• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.78 no.3
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• pp.305-317
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• 2021

An AMD control system is usually built based on the original model of a target building. As a result, the fact leads a large calculation workload exists. Therefore, the orders of a structural model should be reduced appropriately. Among various model-reduction methods, a suitable reduced-order model is important to high-rise buildings. Meanwhile, a partial structural information is discarded directly in the model-reduction process, which leads to the accuracy reduction of its controller design. In this paper, an optimal technique is selected through comparing several common model-reduction methods. Then, considering the dynamic characteristics of a high-rise building, an improved balanced truncation (BT) method is proposed for establishing its reduced-order model. The abandoned structural information, including natural frequencies, damping ratios and modal information of the original model, is reconsidered. Based on the improved reduced-order model, a new reduced-order controller is designed by a regional pole-placement method. A high-rise building with an AMD system is regarded as an example, in which the energy distribution, the control effects and the control parameters are used as the indexes to analyze the performance of the improved reduced-order controller. To verify its effectiveness, the proposed methodology is also applied to a four-storey experimental frame. The results demonstrate that the new controller has a stable control performance and a relatively short calculation time, which provides good potential for structural vibration control of high-rise buildings.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.157-171
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• 2019

The fracturing by liquid carbon dioxide ($LCO_2$) as a fracking fluid has been an alternative to mitigate the environmental issues often caused by the conventional hydraulic fracking since it facilitates the fluid permeation owing to its low viscosity. This study presents how $LCO_2$ injection influences the breakdown pressure, acoustic emission, and fracture morphology. Three fracturing fluids such as $LCO_2$, water, and oil are injected with different pressurization rate to the synthetic and porous mortar specimens. Also, the shale which has been a major target formation in conventional fracking practices is also tested to examine the failure characteristics. The results show that $LCO_2$ injection induces more tortuous and undulated fractures, and particularly the larger fractures are developed in cases of shale specimen. On the other hand, the relationship between the fracturing fluids and the breakdown pressure shows opposite tendency in the tests of mortar and shale specimens.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.207-222
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• 2019

This paper has presented an effective and accurate meso-scale finite element model for simulating the fracture process of concrete under compression-shear loading. In the proposed model, concrete is parted into four important phases: aggregates, cement matrix, interfacial transition zone (ITZ), and the initial defects. Aggregate particles were modelled as randomly distributed polygons with a varying size according to the sieve curve developed by Fuller and Thompson. With regard to initial defects, only voids are considered. Cohesive elements with zero thickness are inserted into the initial mesh of cement matrix and along the interface between aggregate and cement matrix to simulate the cracking process of concrete. The constitutive model provided by ABAQUS is modified based on Wang's experiment and used to describe the failure behaviour of cohesive elements. User defined programs for aggregate delivery, cohesive element insertion and modified facture constitutive model are developed based on Python language, and embedded into the commercial FEM package ABAQUS. The effectiveness and accuracy of the proposed model are firstly identified by comparing the numerical results with the experimental ones, and then it is used to investigate the effect of meso-structure on the macro behavior of concrete. The shear strength of concrete under different pressures is also involved in this study, which could provide a reference for the macroscopic simulation of concrete component under shear force.

• Coupled systems mechanics
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.315-338
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• 2019

The numerical investigations have been carried out on reinforced concrete slab against blast loading to demonstrate the accuracy and effectiveness of the finite element based numerical models using commercial package ABAQUS. The response of reinforced concrete slab have been studied against the influence of weight of TNT, standoff distance, boundary conditions, influence of air blast and surface blast. The results thus obtained from simulations were compared with the experiments available in literature. The inelastic behavior of concrete and steel reinforcement bar has been incorporated through concrete damage plasticity model and Johnson-cook models available in ABAQUS were presented. The predicted results through numerical simulations of the present study were found in close agreement with the experimental results. The damage mechanism and stress response of target were assessed based on the intensity of deformations, impulse velocity, von-Mises stresses and damage index in concrete. The results indicate that the standoff distance has great influence on the survivability of RC slab against blast loading. It is concluded that the velocity of impulse wave was found to be decreased from 17 to 11 m/s when the mass of TNT is reduced from 12 to 6 kg. It is observed that the maximum stress in the concrete was found to be in the range of 15 to $20N/mm^2$ and is almost constant for given charge weight. The slab with two short edge discontinuous end condition was found better and it may be utilised in designing important structures. Also it is observed that the deflection in slab by air blast was found decreased by 60% as compared to surface blast.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.71 no.4
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• pp.433-444
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• 2019

Shear studs are often used to connect steel girders and concrete deck to form a composite bridge system. The application of precast concrete deck to steel-concrete composite bridges can improve the strength of decks and reduce the shrinkage and creep effect on the long-term behavior of structures. How to ensure the connection between steel girders and concrete deck directly influences the composite behavior between steel girder and precast concrete deck as well as the behavior of the structure system. Compared with traditional multi-I girder systems, a twin-I girder composite bridge system is more simplified but may lead to additional requirements on the shear studs connecting steel girders and decks due to the larger girder spacing. Up to date, only very limited quantity of researches has been conducted regarding the behavior of shear studs on twin-I girder bridge systems. One convenient way for steel composite bridge system is to cast concrete deck in place with shear studs uniformly-distributed along the span direction. For steel composite bridge system using precast concrete deck, voids are included in the precast concrete deck segments, and they are casted with cast-in-place concrete after the concrete segments are erected. In this paper, several sets of push-out tests are conducted, which are used to investigate the heavier of shear studs within the voids in the precast concrete deck. The test data are analyzed and compared with those from finite element models. A simplified shear stud model is proposed using a beam element instead of solid elements. It is used in the finite element model analyses of the twin-I girder composite bridge system to relieve the computational efforts of the shear studs. Additionally, a parametric study is developed to find the effects of void size, void spacing, and shear stud diameter and spacing. Finally, the recommendations are given for the design of precast deck using void for twin I-girder bridge systems.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.70 no.1
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• pp.13-31
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• 2019

A nonlinear finite element model (FEM) using ATENA-3D software to simulate the axially compressive behavior of circular steel tube confined concrete (CSTCC) columns infilled with ultra high performance concrete (UHPC) was presented in this paper. Some modifications to the material type "CC3DNonlinCementitious2User" of UHPC without and with the incorporation of steel fibers (UHPFRC) in compression and tension were adopted in FEM. The predictions of utimate strength and axial load versus axial strain curves obtained from FEM were in a good agreement with the test results of eighteen tested columns. Based on the results of FEM, the load distribution on the steel tube and the concrete core was derived for each modeled column. Furthermore, the effect of bonding between the steel tube and the concrete core was clarified by the change of friction coefficient in the material type "CC3DInterface" in FEM. The numerical results revealed that the increase in the friction coefficient leads to a greater contribution from the steel tube, a decrease in the ultimate load and an increase in the magnitude of the loss of load capacity. By comparing the results of FEM with experimental results, the appropriate friction coefficient between the steel tube and the concrete core was defined as 0.3 to 0.6. In addition to the numerical evaluation, eighteen analytical models for confined concrete in the literature were used to predict the peak confined strength to assess their suitability. To cope with CSTCC stub and intermediate columns, the equations for estimating the lateral confining stress and the equations for considering the slenderness in the selected models were proposed. It was found that all selected models except for EC2 (2004) gave a very good prediction. Among them, the model of Bing et al. (2001) was the best predictor.

• Advances in nano research
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.39-49
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• 2019

This paper focuses on two main objectives. The first one is to exploit an energy equivalent model and finite element method to evaluate the equivalent Young's modulus of single walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) at any orientation angle by using tensile test. The calculated Young's modulus is validated with published experimental results. The second target is to exploit the finite element simulation to investigate mechanical buckling and natural frequencies of SWCNTs. Energy equivalent model is presented to describe the atomic bonding interactions and their chemical energy with mechanical structural energies. A Program of Nanotube modeler is used to generate a geometry of SWCNTs structure by defining its chirality angle, overall length of nanotube and bond length between two adjacent nodes. SWCNTs are simulated as a frame like structure; the bonds between each two neighboring atoms are treated as isotropic beam members with a uniform circular cross section. Carbon bonds is simulated as a beam and the atoms as nodes. A finite element model using 3D beam elements is built under the environment of ANSYS MAPDL environment to simulate a tensile test and characterize equivalent Young's modulus of whole CNT structure. Numerical results are presented to show critical buckling loads, axial and transverse natural frequencies of SWCNTs with different orientation angles and lengths. The understanding of mechanical behaviors of CNTs are essential in developing such structures due to their great potential in wide range of engineering applications.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.37-51
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• 2019

This study focuses on the numerical simulations of the cone penetration tests in a sand ground. The mechanical responses of sand were described using the modified Mohr Coulomb plasticity model based on the critical state soil mechanics. In the plasticity model, the dilatancy angle was not a constant, but a function of the distance to the critical state line from the current state of void ratio and mean effective stress. To simulate cone penetration tests numerically, this study relied on Lagrangian finite element method under the axisymmetric condition. To enable penetration of the cone penetrometer without tearing elements along the symmetric axis, the penetration guide concept was adopted in this study. The results of numerical simulations on the calibration chamber cone penetration tests had good agreement with the experimental results.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.69 no.2
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• pp.193-204
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• 2019

This paper presents results from experimental and numerical studies on the response of steel-concrete composite box bridge girders under certain localized fire exposure conditions. Two composite box bridge girders, a simply supported girder and a continuous girder respectively, were tested under simultaneous loading and fire exposure. The simply supported girder was exposed to fire over 40% of its span length in the middle zone, and the two-span continuous girder was exposed to fire over 38% of its length of the first span and full length of the second span. A measurement method based on comparative rate of deflection was provided to predict the failure time in the hogging moment zone of continuous composite box bridge girders under certain localized fire exposure condition. Parameters including transverse and longitudinal stiffeners and fire scenarios were introduced to investigate fire resistance of the composite box bridge girders. Test results show that failure of the simply supported girder is governed by the deflection limit state, whereas failure of the continuous girder occurs through bending buckling of the web and bottom slab in the hogging moment zone. Deflection based criterion may not be reliable in evaluating failure of continuous composite box bridge girder under certain fire exposure condition. The fire resistance (failure time) of the continuous girder is higher than that of the simply supported girder. Data from fire tests is successfully utilized to validate a finite element based numerical model for further investigating the response of composite box bridge girders exposed to localized fire. Results from numerical analysis show that fire resistance of composite box bridge girders can be highly influenced by the spacing of longitudinal stiffeners and fire severity. The continuous composite box bridge girder with closer longitudinal stiffeners has better fire resistance than the simply composite box bridge girder. It is concluded that the fire resistance of continuous composite box bridge girders can be significantly enhanced by preventing the hogging moment zone from exposure to fire. Longitudinal stiffeners with closer spacing can enhance fire resistance of composite box bridge girders. The increase of transverse stiffeners has no significant effect on fire resistance of composite box bridge girders.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.70 no.4
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• pp.499-511
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• 2019

In this study, the axial compressive behavior of novel quadruple C-channel built-up cold-formed steel columns with different slenderness ratio was investigated, using the experimental and numerical analysis. The axial compressive capacity and failure modes of the columns were obtained and analyzed. The finite element models considering the geometry, material and contact nonlinearity were developed to simulate and analyze the structural behavior of the columns further. There was a great correlation between the numerical analyses and test results, which indicated that the finite element model was reasonable and accurate. Then influence of, slenderness ratio, flange width-to-thickness ratio and screw spacing on the mechanical behavior of the columns were studied, respectively. The tests and numerical results show that due to small slenderness ratio, the failure modes of the specimens are generally local buckling and distortional buckling. The axial compressive strength and stiffness of the quadruple C-channel built-up cold-formed steel columns decrease with the increase of maximum slenderness ratio. When the screw spacing is ranging from 150mm to 450mm, the axial compressive strength and stiffness of the quadruple C-channel built-up cold-formed steel columns change little. The axial compressive capacity of quadruple C-channel built-up cold-formed steel columns increases with the decrease of flange width-thickness ratio. A modified effective length factor is proposed to quantify the axial compressive capacity of the quadruple C-channel built-up cold-formed steel columns with U-shaped track in the ends.