• International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials
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• 제10권2호
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• pp.189-203
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• 2016

This paper investigates on the use of advanced optical measurement methods, i.e. 3D coordinate measurement machines (3D CMM) and stereo-vision digital image correlation (3D DIC), for the mechanical analysis of shear deficient prestressed concrete members. Firstly, the experimental program is elaborated. Secondly, the working principle, experimental setup and corresponding accuracy and precision of the considered optical measurement techniques are reported. A novel way to apply synthesised strain sensor patterns for DIC is introduced. Thirdly, the experimental results are reported and an analysis is made of the structural behaviour based on the gathered experimental data. Both techniques yielded useful and complete data in comparison to traditional mechanical measurement techniques and allowed for the assessment of the mechanical behaviour of the reported test specimens. The identified structural behaviour presented in this paper can be used to optimize design procedure for shear-critical structural concrete members.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• 제23권5호
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• pp.431-439
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• 2020

Soil-water retention curve (SWRC) contains key information for the application of unsaturated soil mechanics principles to engineering practice. The SWRC variables are commonly used to describe the hydro-mechanics of soils. Generally, these parameters are determined using the graphical method which can be time consuming. The SWRC is highly dependent on the pore size distribution (PSD). Theoretically, the PSD obtained by mercury intrusion porosimetry test can be used to determine some SWRC variables. Moreover, the relationship between SWRC and shrinkage curve has been investigated. A new method to determine total SWRC variables directly without curve-fitting procedure is proposed. Substituting the variables into linear SWRC equations construct SWRC. A good agreement was obtained between predicted and measured SWRCs, indicating the validity of the proposed method for unimodal SWRC.

• 한국압력기기공학회 논문집
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• 제4권2호
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• pp.13-19
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• 2008

In order to predict a remaining life of a plant, it is necessary to select the components that are critical to the plant life. The remaining life of those components shall be evaluated by considering the aging effect of materials used as well as numerous factors. However, when evaluating reliability of nuclear structural components, some problems are quite formidable because of lack of information such as operating history, material property change and uncertainty in damage models. Accordingly, if structural integrity and safety are evaluated by the deterministic fracture mechanics approach, it is expected that the results obtained are too conservative to perform a rational evaluation of plant life. The probabilistic fracture mechanics approaches are regarded as appropriate methods to rationally evaluate the plant life since they can consider various uncertainties such as sizes and shapes of cracks and degradation of material strength due to the aging effects. The objective of this study is to evaluate the structural integrity for a reactor pressure vessel under the small break loss of coolant accident by applying the deterministic and probabilistic fracture mechanics. The deterministic fracture mechanics analysis was performed using the three dimensional finite element model. The probabilistic integrity analysis was based on the Monte Carlo simulation. The selected random variables are the neutron fluence on the vessel inside surface, the content of copper, nickel, and phosphorus in the reactor pressure vessel material, and initial RTNDT.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제53권3호
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• pp.481-495
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• 2015

Many hydropower stations in southwest China are located in regions of brittle rock mass with high geo-stresses. Under these conditions deep fractured zones often occur in the sidewalls of the underground caverns of a power station. The theory and methods of fracture and damage mechanics are therefore adopted to study the phenomena. First a flexibility matrix is developed to describe initial geometric imperfections of a jointed rock mass. This model takes into account the area and orientation of the fractured surfaces of multiple joint sets, as well as spacing and density of joints. Using the assumption of the equivalent strain principle, a damage constitutive model is established based on the brittle fracture criterion. In addition the theory of fracture mechanics is applied to analyze the occurrence of secondary cracks during a cavern excavation. The failure criterion, for rock bridge coalescence and the damage evolution equation, has been derived and a new sub-program integrated into the FLAC-3D software. The model has then been applied to the stability analysis of an underground cavern group of a hydropower station in Sichuan province, China. The results of this method are compared with those obtained by using a conventional elasto-plastic model and splitting depth calculated by the splitting failure criterion proposed in a previous study. The results are also compared with the depth of the relaxation and fracture zone in the surrounding rock measured by field monitoring. The distribution of the splitting zone obtained both by the proposed model and by the field monitoring measurements are consistent to the validity of the theory developed herein.

• 전산구조공학
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• 제27권1호
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• pp.34-40
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• 2014

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제13권3호
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• pp.299-312
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• 2002

In this paper, a new method to solve the dynamic response problem for structures with interval parameters is presented. It is difficult to obtain all possible solutions with sharp bounds even an optimum scheme is adopted when there are many interval structural parameters. With the interval algorithm, the expressions of the interval stiffness matrix, damping matrix and mass matrices are developed. Based on the matrix perturbation theory and interval extension of function, the upper and lower bounds of dynamic response are obtained, while the sharp bounds are guaranteed by the interval operations. A numerical example, dynamic response analysis of a box cantilever beam, is given to illustrate the validity of the present method.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제11권3호
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• pp.237-258
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• 2001

Structural identification via modal analysis in structural mechanics is gaining popularity in recent years, despite conceptual difficulties connected with its use. This paper is devoted to illustrate both the capabilities and the indeterminacy characterizing structural identification problems even in quite simple instances, as well as the cautions that should be accordingly adopted. In particular, we discuss an application of an identification technique of variational type, based on the measurement of eigenfrequencies and mode shapes, to a steel frame with friction joints under various assembling conditions. Experience has suggested, so as to restrict the indeterminacy frequently affecting identification issues, having resort to all the a priori acknowledged information on the system, to the symmetry and presence of structural elements with equal stiffness, to mention one example, and mindfully selecting the parameters to be identified. In addition, considering that the identification techniques have a local character and correspond to the updating of a preliminary model of the structure, it is important that the analytical model on the first attempt should be adequately accurate. Secondly, it has proved determinant to cross the results of the dynamic identification with tests of other typology, for instance, static tests, so as to fully understand the structural behavior and avoid the indeterminacy due to the nonuniqueness of the inverse problem.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제12권5호
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• pp.491-506
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• 2001

In this paper, a new three-dimensional piezoelectric thin shell element containing an integrated distributed piezoelectric sensor and actuator is proposed. The distributed piezoelectric sensor layer monitors the structural shape deformation due to the direct effect and the distributed actuator layer suppresses the deflection via the converse piezoelectric effect. A finite element formulation is presented for static response of laminated shell with piezoelectric sensors/actuators. An eight-node and forty-DOF shell element is built. The performance of the shell elements is improved by reduced integration technique. The static shape control of structure is derived. The shell element is verified by calculating piezoelectric polymeric PVDF bimorph beam. The results agreed with those obtained by theoretical analysis, Tzou and Tseng (1990) and Hwang and Park (1993) fairly well. At last, the static shape control of a paraboloidal antenna is presented.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제30권3호
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• pp.297-316
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• 2008

This paper investigates the structural behavior of Korean traditional wooden structures on the basis of the structural analysis using the commercialized program, SAP 2000. All the structural systems were analyzed, and the rotational stiffness at each joint was inferred from the experimental result for a half scale model of Bongjeong-sa (a temple in South Korea). In addition, the artificial control of analysis parameters was prevented because the structural analysis was focused on the realization of the most exact structural behavior of real structures. The analysis was carried out for the horizontal and vertical static loads, and all the secondary members were excluded in the structural analysis. The obtained results show that the resisting capacity of the primary structural system is greater than that of the expanding structural system.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제59권3호
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• pp.503-526
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• 2016

In-plane and out-of-plane free vibration analysis of Timoshenko curved beams is addressed based on the isogeometric method, and an effective scheme to avoid numerical locking in both of the two patterns is proposed in this paper. The isogeometric computational model takes into account the effects of shear deformation, rotary inertia and axis extensibility of curved beams, and is applicable for uniform circular beams, and more complicated variable curvature and cross-section beams as illustrated by numerical examples. Meanwhile, it is shown that, the $C^{p-1}$-continuous NURBS elements remarkably have higher accuracy than the finite elements with the same number of degrees of freedom. Nevertheless, for in-plane or out-of-plane vibration analysis of Timoshenko curved beams, the NURBS-based isogeometric method also exhibits locking effect to some extent. To eliminate numerical locking, the selective reduced one-point integration and $\bar{B}$ projection element based on stiffness ratio is devised to achieve locking free analysis for in-plane and out-of-plane models, respectively. The suggested integral schemes for moderately slender models obtain accurate results in both dominated and non-dominated regions of locking effect. Moreover, this strategy is effective for beam structures with different slenderness. Finally, the influence factors of structural parameters of curved beams on their natural frequency are scrutinized.