• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제66권5호
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• pp.637-648
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• 2018

When the centers of mass and stiffness of a building do not coincide, the structure experiences torsional responses. Such systems can consist of the underlying soil and the super-structure. The underlying soil may modify the earthquake input motion and change structural responses. Specific effects of the input motion shall also not be ignored. In this study, seismic demands of asymmetric buildings considering soil-structure interaction (SSI) under near-fault ground motions are evaluated. The building is modeled as an idealized single-story structure. The soil beneath the building is modeled by non-linear finite elements in the two states of loose and dense sands both compared with the fixed-base state. The infinite boundary conditions are modelled using viscous boundary elements. The effects of traditional and yield displacement-based (YDB) approaches of strength and stiffness distributions are considered on seismic demands. In the YDB approach, the stiffness considered in seismic design depends on the strength. The results show that the decrease in the base shear considering soft soil induced SSI when the YDB approach is assumed results only in the center of rigidity to control torsional responses. However, for fixed-base structures and those on dense soils both centers of strength and rigidity are controlling.

• 한국안전학회지
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• 제22권5호
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• pp.1-6
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• 2007

Vibro-impacts in manual transmissions result due to several nonlinearities such as multi-staged clutch characteristics and gear backlashes. For the sake of understanding the torsional system, one specific manual transmission with front engine and front wheel drive configuration is investigated with a linear model under the several assumptions substituting the nonlinear factors. First, this system is examined with the mathematical approaches by expressing the governing equations to find out the torsional motions. Second, this system is analyzed using the linear model in order to understand its modal and frequency response characteristics using eigensolution method and the FRF(Frequency Responses Function) analysis. Third, with the given results from the eigensolutions, several mode shapes are investigated related to the torsional motion characteristics. Fourth, the system characteristics with the FRFs are studied with the basic approach, with which the several key parameters will be suggested based upon the results in the further studies.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제64권1호
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• pp.11-21
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• 2017

It has been observed in the past that, the reinforced concrete (RC) bridge columns are very often subjected to torsional moment in addition to flexure and shear during seismic vibration. Ignoring torsion in the design can trigger unexpected shear failure of the columns (Farhey et al. 1993). Performance based seismic design is a popular design philosophy which calls for accurate prediction of the hysteresis behavior of structural elements to ensure safe and economical design under earthquake loading. However, very few investigations in the past focused on the development of analytical models to accurately predict the response of RC members under cyclic torsion. Previously developed hysteresis models are not readily applicable for torsional loading owing to significant pinching and stiffness degradation associated with torsion (Wang et al. 2014). The present study proposes an improved polygonal hysteresis model which can accurately predict the hysteretic behavior of RC circular and square columns under torsion. The primary curve is obtained from mechanics based softened truss model for torsion. The proposed model is validated with test data of two circular and two square columns. A good correlation is observed between the predicted and measured torque-twist behavior and dissipated energy.

• Wind and Structures
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• 제18권6호
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• pp.599-618
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• 2014

In this study, a square rectangular tall building is considered to investigate the effects of turbulence integral length scale and turbulence intensity on the along-wind responses, across-wind responses and torsional responses of the tall building by Large Eddy Simulation (LES). A recently proposed inflow turbulence generator called the discretizing and synthesizing random flow generation (DSRFG) approach is applied to simulate turbulent flow fields. It has been proved that the approach is able to generate a fluctuating turbulent flow field satisfying any given spectrum, desired turbulence intensity and wind speed profiles. Five profiles of turbulence integral length scale and turbulence intensity are respectively generated for the inflow fields by the DSRFG approach for investigating the effects of turbulence integral length scale and turbulence intensity on the wind-induced responses of the tall building. The computational results indicate that turbulence integral length scale does not have significant effect on the along-wind (displacement, velocity and acceleration) responses, across-wind displacement and velocity responses, while the across-wind acceleration and torsional responses vary without a clear rule with the parameter. On the other hand, the along-wind, across-wind and torsional responses increase with the growth of turbulence intensity.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제30권5호
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• pp.603-617
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• 2008

Three dimensional coupled bending-torsion dynamic vibrations of thin-walled open section beam subjected to moving vehicle are investigated by transfer matrix method. Through adopting the idea of Newmark-${\beta}$ method, the partial differential equations of structural vibration can be transformed to the differential equations. Then, those differential equations are solved by transfer matrix method. An iterative scheme is proposed to deal with the coupled bending-torsion terms in the governing vibration equations. The accuracy of the presented method is verified through two numerical examples. Finally, with different eccentricities of vehicle, the torsional vibration of thin-walled open section beam and vertical and rolling vibration of truck body are investigated. It can be concluded from the numerical results that the torsional vibration of beam and rolling vibration of vehicle increase with the eccentricity of vehicle. Moreover, it can be observed that the torsional vibration of thin-walled open section beam may have a significant nonlinear influence on vertical vibration of truck body.

• Wind and Structures
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• 제21권5호
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• pp.537-564
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• 2015

Excessive motions in buildings cause occupants to become uncomfortable and nervous. This is particularly detrimental to the tenants and ultimately the owner of the building, with respect to financial considerations. Serviceability issues, such as excessive accelerations and inter-story drifts, are more prevalent today due to advancements in the structural systems, strength of materials, and design practices. These factors allow buildings to be taller, lighter, and more flexible, thereby exacerbating the impact of dynamic responses. There is a growing need for innovative and effective techniques to reduce the serviceability responses of these tall buildings. The current study considers a case study of a real building to show the effectiveness and robustness of the TLD in reducing the coupled lateral-torsional motion of this high-rise building under wind loading. Three unique multi-modal TLD systems are designed specifically to mitigate the torsional response of the building. A procedure is developed to analyze a structure-TLD system using High Frequency Force Balance (HFFB) test data from the Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel Laboratory (BLWTL) at the University of Western Ontario. The effectiveness of the unique TLD systems is investigated. In addition, a parametric study is conducted to determine the robustness of the systems in reducing the serviceability responses. Three practical parameters are varied to investigate the robustness of the TLD system: the height of water inside the tanks, the amplitude modification factor, and the structural modal frequencies.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제10권4호
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• pp.299-312
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• 2000

The response of an embedded body to dynamic loads is greatly influenced by the reactions of the soil to the motion of the body. The properties of the soil surrounding embedded bodies (e.g., piles) may be different than those of the far-field for a variety of reasons. It may be weakened or strengthened according to the method of installation of piles, or altered due to applying one of the soil strengthening technique (e.g., electrokinetic treatment of soil, El Naggar et al. 1998). In all these cases, the shear strength of the soils and its shear modulus vary gradually in the radial direction, resulting in a radially inhomogeneous soil layer. This paper describes an analysis to compute vertical and torsional dynamic soil reactions of a radially inhomogeneous soil layer with a circular hole. These soil reactions could then be used to model the soil resistance in the analysis of the pile vibration under dynamic loads. The soil layer is considered to have a piecewise, radial variation for the complex shear modulus. The model is developed for soil layers improved using the electrokinetic technique but can be used for other situations where the soil properties vary gradually in the radial direction (strengthened or weakened). The soil reactions (impedance functions) are evaluated over a wide range of parameters and compared with those obtained from other solutions. A parametric study was performed to examine the effect of different soil improvement parameters on vertical and torsional impedance functions of the soil. The effect of the increase in the shear modulus and the width of the improved zone is investigated.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제19권3호
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• pp.281-295
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• 2005

An analytical method is presented to solve the elastodynamic problem of finitely long hollow cylinder subjected to torsional impact often occurs in engineering mechanics. The analytical solution is composed of a solution of quasi-static equation satisfied with the non-homogeneous boundary condition and a solution of dynamic equation satisfied with homogeneous boundary condition. The quasi-static solution is obtained directly by solving the quasi-static equation satisfied with the non-homogeneous boundary condition. The solution of the non-homogeneous dynamic equation is obtained by means of finite Hankel transform on the radial variable, r, Laplace transform on time variable, t, and finite Fourier transform on axial variable, z. Thus, the solution for finitely long, hollow cylinder subjected to torsion impact is obtained. In the calculating examples, the response histories and distributions of shear stress in the finitely long hollow cylinder subjected to an exponential decay torsion load are obtained, and the results have been analyzed and discussed. Finally, a dynamic finite element for the same problem is carried out by using ABAQUS finite element analysis. Comparing the analytical solution with the finite element solution, it can be found that two kinds of results obtained by means of two different methods agree well. Therefore, it is further concluded that the analytical method and computing process presented in the paper are effective and accurate.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제34권1호
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• pp.61-84
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• 2010

Presented in this paper is the behaviour of asymmetric building isolated by the double variable frequency pendulum isolator (DVFPI). The DVFPI is an adoption of single variable frequency pendulum isolator (VFPI). The geometry and coefficient of friction of top and bottom sliding surfaces can be unequal. The governing equations of motion of the building-isolation system are derived and solved in incremental form. The analysis duly considers the interaction of frictional forces in the two principal directions developed at each sliding surface of the DVFPI. In order to investigate the behaviour of the base isolation using the DVFPI, the coupled lateral-torsional response is obtained under different parametric variations for a set of six far-fault earthquake ground motions and criterion to optimize its performance is proposed. Further, influences of the initial time period, coefficient of friction and frequency variation factors at the two sliding surfaces are investigated. The numerical results of the extensive parametric study help in understanding the torsional behaviour of the structure isolated with the double sliding surfaces as in the DVFPI. It is found that the performance of the DVFPI can be optimized by designing the top sliding surface initially softer and smoother relative to the bottom one.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• 제8권2호
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• pp.443-462
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• 2015

Some model building codes stipulate that the design displacement of a building can be computed using the elastic static analysis results multiplied by the deflection amplification factor, $C_d$. This approach for estimating the design displacement is essential and appealing in structural engineering practice when nonlinear response history analysis (NRHA) is not required. Furthermore, building codes stipulate the consideration of accidental torsion effects using accidental eccentricity, whether the buildings are symmetric-plan, or asymmetric-plan. In some model building codes, the accidental eccentricity is further amplified by the torsional amplification factor $A_x$ in order to minimize the discrepancy between statically and dynamically estimated responses. Therefore, this warrants exploration of the reliability of statically estimated design displacements in accordance with the building code requirements. This study uses the discrepancy curves as a way of assessing the reliability of the design displacement estimates resulting from the factors $C_d$ and $A_x$. The discrepancy curves show the exceedance probabilities of the differences between the statically estimated design displacements and NRHA results. The discrepancy curves of 3-story, 9-story, and 20-story example buildings are investigated in this study. The example buildings are steel special moment frames with frequency ratios equal to 0.7, 1.0, 1.3, and 1.6, as well as existing eccentricity ratios ranging from 0% to 30%.