• Wind and Structures
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.479-504
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• 2009

Structural health monitoring (SHM) systems have been recently embraced in long span cable-supported bridges, in which buffeting-induced stress monitoring is one of the tasks to ensure the safety of the bridge under strong winds. In line with this task, this paper presents a SHM-oriented finite element model (FEM) for the Tsing Ma suspension bridge in Hong Kong so that stresses/strains in important bridge components can be directly computed and compared with measured ones. A numerical procedure for buffeting induced stress analysis of the bridge based on the established FEM is then presented. Significant improvements of the present procedure are that the effects of the spatial distribution of both buffeting forces and self-excited forces on the bridge deck structure are taken into account and the local structural behaviour linked to strain/stress, which is prone to cause local damage, are estimated directly. The field measurement data including wind, acceleration and stress recorded by the wind and structural health monitoring system (WASHMS) installed on the bridge during Typhoon York are analyzed and compared with the numerical results. The results show that the proposed procedure has advantages over the typical equivalent beam finite element models.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.587-614
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• 2014

In recent years the interest in online monitoring of lightweight structures with ultrasonic guided waves is steadily growing. Especially the aircraft industry is a driving force in the development of structural health monitoring (SHM) systems. In order to optimally design SHM systems powerful and efficient numerical simulation tools to predict the behaviour of ultrasonic elastic waves in thin-walled structures are required. It has been shown that in real industrial applications, such as airplane wings or fuselages, conventional linear and quadratic pure displacement finite elements commonly used to model ultrasonic elastic waves quickly reach their limits. The required mesh density, to obtain good quality solutions, results in enormous computational costs when solving the wave propagation problem in the time domain. To resolve this problem different possibilities are available. Analytical methods and higher order finite element method approaches (HO-FEM), like p-FEM, spectral elements, spectral analysis and isogeometric analysis, are among them. Although analytical approaches offer fast and accurate results, they are limited to rather simple geometries. On the other hand, the application of higher order finite element schemes is a computationally demanding task. The drawbacks of both methods can be circumvented if regions of complex geometry are modelled using a HO-FEM approach while the response of the remaining structure is computed utilizing an analytical approach. The objective of the paper is to present an efficient method to couple different HO-FEM schemes with an analytical description of an undisturbed region. Using this hybrid formulation the numerical effort can be drastically reduced. The functionality of the proposed scheme is demonstrated by studying the propagation of ultrasonic guided waves in plates, excited by a piezoelectric patch actuator. The actuator is modelled utilizing higher order coupled field finite elements, whereas the homogenous, isotropic plate is described analytically. The results of this "semi-analytical" approach highlight the opportunities to reduce the numerical effort if closed-form solutions are partially available.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.451-469
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• 2023

The use of precast hollow-core slabs (PCHCS) in civil construction has been increasing due to the speed of execution and reduction in the weight of flooring systems. However, in the literature there are no studies that present a finite element model (FEM) to predict the load-slip relationship behavior of pushout tests, considering headed stud shear connector and PCHCS placed at the upper flange of the downstand steel profile. Thus, the present paper aims to develop a FEM, which is based on tests to fill this gap. For this task, geometrical non-linear analyses are carried out in the ABAQUS software. The FEM is calibrated by sensitivity analyses, considering different types of analysis, the friction coefficient at the steel-concrete interface, as well as the constitutive model of the headed stud shear connector. Subsequently, a parametric study is performed to assess the influence of the number of connector lines, type of filling and height of the PCHCS. The results are compared with analytical models that predict the headed stud resistance. In total, 158 finite element models are processed. It was concluded that the dynamic implicit analysis (quasi-static) showed better convergence of the equilibrium trajectory when compared to the static analysis, such as arc-length method. The friction coefficient value of 0.5 was indicated to predict the load-slip relationship behavior of all models investigated. The headed stud shear connector rupture was verified for the constitutive model capable of representing the fracture in the stress-strain relationship. Regarding the number of connector lines, there was an average increase of 108% in the resistance of the structure for models with two lines of connectors compared to the use of only one. The type of filling of the hollow core slab that presented the best results was the partial filling. Finally, the greater the height of the PCHCS, the greater the resistance of the headed stud.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.319-334
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• 2023

Localizing damages is an essential task to monitor the health of the structures since they may not be able to operate anymore. Among the damage detection techniques, non-destructive methods are considerably more preferred than destructive methods since damage can be located without affecting the structural integrity. However, these methods have several drawbacks in terms of detecting abilities, time consumption, cost, and hardware or software requirements. Employing artificial intelligence techniques could overcome such issues and could provide a powerful damage detection model if the technique is utilized correctly. In this study, the crack localization in flat and folded plate structures has been conducted by employing a Backpropagated Artificial Neural Network (BPANN). For this purpose, cracks with 18 different dimensions in thin, flat, and folded structures having 15⁰, 30⁰, 45⁰, and 60⁰ folding angle have been modeled and subjected to free vibration analysis by employing the Classical Plate Theory with Finite Element Method. A Four-nodded quadrilateral element having six degrees of freedom has been considered to represent those structures mathematically. The first ten natural frequencies have been obtained regarding healthy and cracked structures. To localize the crack, the ratios of the frequencies of the cracked flat and folded structures to those of healthy ones have been taken into account. Those ratios have been given to BPANN as the input variables, while the crack locations have been considered as the output variables. A total of 500 crack locations have been regarded within the dataset obtained from the results of the free vibration analysis. To build the best intelligent model, a feature search has been conducted for BAPNN regarding activation function, the number of hidden layers, and the number of hidden neurons. Regarding the analysis results, it is concluded that the BPANN is able to localize the cracks with an average accuracy of 95.12%.

• JSTS:Journal of Semiconductor Technology and Science
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.286-292
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• 2004

In this paper we present a static performance estimation technique of on-chip bus architectures. The proposed technique requires the static scheduling of function blocks of a task to analyze bus conflicts caused by simultaneous accesses from processing elements to which function blocks are mapped. To apply it to multitask applications, the concurrent execution of the function blocks of different tasks also should be considered. Since tasks are scheduled independently, considering all cases of concurrency in each processing element is impractical. Therefore we make an average estimate on the effects of other tasks with respect to bus request rate and bus access time. The proposed technique was incorporated with our exploration framework for on-chip bus architectures, Its viability and efficiency are validated by a preliminary example.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.73 no.6
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• pp.631-640
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• 2020

Using backup plate is one of the most commonly used methods to decrease drilling-induced delamination of composite laminates. It has been shown that, the size of the delamination zone is related to the vertical element of cutting force named as thrust force. Also, direct control of thrust force is not a routine task, because, it depends on both drilling parameters and mechanical properties of the composite laminate. In this research, critical feed rate and thrust force are predicted analytically for delamination initiation in drilling of composite laminates with backup plate. Three common theories, linear elastic fracture mechanics, classical laminated plate and mechanics of oblique cutting, are used to model the problem. Based on the proposed analytical model, the effect of drill radius, chisel edge size, and backup plate size on the critical thrust force and feed rate are investigated. Experimental tests were carried out to prove analytical model.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society For Composite Materials Conference
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• 2005.04a
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• pp.134-136
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• 2005

Homogenization method is adopted to predict the permeability tenor for glass fiber plain woven fabrics. Calculating the permeability tensor numerically is an encouraging task because the permeability tensor is a key parameter in resin transfer molding (RTM). Based on multi-scale approach of the homogenization method, the permeability for the micro-unit cell within fiber tow is computed and compared with that obtained from flow analysis for the same micro-unit cell. It is found that they are in good agreement. In order to calculate the permeability tensor of macro-unit cell for the plain woven fabrics, the Stokes and Brinkman equations which describe inter-tow and intra-tow flow respectively are employed as governing equations. The effective permeabilities homogenized by considering intra-tow flow are compared with those obtained experimentally. Control volume finite element method (CVFEM) is used as a numerical method. It is shown that the asymptotic expansion homogenization method is an attractive method to predict the effective permeability for heterogeneous media.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 1995.04a
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• pp.339-344
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• 1995

In the design of ductile moment-resisting frames (DMRFs) following the strong column-weak beam dsign philosophy, it is desirable that the joint and column remain essentially elastic in order to insure proper energy dissipation and lateral stability of the structure. The joint has been identified as the "weak link" in DMRFs because any stiffness or strength deterioration in this region can lead to substantial drifts and the possibility of collapse due to P-delta effects. Moreover, the engineer is faced with the difficult task of detailing an element whose size is determined by the framing members, but which must resist a set of loads very different from those used in the design of the beams and columns. Four 2/3-scale beam-column-slab joint assemblies were designed according to existing code requirements of ACI 318-89, representing interior joints of DMRFs with reinforced high strength concrete. The influence on aseismic behavior of beam-column joints due to monolithic slab, has been investigated.estigated.

• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.91-99
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• 2020

Fruit and vegetable harvesting robots have been widely studied and developed in recent years to reduce the cost of harvesting tasks such as labor and time. However, harvesting robots have many challenges due to the difficulty and uncertainty of task. In this paper, we characterize the crop environment related to the harvesting robot and analyzes state-of-the-art of the harvesting robot especially, in the viewpoint of robotic end-effector. The end-effector, an one of most important element of the harvesting robot, was classified into gripper and harvesting module, which were reviewed in more detail. Performance measures for the evaluation of harvesting robot such as test, detachment success, harvest success, and cycle time were also introduced. Furthermore, we discuss the current limitations of the harvesting robot and challenges and directions for future research.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.359-372
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• 1995

This study presents an efficient method for optimum design of plate and shell structures, when the design variables are continuous or discrete. Both sizing and shape design variables are considered. First the structural responses such as element forces are approximated in terms of some intermediate variables. By substituting these approximate relations into the original design problem, an explicit nonlinear approximate design task with high quality approximation is achieved. This problem with continuous variables, can be solved by means of numerical optimization techniques very efficiently, the results of which are then used for discrete variable optimization. Now, the approximate problem is converted into a sequence of second level approximation problems of separable form and each of which is solved by a dual strategy with discrete design variables. The approach is efficient in terms of the number of required structural analyses, as well as the overall computational cost of optimization. Examples are offered and compared with other methods to demonstrate the features of the proposed method.