• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.265-275
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• 2022

A new type of precast steel reinforced concrete (PSRC) column was put forward in this paper. In order to study the static performance of PSRC column and hollow precast steel reinforced concrete (HPSRC) column subjected to combined compression and shear loading, a parametric test was carried out and effects of axial compression ratio, concrete strength and shear ratio on the mechanical behavior of composite PSRC column and HPSRC column were explored. In addition, the cracks development, load-span displacement relationship, strain distribution and shear bearing strength of column specimens were emphatically focused. Test results implied that shear failure of all specimens occurred during the test, and higher strength of cast-in-place concrete, smaller shear ratio and larger axial compression ratio could lead to greater shear resistance, but when the axial compression ratio was larger than 0.36, the shear capacity began to decrease gradually. Furthermore, truss-arch model for determining the shear strength of PSRC column and HPSRC column was proposed and the calculated results obtained from proposed method were verified to be valid.

• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.189-196
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• 2022

The practical difficulties of construction will impose many restrictions on the structural design, and the construction method can also provide unexpected ideas for solving design problems. Through the discussion of three issues closely related to construction in the structural design of Wuhan Center, this paper illustrates the importance of in-depth consideration of the construction situations in the structural design stage. The topics of "Connection between Embedded Steel Plates in Steel Plate Composite Shear Wall" and "Connection Joint between Outrigger Truss and Core Wall" are about how to facilitate on-site construction by simplifying and optimizing detail design. The topic of "Adjusting Internal Force Distribution by Optimizing Construction Sequence" is about how to make the construction process a tool for structural design.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.423-434
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• 2011

Tongwamen Bridge is a critical link between Dongmen Island and the land in Shipu town, Zhejiang province, China. It is a 238 m span, half-through, concrete-filled steel tubular (CFST) X-type arch bridge. The width of the deck is only 10 m, yielding a width-to-span ratio of 1/23.8. The plane truss type section rib was adopted, which made of two CFST chords and web member system. The lateral stability is the key issue to this bridge. However, the existing researches on Tongwamen Bridge's lateral stability are all the deterministic structural analysis. In this paper, a new strategy for positioning sampling points of the response surface method (RSM), based on the composite method combining RSM with geometric method for structural reliability analysis, is employed to obtain the reliability index of lateral stability. In addition the correlated parameters were discussed in detail to find the major factors. According to the analysis results, increasing the stiff of lateral braces between the arch ribs and setting the proper inward-incline degree of the arch rib can enhance obviously the reliability of lateral stability. Moreover, the deck action of non-orienting force is less than the two factors above. The calculated results indicate that the arch ribs are safe enough to keep excellent stability, and it provides the foundation that the plane truss rib would be a competitive solution for a long-span, narrow, CFST arch bridge.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.785-796
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• 2022

Concrete-encased steel (CES) beam, in which structural steel is encased in a reinforced concrete (RC) section, is widely applied in high-rise buildings as transfer beams due to its high load-carrying capacity, great stiffness, and good durability. However, these CES beams are prone to shear failure because of the low shear span-to-depth ratio and the heavy load. Due to the high load-carrying capacity and the brittle failure process of the shear failure, the accurate strength prediction of CES beams significantly influences the assessment of structural safety. In current design codes, design formulas for predicting the shear strength of CES beams are based on the so-called "superposition method". This method indicates that the shear strength of CES beams can be obtained by superposing the shear strengths of the RC part and the steel shape. Nevertheless, in some cases, this method yields errors on the unsafe side because the shear strengths of these two parts cannot be achieved simultaneously. This paper clarifies the conditions at which the superposition method does not hold true, and the shear strength of CES beams is investigated using a compatible truss-arch model. Considering the deformation compatibility between the steel shape and the RC part, the method to obtain the shear strength of CES beams is proposed. Finally, the proposed model is compared with other calculation methods from codes AISC 360 (USA, North America), Eurocode 4 (Europe), YB 9082 (China, Asia), JGJ 138 (China, Asia), and AS/NZS 2327 (Australia/New Zealand, Oceania) using the available test data consisting of 45 CES beams. The results indicate that the proposed model can predict the shear strength of CES beams with sufficient accuracy and safety. Without considering the deformation compatibility, the calculation methods from the codes AISC 360, Eurocode 4, YB 9082, JGJ 138, and AS/NZS 2327 lead to excessively conservative or unsafe predictions.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.1-18
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• 2007

Additional cutouts in the floorbeam webs of orthotropic plated bridge decks relieve the highly stressed lower flange of the ribs passing through these floorbeam webs from possible fatigue damage. Conversely, the floorbeam webs themselves suffer from high stress concentrations, especially along the free edges of the additional cutouts. These stresses result from a combination of direct introduction of vertical traffic loads in the weakened web and from the truss action of the floorbeam. The latter differs from a simple beam action due to the presence of the openings and corresponds more to the behaviour of a Vierendeel truss. Close assessment of the appearing stresses, highly relevant for fatigue resistance, requires the use of elaborate finite element modelling. However, a full finite element analysis merely provides the results of total stresses, leaving the researcher or designer the difficult task of finding the origin of these stress components. This paper presents a calculation method for cutout stresses based on a combination of a framework analysis and a two dimensional finite element analysis of much smaller parts of the floorbeam. This method provides more insight in the origin of the stress components, as well as it simplifies any comparison of different additional cutout geometries, independent of the floorbeam topology.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.767-776
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• 2019

In this article, a simple and robust multi-objective assessment method to control design angles and node positions connected among steel outrigger truss members is proposed to approve both structural safety and economical cost. For given outrigger member layouts, the present method utilizes general-purpose prototypes of outrigger members, having resistance to withstand lateral load effects directly applied to tall buildings, which conform to variable connecting node and design space deposition. Outrigger layouts are set into several initial design conditions of height to width of an arbitrary given design space, i.e., variable design space. And then they are assessed in terms of a proposed multi-objective function optimizing both minimal total displacement and material quantity subjected to design impact factor indicating the importance of objectives. To evaluate the proposed multi-objective function, an analysis model uses a modified Maxwell-Mohr method, and an optimization model is defined by a ground structure assuming arbitrary discrete straight members. It provides a new robust assessment model from a local design point of view, as it may produce specific optimal prototypes of outrigger layouts corresponding to arbitrary height and width ratio of design space. Numerical examples verify the validity and robustness of the present assessment method for controlling prototypes of outrigger truss members considering a multi-objective optimization achieving structural safety and material cost.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.64 no.2
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• pp.183-194
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• 2017

This paper presents the experimental investigation into a new type of steel-concrete hybrid outrigger system developed for the high-rise building structure. The steel truss is embedded into the reinforced concrete outrigger wall, and both the steel truss and concrete outrigger wall work compositely to enhance the overall structural performance of the tower structures under extreme loads. Meanwhile, metal dampers of low-yield steel material were also adopted as a 'fuse' device between the hybrid outrigger and the column. The damper is engineered to be 'scarified' and yielded first under moderate to severe earthquakes in order to protect the structural integrity of important structural components of the hybrid outrigger system. As such, not brittle failure is likely to happen due to the severe cracking in the concrete outrigger wall. A comprehensive experimental research program was conducted into the structural performance of this new type of hybrid outrigger system. Studies on both the key component and overall system tests were conducted, which reveal the detailed structural response under various levels of applied static and cyclic loads. It was demonstrated that both the steel bracing and concrete outrigger wall are able to work compositely with the low-yield steel damper and exhibits both good load carrying capacities and energy dispersing performance through the test program. It has the potential to be applied and enhance the overall structural performance of the high-rise structures over 300 m under extreme levels of loads.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.511-528
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• 2021

There are recently some advances in solving numerically topology optimization problems for large-scaled trusses based on ground structure approach. A disadvantage of this approach is that the final design usually includes many bars, which is difficult to be produced in practice. One of efficient tools is a so-called filter scheme for the ground structure to reduce this difficulty and determine several distinct bars. In detail, this technique is valuable for practical uses because unnecessary bars are filtered out from the ground structure to obtain a well-defined structure during the topology optimization process, while it still guarantees the global equilibrium condition. This process, however, leads to a singular system of equilibrium equations. In this case, the minimization of least squares with Tikhonov regularization is adopted. In this paper, a proposed algorithm in controlling optimal Tikhonov parameter is considered in combination with the filter scheme due to its crucial role in obtaining solution to remove numerical singularity and saving computational time by using sparse matrix, which means that the discrete optimal topology solutions depend on choosing the Tikhonov parameter efficiently. Several numerical examples are investigated to demonstrate the efficiency of the filter parameter control algorithm in terms of the large-scaled optimal topology designs.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.579-590
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• 2022

One of the biggest problems in structural steel calculation is the design of structures using the lowest possible material weight, making this a slow and costly process. To achieve this objective, several optimization methods have been developed and tested. Nevertheless, a method that performs very efficiently when applied to different problems is not yet available. Based on this assumption, this work proposes a hybrid metaheuristic algorithm for geometric and dimensional optimization of space trusses, called Simulated Squirrel Search Algorithm, which consists of an association of the well-established neighborhood shifting algorithm (Simulated Annealing) with a recently developed promising population algorithm (Squirrel Search Algorithm, or SSA). In this study, two models are tried, being respectively, a classical model from the literature (25-bar space truss) and a roof system composed of space trusses. The structures are subjected to resistance and displacement constraints. A penalty function using Fuzzy Logic (FL) is investigated. Comparative analyses are performed between the Squirrel Search Algorithm (SSSA) and other optimization methods present in the literature. The results obtained indicate that the proposed method can be competitive with other heuristics.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.507-519
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• 2020

Double skin composite walls are increasingly popular and have been applied to many safety-related facilities. They come from the concept of composite slabs. Conventional connectors such as shear studs and binding bars were used in previous studies to act as the internal mechanical connectors to lock the external steel faceplates to the concrete core. However, the restraint effects of these connectors were sometimes not strong enough. In this research, a recently proposed unique type of steel truss was employed along the wall height to enhance the composite action between the two materials. Concrete-filled tube columns were used as the boundary elements. Due to the existence of boundary columns, the restraints of steel faceplates to the concrete differ significantly for the walls with different widths. Therefore, there is a need to explore the effect of height-to-width ratio on the structural behavior of the wall. In the test program, three specimens were designed with the height of 3000 mm, the thickness of 150 mm, and different widths, to simulate the real walls in practice. Axial compression was applied by two actuators on the tested walls. The axial behavior of the walls was evaluated based on the analysis of test results. The influences of height-to-width ratio on structural performance were evaluated. Finally, discussion was made on code-based design.