• Earthquakes and Structures
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• 제18권1호
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• pp.97-111
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• 2020

Cylindrical steel tanks are important components of industrial facilities. Their safety becomes a crucial issue since any failure may cause catastrophic consequences. The aim of the paper is to show the results of comprehensive FEM numerical investigation focused on the response of cylindrical steel tanks under mining tremors and moderate earthquakes. The effects of different levels of liquid filling, the influence of non-uniform seismic excitation as well as the aspects of diagnosis of structural damage have been investigated. The results of the modal analysis indicate that the level of liquid filling is really essential in the structural analysis leading to considerable changes in the shapes of vibration modes with a substantial reduction in the natural frequencies when the level of liquid increases. The results of seismic and paraseismic analysis indicate that the filling the tank with liquid leads to the substantial increase in the structural response underground motions. It has also been observed that the peak structural response values under mining tremors and moderate earthquakes can be comparable to each other. Moreover, the consideration of spatial effects related to seismic wave propagation leads to a considerable decrease in the structural response under non-uniform seismic excitation. Finally, the analysis of damage diagnosis in steel tanks shows that different types of damage may induce changes in the free vibration modes and values of natural frequencies.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• 제7권1호
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• pp.17-38
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• 2014

As the desire for high performance buildings increases, it is increasingly evident that engineers require reliable methods for the estimation of seismic demands on both structural and non-structural components. To this extent, improved tools for the prediction of floor spectra would assist in the assessment of acceleration sensitive non-structural and secondary components. Recently, a new procedure was successfully developed and tested for the simplified construction of floor spectra, at various levels of elastic damping, atop single-degree-of-freedom structures. This paper extends the methodology to multi-degree-of-freedom (MDOF) supporting systems responding in the elastic range, proposing a simplified modal combination approach for floor spectra over upper storeys and accounting for the limited filtering of the ground motion input that occurs over lower storeys. The procedure is tested numerically by comparing predictions with floor spectra obtained from time-history analyses of RC wall structures of 2- to 20-storeys in height. Results demonstrate that the method performs well for MDOF systems responding in the elastic range. Future research should further develop the approach to permit the prediction of floor spectra in MDOF systems that respond in the inelastic range.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• 제20권6호
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• pp.669-682
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• 2017

The normalised version of bispectrum, the so-called bicoherence, has often proved a reliable method of damage detection on engineering applications. Indeed, higher-order spectral analysis (HOSA) has the advantage of being able to detect non-linearity in the structural dynamic response while being insensitive to ambient vibrations. Skewness in the response may be easily spotted and related to damage conditions, as the majority of common faults and cracks shows bilinear effects. The present study tries to extend the application of HOSA to damage localisation, resorting to a neural network based classification algorithm. In order to validate the approach, a non-linear finite element model of a 4-meters-long cantilever beam has been built. This model could be seen as a first generic concept of more complex structural systems, such as aircraft wings, wind turbine blades, etc. The main aim of the study is to train a Neural Network (NN) able to classify different damage locations, when fed with bispectra. These are computed using the dynamic response of the FE nonlinear model to random noise excitation.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제19권3호
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• pp.321-336
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• 2005

The structural feasibility of a variety of non-conventional sludge digesters, in the form of thin shells of revolution constructed in concrete, has formed the subject of investigation of a recent programme of research at the University of Cape Town. Such forms are usually known in the literature as "egg-shaped", and the advantages of these over conventional digesters of the wide-cylindrical type are now well-recognised: superior mixing efficiency, less accumulation of deposits at the bottom, easier removal of bottom deposits and surface crust, reduced heat losses, and so forth. With the aim of exploring the structural feasibility of various non-conventional forms for concrete sludge digesters, and making available usable analytical data and practical guidelines for the design of such thin shell structures, a number of theoretical studies have recently been undertaken, and these have covered conical assemblies, spherical assemblies and parabolic ogival configurations. The purpose of the present paper is to bring together the different analytical approaches employed in each of these studies, summarise the main findings in each case, draw comparisons among the various studied configurations with regard to structural efficiency and functional suitability, and make appropriate conclusions and recommendations.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• 제5권1호
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• pp.69-79
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• 2009

A non-clipped semi-active stochastic optimal control strategy for nonlinear structural systems with MR dampers is developed based on the stochastic averaging method and stochastic dynamical programming principle. A nonlinear stochastic control structure is first modeled as a semi-actively controlled, stochastically excited and dissipated Hamiltonian system. The control force of an MR damper is separated into passive and semi-active parts. The passive control force components, coupled in structural mode space, are incorporated in the drift coefficients by directly using the stochastic averaging method. Then the stochastic dynamical programming principle is applied to establish a dynamical programming equation, from which the semi-active optimal control law is determined and implementable by MR dampers without clipping in terms of the Bingham model. Under the condition on the control performance function given in section 3, the expressions of nonlinear and linear non-clipped semi-active optimal control force components are obtained as well as the non-clipped semi-active LQG control force, and thus the value function and semi-active nonlinear optimal control force are actually existent according to the developed strategy. An example of the controlled stochastic hysteretic column is given to illustrate the application and effectiveness of the developed semi-active optimal control strategy.

• 한국구조물진단유지관리공학회 논문집
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• 제24권2호
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• pp.1-8
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• 2020

원자력발전소와 같은 발전플랜트 시설의 경우 건물 자체뿐만 아니라 내부에 설치된 비구조요소의 내진안정성 또한 중요하다. 특히, 전기기기가 부착되는 캐비닛 구조물 등은 지진에 대비하여 기능적 안전성이 확보되어야 한다. 이에 따라 본 연구에서는 기존 발전플랜트 내부에서 운용 중인 전기기기 캐비닛 구조물의 동특성을 파악하고, 동적거동 시 발생되는 응답 수준을 분석하였다. 그리고 내진보강 방법 중 제진 방식을 적용하기 위해 강재 플레이트 댐퍼를 채택하고 대상기기의 크기에 적합하게 조정하였다. 또한, 최적의 보강방안을 도출하기 위해 부착위치에 따른 변수를 설정하고 보강 전·후의 지진동 입력에 의한 응답에 대하여 분석하는 연구를 수행하였다.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• 제31권2호
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• pp.58-68
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• 2003

목조 고건축물의 안전성 평가를 위해서는 먼저 부재의 성능평가가 선행되어야 한다. 지금까지의 목재 부재의 성능평가는 육안에 의한 경험적 방법에 의존하였다. 하지만 과학적이고 합리적인 비파괴 방법을 적용하여 구조부재의 성능을 평가할 수 있다면 구조물의 안전성 해석은 더욱 정확해지고 합리적이 될 것이다. 이를 위해 본 연구에서는 목조 고건축물의 여러 구조 부재 중 기둥에 대해 비파괴 평가법을 적용하여 구조부재의 성능 평가에 대한 가능성을 알아보았다. 이 결과를 이어지는 연구에서 구조물의 안전성 해석의 기초자료로 사용할 예정이다. 특별히 기둥의 노출 환경에 따른 열화의 진행정도를 비파괴 평가법으로 측정하였다. 그 결과 실제 육안에 의한 열화의 관찰과 유사한 결과를 나타내어 비파괴 방법의 적용 가능성을 보여주었다.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제7권2호
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• pp.159-180
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• 1999

The present paper shows a new non-tensorial approach to derive basic equations for various structural analyses. It can be used directly in numerical computation procedures. The aim of the paper is, however, to show that the approach serves as an excellent tool for analytical purposes also, working as a link between analytical and numerical techniques. The paper gives a method to derive, at first, expressions for strains in general beam and shell analyses, and secondly, the governing equilibrium equations. The approach is based on the utilization of local fixed Cartesian coordinate systems. Applying these, all the definitions required are the simple basic ones, well-known from the analyses in common global coordinates. In addition, the familiar principle of virtual work has been adopted. The method will be, apparently, most powerful in teaching the theories of curved beam and shell structures for students not familiar with tensor analysis. The final results obtained have no novelty value in themselves, but the procedure developed opens through its systematic and graphic progress a new standpoint to theoretical considerations.

• 한국해양공학회지
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• 제19권4호
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• pp.21-27
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• 2005

Large welded structures, including ships and offshore structures, are normally in operation under cyclic fatigue loadings. These structures include many geometric discontinuities, as well as material discontinuities due to weld joints. The fatigue strength at these hot spots is very important for the structural performance. In the past, various Non Destructive Evaluation (NDE) techniques have been developed to detect fatigue cracks and to estimate their location and size. However, an important limitation of most of the existing NDE methods is that they are off line; the normal operation of the structure has to be interrupted, and the device often has to be disassembled. This study explores the development of a structural health monitoring system, with a special interest in applying the technique to welded structural members in ship and offshore structures. In particular, the impedance based structural health monitoring technique that employs the coupling effect of piezoceramic (PZT) materials and structures is investigated.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제62권2호
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• pp.237-246
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• 2017

In the present paper a new Neuro-Wavelet control algorithm is proposed based on a cost function to actively control the vibrations of structures under earthquake loads. A wavelet neural network (WNN) was developed to train the control algorithm. This algorithm is designed to control multi-degree-of-freedom (MDOF) structures which consider the geometric and material non-linearity, structural irregularity, and the incident direction of an earthquake load. The training process of the algorithm was performed by using the El-Centro 1940 earthquake record. A numerical model of a three dimensional (3D) three story building was used to accredit the control algorithm under three different seismic loads. Displacement responses and hysteretic behavior of the structure before and after the application of the controller showed that the proposed strategy can be applied effectively to suppress the structural vibrations.