• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.119-131
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• 2024

Drift angle is a significant index for diagnosing post-event structures. A common way to estimate this drift response is by using modal parameters identified under natural excitations. Although the modal parameters of shear structures cannot be identified accurately in the real environment, the identification error has little impact on the estimation when measurements from several floors are used. However, the estimation accuracy falls dramatically when there is only one accelerometer. This paper describes the susceptibility of single sensor identification to modelling error and simulations that preliminarily verified this characteristic. To make a robust evaluation from measurements of one floor of shear structures based on imprecisely identified parameters, a novel scheme is devised to approximately correct the mode shapes with respect to fictitious frequencies generated with a genetic algorithm; in particular, the scheme uses constrained minimization to take both the mathematical aspect and the realistic aspect of the mode shapes into account. The algorithm was validated by using a full-scale shear building. The differences between single-sensor and multiple-sensor estimations were analyzed. It was found that, as the number of accelerometers decreases, the error rises due to insufficient data and becomes very high when there is only one sensor. Moreover, when measurements for only one floor are available, the proposed method yields more precise and appropriate mode shapes, leading to a better estimation on the drift angle of the lower floors compared with a method designed for multiple sensors. As well, it is shown that the reduction in space complexity is offset by increasing the computation complexity.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.145-163
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• 2024

The evaluation of dynamic characteristics of bridges under operational traffic loads is a crucial aspect of bridge structural health monitoring. In the vehicle-bridge interaction (VBI) system, the vibration responses of bridge exhibit time-varying characteristics. To address this issue, an accurate time-frequency analysis method that combines the autoregressive power spectrum based empirical wavelet transform (AR-EWT) and local maximum synchrosqueezing transform (LMSST) is proposed to identify the time-varying instantaneous frequencies (IFs) of the bridge in the VBI system. The AR-EWT method decomposes the vibration response of the bridge into mono-component signals. Then, LMSST is employed to identify the IFs of each mono-component signal. The AR-EWT combined with the LMSST method (AR-EWT+LMSST) can resolve the problem that LMSST cannot effectively identify the multi-component signals with weak amplitude components. The proposed AR-EWT+LMSST method is compared with some advanced time-frequency analysis techniques such as synchrosqueezing transform (SST), synchroextracting transform (SET), and LMSST. The results demonstrate that the proposed AR-EWT+LMSST method can improve the accuracy of identified IFs. The effectiveness and applicability of the proposed method are validated through a multi-component signal, a VBI numerical model with a four-degree-of-freedom half-car, and a VBI model experiment. The effect of vehicle characteristics, vehicle speed, and road surface roughness on the identified IFs of bridge are investigated.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.165-175
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• 2024

Rotating beams play a crucial role in representing complex mechanical components that are prevalent in vital sectors like energy and transportation industries. These components are susceptible to the initiation and propagation of cracks, posing a substantial risk to their structural integrity. This study presents a two-stage methodology for detecting the location and estimating the size of an open-edge transverse crack in a rotating Euler-Bernoulli beam with a uniform cross-section. Understanding the dynamic behavior of beams is vital for the effective design and evaluation of their operational performance. In this regard, modal parameters such as natural frequencies and eigenmodes are frequently employed to detect and identify damages in mechanical components. In this instance, the Frobenius method has been employed to determine the first two natural frequencies and corresponding eigenmodes associated with flapwise bending vibration. These calculations have been performed by solving the governing differential equation that describes the motion of the beam. Various parameters have been considered, such as rotational speed, beam slenderness, hub radius, and crack size and location. The effect of the crack has been replaced by a rotational spring whose stiffness represents the increase in local flexibility as a result of the damage presence. In the initial phase of the proposed methodology, a damage index utilizing the slope of the beam's eigenmode has been employed to estimate the location of the crack. After detecting the presence of damage, the size of the crack is determined using a Genetic Algorithm optimization technique. The ultimate goal of the proposed methodology is to enable the development of more suitable and reliable maintenance plans.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.175-189
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• 2024

Aiming at studying the plastic hinge (PH) evolution regularities and failure mode of rocking wall moment frame (RWMF) structure in earthquakes, the whole-working history analysis of seismic performance state of RWMF structure based on co-operation performance and PH evolution was carried out. Building upon the theoretical analysis of the elastic internal forces and deformations of RWMF structures, nonlinear finite element analysis (FEA) methods were employed to perform both Pushover analysis and seismic response time history analysis under different seismic coefficients (δ). The relationships among PH occurrence ratios (R_ph), inter-story drifts and δ were established. Based on the plotted curve of the seismic performance states, evaluation limits for the R_ph and inter-story drifts were provided for different performance states of RWMF structures. The results indicate that the R_ph of RWMF structures exhibits a nonlinear evolution trend of "fast at first, then slow" with the increasing of δ. The general pattern is characterized by the initial development of beam hinges in the middle stories, followed by the development towards the top and bottom stories until the beam hinges are fully formed. Subsequently, the development of column hinges shifts from the bottom and top stories towards the middle stories of the structure, ultimately leading to the loss of seismic lateral capacity with a failure mode of partial beam yield, demonstrating a global yielding pattern. Moreover, the limits for the R_ph and inter-story drifts effectively evaluate the five different performance states of RWMF structures.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.619-629
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• 2024

To improve the utilization rate of phosphate tailings (PTs) and widen the sources of subgrade filler, the PTs is employed to modify clay, forming a PTs modified clay, applied in the subgrade. Accordingly, the environmental friendliness of PTs was investigated. Subsequently, an optimal proportion was determined through compaction and California Bearing Ratio (CBR) experiments. Afterward, the stability of mixture with the optimal proportion was further evaluated through the water stability and dry-wet stability experiments. Finally, via the gradation and microstructure experiments, the strength mechanism of PTs modified clay was analyzed. The results show that the PTs were classified in the non-hazardous solid wastes, belonging to Class A building materials. With the increase of PTs content and the decrease of clay content, the optimum water content and the swelling degree gradually decrease, while the maximum dry density and CBR first increase and then decrease, reaching their peak value at 50% PTs content, which is the optimal proportion. The resilient modulus of PTs modified clay at the optimal proportion reaches 110.2 MPa. The water stability coefficient becomes stable after soaking for 4 days, while the dry-wet stability coefficient decreases with the increase of cycles and tends to be stable after 8 cycles. Under the long-term action, the dry-wet change has a greater adverse impact than continuous soaking. The analysis demonstrates that the better strength mainly comes from the skeleton role of PTs and the cementation of clay. The systematic laboratory test results and economic analysis collectively provide data evidence for the advantages of PTs modified clay as a subgrade filler.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.575-587
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• 2024

The contact pressure between the surrounding rock and the support is an important indicator of the surrounding rock pressure. There has been a bottleneck in the prediction of contact loads between surrounding rock and primary support in deep-buried mountain tunnels. The main reason is that a reliable method wasn't existed to quantify the contact loads. This study had been taken into account the flexible support role of the primary support, and the fitting curve of surrounding rock deformation for dynamic tunnel construction was proposed. New formulas for the calculation of contact loads between surrounding rock and primary support were obtained by inversion. Comparative analysis of the calculation results with numerical simulation verified the reliability of the calculation method in this study. It can be seen from the analyses that the contact load between surrounding rock and primary support increases, remains unchanged and decreases during acceleration, uniform velocity and deceleration, respectively, and the deformation of the surrounding rock in the acceleration and deceleration stages cannot completely converted into contact loads. The contact loads between surrounding rock and primary support of medium-strength and weak surrounding rock tunnels are generally within 150 kPa and 1 MPa, respectively. For tunnels with weak surrounding rock, advanced support can be installed to reduce the unique release coefficient λ₀ and the value of the constant D, with the purpose of reducing the contact loads between surrounding rock and primary support. Changes in support parameters have a small effect on the contact loads between surrounding rock and primary support, but increase or decrease the safety factor, resulting in a waste of resources or a situation that threatens the safety of the support. The results of this research provide guidance for the prediction of contact loads between surrounding rock and primary support for dynamic tunnel construction.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.465-474
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• 2024

Uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) is a critical geomechanical parameter that plays a significant role in the evaluation of rocks. The practice of indirectly estimating said characteristics is widespread due to the challenges associated with obtaining high-quality core samples. The primary aim of this study is to investigate the feasibility of utilizing the gene expression programming (GEP) technique for the purpose of forecasting the UCS for various rock categories, including Schist, Granite, Claystone, Travertine, Sandstone, Slate, Limestone, Marl, and Dolomite, which were sourced from a wide range of quarry sites. The present study utilized a total of 170 datasets, comprising Schmidt hammer (SH), porosity (n), point load index (Is(50)), and P-wave velocity (Vp), as the effective parameters in the model to determine their impact on the UCS. The UCS parameter was computed through the utilization of the GEP model, resulting in the generation of an equation. Subsequently, the efficacy of the GEP model and the resultant equation were assessed using various statistical evaluation metrics to determine their predictive capabilities. The outcomes indicate the prospective capacity of the GEP model and the resultant equation in forecasting the unconfined compressive strength (UCS). The significance of this study lies in its ability to enable geotechnical engineers to make estimations of the UCS of rocks, without the requirement of conducting expensive and time-consuming experimental tests. In particular, a user-friendly program was developed based on the GEP model to enable rapid and very accurate calculation of rock's UCS, doing away with the necessity for costly and time-consuming laboratory experiments.

• Advances in nano research
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.231-249
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• 2024

When the amplitude of the vibrations is equivalent to that clearance, the vibrations for small amplitudes will really be significantly nonlinear. Nonlinearities will not be significant for amplitudes that are rather modest. Finally, nonlinearities will become crucial once again for big amplitudes. Therefore, the concrete panel system may experience a big amplitude in this work as a result of the high temperature. Based on the 3D modeling of the shell theory, the current work shows the influences of the von Kármán strain-displacement kinematic nonlinearity on the constitutive laws of the structure. The system's governing Equations in the nonlinear form are solved using Kronecker and Hadamard products, the discretization of Equations on the space domain, and Duffing-type Equations. Thermo-elasticity Equations. are used to represent the system's temperature. The harmonic solution technique for the displacement domain and the multiple-scale approach for the time domain are both covered in the section on solution procedures for solving nonlinear Equations. An effective data-driven solution is often utilized to predict how different systems would behave. The number of hidden layers and the learning rate are two hyperparameters for the network that are often chosen manually when required. Additionally, the data-driven method is offered for addressing the nonlinear vibration issue in order to reduce the computing cost of the current study. The conclusions of the present study may be validated by contrasting them with those of data-driven solutions and other published articles. The findings show that certain physical and geometrical characteristics have a significant effect on the existing concrete panel structure's susceptibility to temperature change and GPL weight fraction. For building construction industries, several useful recommendations for improving the thermo-mechanics' behavior of structural concrete panels are presented.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.489-509
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• 2024

Slope stability analysis and prediction are of critical importance to geotechnical engineers, given the severe consequences associated with slope failure. This research endeavors to forecast the factor of safety (FOS) for slopes through the implementation of six distinct ML techniques, including back propagation neural networks (BPNN), feed-forward neural networks (FFNN), Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy system (TSF), gene expression programming (GEP), and least-square support vector machine (Ls-SVM). 344 slope cases were analyzed, incorporating a variety of geometric and shear strength parameters measured through the PLAXIS software alongside several loss functions to assess the models' performance. The findings demonstrated that all models produced satisfactory results, with BPNN and GEP models proving to be the most precise, achieving an R² of 0.86 each and MAE and MAPE rates of 0.00012 and 0.00002 and 0.005 and 0.004, respectively. A Pearson correlation and residuals statistical analysis were carried out to examine the importance of each factor in the prediction, revealing that all considered geomechanical features are significantly relevant to slope stability. However, the parameters of friction angle and slope height were found to be the most and least significant, respectively. In addition, to aid in the FOS computation for engineering challenges, a graphical user interface (GUI) for the ML-based techniques was created.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.511-525
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• 2024

Underground openings significantly affect the mechanical stability of underground spaces and create damaged zones. This study investigated the acoustic emission (AE) characteristics associated with the formation of damaged zones around circular openings. Uniaxial compression experiments were conducted on three types of rock specimens, namely, granite (GN-1 and GN-2), gabbro (GB), and slate (SL), containing a circular opening. AE and digital image correlation (DIC) techniques were used to monitor and evaluate the damaged zones near the circular openings. The AE characteristics were evaluated using AE parameters, including count, energy, amplitude, average frequency, and RA value. The DIC results revealed that the estimated diameters of the damaged zones of GN-1, GN-2, GB, and SL were 1.66D, 1.53D, 1.49D, and 1.9D, respectively. The average displacements at the surface of the damaged zones for these specimens were 0.814, 0.786, 0.661, and 0.673 mm, respectively, thus demonstrating a strong correlation with Young's modulus. The AE analysis with DIC revealed that tensile failure occurred in the direction parallel to the maximum compression axis as the load increased. Thus, this study provides fundamental data for a comprehensive analysis of damaged zones in underground openings and will facilitate the optimization of rock engineering projects and safety assessments thereof.