• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.85 no.1
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• pp.65-80
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• 2023

To explore the effect of Engineered Cementitious Composite (ECC) on improving the progressive collapse resistance of reinforced concrete frames under a middle column removal scenario, six beam-column substructures were tested by quasistatic vertical loading. Among the six specimens, four were ECC-concrete composite specimens consisting of different depth of ECC at the bottom or top of the beam and concrete in the rest of the beam, while the other two are ordinary reinforced concrete specimens with different concrete strength grades for comparison. The experimental results demonstrated that ECC-concrete composite specimens can improve the bearing capacity of a beam-column substructure at the stages of compressive arch action (CAA) and catenary action in comparison with ordinary concrete specimen. Under the same depth of ECC, the progressive collapse resistance of a specimen with ECC at the beam bottom was superior to that at the beam top. With the increase of the proportion of ECC arranged at the beam bottom, the bearing capacity of a composite substructure was increased, but the increase rate slows down with the proportion. Meanwhile, the nonlinear numerical analysis software MSC Marc was used to simulate the whole loading process of the six specimens. Theoretical formulas to calculate the capacities of ECC-concrete composite specimens at the stages of flexural action, CAA and catenary action are proposed. Based on the research results, this study suggests that ECC should be laid out at the beam bottom and the layout depth should be within 25% of the total beam depth.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.81 no.1
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• pp.11-28
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• 2022

This paper considers the combination of cyclic and axial loads to investigate the hysteretic performance of H-section 6061-T6 aluminum alloy members. The hysteretic performance of aluminum alloy members is the basis for the seismic performance of aluminum alloy structures. Despite the prevalence of aluminum alloy reticulated shells structures worldwide, research into the seismic performance of aluminum alloy structures remains inadequate. To address this deficiency, we design and conduct cyclic axial load testing of three H-section members based on a reliable testing system. The influence of slenderness ratios and bending direction on the failure form, bearing capacity, and stiffness degradation of each member are analyzed. The experiment results show that overall buckling dominates the failure mechanism of all test members before local buckling occurs. As the load increases after overall buckling, the plasticity of the member develops, finally leading to local buckling and fracture failure. The results illustrate that the plasticity development of the local buckling position is the main reason for the stiffness degradation and failure of the member. Additionally, with the increase of the slenderness ratio, the energy-dissipation capacity and stiffness of the member decrease significantly. Simultaneously, a finite element model based on the Chaboche hybrid strengthening model is established according to the experiment, and the rationality of the constitutive model and validity of the finite element simulation method are verified. The parameter analysis of twenty-four members with different sections, slenderness ratios, bending directions, and boundary conditions are also carried out. Results show that the section size and boundary condition of the member have a significant influence on stiffness degradation and energy dissipation capacity. Based on the above, the appropriate material constitutive relationship and analysis method of H-section aluminum alloy members under cyclic loading are determined, providing a reference for the seismic design of aluminum alloy structures.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.86 no.6
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• pp.715-730
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• 2023

Broad studies have addressed the issue of structural element damage identification, however, rubber bearing, as a key component of load transmission between the superstructure and substructure, is essential to the operational safety of a bridge, which should be paid more attention to its health condition. However, regarding the limitations of the traditional bearing damage detection methods as well as few studies have been conducted on this topic, in this paper, inspired by the model updating-based structural damage identification, a two-stage bearing damage identification method has been proposed. In the first stage, we deduce a novel bearing damage localization indicator, called element relative MSE, to accurately determine the bearing damage location. In the second one, the prior knowledge of bearing damage localization is combined with sailfish optimization (SFO) to perform the bearing damage estimation. In order to validate the feasibility, a numerical example of a 5-span continuous beam is introduced, also the noise robustness has been investigated. Meanwhile, the effectiveness and engineering applicability are further verified based on an experimental simply supported beam and actual engineering of the I-40 Bridge. The obtained results are good, which indicate that the proposed method is not only suitable for simple structures but also can accurately locate the bearing damage site and identify its severity for complex structure. To summarize, the proposed method provides a good guideline for the issue of bridge bearing detection, which could be used to reduce the difficulty of the traditional bearing failure detection approach, further saving labor costs and economic expenses.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.85 no.4
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• pp.485-500
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• 2023

The non-linear static analysis of reinforced concrete (RC) structures using the three-dimensional (3D) finite element method is a time-consuming and challenging task. Moreover, this type of analysis encounters numerical problems such as the lack of convergence of results in the stages of growth and propagation of cracks in the structure. The time integration analysis along with the mass scaling (MS) technique is usually used to overcome these limitations. Despite the use of this method in the 3D finite element analysis of RC structures, a comprehensive study has not been conducted so far to assess the effects of the MS method on the accuracy of results. This study aims to evaluate the accuracy of the MS method in the non-linear quasi-static finite element analysis of RC structures. To this aim, different types of RC structures were simulated using the finite element approach based on the implicit time integration method and the mass scaling technique. The influences of effective parameters of the MS method (i.e., the allowable values of increase in the mass of the RC structure, the relationship between the duration of the applied load and fundamental vibration period of the RC structure, and the pattern of applied loads) on the accuracy of the simulated results were investigated. The accuracy of numerical simulation results has been evaluated through comparison with existing experimental data. The results of this study show that the achievement of accurate structural responses in the implicit time integration analyses using the MS method involves the appropriate selection of the effective parameters of the MS method.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.84 no.3
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• pp.375-391
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• 2022

This paper discussed and analyzed the interfacial stress distribution characteristic of adjacent cracks in Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) plate strengthened concrete slabs. One un-strengthened concrete test beam and four CFRP plate-strengthened concrete test beams were designed to carry out four-point flexural tests. The test data shows that the interfacial shear stress between the interface of CFRP plate and concrete can effectively reduce the crack shrinkage of the tensile concrete and reduces the width of crack. The maximum main crack flexural height in pure bending section of the strengthened specimen is smaller than that of the un-strengthened specimen, the CFRP plate improves the rigidity of specimens without brittle failure. The average ultimate bearing capacity of the CFRP-strengthened specimens was increased by 64.3% compared to that without CFRP-strengthen. This indicites that CFRP enhancement measures can effectively improve the ultimate bearing capacity and delay the occurrence of debonding damage. Based on the derivation of mechanical analysis model, the calculation formula of interfacial shear stress between adjacent cracks is proposed. The distributions characteristics of interfacial shear stress between certain crack widths were given. In the intermediate cracking region of pure bending sections, the length of the interfacial softening near the mid-span cracking position gradually increases as the load increases. The CFRP-concrete interface debonding capacity with the larger adjacent crack spacing is lower than that with the smaller adjacent crack spacing. The theoretical calculation results of interfacial bonding shear stress between adjacent cracks have good agreement with the experimental results. The interfacial debonding failure between adjacent cracks in the intermediate cracking region was mainly caused by the root of the main crack. The larger the spacing between adjacent cracks exists, the easier the interfacial debonding failure occurs.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.84 no.2
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• pp.143-154
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• 2022

Corrosion of steel reinforcement is considered as the main cause of concrete structures deterioration, especially those under humid environmental conditions. Hence, fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) bars are being increasingly used as a replacement for conventional steel owing to their non-corrodible characteristics. However, predicting the shear strength of beams reinforced with FRP bars still challenging due to the lack of robust shear theory. Thus, this paper aims to develop an explicit data driven based model to predict the shear strength of FRP reinforced beams using multi-objective evolutionary polynomial regression analysis (MOGA-EPR) as data driven models learn the behavior from the input data without the need to employee a theory that aid the derivation, and thus they have an enhanced accuracy. This study also evaluates the accuracy of predictive models of shear strength of FRP reinforced concrete beams employed by different design codes by calculating and comparing the values of the mean absolute error (MAE), root mean square error (RMSE), mean (𝜇), standard deviation of the mean (𝜎), coefficient of determination (R²), and percentage of prediction within error range of ±20% (a20-index). Experimental database has been developed and employed in the model learning, validation, and accuracy examination. The statistical analysis illustrated the robustness of the developed model with MAE, RMSE, 𝜇, 𝜎, R², and a20-index of 14.6, 20.8, 1.05, 0.27, 0.85, and 0.61, respectively for training data and 10.4, 14.1, 0.98, 0.25, 0.94, and 0.60, respectively for validation data. Furthermore, the developed model achieved much better predictions than the standard predictive models as it scored lower MAE, RMSE, and 𝜎, and higher R² and a20-index. The new model can be used in future with confidence in optimized designs as its accuracy is higher than standard predictive models.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.84 no.2
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• pp.155-165
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• 2022

The use of electricity and communication between electronic devices is increasing daily, which makes the stability of electrical power supply vital. Since the 1990s, large earthquakes have occurred frequently causing considerable direct damage to electrical power facilities as well as secondary damage, such as difficulty in restoring functions due to the interruption of electric power supply. Therefore, it is very important to establish measures to protect electrical power facilities, such as transformers and switchboards, from earthquakes. In this study, a 154 kV transformer whose service life had expired was installed on the base fabricated by simulating the field conditions and conducting the shaking table tests. The dynamic characteristics and seismic behavior of the 154 kV transformer were analyzed through the resonance frequency search test and seismic simulation test that considers the front, rear, left, and right directions. Since the purpose of this study is to analyze the acceleration amplification in the bushing due to the acceleration amplification, the experimental results were analyzed focusing on the acceleration response and the converted acceleration amplification ratio rather than the failure due to the displacement response of the transformer. The seismic force amplification at the transformer bushing was evaluated by simulating the characteristics of electrical power facilities in South Korea, and compared with the IEC TS 61463 acceleration amplification factor. Finally, the amplification factor at zero period acceleration (ZPA) modified for each return period was summarized. The results of this study can be used as data to define the amplification factor at ZPA of the transformer bushing, simulating the characteristics of electrical power facilities in Korea.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.88 no.4
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• pp.389-403
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• 2023

In order to explore the influence of tooth root cracks on the dynamic characteristics of multi-stage planetary gear transmission systems, a concentrated parameter method was used to construct a nonlinear dynamic model of the system with 30-DOF in bending and torsion, taking into account factors such as crack depth, length, angle, error, time-varying meshing stiffness (TVMS), and damping. In the model, the energy method was used to establish a TVMS model with cracks, and the influence of cracks on the TVMS of the system was studied. By using the Runge- Kutta method to calculate the differential equations of system dynamics, a series of system vibration diagrams containing cracks were obtained, and the influence of different crack parameters on the vibration of the system was analyzed. And vibration testing experiments were conducted on the system with planetary gear cracks. The results show that when the gear contains cracks, the TVMS of the system will decrease, and as the cracks intensify, the TVMS will decrease. When cracks appear on the II-stage planetary gear, the system will experience impact effects with intervals of rotation cycles of the II-stage planetary gear. There will be obvious sidebands near the meshing frequency doubling, and the vibration trajectory of the gear will also become disordered. These situations will become more and more obvious as the degree of cracks intensifies. Through experiments, the theoretical results are in good agreement with experimental results, verifying the correctness of the theoretical model. This provides a theoretical basis for fault diagnosis and reliability research of the system.

• International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.125-134
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• 2024

The novel coronavirus 2019 is called COVID-19 has outspread swiftly worldwide. An early diagnosis is more important to control its quick spread. Medical imaging mechanics, chest calculated tomography or chest X-ray, are playing a vital character in the identification and testing of COVID-19 in this present epidemic. Chest X-ray is cost effective method for Covid-19 detection however the manual process of x-ray analysis is time consuming given that the number of infected individuals keep growing rapidly. For this reason, it is very important to develop an automated COVID-19 detection process to control this pandemic. In this study, we address the task of automatic detection of Covid-19 by using a popular deep learning model namely the VGG19 model. We used 1300 healthy and 1300 confirmed COVID-19 chest X-ray images in this experiment. We performed three experiments by freezing different blocks and layers of VGG19 and finally, we used a machine learning classifier SVM for detecting COVID-19. In every experiment, we used a five-fold cross-validation method to train and validated the model and finally achieved 98.1% overall classification accuracy. Experimental results show that our proposed method using the deep learning-based VGG19 model can be used as a tool to aid radiologists and play a crucial role in the timely diagnosis of Covid-19.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.89 no.2
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• pp.181-197
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• 2024

A numerical method is presented in this paper, for buckling analysis of thin arbitrary stiffened composite cylindrical shells under axial compression. The stiffeners can be placed inside and outside of the shell. The shell and stiffeners are operated as discrete elements, and their interactions are taking place through the compatibility conditions along their intersecting lines. The governing equations of motion are obtained based on Koiter's theory and solved by utilizing the principle of the minimum potential energy. Then, the buckling load coefficient and the critical buckling load are computed by solving characteristic equations. In this formulation, the elastic and geometric stiffness matrices of a single curved strip of the shell and stiffeners can be located anywhere within the shell element and in any direction are provided. Moreover, five stiffened composite shell specimens are made and tested under axial compression loading. The reliability of the presented method is validated by comparing its numerical results with those of commercial software, experiments, and other published numerical results. In addition, by using the ANSYS code, a 3-D finite element model that takes the exact geometric arrangement and the properties of the stiffeners and the shell into consideration is built. Finally, the effects of Poisson's ratio, shell length-to-radius ratio, shell thickness, cross-sectional area, angle, eccentricity, torsional stiffness, numbers and geometric configuration of stiffeners on the buckling of stiffened composite shells with various end conditions are computed. The results gained can be used as a meaningful benchmark for researchers to validate their analytical and numerical methods.