• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.161-172
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• 2022

In this paper, four specimens of CFST column joints with endplates and long bolts are tested in the scenario of progressive collapse. Flush endplate and extended endplate are both adopted in this study. The experimental results show that increasing the thickness of the endplate could improve the behavior of the joint, but delay the mobilization of catenary action. The thickness of the endplate should not be relatively thick in comparison to the diameter of the bolts, otherwise catenary action would not be mobilized or work effectively. Effective bending deformation of the endplate could help the formation and development of catenary action in the joints. The performance of flexural action in the joint would affect the formation of catenary action in the joint. Extra middle-row bolts set at the endplates and structural components set below the bottom beam flange should be used to enhance the robustness of joints. A special weld access hole between beam and endplate should be adopted to mitigate the chain damage potential of welds. It is suggested that the structural components of joints should be independent of each other to enhance the robustness of joints. Based on the component method, a formula calculating the stiffness coefficient of preloaded long bolts was proposed whose results matched well with the experimental results.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.5 no.5
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• pp.609-624
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• 1997

The optimization of cutouts in composite plates was investigated by implementing a procedure known as Evolutionary Structural Optimization. Perforations were introduced into a finite element mesh of the plate from which one or more cutouts of a predetermined size were evolved. In the examples presented, plates were rejected from around each evolving cutout based on a predefined rejection criterion. The limiting ply within each plate element around the cutout was determined based on the Tsai-Hill failure criterion. Finite element plates with values below the product of the average Tsai-Hill number and a rejection criterion were subsequently removed. This process was iterated until a steady state was reached and the rejection criterion was then incremented by an evolutionary rate and the above steps repeated until the desired cutout area was achieved. Various plates with differing lay-up and loading parameters were investigated to demonstrate the generality and robustness of this optimization procedure.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 1999.10a
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• pp.333-342
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• 1999

An improved optimization algorithm for multi-objective and multi-level (MO/ML) optimum design of steel frames is proposed in this paper. In order to optimize the steel frames under seismic load, two main objective functions need to be considered for minimizing the structural weight and maximizing the strain energy. For the efficiency of the proposed method, well known multi-level optimization techniques using decomposition method that separately utilizes both system-level and element-level optimizations and an artificial constraint deletion technique are incorporated in the algorithm. And also dynamic analysis is executed to evaluate the implicit function of structural strain energy at each iteration step. To save the numerical efforts, an efficient reanalysis technique through sensitivity analysis of dynamic properties is unposed in the paper. The efficiency and robustness of the improved MOML algorithm, compared with a plain MOML algorithm, is successfully demonstrated in the numerical examples.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2000.10a
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• pp.115-124
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• 2000

An efficient multi-level (EML) optimization algorithm using discrete variables of framed structures is proposed in this paper. For the efficiency of the proposed algorithm multi-level optimization techniques using a decomposition method that separates both system-level and element-level are incorporated in the algorithm In the system-level, to save the numerical efforts an efficient reanalysis technique through approximated structural responses such as moments and frequencies with respect to intermediate variables is proposed in the paper. Sensitivity analysis of dynamic structural response is executed by automatic differentiation (AD) that is a powerful technique for computing complex or implicit derivatives accurately and efficiently with minimal human effort. In the element-level, to use AISC W-sections a section search algorithm is introduced. The efficiency and robustness of the EML algorithm, compared with a conventional multi-level (CML) algorithm and single-level genetic algorithm is successfully demonstrated in the numerical examples.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.541-553
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• 2015

Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) systems can provide valuable information regarding the safety of structures during and after ground motions which can be used by authorities to reduce post-earthquake hazards. Strain gages as a key element play an important role in the success of SHM systems. Reducing the number of required strain gages while keeping the efficiency of SHM system not only can reduce the cost of structural health monitoring but also avoids storage and process of uninformative data. In this study, a method based on performance based seismic design of structures is proposed for ideal placement of stain gages in structures. The robustness and efficiency of the proposed method is demonstrated through installation of strain gages on an Airport Traffic Control (ATC) Tower. The obtained results show that the number of required strain gages decrease significantly.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.225-235
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• 2023

This paper presents the structural design of a planar synthetic aperture radar (SAR) antenna applied to a microsatellite. For micro-satellite applications, the SAR antenna structure must be lightweight, flat, and designed to withstand the launch environment. To satisfy these conditions, our novel antenna structure was designed using aluminium (AL) alloy. Structural analysis was performed for quasi-static load, random vibration, and shock load to verify its robustness in the launch environment, and the results are presented here.

• Journal of Aerospace System Engineering
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.97-103
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• 2022

An aircraft component can only be mounted on an aircraft if it has been certified to have a structural robustness under flight load conditions. Among the major components of the aircraft, a pylon is a structure that connects external equipment such as an engine, and external attachments with the main wing of an aircraft and transmits the loads acting on it to the main structure of the aircraft. In civil aircraft, when there is an incident of fire in the engine area, the pylon prevents the fire from spreading to the wings. This study presents the results of structural static tests performed to verify the structural robustness of a fuel pylon used to mount external fuel tank in an aircraft. In the main text, we present the test set-up diagram consisting of test fixture, hydraulic pressure unit, load control system, and data acquisition equipment used in the structure static test of the fuel pylon. In addition, we introduce the software that controls the load actuator, and provide a test profile for each test load condition. As a result of the structural static test, it was found that the load actuator was properly controlled within the allowable error range in each test, and the reliability of the numerical analysis was verified by comparing the numerical analysis results and the strain obtained from the structural test at the main positions of the test specimen. In conclusion, it was proved that the fuel pylon covered in this study has sufficient structural strength for the required load conditions through structural static tests.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.191-207
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• 2014

In this research, an internal model based method is proposed to estimate the structural displacements and velocities under ambient excitation using only acceleration measurements. The structural response is assumed to be within the linear range. The excitation is assumed to be with zero mean and relatively broad bandwidth such that at least one of the fundamental modes of the structure is excited and dominates in the response. Using the structural modal parameters and partial knowledge of the bandwidth of the excitation, the internal models of the structure and the excitation can be respectively established, which can be used to form an autonomous state-space representation of the system. It is shown that structural displacements, velocities, and accelerations are the states of such a system, and it is fully observable when the measured output contains structural accelerations only. Reliable estimates of structural displacements and velocities are obtained using the standard Kalman filtering technique. The effectiveness and robustness of the proposed method has been demonstrated and evaluated via numerical simulations on an eight-story lumped mass model and experimental data of a three-story frame excited by the ground accelerations of actual earthquake records.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.239-252
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• 2011

In this study, the performances of a passive tuned mass damper (TMD) and a semi-active TMD (STMD) were evaluated in terms of seismic response control of elastic and inelastic structures under seismic loads. First, elastic displacement spectra were obtained for damped structures with a passive TMD and with a STMD proposed in this study. The displacement spectra confirmed that the STMD provided much better control performance than passive TMD and the STMD had less stroke requirement. Also, the robustness of the TMD was evaluated by off-tuning the frequency of the TMD to that of the structure. Finally, numerical analyses were conducted for an inelastic structure of hysteresis described by the Bouc-Wen model. The results indicated that the performance of the passive TMD whose design parameters were optimized for an elastic structure considerably deteriorated when the hysteretic portion of the structural responses increased, and that the STMD showed about 15-40% more response reduction than the TMD.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.453-476
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• 2013

DuraMote is a remote sensing system developed for the "NIST TIP project: next generation SCADA for prevention and mitigation of water system infrastructure disaster". It is designed for supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) of ruptures in water pipes. Micro-electro mechanical (MEMS) accelerometers, which record the vibration of the pipe wall, are used detect the ruptures. However, the performance of Duramote cannot be verified directly on a water distribution system because it lacks an acceptable recordable level of ambient vibration. Instead, a long-span cable-stayed bridge is an ideal test-bed to validate the accuracy, the reliability, and the robustness of DuraMote because the bridge has an acceptable level of ambient vibration. The acceleration data recorded on the bridge were used to identify the modal properties of the structure and to verify the performance of DuraMote. During the test period, the bridge was subjected to heavy rain, wind, and a typhoon but the system demonstrates its robustness and durability.