Showing papers in "Structural Engineering and Mechanics in 1997"

Transverse and longitudinal partial interaction in composite bolted side-plated reinforced-concrete beams

Abstract: A procedure is being developed for bolting plates to the sides of existing reinforced concrete beams to strengthen and stiffen them. Unlike standard composite steel and concrete beams in which there is longitudinal-partial-interaction at the steel/concrete interface (that is slip along the length of the beam), composite bolted side-plated reinforced-concrete beams are unique in that they also exhibit transverse-partial-interaction, that is slip transverse to the length of the beam. In this work, the fundamental mathematical models for transverse-partial-interaction and its interaction with longitudinal-partial-interaction are developed. The fundamental models are then further developed to determine the number of connectors required to resist the transverse forces and to limit the degree of transverse-partial-interaction in bolted side-plated reinforced concrete beams.

Progressive failure of symmetrically laminated plates under uni-axial compression

Abstract: The objective of this work is to predict the failure loads, associated maximum transverse displacements, locations and the modes of failure, including the onset of delamination, of thin, nat, square symmetric laminates under the action of uni-axial compression. Two progressive failure analyses, one using Hashin criterion and the other using Tensor polynomial criteria, are used in conjunction with the finite element method. First order shear deformation theory and geometric nonlinearity in the von Karman sense have been employed. Five different types of lay-up sequence are considered for laminates with all edges simply supported. In addition, two boundary conditions, one with all edges fixed and other with mixed boundary conditions for (+45/-45/0/90)(2s) quasi-isotropic laminate have also been considered to study the effect of boundary restraints on the failure loads and the corresponding modes of failure. A comparison of linear and nonlinear results is also made for (+/- 45/0/90)(2s) quasi-isotropic laminate. It is observed that the maximum difference between the failure loads predicted by various criteria depend strongly on the laminate lay-ups and the flexural boundary restraints. Laminates with clamped edges are found to be more susceptible to failure due to the transverse shear and delamination, while those with the simply supported edges undergo total collapse at a load slightly higher than the fiber failure load.

Rate-sensitive analysis of framed structures Part I: model formulation and verification

Abstract: This paper presents a new uniaxial material model for rate-sensitive analysis addressing both the transient and steady-state responses. The new model adopts visco-plastic theory for the rate-sensitive response, and employs a three-parameter representation of the overstress as a function of the strain-rate. The third parameter is introduced in the new model to control its transient response characteristics, and to provide flexibility in fitting test data on the variation of overstress with strain-rate. Since the governing visco-plastic differential equation cannot be integrated analytically due to its inherent nonlinearity, a new single-step numerical integration procedure is proposed, which leads to high levels of accuracy almost independent of the size of the integration time-step. The new model is implemented within the nonlinear analysis program ADAPTIC, which is used to provide several verification examples and comparison with other experimental and numerical results. The companion paper extends the three-parameter model to trilinear static stress-strain relationships for steel and concrete, and presents application examples of the proposed models.

Layered finite element method in cracking and failure analysis of RC beams and beam-column-slab connections

Abstract: A nonlinear semi-three-dimensional layered finite element procedure is developed for cracking and failure analysis of reinforced concrete beams and the spandrel beam-column-slab connections of flat plates. The layered element approach takes the elasto-plastic failure behaviour and geometric nonlinearity into consideration. A strain-hardening plasticity concrete model and a smeared steel model are incorporated into the layered element formulation. Further, shear failure, transverse reinforcement, spandrel beams and columns are successfully modelled. The proposed method incorporating the nonlinear constitutive models for concrete and steel is implemented in a finite element program. Test specimens including a series of reinforced concrete beams and beam-column-slab connections of flat plates are analysed. Results confirm the effectiveness and accuracy of the layered procedure in predicting both flexural and shear cracking up to failure.

Path-dependent three-dimensional constitutive laws of reinforced concrete - formulation and experimental verifications

Abstract: A three-dimensional constitutive modeling for reinforced concrete is presented for finite element nonlinear analysis of reinforced concrete. The targets of interest to the authors are columns confined by lateral steel hoops, RC thin shells subjected to combined in-plane and out-of-plane actions and massive structures of three-dimensional (3D) extent in shear. The elasto-plastic and continuum fracture law is applied to pre-cracked solid concrete. For post cracking formulation, fixed multi-directional smeared crack model is adopted for RC domains of 3D geometry subjected to monotonic and reversed cyclic actions. The authors propose a new scheme of decomposing stress strain fields into sub-planes on which 2D constitutive laws can be applied. The proposed model for 3D reinforced concrete is experimentally verified in both member and structural levels under cyclic actions.

Optimal reinforcement design of structures under the buckling load using the homogenization design method

Abstract: The material-based homogenization design method generates arbitrary topologies of initial structural design as well as reinforcement structural design by controlling the amount of material available. However, if a small volume constraint is specified in the design of Lightweight structures, thin and slender structures are usually obtained. For these structures stability becomes one of the most important requirements. Thus, to prevent overall buckling (that is, to increase stability), the objective of the design is to maximize the buckling load of a structure. In this paper, the buckling analysis is restricted to the linear buckling behavior of a structure. The global stability requirement is defined as a stiffness constraint, and determined by solving the eigenvalue problem. The optimality conditions to update the design variables are derived based on the sequential convex approximation method and the dual method. Illustrated examples are presented to validate the feasibility of this method in the design of structures.

Experimental bond behavior of hybrid rods for concrete reinforcement

Abstract: Fiber reinforced plastic (FRP) rods provide certain benefits over steel as concrete reinforcement, such as corrosion resistance, magnetic and electrical insulation, light weight, and high strength. FRP composites can be combined with a steel core to form hybrid reinforcing rods that take advantage of properties of both materials. The objective of this study was to characterize the bond behavior of hybrid FRP rods made with braided epoxy-impregnated aramid or poly-vinyl alcohol FRP skins. Eleven rod types were tested using two concrete strengths. Specific topics examined were bond strength, slip, and type of failure in concentric pull-out tests from concrete cubes. From analysis of identical pull-out tests on both hybrid and steel rods, information on relative bond strength and behavior were obtained. It is concluded that strength is similar but slip in hybrid rods is much higher. Hybrid rods failed either by pull-out or splitting the concrete block (with or without yielding of the steel core). Experimental data showed consistency with similar test results presented in the literature.

The role of softening in the numerical analysis of R.C. framed structures

Abstract: Reinforced Concrete beams with tension and compression softening material constitutive laws are studied. Energy-based and non-local regularisation techniques are presented and applied to a R.C. element. The element characteristics (sectional tangent stiffness matrix, element tangent stiffness matrix restoring forces) are directly derived from their symbolic expressions through numerical integration. In this way the same spatial grid allows us to obtain a non-local strain estimate and also to sample the contributions to the element stiffness matrix. Three examples show the spurious behaviors due to the strain localization and the stabilization effects given by the regularisation techniques, both in the case of tension and compression softening. The possibility to overestimate the ultimate load level when the non-local strain measure is applied to a non softening material is shown.

Stability and minimum bracing for stepped columns with semirigid connections: Classical elastic approach

Abstract: Stability equations that evaluate the elastic critical axial load of stepped columns under extreme and intermediate concentrated axial loads in any type of construction with sidesway totally inhibited, partially inhibited and uninhibited are derived in a classical manner. These equations can be utilized in the stability analysis of framed structures (totally braced partially braced and unbraced) with stepped columns with rigid semirigid and simple connetions. The proposed column classification and the corresponding stability equations overcome the limitations of current methods which are based on a classification of braced and unbraced columns. The proposed stability equations include the effects of: 1) semirigid connections; 2) step variation in the column cross section at the point of application of the intermediate axial load; and 3) lateral and rotational restraints at the intermediate connection and at the column ends. The proposed method consists in determining the eigenvalue of a 2X2 matrix for a braced column at the two ends and of a 3X3 matrix for a partially braced or unbraced column. The stability analysis can be carried out directly with the help of a pocket calculator. The proposed method is general and can be extended to multi-stepped columns. Various examples are inclued to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method and to verify that the calculated results are exact. Definite minimum bracing criteria for single stepped columns is also presented.

The patch tests and convergence for nonconforming Mindlin plate bending elements

Abstract: In this paper, the classical Irons\' patch tests which have been generally accepted for the convergence proof of a finite element are performed for Mindlin plate bending elements with a special emphasis on the nonconforming elements. The elements considered are 4-node and 8-node quadrilateral isoparametric elements which have been dominantly used for the analyses of plate bending problems. It was recognized from the patch tests that some nonconforming Mindlin plate elements pass all the cases of patch tests even though nonconforming elements do not preserve conformity. Then, the clues for the Mindlin plate element to pass the Irons\' patch tests are investigated. Also, the convergent characteristics of some nonconforming Mindlin plate elements that do not pass the Irons\' patch tests are examined by weak patch tests. The convergence tests are performed on the benchmark numerical problems for both nonconforming elements which pass the patch tests and which do not. Some conclusions on the relationship between the patch test and convergence of nonconforming Mindlin plate elements are drawn.

Rate-sensitive analysis of framed structures .2. Implementation and application to steel and R/C frames

Abstract: The companion paper presents a new three-parameter model for the uniaxial rate-sensitive material response, which is based on a bilinear static stress-strain relationship with kinematic strain-hardening. This paper extends the proposed model to trilinear static stress-strain relationships for steel and concrete, and discusses the implementation of the new models within an incremental-iterative solution procedure. For steel, the three-parameter rate-function is employed with a trilinear static stress-strain relationship, which allows the utilisation of different levels of rate-sensitivity for the plastic plateau and strain-hardening ranges. For concrete, on the other hand, two trilinear stress-strain relationships are used for tension and compression, where rate-sensitivity is accounted for in the strain-softening range. Both models have been implemented within the nonlinear analysis program ADAPTIC, which is used herein to provide verification for the models, and to demonstrate their applicability to the rate-sensitive analysis of steel and reinforced concrete structures.

Static behaviors of self-anchored and partially earth-anchored long-span cable-stayed bridges

Abstract: In this paper, three dimensional static behaviors of the self-anchored and partially earth-anchored cable-stayed bridges, with a span of 1400 meters, under wind loading are studied by using a 3D geometrical nonlinear analysis. In this analysis, the bridges both after completion and under construction are dealt with. The wind resistant characteristics of the both cable-stayed systems are made clear. In particular, the characteristics of the partially earth-anchored cable systems, which is expected to be a promising solution for extending the span of the cable-stayed systems further, is presented.

An interface element for modelling the onset and growth of mixed-mode cracking in aluminium and fibre metal laminates

Abstract: In the present contribution an interface crack model is introduced which is capable of modelling crack initialisation and growth in aluminium as well as in Fibre Metal Laminates. Interface elements are inserted in a finite element mesh with a yield function which bounds all states of stress in the interface, Hardening occurs after a state of stress exceeds the yield stress of the material. The hardening branch is bounded by the ultimate stress of the material. Thereafter, the state of stress is reduced to zero while the inelastic deformations grow. The energy dissipated by the inelastic deformations in this process equals the fracture energy of the material. The model is applied to calculate the onset and growth Of cracking in centre cracked plates made of aluminium and GLARE(R). The impact of the model parameters on the performance of the crack model is studied by comparisons of the numerical results with experimental data.

Optimal locations of point supports in laminated rectangular plates for maximum fundamental frequency

Abstract: This paper investigates the optimal locations of internal point supports in a symmetric crossply laminated rectangular plate for maximum fundamental frequency of vibration. The method used for solving this optimization problem involves the Rayleigh-Ritz method for the vibration analysis and the simplex method of Nelder and Mead for the iterative search of the optimum support locations. Being a continuum method, the Rayleigh-Ritz method allows easy handling of the changing point support locations during the optimization search. Rectangular plates of various boundary conditions, aspect ratios, composed of different numbers of layers, and with one, two and three internal point supports are analysed. The interesting results on the optimal locations of the point supports showed that (a) there are multiple solutions; (b) the locations are dependent on both the plate aspect ratios and the number of layers (c) the fundamental frequency may be raised significantly with appropriate positioning of the point supports.

Improved Numerical Approach for the Bond-Slip Behavior under Cyclic Loads

Abstract: Bond-slip behavior between reinforcement and concrete under push-pull cyclic loadings is numerically investigated based on a reinforcement model proposed in this paper. The equivalent reinforcing steel model considering the bond-slip effect without taking double nodes is derived through the equilibrium at each node of steel and the compatibility condition between steel and concrete. Besides a specific transformation algorithm is composed to transfer the forces and displacements from the nodes of the steel element to the nodes of the concrete element. This model first results in an effective use in the case of complex steel arrangements where the steel elements cross the sides of the concrete elements and second turns the impossibility into a possibility in consideration of the bond-slip effect in three dimensional finite element analysis. Finally, the correlation studies between numerical and experimental results under the continuously repeated large deformation stages demonstrate the validity of developed reinforcing steel model and adopted algorithms.

Fluid viscous device modelling by fractional derivatives

Abstract: In the paper, a fractional derivative Kelvin-Voigt model describing the dynamic behavior of a special class of fluid viscous dampers, is presented. First of all, in order to verify their mechanical properties, two devices were tested the former behaving as a pure damper (PD device), whereas the latter as an elastic-damping device (ED device). For both, quasi-static and dynamic tests were carried out under imposed displacement control. Secondarily, in order to describe their cyclical behavior, a model composed by an elastic and a damping element connected in parallel was defined. The elastic force was assumed as a linear function of the displacement whereas the damping one was expressed by a fractional derivative of the displacement. By setting an appropriate numerical algorithm, the model parameters (fractional derivative order, damping coefficient and elastic stiffness) were identified by experimental results. The estimated values allowed to outline the main parameter properties on which depend both the elastic as well as the damping behavior of the considered devices.

A field-consistency approach to plate elements

Abstract: The design of robust plate and shell elements has been a very challenging area for several decades. The main difficulty has been the shear locking phenomenon in plate elements and the shear and membrane locking phenomena together in the shell elements. Among the various artifices or devices which are used to develop elements free of these problems is the field-consistency approach. In this paper this approach is reviewed, It turns out that not only Mindlin type elements but also elements based on higher-order theories could be developed using the technique.

Multiple cutout optimization in composite plates using evolutionary structural optimization

Abstract: The optimization of cutouts in composite plates was investigated by implementing a procedure known as Evolutionary Structural Optimization. Perforations were introduced into a finite element mesh of the plate from which one or more cutouts of a predetermined size were evolved. In the examples presented, plates were rejected from around each evolving cutout based on a predefined rejection criterion. The limiting ply within each plate element around the cutout was determined based on the Tsai-Hill failure criterion. Finite element plates with values below the product of the average Tsai-Hill number and a rejection criterion were subsequently removed. This process was iterated until a steady state was reached and the rejection criterion was then incremented by an evolutionary rate and the above steps repeated until the desired cutout area was achieved. Various plates with differing lay-up and loading parameters were investigated to demonstrate the generality and robustness of this optimization procedure.

Seismic behavior of a new type of seismic energy dissipation shear wall system

Abstract: A new seismic energy dissipation shear wall structure is proposed in this paper. The new shear wall is one with purposely built-in vertical slits within the wall panel, and various seismic energy dissipation devices are installed in the vertical slits so that the dynamic characteristics of the structure (for instance, lateral stiffness, ductility and fundamental period) can be controlled. In order to verify this concept, shaking table tests of two 10-story shear wall models were carried out, and the seismic behavior of the two models are studied by analyzing the test data and computing the nonlinear seismic response of the models.

Behaviour of laminated elastomeric bearings

Abstract: Experimental work undertaken to investigate the behaviour of laminated elastomeric bridge bearings under compression and a combination of compression and shear or rotation has been reported on elsewhere. However, it is difficult to determine the state of stress within the bearings in terms of the applied forces or the interaction between the steel shims and the rubber layers in the bearings. In order to supply some of the missing information about the stress-strain state within the bearings, an analytical study using the finite element method was carried out. The available experimental results were used to validate the model after which the analyses were used to provide further information about the state of stress within the bearing.

Analysis of curved multicell box girder assemblages

Abstract: A method of analysis is proposed for curved multicell box girder grillages. The method can be used to analyze box girder grillages comprising straight and/or curved segments. Each segment can be modelled by a number of beam elements. Each element has three nodes and the nodal degrees of freedom (DOF) consist of the six DOF for a conventional beam plus DOF to account for torsional warping, distortion, distortional warping, and shear lag. This element is an extension of a straight element that was developed earlier. For a more realistic analysis of the intersection regions of non-colinear box girder segments, the concept of a rigid connector is introduced, and the compatibility requirements between adjoining elements in those regions are discussed. The results of the analysis showed good agreement with the shell finite element results, but the proposed method of analysis needs a fraction of the time and effort compared to the shell finite element analysis.

Exact solutions of variable-arc-length elasticas under moment gradient

Abstract: This paper deals with the bending problem of a variable-arc-length elastica under moment gradient. The variable arc-length arises from the fact that one end of the elastica is hinged while the other end portion is allowed to slide on a frictionless support that is fixed at a given horizontal distance from the hinged end. Based on the elastica theory, exact closed-form solution in the form of elliptic integrals are derived. The bending results show that there exists a maximum or a critical moment for given moment gradient parameters: whereby if the applied moment is less than this critical value, two equilibrium configurations are possible. One of them is stable while the other is unstable because a small disturbance will lead to beam motion.

Seismic performance of a fiber-reinforced plastic cable-stayed bridge

Abstract: This paper presents an investigation into the seismic response characteristics of a proposed ligh-weight pedestrian cable-stayed bridge made entirely from Glass Fiber Reinforced Plastics(GFRP). The study employs three dimensional finite element models to study and compare the dynamic characteristics and the seismic response of the GFRP bridge to a conventional Steel-Concrete (SC) cable-stayed bridge alternative. The two bridges were subjected to three synthetic earthquakes that differ in the frequency content characteristics. The performance of the GFRP bridge was compared to that of the SC bridge by normalizing the live load and the seismic internal forces with respect to the dead load internal forces. The normalized seismically induced internal forces were compared to the normalized live load internal forces for each design alternative. The study shows that the design alternatives have different dynamic characteristics. The light GFRP alternative has more flexible deck motion in the lateral direction than the heavier SC alternative. While the SC alternative has more vertical deck modes than the GFRP alternative, it has less lateral deck modes than the GFRP alternative in the studied frequency range. The GFRP towers are more flexible in the lateral direction than the SC towers. The GFRP bridge tower attracted less normalized base shear force than the SC bridge towers. However, earthquakes, with peak acceleration of only 0.1 g, and with a variety of frequency content could induce high enough seismic internal forces at the tower bases of the GFRP cable-stayed bridge to govern the structural design of such bridge. Careful seismic analysis, design, and detailing of the tower connections are required to achieve satisfactory seismic performance of GFRP long span bridges.

Ultimate behavior of RC hyperbolic paraboloid saddle shell

Abstract: The ultimate behavior of a reinforced concrete hyperbolic paraboloid saddle shell under uniformly distributed vertical load is investigated using an inelastic, large displacement finite-element program originally developed at North Carolina State University. Unlike with the author\'s previous study which shows that the saddle shell possesses a tremendous capacity to redistribute the stresses, introducing tension stiffening in the model the cracks developed are no longer through cracks and formed as primarily bending cracks. Even though with small tension stiffening effect, the behavior of the shell is changed markedly from the one without tension stiffening effect. The load-deflection curves are straight and the slope of the curves is quite steep and remains unchanged with varying the tension stiffening parameters. The failure of the shell took place quite suddenly in a cantilever mode initiated by a formation of yield lines in a direction parallel to the support-to-support diagonal. The higher the tension stiffening parameters the higher is the ultimate load. The present study shows that the ultimate behavior of the shell primarily depends on the concrete tensile characteristics, such as tensile strength (before cracking) and the effective tension stiffening (after cracking). As the concrete characteristics would vary over the life of the shell, a degree of uncertainty is involved in deciding a specified ultimate strength of the saddle shell studied. By the present study, however, the overload factors based on ACI 318-95 are larger than unity for all the cases studied except that the tension stiffening parameter is weak by 3 with and without the large displacement effect, which shows that the Lin-Scordelis saddle shell studied here is at least safe.

Adaptive kernel method for evaluating structural system reliability

Abstract: Importance sampling methods have been developed with the aim of reducing the computational costs inherent in Monte Carlo methods This study proposes a new algorithm called the adaptive kernel method which combines and modifies some of the concepts from adaptive sampling and the simple kernel method to evaluate the structural reliability of time variant problems The essence of the resulting algorithm is to select an appropriate starting point from which the importance sampling density can be generated efficiently Numerical results show that the method is unbiased and substantially increases the efficiency over other methods

Nonlinear behavior of R/C cooling tower shells

Abstract: In this paper the ultimate strength of the R/C cooling towers, which have initial imperfection and pre-cracked elements, is analyzed. The initial geometric imperfections arise from the unavoidable inaccuracies under the construction and the pre-cracks are assumed to be produced by the temperature stress gradients or cyclic loading under wind pressure and/or earthquake load. Both effects are strongly influenced on the strength of the R/C cooling tower shell structures. The reinforcing ratio is also the important factor to evaluate the ultimate strength of the R/C cooling tower shells. However we could not analyze these structures experimentally because of their large, analyses are the powerful schemes to evaluate the safety and reliability of these structures. The analyzed model is Port Gibson cooling tower shell. In the numerical analysis the geometric and material nonlinearities are taken into account.

High precision integration for dynamic structural systems with holonomic constraints

Abstract: This paper presents a high precision integration method for the dynamic response analysis of structures with holonomic constraints. A detail recursive scheme suitable for algebraic and differential equations (ADEs) which incorporates generalized forces is established. The matrix exponential involved in the scheme is calculated precisely using 2(N) algorithm. The Taylor expansions of the nonlinear term concerned with state variables of the structure and the generalized constraint forces of the ADEs are derived and consequently, their particular integrals are obtained. The accuracy and effectiveness of the present method is demonstrated by two numerical examples, a plane truss with circular slot at its tip point and a slewing flexible cantilever beam which is currently interesting in optimal control of robot manipulators.

Effect of lateral restraint on the buckling behaviour of plates under non-uniform edge compression

Abstract: The paper investigates the influence of lateral restraint on the buckling behaviour of plate under non-uniform compression. The unloaded edges are assumed to be partially restrained against translation in the plane of the plate and the distributions of the resulting forces acting on the plate are shown. The stability analysis is done numerically using the Galerkin method and various strategies the economize the numerical implementation are presented. Results are obtained showing the variation of the buckling load, from free edge translation to fully restrained, with unloaded edges simply supported, clamped and partially restrained against rotation for various plate aspect ratios and stress gradient coefficients. An apparent decrease in the buckling load is observed due to these destabilizing forces acting in the plate and changes in the buckling modes are observed by increasing the intensity of the lateral restraint. A comparison is made between the budding loads predicted from various formulas in stability standards based on free edge translation and the values derived from the present investigation. A difference of about 34% in the predicted buckling load and different buckling mode were found.

Axial response of PWR fuel assemblies for earthquake and pipe break excitations

Abstract: A dynamic time-history analysis of the coupled internals and core in the vertical direction is performed as a part of the fuel assembly qualification program To reflect the interaction between the fuel rods and grid cage, friction element is developed and is implemented Also derived here is a method to calculate a hydraulic force on the reactor internals due to pipe break Peak responses are obtained for the excitations induced from earthquake and pipe break The dynamic responses such as fuel assembly axial forces and lift-off characteristics are investigated

Natural frequency error estimation for 3D brick elements

Abstract: In computing eigenvalues for a large finite element system it has been observed that the eigenvalue extractors produce eigenvectors that are in some sense more accurate than their corresponding eigenvalues. From this observation the paper uses a patch type technique based on the eigenvector for one mesh quality to provide an eigenvalue error indicator. Tests show this indicator to be both accurate and reliable.