• Computers and Concrete
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.329-342
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• 2015

The present paper aims at developing a method to accommodate multi-surface concrete plasticity from the point of view of a consistency concept applied to general tangent operators. The idea is based on a Taylor series expansion of the actual effective stress at the stress point corresponding to the previous accumulated true stresses plus the current increment values, initially taken to be elastic. The proposed algorithm can be generalized for any multi-surface criteria combination and has been tested here for typical cement-based materials. A few examples of application are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the multi-surface technique as used to a combination of Rankine and Drucker-Prager yield criteria.

• International journal of steel structures
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.1560-1576
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• 2018

With the aim to provide an efficient platform for the elastic-plastic analysis of steel structures, reinforced concrete (RC) structures and steel-concrete composite structures, a program iFiberLUT based on the fiber model was developed within the framework of ABAQUS. This program contains an ABAQUS Fiber Generator which can automatically divide the beam and column cross sections into fiber sections, and a material library which includes several concrete and steel uniaxial material models. The range of applications of iFiberLUT is introduced and its feasibility is verified through previously reported test data of individual structural members as well as planar steel frames, RC frames and composite frames subjected to various loadings. The simulation results indicate that the developed program is able to achieve high calculation accuracy and favorable convergence within a wide range of applications.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.361-382
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• 1999

This paper reviews aspects of current design procedures for seismic design of structures, and specifically examines their relevance to the design of light framed residential buildings under earthquake loading. The significance of the various structural contributions made by the components of cold formed steel framed residential structures subjected to earthquake induced loadings has been investigated. This is a common form of residential construction worldwide. Particular attention is given to aspects related to ductility and overstrength, the latter arising principally from the contributions of the designated "non-structural" components. Based on both analytical and experimental data obtained from research investigations on steel framed residential structures, typical ranges of the ductility reduction factor and overstrength ratios are determined. It is concluded that the latter parameter has a very significant influence on the seismic design of such structures. Although the numerical ranges for the inelastic seismic parameters given in this paper were obtained for Australian houses, the concepts and the highlighted aspects of seismic design methodology are more widely applicable.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.731-741
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• 2019

Shear deformation effects are neglected in most structural system identification methods. This assumption might lead to important errors in some structures like built up steel or composite deep beams. Recently, the observability techniques were presented as one of the first methods for the inverse analysis of structures including the shear effects. In this way, the mechanical properties of the structures could be obtained from the nodal movements measured on static tests. One of the main controversial features of this procedure is the fact that the measurement set must include rotations. This characteristic might be especially problematic in those structures where rotations cannot be measured. To solve this problem and to increase its applicability, this paper proposes an update of the observability method to enable the structural identification including shear effects by measuring only vertical deflections. This modification is based on the introduction of a numerical optimization method. With this aim, the inverse analysis of several examples of growing complexity are presented to illustrate the validity and potential of the updated method.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.88 no.1
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• pp.83-94
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• 2023

An accurate and highly efficient inverse element labelled iPCB is developed based on the inverse finite element method (iFEM) for real-time shape estimation of plane-curved structures (such as arch bridges) utilizing onboard strain data. This inverse problem, named shape sensing, is vital for the design of smart structures and structural health monitoring (SHM) procedures. The iPCB formulation is defined based on a least-squares variational principle that employs curved Timoshenko beam theory as its baseline. The accurate strain-displacement relationship considering tension-bending coupling is used to establish theoretical and measured section strains. The displacement fields of the isoparametric element iPCB are interpolated utilizing nonuniform rational B-spline (NURBS) basis functions, enabling exact geometric modelling even with a very coarse mesh density. The present formulation is completely free from membrane and shear locking. Numerical validation examples for different curved structures subjected to different loading conditions have been performed and have demonstrated the excellent prediction capability of iPCBs. The present formulation has also been shown to be practical and robust since relatively accurate predictions can be obtained even omitting the shear deformation contributions and considering polluted strain measures. The current element offers a promising tool for real-time shape estimation of plane-curved structures.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.261-269
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• 2014

In order to increase the seismic safety of nuclear power plant (NPP) structures in high seismicity regions, seismic isolation techniques can be adapted to NPP structures. In this paper, the applicability of multi-step analysis of seismically isolated NPP containment structures with lead-rubber bearings (LRB) is evaluated. The floor response spectrum of NPP containment structures with equivalent linear LRB and nonlinear LRB are compared. In addition, the force-displacement relationships for equivalent linear LRB and nonlinear LRB are compared.

• Journal of Korean Association for Spatial Structures
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.4-8
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• 2019

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.629-640
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• 2019

The investigation of retaining wall structures behavior under dynamic loads is considered as one of important parts for designing such structures. Generally, the performance of these structures is under the influence of the environment conditions and their geometry. The aim of this research is to design retaining wall structures based on smart and optimal systems. The use of accuracy and speed to assess the structures under different conditions is one of the important parts sought by designers. Therefore, optimal and smart systems are able to have better addressing these problems. Using numerical and coding methods, this research investigates the retaining wall structure design under different dynamic conditions. More than 9500 models were constructed and considered for modelling design. These designs include height and thickness of the wall, soil density, rock density, soil friction angle, and peak ground acceleration (PGA) variables. Accordingly, a neural network system was developed to establish an appropriate relationship between data to obtain safety factor (SF) of retaining walls under different seismic conditions. Different parameters were analyzed and the effect of each parameter was assessed separately. According to these analyses, the structure optimization was performed to increase the SF values. The optimal and smart design showed that under different PGA conditions, the structure performance can be appropriately improved while utilization of the initial (or basic) parameters leads to the structure failure. Therefore, by increasing accuracy and speed, smart methods could improve the retaining structure performance in controlling the wall failure. The intelligent design process of this study can be applied to some other civil engineering applications such as slope stability.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.299-313
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• 2022

Steel-concrete-steel composite structures with bidirectional webs (SCSBWs) are used in large-scale projects and exhibit good mechanical performances and constructional efficiency. The shear behaviors of SCSBW deep beam members in key joints or in locations subjected to concentrated forces are of concern in design. To address this issue, experimental program is investigated to examine the deep-beam shear behaviors of SCSBWs, in which the cracking process and force transfer mechanism are revealed. Compared with the previously proposed truss model, it is found that a strut-and-tie model is more suitable for describing the shear mechanism of SCSBW deep beams with a short span and sparse transverse webs. According to the experimental analyses, a new model is proposed to predict the shear capacities of SCSBW deep beams. This model uses strut-and-tie concept and introduces web shear and dowel action to consider the coupled multi mechanisms. A stress decomposition method is used to distinguish the contributions of different shear-transferring paths. Based on case studies, a simplified model is further developed, and the explicit solution is derived for design efficiency. The proposed models are verified using experimental data, which are proven to have good accuracy and efficiency and to be suitable for practical application.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.77 no.3
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• pp.329-342
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• 2021

In this paper, the effect of different steel bar configurations on the quasi-static punching and impact response of concrete slabs was studied. A total of forty RC square slab specimens were cast in two groups of concrete strengths of 40 and 63 MPa. In each group of twenty specimens, ten specimens were reinforced at the back face (singly reinforced), and the remaining specimens were reinforced on both faces of the slab (doubly reinforced). Two rebar spacing of 25 and 100 mm, with constant reinforcement ratio and effective depth, were used in both singly and doubly reinforced slab specimens. The specimens were tested against the normal impact of cylindrical projectiles of hemispherical nose shape. Slabs were also quasi-statically tested in punching using the same projectile, which was employed for the impact testing. The experimental response illustrates that 25 mm spaced rebars are effective in (i) decreasing the local damage and overall penetration depth, (ii) increasing the absorption of impact energy, and (iii) enhancing the ballistic limit of RC slabs. The ballistic limit was predicted using the quasi-static punching test results of slab specimens showing a strong correlation between the dynamic perforation energy and the energy required for quasi-static perforation of slabs.