• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.589-611
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• 2016

The primary objectives of this research are to investigate the energy factor response of steel moment resisting frame (MRF) systems equipped with fuses subject to ground motions and to develop an energy-based evaluation approach for evaluating the damage-control behavior of the system. First, the energy factor of steel MRF systems with fuses below the resilience threshold is derived utilizing the energy balance equation considering bilinear oscillators with significant post-yielding stiffness ratio, and the effect of structural nonlinearity on the energy factor is investigated by conducting a parametric study covering a wide range of parameters. A practical transformation approach is also proposed to associate the energy factor of steel MRF systems with fuses with classic design spectra based on elasto-plastic systems. Then, the energy balance is extended to structural systems, and an energy-based procedure for damage-control evaluation is proposed and a damage-control index is also derived. The approach is then applied to two types of steel MRF systems with fuses to explore the applicability for quantifying the damage-control behavior. The rationality of the proposed approach and the accuracy for identifying the damage-control behavior are demonstrated by nonlinear static analyses and incremental dynamic analyses utilizing prototype structures.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.53 no.2
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• pp.189-204
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• 2015

After the large destruction of Lisbon due to the 1755 earthquake, the city had to be almost completely rebuilt. In this context, an innovative structural solution was implemented in new buildings, comprising internal timber framed walls which, together with the floors timber elements, constituted a 3-D framing system, known as "cage", providing resistance and deformation capacity for seismic loading. The internal timber framed masonry walls, in elevated floors, are constituted by a timber frame with vertical and horizontal elements, braced with diagonal elements, known as Saint Andrew's crosses, with masonry infill. This paper describes an experimental campaign to assess the in-plane cyclic behaviour of those so called "frontal" walls. A total series of 4 tests were conducted in 4 real size walls. Two models consist of the simple timber frames without masonry infill, and the other two specimens have identical timber frames but present masonry infill. Experimental characterization of the in-plane behaviour was carried out by static cyclic shear testing with controlled displacements. The loading protocol used was the CUREE for ordinary ground motions. The hysteretic behaviour main parameters of such walls subjected to cyclic loading were computed namely the initial stiffness, ductility and energy dissipation capacity.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.763-774
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• 2012

Reinforced concrete frame structures with masonry infill walls constitute the significant portion of the building stock in Turkey. Therefore it is very important to understand the behavior of masonry infill frame structures under earthquake loads. This study presents an experimental work performed on reinforced concrete (RC) frames with different types of masonry infills, namely standard and locked bricks. Earthquake effects are induced on the RC frames by quasi-static tests. Results obtained from different frames are compared with each other through various stiffness, strength, and energy related parameters. It is shown that locked bricks may prove useful in decreasing the problems related to horizontal and vertical irregularities defined in building codes. Moreover tests show that locked brick infills maintain their integrity up to very high drift levels, showing that they may have a potential in reducing injuries and fatalities related to falling hazards during severe ground shakings.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.907-927
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• 2014

Ultra-lightweight cement composite (ULCC) with a compressive strength of 60 MPa and density of $1450kg/m^3$ has been developed and used in the steel-concrete-steel (SCS) sandwich structures. ULCC was adopted as the core material in the SCS sandwich composite beams to reduce the overall structural weight. Headed shear studs working in pairs with overlapped lengths were used to achieve composite action between the core material and steel face plates. Nine quasi-static tests on this type of SCS sandwich composite beams were carried out to evaluate their ultimate strength performances. Different parameters influencing the ultimate strength of the SCS sandwich composite beams were studied and discussed. Design equations were developed to predict the ultimate resistance of the cross section due to pure bending, pure shear and combined action between shear and moment. Effective stiffness of the sandwich composite beam section is also derived to predict the elastic deflection under service load. Finally, the design equations were validated by the test results.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.803-824
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• 2014

The dynamic characterization is important in making accurate predictions of the seismic response of the hybrid structures dominated by different damping mechanisms. Different damping characteristics arise from the construction of the tower with different materials: steel for the upper part; reinforced concrete for the lower main part and interaction with supporting soil. The process of modeling damping matrices and experimental verification is challenging because damping cannot be determined via static tests as can mass and stiffness. The assumption of classical damping is not appropriate if the system to be analyzed consists of two or more parts with significantly different levels of damping, such as steel/concrete mixed structure - supporting soil coupled system. The dynamic response of structures is critically determined by the damping mechanisms, and its value is very important for the design and analysis of vibrating structures. An analytical approach capable of evaluating the equivalent modal damping ratio from structural components is desirable for improving seismic design. Two approaches are considered to define and investigate dynamic characteristics of hybrid tower of cable-stayed bridges: The first approach makes use of a simplified approximation of two lumped masses to investigate the structure irregularity effects including damping of different material, mass ratio, frequency ratio on dynamic characteristics and modal damping; the second approach employs a detailed numerical step-by step integration procedure in which the damping matrices of the upper and the lower substructures are modeled with the Rayleigh damping formulation.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.4 no.5
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• pp.377-402
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• 2007

The paper presents quasi-static plane strain FE-simulations of strain localization in reinforced concrete beams without stirrups. The material was modeled with two different isotropic continuum crack models: an elasto-plastic and a damage one. In case of elasto-plasticity, linear Drucker-Prager criterion with a non-associated flow rule was defined in the compressive regime and a Rankine criterion with an associated flow rule was adopted in the tensile regime. In the case of a damage model, the degradation of the material due to micro-cracking was described with a single scalar damage parameter. To ensure the mesh-independence and to capture size effects, both criteria were enhanced in a softening regime by nonlocal terms. Thus, a characteristic length of micro-structure was included. The effect of a characteristic length, reinforcement ratio, bond-slip stiffness, fracture energy and beam size on strain localization was investigated. The numerical results with reinforced concrete beams were quantitatively compared with corresponding laboratory tests by Walraven (1978).

• Wind and Structures
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.215-232
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• 2017

Wind tunnel tests and numerical aerodynamic analyses were conducted for an integrated catwalk structure under strong winds. From the wind tunnel tests, it is found that the aerodynamic coefficients were different from those of the typical type. The drag coefficient was larger than typical and was sensitive to number of vertical meshes installed rather than the solidity ratio. Comparing with typical catwalk, the integrated one showed larger deformation under strong wind, and the large torsional deformation are mainly caused by drag force. It did not show aerodynamic divergence even the torsional deformation reaching $20^{\circ}$. The reason could be that the stiffness is smaller and thus the catwalk is able to deform to the shape compactable with higher loading. Considering safety for construction, storm rope system is introduced to the catwalk to reduce the deformation to acceptable level.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.66 no.1
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• pp.1-14
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• 2018

Column is usually floating on the stone base directly with or without positioning tenon in traditional Chinese timber structure. Vertical load originated by the heavy upper structure would induce large friction force and compression force between interfaces of column foot and stone base. This study focused on the mechanical behaviors of column foot joint with consideration of the influence of vertical load. Mechanism of column rocking and stress state of column foot has been explored by theoretical analysis. A nonlinear finite element model of column foot joint has been built and verified using the full-scale test. The verified model is then used to investigate the mechanical behaviors of the joint subjected to cyclic loading with different static vertical loads. Column rocking mechanism and stress distributions of column foot were studied in detail, showing good agreement with the theoretical analysis. Mechanical behaviors of column foot joint and the effects of the vertical load on the seismic behavior of column foot were studied. Result showed that compression stress, restoring moment and stiffness increased with the increase of vertical load. An appropriate vertical load originated by the heavy upper structure would produce certain restoring moment and reset the rocking columns, ensuring the stability of the whole frame.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.78-83
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• 2016

The development of an exclusive 8-axis multi-tasking machine to finish multiple cutting processes by a single piece of power equipment for securing the high-precision machining and high productivity of the series of shafts (a core part of the automotive powertrain that delivers engine power) is needed. The rigidity of the structure must be improved and the weight of the structure must be reduced to develop a multi-tasking machine with high precision and high productivity. In this paper, we perform a static structural analysis of the initial design of the multi-tasking machines and compare the results of the multi-tasking machines improved by the reinforced design and the results of the initial one. According to the results of the structural analysis, the rigidity of the reinforced machine was increased and the overall weight was decreased. Therefore, the productivity was increased.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.5 no.6
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• pp.729-741
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• 1997

Cracked reinforced concrete in compression has been observed to exhibit lower strength and stiffness than uniaxially compressed concrete. The so-called compression softening effect responsible is thought to be related to the degree of transverse cracking and straining present. It significantly affects the strength, ductility and load-deformation response of a concrete element. A number of experimental investigations have been undertaken to determine the degree of softening that occurs, and the factors that affect it. At the same time, a number of diverse analytical models have been proposed by various this behavior. In this paper, the softened truss model thoery for low-rise structural shearwalls is employed using the principle of the stress and strain transformations. Using this theory the softening parameters for the concrete struts proposed by Hsu and Belarbi as well as by Vecchio and Collins are examined by 51 test shearwalls available in literature. It is found that the experimental shear strengths and ductilities of the walls under static loads are, in average, very close to the theoretical values; however, the experiment shear strengths and ductilities of the walls under dynamic loads with a low (0.2 Hz) frequency are generally less than the theoretical values.