• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.337-348
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• 2020

Experimental testing has been considered as one of the most straightforward approaches to realize the structural behavior for earthquake engineering studies. Recently, novel and advanced experimental techniques, which combine numerical simulation with experimental testing, have been developed and applied to structural testing practically. However, researchers have to take the risk of damaging specimens or facilities during the process of developing and validating new experimental methods. In view of this, a small-scale structural laboratory has been designed and constructed in order to verify the effectiveness of newly developed experimental technique before it is applied to large-scale testing for safety concerns in this paper. Two orthogonal steel reaction walls and one steel T-slotted reaction floor are designed and analyzed. Accordingly, a large variety of experimental setups can be completed by installing servo-hydraulic actuators and fixtures depending on different research purposes. Meanwhile, a state-of-the-art digital controller and multiple real-time computation machines are allocated. The integration of hardware and software interfaces provides the feasibility and flexibility of developing novel experimental methods that used to be difficult to complete in conventional structural laboratories. A simple experimental demonstration is presented which utilizes part of the hardware and software in the small-scale structural laboratory. Finally, experimental layouts of future potential development and application are addressed and discussed, providing the practitioners with valuable reference for experimental earthquake engineering.

• Proceedings of the Korean Powder Metallurgy Institute Conference
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• 2006.09b
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• pp.1276-1277
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• 2006

The ever increasing requirements on today's compacts with regard to their geometry and precision call for flexible high-precision and most capable production systems. DORST Technologies has coped with these requirements by developing the new HP series for pressing forces between 1600 kN and 16000 kN and the new HS series for pressing forces between 150 kN and 1200 kN. These fully hydraulic presses featuring upper ram, lower ram, core rod, filler, up to 4 lower tool levels and up to 4 upper tool levels with closed-loop controlled movements. Thanks to latest servo technology and an electronic bus system it is possible to have all movements closed-loop controlled in the desired relation to each other. Thus, today's hydraulic presses provide high stroke rates, low energy consumption and a user-friendly interface. The input of data is carried out via clearly arranged screen masks on a touch-screen. The innovative DORST $IPG^{(R)}$ (Intelligent Program Generator) has been designed to support the set-up staff in preparing and optimizing the toolprogram. The combination of the machine type with the hydraulic unit determines the productivity in consideration of the specific application and the part to be pressed. Thanks to the closed-loop control circuits, DORST hydraulic automatic presses of the latest generation ensure unmatched precision and repeatability - and consequently process reliability - often without necessitating subsequent machining steps.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.753-762
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• 2012

The ratcheting characteristics of cylindrical shell under cyclic axial loading are investigated. The specimens are subjected to stress-controlled cycling with non-zero mean stress, which causes the accumulation of plastic strain or ratcheting behavior in continuous cycles. Also, cylindrical shell shows softening behavior under symmetric axial strain-controlled loading and due to the localized buckling, which occurs in the compressive stress-strain curve of the shell; it has more residual plastic strain in comparison to the tensile stress-strain hysteresis curve. The numerical analysis was carried out by ABAQUS software using hardening models. The nonlinear isotropic/kinematic hardening model accurately simulates the ratcheting behavior of shell. Although hardening models are incapable of simulating the softening behavior of the shell, this model analyzes the softening behavior well. Moreover, the model calculates the residual plastic strain close to the experimental data. Experimental tests were performed using an INSTRON 8802 servo-hydraulic machine. Simulations show good agreement between numerical and experimental results. The results reveal that the rate of plastic strain accumulation increases for the first few cycles and then reduces in the subsequent cycles. This reduction is more rapid for numerical results in comparison to experiments.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2018

In this paper, local ratcheting behavior of 1045 steel plates with circular cutout was investigated. Experimental tests were carried out by a Zwick/Roell HB 100 servo hydraulic machine. In order to measure the local strain at notch root, a data acquisition system with strain gauge was used. Various notch diameters and distances of strain gauges mounted from the notch root were found influential in the magnitude of local ratcheting strain. It was found that the local maximum principal stress plays a crucial role in increasing the local plastic deformation. Numerical simulation was done by ABAQUS software using nonlinear isotropic/kinematic hardening model. Material parameters of hardening model were attained from several stabilized cycles of flat specimens subjected to symmetric strain cycles. The nonlinear kinematic hardening model along with the Neuber's rule was employed to assess local ratcheting at the notch root of steel plates. The results of the numerical simulations agreed closely with those measured values in this study. Both ratcheting progress and mean stress relaxation occurred simultaneously at the notch root.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.15-20
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• 2019

The superplastic forming/diffusion bonding process has been developed to fabricate a core frame structure with joint nodes out of tubes, for the development of a titanium high performance bicycle. The hydroforming process has been applied for bulging of a tube in the superplastic condition before, and during the diffusion bonding process. In this experiment, a commercial Ti-3Al-2.5V tube was selected as raw material for the study. The forming experiment has been performed using a servo-hydraulic press with a capacity of 200 ton. Next, nitrogen gas was used to acquire necessary pressure for the bulging and bonding of the tubes to fabricate the joint nodes. The pertinent processing temperature was $870^{\circ}C$ for the superplastic hydroforming/diffusion bonding (SHF/DB) process, using the Ti-3Al-2.5V tube. The bonding quality and the progress of bulging and diffusion bonding have been observed by the investigation of the joining interfaces at the cross section of the joint structure. The control of the nitrogen pressure throughout the SHF/DB process, was an important factor to avoid any significant defects in the joint structure. The whole progress stage of the diffusion bonding could be observed at a joint interface. A core structure with 5 joint nodes to manufacture a titanium bicycle could be obtained in a SHF/DB process.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.83 no.1
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• pp.93-108
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• 2022

Real-time hybrid simulation (RTHS) was applied to investigate the train-bridge interaction of a high-speed railway system, where the railway bridge was selected as the numerical substructure, and the train was physically tested. The interaction between the two substructures was reproduced by a servo-hydraulic shaking table. To accurately reproduce the high-frequency interaction responses ranging from 10-25Hz using the hydraulic shaking table with an inherent delay of 6-50ms, an adaptive time series (ATS) compensation algorithm combined with the linear quadratic Gaussian (LQG) was proposed and implemented in the RTHS. Testing cases considering different train speeds, track irregularities, bridge girder cross-sections, and track settlements featuring a wide range of frequency contents were conducted. The performance of the proposed ATS+LQG delay compensation method was compared to the ATS method and RTHS without any compensation in terms of residual time delays and root mean square errors between commands and responses. The effectiveness of the ATS+LQG method to compensate time delay in RTHS with high-frequency responses was demonstrated and the proposed ATS+LQG method outperformed the ATS method in yielding more accurate responses with less residual time delays.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.541-557
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• 2015

This research aims to analyze the fracture coalescence characteristics of brittle sandstone specimen ($80{\times}160{\times}30mm$ in size) containing various flaws (a single fissure, double squares and combined flaws). Using a rock mechanics servo-controlled testing system, the strength and deformation behaviours of sandstone specimen containing various flaws are experimentally investigated. The results show that the crack initiation stress, uniaxial compressive strength and peak axial strain of specimen containing a single fissure are all higher than those containing double squares, while which are higher than those containing combined flaws. For sandstone specimen containing combined flaws, the uniaxial compressive strength of sandstone increase as fissure angle (${\alpha}$) increases from $30^{\circ}$ to $90^{\circ}$, which indicates that the specimens with steeper fissure angles can support higher axial capacity for ${\alpha}$ greater than $30^{\circ}$. In the entire deformation process of flawed sandstone specimen, crack evolution process is discussed detailed using photographic monitoring technique. For the specimen containing a single fissure, tensile wing cracks are first initiated at the upper and under tips of fissure, and anti-tensile cracks and far-field cracks are also observed in the deformation process; moreover anti-tensile cracks usually accompanies with tensile wing cracks. For the specimen containing double squares, tensile cracks are usually initiated from the top and bottom edge of two squares along the direction of axial stress, and in the process of final unstable failure, more vertical splitting failures are observed in the ligament region. When a single fissure and double squares are formed together into combined flaws, the crack coalescence between the fissure tips and double squares plays a significant role for ultimate failure of the specimen containing combined flaws.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.569-580
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• 2020

The identification of delays and delay compensation are critical problems in real-time hybrid simulations (RTHS). Conventional delay compensation methods are mostly based on the assumption of a constant delay. However, the system delay may vary during tests owing to the nonlinearity of the loading system and/or the behavioral variations of the specimen. To address this issue, this study presents an adaptive delay compensation method based on a discrete model of the loading system. In particular, the parameters of this discrete model are identified and updated online with the least-squares method to represent a servo hydraulic loading system. Furthermore, based on this model, the system delays are compensated for by generating system commands using the desired displacements, achieved displacements, and previous displacement commands. This method is more general than the existing compensation methods because it can predict commands based on multiple displacement categories. Moreover, this method is straightforward and suitable for implementation on digital signal processing boards because it relies solely on the displacements rather than on velocity and/or acceleration data. The virtual and real RTHS results show that the studied method exhibits satisfactory estimation smoothness and compensation accuracy. Furthermore, considering the measurement noise, the low-order parameter models of this method are more favorable than that the high-order parameter models.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.425-436
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• 2017

Vibration control using a tuned mass damper (TMD) is an effective technique that has been verified using analytical methods and experiments. It has been applied in mechanical, automotive, and structural applications. However, the damping of a TMD cannot be adjusted in real time. An excessive mass damper stroke may be introduced when the mass damper is subjected to a seismic excitation whose frequency content is within its operation range. The semi-active tuned mass damper (SATMD) has been proposed to solve this problem. The parameters of an SATMD can be adjusted in real time based on the measured structural responses and an appropriate control law. In this study, a stiffness-controllable TMD, called a leverage-type stiffness-controllable mass damper (LSCMD), is proposed and fabricated to verify its feasibility. The LSCMD contains a simple leverage mechanism and its stiffness can be altered by adjusting the pivot position. To determine the pivot position of the LSCMD in real time, a discrete-time direct output-feedback active control law that considers delay time is implemented. Moreover, an identification test for the transfer function of the pivot driving and control systems is proposed. The identification results demonstrate the target displacement can be achieved by the pivot displacement in 0-2 Hz range and the control delay time is about 0.1 s. A shaking-table test has been conducted to verify the theory and feasibility of the LSCMD. The comparisons of experimental and theoretical results of the LSCMD system show good consistency. It is shown that dynamic behavior of the LSCMD can be simulated correctly by the theoretical model and that the stiffness can be properly adjusted by the pivot position. Comparisons of experimental results of the LSCMD and passive TMD show the LSCMD with less demand on the mass damper stroke than that for the passive TMD.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.567-582
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• 2022

In the present study, a series of physical experiments and numerical simulations were conducted to investigate the effects of mode I and mixed-mode I/II cracks on the fracture modes and stability of roadway tunnel models. The experiments and simulations incorporated different inclination angle flaws under both static and dynamic loads. The quasi-static and dynamic testing were conducted by using an electro-hydraulic servo control device and drop weight impact system (DWIS), and the failure process was simulated by using rock failure process analysis (RFPA) and AUTODYN software. The stress intensity factor was also calculated to evaluate the stability of the flawed roadway tunnel models by using ABAQUS software. According to comparisons between the test and numerical results, it is observed that for flawed roadways with a single radical crack and inclination angle of 45°, the static and dynamic stability are the lowest relative to other angles of fractured rock masses. For mixed-mode I/II cracks in flawed roadway tunnel models under dynamic loading, a wing crack is produced and the pre-existing cracks increase the stress concentration factor in the right part of the specimen, but this factor will not be larger than the maximum principal stress region in the roadway tunnel models. Additionally, damage to the sidewalls will be involved in the flawed roadway tunnel models under static loads.