• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제65권3호
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• pp.251-261
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• 2018

Self-centering concentrically braced frames (SCCBFs) are emerging as high performance seismically resistant braced framing system, due to the capacity of withstanding strong earthquake attacks and promptly recovering after events. To get a further insight into the seismic performance of SCCBFs, systematical evaluations are currently conducted from the perspective of modal contributions. In this paper, the modal pushover analysis (MPA) approach is utilized to obtain the realistic seismic demands by summarizing the contribution of each single vibration mode. The MPA-based results are compared with the exact results from nonlinear response history analysis. The adopted SCCBFs originate from existing buckling-restrained braced frames (BRBF), which are also analyzed for purpose of comparison. In the analysis of these comparable framing systems, interested performance indices that closely relate to the structural damage degree include the interstory drift ratio, floor acceleration, and absorbed hysteretic energy. The study shows that the MPA approach produces acceptable predictions in comparison to the exact results for SCCBFs. In addition, the high-modes effect on the seismic behavior increases with the building height, and is more evident in the SCCBFs than the BRBFs.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• 제9권6호
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• pp.1313-1336
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• 2015

The self-centering prestressed concrete (SCPC) bridge pier with external dissipators is a novel structure, aiming at reducing residual deformation and facilitating the post-earthquake repair. This paper presents the configuration and mechanical behaviors of the pier. A theoretical model for the lateral force-displacement relationship under cyclic loading is developed. The proposed model comprises an iterative procedure which describes the deformation of dissipators under different conditions. Equations of pier stiffness after gap opening, as well as the equivalent viscous damping ratio, etc., are derived based on the proposed model. Existing cyclic load test results were used to validate the proposed model, and good agreement is observed between the analytical and test results.

• International Journal of CAD/CAM
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• 제11권1호
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• pp.11-17
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• 2011

A new method has been developed in this paper for automatic quadrilateral mesh generation for a two-dimensional domain. The method is named 'centering method' because it centers a point at the domain and then divides it into sub-domains using cutting lines from the center point. Each of the cutting lines is selected based on the criterion using the angles between the boundary of the domain and the cutting line. The decomposition of the domain into sub-domains is repeated until every subdomain has four or six nodes. Pre-defined splitters are used to divide six-node domains into quadrilateral elements depending on their configuration and presence on the boundary of the initial domain. Arbitrary domains are meshed as examples to verify the robustness of the new method.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• 제24권1호
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• pp.141-155
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• 2019

This work evaluates the influence of negative stiffness on the performances of various vehicle suspension systems, and proposes a re-centering negative stiffness device (NSD). The re-centering NSD consists of a passive magnetic negative stiffness spring and a positioning shaft with a re-centering function. The former produces negative stiffness control forces, and the latter prevents the amplification of static spring deflection. The numerical simulations reveal that negative stiffness can improve the ride comfort of a vehicle without affecting its road holding abilities for either passive or semi-active suspension systems. In general, the improvement degree of ride comfort increases as negative stiffness increases. For passive suspension system, negative stiffness brings in negative stiffness feature in the control forces, which is helpful for the ride comfort of a vehicle. For semi-active suspensions, negative stiffness can alleviate the impact of clipped damping in semi-active dampers, and thus the ride comfort of a vehicle can be improved.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제80권5호
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• pp.609-623
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• 2021

Buckling restrained bracing (BRB) was firstly introduced in Japan construction industry in year 1989. With time, BRB performance has been advanced to self-centering BRB (SC-BRB) which has exceptional energy dissipation, addressing the improvement in the structure performance in post-seismic affect. Although the BRB performance specifications are defined in design codes of several countries, specific design provisions are not generally provided since BRBs are usually considered a manufactured device. Furthermore, most of review papers focused on BRB rather than SC-BRB. Thus, this paper explores the background of both BRB and SC-BRB. The importance of self-centering components in BRB and literature related to it have been studied. This review study also highlights the significance of corrosion-resistance materials in the configuring BRB and SC-BRB since most of such members are made of carbon steel that is susceptible to corrosion.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제47권5호
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• pp.663-677
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• 2023

The self-centering energy-dissipating coupled wall panels (SECWs) possess a dual capacity of resiliency and energy dissipation. Used in steel frames, the SECWs can localize the damage of structures and reduce residual drifts. Based on OpenSEES, the nonlinear models were established and validated by experimental results. The seismic design procedure of steel frame with SECW structures (SF-SECW) was proposed in accordance with four-level seismic fortification objectives. Nonlinear time-history response analyses were carried out to validate the reasonability of seismic design procedure for 6-story and 12-story structures. Results show that the inter-story drifts of designed structures are less than drift limits. According to incremental dynamic analyses (IDA), the fragility curves of mentioned-above structure models under different limit states were obtained. The results indicate that designed structures have good seismic performance and meet the seismic fortification objectives.

• Restorative Dentistry and Endodontics
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• 제47권1호
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• pp.3.1-3.9
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• 2022

Objectives: This study aimed to assess the impact of a glide-path on the shaping ability of 2 single-file instruments and to compare the centering ability, maintenance of original canal curvatures and area of instrumentation in simulated S-shaped root canals. Materials and Methods: Forty simulated S-shaped root canals were used and were prepared with One Curve (group OC), One G and OC (group GOC), Reciproc Blue (group RB) and R-Pilot and RB (group PRB) and scanned before and after instrumentation. The images were analyzed using AutoCAD. After superimposing the samples, 4 levels (D1, D2, D3, and D4) and 2 angles (Δ1 and Δ2) were established to evaluate the centering ability and modification of the canal curvatures. Then, the area of instrumentation (ΔA) was measured. The data were analyzed using 2-way analysis of variance and Tukey's test for multiple comparisons (p < 0.05). Results: Regarding the centering ability in the apical part (D3, D4), the use of the glide-path yielded better results than the single-file groups. Among the groups at D4, OC showed the worst results (p < 0.05). The OC system removed less material (ΔA) than the RB system, and for Δ1, OC yielded a worse result than RB (p < 0.05). Conclusions: The glide-path improved the centering ability in the apical part of the simulated S-shaped canals. The RB system showed a better centering ability in the apical part and major respect of the canal curvatures compared with OC system.

• 동의생리병리학회지
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• 제18권4호
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• pp.953-956
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• 2004

We studied on the means to ascetic practices centering around Taijiquan. Taijiquan is the means to the self-discipline of the human body. And Taijiquan is the regimen for human health. Therefore according to the continuous training of Taijiquan, we can achieve the purpose of the ascetic practices by the getting over the body's habituations.

• Journal of information and communication convergence engineering
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• 제3권2호
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• pp.110-113
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• 2005

An enhancement of tracking capacity for the centering position of eye and iris on the facial image is presented. A facial image is acquisitioned with a CCD camera to be converted into a binary image. The eye region to be a specified brightness and shapes is used the FRM method using the neighboring five mask areas, and the iris on the eye is tracked with FPDP method. The experimental result shows that the proposed methods lead the centering position tracking capability to be enhanced than the pixel average coordinate values method.

• 전기저널
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• 8호통권68호
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• pp.7-10
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• 1982