• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.123-134
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• 2013

Identifying structural modal parameters, especially those modes within high frequency range, from ambient data is still a challenging problem due to various kinds of uncertainty involved in vibration measurements. A procedure applying an ensemble empirical mode decomposition (EEMD) method is proposed for accurate and robust structural modal identification. In the proposed method, the EEMD process is first implemented to decompose the original ambient data to a set of intrinsic mode functions (IMFs), which are zero-mean time series with energy in narrow frequency bands. Subsequently, a Sub-PolyMAX method is performed in narrow frequency bands by using IMFs as primary data for structural modal identification. The merit of the proposed method is that it performs structural identification in narrow frequency bands (take IMFs as primary data), unlike the traditional method in the whole frequency space (take original measurements as primary data), thus it produces more accurate identification results. A numerical example and a multiple-span continuous steel bridge have been investigated to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.125-140
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• 2011

This study presents an innovative method to estimate the reliability sensitivity based on the low-discrepancy sampling which is a new technique for structural reliability analysis. Two advantages are contributed to the method: one is that, by developing a general importance sampling procedure for reliability sensitivity analysis, the partial derivative of the failure probability with respect to the distribution parameter can be directly obtained with typically insignificant additional computations on the basis of structural reliability analysis; and the other is that, by combining various low-discrepancy sequences with the above importance sampling procedure, the proposed method is far more efficient than that based on the classical Monte Carlo method in estimating reliability sensitivity, especially for problems of small failure probability or problems that require a large number of costly finite element analyses. Examples involving both numerical and structural problems illustrate the application and effectiveness of the method developed, which indicate that the proposed method can provide accurate and computationally efficient estimates of reliability sensitivity.

• KIEAE Journal
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.45-52
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• 2004

The purpose of this research was to identify the structural characteristics of open housing typologically and systematically. The main method of this study was content analysis and literature review on open housing. This study found that the typological analysis on terminology and the details of the constituents concerning structural patterns in open housing indicated that the main approaches were classified into three criteria such as 'Organization Element', 'Construction Element', and 'Equipment Element'. Organization Element was classified into 'Main Dwelling Unit Area and its Form', 'Room Organization Method', 'Relationship with the Main Dwelling Unit's External Constituents', and 'Combination Method of Support and Infill'. Construction Element was classified into 'Method of Structure' and 'Structural Element Technology'. Equipment Element was classified into 'Method of Using Duct' and 'Wet Zone Method'. The attributes were determined based on these classifications. The results of this study can be used to construct an evaluation tool and further to develop a framework in understanding open housing. Technical research should be conducted on the variables that affect the flexibility of space.

• International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.10-24
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• 2015

This study introduces a fatigue assessment procedure using mesh-insensitive structural stress method based on the Common Structural Rules for Bulk Carriers by considering important factors, such as mean stress and thickness effects. The fatigue assessment result of mesh-insensitive structural stress method have been compared with CSR procedure based on equivalent notch stress at major hot spot points in the area near the ballast hold for a 180 K bulk carrier. The possibility of implementing mesh-insensitive structural stress method in the fatigue assessment procedure for ship structures is discussed.

• Architectural research
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.31-37
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• 2007

This study presents the so-called Modified Allowable Stress Design (MASD) method for structural designs. The objective of this study is to qualitatively estimate uncertainties of tensile steel member's cross-sectional structural designs and find the optimal resulting design which can resist all uncertainty cases. The design parameters are assumed to be interval associated with lower and upper bounds and consequently interval methods are implemented to non-stochastically produce design results including the structural uncertainties. By seeking optimal uncertainty combinations among interval parameters, engineers can qualitatively describe uncertain design solutions which were not considered in conventional structural designs. Under the assumption that structures have basically uncertainties like displacement responses, the safety range of resulting designs is represented by lower and upper bounds depending on given tolerance error and structural parameters. As a numerical example uncertain cross-sectional areas of members that can resist applied loads are investigated and it demonstrates that the present design method is superior to conventional allowable stress designs (ASD) with respect to a reliably structural safety as well as an economical material.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.111-121
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• 2005

The dynamic interaction of vehicle-bridge is studied by using transfer matrix method in this paper. The vehicle model is simplified as a spring-damping-mass system. By adopting the idea of Newmark-${\beta}$ method, the partial differential equation of structure vibration is transformed into a differential equation irrelevant to time. Then, this differential equation is solved by transfer matrix method. The prospective application of this method in real engineering is finally demonstrated by several examples.

• International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.199-209
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• 2012

An advanced aeroelastic formulation for flutter analyses is presented in this paper. Refined 1D structural models were coupled with the doublet lattice method, and the g-method was used for flutter analyses. Structural models were developed in the framework of the Carrera Unified Formulation (CUF). Higher-order 1D structural models were obtained by using Taylor-like expansions of the cross-section displacement field of the structure. The order (N) of the expansion was considered as a free parameter since it can be arbitrarily chosen as an input of the analysis. Convergence studies on the order of the structural model can be straightforwardly conducted in order to establish the proper 1D structural model for a given problem. Flutter analyses were conducted on several wing configurations and the results were compared to those from literature. Results show the enhanced capabilities of CUF 1D in dealing with the flutter analysis of typical wing structures with high accuracy and low computational costs.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.62 no.5
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• pp.537-550
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• 2017

Structural sizing is a rewarding task due to its non-convex constrained nature in the design space. In order to provide both global exploration and proper search refinement, a hybrid method is developed here based on outstanding features of Evolutionary Computing and Teaching-Learning-Based Optimization. The new method introduces an observer phase for memory exploitation in addition to vector-sum movements in the original teacher and learner phases. Proper integer coding is suited and applied for structural size optimization together with a fly-to-boundary technique and an elitism strategy. Performance of the proposed method is further evaluated treating a number of truss examples compared with teaching-learning-based optimization. The results show enhanced capability of the method in efficient and stable convergence toward the optimum and effective capturing of high quality solutions in discrete structural sizing problems.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.57 no.3
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• pp.529-541
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• 2016

Under the interaction between dam body, dam foundation and external environment, the dam structural behavior presents the time-varying nonlinear characteristics. According to the prototypical observations, the correct identification on above nonlinear characteristics is very important for dam safety control. It is difficult to implement the description, analysis and diagnosis for dam structural behavior by use of any linear method. Based on the rescaled range analysis approach, the algorithm is proposed to identify and extract the fractal feature on observed dam structural behavior. The displacement behavior of one actual dam is taken as an example. The fractal long-range correlation for observed displacement behavior is analyzed and revealed. The feasibility and validity of the proposed method is verified. It is indicated that the mechanism evidence can be provided for the prediction and diagnosis of dam structural behavior by using the fractal identification method. The proposed approach has a high potential for other similar applications.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 1996.04a
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• pp.143-150
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• 1996

The ductility demand for seismic design of a single degree of structure or an individual structural member can be determined easily. However, there is no established method to determine the ductility demand far a structural system. The object of this paper is to develop a method for the estimation of the ductility demand far structural systems, in which the inelastic behavior can be taken into account properly. The validity of the proposed method has been examined far several cases with different structures and different earthquake excitations. The method is also compared with two alternative methods.