• Wind and Structures
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• 제8권1호
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• pp.35-48
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• 2005

Wind loading is very important in structural design of large-span single-layer reticulated shell structures. In this paper, a geometrically nonlinear wind-induced vibration analysis strategy for large-span single-layer reticulated shell structures based on the nonlinear finite element method is introduced. According to this strategy, a computation program has been developed. With the information of the wind pressure distribution measured simultaneously in the wind tunnel, nonlinear dynamic analysis, including dynamic instability analysis, for the wind-induced vibration of a single-layer reticulated shell is conducted as an example to investigate the efficiency of the strategy. Finally, suggestions are given for dynamic wind-resistant analysis of single-layer reticulated shells.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제56권5호
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• pp.813-833
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• 2015

Spherical reticulated shells are widely applied in structural engineering due to their good bearing capability and attractive appearance. Parametric modeling of spherical reticulated shells is the basis of internal analysis and optimization design. In the present study, generation methods of nodes and the corresponding connection methods of rod elements are proposed. Modeling programs are compiled by adopting the ANSYS Parametric Design Language (APDL). A shape optimization method based on the two-stage algorithm is presented, and the corresponding optimization program is compiled in FORTRAN environment. Shape optimization is carried out based on the objective function of the minimum total steel consumption and the restriction condition of strength, stiffness, slenderness ratio, stability. The shape optimization of four typical Schwedler spherical reticulated shells is calculated with the span of 30 m~80 m and rise to span ratio of 1/7~1/2. Compared with the shape optimization results, the variation rules of total steel consumption along with the span and rise to span ratio are discussed. The results show that: (1) The left and right rod-Schwedler spherical reticulated shell is the most optimized and should be preferentially adopted in structural engineering. (2) The left diagonal rod-Schwedler spherical reticulated shell is second only to left and right rod regarding the mechanical behavior and optimized results. It can be applied to medium and small-span structures. (3) Double slash rod-Schwedler spherical reticulated shell is advantageous in mechanical behavior but with the largest total weight. Thus, this type can be used in large-span structures as far as possible. (4) The mechanical performance of no latitudinal rod-Schwedler spherical reticulated shell is the worst and with the second largest weight. Thus, this spherical reticulated shell should not be adopted generally in engineering.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제18권2호
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• pp.481-496
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• 2015

A Lead Extrusion Damper (LED) is experimentally studied under various frequencies and displacement amplitudes. Experimental results show that the force-displacement hysteresis loops of the LED are close to rectangular and the force-velocity hysteresis loops exhibit nonlinear hysteretic characteristic. Also, the LED can provide consistent energy dissipation without any stiffness degradation. Based on the experimental results, a mathematical model is then proposed to describe the effects of frequency and displacement on property of LED. It can be proved from the comparison between experimental and numerical results that the mathematical model can accurately describe the mechanical behavior of LED. Subsequently, the seismic responses of the Schwedler reticulated shell structure with LEDs are analyzed by ANSYS software, in which three different installation forms of LEDs are considered. It can be concluded that the LED can effectively reduce the displacement and acceleration responses of this type of structures.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제37권3호
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• pp.309-320
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• 2011

As a new type of large-span space structure, suspendome is composited of the upper single-layer reticulated shell and the lower cable-strut system. It has better mechanical properties compared to single-layer reticulated shell, and the overall stiffness of suspendome structure increases greatly due to the prestress of cable. Consequently, it can cross a larger span reasonably, economically and grandly with high rigidity, good stability and simple construction. For a better assessment of the advantages of mechanical characteristic of suspendome quantitatively, the static behavior of Kiewitt6 suspendome was studied by using finite element method, and ADINA was the software application to implement the analysis. By studying a certain suspendome, the internal forces, deformation and support constrained forces of the structure were obtained in this paper. Furthermore, the influences of parameters including prestress, stay bar length, cross-sectional area and rise-to-span ratio were also discussed. The results show that the increase of prestress and vertical stay bar length can improve the stiffness of suspendome; Cross-sectional area has nearly no impact on the static behavior, and the rise-to-span ratio is the most sensitive parameter.

• Wind and Structures
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• 제20권1호
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• pp.95-115
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• 2015

Wind effects on roofs are usually considered by equivalent static wind loads based on the equivalence of displacement or internal force for structural design. However, for large-span spatial structures that are prone to dynamic instability under strong winds, such equivalent static wind loads may be inapplicable. The dynamic stability of spatial structures under unsteady wind forces is therefore studied in this paper. A new concept and its corresponding method for dynamic instability-aimed equivalent static wind loads are proposed for structural engineers. The method is applied in the dynamic stability design of an actual double-layer cylindrical reticulated shell under wind actions. An experimental-numerical method is adopted to study the dynamic stability of the shell and the dynamic instability originating from critical wind velocity. The dynamic instability-aimed equivalent static wind loads of the shell are obtained.

• Wind and Structures
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• 제8권6호
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• pp.443-454
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• 2005

Wind loading is very important, even dominant in some cases, to large-span single-layer reticulated shells. At present, usually equivalent static methods based on quasi-steady assumption, as the same as the wind-resistant design of low-rise buildings, are used in the structural design. However, it is not easy to estimate a suitable equivalent static wind load so that the effects of fluctuating component of wind on the structural behaviors, especially on structural stability, can be well considered. In this paper, the effects of fluctuating component of wind load on the stability of a single-layer reticulated spherical shell model are investigated based on wind pressure distribution measured simultaneously in the wind tunnel. Several methods used to estimate the equivalent static wind load distribution for equivalent static wind-resistant design are reviewed. A new simple method from the stability point of view is presented to estimate the most unfavorable wind load distribution considering the effects of fluctuating component on the stability of shells. Finally, with comparisive analyses using different methods, the efficiency of the presented method for wind-resistant analysis of single-layer reticulated shells is established.