• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2007.04a
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• pp.145-150
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• 2007

The spacer grid set is a component in the nuclear fuel assembly. The set supports the fuel rods saftely. Therefore, the spacer gl1d set should have sufficient strength for the external impact forces. The fretting wear occurs between the spring of the fuel rod and the spacer grid due to tile flow-induced vibration. The conceptual design of the spacer grid set is performed based on the Independence Axiom of axiomatic design. Two functional requirements are defined and corresponding design parameters are selected. The overall flow of the design is defined according to the application of axiomatic design. The design for the impact load is carried out by using nonlinear dynamic analysis to determine the length of the dimple. Topology optimization is carried out to determine a new configuration of the spring. The fretting wear is reduced by shape optimization using the homology theory. In the design to reduce the fretting wear, the deformed shape of the spring should be the same as that of the fuel rod. This condition is transformed to a function and considered as a constraint in the shape optimization process. The fretting wear is expected to be reduced due to the homology constraint. The objective function is minimizing the maximum stress to allow a slight plastic deformation. Shape optimization results are confirmed through nonlinear static analysis because the contact area becomes wider.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.719-738
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• 2010

The aim of this paper concerns with the nonlinear analysis of cable-stayed bridges including the vibration effect of cable stays. Two models for the cable stay system are built up in the study. One is the OECS (one element cable system) model in which one single element per cable stay is used and the other is MECS (multi-elements cable system) model, where multi-elements per cable stay are used. A finite element computation procedure has been set up for the nonlinear analysis of such kind of structures. For shape finding of the cable-stayed bridge with MECS model, an efficient computation procedure is presented by using the two-loop iteration method (equilibrium iteration and shape iteration) with help of the catenary function method to discretize each single cable stay. After the convergent initial shape of the bridge is found, further analysis can then be performed. The structural behaviors of cable-stayed bridges influenced by the cable lateral motion will be examined here detailedly, such as the static deflection, the natural frequencies and modes, and the dynamic responses induced by seismic loading. The results show that the MECS model offers the real shape of cable stays in the initial shape, and all the natural frequencies and modes of the bridge including global modes and local modes. The global mode of the bridge consists of coupled girder, tower and cable stays motion and is a coupled mode, while the local mode exhibits only the motion of cable stays and is uncoupled with girder and tower. The OECS model can only offers global mode of tower and girder without any motion of cable stays, because each cable stay is represented by a single straight cable (or truss) element. In the nonlinear seismic analysis, only the MECS model can offer the lateral displacement response of cable stays and the axial force variation in cable stays. The responses of towers and girders of the bridge determined by both OECS- and MECS-models have no great difference.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.86 no.2
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• pp.167-180
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• 2023

This work applies a four-known quasi-3D shear deformation theory to investigate the bending behavior of a functionally graded plate resting on a viscoelastic foundation and subjected to hygro-thermo-mechanical loading. The theory utilizes a hyperbolic shape function to predict the transverse shear stress, and the transverse stretching effect of the plate is considered. The principle of virtual displacement is applied to obtain the governing differential equations, and the Navier method, which comprises an exponential term, is used to obtain the solution. Novel to the current study, the impact of the viscoelastic foundation model, which includes a time-dependent viscosity parameter in addition to Winkler's and Pasternak parameters, is carefully investigated. Numerical examples are presented to validate the theory. A parametric study is conducted to study the effect of the damping coefficient, the linear and nonlinear loadings, the power-law index, and the plate width-tothickness ratio on the plate bending response. The results show that the presence of the viscoelastic foundation causes an 18% decrease in the plate deflection and about a 10% increase in transverse shear stresses under both linear and nonlinear loading conditions. Additionally, nonlinear loading causes a one-and-a-half times increase in horizontal stresses and a nearly two-times increase in normal transverse stresses compared to linear loading. Based on the article's findings, it can be concluded that the viscosity effect plays a significant role in the bending response of plates in hygrothermal environments. Hence it shall be considered in the design.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.9-16
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• 2018

When designing a reinforced concrete member using nonlinear finite element analysis results, the bending moment at the critical section should be calculated. In this paper, a bending moment calculation method using the results of reinforced concrete finite element analysis(FEA) using continuum elements is presented and the optimum element size according to the order of the displacement function of the finite element is proposed. The bending moments calculated by integrating the stresses from the FEA are compared with the bending moments calculated using the static equilibrium conditions. In the method of integrating the stress, both the stress due to the reinforcing bar and the stress of the concrete are considered. In addition, various factors affecting the accuracy of the stresses calculated by the FEA were analyzed and the influence of the displacement function and the element size was verified. If the purpose of the analysis is to roughly observe the behavior of the members, it is appropriate to use the first order displacement function and the element size should be about 25% of the section height of the analytical model. When the bending moment of a member with high accuracy is required, it is suggested that the secondary displacement function be used and the element size be 12.5%.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.51 no.3
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• pp.447-470
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• 2014

Numerical simulation of the non-linear behavior of (RC) structural walls subjected to severe earthquake ground motions requires a reliable modeling approach that includes important material characteristics and behavioral response features. The objective of this paper is to optimize a simplified method for the assessment of the seismic response and damage development analyses of an RC structural wall building using macro-element model. The first stage of this study investigates effectiveness and ability of the macro-element model in predicting the flexural nonlinear response of the specimen based on previous experimental test results conducted in UCLA. The sensitivity of the predicted wall responses to changes in model parameters is also assessed. The macro-element model is next used to examine the dynamic behavior of the structural wall building-all the way from elastic behavior to global instability, by applying an approximate Incremental Dynamic Analysis (IDA), based on Uncoupled Modal Response History Analysis (UMRHA), setting up nonlinear single degree of freedom systems. Finally, the identification of the global stiffness decrease as a function of a damage variable is carried out by means of this simplified methodology. Responses are compared at various locations on the structural wall by conducting static and dynamic pushover analyses for accurate estimation of seismic performance of the structure using macro-element model. Results obtained with the numerical model for rectangular wall cross sections compare favorably with experimental responses for flexural capacity, stiffness, and deformability. Overall, the model is qualified for safety assessment and design of earthquake resistant structures with structural walls.

• Proceedings of the Korea Committee for Ocean Resources and Engineering Conference
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• 2002.05a
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• pp.151-154
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• 2002

In this paper, the effect of the crack growth length on the plastic zone size at the crack tip and the crack growth lives of the DENT specimen under constant amplitude cyclic loading were studied. The plastic zone size was calculated by nonlinear static method in commercial finite element analysis program, MSC/NASTRAN and the crack growth lives were also calculated by using compliance function considering geometric shape in MSC/FATIGUE. The calculated plastic zone size increased proportional to the crack length. And comparison of calculated plastic zone size and crack growth lives with the experimental results shows a good agreement.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.757-768
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• 2016

In the past decades, effect of near field earthquake on the historical monuments has attracted the attention of researchers. So, many analyses in this regard have been presented. Tunnels as vital arteries play an important role in management after the earthquake crisis. However, digging tunnels and seismic effects of earthquake on the historical monuments have always been a challenge between engineers and historical supporters. So, in a case study, effect of near field earthquake on the historical monument was investigated. For this research, Finite Element Analysis (FEM) in soil environment and soil-structure interaction was used. In Plaxis 2D software, different accelerograms of near field earthquake were applied to the geometric definition. Analysis validations were performed based on the previous numerical studies. Creating a nonlinear relationship with space parameter, time, angular and numerical model outputs was of practical and critical importance. Hence, artificial Neural Network (ANN) was used and two linear layers and Tansig function were considered. Accuracy of the results was approved by the appropriate statistical test. Results of the study showed that buildings near and far from the tunnel had a special seismic behavior. Scattering of seismic waves on the underground tunnels on the adjacent buildings was influenced by their distance from the tunnel. Finally, a static test expressed optimal convergence of neural network and Plaxis.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.1541-1555
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• 2015

In this paper mechanical behavior of the functional gradient materials (FGM) micro-gripper under thermal load and DC voltage is numerically investigated taking into account the effect of intermolecular forces. In contrary to the similar previous works, which have been conducted for homogenous material, here, the FGM material has been implemented. It is assumed that the FGM micro-gripper is made of metal and ceramic and that material properties are changed continuously along the beam thickness according to a given function. The nonlinear governing equations of the static and dynamic deflection of microbeams have been derived using the coupled stress theory. The equations have been solved using the Galerkin based step-by-step linearization method (SSLM). The solution procedure has been evaluated against available data of literature showing good agreement. A parametric study has been conducted, focusing on the combined effects of important parameters included DC voltage, temperature variation, geometrical dimensions and ceramic volume concentration on the dynamic response and stability of the FGM micro-gripper.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.1391-1407
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• 1990

In this paper, optimization procedures are presented considering the static and dynamic constraints for laminated composite plate and hybrid laminated composite plate subject to concentrated load on center of the plates. Design variables for this problem are ply angle or ply thickness. Deflection, natural frequency and specific damping capacity are considered as constraints. Using a recursive linear programming method, the nonlinear optimization problems are solved. By introducing the design scaling factor, the number of iterations is reduced significantly. Composite plates could be designed optimally combined with FEM analysis under various conditions. In the optimization procedure, verification for both analysis and design of the laminated composite plates are compared with the results of the others. Various design results are presented for the laminated composite plates and hybrid laminated composite plates.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.52-60
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• 1997

In genetic algorithms(GA), a crossover is performed only at one or two places of a chromosome, and the fixed probabilities of crossover and mutation have been used during the entire generation. A GA with dynamic mutation is known to be superior to GAs with static mutation in performance, but so far no efficient dynamic mutation method has been presented. Accordingly in this paper, a GA is proposed to perform a uniform crossover based on the nucleotide(NU) concept, where DNA and RNA consist of NUs and also a concrete way to vary the probabilities of crossover and mutation dynamically for every generation is proposed. The efficacy of the proposed GA is demonstrated by its application to the unimodal, multimodal and nonlinear control problems, respectively. Simulation results show that in the convergence speed to the optimal value, the proposed GA was superior to existing ones, and the performance of GAs with varying probabilities of the crossover and the mutation improved as compared to GAs with fixed probabilities of the crossover and mutation. And it also shows that the NUs function as the building blocks and so the improvement of the proposed algorithm is supported by the building block hypothesis.