• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.85 no.4
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• pp.511-529
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• 2023

This paper aims to better understand the bonding behavior in Reinforced Concrete beams strengthened with an Ultra-High Performance Fiber Reinforced Concrete (RCUHPFRC) layer on the compression side using experimental tests and numerical analyses. The UHPFRC mix design was obtained through an optimization procedure, and the characterization of the materials included compression and slant shear tests. Flexural tests were carried out in RC beams and RC-UHPFRC beams. The tests demonstrated a debonding of the UHPFRC layer. In addition, 3D finite element analyses were carried out in the Abaqus CAE program, in which the interface is modeled considering a zero-thickness cohesive-contact approach. The cohesive parameters are investigated, aiming to calibrate the numerical models, and a sensitivity analysis is performed to check the reliability of the assumed cohesive parameters and the mesh size. Finally, the experimental and numerical values are compared, showing a good approximation for both the RC beams and the RC strengthened beams.

• Advances in aircraft and spacecraft science
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.349-366
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• 2022

The ability of baffles in increasing the sloshing damping is investigated in this study by theoretical, numerical, and experimental methods. Baffles Installed as separators in containers, can change the dynamic properties of sloshing. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of baffle placement.The main purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of placing baffles in order to provide appropriate frequencies and damping and to present a practical baffle arrangement in the design ofsloshing. In this regard, an experimental setup is designed to study the fluid sloshing behavior and damping properties in cylindrical tanks filled up to an arbitrary depth. A new combination of annular and sectorial baffles is employed to evaluate fluid sloshing in the tank. The results show that the proposed baffle arrangement has a desired effect on the damping and fluid sloshing frequencies and optimally satisfies the anticipated design requirements. In addition, the theoretical frequencies exceed empirical frequencies at the points far from baffles, while at the points close to baffles, the empirical ones are higher than theoretical ones. Also, at the depths near the bottom of container sloshing frequencies are not affected by sectorial baffles, although the theoretical curve predicts a reduction in the fundamental frequency of sloshing. Finally, the results of finite volume and finite element methods which compared with experimental data, indicated a good agreement between different approaches.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.88 no.1
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• pp.67-81
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• 2023

The reinforced concrete (RC) structures might need strengthening or upgradation due to adverse environmental conditions, design defects, modification requirements, and to prolong the expected lifespan. The RC beams have been efficiently strengthened using the near surface mounted (NSM) approach over the externally bonded reinforcing (EBR) system. In this study, the performance of RC beam elements strengthened with NSM-steel rebars was investigated using an experimental program and nonlinear finite element modeling (FEM). Nine medium-sized, rectangular cross-section RC beams total in number made up for the experimental evaluation. The beams strengthened with varying percentages of NSM reinforcement, and the number of grooves was assessed in four-point bending experiments up to failure. Based on the experimental evaluation, the load-displacement response, crack features, and failure modes of the strengthened beams were recorded and considered. According to the experimental findings, NSM steel greatly improved the flexural strength (up to about 84%) and stiffness of RC beams. The flexural response of the tested beams was simulated using a 3D non-linear finite element (FE) model. The findings of the experiments and the numerical analysis showed good agreement. The effect of the NSM groove and reinforcement on the structural response was then assessed parametrically.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.90 no.2
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• pp.143-157
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• 2024

Cold-formed steel (CFS) I sections are increasingly being used as load-bearing components in building constructions, and such I sections frequently incorporate web holes to facilitate service installation. The economical and structural advantages of these elements have prompted many researchers to investigate the behavior of such structures. Despite numerous studies on the buckling stability of castellated beams, there is a notable absence of experimental investigation into oval castellated beams with stiffeners. This study examines the local buckling of cold-formed steel castellated I-beams stiffened with oval constellations through experimental and numerical analysis. Four specimens are fabricated with and without stiffeners, including parallel, perpendicular, and intersecting types attached to the web portion of the beam, along with cross stiffeners for the oval-shaped openings at the beam ends. Additionally, a numerical model is developed to predict the behavior of castellated beams with oval openings up to failure, considering both material and geometric nonlinearities. Codal analysis is performed using the North American specification for cold-formed steel AISI S-100 and the Australian/New Zealand design code AS/NZS 4600. The anticipated outcomes from numerical analysis, experimental research, and codal analysis are compared and presented. It will be more helpful to the preliminary designers.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.90 no.4
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• pp.345-356
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• 2024

This paper aims to investigate the seismic behavior of double steel plate and concrete composite shear wall (DSCW) of shield buildings in nuclear power engineering through experimental study. Hence, a total of 10 specimens were tested to investigate the hysteretic performance of DSCW specimens in detail, in terms of load vs. displacement hysteretic curves, skeleton curves, failure modes, flexural strength, energy dissipation capacity. The experimental results indicated that the thickness of steel plate, vertical load and stiffener have great influence on the shear bearing capacity of shear wall, and the stud space has limited influence on the shear capacity. And finally, a novel simplified formula was proposed to predict the shear bearing capacity of composite shear wall. The predicted results showed satisfactory agreement with the experimental results.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.68 no.3
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• pp.335-344
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• 2018

The execution of an experiment is a complex affair. It includes the preparation of test specimens, the measurement process itself and also the evaluation of the experiment as such. Financial requirements can differ significantly. In contrast, the cost of numerical simulations can be negligible, but what is the credibility of a simulated experiment? Discussions frequently arise concerning the methodology used in simulations, and particularly over the geometric model used. Simplification, rounding or the complete omission of details are frequent reasons for differences that occur between simulation results and the results of executed experiments. However, the creation of a very complex geometry, perhaps all the way down to the resolution of the very structure of the material, can be complicated. The subject of the article is therefore a means of creating the material structure of concrete contained in a test specimen. Because a complex approach is taken right from the very start of the numerical simulation, maximum agreement with experimental results can be achieved. With regard to the automation of the process described, countless material structures can be generated and randomly produced samples simulated in this way. Subsequently, a certain degree of randomness can be observed in the results obtained, e.g., the shape of the failure - just as is the case with experiments. The first part of the article presents a description of a complex approach to the creation of a geometry representing real concrete test specimens. The second part presents a practical application in which the numerical simulation of the compressive testing of concrete is executed using the generated geometry.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.42 no.11
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• pp.927-936
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• 2014

This paper presents development and verification of the progressive failure analysis upon the composite laminates. Strength and stiffness of the fiber-reinforced composite are analyzed by property degradation approach with emphasis on the material nonlinearity and continuum damage mechanics (CDM). Longitudinal and transverse tensile modes derived from Hashin's failure criterion are used to predict the thresholds for damage initiation and growth. The modified Newton-Raphson iterative procedure is implemented for determining nonlinear elastic and viscoelastic constitutive relations. Laminar properties of the composite are obtained by experiments. Prediction on the un-notched tensile (UNT) specimen is performed under the laminate level. Stress-strain curves and strength results are compared with the experimental measurement. It is concluded that the present nonlinear CDM approach is capable of predicting the strength and stiffness more accurately than the corresponding linear CDM one does.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.975-991
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• 2014

The objective of this study is to develop a reliable method for locating cracks in a beam using data fusion of fractal dimension features of operating deflection shapes. The Katz's fractal dimension curve of an operating deflection shape is used as a basic feature of damage. Like most available damage features, the Katz's fractal dimension curve has a notable limitation in characterizing damage: it is unresponsive to damage near the nodes of structural deformation responses, e.g., operating deflection shapes. To address this limitation, data fusion of Katz's fractal dimension curves of various operating deflection shapes is used to create a sophisticated fractal damage feature, the 'overall Katz's fractal dimension curve'. This overall Katz's fractal dimension curve has the distinctive capability of overcoming the nodal effect of operating deflection shapes so that it maximizes responsiveness to damage and reliability of damage localization. The method is applied to the detection of damage in numerical and experimental cases of cantilever beams with single/multiple cracks, with high-resolution operating deflection shapes acquired by a scanning laser vibrometer. Results show that the overall Katz's fractal dimension curve can locate single/multiple cracks in beams with significantly improved accuracy and reliability in comparison to the existing method. Data fusion of fractal dimension features of operating deflection shapes provides a viable strategy for identifying damage in beam-type structures, with robustness against node effects.

• Advances in materials Research
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.169-184
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• 2017

Electro-Discharge machining (EDM) is a thermal process comprising a complex metal removal mechanism. This method works by forming of a plasma channel between the tool and the workpiece electrodes leading to the melting and evaporation of the material to be removed. EDM is considered especially suitable for machining complex contours with high accuracy, as well as for materials that are not amenable to conventional removal methods. However, several phenomena can arise and adversely affect the surface integrity of EDMed workpieces. These have to be taken into account and studied in order to optimize the process. Recently, artificial neural networks (ANN) have emerged as a novel modeling technique that can provide reliable results and readily, be integrated into several technological areas. In this paper, we use an ANN, namely, the multi-layer perceptron and the back propagation network (BPNN) to predict the mean surface roughness of electro-discharge machined surfaces. The comparison of the derived results with experimental findings demonstrates the promising potential of using back propagation neural networks (BPNNs) for getting a reliable and robust approximation of the Surface Roughness of Electro-discharge Machined Components.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.64 no.5
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• pp.621-640
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• 2017

This paper reports the numerical investigation conducted to study the influence of Local-Distortional (L-D) interaction mode buckling on post buckling strength erosion in fixed ended lipped channel cold formed steel columns. This investigation comprises of 81 column sections with various geometries and yield stresses that are carefully chosen to cover wide range of strength related parametric ratios like (i) distortional to local critical buckling stress ratio ($0.91{\leq}F_{CRD}/F_{CRL}{\leq}4.05$) (ii) non dimensional local slenderness ratio ($0.88{\leq}{\lambda}_L{\leq}3.54$) (iii) non-dimensional distortional slenderness ratio ($0.68{\leq}{\lambda}_D{\leq}3.23$) and (iv) yield to non-critical buckling stress ratio (0.45 to 10.4). The numerical investigation is carried out by conducting linear and non-linear shell finite element analysis (SFEA) using ABAQUS software. The non-linear SFEA includes both geometry and material non-linearity. The numerical results obtained are deeply analysed to understand the post buckling mechanics, failure modes and ultimate strength that are influenced by L-D interaction with respect to strength related parametric ratios. The ultimate strength data obtained from numerical analysis are compared with (i) the experimental tests data concerning L-D interaction mode buckling reported by other researchers (ii) column strength predicted by Direct Strength Method (DSM) column strength curves for local and distortional buckling specified in AISI S-100 (iii) strength predicted by available DSM based approaches that includes L-D interaction mode failure. The role of flange width to web depth ratio on post buckling strength erosion is reported. Then the paper concludes with merits and limitations of codified DSM and available DSM based approaches on accurate failure strength prediction.