• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.43 no.2
• /
• pp.271-278
• /
• 2022

Buckling is one of the most critical phoneme in the design of steel structures. Lateral torsional buckling (LTB) is particularly significant for slender beams generally subjected to loading in plane. The web distortion effects on LTB are not addressed explicitly in standards for flexural design of steel I-section members. Hence, the present study is focused to predict the influence of the web distortion on the elastic (L_r) limiting lengths given in American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) code for the lateral torsional buckling (LTB) behavior of steel beams due to no provision in the code for consideration of web distortion. For this aim, the W44x335 beam is adopted in the buckling analysis carried out by the ABAQUS finite element (FE) program since it is one of the most critical sections in terms of lateral torsional buckling (LTB). The strain results at mid-height of the web at mid-span of the beam are taken into account as the monitoring parameters. The web strain results are found to be relatively greater than the yield strain value when L/L_r is equal to 1.0. In other words, the ratio of L/L_r is estimated from the numerical analysis to be about 1.5 when the beam reaches its first yielding at mid-span of the beam at mid-height of the section. Due to the effect of web distortion, the elastic limiting length (L_r) from the numerical analysis is obtained to be considered as greater than the calculated length from the code formulation. It is suggested that the formulations of the limiting length proposed in the code can be corrected considering the influence of the web distortion. This correction can be a modification factor or a shape factor that reduces sectional slenderness for the LTB formulation in the code.

• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• v.21 no.5
• /
• pp.531-549
• /
• 2021

Analytical models were developed and seismic behaviors were analyzed for a three-story stone pagoda at the Cheollyongsa temple site, which was damaged by the Gyeongju earthquake of 2016. Both finite and discrete element modeling were used and the analysis results were compared to the actual earthquake damage. Vulnerable parts of stone pagoda structure were identified and their seismic behaviors via sliding, rocking, and risk analyses were verified. In finite and discrete element analyses, the 3F main body stone was displaced uniaxially by 60 and 80 mm, respectively, similar to the actual displacement of 90 mm resulting from the earthquake. Considering various input conditions such as uniaxial excitation and soil-structure interaction, as well as seismic components and the distance from the epicenter, both models yielded reasonable and applicable results. The Gyeongju earthquake exhibited extreme short-period characteristics; thus, short-period structures such as stone pagodas were seriously damaged. In addition, we found that sliding occurred in the upper parts because the vertical load was low, but rocking predominated in the lower parts because most structural members were slender. The third-floor main body and roof stones were particularly vulnerable because some damage occurred when the sliding and rocking limits were exceeded. Risk analysis revealed that the probability of collapse was minimal at 0.1 g, but exceeded 80% at above 0.3 g. The collapse risks at an earthquake peak ground acceleration of 0.154 g at the immediate occupancy, life safety, and collapse prevention levels were 90%, 52%, and 6% respectively. When the actual damage was compared with the risk analysis, the stone pagoda retained earthquake-resistant performance at the life safety level.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.42 no.1
• /
• pp.1-22
• /
• 2022

In cold-formed steel (CFS) structures, such as trusses, transmission towers and portal frames, the use of back-to-back built-up CFS unequal angle sections are becoming increasingly popular. In such an arrangement, intermediate welds or screw fasteners are required at discrete points along the length, preventing the angle sections from buckling independently. Limited research is available in the literature on axial strength of back-to-back built-up CFS unequal angle sections. The issue is addressed herein. This paper presents an experimental investigation reported by the authors on back-to-back built-up CFS unequal angle sections with intermediate stiffeners under axial compression. The load-axial shortening behaviour along with the deformed shapes at failure are reported. A nonlinear finite element (FE) model was then developed, which includes material non-linearity, geometric imperfections and modelling of intermediate fasteners. The FE model was validated against the experimental test results, which showed good agreement, both in terms of failure loads and deformed shapes at failure. The validated finite element model was then used for the purpose of a parametric study comprising 96 models to investigate the effect of longer to shorter leg ratios, stiffener provided in the longer leg, thicknesses and lengths on axial strength of back-to-back built-up CFS unequal angle sections. Four different thicknesses and seven different lengths (stub to slender columns) with three overall widths to the overall depth (B/D) ratios were investigated in the parametric study. Axial strengths obtained from the experimental tests and FE analyses were used to assess the performance of the current design guidelines as per the Direct Strength Method (DSM); obtained comparisons show that the current DSM is conservative by only 7% and 5% on average, while predicting the axial strengths of back-to-back built-up CFS unequal angle sections with and without the stiffener, respectively.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.17 no.8
• /
• pp.456-464
• /
• 2016

Increasing the strength of structural materials allows their self-weight to be reduced and this, in turn, enables the structures to satisfy esthetic requirements. The yield strength of high-performance steel is almost 480 MPa, which is approximately 50% higher than that of general structural steel. The use of high strength materials, however, makes the sections more slender, which can potentially result in significant local stability problems. The strength of slender element sections might be governed by their elastic buckling behavior, and the elastic buckling strength is very sensitive to the boundary conditions. Because the web provides the boundary conditions of the compressive thin-flange, the stiffness of the web can affect the elastic buckling strength of the flange. In this study, therefore, the effects of the flange and web slenderness ratios on the elastic flange local buckling of I-girders subjected to a pure bending moment were evaluated by finite element analysis (FEA). The analysis results show that the elastic local buckling strength and buckling modes were affected not only by the web support conditions, but also by the flange and web slenderness ratios.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
• /
• v.29 no.1
• /
• pp.9-18
• /
• 2016

The slender structures such as high rise building or marine riser are highly susceptible to dynamic force exerted by fluid-structure interactions among which vortex-induced vibration(VIV) is the main cause of dynamic unstability of the structural system. If VIV occurs in natural frequency regime of the structure, fatigue failure likely happens by so-called lock-in phenomenon. This study presents the numerical analysis of dynamic behavior of both structure and fluid in the lock-in regimes and investigates the subjacent phenomena to hold the resonance frequency in spite of the change of flow condition. Unsteady and laminar flow was considered for a two-dimensional circular cylinder which was assumed to move freely in 1 degree of freedom in the direction orthogonal to the uniform inflow. Fluid-structure interaction was implemented by solving both unsteady flow and dynamic motion of the structure sequentially in each time step where the fluid domain was remeshed considering the movement of the body. The results show reasonable agreements with previous studies and reveal characteristic features of the lock-in phenomena. Not only the lift force but also drag force are drastically increasing during the lock-in regime, the vertical displacement of the cylinder reaches up to 20% of the diameter of the cylinder. The correlation analysis between lift and vertical displacement clearly show the dramatic change of the phase difference from in-phase to out-of-phase when the cylinder experiences lock-in. From the results, it can be postulated that the change of phase difference and flow condition is responsible for the resonating behavior of the structure during lock-in.

• Computers and Concrete
• /
• v.16 no.6
• /
• pp.933-961
• /
• 2015

Damage by high-speed impact fracture is a dominant mode of failure in several applications of concrete structures. Numerical modelling can play a crucial role in understanding and predicting complex fracture processes. The commonly used mesh-based Finite Element Method has difficulties in accurately modelling the high deformation and disintegration associated with fracture, as this often distorts the mesh. Even with careful re-meshing FEM often fails to handle extreme deformations and results in poor accuracy. Moreover, simulating the mechanism of fragmentation requires detachment of elements along their boundaries, and this needs a fine mesh to allow the natural propagation of damage/cracks. Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) is an alternative particle based (mesh-less) Lagrangian method that is particularly suitable for analysing fracture because of its capability to model large deformation and to track free surfaces generated due to fracturing. Here we demonstrate the capabilities of SPH for predicting brittle fracture by studying a slender concrete structure (column) under the impact of a high-speed projectile. To explore the effect of the projectile material behaviour on the fracture process, the projectile is assumed to be either perfectly-elastic or elastoplastic in two separate cases. The transient stress field and the resulting evolution of damage under impact are investigated. The nature of the collision and the constitutive behaviour are found to considerably affect the fracture process for the structure including the crack propagation rates, and the size and motion of the fragments. The progress of fracture is tracked by measuring the average damage level of the structure and the extent of energy dissipation, which depend strongly on the type of collision. The effect of fracture property (failure strain) of the concrete due to its various compositions is found to have a profound effect on the damage and fragmentation pattern of the structure.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
• /
• v.20 no.3
• /
• pp.377-387
• /
• 2008

The post-buckling behavior of slender members, such as the chord of truss structures generally implies extreme strength degradation. The buckling strength is usually determined as the performance of the compressed steel members, so it is important to understand the exact buckling behavior of a member in order to design the entire structure. A target analytical model is usually divided by beam or shell element when we simulate the buckling behavior of a compressed steel member such as atruss member. In this case, it is possible to accurately obtain the behavior, but such would be expensive and would require experience inanalysis even in monotonic loading. In this paper, we propose a consistent and convenient method to analyze the post-buckling behavior of elastoplastic compression members. The present methods are formulated to satisfy the second law of thermodynamics. Three numerical examples were tested to determine the validity of the proposed model in cyclic loading with comparable F.E.M results.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
• /
• v.25 no.3
• /
• pp.279-287
• /
• 2013

The steel members are applied to high rise building since they have high strength compare to the concrete member. On the other hand, the elastic buckling is likely to occur in steel member because of their small section. When the elastic buckling occur, the steel structure lose a load carrying capacity. The steel frame would be unstable due to a rapid decline in strength by buckling. The purpose of this study is the development of FLD(Force Limiting Device) to prevent a elastic buckling for a slender member. Further, the behavior of steel structures with FLD would be stable by high energy absorption capacity. The proposed type of FLD is the type of out-of-plane resistance. In this study, member test and FEM analysis for proposed type were performed. The test parameters are thickness and gradient angle of out-of-plane plate. The proposed type may be effective method for FLD.

• Smart Structures and Systems
• /
• v.7 no.2
• /
• pp.83-102
• /
• 2011

As a testbed for various structural health monitoring (SHM) technologies, a super-tall structure - the 610 m-tall Guangzhou Television and Sightseeing Tower (GTST) in southern China - is currently under construction. This study aims to explore state-of-the-art wireless sensing technologies for monitoring the ambient vibration of such a super-tall structure during construction. The very nature of wireless sensing frees the system from the need for extensive cabling and renders the system suitable for use on construction sites where conditions continuously change. On the other hand, unique technical hurdles exist when deploying wireless sensors in real-life structural monitoring applications. For example, the low-frequency and low-amplitude ambient vibration of the GTST poses significant challenges to sensor signal conditioning and digitization. Reliable wireless transmission over long distances is another technical challenge when utilized in such a super-tall structure. In this study, wireless sensing measurements are conducted at multiple heights of the GTST tower. Data transmission between a wireless sensing device installed at the upper levels of the tower and a base station located at the ground level (a distance that exceeds 443 m) is implemented. To verify the quality of the wireless measurements, the wireless data is compared with data collected by a conventional cable-based monitoring system. This preliminary study demonstrates that wireless sensing technologies have the capability of monitoring the low-amplitude and low-frequency ambient vibration of a super-tall and slender structure like the GTST.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.23 no.3
• /
• pp.273-283
• /
• 2017

In this paper, it is aimed to present a detail investigation related to structural behavior of laterally unrestrained steel cantilever roof of tribune with slender cross section. The structure is located in Tutak town in $A{\breve{g}}r{{\i}}$ and collapsed on October 25, 2015 at eastern part of Turkey is considered as a case study. This mild sloped roof structure was built from a variable I beam, and supported on steel columns of 5.5 m height covering totally $240m^2$ closed area in plan. The roof of tribune collapsed completely without any indication during first snowfall after construction at midnight a winter day, fortunately before the opening hours. The meteorological records and observations of local persons are combined together to estimate the intensity of snow load in the region and it is compared with the code specified values. Also, the wide/thickness and height/thickness ratios for flange and web are evaluated according to the design codes. Three dimensional finite element model of the existing steel tribune roof is generated considering project drawings and site investigations using commercially available software ANSYS. The displacements, principal stresses and strains along to the cantilever length and column height are given as contour diagrams and graph format. In addition to site investigation, the numerical and analytical works conducted in this study indicate that the unequivocal reasons of the collapse are overloading action of snow load intensity, some mistakes made in the design of steel cantilever beams, insufficient strength and rigidity of the main structural elements, and construction workmanship errors.