• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.19-30
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• 2022

The static strength and fatigue crack resistance of the aircraft skin structures depend on the materials used and joint type. Most of the commercial aircraft's skin panel structures are made from aluminium alloy and carbon fibre reinforced epoxy. In this study, the fatigue resistance of four joint configurations (metal/metal, metal/composite, composite/composite and composite/metal) with riveted, adhesive bonded, and hybrid joining techniques are investigated with experiments and finite element analysis. The fatigue tests were tension-tension because of the typical nature of the loads on aircraft skin panels susceptible of experimenting fatigue. Experiment results suggest that the fatigue life of hybrid joints is superior to adhesive bonded joints, and these in turn much better than conventional riveted joints. Thanks to the fact that, for hybrid joints, the adhesive bond provides better load distribution and ensures load-carrying capacity in the event of premature adhesive failure while rivets induce compressive residual stresses in the joint. Results from FE tool ABAQUS analysis for adhesive bonded and hybrid joints agrees with the experiments. From the analysis, the energy release rate for adhesive bonded joints is higher than that of hybrid joints in both opening (mode I) and shear direction (mode II). Most joints show higher energy release rate in mode II. This indicates that the joints experience fatigue crack in the shear direction, which is responsible for crack opening.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.82 no.1
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• pp.93-105
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• 2022

The brittleness of concrete can be overcome by fiber reinforcement that controls the crack mechanisms of concrete. Corrosion-related durability issues can be prevented by synthetic fibers (SFs), while macro synthetic fibers have proven to be particularly effective to provide ductility and toughness after cracks. This experimental study has been performed to investigate the comparative flexural and mechanical behavior of four different macro-synthetic fiber-reinforced concretes (SFRCs). Two polyamide fibers (SF1 and SF2) with different aspect ratios and two different polypropylene fiber types (SF3 and SF4) were used in production of SFRCs. Four different SFRCs and reference concrete were compared for their influences on the toughness, compressive strength, elastic modulus, flexural strength, residual strength and splitting tensile strength. The outcomes of the study reveal that the flowability of reference mixture decreases after addition of SFs and the air voids of all SFRC mixtures increased with the addition of macro-synthetic fibers except SFRC2 mixture whose air content is the same as the reference mixture. The results also revealed that with the inclusion of SFs, 11.34% reduction in the cube compressive strength was noted for SFRC4 based on that of reference specimens and both reference concrete and SFRC exhibited nearly similar cylindrical compressive strength. Results illustrated that SFRC1 and SFRC4 mixtures consistently provide the highest and lowest flexural toughness values of 36.4 joule and 27.7 joule respectively. The toughness values of SFRC3 and SFRC4 are very near to each other.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.599-611
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• 2022

Tendon reinforced cemented soil is applied extensively in foundation stabilisation and improvement, especially in areas with soft clay. To solve the deterioration problem led by steel corrosion, the glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) tendon is introduced to substitute the traditional steel tendon. The interface bond strength between the cemented soil matrix and GFRP tendon demonstrates the outstanding mechanical property of this composite. However, the lack of research between the influence factors and bond strength hinders the application. To evaluate these factors, back propagation neural network (BPNN) is applied to predict the relationship between them and bond strength. Since adjusting BPNN parameters is time-consuming and laborious, the particle swarm optimisation (PSO) algorithm is proposed. This study evaluated the influence of water content, cement content, curing time, and slip distance on the bond performance of GFRP tendon-reinforced cemented soils (GTRCS). The results showed that the ultimate and residual bond strengths were both in positive proportion to cement content and negative to water content. The sample cured for 28 days with 30% water content and 50% cement content had the largest ultimate strength (3879.40 kPa). The PSO-BPNN model was tuned with 3 neurons in the input layer, 10 in the hidden layer, and 1 in the output layer. It showed outstanding performance on a large database comprising 405 testing results. Its higher correlation coefficient (0.908) and lower root-mean-square error (239.11 kPa) were obtained compared to multiple linear regression (MLR) and logistic regression (LR). In addition, a sensitivity analysis was applied to acquire the ranking of the input variables. The results illustrated that the cement content performed the strongest influence on bond strength, followed by the water content and slip displacement.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.121-131
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• 2023

Aiming at the problem that fatigue characteristics of metal roof rely on local physical tests and lacks the cyclic load sequence matching with regional climate, this paper proposed a method of constructing the fatigue load spectrum based on integration of wind load model, measured data of long-span metal roof and climate statistical data. According to the turbulence characteristics of wind, the wind load model is established from the aspects of turbulence intensity, power spectral density and wind pressure coefficient. Considering the influence of roof configuration on wind pressure distribution, the parameters are modified through fusing the measured data with least squares method to approximate the actual wind pressure load of the roof system. Furthermore, with regards to the wind climate characteristics of building location, Weibull model is adopted to analyze the regional meteorological data to obtain the probability density distribution of wind velocity used for calculating wind load, so as to establish the cyclic wind load sequence with the attributes of regional climate and building configuration. Finally, taking a workshop's metal roof as an example, the wind load spectrum is constructed according to this method, and the fatigue simulation and residual life prediction are implemented based on the experimental data. The forecasting result is lightly higher than the design standards, consistent with general principles of its conservative safety design scale, which shows that the presented method is validated for the fatigue characteristics study and health assessment of metal roof.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.557-571
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• 2022

Landslides are often triggered by weak interlayers initiated in tailings dam foundations, and hazards gradually occur. This is serious for landslides in high tailings dams due to their high potential energy. Tailing samples with a fine-grained interlayer at a set dip angle were prepared. Consolidated undrained (CU) triaxial shear tests were carried out by using a high-pressure triaxial apparatus. The results were compared with the results under a low confining pressure. Four reasons were summarized for high tailings dams more prone to instability than low dams. The shear strength of the samples with dipping interlayers decreases with increasing dip angle. An obvious straight drop in the stress path after the peak occurs in samples with dipping interlayers at an angle of 60°. The effect of the interlayer on the mechanical behaviour of tailings is very sensitive, especially for the sample with a dipping interlayer at an angle of 60°. Shear slipping along the interlayer should be given more attention in tailings dams. Compared with the results under low confining pressure, the stress decreases continuously for the samples with dipping interlayers at large angles under high confining pressure. The positive pore pressure, which reduces the effective stress, occurred in tailings samples under high confining pressure. The residual strength of tailings under high confining pressure is smaller than that under low confining pressure. These factors increase the dam break risk and the disaster impact for high tailings dams.

• Design & Manufacturing
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.1-6
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• 2022

Fine blanking is a press processing technology that can process most of the product thickness into a smooth surface with a single stroke. In this fine blanking process, shear is an essential step. The punches and dies used in the shear are subjected to impacts of tens to hundreds of gravitational accelerations, depending on the type and thickness of the material. Therefore, among the components of the fine blanking mold (dies), punches and dies are the parts with the shortest lifespan. In the actual production site, various types of tool damage occur such as wear of the tool as well as sudden punch breakage. In this study, machine learning algorithms were used to predict these problems in advance. The dataset used in this paper consisted of the signal of the vibration sensor installed in the tool and the measured burr size (tool wear). Various features were extracted so that artificial intelligence can learn effectively from signals. It was trained with 5 features with excellent distinguishing performance, and the SVM algorithm performance was the best among 33 learning models. As a result of the research, the vibration signal at the time of imminent tool replacement was matched with an accuracy of more than 85%. It is expected that the results of this research will solve problems such as tool damage due to accidental punch breakage at the production site, and increase in maintenance costs due to prediction errors in punch exchange cycles due to wear.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.167-184
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• 2023

In this study, a new recentering friction device (RFD) to retrofit steel moment frame structures is introduced. The device provides both self-centering and energy dissipation capabilities for the retrofitted structure. A hybrid performance-based seismic design procedure considering multiple limit states is proposed for designing the device and the retrofitted structure. The design of the RFD is achieved by modifying the conventional performance-based seismic design (PBSD) procedure using computational intelligence techniques, namely, genetic algorithm (GA) and artificial neural network (ANN). Numerous nonlinear time-history response analyses (NLTHAs) are conducted on multi-degree of freedom (MDOF) and single-degree of freedom (SDOF) systems to train and validate the ANN to achieve high prediction accuracy. The proposed procedure and the new RFD are assessed using 2D and 3D models globally and locally. Globally, the effectiveness of the proposed device is assessed by conducting NLTHAs to check the maximum inter-story drift ratio (MIDR). Seismic fragilities of the retrofitted models are investigated by constructing fragility curves of the models for different limit states. After that, seismic life cycle cost (LCC) is estimated for the models with and without the retrofit. Locally, the stress concentration at the contact point of the RFD and the existing steel frame is checked being within acceptable limits using finite element modeling (FEM). The RFD showed its effectiveness in minimizing MIDR and eliminating residual drift for low to mid-rise steel frames models tested. GA and ANN proved to be crucial integrated parts in the modified PBSD to achieve the required seismic performance at different limit states with reasonable computational cost. ANN showed a very high prediction accuracy for transformation between MDOF and SDOF systems. Also, the proposed retrofit showed its efficiency in enhancing the seismic fragility and reducing the LCC significantly compared to the un-retrofitted models.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.269-287
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• 2023

The WGJ420 fire-resistant weathering (FRW) steel is developed and manufactured with standard yield strength of 420 MPa at room temperature, which is expected to significantly enhance the performance of steel structures with excellent fire and corrosion resistances, strong seismic capacity, high strength and ductility, good resilience and robustness. In this paper, the mechanical properties of FRW steel plates and buckling behavior of columns are investigated through tests at elevated temperatures. The stress-strain curves, mechanical properties of FRW steel such as modulus of elasticity, proof strength, tensile strength, as well as corresponding reduction factors are obtained and discussed. The recommended constitutive model based on the Ramberg-Osgood relationship, as well as the relevant formulas for mechanical properties are proposed, which provide fundamental mechanical parameters and references. A total of 12 FRW steel welded I-section columns with different slenderness ratios and buckling load ratios are tested under standard fire to understand the global buckling behavior in-depth. The influences of boundary conditions on the buckling failure modes as well as the critical temperatures are also investigated. In addition, the temperature distributions at different sections/locations of the columns are obtained. It is found that the buckling deformation curve can be divided into four stages: initial expansion stage, stable stage, compression stage and failure stage. The fire test results concluded that the residual buckling capacities of FRW steel columns are substantially higher than the conventional steel columns at elevated temperatures. Furthermore, the numerical results show good agreement with the fire test results in terms of the critical temperature and maximum axial elongation. Finally, the critical temperatures between the numerical results and various code/standard curves (GB 51249, Eurocode 3, AS 4100, BS 5950 and AISC) are compared and verified both in the buckling resistance domain and in the temperature domain. It is demonstrated that the FRW steel columns have sufficient safety redundancy for fire resistance when they are designed according to current codes or standards.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.683-696
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• 2023

The destruction and fracture of rock masses are crucial components in engineering and there is an increasing demand for the study of the influence of rock mass heterogeneity on the safety of engineering projects. The numerical manifold method (NMM) has a unified solution format for continuous and discontinuous problems. In most NMM studies, material homogeneity has been assumed and despite this simplification, fracture mechanics remain complex and simulations are inefficient because of the complicated topology updating operations that are needed after crack propagation. These operations become computationally expensive especially in the cases of heterogeneous materials. In this study, a heterogeneous model algorithm based on stochastic theory was developed and introduced into the NMM. A new fracture algorithm was developed to simulate the rupture zone. The algorithm was validated for the examples of the four-point shear beam and semi-circular bend. Results show that the algorithm can efficiently simulate the rupture zone of heterogeneous rock masses. Heterogeneity has a powerful effect on the macroscopic failure characteristics and uniaxial compressive strength of rock masses. The peak strength of homogeneous material (with heterogeneity or standard deviation of 0) is 2.4 times that of heterogeneous material (with heterogeneity of 11.0). Moreover, the local distribution of parameter values can affect the configuration of rupture zones in rock masses. The local distribution also influences the peak value on the stress-strain curve and the residual strength. The post-peak stress-strain curve envelope from 60 random calculations can be used as an estimate of the strength of engineering rock masses.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.349-358
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• 2023

This paper describes an in-depth analysis on flexural strength of a girder-deck system experiencing a strand debonding damage with various strengthening systems, based on finite element software ABAQUS. A detailed finite element analysis (FEA) model was developed and verified against the relevant experimental data performed by other researchers. The proposed analytical model showed a good agreement with experimental data. Based on the verified FE model, over a hundred girder-deck systems were investigated with the consideration of following variables: 1) debonding level, 2) span-to-depth ratio (L/d), 3) strengthening type, 4) strengthening material thickness. Based on the data above, a new detailed analytical model was developed and proposed for estimating residual flexural strength of the strand-debonding damaged girder-deck system with strengthening systems. It was demonstrated that both finite element model and analysis model could be used to predict flexural behaviors for debonding damaged prestressed girder-deck systems. Since the strands are debonding from surrounding concrete over a certain zone over the length of the beam, the increase of strain in strands can be linked with a ratio ψ, which is L_p/c. The analytical model was proposed and developed regarding the ratio ψ. By conducting procedure of calculating ψ, the ψ value varies from 9.3 to 70.1. Multiple nonlinear regression analysis was performed in Software IBM SPSS Statistics 27.0.1 to derive equation of ψ. ψ equation was curved to be an exponential function, and the independent variable (X) is a linear function in terms of three variables of debonding level (λ), span length (L), and amount of strengthening material (A_s). The coefficient of determinate (R²) for curve fitting in nonlinear regression analysis is 0.8768. The developed analytical model was compared to the ultimate capacities computed by FEA model.