• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.193-212
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• 2009

The resilience of a city confronted with a terrorist bomb attack is the background of the paper. The resilience strongly depends on vital infrastructure and the physical protection of people. The protection buildings provide in case of an external explosion is one of the important elements in safety assessment. Besides the aspect of protection, buildings facilitate and enable many functions, e.g., offices, data storage, -handling and -transfer, energy supply, banks, shopping malls etc. When a building is damaged, the loss of functions is directly related to the location, amount of damage and the damage level. At TNO Defence, Security and Safety methods are developed to quantify the resilience of city infrastructure systems (Weerheijm et al. 2007b). In this framework, the dynamic response, damage levels and residual bearing capacity of multi-storey RC buildings is studied. The current paper addresses the aspects of dynamic response and progressive collapse, as well as the proposed method to relate the structural damage to a volume-damage parameter, which can be linked to the loss of functionality. After a general introduction to the research programme and progressive collapse, the study of the dynamic response and damage due to blast loading for a single RC element is described. Shock tube experiments on plates are used as a reference to study the possibilities of engineering methods and an explicit finite element code to quantify the response and residual bearing capacity. Next the dynamic response and progressive collapse of a multi storey RC building is studied numerically, using a number of models. Conclusions are drawn on the ability to predict initial blast damage and progressive collapse. Finally the link between the structural damage of a building and its loss of functionality is described, which is essential input for the envisaged method to quantify the resilience of city infrastructure.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.595-603
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• 2024

In the construction industry, there has been a surge in the implementation of high-tech equipment in recent years. Various technologies are being considered as potential solutions for future construction projects. Building information modeling (BIM), which utilizes advanced equipment, is a promising solution among these technologies. The need for safety inspection has also increased with the aging structures. Nevertheless, traditional safety inspection technology falls short of meeting this demand as it heavily relies on the subjective opinions of workers. This inadequacy highlights the need for advancements in existing maintenance technology. Research on building safety inspection using 3D laser scanners has notably increased. Laser scanners that use light detection and ranging (LiDAR) can quickly and accurately acquire producing information, which can be realized through reverse engineering by modeling point cloud data. This study introduces an innovative evaluation system for building safety using a 3D laser scanner. The system was used to assess the safety of an existing three-story building by implementing a reverse engineering technique. The 3D digital data are obtained from the scanner to detect defects and deflections in and outside the building and to create an as-built BIM. Subsequently, the as-built structural model of the building was generated using the reverse engineering approach and used for structural analysis. The acquired information, including deformations and dimensions, is compared with the expected values to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed technique.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.631-647
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• 2015

Engineers may encounter unpredictable cavities, sinkholes and karst conduits while tunneling in karst area, and water inrush disaster frequently occurs and endanger the construction safety, resulting in huge casualties and economic loss. Therefore, an optimal classification method based on grey system theory (GST) is established and applied to accurately predict the occurrence probability of water inrush. Considering the weights of evaluation indices, an improved formula is applied to calculate the grey relational grade. Two evaluation indices systems are proposed for risk assessment of water inrush in design stage and construction stage, respectively, and the evaluation indices are quantitatively graded according to four risk grades. To verify the accuracy and feasibility of optimal classification method, comparisons of the evaluation results derived from the aforementioned method and attribute synthetic evaluation system are made. Furthermore, evaluation of engineering practice is carried through with the Xiakou Tunnel as a case study, and the evaluation result is generally in good agreement with the field-observed result. This risk assessment methodology provides a powerful tool with which engineers can systematically evaluate the risk of water inrush in karst tunnels.

• Computational Structural Engineering : An International Journal
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.97-106
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• 2001

Safety and serviceability of a planar steel frame are assessed. Attention is turned to the individual main steps in the assessment procedure, i.e., to the definition of loads, selection of transformation model, determination of the response of the structure to the loading, and to the definition of the limiting values (considering safely and serviceability of the structure). The potential of the method using direct Monte Carlo technique as a powerful tool is emphasized.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aviation and Aeronautics
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.59-67
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• 2016

The checklist currently used for Aviation safety inspection performed by ASIs consists of inspection groups and multiple items, it does not have structured hierarchy system which required to efficiently process aviation safety analysis. On this study, through mapping taxonomy of HFACS onto current checklist to secure structured hierarchy system and present a specification on systematic frequency and severity to perform safety risk assessment of detected hazard.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2001.04a
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• pp.102-109
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• 2001

In order to take account of the statistical properties of probability variables used in the structural analysis, the conventional approach using the safety factor based on past experience usually estimated the safety of a structure. The real structures could only be analyzed with the error in estimation of loads, material characters and the dimensions of the members. But the errors should be considered systematically in the structural analysis. Structural safety could not precisely be appraised by the traditional structural design concept. Recently, new approach based on the probability concept has been applied to the assessment of structural safety using the reliability concept. Thus, the computer program by the Probabilistic FEM is developed by incorporating the probabilistic concept into the conventional FEM method. This paper estimated for the reliability of a plane stress structure by Advanced First-Order Second Moment method using von Mises, Tresca and Mohr-Coulomb failure criterions. The reliability index and failure probability of attained by the Monte Carlo Simulation method with the von Mises criterion were same as PFEM, but the Monte Carlo Simulation were very time-consuming. The variance of member thickness and load could influence the reliability and failure probability most sensitively among the design variables from the results of the parameter analysis. And proper failure criterion must be used to design safely.

• Advances in Computational Design
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.121-131
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• 2017

Collapse was one of the typical common geological hazards during the construction of tunnels. The risk assessment of collapse was an effective way to ensure the safety of tunnels. We established a prediction model of collapse based on Bayesian Network. 76 large or medium collapses in China were analyzed. The variable set and range of the model were determined according to the statistics. A collapse prediction software was developed and its veracity was also evaluated. At last the software was used to predict tunnel collapses. It effectively evaded the disaster. Establishing the platform can be subsequent perfect. The platform can also be applied to the risk assessment of other tunnel engineering.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 1999.10a
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• pp.29-46
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• 1999

The performance based design obligates quantitative assessment of required performances by means of transparent and objective science. In this design scheme, simulation of both macro and micro-scale structural behaviors is thought to be a powerful tool. This paper proposes a way how to unify the structural safety and serviceability check method and durability assessment of RC structures. Though component chemical-physical processes are crudely assumed, system dynamics of micro-scale pore structure formation and macro-scale defects and deformation of structures was shown as possible and promising approach in future. The authors understand that the unification of structural and durability design has just started. For further progress and development, predictive tool of structural behaviors from birth to death of concrete under any specified environment and load serves as an essential technicality.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.67-78
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• 2018

The stability of cutting slope influences the safety of railway operation, and how to identify the stability of the slope quickly and determine the rational monitoring plan is a pressing problem at present. In this study, the attribute recognition model of risk assessment for high cutting slope stability in the heavy haul railway is established based on attribute mathematics theory, followed by the consequent monitoring scheme design. Firstly, based on comprehensive analysis on the risk factors of heavy haul railway loess slope, collapsibility, tectonic feature, slope shape, rainfall, vegetation conditions, train speed are selected as the indexes of the risk assessment, and the grading criteria of each index is established. Meanwhile, the weights of the assessment indexes are determined by AHP judgment matrix. Secondly, The attribute measurement functions are given to compute attribute measurement of single index and synthetic attribute, and the attribute recognition model was used to assess the risk of a typical heavy haul railway loess slope, Finally, according to the risk assessment results, the monitoring content and method of this loess slope were determined to avoid geological disasters and ensure the security of the railway infrastructure. This attribute identification- risk assessment- monitoring design mode could provide an effective way for the risk assessment and control of heavy haul railway in the loess plateau.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2005.04a
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• pp.28-35
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• 2005

It is now well recognized that the ultimate limit state approach is a much better basis for design and strength assessment of ships and offshore structures since it is difficult to determine the realistic margin of safety using the traditional allowable working stress approach on the basis of linear elastic method solutions together with buckling strengthchecks adjusted by a simple plasticity correction. This paper outlines ALPS theory for ultimate limit state assessment of ship structures. ALPS is a computer software which stands for nonlinear Analysis of Large Plated Structures. Application examples of ALPS program to ultimate limit state assessment of plates, stiffened panels and ship hull girders are presented. A benchmark study is made by a comparison with the ALPS solutions with other methods including class rule formulae, nonlinear finite element methods and experimental results. Future trends on ultimate limit state assessment of ship structures are addresse[1]