• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.545-560
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• 2012

Design codes provide the minimum requirements for the design of code-compliant structures to ensure the safety of the life and property. As for code-exceeding buildings, the requirements for design are not sufficient and the approval of such structures is vague. In mainland China in recent years, a large number of code-exceeding tall buildings, whether their heights exceed the limit for the respective structure type or the extent of irregularity is violated, have been constructed. Performance-based seismic design (PBSD) approach has been highly recommended and become necessary to demonstrate the performance of code-exceeding tall buildings at least equivalent to code intent of safety. This paper proposes the general methodologies of performance-based seismic analysis and design of code-exceeding tall buildings in Mainland China. The PBSD approach proposed here includes selection of performance objectives, determination of design philosophy, establishment of design criteria for structural components and systems consistent with the desirable and transparent performance objectives, and seismic performance analysis and evaluation through extensive numerical analysis or further experimental study if necessary. The seismic analysis and design of 101-story Shanghai World Financial Center Tower is introduced as a typical engineering example where the PBSD approach is followed. The example demonstrates that the PBSD approach is an appropriate way to control efficiently the seismic damage on the structure and ensure the predictable and safe performance.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.459-469
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• 2014

One of the most important structural components of steel structures is the column-base connections which are obliged to transfer horizontal and vertical loads safely to the reinforced concrete (RC) or concrete base. The column-base connections of steel or composite steel structures can be organized both moment resistant and non-moment resistant leading to different connection styles. Some of these connection styles are ordinary bolded systems, socket systems and embedded systems. The structures are frequently exposed to cycling lateral loading effects causing fatal damages on connections like columns-to-beams or columns-to-base. In this paper, connection of steel column with RC base was investigated analytically and experimentally. In the experiments, bolded connections, socket and embedded connection systems are taken into consideration by applying cyclic lateral loads. Performance curves for each connection were obtained according to experimental and analytical studies conducted and inelastic behavior of connections was evaluated accordingly. The cyclic lateral performance of the connection style of embedding the steel column into the reinforced concrete base and strengthening of steel column in upper level of base connection was found to be higher and effective than other connection systems. Also, all relevant test results were discussed.

• International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.1-15
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• 2011

This paper reviews most of the research done in the field of tensile buckling characteristics pertaining to aerospace structural elements with special attention to local buckling and parametric excitation due to periodic loading on plate and shell elements. The concepts of buckling in aerospace structures appear as the result of the application of a global compressive applied load or shear load. A less usual situation is the case, in which a global tensile stress creates buckling instability and the formation of complex spatial buckling pattern. In contrast to the case of a pure compression or shear load, here the applied macroscopic load has no compressive component and is thus globally stabilizing. The instability stems from a local compressive stress induced by the presence of a defect, such as a crack or a hole, due to partial or non-uniform applied load at the far end. This is referred to as tensile buckling. This paper discusses all aspects of tensile buckling, theoretical and experimental. Its far reaching applications causing local instability in aerospace structural components are discussed. The important effects on dynamic stability behaviour under locally induced periodic compression have been identified and influences of various parameters are discussed. Experimental results on simple and combination resonance characteristics on plate structures due to tensile buckling effects are elaborated.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.525-548
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• 2008

This article deals the theory for solving an inverse problem of plate structures using the frequency-domain information instead of classical time-domain delays or free vibration eigenmodes or eigenvalues. A reduced set of output parameters characterizing the defect is used as a regularization technique to drastically overcome noise problems that appear in imaging techniques. A deconvolution scheme from an undamaged specimen overrides uncertainties about the input signal and other coherent noises. This approach provides the advantage that it is not necessary to visually identify the portion of the signal that contains the information about the defect. The theoretical model for Quantitative nondestructive evaluation, the relationship between the real and ideal models, the finite element method (FEM) for the forward problem, and inverse procedure for detecting the defects are developed. The theoretical formulation is experimentally verified using dynamic responses of a steel plate under impact loading at several points. The signal synthesized by FEM, the residual, and its components are analyzed for different choices of time window. The noise effects are taken into account in the inversion strategy by designing a filter for the cost functional to be minimized. The technique is focused toward a exible and rapid inspection of large areas, by recovering the position of the defect by means of a single accelerometer, overriding experimental calibration, and using a reduced number of impact events.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.803-824
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• 2014

The dynamic characterization is important in making accurate predictions of the seismic response of the hybrid structures dominated by different damping mechanisms. Different damping characteristics arise from the construction of the tower with different materials: steel for the upper part; reinforced concrete for the lower main part and interaction with supporting soil. The process of modeling damping matrices and experimental verification is challenging because damping cannot be determined via static tests as can mass and stiffness. The assumption of classical damping is not appropriate if the system to be analyzed consists of two or more parts with significantly different levels of damping, such as steel/concrete mixed structure - supporting soil coupled system. The dynamic response of structures is critically determined by the damping mechanisms, and its value is very important for the design and analysis of vibrating structures. An analytical approach capable of evaluating the equivalent modal damping ratio from structural components is desirable for improving seismic design. Two approaches are considered to define and investigate dynamic characteristics of hybrid tower of cable-stayed bridges: The first approach makes use of a simplified approximation of two lumped masses to investigate the structure irregularity effects including damping of different material, mass ratio, frequency ratio on dynamic characteristics and modal damping; the second approach employs a detailed numerical step-by step integration procedure in which the damping matrices of the upper and the lower substructures are modeled with the Rayleigh damping formulation.

• Journal of Integrative Natural Science
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.190-198
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• 2016

Xanthine Oxidase is an enzyme, which oxidizes hypoxanthine to xanthine, and xanthine to uric acid. It is widely distributed throughout various organsincluding the liver, gut, lung, kidney, heart, brain and plasma. It is involved in gout pathogenesis. In this study, we have performed Comparative Molecular Field Analysis (CoMSIA) on a series of 2-(indol-5-yl) thiazole derivatives as xanthine oxidase (XO) inhibitors to identify the structural variations with their inhibitory activities. Ligand based CoMSIA models were generated based on atom-by-atom matching alignment. In atom-by-atom matching, the bioactive conformation of highly active molecule 11 was generated using systematic search. Compounds were aligned using the bioactive conformation and it is used for model generation. Different CoMSIA models were generated using different alignments and the best model yielded across-validated $q^2$ of 0.698 with five components and non-cross-validated correlation coefficient ($r^2$) of 0.992 with Fisher value as 236.431, and an estimated standard error of 0.068. The predictive ability of the best CoMSIA models was found to be $r{^2}_{pred}$ 0.653. The study revealed the important structural features required for the biological activity of the inhibitors and could provide useful for the designing of novel and potent drugs for the inhibition of Xanthine oxidase.

• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.47-53
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• 2006

Since ultrasound has different reflections depending on components of organization, analysis of ultrasound images of skeletal muscle can offer both quantitative and qualitative reports as concerns skeletal muscle structure. This study is focused on the ultrasound method for evaluating the structural characteristics of skeletal muscle and also conducted to examine its practicality. After obtaining images of the elbow flexors from an ultrasound image device with 88 normal subjects whose ages were between twenty and seventy years old (44 men and 44 women), muscular density and white area index (WAI) which indicated structural characteristics of skeletal muscle were analyzed with gray scale analysis. The study examined correlations between subject's age and items which obtained from measuring ultrasound images and the differences in relations to sex and age. Muscular density and WAI had a high correlation with age and were significantly increased in men and women with greater age. The quantitative evaluation method of skeletal muscle structure which analyzed the ultrasound images has high practicality because it is a non-invasive method which complements physical therapy diagnosis and research methods and promotes functionality evaluation.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.241-260
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• 2020

This article presented a comprehensive model to study static buckling stability and associated mode-shapes of higher shear deformation theories of sandwich laminated composite beam under the compression of varying axial load function. Four higher order shear deformation beam theories are considered in formulation and analysis. So, the model can consider the influence of both thick and thin beams without needing to shear correction factor. The compression force can be described through axial direction by uniform constant, linear and parabolic distribution functions. The Hamilton's principle is exploited to derive equilibrium governing equations of unified sandwich laminated beams. The governing equilibrium differential equations are transformed to algebraic system of equations by using numerical differential quadrature method (DQM). The system of equations is solved as an eigenvalue problem to get critical buckling loads and their corresponding mode-shapes. The stability of DQM in determining of buckling loads of sandwich structure is performed. The validation studies are achieved and the obtained results are matched with those. Parametric studies are presented to figure out effects of in-plane load type, sandwich thickness, fiber orientation and boundary conditions on buckling loads and mode-shapes. The present model is important in designing process of aircraft, naval structural components, and naval structural when non-uniform in-plane compressive loading is dominated.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.789-817
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• 2004

This paper deals with the modal analysis of rotational shell structures by means of the numerical solution technique known as the Generalized Differential Quadrature (G. D. Q.) method. The treatment is conducted within the Reissner first order shear deformation theory (F. S. D. T.) for linearly elastic isotropic shells. Starting from a non-linear formulation, the compatibility equations via Principle of Virtual Works are obtained, for the general shell structure, given the internal equilibrium equations in terms of stress resultants and couples. These equations are subsequently linearized and specialized for the rotational geometry, expanding all problem variables in a partial Fourier series, with respect to the longitudinal coordinate. The procedure leads to the fundamental system of dynamic equilibrium equations in terms of the reference surface kinematic harmonic components. Finally, a one-dimensional problem, by means of a set of five ordinary differential equations, in which the only spatial coordinate appearing is the one along meridians, is obtained. This can be conveniently solved using an appropriate G. D. Q. method in meridional direction, yielding accurate results with an extremely low computational cost and not using the so-called "delta-point" technique.

• Journal of Integrative Natural Science
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.45-49
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• 2014

The (c-Jun N-terminal kinase 3) JNK3 is a potential therapeutic target for various neurological disorders. Here, a three dimensional quantitative structure-activity relationship (3D-QSAR) study on phenoxypyridine as JNK3 inhibitors was performed to rationalize the structural requirements responsible for the inhibitory activity of these compounds. The comparative molecular field analysis (CoMFA) using different partial atomic charges, was employed to understand the structural factors affecting JNK3 inhibitory potency. The Gasteiger-Marsili yielded a CoMFA model with cross-validated correlation coefficient ($q^2$) of 0.54 and non-cross-validated correlation coefficient ($r^2$) of 0.93 with five components. Furthermore, contour maps suggested that bulky substitution with oxygen atom in $R^3$ position could enhance the activity considerably. The work suggests that further chemical modifications of the compounds could lead to enhanced activity and could assist in the design of novel JNK3 inhibitors.