• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.217-224
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• 1999

A semi-stochastic process model of reliability was established for hyperbolic cooling towers subjected to combined loadings of wind force, self-weight, temperature loading. Effect of the soil-structure interaction on reliability was evaluated. By involving the gust factor, an equivalent static scheme was employed to convert the dynamic model to static model. The TR combination rule was used to consider relations between load responses. An analysis example was made on the 90M cooling tower of Maoming, Guangdong of China. Numerical results show that the design not including interaction turns to be conservative.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.127-145
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• 2009

A novel approach is proposed to effectively estimate the quantile functions of normalized performance indices of reliability constraints in a reliability-based optimization (RBO) problem. These quantile functions are not only estimated as functions of exceedance probabilities but also as functions of the design variables of the target RBO problem. Once these quantile functions are obtained, all reliability constraints in the target RBO problem can be transformed into non-probabilistic ordinary ones, and the RBO problem can be solved as if it is an ordinary optimization problem. Two numerical examples are investigated to verify the proposed novel approach. The results show that the approach may be capable of finding approximate solutions that are close to the actual solution of the target RBO problem.

• Interaction and multiscale mechanics
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.103-121
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• 2008

This paper presents an optimization-based method for computing a minimal bounding ellipsoid that contains the set of static responses of an uncertain braced frame. Based on a non-stochastic modeling of uncertainty, we assume that the parameters both of brace stiffnesses and external forces are uncertain but bounded. A brace member represents the sum of the stiffness of the actual brace and the contributions of some non-structural elements, and hence we assume that the axial stiffness of each brace is uncertain. By using the $\mathcal{S}$-lemma, we formulate a semidefinite programming (SDP) problem which provides an outer approximation of the minimal bounding ellipsoid. The minimum bounding ellipsoids are computed for a braced frame under several uncertain circumstances.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.529-541
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• 2006

This work gives an application of stochastic techniques for the optimization of stiffened plates in vibration. The search strategy consists of substituting, for finite element calculations in the optimization process, an approximate response from a Rayleigh-Ritz method. More precisely, the paper describes the use of a Rayleigh-Ritz method in creating function approximations for use in computationally intensive design optimization based on genetic algorithms. Two applications are presented; their deal with the optimization of stiffeners on plates by varying their positions, in order to maximize some natural frequencies, while having well defined dimensions. In other words, this work gives the fundamental idea of using a Ritz approximation to the response of a plate in vibration instead of finite element analysis.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.329-353
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• 2014

Increasing usage of tank cars and their intrinsic instability due to sloshing of contents have caused growing maintenance costs as well as more frequent hazards and defects like derailment and fatigue of bogies and axels. Therefore, varieties of passive solutions have been represented to improve dynamical parameters. In this task, assuming 22 degrees of freedom, dynamic analysis of partially filled tank car traveling on a curved track is investigated. In order to consider stochastic geometry of track; irregularities have been derived randomly by Mont Carlo method. More over the fluid tank model with 1 degree of freedom is also presented by equivalent mechanical approach in terms of pendulum. An active suspension system for described car is designed by using linear quadratic optimal control theory to decrease destructive effects of fluid sloshing. Eventually, the performance of the active suspension system has been compared with that of the passive one and a study is carried out on how active suspension may affect the dynamical parameters such as displacements and Nadal's derailment index.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.3 no.5
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• pp.497-509
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• 1995

Effectiveness of multiple tuned mass dampers (MTMD) in suppressing the dynamic response of base excited structure for first mode vibration is investigated. The effectiveness of the MTMD is expressed by the ratio of the root mean square (RMS) displacement of the structure with MTMD to corresponding displacement without MTMD. The frequency content of base excitation is modelled as a broad-band stationary random process. The MTMD's with uniformly distributed natural frequencies are considered for this purpose. A parametric study is conducted to investigate the fundamental characteristics of the MTMD's and the effect of important parameters on the effectiveness of the MTMD's. The parameters include: the fundamental characteristics of the MTMD system such as damping, mass ratio, total number of MTMD, tuning frequency ratio, frequency spacing of the dampers and frequency content of the base excitation. It has been shown that MTMD can be more effective and more robust than a single TMD with equal mass and damping ratio.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.771-792
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• 2015

In the paper we study dynamic response of a finite, simply supported Timoshenko beam subject to a moving continuously distributed forces. Three problems have been considered. The dynamic response of the Timoshenko beam under a uniform distributed load moving with a constant velocity v has been considered as the first problem. Obtained solutions allow to find the response of the beam under the interval of the finite length a uniformly distributed moving load. Part of the solutions are presented in a closed form instead of an infinite series. As the second problem the steady-state vibrations of the beam under uniformly distributed mass $m_1$ moving with the constant velocity has been considered. The vibrations of the beam caused by the interval of the finite length randomly distributed load moving with constant velocity is considered as the last problem. It is assumed that load process is space-time stationary stochastic process.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.591-607
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• 2004

The substance of the use of the derived non-linear creep constitutive equations under variable stress levels (see first part of the paper, Kmet 2004) is explained and the strategy of their application is outlined using the results of one-step creep tests of the steel spiral strand rope as an example. In order to investigate the creep strain increments of cables an experimental set-up was originally designed and a series of tests were carried out. Attention is turned to the individual main steps in the production and application procedure, i.e., to the one-step creep tests, definition of loading history, determination of the kernel functions, selection and definition of constitutive equation and to the comparison of the resulting values considering the product and the additive forms of the approximation of the kernel functions. To this purpose, the parametrical study is performed and the results are presented. The constitutive equations of non-linear creep of cable under variable stress history offer a strong tool for the real simulation of stochastic variable load history and prediction of realistic time-dependent response (current deflection and stress configuration) of structures with cable elements. By means of suitable stress combination and its gradual repeating various loads and times effects can be modelled.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.56 no.2
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• pp.257-273
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• 2015

Numerical value of correlation between effective parameters in the strength of a structure is as important as its stochastic properties in determining the safety of the structure. In this article investigation is made about the variation of coefficient of correlation between effective parameters in corrosion initiation time of reinforcement and the time of concrete cover cracking in reinforced concrete (RC) structures. Presence of many parameters and also error in measurement of these parameters results in uncertainty in determination of corrosion initiation and the time to crack initiation. In this paper, assuming diffusion process as chloride ingress mechanism in RC structures and considering random properties of effective parameters in this model, correlation between input parameters and predicted time to corrosion is calculated using the Monte Carlo (MC) random sampling. Results show the linear correlation between corrosion initiation time and effective input parameters increases with increasing uncertainty in the input parameters. Diffusion coefficient, concrete cover, surface chloride concentration and threshold chloride concentration have the highest correlation coefficient respectively. Also the uncertainty in the concrete cover has the greatest impact on the coefficient of correlation of corrosion initiation time and the time of crack initiation due to the corrosion phenomenon.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.70 no.4
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• pp.457-466
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• 2019

This study develops a damage detection method based on neural networks. The performance of the method is numerically and experimentally verified using a three-story shear building model. The framework is mainly composed of two hierarchical stages to identify damage location and extent using artificial neural network (ANN). The normalized damage signature index, that is a normalized ratio of the changes in the natural frequency and mode shape caused by the damage, is used to identify the damage location. The modal parameters extracted from the numerically developed structure for multiple damage scenarios are used to train the ANN. The positive alarm from the first stage of damage detection activates the second stage of ANN to assess the damage extent. The difference in mode shape vectors between the intact and damaged structures is used to determine the extent of the related damage. The entire procedure is verified using laboratory experiments. The damage is artificially modeled by replacing the column element with a narrow section, and a stochastic subspace identification method is used to identify the modal parameters. The results verify that the proposed method can accurately detect the damage location and extent.