• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.281-294
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• 2008

In this paper, linear elastic isotropic structures under the effects of both stochastic operators and stochastic excitations are studied. The analysis utilizes the spectral stochastic finite elements (SSFEM) with its two main expansions namely; Neumann and Homogeneous Chaos expansions. The random excitation and the random operator fields are assumed to be second order stochastic processes. The formulations are obtained for the system solution of the two dimensional problems of plane strain and plate bending structures under stochastic loading and relevant rigidity using the previously mentioned expansions. Two finite element programs were developed to incorporate such formulations. Two illustrative examples are introduced: the first is a reinforced concrete culvert with stochastic rigidity subjected to a stochastic load where the culvert is modeled as plane strain problem. The second example is a simply supported square reinforced concrete slab subjected to out of plane loading in which the slab flexural rigidity and the applied load are considered stochastic. In each of the two examples, the first two statistical moments of displacement are evaluated using both expansions. The probability density function of the structure response of each problem is obtained using Homogeneous Chaos expansion.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.82 no.1
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• pp.31-40
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• 2022

In structural engineering, the material properties of the structures such as elastic modulus, shear modulus, density, and size may not be deterministic and may vary at different locations. The dynamic response analysis of such structures may need to consider these properties as stochastic. This paper introduces a stochastic finite element method (SFEM) approach to analyze moving loads problems. Firstly, Karhunen-Loéve expansion (KLE) is applied for expressing the stochastic field of material properties. Then the mathematical expression of the random field is substituted into the finite element model to formulate the corresponding random matrix. Finally, the statistical moment of the dynamic response is calculated by the point estimation method (PEM). The accuracy and efficiency of the dynamic response obtained from the KLE-PEM are demonstrated by the example of a moving load passing through a simply supported Euler-Bernoulli beam, in which the material properties (including elastic modulus and density) are considered as random fields. The results from the KLE-PEM are compared with those from the Monte Carlo simulation. The results demonstrate that the proposed method of KLE-PEM has high accuracy and efficiency. By using the proposed SFEM, the random vertical deflection of a high-speed railway (HSR) bridge is analyzed by considering the random fields of material properties under the moving load of a train.

• Computational Structural Engineering
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.97-108
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• 1992

This paper is an attempt to account for the uncertainty of the residual strength in the reliability analysis of structural systems. For this purpose the stochastic finite element method(SFEM) is linked to the system reliability analysis procedure. The stochastic finite element is known to be able to a more explicitly consider the effect of uncerainties of material and geometric variables on those of load effects in structural analysis procedure. The method has been applied to system as well as component reliability analysis of a plane structure. Comparison of the results by the present approach is made with the method in which the residual strength of failed component is treated as deterministic variable. Several case studies have been carried to show the effect of uncertainty in residual strength of a member after failure. Is has been conformed that reidual strength very much affect the system reliability level. It can be, hence, concluded that the uncertainties in the post-ultirnate behaviour may have to be taken into account in the system reliability analysis for a better a ssessment of the system reliability especially for a structure of which member behaviour is modelled as asemi-brittle model. And then the stochastic finite element method can efficiently evaluate the system reliability.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.161-183
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• 2017

This paper investigates the damage identification of the concrete pile element through axial wave propagation technique using computational and experimental studies. Now-a-days, concrete pile foundations are often common in all engineering structures and their safety is significant for preventing the failure. Damage detection and estimation in a sub-structure is challenging as the visual picture of the sub-structure and its condition is not well known and the state of the structure or foundation can be inferred only through its static and dynamic response. The concept of wave propagation involves dynamic impedance and whenever a wave encounters a changing impedance (due to loss of stiffness), a reflecting wave is generated with the total strain energy forked as reflected as well as refracted portions. Among many frequency domain methods, the Spectral Finite Element method (SFEM) has been found suitable for analysis of wave propagation in real engineering structures as the formulation is based on dynamic equilibrium under harmonic steady state excitation. The feasibility of the axial wave propagation technique is studied through numerical simulations using Elementary rod theory and higher order Love rod theory under SFEM and ABAQUS dynamic explicit analysis with experimental validation exercise. Towards simulating the damage scenario in a pile element, dis-continuity (impedance mismatch) is induced by varying its cross-sectional area along its length. Both experimental and computational investigations are performed under pulse-echo and pitch-catch configuration methods. Analytical and experimental results are in good agreement.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2004.04a
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• pp.341-348
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• 2004

This paper presents a modeling technique of cracks by combined extended and superposed finite element method (XSFEM) which is a combination of the extended finite element method (XFEM) and the mesh superposition method (sversion FEM). In the proposed method, the near-tip field is modeled by a superimposed patch consisting of quarter point elements and the rest of the discontinuity is treated by the XFEM. The actual crack opening in this method is measured by the sum of the crack openings of XFEM and SFEM in transition region. This method retains the strong point of the XFEM so it can avoid remeshing in crack evolution and trace the crack growth by translation or rotation of the overlaid mesh and the update of the nodes to be enriched by step functions. Moreover, the quadrature of the Galerkin weak form becomes simpler. Numerical experiments are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed method.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers
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• v.18 no.8
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• pp.1920-1929
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• 1994

The stochastic finite element method(SFEM) based structural optimal design is presented. Random system response including uncertainties for the design variable is calculated with first order perturbation method. A method for calculating the sensitivity coefficients is developed using the equilibrium equation and first-order perturbed equation. Numerical results are presented for a truss, frame and plate structures with displacement and stress constraints. The sensitivity calculation proposed here is compared with finite difference method. A nonlinear programming technique is used to solve the problem. The procedure is easily incorporated with existing deterministic structural optimization.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.499-518
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• 2009

The present paper investigates the stochastic seismic responses of steel structure systems with Partially Restrained (PR) connections by using Perturbation based Stochastic Finite Element (PSFEM) method. A stiffness matrix formulation of steel systems with PR connections and PSFEM and MCS formulations of structural systems are given. Based on the formulations, a computer program in FORTRAN language has been developed, and stochastic seismic analyses of steel frame and bridge systems have been performed for different types of connections. The connection parameters, material and geometrical properties are assumed to be random variables in the analyses. The Kocaeli earthquake occurred in 1999 is considered as a ground motion. The connection parameters, material and geometrical properties are considered to be random variables. The efficiency and accuracy of the proposed SFEM algorithm are validated by comparison with results of Monte Carlo simulation (MCS) method.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2006.04a
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• pp.857-864
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• 2006

Due to the difficulties in numerical generation of random fields that satisfy not only the probabilistic distribution but the spectral characteristics as well. it is relatively hard to find an exact response variability of a structural response with a specific random field which has its features in the spatial and spectral domains. In this study. focusing on the fact that the random field assumes a constant over the domain under consideration when the correlation distance tends to infinity, a semi-theoretical solution of response variability is proposed for in-plane and plate bending structures. In this procedure, the probability density function is used directly resulting in a semi-exact solution for the random field in the state of random variable. It is particularly noteworthy that the proposed methodology provides response variability for virtually any type of probability density functions.

• Advances in aircraft and spacecraft science
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.145-175
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• 2014

The results of a series of numerical experiments are presented to verify some of the important developments made in the first part of this paper. Firstly, the static solution of an algebraic system obtained through Strong Formulation Finite Element Method (SFEM) is presented. Secondly, the stress and strain recovery procedure is descripted for the present technique. It will be clear that the present approach is suitable for any strong formulation finite element methodology, due to the presented general approach based on the unknown displacements and on the elasticity equations. Thirdly, the numerical solutions for some classical and other numerical results found in literature are exposed. Finally, an arbitrarily shaped composite plate is solved and good agreement is observed for all the presented cases.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers B
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.219-225
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• 2000

This paper presents the shape optimization considering the uncertainty of design variable to find robust optimal solution that has insensitive performance to its change of design variable. Stochastic finite element method (SFEM) is used to treat input data as stochastic variables. It is method that the potential values are series form for the expectation and small variation. Using correlation function of their variables, the statistics of output obtained form the input data distributed. From this, design considering uncertainty of design variables.