• Wind and Structures
• /
• v.36 no.6
• /
• pp.405-421
• /
• 2023

Strong wind is the main factors of wind-damage of high-rise buildings, which often creates largely economical losses and casualties. Wind pressure plays a critical role in wind effects on buildings. To obtain the high-resolution wind pressure field, it often requires massive pressure taps. In this study, two traditional methods, including bilinear and bicubic interpolation, and two deep learning techniques including Residual Networks (ResNet) and Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs), are employed to reconstruct wind pressure filed from limited pressure taps on the surface of an ideal building from TPU database. It was found that the GANs model exhibits the best performance in reconstructing the wind pressure field. Meanwhile, it was confirmed that k-means clustering based retained pressure taps as model input can significantly improve the reconstruction ability of GANs model. Finally, the generalization ability of k-means clustering based GANs model in reconstructing wind pressure field is verified by an actual engineering structure. Importantly, the k-means clustering based GANs model can achieve satisfactory reconstruction in wind pressure field under the inputs processing by k-means clustering, even the 20% of pressure taps. Therefore, it is expected to save a huge number of pressure taps under the field reconstruction and achieve timely and accurately reconstruction of wind pressure field under k-means clustering based GANs model.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.46 no.3
• /
• pp.385-401
• /
• 2023

Steel is becoming increasingly popular due to its high strength, excellent ductility, great assembly performance, and recyclability. In reality, steel structures serving for a long time in atmospheric, industrial, and marine environments inevitably suffer from corrosion, which significantly decreases the durability and the service life with the exposure time. For the mechanical properties of corroded steel, experimental studies are mainly conducted. The existing numerical analyses only evaluate the mechanical properties based on corroded morphology at the isolated time-in-point, ignoring that this morphology varies continuously with corrosion time. To solve this problem, the relationships between pit depth expectation, standard deviation, and corrosion time are initially constructed based on a large amount of wet-dry cyclic accelerated test data. Successively, based on that, an in-situ pitting evolution method for evaluating the residual tensile strength of corroded steel is proposed. To verify the method, 20 repeated simulations of mass loss rates and mechanical properties are adopted against the test results. Then, numerical analyses are conducted on 135 models of corrosion pits with different aspect ratios and uneven corrosion degree on two corroded surfaces. Results show that the power function with exponents of 1.483 and 1.091 can well describe the increase in pit depth expectation and standard deviation with corrosion time, respectively. The effect of the commonly used pit aspect ratios of 0.10-0.25 on yield strength and ultimate strength is negligible. Besides, pit number ratio α equating to 0.6 is the critical value for the strength degradation. When α is less than 0.6, the pit number increases with α, accelerating the degradation of strength. Otherwise, the strength degradation is weakened. In addition, a power function model is adopted to characterize the degradation of yield strength and ultimate strength with corrosion time, which is revised by initial steel plate thickness.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.45 no.2
• /
• pp.293-303
• /
• 2022

In order to improve the seismic resilience of coupled wall structure, coupling beam with fuse has been developed to reduce the post-earthquake damage. However, the fuses often have a build-up I-shaped section and are relatively heavy to be replaced. Moreover, the fuse and the beam segments are usually connected by bolts and it is time-consuming to replace the damaged fuse. For reducing the repair time and cost, a novel quickly replaceable coupling beam with buckling-restrained energy dissipaters is developed. The fuse of the proposed coupling beam consists of two chord members and bar-typed energy dissipaters placed at the corners of the fuse. In this way, the weight of the energy dissipater can be greatly reduced. The energy dissipaters and the chords are connected with hinge and it is convenient to take down the damaged energy dissipater. The influence of ratio of the length of coupling beam to the length of fuse on the seismic performance of the structure is also studied. The seismic performance of the coupled wall system with the proposed coupling beam is compared with the system with reinforced concrete coupling beams. Results indicated that the weight and post-earthquake repair cost of the proposed fuse can be reduced compared with the typical I-shaped fuse. With the increase of the ratio of the beam length to the fuse length, the interstory drift of the structure is reduced while the residual fuse chord rotation is increased.

• Advances in concrete construction
• /
• v.14 no.3
• /
• pp.153-167
• /
• 2022

The interaction between blast load and structures, as well as the interaction among structural members may well affect the structural response and damages. Therefore, it is necessary to analyse more realistic reinforced concrete structures in order to gain an extensive knowledge on the possible structural response under blast load effect. Among all the civilian structures, columns are considered to be the most vulnerable to terrorist threat and hence detailed investigation in the dynamic response of these structures is essential. Therefore, current research examines the effect of blast loads on the reinforced concrete columns via development of Pressure- Impulse (P-I) diagrams. In the finite element analysis, the level of damage on each of the aforementioned RC column will be assessed and the response of the RC columns when subjected to explosive loads will also be identified. Numerical models carried out using LS-DYNA were compared with experimental results. It was shown that the model yields a reliable prediction of damage on all RC columns. Validation study is conducted based on the experimental test to investigate the accuracy of finite element models to represent the behaviour of the models. The blast load application in the current research is determined based on the Lagrangian approach. To develop the designated P-I curves, damage assessment criteria are used based on the residual capacity of column. Intensive investigations are implemented to assess the effect of column dimension, concrete and steel properties and reinforcement ratio on the P-I diagram of RC columns. The produced P-I models can be applied by designers to predict the damage of new columns and to assess existing columns subjected to different blast load conditions.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.45 no.1
• /
• pp.83-100
• /
• 2022

Timber is one of the few natural, renewable building materials and glulam is a type of engineering wood product. In the present work, timber-based braces are applied for retrofitting midrise Special Moment Resisting Frame (SMRF) using two types of timber base braces (Timber base glulam, and hybrid Timber-Steel-BRB) as alternatives for retrofitting by traditional steel bracings. The improving effects of adding the bracings to the SMRF on seismic characteristics of the frame are evaluated using load-bearing capacity, energy dissipation, and story drifts of the frame. For evaluating the retrofitting effects on the seismic performance of SMRF, a five-story SMRF is considered unretofitted and retrofitted with steel-hollow structural section (HSS) brace, Glued Laminated Timber (Glulam) brace, and hybrid Timber-Steel BRB. Using OpenSees structural analyzer, the performance are investigated under pushover, cyclic, and incremental loading. Results showed that steel-HSS, timber base Glulam, and hybrid timber-steel BRB braces have more significant roles in energy dissipation, increasing stiffness, changing capacity curves, reducing inter-story drifts, and reducing the weight of the frames, compared by steel bracing. Results showed that Hybrid BRB counteract the negative post-yield stiffness, so their use is more beneficial on buildings where P-Delta effects are more critical. It is found that the repair costs of the buildings with hybrid BRB will be less due to lower residual drifts. As a result, timber steel-BRB has the best energy dissipation and seismic performance due to symmetrical and stable hysteresis curves of buckling restrained braces that can experience the same capacities in tension and compression.

• Smart Structures and Systems
• /
• v.30 no.5
• /
• pp.479-500
• /
• 2022

In this study, a new type of isolation bearing is proposed by combining S-shaped steel plate dampers (SSDs) with a spherical steel bearing, and the seismic control effect of a five-span standard high-speed railway bridge is investigated. The advantages of the proposed S-shaped steel damping friction bearing (SSDFB) are that it cannot only lengthen the structural periods, dissipate the seismic energy, but also prevent bridge unseating due to the restraint effectiveness of SSDs in the large relative displacements between the girders and piers. This study first presents a detailed description and working principle of the SSDFB. Then, mechanical modeling of the SSDFB was derived to fundamentally define its cyclic behavior and obtain key mechanical parameters. The numerical model of the SSDFB's critical component SSD was verified by comparing it with the experimental results. After that, parameter studies of the dimensions and number of SSDs, the friction coefficient, and the gap length of the SSDFBs were conducted. Finally, the longitudinal seismic responses of the bridge with SSDFBs were compared with the bridge with spherical bearing and spherical bearing with strengthened shear keys. The results showed that the SSDFB can not only significantly mitigate the shear force responses and residual displacement in bridge substructures but also can effectively reduce girder displacement and prevent bridge unseating, at a cost of inelastic deformation of the SSDs, which is easy to replace. In conclusion, the SSDFB is expected to be a cost-effective option with both multi-stage energy dissipation and restraint capacity, making it particularly suitable for seismic isolation application to high-speed railway bridges.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
• /
• v.31 no.4
• /
• pp.365-373
• /
• 2022

In order to investigate the damage evolution law of rock specimens under cyclic loading, cyclic loading tests under constant loads with different amplitudes were carried out on limestone specimens with high strength and brittleness values using acoustic emission (AE) technology and the energy evolution and AE characteristics were evaluated. Based on dissipated energy density and AE counts, the damage variable of specimen was characterized and two damage evolution processes were analyzed and compared. The obtained results showed that the change of AE counts was closely related to radial deformation. Higher cyclic loading values result in more significant radial strain of limestone specimen and larger accumulative AE counts of cyclic loading segment, which indicated Felicity effect. Regarding dissipated energy density, the damage of limestone specimen was defined without considering the influence of radial deformation, which made the damage value of cyclic loading segment higher at lower amplitude loads. The damage of cyclic loading segment was increased with the magnitude of load. When dissipated energy density was applied to define damage, the damage value at unloading segment was smaller than that of AE counts. Under higher cyclic loading values, rocks show obvious damage during both loading and unloading processes. Therefore, during deep rock excavation, the damages caused by the deformation recovery of unloading rocks could not be ignored when considering the damage caused by abutment pressure.

• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• v.26 no.1
• /
• pp.49-58
• /
• 2024

The purpose of this study was to develop a system capable of restoring the seismic performance of a precast concrete (PC) connection damaged by an earthquake. The developed PC connection consists of a top-and-seat angle, post-tensioning (PT) tendons, and U-shaped steel. The PC beam can be replaced by cutting the PT tendons in the event of damage. In addition, the seismic performance of the developed PC beam-column connection was evaluated experimentally. A PC beam-column connection specimen was fabricated, and a quasistatic cyclic loading test was conducted to a maximum drift ratio of 2.3%. Subsequently, the PC beam was replaced by a new PC beam, and the repaired PC connection was loaded to a maximum drift ratio of 5.1%. The structural performance of the repaired PC connection was then compared with that of the original PC connection. The difference in the load at the drift ratio of 2.3% between the original and the repaired PC specimens was only 0.2%. The residual drift ratio in the repaired PC specimen did not exceed 1.0% at the 2.0 % drift ratio cycles, which satisfies the life safety performance level specified in ACI 374.2R-13. When the developed PC connection system is used, structural performance can be restored by rapidly replacing the damaged elements.

• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• v.26 no.3
• /
• pp.203-218
• /
• 2024

Beam-column joints in the frame structure are at high risk of brittle shear failure which would lead to significant residual deformation and even the collapse of the structure during an earthquake. In order to improve the damage issue and enhance the recoverability of the beam-column joints, a sector lead rubber damper (SLRD) has been developed. The SLRD can increase the bearing capacity and energy dissipation capacity, and also demonstrating recoverability of seismic performance following cyclic loading. In this paper, the hysteretic behavior of SLRD was experimentally investigated in terms of the regular hysteretic behavior, large deformation behavior and fatigue behavior. Furthermore, a parametric analysis was performed to study the influence of the primary design parameters on the hysteretic behavior of SLRD. The results show that SLRD resist the exerted loading through the shear capacity of both rubber parts coupled with the lead cores in the pre-yielding stage of lead cores. In the post-yielding phase, it is only the rubber parts of the SLRD that provide the shear capacity while the lead cores primarily dissipate the energy through shear deformation. The SLRD possesses a robust capacity for large deformation and can sustain hysteretic behavior when subjected to a loading rotation angle of 1/7 (equivalent to 200% shear strain of the rubber component). Furthermore, it demonstrates excellent fatigue resistance, with a degradation of critical behavior indices by no more than 15% in comparison to initial values even after 30 cycles. As for the designing practice of SLRD, it is recommended to adopt the double lead core scheme, along with a rubber material having the lowest possible shear modulus while meeting the desired bearing capacity and a thickness ratio of 0.4 to 0.5 for the thin steel plate.

• Advances in nano research
• /
• v.17 no.1
• /
• pp.33-49
• /
• 2024

Using the mechanical treatments for mechanical properties improvement was rarely in the development scope before. This research approves through analytical ways that surface impacts can improve the quality of the surface significantly. This fact is approved for deposited titanium on silicone substrate. The new algorithm called minimum resultant error method (MREM) which is a direct combination of nanoindentation, FEM and dimensional analysis through a reverse method is utilized to extract the mechanical characteristics of the coating surface before and after impact. This method is extended to the time dependent behavior of the material to obtain strain rate coefficient. To implement this new approach, a new analysis technic is developed to define the residual stress field caused by surface impact as initial condition for nanoindentation. Analyzing the model in micro and macro scale at the same time was one of the main resolved challenges in this study. The result was obtaining of the constants of Johnson-Cook constitutive equation. Comparing the characteristics of the coating surface before and after impact shows high improvement in yield stress (34%), Elastic modulus (7.75%) and strain hardening coefficient (2.8%). The main achievement is that the strength improvement in titanium thin layer is much higher than bulk titanium. The yield strength shows 41.7% improvement for coated titanium comparing with 24% for bulk material. The rate of enhancement is about 6 times when it comes to the Young's modulus.