• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.603-623
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• 2015

The scale and nature of the recent earthquakes in the world and the related earthquake disaster index coerce the concerned community to become anxious about it. Therefore, it is crucial that seismic lateral load effect will be appropriately considered in structural design. Application of seismic isolation system stands as a consistent alternative against this hazard. The objective of the study is to evaluate the structural and economic feasibility of reinforced concrete (RC) buildings with base isolation located in medium risk seismic region. Linear and nonlinear dynamic analyses as well as linear static analysis under site-specific bi-directional seismic excitation have been carried out for both fixed based (FB) and base isolated (BI) buildings in the present study. The superstructure and base of buildings are modeled in a 3D finite element model by consistent mass approach having six degrees of freedom at each node. The floor slabs are simulated as rigid diaphragms. Lead rubber bearing (LRB) and High damping rubber bearing (HDRB) are used as isolation device. Change of structural behaviors and savings in construction costing are evaluated. The study shows that for low to medium rise buildings, isolators can reduce muscular amount of base shears, base moments and floor accelerations for building at soft to medium stiff soil. Allowable higher horizontal displacement induces structural flexibility. Though incorporating isolator increases the outlay, overall structural cost may be reduced. The application of base isolation system confirms a potential to be used as a viable solution in economic building design.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.75 no.5
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• pp.595-605
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• 2020

In this study, the flexural behaviors of full-scale prestressed concrete box girders are experimentally investigated. Four girders were fabricated using two types of concrete (compressive strengths: 50 MPa and 70 MPa) and tested under four-point bending until failure. The measured parameters included the deflection, the stress and strain in concrete and steel bars, and cracks in concrete. The measurement results were used to analyze the failure mode, load-bearing capacity, and deformability of each girder. A finite element model is established to simulate the flexural behaviors of the girders. The results show that the use of high-performance concrete and reasonable combination of prestressed tendons could improve the mechanical performance of the box girders, in terms of the crack resistance, load-carrying capacity, stress distribution, and ductility.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.855-874
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• 2016

In this paper, it is aimed to evaluate the earthquake angle influence on the seismic performance of steel highway bridges. Upper-deck steel highway bridge, which has arch type load bearing system with a total length of 216 m, has been selected as an application and analyzed using finite element methods. The bridge is subjected to 1992 Erzincan earthquake ground motion components in nineteen directions whose values range between 0 to 90 degrees, with an increment of 5 degrees. The seismic weight is calculated using full dead load plus 30% of live load. The variation of maximum displacements in each directions and internal forces such as axial forces, shear forces and bending moments for bridge arch and deck are attained to determine the earthquake angle influence on the seismic performance. The results show that angle of seismic input motion considerably influences the response of the bridge. It is seen that maximum arch displacements are obtained at X, Y and Z direction for $0^{\circ}$, $65^{\circ}$ and $5^{\circ}$, respectively. The results are changed considerably with the different earthquake angle. The maximum differences are calculated as 57.06%, 114.4% and 55.71% for X, Y and Z directions, respectively. The maximum axial forces, shear forces and bending moments are obtained for bridge arch at $90^{\circ}$, $5^{\circ}$ and $0^{\circ}$, respectively. The maximum differences are calculated as 49.12%, 37.37% and 51.50%, respectively. The maximum shear forces and bending moments are obtained for bridge deck at $0^{\circ}$. The maximum differences are calculated as 49.67%, and 49.15%, respectively. It is seen from the study that the variation of earthquake angle effect the structural performance of highway bridges considerably. But, there is not any specific earthquake angle of incidence for each structures or members which increases the value of internal forces of all structural members together. Each member gets its maximum value of in a specific angle of incidence.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.19-26
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• 2021

The seismic isolation system have been applied in order to protect the collapse of bridge by seismic load and the vertical load transmitted from the superstructure. However, the failure and damages of non-shrinkage mortar, isolator and wedge in total 12 bridge were reported by Pohang Earthquake. In this study, the damage mechanism and behavior characteristics of elastomeric bearing by an earthquake were evaluated to consider the seismic isolation system including non-shrinkage mortar and the seat concrete of pier. To discuss the effect of installed wedge and damage mode of elastomeric bearing, the compressive-shear tests were carried out. Also, the mechanical behaviors and damage mechanism for each component of elastomeric bearing were evaluated by using finite element analysis. From the test results, the cracks were created at boundary between non-shrinkage mortar and seismic isolator and the shear loads were rapidly increased after bump into wedge. The cause for damage mechanism of seismic isolation system was investigated by comparing stress distribution of anchor socket and non-shrinkage mortar depending on wedge during earthquake.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.63 no.3
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• pp.269-280
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• 2017

One major concern that has occupied the mind of the designers is a structural failure as result of stress concentration in the geometrical discontinuities. Understanding the effective parameters contribute to stress concentration and proper selection of these parameters enables the designer get to a reliable design. In the analysis of perforated isotropic and orthotropic plates, the effective parameters on stress distribution around holes include load angle, curvature radius of the corner of the hole, hole orientation and fiber angle for orthotropic materials. This present paper tries to examine the possible effects of these parameters on stress analysis of infinite perforated plates with central quasi-square hole applying grey wolf optimizer (GWO) inspired by the particular leadership hierarchy and hunting behavior of grey wolves in nature, and also the present study tries to introduce general optimum parameters in order to achieve the minimum amount of stress concentration around this type of hole on isotropic and orthotropic plates. The advantages of grey wolf optimizer are stout, flexible, simple, and easy to be enforced. The used analytical solution is the expansion of Lekhnitskii's solution method. Lekhnitskii applied this method for the stress analysis of anisotropic plates containing circular and elliptical holes. Finite element numerical solution is employed to examine the results of present analytical solution. Results represent that by selecting the aforementioned parameters properly, fewer amounts of stress could be achieved around the hole leading to an increase in load-bearing capacity of the structure.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.80 no.6
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• pp.749-765
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• 2021

Suspension bridges bear large eccentric live loads in rush hours when most vehicles travel in one direction on the left or right side of the bridge. With the increasing number and weight of vehicles and the girder widening, the eccentric live load effect on the bridge behavior, including bending and distortion of the main girder, gets more pronounced, even jeopardizing bridge safety. This study proposes an analytical algorithm based on multi-catenary theory for predicting the suspension bridge responses to eccentric live load via the nonlinear generalized reduced gradient method. A set of governing equations is derived to solve the following unknown values: the girder rigid-body displacement in the longitudinal direction; the horizontal projection lengths of main cable's segments; the parameters of catenary equations and horizontal forces of the side span cable segments and the leftmost segments of middle span cables; the suspender tensions and the bearing reactions. Then girder's responses, including rigid-body displacement in the longitudinal direction, deflections, and torsion angles; suspenders' responses, including the suspender tensions and the hanging point displacements; main cables' responses, including the horizontal forces of each segment; and the longitudinal displacement of the pylons' tower top under eccentric load can be calculated. The response of an exemplar suspension bridge with three spans of 168, 548, and 168 m is calculated by the proposed analytical method and the finite element method in two eccentric live load cases, and their results prove the former's feasibility. The nonuniform distribution of the live load in the lateral direction is shown to impose a greater threat to suspension bridge safety than that in the longitudinal direction, while some other specific features revealed by the proposed method are discussed in detail.

• 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.

• International conference on construction engineering and project management
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• 2020.12a
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• pp.75-84
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• 2020

Modular construction is a construction method whereby prefabricated volumetric units are produced in a factory and are installed on site to form a building block. The construction productivity can be substantially improved by the manufacturing and assembly of standardized modular units. 3D printing is a computer-controlled fabrication method first adopted in the manufacturing industry and was utilized for the automated construction of small-scale houses in recent years. Implementing 3D printing in the fabrication of modular units brings huge benefits to modular construction, including increased customization, lower material waste, and reduced labor work. Such implementation also benefits the large-scale and wider adoption of 3D printing in engineering practice. However, a critical issue for 3D printed modules is the loading capacity, particularly in response to horizontal forces like wind load, which requires a deeper understanding of the building structure behavior and the design of load-bearing modules. Therefore, this paper presents the state-of-the-art literature concerning recent achievement in 3D printing for buildings, followed by discussion on the opportunities and challenges for examining 3D printing in modular construction. Promising 3D printing techniques are critically reviewed and discussed with regard to their advantages and limitations in construction. The appropriate structural form needs to be determined at the design stage, taking into consideration the overall building structural behavior, site environmental conditions (e.g., wind), and load-carrying capacity of the 3D printed modules. Detailed finite element modelling of the entire modular buildings needs to be conducted to verify the structural performance, considering the code-stipulated lateral drift, strength criteria, and other design requirements. Moreover, integration of building information modelling (BIM) method is beneficial for generating the material and geometric details of the 3D printed modules, which can then be utilized for the fabrication.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.79-86
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• 2014

This paper describes an integrity evaluation method for emergency diesel generator(EDG) and rotor part of EDG. EDG is a very important equipment in the nuclear power plant(NPP). EDG supplies electricity to the safety-related equipments for the safety shut down of NPP in an emergency situation of earthquake. The safety of the rotor part of EDG is also important during seismic impact from earthquake. The finite element modelling of the EDG including rotor part was constructed. The modal analysis of EDG was firstly performed. The first natural frequency was calculated and revealed higher than the cutoff frequency of seismic spectrum. Then the stress analysis was done to compare with the allowable stress. The safety of the rotor part was investigated by the finite element analysis of the rotor and journal bearing interaction to find film thickness and critical speed. The seismic load was applied to rotor part in a manner that the load was a weighted static load. Analysis results showed that the maximum stress was within the range of allowable stress and the film thickness is larger than the permissible minimum thickness, and the critical speed was out of the operating speed. Hence, the structural and dynamic integrity of EDG could be confirmed by the numerical analysis method used in this paper. However, dynamic analysis of a rotating rotor and supporting bearing with the seismic impact needs to be investigated in a more rigorous method since the seismic load to the rotating part complicates the behavior of rotating system.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.58 no.5
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• pp.757-781
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• 2016

The results of diagnostics and analysis of an industrial hall located on the premises of a thermal power plant severely damaged by fire are presented in the paper. The comprehensive failure-related diagnostics, non-destructive and destructive tests of steel and concrete materials, geodetic surveying of selected structural members, numerical modelling, static analysis and reliability assessment were focused on two basic goals: The determination of the current technical condition of the load bearing structure and the assessment of its post fire resistance as well as assessing the degree of damage and subsequent design of reconstruction measures and arrangements which would enable the safe and reliable use of the building. The current mechanical properties of the steel material obtained from the tests and measured geometric characteristics of the structural members with imperfections were employed in finite element models to study the post-fire behaviour of the structure. In order to compare the behaviour of the numerically modelled steel roof truss, subjected to the effects of fire, with the real post-fire response of the damaged structure theoretically obtained resistance, critical temperature and the time at which the structure no longer meets the required reliability criteria under its given loading are compared with real values. A very good agreement between the simulated results and real characteristics of the structure after the fire was observed.