• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.513-530
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• 2013

In this paper, an improved version of particle swarm optimization based optimum design algorithm (IPSO) is presented for the steel grillage systems. The optimum design problem is formulated considering the provisions of American Institute of Steel Construction concerning Load and Resistance Factor Design. The optimum design algorithm selects the appropriate W-sections for the beams of the grillage system such that the design constraints are satisfied and the grillage weight is the minimum. When an improved version of the technique is extended to be implemented, the related results and convergence performance prove to be better than the simple particle swarm optimization algorithm and some other metaheuristic optimization techniques. The efficiency of different inertia weight parameters of the proposed algorithm is also numerically investigated considering a number of numerical grillage system examples.

• Journal of the Society of Naval Architects of Korea
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.710-718
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• 2008

This paper presents a simple and fast approach to plan the arrangement of supports and to do a ship docking analysis. The unpredicted structural damages often happen from a docking works as the size of ships are getting larger and larger. In docking a ship, excessive reaction forces from supports are primary causes of the structural damage. The grillage analysis method is employed to simply calculate only the reaction forces at supports. The grillage modeling strategies are proposed to improve the accuracy. In this paper, the results obtained by the proposed approach are compared with those of the current whole-ship FEA for typical types of ships. Comparison shows that the results from the present grillage approaches are reasonably in a good agreement with the 3-D full F.E one. Finally, an integrated program developed for the ship docking analysis is described.

• Journal of the Society of Naval Architects of Korea
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• v.41 no.6
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• pp.91-101
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• 2004

For the grillage which is common types of structures in marine and land-based structural system, the elastic response and design methods are usually applied. However, plastic analysis and design methods are considered Tn those structures to maintain the structural stability at the limit states. In grillage design, the central intersection point load may be used as a worst loading condition. However, a point load may often move around on the grid system. in such case, the worst load point would not necessarily be at the central point. To investigate the variation of plastic collapse load according to the location of moving load between intersections, the plastic collapse loads are obtained for the three types of grillages with simply-supported ends. From the result of each case, it is confirmed that the worst load point is located between intersections. General formulae related with plastic collapse loads for the three groups of grillages with simply-supported boundaries are derived. Those plastic collapse formulae for the grillages are applied to the design of pontoon deck, and optimum design procedure is illustrated. Consequently, general formulae for the plastic collapse of grillages derived from this study can be easily applied to the plastic analysis and optimum design of similar grillages.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.131-157
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• 2014

Special track systems used to divert a train to other directions or other tracks are generally called 'railway turnout'. A traditional turnout system consists of steel rails, switches, crossings, steel plates, fasteners, screw spikes, timber bearers, ballast and formation. The wheel rail contact over the crossing transfer zone has a dip-like shape and can often cause detrimental impact loads on the railway track and its components. The large impact also emits disturbing noises (either impact or ground-borne noise) to railway neighbors. In a brown-field railway track where an existing aged infrastructure requires renewal or maintenance, some physical constraints and construction complexities may dominate the choice of track forms or certain components. With the difficulty to seek for high-quality timbers with dimensional stability, a methodology to replace aged timber bearers in harsh dynamic environments is to adopt an alternative material that could mimic responses and characteristics of timber in both static and dynamic loading conditions. A critical review has suggested an application of an alternative material called fibre-reinforced foamed urethane (FFU). The full-scale capacity design makes use of its comparable engineering characteristics to timber, high-impact attenuation, high damping property, and a longer service life. A field trial to investigate in-situ behaviours of a turnout grillage system using an alternative material, 'fibre-reinforced foamed urethane (FFU)' bearers, has been carried out at a complex turnout junction under heavy mixed traffics at Hornsby, New South Wales, Australia. The turnout junction was renewed using the FFU bearers altogether with new special track components. Influences of the FFU bearers on track geometry (recorded by track inspection vehicle 'AK Car'), track settlement (based on survey data), track dynamics, and acoustic characteristics have been measured. Operational train pass-by measurements have been analysed to evaluate the effectiveness of the replacement methodology. Comparative studies show that the use of FFU bearers generates higher rail and sleeper accelerations but the damping capacity of the FFU help suppress vibration transferring onto other track components. The survey data analysis suggests a small vertical settlement and negligible lateral movement of the turnout system. The static and dynamic behaviours of FFU bearers appear to equate that of natural timber but its service life is superior.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.783-797
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• 2012

A new hybrid meta-heuristic optimization algorithm is presented for design of structures. The algorithm is based on the concepts of the charged system search (CSS) and the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithms. The CSS is inspired by the Coulomb and Gauss's laws of electrostatics in physics, the governing laws of motion from the Newtonian mechanics, and the PSO is based on the swarm intelligence and utilizes the information of the best fitness historically achieved by the particles (local best) and by the best among all the particles (global best). In the new hybrid algorithm, each agent is affected by local and global best positions stored in the charged memory considering the governing laws of electrical physics. Three different types of structures are optimized as the numerical examples with the new algorithm. Comparison of the results of the hybrid algorithm with those of other meta-heuristic algorithms proves the robustness of the new algorithm.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.34-43
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• 2012

The behaviors of the curved bridges which has been constructed in the RAMP or Interchange are very complicate and different than orthogonal bridges according to the variations of radius of curvature, skew angle and spacing of shoes. Occasionally, the camber of girder and negative reactions can be occurred due to bending and torsional moment. In this study, the effects on the negative reaction in the curved bridge were investigated on the basis of design variables such as radius of curvature, skew angle, and spacing of shoes. For this study, the twin-steel box girder curved bridge with single span which is applicable for the RAMP bridges with span length(L) of 50.0m and width of 9.0m was chosen and the structural analysis to calculate the reactions was conducted using 3-dimensional equivalent grillage system. The value of negative reaction in curved bridges depends on the plan structures of bridges, the formations of structural systems, and the boundary conditions of bearing, so, radius of curvature, skew angle, and spacing of shoes among of design variables were chosen as the parameter and the load combination according to the design standard were considered. According to the results of numerical analysis, the negative reaction in curved bridge increased with an decrease of radius of curvature, skew angle, and spacing of shoes, respectively. Also, in case of skew angle of $60^{\circ}$ the negative reaction has been always occurred without regard to ${\theta}/B$, and in case of skew angle of $75^{\circ}$ the negative reaction hasn't been occurred in ${\theta}/B$ below 0.27 with the radius of curvature of 180m and in ${\theta}/B$ below 0.32 with the radius of curvature of 250m, and in case of skew angle of $90^{\circ}$ the negative reaction hasn't been occurred in the radius of curvature over 180m and in ${\theta}/B$ below 0.38 with the radius of curvature of 130m, The results from this study indicated that occurrence of negative reaction was related to design variables such as radius of curvature, skew angle, and spacing of shoes, and the problems with the stability including negative reaction will be expected to be solved as taken into consideration of the proper combinations of design variables in design of curved bridge.