• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제34권2호
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• pp.261-277
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• 2020

The main objective of this research paper is to consider vibration analysis of vacancy defected graphene sheet as a nonisotropic structure via molecular dynamic and continuum approaches. The influence of structural defects on the vibration of graphene sheets is considered by applying the mechanical properties of defected graphene sheets. Molecular dynamic simulations have been performed to estimate the mechanical properties of graphene as a nonisotropic structure with single- and double- vacancy defects using open source well-known software i.e., large-scale atomic/molecular massively parallel simulator (LAMMPS). The interactions between the carbon atoms are modelled using Adaptive Intermolecular Reactive Empirical Bond Order (AIREBO) potential. An isogeometric analysis (IGA) based upon non-uniform rational B-spline (NURBS) is employed for approximation of single-layered graphene sheets deflection field and the governing equations are derived using nonlocal elasticity theory. The dependence of small-scale effects, chirality and different defect types on vibrational characteristic of graphene sheets is investigated in this comprehensive research work. In addition, numerical results are validated and compared with those achieved using other analysis, where an excellent agreement is found. The interesting results indicate that increasing the number of missing atoms can lead to decrease the natural frequencies of graphene sheets. It is seen that the degree of the detrimental effects differ with defect type. The Young's and shear modulus of the graphene with SV defects are much smaller than graphene with DV defects. It is also observed that Single Vacancy (SV) clusters cause more reduction in the natural frequencies of SLGS than Double Vacancy (DV) clusters. The effectiveness and the accuracy of the present IGA approach have been demonstrated and it is shown that the IGA is efficient, robust and accurate in terms of nanoplate problems.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제34권2호
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• pp.215-226
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• 2020

The aim of this study is to investigate free vibration of functionally graded porous nanocomposite rectangular plates where the internal pores and graphene platelets (GPLs) are distributed in the matrix either uniformly or non-uniformly according to three different patterns. The elastic properties of the nanocomposite are obtained by employing Halpin-Tsai micromechanics model. The GPL-reinforced plate is modeled using a semi-analytic approach composed of generalized differential quadrature method (GDQM) and series solution adopted to solve the equations of motion. The proposed rectangular plates have two opposite edges simply supported, while all possible combinations of free, simply supported and clamped boundary conditions are applied to the other two edges. The 2-D differential quadrature method as an efficient and accurate numerical tool is used to discretize the governing equations and to implement the boundary conditions. The convergence of the method is demonstrated and to validate the results, comparisons are made between the present results and those reported by well-known references for special cases treated before, have confirmed accuracy and efficiency of the present approach. New results reveal the importance of porosity coefficient, porosity distribution, graphene platelets (GPLs) distribution, geometrical and boundary conditions on vibration behavior of porous nanocomposite plates. It is observed that the maximum vibration frequency obtained in the case of symmetric porosity and GPL distribution, while the minimum vibration frequency is obtained using uniform porosity distribution.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제36권1호
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• pp.47-62
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• 2020

In this study, free vibration behavior of trapezoidal sandwich plates with porous core and two graphene platelets (GPLs) reinforced nanocomposite outer layers are presented. The distribution of pores and GPLs are supposed to be functionally graded (FG) along the thickness of core and nanocomposite layers, respectively. The effective Young's modulus of the GPL-reinforced (GPLR) nanocomposite layers is determined using the modified Halpin-Tsai micromechanics model, while the Poisson's ratio and density are computed by the rule of mixtures. The FSDT plate theory is utilized to establish governing partial differential equations and boundary conditions (B.C.s) for trapezoidal plate. The governing equations together with related B.C.s are discretized using a mapping- generalized differential quadrature (GDQ) method in the spatial domain. Then natural frequencies of the trapezoidal sandwich plates are obtained by GDQ method. Validity of current study is evaluated by comparing its numerical results with those available in the literature. A special attention is drawn to the role of GPLs weight fraction, GPLs patterns of two faces through the thickness, porosity coefficient and distribution of porosity on natural frequencies characteristics. New results show the importance of this permeates on vibrational characteristics of porous/GPLR nanocomposite plates. Finally, the influences of B.C.s and dimension as well as the plate geometry such as face to core thickness ratio on the vibration behaviors of the trapezoidal plates are discussed.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제33권4호
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• pp.509-523
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• 2019

In the present work, the buckling analysis of micro sandwich plate with an isotropic/orthotropic cores and piezoelectric/polymeric nanocomposite face sheets is studied. In this research, two cases for core of micro sandwich plate is considered that involve five isotropic Devineycell materials (H30, H45, H60, H100 and H200) and an orthotropic material also two cases for facesheets of micro sandwich plate is illustrated that include piezoelectric layers reinforced by carbon and boron-nitride nanotubes and polymeric matrix reinforced by carbon nanotubes under temperature-dependent and hydro material properties on the elastic foundations. The first order shear deformation theory (FSDT) is adopted to model micro sandwich plate and to apply size dependent effects from modified strain gradient theory. The governing equations are derived using the minimum total potential energy principle and then solved by analytical method. Also, the effects of different parameters such as size dependent, side ratio, volume fraction, various material properties for cores and facesheets and temperature and humidity changes on the dimensionless critical buckling load are investigated. It is shown from the results that the dimensionless critical buckling load for boron nitride nanotube is lower than that of for carbon nanotube. It is illustrated that the dimensionless critical buckling load for Devineycell H200 is highest and lowest for H30. Also, the obtained results for micro sandwich plate with piezoelectric facesheets reinforced by carbon nanotubes (case b) is higher than other states (cases a and c).The results of this research can be used in aircraft, automotive, shipbuilding industries and biomedicine.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• 제9권2호
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• pp.353-373
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• 2015

In this paper, the effects of different types of irregularity along the height on the seismic responses of moment resisting frames are investigated using nonlinear dynamic analysis. Furthermore, the applicability of consecutive modal pushover (CMP) procedure for computing the seismic demands of vertically irregular frames is studied and the advantages and limitations of the procedure are elaborated. For this purpose, a special moment resisting steel frame of 10-storey height was selected as reference regular frame for which the effect of higher modes is important. Forty vertically irregular frames with stiffness, strength, combined-stiffness-and-strength and mass irregularities are created by applying two modification factors (MF=2 and 4) in four different locations along the height of the reference frame. Seismic demands of irregular frames are computed by using the nonlinear response history analysis (NL-RHA) and CMP procedure. Modal pushover analysis (MPA) method is also carried out for the sake of comparison. The effect of different types of irregularity along the height on the seismic demands of vertically irregular frames is investigated by studying the results obtained from the NL-RHA. To demonstrate the accuracy of the enhanced pushover analysis methods, the results derived from the CMP and MPA are compared with those obtained by benchmark solution, i.e., NL-RHA. The results show that the CMP and MPA methods can accurately compute the seismic demands of vertically irregular buildings. The methods may be, however, less accurate especially in estimating plastic hinge rotations for weak or weak-and-soft top and middle storeys of vertically irregular frames.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제18권2호
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• pp.497-517
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• 2015

This study evaluates behavior of the Y-type perfobond rib shear connector proposed by Kim et al. (2013). In addition, an empirical shear resistance formula is developed based on push-out tests. Various types of the proposed Y-type perfobond rib shear connectors are examined to evaluate the effects of design variables such as concrete strength, number of transverse rebars, and thickness of rib. It is verified that higher concrete strength increases shear resistance but decreases ductility. Placing transverse rebars significantly increases both the shear resistance and ductility. As the thickness of the ribs increases, the shear resistance increases but the ductility decreases. The experimental results indicate that a Y-type perfobond rib shear connector has higher shear resistance and ductility than the conventional stud shear connector. The effects of the end bearing resistance, resistance by transverse rebars, concrete dowel resistance by holes, and concrete dowel resistance by Y-shape ribs on the shear resistance are estimated empirically based on the push-out test results and the additional push-out test results by Kim et al. (2013). An empirical shear resistance formula is suggested to estimate the shear resistance of a Y-type perfobond shear connector for design purposes. The newly developed shear resistance formula is in reasonable agreement with the experimental results because the average ratio of measured shear resistance to estimated shear resistance is 1.024.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제19권2호
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• pp.369-384
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• 2015

This work presents a free vibration analysis of functionally graded metal-ceramic (FG) beams with considering porosities that may possibly occur inside the functionally graded materials (FGMs) during their fabrication. For this purpose, a simple displacement field based on higher order shear deformation theory is implemented. The proposed theory is based on the assumption that the transverse displacements consist of bending and shear components in which the bending components do not contribute toward shear forces and, likewise, the shear components do not contribute toward bending moments. The most interesting feature of this theory is that it accounts for a quadratic variation of the transverse shear strains across the thickness, and satisfies the zero traction boundary conditions on the top and bottom surfaces of the beam without using shear correction factors. In addition, it has strong similarities with Euler-Bernoulli beam theory in some aspects such as equations of motion, boundary conditions, and stress resultant expressions. The rule of mixture is modified to describe and approximate material properties of the FG beams with porosity phases. By employing the Hamilton's principle, governing equations of motion for coupled axial-shear-flexural response are determined. The validity of the present theory is investigated by comparing some of the present results with those of the first-order and the other higher-order theories reported in the literature. Illustrative examples are given also to show the effects of varying gradients, porosity volume fraction, aspect ratios, and thickness to length ratios on the free vibration of the FG beams.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제21권6호
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• pp.1227-1250
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• 2016

Most of the research work has been conducted on K-joints under static loading. Very limited information is available in consideration of fatigue strength of K-joints with concrete-filled chord. This paper aims to describe experimental and numerical investigations on stress concentration factors (SCFs) of concrete-filled circular chord and square braces K-joints under balanced axial loading. Experiment was conducted to study the hot spot stress distribution along the intersection of chord and braces in the two specimens with compacting concrete filled in the chord. The test results of stress distribution curves of two specimens were reported. SCFs of concrete-filled circular chord and square braces K-joints were lower than those of corresponding hollow circular chord and square brace K-joints. The corresponding finite element analysis was also conducted to simulate stress distribution along the brace and chord intersection region of joints. It was achieved that experimental and finite element analysis results had good agreement. Therefore, an extensive parametric study was carried out by using the calibrated finite element model to evaluate the effects of main geometric parameters and concrete strength on the behavior of concrete-filled circular chord and square braces K-joints under balanced axial loading. The SCFs at the hot spot locations obtained from ABAQUS were compared with those calculated by using design formula given in the CIDECT for hollow SHS-SHS K-joints. CIDECT Design Guide was generally quite conservative for predicting SCFs of braces and was dangerous for predicting SCFs of chord in concrete-filled circular chord and square braces K-joints. Finally SCF formulae were proposed for circular chord and square braces K-joints with concrete-filled in the chord under balanced axial loading. It is shown that the SCFs calculated from the proposed design equation are generally in agreement with the values derived from finite element analysis, which were proved to be reliable and accurate.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• 제13권2호
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• pp.219-233
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• 2014

In a companion paper, Pasala and Nagarajaiah analytically and experimentally validate the Adaptive Length Pendulum Smart Tuned Mass Damper (ALP-STMD) on a primary structure (2 story steel structure) whose frequencies are time invariant (Pasala and Nagarajaiah 2012). In this paper, the ALP-STMD effectiveness on a primary structure whose frequencies are time varying is studied experimentally. This study experimentally validates the ability of an ALP-STMD to adequately control a structural system in the presence of real time changes in primary stiffness that are detected by a real time observer based system identification. The experiments implement the newly developed Adaptive Length Pendulum Smart Tuned Mass Damper (ALP-STMD) which was first introduced and developed by Nagarajaiah (2009), Nagarajaiah and Pasala (2010) and Nagarajaiah et al. (2010). The ALP-STMD employs a mass pendulum of variable length which can be tuned in real time to the parameters of the system using sensor feedback. The tuning action is made possible by applying a current to a shape memory alloy wire changing the effective length that supports the damper mass assembly in real time. Once a stiffness change in the structural system is detected by an open loop observer, the ALP-STMD is re-tuned to the modified system parameters which successfully reduce the response of the primary system. Significant performance improvement is illustrated for the stiffness modified system, which undergoes the re-tuning adaptation, when compared to the stiffness modified system without adaptive re-tuning.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제50권5호
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• pp.635-652
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• 2014

Creep and shrinkage behaviour of an ultra lightweight cement composite (ULCC) up to 450 days was evaluated in comparison with those of a normal weight aggregate concrete (NWAC) and a lightweight aggregate concrete (LWAC) with similar 28-day compressive strength. The ULCC is characterized by low density < 1500 $kg/m^3$ and high compressive strength about 60 MPa. Autogenous shrinkage increased rapidly in the ULCC at early-age and almost 95% occurred prior to the start of creep test at 28 days. Hence, majority of shrinkage of the ULCC during creep test was drying shrinkage. Total shrinkage of the ULCC during the 450-day creep test was the lowest compared to the NWAC and LWAC. However, corresponding total creep in the ULCC was the highest with high proportion attributed to basic creep (${\geq}$ ~90%) and limited drying creep. The high creep of the ULCC is likely due to its low elastic modulus. Specific creep of the ULCC was similar to that of the NWAC, but more than 80% higher than the LWAC. Creep coefficient of the ULCC was about 47% lower than that of the NWAC but about 18% higher than that of the LWAC. Among five creep models evaluated which tend to over-estimate the creep coefficient of the ULCC, EC2 model gives acceptable prediction within +25% deviations. The EC2 model may be used as a first approximate for the creep of ULCC in the designs of steel-concrete composites or sandwich structures in the absence of other relevant creep data.