• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.58 no.2
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• pp.217-230
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• 2016

Effects of temperature dependent material properties on mixed mode fracture parameters of functionally graded materials subjected to thermal loading are investigated. A domain form of the $J_k$-integral method including temperature-dependent material properties and its numerical implementation using finite element analysis is presented. Temperature and displacement fields are calculated using finite element analysis and are used to compute mixed mode stress intensity factors using the $J_k$-integral. Numerical results indicate that temperature-dependency of material properties has considerable effect on the mixed-mode stress intensity factors of cracked functionally graded structures.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.429-438
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• 2020

To shorten the construction times of nuclear facility structures, three high-strength concrete mixtures were developed with specific consideration given to their curing temperatures, their economic efficiency, and the practicality of their quality control. This study was conducted to examine the temperature rise profiles of these three concrete mixtures and the potential for early-age thermal cracking in the primary containment vessel of a nuclear reactor with a wall thickness of 1200 mm. The one-layer placement height of the concrete for the primary containment vessel was increased from the conventional 3 m to 3.5 m. A nonlinear finite element analysis (FEA) was conducted using the thermal properties of concrete determined from the isothermal hydration and adiabatic hydration tests, and tuned through comparisons made with temperature rise profiles obtained for 1200-mm-thick mock-up wall specimens cured at temperatures of 5, 20, and 35℃. The hydration heat performance of the three concrete mixtures and their potential to produce thermal cracking in nuclear facilities indicate that the mixtures have considerable potential for practical application to the primary containment vessel of a nuclear reactor at various curing temperatures, fulfilling the minimum requirements of the ACI 301 and minimizing the likelihood of the occurrence of thermal cracks.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.1-14
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• 2016

In this study, high performance concrete beams and prisms with high content of PFA were heated to various temperatures up to $450^{\circ}C$ at heating rates of $1^{\circ}C/min$, $3^{\circ}C/min$ and $10^{\circ}C/min$. The thermal gradient was found to increase first with the heating time until a peak value was reached and then decrease until the thermal equilibrium was reached, measured as $115^{\circ}C$, $240^{\circ}C$ and $268^{\circ}C$ for the three heating rates. Spalling occurred on some specimens when the heating temperature was over $400^{\circ}C$ for heating rates of $3^{\circ}C/min$ and $10^{\circ}C/min$. The hygric gradient was found to reach its maximum when the thermal gradient reached its peak. This study indicates that spalling of HPC could happen when the heating temperature was high enough, and both thermal and hygric gradients reached their maxima.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.50 no.5
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• pp.617-633
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• 2014

Because the elevated temperature degrades the mechanical properties of materials used in containments, the global behavior of containments subjected to the internal pressure under high temperature is remarkably different from that subjected to the internal pressure only. This paper concentrates on the nonlinear finite element analyses of the nuclear power plant containment structures, and the importance for the consideration of the elevated temperature effect has been emphasized because severe accident usually accompanies internal high pressure together with a high temperature increase. In addition to the consideration of nonlinear effects in the containment structure such as the tension stiffening and bond-slip effects, the change in material properties under elevated temperature is also taken into account. This paper, accordingly, focuses on the three-dimensional nonlinear analyses with thermal effects. Upon the comparison of experiment data with numerical results for the SNL 1/4 PCCV tested by internal pressure only, three-dimensional analyses for the same structure have been performed by considering internal pressure and temperature loadings designed for two kinds of severe accidents of Saturated Station Condition (SSC) and Station Black-out Scenario (SBO). Through the difference in the structural behavior of containment structures according to the addition of temperature loading, the importance of elevated temperature effect on the ultimate resisting capacity of PCCV has been emphasized.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.83 no.5
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• pp.645-654
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• 2022

Environmental thermal loads such as vertical and lateral temperature gradients are significant factors that must be taken into account when designing the bridge. Different models have been developed and used by countries for simulating thermal gradients in bridge codes. In most of the codes only vertical temperature gradients are considered, such as Iranian Standard Loads for Bridge code (ISLB), which only considers the vertical gradient for bridge design proposes. On the other hand, the vertical gradient profile specified in ISLB, has many lacks due to the diversity of climate in Iran, and only one vertical gradient profile is defined for whole Iran. This paper aims to get the both vertical and lateral gradient loads for the concrete box girder using experimental analysis in the capital of Iran, Tehran. To fulfill this aim, thermocouples are installed in experimental concrete segment and temperatures in different location of the segment are recorded. A three dimensional finite element model of concrete box-girder bridge is constructed to study the effects of thermal loads. Results of investigation proved that the effects of thermal loads are not negligible, and must be considered in design processes. Moreover, a solution for reducing the negative effects of thermal gradients in bridges is proposed. Results of the simulation show that using one layer polyurethane insulation can significantly reduce the thermal gradients and thermal stresses.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.349-362
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• 2018

Thermal buckling behavior of porous functionally graded nanobeam integrated with piezoelectric sensor and actuator based on the nonlocal higher-order shear deformation beam theory is investigated for the first time. Its material properties are assumed to be temperature-dependent and varying along the thickness direction according to the modified power-law rule. Note that the porosity with even type is considered herein. The equations of motion are obtained through Hamilton's principle. The influences of several parameters (such as type of temperature distribution, external electric voltage, material composition, porosity, small-scale effect, Ker foundation parameters, and beam thickness) on the thermal buckling of FG nanobeam are investigated in detail.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.421-442
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• 2013

This paper is concerned with the theoretical treatment of transient thermoelastic problems involving a functionally graded hollow cylinder with piecewise power law due to asymmetrical heating from its surfaces. The thermal and thermoelastic constants of each layer are expressed as power functions of the radial coordinate, and their values continue on the interfaces. The exact solution for the two-dimensional temperature change in a transient state, and thermoelastic response of a hollow cylinder under the state of plane strain is obtained herein. Some numerical results for the temperature change and the stress distributions are shown in figures. Furthermore, the influence of the functional grading on the thermal stresses is investigated.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.347-371
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• 2011

This paper focuses on post-buckling analysis of Timoshenko beams with various boundary conditions subjected to a non-uniform thermal loading by using the total Lagrangian Timoshenko beam element approximation. Six types of support conditions for the beams are considered. The considered highly non-linear problem is solved by using incremental displacement-based finite element method in conjunction with Newton-Raphson iteration method. As far as the authors know, there is no study on the post-buckling analysis of Timoshenko beams under uniform and non-uniform thermal loading considering full geometric non-linearity investigated by using finite element method. The convergence studies are made and the obtained results are compared with the published results. In the study, the relationships between deflections, end rotational angles, end constraint forces, thermal buckling configuration, stress distributions through the thickness of the beams and temperature rising are illustrated in detail in post-buckling case.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.285-300
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• 2010

The two-dimensional deformation of a homogeneous, isotropic thermoelastic half-space with voids with variable modulus of elasticity and thermal conductivity subjected to thermomechanical boundary conditions has been investigated. The formulation is applied to the coupled theory(CT) as well as generalized theories: Lord and Shulman theory with one relaxation time(LS), Green and Lindsay theory with two relaxation times(GL) Chandrasekharaiah and Tzou theory with dual phase lag(C-T) of thermoelasticity. The Laplace and Fourier transforms techniques are used to solve the problem. As an application, concentrated/uniformly distributed mechanical or thermal sources have been considered to illustrate the utility of the approach. The integral transforms have been inverted by using a numerical inversion technique to obtain the components of displacement, stress, changes in volume fraction field and temperature distribution in the physical domain. The effect of dependence of modulus of elasticity on the components of stress, changes in volume fraction field and temperature distribution are illustrated graphically for a specific model. Different special cases are also deduced.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.4 no.6
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• pp.679-702
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• 1996

The finite element method is employed in conjunction with micromechanical modelling in order to assess the performance of ceramic thermal barrier coatings applied to structural components. The study comprises the conditions of the deposition of the coating by plasma spraying as well as the thermal cycling of the coated component, and it addresses particularly turbine blades. They are exposed to high temperature changes strongly influencing the behaviour of the core material and inducing damage in the ceramic material by intense straining. A concept of failure analysis is discussed starting from distributed microcracking in the ceramic material, progressing to the formation of macroscopic crack patterns and examining their potential for propagation across the coating. The theory is in good agreement with experimental observations, and may therefore be utilized in proposing improvements for a delayed initiation of failure, thus increasing the lifetime of components with ceramic thermal barrier coatings.