Structural Engineering Research Centre

About: Structural Engineering Research Centre is a facility organization based out in Chennai, India. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Finite element method & Fracture mechanics. The organization has 520 authors who have published 703 publications receiving 7298 citations.

Fuzzy logic controller for real-time substructuring applications

Abstract: Real-time substructuring is a hybrid technique in which the critical component of the structure is tested, while the remainder is numerically analyzed based on a suitable model. The synchronization between the testing and the analysis is maintained by a controller. This paper proposes a new controller based on fuzzy logic for real-time substructuring applications. The advantage of a fuzzy-logic-based controller is that it is rule based and involves far less computations. The performance of the proposed controller is verified through numerical simulations of a substructured linear and nonlinear single-degree-of-freedom system for two different damping ratios. The performance of the controller is compared with that of conventional controllers which are used in real-time substructuring on the basis of a nondimensional error index. The fuzzy logic controller is found to have the least error index for the chosen nonlinear system and performs satisfactorily for a linear system. Furthermore, the effectiveness of...

CFD Analysis and Wind Tunnel Experiment on a Typical Launch Vehicle Model

Abstract: In order to understand the physical phenomena of the wind flow over the typical launch vehicle, the flow was simulated using both Wind tunnel and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). In the present study, tests were conducted on a 1:50 scaled model of a launch vehicle. The model was subjected to two wind conditions, wind flow normal to the shorter plan dimension θ = 0°, where the three main cylinders of the model were one behind the other and wind flow normal to the longer plan dimension, θ = 90°, where all the three main cylinders of the vehicle are subjected to direct wind pressure in the windward direction. Based on the CFD studies, the flow pattern and the force coefficients were derived. To validate these results, wind tunnel tests were carried out on a 1:50 scaled rigid and light-weight models respectively, for obtaining path lines and force coefficients. Results on streamlines obtained based on CFD simulation and wind tunnel experiments compared very well. The force coefficients in both directions were evaluated from CFD results showed good agreement with the corresponding measured values based on wind tunnel experiment.

Analogy of novel TRC crash barriers with RC crash barrier under impact load

Abstract: The most popular crash barriers made so far are made up of steel-reinforced concrete (RC), which has high flexural rigidity but poor energy absorption. Consequently, when a vehicle collides with su...

Bending properties of textile reinforced concrete sandwich beams with gypsum and calcium silicate core

Abstract: Sandwich systems are gaining prominence because they offer thermal insulation in many building structures There is a growing interest in better understanding the behavior of sandwich structures, a

Determination of the back boundary effect on self-compacting concrete beams: bilinear and trilinear approaches

Abstract: In order to understand the fracture processes in concrete, size-dependant (\(G_f\)) and size-independant (\(G_F\)) fracture energies both need more focus. In the literature, bilinear and trilinear models based on both fracture energies are proposed to separate the unnotched ligament length into inner and outer regions. The applicability of linear elastic fracture mechanics depends on the extent of these inner and outer regions. This study explores the suitability of applying bilinear and trilinear models in the separation of the inner and outer regions by using the experimental results from self-compacting concrete beams. The size-independent fracture energies obtained from bilinear and trilinear models are found to be comparable across the mixes for the two sizes considered. For a large sized beam, the inner region obtained by both the models shows huge variation, whereas the values are comparable for a small sized beam. Acoustic emission results are also presented in support of the boundary effect.