• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.269-282
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• 2015

Civil structures should be designed with the lowest cost and longest lifetime possible and without service failure. The efficient and sustainable use of materials in building design and construction has always been at the forefront for civil engineers and environmentalists. Timber is one of the best contenders for these purposes particularly in terms of aesthetics; fire protection; strength-to-weight ratio; acoustic properties and seismic resistance. In recent years, timber has been used in commercial and taller buildings due to these significant advantages. It should be noted that, since the launch of the modern building standards and codes, a number of different structural systems have been developed to stabilise steel or concrete multistorey buildings, however, structural analysis of high-rise and multi-storey timber frame buildings subjected to lateral loads has not yet been fully understood. Additionally, timber degradation can occur as a result of biological decay of the elements and overloading that can result in structural damage. In such structures, the deficient members and joints require strengthening in order to satisfy new code requirements; determine acceptable level of safety; and avoid brittle failure following earthquake actions. This paper investigates performance assessment and damage assessment of older multi-storey timber buildings. One approach is to retrofit the beams in order to increase the ductility of the frame. Experimental studies indicate that Sprayed Fibre Reinforced Polymer (SFRP) repairing/retrofitting not only updates the integrity of the joint, but also increases its strength; stiffness; and ductility in such a way that the joint remains elastic. Non-linear finite element analysis ('pushover') is carried out to study the behaviour of the structure subjected to simulated gravity and lateral loads. A new global index is re-assessed for damage assessment of the plain and SFRP-retrofitted frames using capacity curves obtained from pushover analysis. This study shows that the proposed method is suitable for structural damage assessment of aged timber buildings. Also SFRP retrofitting can potentially improve the performance and load carrying capacity of the structure.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.99-117
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• 2015

The Stonecutters Bridge (SCB) in Hong Kong is the third-longest cable-stayed bridge in the world with a main span stretching 1,018 m between two 298 m high single-leg tapering composite towers. A Wind and Structural Health Monitoring System (WASHMS) is being implemented on SCB by the Highways Department of The Hong Kong SAR Government, and the SCB-WASHMS is composed of more than 1,300 sensors in 15 types. In order to establish a linkage between structural health monitoring and maintenance management, a Structural Health Rating System (SHRS) with relevant rating tools and indices is devised. On the basis of a 3D space frame finite element model (FEM) of SCB and model updating, this paper presents the development of an SHR-oriented 3D multi-scale FEM for the purpose of load-resistance analysis and damage evaluation in structural element level, including modeling, refinement and validation of the multi-scale FEM. The refined 3D structural segments at deck and towers are established in critical segment positions corresponding to maximum cable forces. The components in the critical segment region are modeled as a full 3D FEM and fitted into the 3D space frame FEM. The boundary conditions between beam and shell elements are performed conforming to equivalent stiffness, effective mass and compatibility of deformation. The 3D multi-scale FEM is verified by the in-situ measured dynamic characteristics and static response. A good agreement between the FEM and measurement results indicates that the 3D multi-scale FEM is precise and efficient for WASHMS and SHRS of SCB. In addition, stress distribution and concentration of the critical segments in the 3D multi-scale FEM under temperature loads, static wind loads and equivalent seismic loads are investigated. Stress concentration elements under equivalent seismic loads exist in the anchor zone in steel/concrete beam and the anchor plate edge in steel anchor box of the towers.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.163-181
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• 2015

This research investigates the structural health monitoring of nonlinear structures after a major seismic event. It considers the identification of flag-shaped or pinched hysteresis behavior in response to structures as a more general case of a normal hysteresis curve without pinching. The method is based on the overall least squares methods and the log likelihood ratio test. In particular, the structural response is divided into different loading and unloading sub-half cycles. The overall least squares analysis is first implemented to obtain the minimum residual mean square estimates of structural parameters for each sub-half cycle with the number of segments assumed. The log likelihood ratio test is used to assess the likelihood of these nonlinear segments being true representations in the presence of noise and model error. The resulting regression coefficients for identified segmented regression models are finally used to obtain stiffness, yielding deformation and energy dissipation parameters. The performance of the method is illustrated using a single degree of freedom system and a suite of 20 earthquake records. RMS noise of 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% is added to the response data to assess the robustness of the identification routine. The proposed method is computationally efficient and accurate in identifying the damage parameters within 10% average of the known values even with 20% added noise. The method requires no user input and could thus be automated and performed in real-time for each sub-half cycle, with results available effectively immediately after an event as well as during an event, if required.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.55 no.6
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• pp.1139-1155
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• 2015

In this study, a new retrofitting method for improving the seismic performance of reinforced concrete column was presented, in which prestressed steel strips were utilized as retrofitting stuff to confine the reinforced concrete column transversely. In order to figure out the seismic performance of concrete column specimen retrofitted by such prestressed steel strips methods, a series of quasi-static tests of five retrofitted specimens and two unconfined column specimen which acted as control specimens were conducted. Based on the test results, the seismic performance including the failure modes, hysteresis performance, ductility performance, energy dissipation and stiffness degradation of all these specimens were fully investigated and analyzed. And furthermore the influences of some key parameters such as the axial force ratios, shear span ratios and steel strips spacing on seismic performance of those retrofitted reinforced concrete column specimens were also studied. It was shown that the prestressed steel strips provided large transverse confining effect on reinforced concrete column specimens, which resulted in improving the shearing bearing capacity, ductility performance, deformation capacity and energy dissipation performance of retrofitted specimens effectively. In comparison to the specimen which was retrofitted by the carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) strips method, the seismic performance of the specimens retrofitted by the prestressed steel strips was a bit better, and with much less cost both in material and labor. From this research results, it can be concluded that this new retrofitting method is really useful and has significant advantages both in saving money and time over some other retrofitting methods.

• Ocean Systems Engineering
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.139-160
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• 2015

The global performance of the 5MW OC4 semisubmersible floating wind turbine in random waves was numerically simulated by using the turbine-floater-mooring fully coupled and time-domain dynamic analysis program FAST-CHARM3D. There have been many papers regarding floating offshore wind turbines but the effects of second-order wave-body interactions on their global performance have rarely been studied. The second-order wave forces are actually small compared to the first-order wave forces, but its effect cannot be ignored when the natural frequencies of a floating system are outside the wave-frequency range. In the case of semi-submersible platform, second-order difference-frequency wave-diffraction forces and moments become important since surge/sway and pitch/roll natural frequencies are lower than those of typical incident waves. The computational effort related to the full second-order diffraction calculation is typically very heavy, so in many cases, the simplified approach called Newman's approximation or first-order-wave-force-only are used. However, it needs to be justified against more complete solutions with full QTF (quadratic transfer function), which is a main subject of the present study. The numerically simulated results for the 5MW OC4 semisubmersible floating wind turbine by FAST-CHARM3D are also extensively compared with the DeepCWind model test results by Technip/NREL/UMaine. The predicted motions and mooring tensions for two white-noise input-wave spectra agree well against the measure values. In this paper, the numerical static-offset and free-decay tests are also conducted to verify the system stiffness, damping, and natural frequencies against the experimental results. They also agree well to verify that the dynamic system modeling is correct to the details. The performance of the simplified approaches instead of using the full QTF are also tested.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.757-774
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• 2015

Reinforcing soils with the geosynthetics have been shown to be an effective method for improving the uplift capacity of granular soils. The pull-out resistance of the reinforcing elements is one of the most notable factors in increasing the uplift capacity. In this paper, a new reinforcing element including the elements (anchors) attached to the ordinary geogrid for increasing the pull-out resistance of the reinforcement, is used. Thus, the reinforcement consists of the geogrid and anchors with the cylindrical plastic elements attached to it, namely grid-anchors. A three-dimensional numerical study, employing the commercial finite difference software FLAC-3D, was performed to investigate the uplift capacity of the pipelines buried in sand reinforced with this system. The models were used to investigate the effect of the pipe diameter, burial depth, soil density, number of the reinforcement layers, width of the reinforcement layer, and the stiffness of geogrid and anchors on the uplift resistance of the sandy soils. The outcomes reveal that, due to a developed longer failure surface, inclusion of grid-anchor system in a soil deposit outstandingly increases the uplift capacity. Compared to the multilayer reinforcement, the single layer reinforcement was more effective in enhancing the uplift capacity. Moreover, the efficiency of the reinforcement layer inclusion for uplift resistance in loose sand is higher than dense sand. Besides, the efficiency of reinforcement layer inclusion for uplift resistance in lower embedment ratios is higher. In addition, by increasing the pipe diameter, the efficiency of the reinforcement layer inclusion will be lower. Results demonstrate that, for the pipes with an outer diameter of 50 mm, the grid-anchor system of reinforcing can increase the uplift capacity 2.18 times greater than that for an ordinary geogrid and 3.20 times greater than that for non-reinforced sand.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.443-465
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• 2014

Hyperbolic thin-shell cooling towers have complicated vibration modes, and are very sensitive to the effects of group towers and wind-induced vibrations. Traditional aero-elastic models of cooling towers are usually designed based on the method of stiffness simulation by continuous medium thin shell materials. However, the method has some shortages in actual engineering applications, so the so-called "equivalent beam-net design method" of aero-elastic models of cooling towers is proposed in the paper and an aero-elastic model with a proportion of 1: 200 based on the method above with integrated pressure measurements and vibration measurements has been designed and carried out in TJ-3 wind tunnel of Tongji university. According to the wind tunnel test, this paper discusses the impacts of self-excited force effect on the surface wind pressure of a large-scale cooling tower and the results show that the impact of self-excited force on the distribution characteristics of average surface wind pressure is very small, but the impact on the form of distribution and numerical value of fluctuating wind pressure is relatively large. Combing with the Complete Quadratic Combination method (hereafter referred to as CQC method), the paper further studies the numerical sizes and distribution characteristics of background components, resonant components, cross-term components and total fluctuating wind-induced vibration responses of some typical nodes which indicate that the resonance response is dominant in the fluctuating wind-induced vibration response and cross-term components are not negligible for wind-induced vibration responses of super-large cooling towers.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.59-73
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• 2013

The Xiaolan channel super large bridge is unique in style and with greatest span in the world with a total length of 7686.57 m. The main bridge with spans arranged as 100m+220m+100m is a combined structure composed of prestressed concrete V-shape rigid frame and concrete-filled steel tubular flexible arch. First of all, the author compiles APDL command flow program by using the unit birth-death technique and establishes simulation calculation model in the whole construction process. The creep characteristics of concrete are also taken into account. The force ratio of the suspender, arch and beam is discussed. The authors conduct studies on the three-plate webs's rule of shear stress distribution, the box girder's longitudinal bending normal stress on every construction stage, meanwhile the distribution law of longitudinal bending normal stress and transverse bending normal stress of completed bridge's box girder. Results show that, as a new combined bridge, it is featured by: Girder and arch resist forces together; Moment effects of the structure are mainly presented as compressed arch and tensioned girder; The bridge type brings the girder and arch on resisting forces into full play; Great in vertical stiffness and slender in appearance.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.83-109
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• 2013

A simple damper optimization method is proposed to find optimal damper allocation for shear buildings under both target added damping ratio and interstorey drift ratio (IDR). The damping coefficients of added dampers are considered as design variables. The cost, which is defined as the sum of damping coefficient of added dampers, is minimized under a target added damping ratio and the upper and the lower constraint of the design variables. In the first stage of proposed algorithm, Simulated Annealing, Nelder Mead and Differential Evolution numerical algorithms are used to solve the proposed optimization problem. The candidate optimal design obtained in the first stage is tested in terms of the IDRs using linear time history analyses for a design earthquake in the second stage. If all IDRs are below the allowable level, iteration of the algorithm is stopped; otherwise, the iteration continues increasing the target damping ratio. By this way, a structural response IDR is also taken into consideration using a snap-back test. In this study, the effects of the selection of upper limit for added dampers, the storey mass distribution and the storey stiffness distribution are all investigated in terms of damper distributions, cost function, added damping ratio and IDRs for 6-storey shear building models. The results of the proposed method are compared with two existing methods in the literature. Optimal designs are also compared with uniform designs according to both IDRs and added damping ratios. The numerical results show that the proposed damper optimization method is easy to apply and is efficient to find optimal damper distribution for a target damping ratio and allowable IDR value.

• Coupled systems mechanics
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.231-253
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• 2013

The impact of spar-nacelle-blade coupling on edgewise dynamic responses of spar-type floating wind turbines (S-FOWT) is investigated in this paper. Currently, this coupling is not considered explicitly by researchers. First of all, a coupled model of edgewise vibration of the S-FOWT considering the aerodynamic properties of the blade, variable mass and stiffness per unit length, gravity, the interactions among the blades, nacelle, spar and mooring system, the hydrodynamic effects, the restoring moment and the buoyancy force is proposed. The aerodynamic loads are combined of a steady wind (including the wind shear) and turbulence. Each blade is modeled as a cantilever beam vibrating in its fundamental mode. The mooring cables are modeled using an extended quasi-static method. The hydrodynamic effects calculated by using Morison's equation and strip theory consist of added mass, fluid inertia and viscous drag forces. The random sea state is simulated by superimposing a number of linear regular waves. The model shows that the vibration of the blades, nacelle, tower, and spar are coupled in all degrees of freedom and in all inertial, dissipative and elastic components. An uncoupled model of the S-FOWT is then formulated in which the blades and the nacelle are not coupled with the spar vibration. A 5MW S-FOWT is analyzed by using the two proposed models. In the no-wave sea, the coupling is found to contribute to spar responses only. When the wave loading is considered, the coupling is significant for the responses of both the nacelle and the spar.