• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.5 no.6
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• pp.679-689
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• 1997

The damage of concrete subjected to multiaxial complex loading involves strong anisotropy due to its highly heterogeneous nature and the geometrically anisotropic characteristic of the microcracks. A comprehensive description of concrete damage is proposed by introducing a fourth-order anisotropic damage tenser. The evolution of damage is assumed to be related to the principal components of the current states of stress and damage. The unilateral effect of damage due to the closure and opening of microcracks is taken into account by introducing projection tensors that are also determined by the current state of stress. The proposed damage model considers the different kinds of damage mechanisms that result in different failure modes and different patterns of microdefects that cause different unilateral effects. This damage model is embedded in a thermomechanically consistent constitutive equation in which hardening and the triaxial compression caused shear-enhanced compaction can also be taken into account. The validity of the proposed model is verified by comparing theoretical and experimental results of plain and steel fiber reinforced concrete subjected to complex triaxial stress histories.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.73 no.1
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• pp.27-35
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• 2020

In rail industry, noise reduction is a concern to decrease environmental pollution. The current study focuses on rail damper modeling and improvement of the model through validation with experimental results. Accurate modeling and simulation of rail dampers, specifically tuned rail dampers with layers interconnected by bolt joints, shall enable objective-oriented improvement of their design. In this work, to improve the damper model cone pressure theory is applied in the FE model and the sensitivity analysis is then applied to gradually improve the FE model. The improved model yields higher Modal Assurance Criterion (MAC) values and lower frequencies deviation.

• Interaction and multiscale mechanics
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.157-168
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• 2012

The dilatancy of granular materials has significant influence on its mechanical behaviors. The dilation angle is taken as a constant in conventional associated or non-associated flow rules based on Drucker-Prager yields theory. However, various experimental results show the dilatancy changes during progressive failure of granular materials. A non-associated flow rule with evolution of dilation angle is adopted in this study, and Cosserat continuum theory is used to describe the behaviors of granular materials for considering to some extent the its internal structure. Numerical examples focus on the bearing capacity and localization of granular materials, and results illustrate the capability and performance of the presented model in modeling the effect on failure behavior of granular materials.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.55-62
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• 2021

The concrete fatigue analysis can be performed with the use of fracture mechanics. The fracture mechanics defines the fatigue crack propagation as the relationship of crack growth rate and stress intensity factor. In contrast to metal, the application of fracture mechanics to concrete is more complicated and therefore many authors have introduced empirical expressions using Paris law. The topic of this paper is development of a new prediction of fatigue crack propagation for concrete using rheological-dynamical analogy (RDA) and finite element method (FEM) in the frame of linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM). The static and cyclic fatigue three-point bending tests on notched beams are considered. Verification of the proposed approach was performed on the test results taken from the literature. The comparison between the theoretical model and experimental results indicates that the model proposed in this paper is valid to predict the crack propagation in flexural fatigue of concrete.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.507-526
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• 2009

Based on numerical and experimental methods, a systematic structural evaluation of a steel natatorium in service was carried out in detail in this paper. Planning of inspection tasks was proposed firstly according to some national codes in China in order to obtain the economic and reliable results. The field visual inspections and static computation were conducted in turn under in-service environmental conditions. Further a three-dimensional finite element model was developed according to its factual geometry properties obtained from the field inspection. An analytical modal analysis was performed to provide the analytical modal properties. The field vibration tests on the natatorium were conducted and then two different system identification methods were used to obtain the dynamic characteristics of the natatorium. A good correlation was achieved in results obtained from the two system identification methods and the finite element method (FEM). The numerical and experimental results demonstrated that the main structure of the natatorium in its present status is safe and it still satisfies the demand of the national codes in China. But the roof system such as purlines and skeletons must be removed and rebuilt completely. Moreover the system identification results showed that field vibration test is sufficient to identify the reliable dynamic properties of the natatorium. The constructive suggestion on structural evaluation of the natatorium is that periodic assessment work must be maintained to ensure the natatorium's safety in the future.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.74 no.1
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• pp.1-18
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• 2020

For the large deformation of shear walls under vertical and horizontal loads, there are difficulties in obtaining accurate simulation results using the response analysis method, even with fine mesh elements. Furthermore, concrete material nonlinearity, stiffness degradation, concrete cracking and crushing, and steel bar damage may occur during the large deformation of reinforced concrete (RC) shear walls. Matrix operations that are involved in nonlinear analysis using the traditional finite-element method (FEM) may also result in flaws, and may thus lead to serious errors. To solve these problems, a planar four-node element was developed based on vector mechanics. Owing to particle-based formulation along the path element, the method does not require repeated constructions of a global stiffness matrix for the nonlinear behavior of the structure. The nonlinear concrete constitutive model and bilinear steel material model are integrated with the developed element, to ensure that large deformation and damage behavior can be addressed. For verification, simulation analyses were performed to obtain experimental results on an RC shear wall subjected to a monotonically increasing lateral load with a constant vertical load. To appropriately evaluate the parameters, investigations were conducted on the loading speed, meshing dimension, and the damping factor, because vector mechanics is based on the equation of motion. The static problem was then verified to obtain a stable solution by employing a balanced equation of motion. Using the parameters obtained, the simulated pushover response, including the bearing capacity, deformation ability, curvature development, and energy dissipation, were found to be in accordance with the experimental observation. This study demonstrated the potential of the developed planar element for simulating the entire process of large deformation and damage behavior in RC shear walls.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.61 no.1
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• pp.161-169
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• 2017

This study aimed to develop a simple and effective method to facilitate the experimental research on mechanical properties of masonry under biaxial compressive stress. A series of tests on full-scale brick masonry panels under biaxial compression have been performed in limited principal stress ratios oriented at various angles to the bed joints. Failure modes of tested panels were observed and failure features were analyzed to reveal the mechanical behavior of masonry under biaxial compression. Based on the experimental data, the failure curve in terms of two orthotropic principal stresses has been presented and the failure criterion of brick masonry in the form of the tensor polynomial has been established, which indicate that the anisotropy for masonry is closely related to the difference of applied stress as well as the orientation of bed joints. Further, compared with previous failure curves and criteria for masonry, it can be found that the relative strength of mortar and block has a considerable effect on the degree of anisotropy for masonry. The test results demonstrate the validity of the proposed experimental method for the approximation of masonry failure under biaxial compressive stress and provide valuable information used to establish experimentally based methodologies for the improvement of masonry failure criteria.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Visualization
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.7-11
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• 2010

• Korea-Australia Rheology Journal
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.27-38
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• 2000

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.271-281
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• 2014

The physicochemical properties of clay minerals have been investigated at the atomistic to nano scale. The microscopic studies are often challenging to perform by using experimental approaches alone. In particular, hydroxyl groups of octahedral sheets in 2:1 clay minerals have been hypothesized to impact the sorption process of metal cations; however, X-ray based techniques alone, a common tool for mineral structure examination, cannot properly test the hypothesis. The current study has examined whether computational mineralogy techniques can be applied to examine the hydroxyl structures of clay minerals. Based on quantum-mechanics and molecular-mechanics computational methods, geometry optimizations were carried out for representative dioctahedral and trioctahedral phyllosilicate minerals. Both methods well reproduced the experimental lattice parameters; however, for structural distortion occurring in the tetrahedral or octahedral sheets, molecular mechanics showed significant deviations from experimental data. The orientation angle of the hydroxyl with respect to (001) basal plane is determined by the balance of repulsion between the hydroxyl proton and Si cations of tetrahedral sites; the quantum-mechanics method predicted $25-26^{\circ}$ for the angle, whereas the angle predicted by the molecular-mechanics method was much higher by $10^{\circ}$ (i.e., $35^{\circ}$). These results demonstrate that computational mineralogy techniques are a reliable tool for clay mineral studies and can be used to further elucidate the roles of hydroxyls in metal sorption process.