• Smart Structures and Systems
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• 제16권2호
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• pp.263-280
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• 2015

Microwave remote sensing is probably the most recent experimental technique suitable to the non-contact measurement of deflections on large structures, in static or dynamic conditions. In the first part of the paper, the main techniques adopted in microwave remote sensing are described, so that advantages and potential issues of these techniques are presented and discussed. Subsequently, the paper addresses the application of the radar technology to the measurement of the vibration response on the stay cables of two cable-stayed bridges. The dynamic tests were performed in operational conditions (i.e. with the excitation being mainly provided by micro-tremors, wind and traffic) and the maximum deflections of the cables were generally lower than 5.0 mm. The investigation clearly highlights: (a) the safe and simple use of the radar on site and its effectiveness to simultaneously measure the dynamic response of all the stay cables of an array; (b) the negligible effects of the typical issues and uncertainties that might affect the radar measurements; (c) the accuracy of the results provided by the microwave remote sensing in terms of natural frequencies and tension forces of the stay cables; (d) the suitability of microwave interferometry to the repeated application within Structural Health Monitoring programmes.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제55권2호
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• pp.365-377
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• 2015

Large-amplitude vibration of overhead sign structures can cause unfavorable psychological responses in motorists, interfere with readability of the signs, and lead to fatigue cracking in the sign structures. Field experience in Texas suggests that an overhead sign structure can vibrate excessively when supported within the span of a highway bridge instead of at a bent. This study used finite element modeling to analyze the dynamic displacement response of three hypothetical sign structures subjected to truck-passage-induced vertical oscillations recorded for the girders from four actual bridges. The modeled sign bridge structures included several span lengths based on standard design practices in Texas and were mounted on precast concrete I-girder bridges. Results revealed that resonance with bridge girder vertical vibrations can amplify the dynamic displacement of sign structures, and a specific range of frequency ratios subject to undesirable amplification was identified. Based on these findings, it is suggested that this type of sign structure be located at a bridge bent if its vertical motion frequency is within the identified range of bridge structure excitation frequencies. Several alternatives are investigated for cases where this is not possible, including increasing sign structure stiffness, reducing sign mass, and installing mechanical dampers.

• 국제초고층학회논문집
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• 제2권3호
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• pp.171-178
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• 2013

The emergence of a growing number of tall buildings, often with unusual shapes and innovative structural systems, has led to the realization of the need for and the importance of field measurements. The new China Central Television (CCTV) Tower in Beijing is one of tall buildings with a highly unusual shape and a complex structural system, requiring field measurements to identify its dynamic characteristics for the subsequent dynamic analysis of the tower under wind excitation, seismic-induced ground motion and traffic-induced ground motion. The structural system and the finite element model of the CCTV Tower are first introduced in this paper. The computed natural frequencies and mode shapes are then presented as a reference for the field measurement. After introducing the arrangement of the ambient vibration measurement, the field measured natural frequencies and damping ratios of the CCTV Tower are presented and the measured natural frequencies are finally compared with the computed ones. It was found that the structural damping ratios of the CCTV Tower are small and the computed natural frequencies are smaller than the measured ones by about 12~17%.

• Wind and Structures
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• 제28권4호
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• pp.225-238
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• 2019

In this paper a novel and efficient computational framework to estimate the stress range versus number of cycles curves experienced by a cable due to external excitations (e.g., seismic excitations, traffic and wind-induced vibrations, among others) is proposed. This study is limited to the wind-cable interaction governed by the Vortex Shedding mechanism which mainly rules cables vibrations at low amplitudes that may lead to their failure due to bending fatigue damage. The algorithm relies on a stochastic approach to account for the uncertainties in the cable properties, initial conditions, damping, and wind excitation which are the variables that govern the wind-induced vibration phenomena in cables. These uncertainties are propagated adopting Monte Carlo simulations and the concept of importance sampling, which is used to reduce significantly the computational costs when new scenarios with different probabilistic models for the uncertainties are evaluated. A high fidelity cable model is also proposed, capturing the effect of its internal wires distribution and helix angles on the cables stress. Simulation results on a 15 mm diameter high-strength steel strand reveal that not accounting for the initial conditions uncertainties or using a coarse wind speed discretization lead to an underestimation of the stress range experienced by the cable. In addition, parametric studies illustrate the computational efficiency of the algorithm at estimating new scenarios with new probabilistic models, running 3000 times faster than the base case.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제84권5호
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• pp.591-604
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• 2022

A gravity wall combined with an anchoring lattice frame (a combined retaining structure) is adopted at a typical engineering site at Dali-Ruili Railway Line China. Where, the combined retaining structure supports a soil deposit covering on different inclined rock slopes. With an aim to investigate and compare the effects of inclined rock slopes on the response of combined retaining structure under seismic excitation, three groups of shaking table tests are conducted. The rock slopes are shaped as planar surfaces inclined at angles of 20°, 30°, and 40° with the horizontal, respectively. The shaking table tests are supplemented by dynamic numerical simulations. The results regarding the horizontal acceleration response, vertical acceleration response, permanent displacement mode, and axial anchor force are comparatively examined. The acceleration response is more susceptible to outer structural profile of combined retaining structure than to inclined angle of rock slope. The permanent displacement decreases when the inclined angle of the rock slope increases within a range of 20°-40°. A critical inclined angle of rock slope exists within a range of 20°-40°, and induces the largest axial anchor force in the combined retaining structure.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• 제26권5호
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• pp.327-336
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• 2024

Evaluation of tunnel performance in seismic-prone areas demands efficient means of estimating performance at different hazard levels. The present study introduces an innovative push-over analysis approach which employs the standard earthquake spectrum to simulate the performance of a tunnel. The numerical simulation has taken into account the lining and surrounding rock to calculate the rock-tunnel interaction subjected to a static push-over displacement regime. Elastic perfectly plastic models for the lining and hardening strain rock medium were used to portray the development of plastic hinges, nonlinear deformation, and performance of the tunnel structure. Separately using a computational algorithm, the non-linear response spectrum was approximated from the average shear strain of the rock model. A NATM tunnel in Turkey was chosen for parametric study. A seismic performance curve and two performance thresholds are introduced that are based on the proposed nonlinear seismic static loading approach and the formation of plastic hinges. The tunnel model was also subjected to a harmonic excitation with a smooth response spectrum and different amplitudes in the fully-dynamic phase to assess the accuracy of the approach. The parametric study investigated the effects of the lining stiffness and capacity and soil stiffness on the seismic performance of the tunnel.

• 한국구조물진단유지관리공학회 논문집
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• 제10권1호
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• pp.139-148
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• 2006

모델링을 통한 교량구조물의 동적인 특성은 주로 구조물의 기학학적 형상에서 계산된 강성과 질량에 의해서 결정된다. 따라서 본 연구는 합성단면을 갖는 강판형거더교량의 FE 모델링 기법을 제시하고 제시된 모델링 기법은 실계측된 동특성과 비교 분석하여 유용성을 제시했다. 제시된 FE 모델링 기법은 단순화된 1-2차원 모델과 3차원 상세모델로 구분하여 각각의 기법을 제안하고 유용성을 보여 주었다. 구조물의 동적 응답은 상부 슬래브를 지지하는 거더에 가속도계를 부착하여 일반 차량하중 상태에서 발생하는 상시 진동에 의해 측정되었다. 이렇게 측정된 교차파워스펙트럼을 역퓨리에 변환에 의해 교차상관함수로 변환하여 구조물의 특성을 분석하였다. 이들결과는 FE모델링의 결과와 비교하여 제안된 모델링 기법의 유용성을 제시하였다.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제7권6호
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• pp.487-502
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• 2007

In recent decades there has been a trend towards improved mechanical characteristics of materials used in footbridge construction. It has enabled engineers to design lighter, slender and more aesthetic structures. As a result of these construction trends, many footbridges have become more susceptible to vibrations when subjected to dynamic loads. In addition to this, some inherit modelling uncertainties related to a lack of information on the as-built structure, such as boundary conditions, material properties, and the effects of non-structural elements make difficult to evaluate modal properties of footbridges, analytically. For these purposes, modal testing of footbridges is used to rectify these problems after construction. This paper describes an arch type steel footbridge, its analytical modelling, modal testing and finite element model calibration. A modern steel footbridge which has arch type structural system and located on the Karadeniz coast road in Trabzon, Turkey is selected as an application. An analytical modal analysis is performed on the developed 3D finite element model of footbridge to provide the analytical frequencies and mode shapes. The field ambient vibration tests on the footbridge deck under natural excitation such as human walking and traffic loads are conducted. The output-only modal parameter identification is carried out by using the peak picking of the average normalized power spectral densities in the frequency domain and stochastic subspace identification in the time domain, and dynamic characteristics such as natural frequencies mode shapes and damping ratios are determined. The finite element model of footbridge is calibrated to minimize the differences between analytically and experimentally estimated modal properties by changing some uncertain modelling parameters such as material properties. At the end of the study, maximum differences in the natural frequencies are reduced from 22% to only %5 and good agreement is found between analytical and experimental dynamic characteristics such as natural frequencies, mode shapes by model calibration.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• 제17권6호
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• pp.917-933
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• 2016

In a prestressed concrete bridge, the magnitude of the prestress force (PF) decreases with time. This unexpected loss can cause failure of a bridge which makes prestress force identification (PFI) critical to evaluate bridge safety. However, it has been difficult to identify the PF non-destructively. Although some research has shown the feasibility of vibration based methods in PFI, the requirement of having a determinate exciting force in these methods hinders applications onto in-service bridges. Ideally, it will be efficient if the normal traffic could be treated as an excitation, but the load caused by vehicles is difficult to measure. Hence it prompts the need to investigate whether PF and moving load could be identified together. This paper presents a synergic identification method to determine PF and moving load applied on a simply supported prestressed concrete beam via the dynamic responses caused by this unknown moving load. This method consists of three parts: (i) the PF is transformed into an external pseudo-load localized in each beam element via virtual distortion method (VDM); (ii) then these pseudo-loads are identified simultaneously with the moving load via Duhamel Integral; (iii) the time consuming problem during the inversion of Duhamel Integral is overcome by the load-shape function (LSF). The method is examined against different cases of PFs, vehicle speeds and noise levels by means of simulations. Results show that this method attains a good degree of accuracy and efficiency, as well as robustness to noise.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• 제16권3호
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• pp.349-358
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• 2019

Long span cable-stayed bridges are extremely vulnerable to dynamic excitations such as which caused by traffic load, wind and earthquake. Studies on cable-stayed bridge vibration control have been keenly interested by researchers and engineers in design new bridges and assessing in-service bridges. In this paper, a novel Hybrid-Tuned Mass Damper (H-TMD) is proposed and a hybrid control model named Mixed Logic Dynamic (MLD) is employed to build the bridge-H-TMD system to mitigate the vibrations. Firstly, the fundamental theory and modeling process of MLD model is introduced. After that, a new state switching design of the H-TMD and state space equations for different states are proposed to control the bridge vibrations. As the state switching designation presented, the H-TMDs can applied active force to bridge only if the structural responses are beyond the limited thresholds, otherwise, the vibrations can be reduced by passive components of dampers without active control forces provided. A new MLD model including both passive and active control states is built based on the MLD model theory and the state switching design of H-TMD. Then, the case study is presented to demonstrate the proposed methodology. In the case study, the control scheme with H-TMDs is applied for a long span cable-stayed bridge, and the MLD model is established and simulated with earthquake excitation. The simulation results reveal that the suggested method has a well damping effect and the established system can be switched between different control states as design excellently. Finally, the energy consumptions of H-TMD schemes are compared with that of Active Tuned Mass Damper (ATMD) schemes under variable seismic wave excitations. The compared results show that the proposed H-TMD can save energy than ATMD.