• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.90 no.1
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• pp.19-26
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• 2024

In recent years, an increasing number of experimental studies have shown that the practical application of mature active control systems requires consideration of robustness criteria in the design process, including the reduction of tracking errors, operational resistance to external disturbances, and measurement noise, as well as robustness and stability. Good uncertainty prediction is thus proposed to solve problems caused by poor parameter selection and to remove the effects of dynamic coupling between degrees of freedom (DOF) in nonlinear systems. To overcome the stability problem, this study develops an advanced adaptive predictive fuzzy controller, which not only solves the programming problem of determining system stability but also uses the law of linear matrix inequality (LMI) to modify the fuzzy problem. The following parameters are used to manipulate the fuzzy controller of the robotic system to improve its control performance. The simulations for system uncertainty in the controller design emphasized the use of acceleration feedback for practical reasons. The simulation results also show that the proposed H∞ controller has excellent performance and reliability, and the effectiveness of the LMI-based method is also recognized. Therefore, this dynamic control method is suitable for seismic protection of civil buildings. The objectives of this document are access to adequate, safe, and affordable housing and basic services, promotion of inclusive and sustainable urbanization, implementation of sustainable disaster-resilient construction, sustainable planning, and sustainable management of human settlements. Simulation results of linear and non-linear structures demonstrate the ability of this method to identify structures and their changes due to damage. Therefore, with the continuous development of artificial intelligence and fuzzy theory, it seems that this goal will be achieved in the near future.

• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.71-86
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• 2016

This paper summarizes the results of a two-year-long research project conducted by the CTBUH on the life cycle assessment (LCA) of tall building structural systems. The research project was made possible thanks to a $300,000 contribution from ArcelorMittal and the support of some of the most important structural engineering firms and players in the tall building industry. The research analyzed all life phases of a tall building's structural system: the extraction and production of its materials, transportation to the site, construction operations, final demolition of the building, and the end-of-life of the materials. The impact of the building structure during the operational phase (i.e., impact on daily energy consumption, maintenance, and suitability to changes) was also investigated, but no significant impacts were identified during this phase.

• International conference on construction engineering and project management
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• 2017.10a
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• pp.14-23
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• 2017

In high-density high-rise cities such as Hong Kong, buildings account for nearly 90% of energy consumption and 61% of carbon emissions. Therefore, it is important to study the design of buildings, especially high-rise buildings, to achieve lower carbon emissions in the city. The carbon emissions of a building consist of embodied carbon from the production of construction materials and operational carbon from energy consumption during daily operation (e.g., air-conditioning and lighting). An integrated analysis of both types of carbon emissions can strengthen the design of low carbon buildings, but most of the previous studies concentrated mainly on either embodied or operational carbon. Therefore, the primary objective of this study is to develop a holistic methodology framework considering both embodied and operational carbon, in order to enhance the sustainable design of low carbon high-rise buildings. The framework will be based on the building information modeling (BIM) technology because BIM can be integrated with simulation systems and digital models of different disciplines, thereby enabling a holistic design and assessment of low carbon buildings. Structural analysis program is first coupled with BIM to validate the structural performance of a building design. The amounts of construction materials and embodied carbon are then quantified by a BIM-based program using the Dynamo programming interface. Operational carbon is quantified by energy simulation software based on the green building extensible Markup Language (gbXML) file from BIM. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) will be applied to analyze the ambient wind effect on indoor temperature and operational carbon. The BIM-based framework serves as a decision support tool to compare and explore more environmentally-sustainable design options to help reduce the carbon emissions in buildings.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.21-37
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• 2007

In this study a stochastic approach for linear viscous dampers design adopted for seismic protection of buildings is developed. Devices optimal placement into the main structure and their mechanical parameters are attained by means of a reliability-based optimum design criterion, in which an objective function (O.F.) is minimized, subject to a stochastic constraint. The seismic input is modelled by a non stationary modulated Kanai Tajimi filtered stochastic process. Building is represented by means of a plane shear type frame model. The selected criterion for the optimization searches the minimum of the O.F., here assumed to be the cost of the seismic protection, i.e., assumed proportional to the sum of added dampings of each device. The stochastic constraint limits a suitable approximated measure of the structure failure probability, here associated to the maximum interstorey drift crossing over a given threshold limit, related, according with modern Technical Codes, to the required damage control.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.511-531
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• 2013

Recent advances in low-cost remote monitoring systems have made it possible and practical to perform structural health monitoring (SHM) on a large scale. However, it is difficult for a single remote monitoring system to cover a wide range of SHM applications due to the amount of specialization required. For the remote monitoring system to be flexible, sustainable, and robust, this article introduces a new cost-effective, advanced remote monitoring and inspection system named DuraMote that can serve as a next generation supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system for civil infrastructure systems. To evaluate the performance of DuraMote, we conduct experiments at two representative counterpart sites: a bridge and water pipelines. The objectives of this article are to improve upon the existing SCADA by integrating the remote monitoring system (i.e., DuraMote), to describe a prototype SCADA for civil engineering structures, and to validate its effectiveness with long-term field deployment results.

• International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.251-258
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• 2014

The use of sustainable technologies such as supplementary cementitious materials, and/or recycled post-consumer environmental wastes is widely used in concrete industry in the last decade. This paper presents the results of a laboratory investigation of normal concrete containing sustainable technologies. Twenty one mixtures (21) were prepared with different combinations of silica fume, fly ash, olive's seed ash, and corncob ash (CCA). Fresh and hardened concrete properties were measured, as expected the inclusion of the sustainable technologies affected both fresh and hardened concrete properties. Based on the results obtained in this study and the analyses conducted, the following observations were drawn: replacing the cement by olive's seed ash or CCA has a significant effect on fresh concrete workability. Olive's seed ash increased the slump by more than 200 % compared to the control mixtures. The compressive strength of mixtures containing olive's seed ash showed by 45 and 75 % decrease compared to the control mixtures. The 28 days compressive strength of mixtures produced by CCA of 10 % replacement decreased by 41 % compared to the control mixture.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.85 no.5
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• pp.573-592
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• 2023

This paper presents a careful theoretical investigation into interfacial stresses in composite aluminum-slab reinforced concrete beam bonded by a prestressed hybrid carbon-glass composite material. The model is based on equilibrium and deformations compatibility requirements in and all parts of the strengthened beam, i.e., the aluminum beam, the slab reinforced concrete, the hybrid carbon-glass composite plate and the adhesive layer. The theoretical predictions are compared with other existing solutions. Numerical results from the present analysis are presented both to demonstrate the advantages of the present solution over existing ones and to illustrate the main characteristics of interfacial stress distributions. It is shown that the stresses at the interface are influenced by the material and geometry parameters of the composite beam. This research is helpful for the understanding on mechanical behaviour of the interface and design of the hybrid structures.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.501-509
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• 2012

A 990 bp full-length gene (xynAHJ2) encoding a 329-residue polypeptide (XynAHJ2) with a calculated mass of 38.4 kDa was cloned from Bacillus sp. HJ2 harbored in a saline soil. XynAHJ2 showed no signal peptide, distinct amino acid stretches of glycoside hydrolase (GH) family 10 intracellular endoxylanases, and the highest amino acid sequence identity of 65.3% with the identified GH 10 intracellular mesophilic endoxylanase iM-KRICT PX1-Ps from Paenibacillus sp. HPL-001 (ACJ06666). The recombinant enzyme (rXynAHJ2) was expressed in Escherichia coli and displayed the typical characteristics of low-temperature-active enzyme (exhibiting optimum activity at $35^{\circ}C$, 62% at $20^{\circ}C$, and 38% at $10^{\circ}C$; thermolability at ${\geq}45^{\circ}C$). Compared with the reported GH 10 low-temperature-active endoxylanases, which are all extracellular, rXynAHJ2 showed low amino acid sequence identities (<45%), low homology (different phylogenetic cluster), and difference of structure (decreased amount of total accessible surface area and exposed nonpolar accessible surface area). Compared with the reported GH 10 intracellular endoxylanases, which are all mesophilic and thermophilic, rXynAHJ2 has decreased numbers of arginine residues and salt bridges, and showed resistance to $Ni^{2+}$, $Ca^{2+}$, or EDTA at 10 mM final concentration. The above mechanism of structural adaptation for low-temperature activity of intracellular endoxylanase rXynAHJ2 is different from that of GH 10 extracellular low-temperature-active endoxylanases. This is the first report of the molecular and biochemical characterizations of a novel intracellular low-temperature-active xylanase.

• Advances in materials Research
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.91-109
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• 2022

This paper presents a closed-form higher-order analysis of interfacial shear stresses in RC continuous beams strengthened with bonded prestressed laminates. For retrofitting reinforced concrete continuous beams is to bond fiber reinforced prestressed composite plates to their tensile faces. An important failure mode of such plated beams is the debonding of the composite plates from the concrete due to high level of stress concentration in the adhesive at the ends of the composite plate. The model is based on equilibrium and deformations compatibility requirements in and all parts of the strengthened beam, where both the shear and normal stresses are assumed to be invariant across the adhesive layer thickness. In the present theoretical analysis, the adherend shear deformations are taken into account by assuming a parabolic shear stress through the thickness of both the RC continuous beams strengthened with bonded prestressed laminates. The theoretical predictions are compared with other existing solutions. A parametric study has been conducted to investigate the sensitivity of interface behavior to parameters such as laminate stiffness and the thickness of the laminate where all were found to have a marked effect on the magnitude of maximum shear and normal stress in the composite member.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.271-298
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• 2012

Researchers have made significant progress in recent years towards realizing effective structural health monitoring (SHM) utilizing wireless smart sensor networks (WSSNs). These efforts have focused on improving the performance and robustness of such networks to achieve high quality data acquisition and distributed, in-network processing. One of the primary challenges still facing the use of smart sensors for long-term monitoring deployments is their limited power resources. Periodically accessing the sensor nodes to change batteries is not feasible or economical in many deployment cases. While energy harvesting techniques show promise for prolonging unattended network life, low power design and operation are still critically important. This research presents the WiSeMote: a new, fully integrated ultra-low power wireless smart sensor node and a flexible base station, both designed for long-term SHM deployments. The power consumption of the sensor nodes and base station has been minimized through careful hardware selection and the implementation of power-aware network software, without sacrificing flexibility and functionality.