• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.153-160
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• 2010

This paper deals with the topology optimized design of the riser support structures for floating production storage and offloading units (FPSOs) under global and local loading conditions. For a preliminary study and validation of the numerical approach, a simplified plate under static loading is first evaluated with the representative topology optimization methods, the Homogenization Design Method (HDM) and Density Method (DM) or Simple Isotropic Material with Penalization (SIMP). In the context of the corresponding riser support structures, the design problem is formulated such that structure shapes based on design domain variables are determined by minimizing the compliance subject to a mass target, considering the stress criterion. An initial design model is generated based on an actual FPSO riser support configuration. The topology optimization results present improved design performances under various loading conditions, while staying within the allowable limit of the offshore area.

• Computational Structural Engineering
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.69-83
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• 1994

An explicit finite element nonlinear formulation for very large deformations of plane frame structures is developed. The formulation is based on an updated material reference frame and hence a true stress-strain relationship can be directly applied to characterize the properties of material which is subjected to very large deformations. In the formulation, a co-rotational approach is applied to deal with the large rotations but small strain problems. Straight beam element is considered when the strain of an element is large. The element formulation is based on the small deflection beam theory but with the inclusion of the effect of axial force. The element equations are constructed in an element local coordinate system which rotates and translates with the element, and then transformed to the global coordinate system. Several numerical examples are analyzed to validate the presented formulation.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2004.03b
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• pp.783-790
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• 2004

In this study, a newly modified soil nailing technology named as the PSN(pretensioned soil nailing) system, is developed to reduce both facing displacements and ground surface settlements in top-down excavation process as well as to increase the global stability. Up to now, the PSN system has been investigated mainly focusing on an establishment of the design procedure. In the present study, the analytical procedure and design technique are proposed to evaluate maximum pretension force and stability of the PSN system. Also proposed arc techniques to determine the required thickness of a shotcrete facing and to estimate probability of a failure against the punching shear. Based on the proposed procedure and technique, effects of the radius of a influence circle and dilatancy angle on the thickness of a shotcrete facing, bonded length and safety factors arc analyzed. In addition, effects of the reduction of deformations expected by pretensioning of the soil nails are examined in detail throughout an illustrative example and $FLAC^{2D}$ program analysis. And a numerical approach is further made to determine a postulated failure surface as well as a minimum safety factor of the proposed PSN system using the shear strength reduction technique with the $FLAC^{2D}$ program. Global minimum safety factors and local safety factors at various excavation stages computed in case of the PSN system arc analyzed throughout comparisons with the results expected in case of the general soil nailing system. The efficiency of the PSN system is also dealt with by analyzing the wall-facing deformations and the adjacent ground surface settlements.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.647-664
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• 2006

In this study, an improved finite element formulation with a scheme of solution for the large deflection analysis of inextensible prismatic and nonprismatic slender beams is developed. For this purpose, a three-noded Lagrangian beam-element with two dependent degrees of freedom per node (i.e., the vertical displacement, y, and the actual slope, $dy/ds=sin{\theta}$, where s is the curved coordinate along the deflected beam) is used to derive the element stiffness matrix. The element stiffness matrix in the global xy-coordinate system is achieved by means of coordinate transformation of a highly nonlinear ($6{\times}6$) element matrix in the local sy-coordinate. Because of bending with large curvature, highly nonlinear expressions are developed within the global stiffness matrix. To achieve the solution after specifying the proper loading and boundary conditions, an iterative quasi-linearization technique with successive corrections are employed considering these nonlinear expressions to remain constant during all iterations of the solution. In order to verify the validity and the accuracy of this study, the vertical and the horizontal displacements of prismatic and nonprismatic beams subjected to various cases of loading and boundary conditions are evaluated and compared with analytic solutions and numerical results by available references and the results by ADINA, and excellent agreements were achieved. The main advantage of the present technique is that the solution is directly obtained, i.e., non-incremental approach, using few iterations (3 to 6 iterations) and without the need to split the stiffness matrix into elastic and geometric matrices.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.109-122
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• 2021

Significant progress in the oil and gas industry advances the application of pipeline into an intelligent era, which poses rigorous requirements on pipeline safety, reliability, and maintainability, especially when crossing seismic zones. In general, strike-slip faults are prone to induce large deformation leading to local buckling and global rupture eventually. To evaluate the performance and safety of pipelines in this situation, numerical simulations are proved to be a relatively accurate and reliable technique based on the built-in physical models and advanced grid technology. However, the computational cost is prohibitive, so one has to wait for a long time to attain a calculation result for complex large-scale pipelines. In this manuscript, an efficient and accurate surrogate model based on machine learning is proposed for strain demand prediction of buried X80 pipelines subjected to strike-slip faults. Specifically, the support vector regression model serves as a surrogate model to learn the high-dimensional nonlinear relationship which maps multiple input variables, including pipe geometries, internal pressures, and strike-slip displacements, to output variables (namely tensile strains and compressive strains). The effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed method are validated by numerical studies considering different effects caused by structural sizes, internal pressure, and strike-slip movements.

• Communications for Statistical Applications and Methods
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.125-136
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• 2008

In many practical engineering design problems, the form of objective functions is not given explicitly in terms of design variables. Given the value of design variables, under this circumstance, the value of objective functions is obtained by real/computational experiments such as structural analysis, fluid mechanic analysis, thermodynamic analysis, and so on. These experiments are, in general, considerably expensive. In order to make the number of these experiments as few as possible, optimization is performed in parallel with predicting the form of objective functions. Response Surface Methods (RSM) are well known along this approach. This paper suggests to apply Support Vector Machines (SVM) for predicting the objective functions. One of most important tasks in this approach is to allocate sample data moderately in order to make the number of experiments as small as possible. It will be shown that the information of support vector can be used effectively to this aim. The effectiveness of our suggested method will be shown through numerical example which is well known in design of engineering.

• International Journal of Fluid Machinery and Systems
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.353-362
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• 2009

In the process of turbine modernizations, the investigation of the influences of water passage roughness on radial flow machine performance is crucial and validates the efficiency step up between reduced scale model and prototype. This study presents the specific losses per component of a Francis turbine, which are estimated by CFD simulation. Simulations are performed for different water passage surface roughness heights, which represents the equivalent sand grain roughness height. As a result, the boundary layer logarithmic velocity profile still exists for rough walls, but moves closer to the wall. Consequently, the wall friction depends not only on roughness height but also on its shape and distribution. The specific losses are determined by CFD numerical simulations for each component of the prototype, taking into account its own specific sand grain roughness height. The model efficiency step up between reduced scale model and prototype value is finally computed by the assessment of specific losses on prototype and by evaluating specific losses for a reduced scale model with smooth walls. Furthermore, surveys of rough walls of each component were performed during the geometry recovery on the prototype and comparisons are made with experimental data from the EPFL Laboratory for Hydraulic Machines reduced scale model measurements. This study underlines that if rough walls are considered, the CFD approach estimates well the local friction loss coefficient. It is clear that by considering sand grain roughness heights in CFD simulations, its forms a significant part of the global performance estimation. The availability of the efficiency field measurements provides an unique opportunity to assess the CFD method in view of a systematic approach for turbine modernization step up evaluation. Moreover, this paper states that CFD is a very promising tool for future evaluation of turbine performance transposition from the scale model to the prototype.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.411-424
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• 2018

This study explores the inelastic behavior of systems with flexible base. The use of a single degree of freedom system (ESDOF) with equivalent ductility to represent the response of flexible base systems is discussed. Two different equations to compute equivalent ductility are proposed, one which includes the contribution of rigid body components, and other based on the overstrength of the structure. In order to asses the accuracy of ESDOF approach with the proposed equations, the behavior of a 10-story regular building with reinforced concrete (RC) moment resisting frames is studied. Local and global ductility capacity and demands are used to study the modifications introduced by base flexibility. Three soil types are considered with shear wave velocities of 70, 100 and 250 m/s. Soil-foundation stiffness is included with a set of springs on the base (impedance functions). Capacity curves of the building are computed with pushover analysis. In addition, non linear time history analysis are used to asses the ductility demands. Results show that ductility capacity of the soil-structure system including rigid body components is reduced. Base flexibility does not modify neither yield and maximum base shear. Equivalent ductility estimated with the proposed equations is fits better the results of the numerical model than the one considering elastoplastic behavior. Modification of beams ductility demand due to base flexibility are not constant within the structure. Some elements experience reduced ductility demands while other elements experience increments when flexible base is considered. Soil structure interaction produces changes in the relation between yield strength reduction factor and structure ductility demand. These changes are dependent on the spectral shape and the period of the system with fixed and flexible base.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.186-194
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• 2019

Deterministic optimization, commonly used to find the geophysical inverse solutions, have its limitation that it cannot find the proper solution since it might converge into the local minimum. One of the solutions to this problem is to use global optimization based on a stochastic approach, among which a large number of particle swarm optimization (PSO) applications have been introduced. In this paper, I developed a geophysical inversion algorithm applying PSO method for the layered-earth resistivity inversion of the small-loop electromagnetic (EM) survey data and carried out numerical inversion experiments on synthetic datasets. From the results, it is confirmed that the PSO inversion algorithm could increase the inversion success rate even when attempting the inversion of small-loop EM survey data from which it might be difficult to find a best solution by applying the Gauss-Newton inversion algorithm.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.27-40
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• 2003

In the present study, a newly modified soil nailing technology named as the PSN(Pretension Soil Nailing) system is proposed. Effects of various factors related to the design of the pretension soil nailing system, such as the length of a sheathing pipe and the fixed cone, are examined throughout a series of the displacement-controlled field pull-out tests. 9 displacement-controlled field pull-out tests are performed in the present study and the pretension forces are also evaluated based on the measurements. In addition, both short-term and long-term characteristics of pull-out deformations of the newly proposed PSN system are analyzed and compared with those of the general soil nailing system by carrying out the stress-controlled field pull-out tests. A numerical approach is further made to determine a postulated failure surface as well as a minimum safety factors of the proposed PSN system using the shear strength reduction technique and the $FLAC^{2D}$ program. Global minimum safety factors and local safety factors at various excavation stages computed in case of the PSN system are analyzed throughout comparisons with the results expected in case of the general soil nailing system. An efficiency of the PSN system is also dealt with by analyzing the wall-facing deformations and the adjacent ground surface settlements.