• Wind and Structures
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.201-251
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• 1999

Flexible structures may experience excessive levels of vibration under the action of wind, adversely affecting serviceability and occupant comfort. To ensure the functional performance of a structure, various design modifications are possible, ranging from alternative structural systems to the utilization of passive and active control devices. This paper presents an overview of state-of-the-art measures that reduce the structural response of buildings, including a summary of recent work in aerodynamic tailoring and a discussion of auxiliary damping devices for mitigating the wind-induced motion of structures. In addition, some discussion of the application of such devices to improve structural resistance to seismic events is also presented, concluding with detailed examples of the application of auxiliary damping devices in Australia, Canada, China, Japan, and the United States.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.179-189
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• 2017

Concrete shear walls are one of the major structural lateral resisting systems in buildings. In some cases, due to the change in the occupancy of the structure or functional requirements like architectural and even mechanical ones, openings need to be provided and installed in structural walls after their construction. Providing these openings may significantly influence the structural behavior of the constructed wall. This paper considers the results of a nonlinear finite element analysis of shear walls with opening strengthened by carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) strips with different configurations. Details of bond-slip constitutive model of link elements to simulate the connections of FRP strips to concrete surface is presented. The proposed model in this research has been validated using experimental results available in the literature. The results indicated that the proposed configuration of CFRP strips significantly improved the lateral resistance and deformation capacity of the shear walls with opening.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.269-294
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• 2017

This study aimed to realize the creation of fuzzy stochastic damage to describe reliability more essentially with the analysis of harmony of damage conception, probability and fuzzy degree of membership in interval [0,1]. Two kinds of fuzzy behaviors of damage development were deduced. Fuzzy stochastic damage models were established based on the fuzzy memberships functional and equivalent normalization theory. Fuzzy stochastic damage finite element method was developed as the approach to reliability simulation. The three-dimensional fuzzy stochastic damage mechanical behaviors of Jianshan mine slope were analyzed and examined based on this approach. The comprehensive results, including the displacement, stress, damage and their stochastic characteristics, indicate consistently that the failure foci of Jianshan mine slope are the slope-cutting areas where, with the maximal failure probability 40%, the hazardous Domino effects will motivate the neighboring rock bodies' sliding activities.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.75-89
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• 1995

A transition membrane element designated as CLM which has variable mid-side nodes with drilling freedoms has been presented in this paper. The functional for the linear problem, in which the drilling rotations are introduced as independent variables, has been formulated. The transition elements with variable side nodes can be efficiently used in the local mesh refinement for the in-plane structures, which have stress concentrations. A modified Gaussian quadrature is needed to be adopted to evaluate the stiffness matrices of these transition elements mainly due to the slope discontinuity of displacement within the elements. Detailed numerical studies show the excellent performance of the new transition elements developed in this study.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.569-585
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• 2015

Various computational tools are available for modeling highly nonlinear structural engineering problems that lack a precise analytical theory or understanding of the phenomena involved. This paper adopts a fairly simple nonparametric adaptive regression algorithm known as multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS) to model the nonlinear interactions between variables. The MARS method makes no specific assumptions about the underlying functional relationship between the input variables and the response. Details of MARS methodology and its associated procedures are introduced first, followed by a number of examples including three practical structural engineering problems. These examples indicate that accuracy of the MARS prediction approach. Additionally, MARS is able to assess the relative importance of the designed variables. As MARS explicitly defines the intervals for the input variables, the model enables engineers to have an insight and understanding of where significant changes in the data may occur. An example is also presented to demonstrate how the MARS developed model can be used to carry out structural reliability analysis.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.323-337
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• 2015

Membrane Fouling was considered as major drawback in various industrial applications. Thus, this paper reviews the surface modification of polyethersulfone (PES) membranes for antifouling performance. Various modification techniques clearly indicate that hydrophilicity has to improve on the PES membrane surface. Moreover, the mechanism of fouling reduction with corresponds to various modification methods is widely discussed. Incorporation of hydrophilic functional groups on PES membrane surface enhances the surface free energy thereby which reduces the fouling. Characterization techniques adopted for the surface modified membranes was also discussed. These studies might be useful for the other researchers to utilize the modification technique for the applications of waste water treatment, chemical process industry and food industry.

• Biomaterials and Biomechanics in Bioengineering
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2019

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of total polymer concentration on the chemical structure, morphology of pores, porosity, swelling ratio, degradation of gelatin-poly (vinyl alcohol) (Gel-PVA) cryogel scaffolds. Porous cryogels were prepared with cryogelation technique by using glutaraldehyde as a crosslinker. Functional group composition of cryogels after crosslinking was investigated by Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR). The morphology of cryogels was characterized via scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and porosity analysis. All of the cryogels had a porous structure with an average pore size between $45.58{\pm}14.28$ and $50.14{\pm}4.26{\mu}m$. The cryogels were biodegradable and started to degrade in 14 days. As the polymer concentration increased the swelling ratio, the porosity and the degradation rate decreased. Spongy and mechanically stable Gel-PVA cryogels, with tunable properties, can be potential candidates as scaffolds for tissue engineering applications.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.255-265
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• 2019

The potential of using genetic programming to predict engineering data has caught the attention of researchers in recent years. The present paper utilized weighted genetic programming (WGP), a derivative model of genetic programming (GP), to model the compressive strength of concrete. The calculation results of Abrams' laws, which are used as the design codes for calculating the compressive strength of concrete, were treated as the inputs for the genetic programming model. Therefore, knowledge of the Abrams' laws, which is not a factor of influence on common data-based learning approaches, was considered to be a potential factor affecting genetic programming models. Significant outcomes of this work include: 1) the employed design codes positively affected the prediction accuracy of modeling the compressive strength of concrete; 2) a new equation was suggested to replace the design code for predicting concrete strength; and 3) common data-based learning approaches were evolved into knowledge-based learning approaches using historical data and design codes.

• Advances in nano research
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.357-375
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• 2018

Two dimensional (2D) atomic layered nanomaterials exhibit some of the most striking phenomena in modern materials research and hold promise for a wide range of applications including energy and biomedical technologies. Graphene has received much attention for having extremely high surface area to mass ratio and excellent electric conductivity. Graphene has also been shown to maximize the activity of surface-assembled metal nanoparticle catalysts due to its unique characteristics of enhancing mass transport of reactants to catalysts. This paper specifically investigates the strategy of pre-formed nanoparticle self-assembly used for the formation of various metal nanoparticles supported on graphene families such as graphene, graphene oxide, and reduced graphene oxide and aims at understanding the interactions between ligand-capped metal nanoparticles and 2D nanomaterials. By varying the functional groups on the ligands between alkyl, aromatic, amine, and alcohol groups, different interactions such as van der Waals, ${\pi}-{\pi}$ stacking, dipole-dipole, and hydrogen bonding are formed as the 2D hybrids produced.

• Advances in nano research
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.269-284
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• 2022

Nanomachines can be pretty helpful in curing diseases. Nanomototors, thanks to their self-propelled feature, are one of the best structures to be utilized as drug delivery devices. These devices have been employed in biomedical application as they can improve the efficiency of drug delivery. In this study stability of a designed nanomotor in the bloodstream is investigated when the physical activities have been done considering the physical activities. Sports training, as well as exercise enhance the bloodstream, and this factor can significantly impact the drug-delivery quality. The mathematical simulation of nanomotor movement in the condition of the sports is done based on the mechanical sciences, and the impact of various essential parameters is discussed in detail.