• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• 제24권4호
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• pp.371-388
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• 2021

A novel flexibility-based beam-foundation model for inelastic analyses of beams resting on foundation is presented in this paper. To model the deformability of supporting foundation media, the Winkler-Pasternak foundation model is adopted. Following the derivation of basic equations of the problem (strong form), the flexibility-based finite beam-foundation element (weak form) is formulated within the framework of the matrix virtual force principle. Through equilibrated force shape functions, the internal force fields are related to the element force degrees of freedom. Tonti's diagrams are adopted to present both strong and weak forms of the problem. Three numerical simulations are employed to assess validity and to show effectiveness of the proposed flexibility-based beam-foundation model. The first two simulations focus on elastic beam-foundation systems while the last simulation emphasizes on an inelastic beam-foundation system. The influences of the adopted foundation model to represent the underlying foundation medium are also discussed.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제23권6호
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• pp.691-714
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• 2017

Rotating fluid induced vibration and instability of embedded piezoelectric nano-composite separators subjected to magnetic and electric fields is the main contribution of present work. The separator is modeled with cylindrical shell element and the structural damping effects are considered by Kelvin-Voigt model. Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) are used as reinforcement and effective material properties are obtained by mixture rule. The perturbation velocity potential in conjunction with the linearized Bernoulli formula is used for describing the rotating fluid motion. The orthotropic surrounding elastic medium is considered by spring, damper and shear constants. The governing equations are derived on the bases of classical shell theory (CST), first order shear deformation theory (FSDT) and sinusoidal shear deformation theory (SSDT). The nonlinear frequency and critical angular fluid velocity are calculated by differential quadrature method (DQM). The detailed parametric study is conducted, focusing on the combined effects of the external voltage, magnetic field, visco-Pasternak foundation, structural damping and volume percent of SWCNTs on the stability of structure. The numerical results are validated with other published works as well as comparing results obtained by three theories. Numerical results indicate that with increasing volume fraction of SWCNTs, the frequency and critical angular fluid velocity are increased.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제7권6호
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• pp.533-550
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• 1999

Optimal design of raft-pile foundations is examined by combining finite element technique and the optimization approach. The piles and soil medium are modeled by three dimensional solid elements while the raft is modelled by shell elements. Drucker-Prager criterion is adopted for the soil medium while the raft and the piles are assumed to be linear elastic. For the optimization process, the approximate semi-analytical method is used for calculating constraint sensitivities and a constraint approximation method which is a combination of the extended Bi-point approximation and Lagrangian polynomial approximation is used for predicting the behaviour of the constraints. The objective function of the problem is the volume of materials of the foundation while the design variables are raft thickness, pile length and pile spacing. The generalized reduced gradient algorithm is chosen for solving the optimization process. It is demonstrated that the method proposed in this study is promising for obtaining optimal design of raft-pile foundations without carrying out a large number of analyses. The results are also compared with those obtained from the previous study in which linear analysis was carried out.

• Advances in aircraft and spacecraft science
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• 제5권6호
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• pp.691-729
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• 2018

In this paper the hygro-thermo-mechanical vibration and buckling behavior of embedded FG nano-plates are investigated. The Eringen's and Gurtin-Murdoch theories are applied to study the small scale and surface effects on frequencies and critical buckling loads. The effective material properties are modeled using Mori-Tanaka homogenization scheme. On the base of RPT and HSDPT plate theories, the Hamilton's principle is employed to derive governing equations. Using iterative and GDQ methods the governing equations are solved and the influence of different parameters on natural frequencies and critical buckling loads are studied.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제21권1호
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• pp.1-18
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• 2005

Foschi's connector model is used as a basic component in the development of nonlinear analysis programs for timber structures. This paper presents the extension of the model to include the effect of shaft frictional forces. The wood medium is modeled using the Foschi embedment model, while shaft friction is modeled using an elastic Coulomb-type friction model. The initial confining pressure for the case of driven fasteners is accounted for by a lateral shift of the load-embedment curve. The model is used to compute the cyclic response of both driven and inserted fasteners. The results obtained from the cases studied indicate that initial confining pressure and friction do not have a significant effect on the computed hysteretic response, however, they significantly affect the computed amount of fastener withdrawal. This model is particularly well-suited for modeling the hysteretic response of shear walls with moderate fastener withdrawal under lateral cyclic or earthquake loading.

• 대한수학회지
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• 제61권4호
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• pp.621-657
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• 2024

In this study, the numerical solution of a space-fractional Burgers' equation with initial and boundary conditions is considered. This equation is the simplest nonlinear model for diffusive waves in fluid dynamics. It occurs in a variety of physical phenomena, including viscous sound waves, waves in fluid-filled viscous elastic pipes, magneto-hydrodynamic waves in a medium with finite electrical conductivity, and one-dimensional turbulence. The proposed QBS/CNG technique consists of the Galerkin method with a function basis of quadratic B-splines for the spatial discretization of the space-fractional Burgers' equation. This is then followed by the Crank-Nicolson approach for time-stepping. A linearized scheme is fully constructed to reduce computational costs. Stability analysis, error estimates, and convergence rates are studied. Finally, some test problems are used to confirm the theoretical results and the proposed method's effectiveness, with the results displayed in tables, 2D, and 3D graphs.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제33권6호
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• pp.725-745
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• 2009

In this paper, probabilistic seismic performance assessment of a typical non-seismic RC frame building representative of a large inventory of existing buildings in developing countries is conducted. Nonlinear time-history analyses of the sample building are performed with 20 large-magnitude medium distance ground motions scaled to different levels of intensity represented by peak ground acceleration and 5% damped elastic spectral acceleration at the first mode period of the building. The hysteretic model used in the analyses accommodates stiffness degradation, ductility-based strength decay, hysteretic energy-based strength decay and pinching due to gap opening and closing. The maximum inter story drift ratios obtained from the time-history analyses are plotted against the ground motion intensities. A method is defined for obtaining the yielding and collapse capacity of the analyzed structure using these curves. The fragility curves for yielding and collapse damage levels are developed by statistically interpreting the results of the time-history analyses. Hazard-survival curves are generated by changing the horizontal axis of the fragility curves from ground motion intensities to their annual probability of exceedance using the log-log linear ground motion hazard model. The results express at a glance the probabilities of yielding and collapse against various levels of ground motion intensities.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제17권4호
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• pp.471-495
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• 2014

The responses of steel buildings with perimeter moment resisting frames (PMRF) with medium size columns (W14) are estimated and compared with those of buildings with deep columns (W27), which are selected according to two criteria: equivalent resistance and equivalent weight. It is shown that buildings with W27 columns have no problems of lateral torsional, local or shear buckling in panel zone. Whether the response is larger for W14 or W27 columns, depends on the level of deformation, the response parameter and the structural modeling under consideration. Modeling buildings as two-dimensional structures result in an overestimation of the response. For multiple response parameters, the W14 columns produce larger responses for elastic behavior. The axial load on columns may be significantly larger for the buildings with W14 columns. The interstory displacements are always larger for W14 columns, particularly for equivalent weight and plane models, implying that using deep columns helps to reduce interstory displacements. This is particularly important for tall buildings where the design is usually controlled by the drift limit state. The interstory shears in interior gravity frames (GF) are significantly reduced when deep columns are used. This helps to counteract the no conservative effect that results in design practice, when lateral seismic loads are not considered in GF of steel buildings with PMRF. Thus, the behavior of steel buildings with deep columns, in general, may be superior to that of buildings with medium columns, using less weight and representing, therefore, a lower cost.

• Korea-Australia Rheology Journal
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• 제19권2호
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• pp.51-59
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• 2007

A polyelectrolyte chain confined in a slit nanochannel exhibits a structural transition from the one in free space. In this paper, the effect of the long-range electrostatic interactions between the xanthan polyelectrolyte and the slit wall on the confined xanthan conformation is investigated via the Brownian dynamics simulation. A neutral and two negatively charged surfaces of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and glass are combined to make four kinds of slit channels with different charge characteristics: i) neutral-neutral, ii) glass-glass, iii) neutral-PDMS and iv) neutral-glass walls. Their walls are characterized by uniform surface charge densities determined from experimental data of zeta potential. Both the nonmonotonic chain size variation and the loss of long-range bond vector correlation, previously observed under confinement in the PDMS-PDMS slit, are also found in the neutral slit, demonstrating the nonelectrostatic origin of such crossover behaviors. As expected, the effect of wall charges is negligible at sufficiently high medium ionic strength of 100mM but it becomes significant in the opposite limit of 0.01mM. In the latter case, the high charge density of glass walls strengthens the effective confinement of a negatively charged polyelectrolyte and produces a xanthan structure comparable to that confined in a much narrower neutral slit. The obtained structural data suggest the possibility of controlling the structure of confined polyelectrolytes by the modification of surface charge characteristics of micro/nanofluidic devices in combination with the adjustment of the medium ionic strength.

• International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
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• 제14권1호
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• pp.30-45
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• 2013

The present work focuses on the unsteady aerodynamics and aeroelastic properties of a small-medium sized wind-turbine blade operating under ideal conditions. A tapered/twisted blade representative of commercial blades used in an experiment setup at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory is considered. The aerodynamic loads are computed using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) techniques. For this purpose, FLUENT$^{(R)}$, a commercial finite-volume code that solves the Navier-Stokes and the Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations, is used. Turbulence effects in the 2D simulations are modeled using the Wilcox k-w model for validation of the CFD approach. For the 3D aerodynamic simulations, in a first approximation, and considering that the intent is to present a methodology and workflow philosophy more than highly accurate turbulent simulations, the unsteady laminar Navier-Stokes equations were used to determine the unsteady loads acting on the blades. Five different blade pitch angles were considered and their aerodynamic performance compared. The structural dynamics of the flexible wind-turbine blade undergoing significant elastic displacements has been described by a nonlinear flap-lag-torsion slender-beam differential model. The aerodynamic quasi-steady forcing terms needed for the aeroelastic governing equations have been predicted through a strip-theory based on a simple 2D model, and the pertinent aerodynamic coefficients and the distribution over the blade span of the induced velocity derived using CFD. The resulting unsteady hub loads are achieved by a first space integration of the aeroelastic equations by applying the Galerkin's approach and by a time integration using a harmonic balance scheme. Comparison among two- and three- dimensional computations for the unsteady aerodynamic load, the flap, lag and torsional deflections, forces and moments are presented in the paper. Results, discussions and pertinent conclusions are outlined.