existence of displacements, pins were implanted, with semi-spherical surfaces, at the bases of the towers being monitored, measured by means of high-precision geometric leveling and around the Gravatá 02 tower, concrete landmarks, iron rods and reflective sheets were implanted, observed using geodetic/topographic methods: GNSS survey, transverse with forced centering, three-dimensional irradiation, edge measurement method and trigonometric leveling of unilateral views. It was found that in the Gravatá 02 tower the average rays of the circular sections of the transverse welds (ST) were 1.8431 m ± 0.0005 m (ST01) and 1.6994 m ± 0.0268 m of ST22, where, 01 and 22 represent the serial number of the transverse welds along the tower. The average calculation of the deflection between the coordinates of the center of the circular section of the ST22 and the vertical reference alignment of the ST1 was 0°2'39.22" ± 2.83" in the Northwest direction and an average linear difference of 0.0878 m ± 0.0078 m. The top deflection angle was 0°8'44.88" and a linear difference of ± 0.2590 m, defined from a non-linear function adjusted by Least Squares Method (LSM).