• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.67 no.3
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• pp.245-254
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• 2018

In this paper, a Cloud Model based Fruit Fly Optimization Algorithm (CMFOA) is presented for structural damage identification, which is a global optimization algorithm inspired by the foraging behavior of fruit fly swarm. It is assumed that damage only leads to the decrease in elementary stiffness. The differences on time-domain structural acceleration data are used to construct the objective function, which transforms the damaged identification problem of a structure into an optimization problem. The effectiveness, efficiency and accuracy of the CMFOA are demonstrated by two different numerical simulation structures, including a simply supported beam and a cantilevered plate. Numerical results show that the CMFOA has a better capacity for structural damage identification than the basic Fruit Fly Optimization Algorithm (FOA) and the CMFOA is not sensitive to measurement noise.

• Interaction and multiscale mechanics
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• v.1 no.3
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• pp.329-337
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• 2008

This paper presents the derivation of the generalized governing equations in theory of elasticity, their weak forms and the some applications in the numerical analysis of structural mechanics. Unlike the differential equations in classical elasticity theory, the generalized equations of the equilibrium and compatibility equations presented here take the form of integral equations, and the generalized equilibrium equations contain the classical differential equations and the boundary conditions in a single equation. By using appropriate test functions, the weak forms of these generalized governing equations can be established. It can be shown that various variational principles in structural analysis are merely the special cases of these weak forms of generalized governing equations in elasticity. The present weak forms of elasticity equations extend greatly the choices of the trial functions for approximate solutions in the numerical analysis of various engineering problems. Therefore, the weak forms of generalized governing equations in elasticity provide a powerful modeling tool in the computational structural mechanics.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.793-807
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• 2015

Constructing the influence lines of forces of statically indeterminate structures is a traditional issue in structural engineering and mechanics. However, the existing kinematic method for establishing these force influence lines is an indirect or mixed approach by combining the force method with the theorem of reciprocal displacements, which is yet inconsistent with the kinematic method for statically determinate structure. This paper proposes the direct kinematic method in conjunction with the load-displacement differential relation for exactly constructing influence lines of reaction and internal forces of indeterminate structures. Firstly, through applying the principle of virtual displacement, the formula for influence lines of reaction and internal forces of indeterminate structure via direct kinematic method is derived based on the released structure. Then, a computational approach with a clear concept and unified procedure as well as wide applicability based on the load-displacement differential relation of beam is suggested to achieve conveniently the closed-form expression of force influence lines, and exactly draw them. Finally, three representative examples for constructing force influence lines of statically indeterminate beams and frame illustrate the superiority of the proposed method.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.53 no.2
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• pp.261-276
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• 2015

Structural damage and moving load identification are the two aspects of structural system identification. However, they universally coexist in the damaged structures subject to unknown moving load. This paper proposed a dynamic response sensitivity-based model updating method to simultaneously identify the structural damage and moving force. The moving force which is equivalent as the nodal force of the structure can be expressed as a series of orthogonal polynomial. Based on the system Markov parameters by the state space method, the dynamic response and the dynamic response derivatives with respect to the force parameters and elemental variations are analytically derived. Afterwards, the damage and force parameters are obtained by minimizing the difference between measured and analytical response in the sensitivity-based updating procedure. A numerical example for a simply supported beam under the moving load is employed to verify the accuracy of the proposed method.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.147-160
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• 2002

This paper summarises results of the research performed at the Department of Steel Structures and Structural Mechanics from the "Politehnica" University of Timisoara, Romania, in order to evaluate the performance of beam-to-column extended end plate connections for steel and composite joints. It comprises laboratory tests on steel and composite joints, and numerical modelling of joints, based on tests. Tested joints are double-sided, with structural elements realised of welded steel sections. The columns are of cruciform cross-section, while the beams are of I section. Both monotonic and cyclic loading, symmetrically and antisymmetrically, has been applied. On the basis of tested joints, a refined computer model has been calibrated using a special connection element of the computer code DRAIN 2DX. In this way, a static/dynamic structural analysis of framed structures with real characteristics of the beam to column joints is possible.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.73 no.1
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• pp.27-35
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• 2020

In rail industry, noise reduction is a concern to decrease environmental pollution. The current study focuses on rail damper modeling and improvement of the model through validation with experimental results. Accurate modeling and simulation of rail dampers, specifically tuned rail dampers with layers interconnected by bolt joints, shall enable objective-oriented improvement of their design. In this work, to improve the damper model cone pressure theory is applied in the FE model and the sensitivity analysis is then applied to gradually improve the FE model. The improved model yields higher Modal Assurance Criterion (MAC) values and lower frequencies deviation.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.55 no.6
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• pp.1223-1239
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• 2015

A method for structural damage identification based on Chaotic Artificial Bee Colony (CABC) algorithm is presented. ABC is a heuristic algorithm with simple structure, ease of implementation, good robustness but with slow convergence rate. To overcome the shortcoming, the tournament selection mechanism is chosen instead of the roulette mechanism and chaotic search mechanism is also introduced. Residuals of natural frequencies and modal assurance criteria (MAC) are used to establish the objective function, ABC and CABC are utilized to solve the optimization problem. Two numerical examples are studied to investigate the efficiency and correctness of the proposed method. The simulation results show that the CABC algorithm can identify the local damage better compared with ABC and other evolutionary algorithms, even with noise corruption.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.275-289
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• 2007

In this paper a brief overview of methods to assess the reliability of mechanical systems and structures is presented. A selection of computational procedures, stochastic structural dynamics, stochastic fatigue crack growth and reliability based optimization are discussed. It is shown that reliability based methods may form the basis for a rational decision making.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.647-650
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• 2008

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.35 no.6
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• pp.791-794
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• 2010