Valutazione degli effetti del ritiro del calcestruzzo in un impalcato da ponte a sezione mista con modelli analitici e numerici

Il lavoro si pone l’obiettivo di studiare in modo approfondito il fenomeno del ritiro del calcestruzzo, in un primo momento come fenomeno fisico verificandone gli effetti su elementi strutturali semplici, per poi approfondire in un secondo momento gli effetti indotti su una struttura reale, nello specifico su un impalcato da ponte a sezione mista. Tramite questo percorso di studio articolato in fasi di studio prettamente teoriche, seguite dall’analisi del fenomeno su modelli realizzati con software FEM, si vuole indagare il fenomeno del ritiro del calcestruzzo dal punto di vista fisico, capire l’entità delle azioni che si manifestano nelle strutture come effetto di tale fenomeno ed infine valutare se effettivamente il ritiro abbia rilevanza pratica solo nell’ambito delle verifiche allo Stato Limite di Esercizio.

Application of the Equivalent Static Analysis method to the design of a steel frame structure with added viscous dampers

All the structures designed by engineers are vulnerable to natural disasters including floods and earthquakes. The energy released during strong ground motions should be dissipated by structural elements. Before 1990’s, this energy was expected to be dissipated through the beams and columns which at the same time were a part of gravity-load-resisting system. However, the main disadvantage of this idea was that gravity-resisting-frame was not repairable. Hence, during 1990’s, the idea of designing passive energy dissipation systems, including dampers, emerged. At the beginning, main problem was lack of guidelines for passive energy dissipation systems. Although till 2000 many guidelines and procedures where published, yet most of them were based on complicated analysis which was not so convenient for engineers and practitioners. In order to solve this problem recently some alternative design methods are proposed including 1. Lopez Garcia (2001) simple procedure for optimal damper configuration in MDOF structures 2. Christopoulos and Filiatrault (2006) trial and error procedure 3. Silvestri et al. (2010) Five-Step Method. 4. Palermo et al. (2015) Direct Five-Step Method. 5. Palermo et al. (2016) Simplified Equivalent Static Analysis (ESA). In this study, effectiveness and differences between last three alternative methods have been evaluated.

Semi-engineered earthquake-resistant structures: one-storey buildings built up with gabion-box walls

This thesis studies the static and seismic behavior of simple structures made with gabion box walls. The analysis was performed considering a one-story building with standard dimensions in plan (6m x 5m) and a lightweight timber roof. The main focus of the present investigation is to find the principals aspects of the seismic behavior of a one story building made with gabion box walls, in order to prevent a failure due to seismic actions and in this way help to reduce the seismic risk of developing countries where this natural disaster have a significant intensity. Regarding the gabion box wall, it has been performed some calculations and analysis in order to understand the static and dynamic behavior. From the static point of view, it has been performed a verification of the normal stress computing the normal stress that arrives at the base of the gabion wall and the corresponding capacity of the ground. Moreover, regarding the seismic analysis, it has been studied the in-plane and out-of-plane behavior. The most critical aspect was discovered to be the out-of-plane behavior, for which have been developed models considering the “rigid- no tension model” for masonry, finding a kinematically admissible multiplier that will create a collapse mechanism for the structure. Furthermore, it has been performed a FEM and DEM models to find the maximum displacement at the center of the wall, maximum tension stresses needed for calculating the steel connectors for joining consecutive gabions and the dimensions (length of the wall and distance between orthogonal walls or buttresses) of a geometrical configuration for the standard modulus of the structure, in order to ensure an adequate safety margin for earthquakes with a PGA around 0.4-0.5g. Using the results obtained before, it has been created some rules of thumb, that have to be satisfy in order to ensure a good behavior of these structure.

Structural failures due to lack of bracing

The goal of the research is to provide an overview of those factors that play a major role in structural failures and also to focus on the importance that bracing has in construction accidents. A temporary bracing system is important to construction safety, yet it is often neglected. Structural collapses often occur due to the insufficient support of loads that are applied at the time of failure. The structural load is usually analyzed by conceiving the whole structure as a completed entity, and there is frequently a lack of design or proper implementation of systems that can provide stability during construction. Often, the specific provisions and requirements of temporary bracing systems are left to the workers on the job site that may not have the qualifications or expertise for proper execution. To effectively see if bracing design should get more attention in codes and standards, failures which could have been avoided with the presence and/or the correct design of a bracing system were searched and selected among a variety of cases existing in the engineering literature. Eleven major cases were found, which span in a time frame of almost 70 years, clearly showing that the topic should get more attention. The case studies are presented in chronological order and in a systematic way. The failed structure is described in its design components and the sequence of failure is reconstructed. Then, the causes and failure mechanism are presented. Advice on how to avoid similar failures from happening again and hypothetic solutions which could have prevented the collapses are identified. The findings shows that insufficient or nonexistent bracing mainly results from human negligence or miscalculation of the load analysis and show that time has come to fully acknowledge that temporary structures should be more accounted for in design and not left to contractors' means and methods of construction.

Sviluppo ed applicazione di tecniche di Multiple Kernel Learning per dati di neuroimaging

Questo lavoro di tesi riguarda lo studio e l’implementazione di un algoritmo di multiple kernel learning (MKL) per la classificazione e la regressione di dati di neuroimaging ed, in particolare, di grafi di connettività funzionale. Gli algoritmi di MKL impiegano una somma pesata di vari kernel (ovvero misure di similarità) e permettono di selezionare le features utili alla discriminazione delle istanze durante l’addestramento del classificatore/regressore stesso. L’aspetto innovativo introdotto in questa tesi è stato lo studio di un nuovo kernel tra grafi di connettività funzionale, con la particolare caratteristica di conservare l’informazione relativa all’importanza di ogni singola region of interest (ROI) ed impiegando la norma lp come metodo per l’aggiornamento dei pesi, al fine di ottenere soluzioni sparsificate. L’algoritmo è stato validato utilizzando mappe di connettività sintetiche ed è stato applicato ad un dataset formato da 32 pazienti affetti da deterioramento cognitivo lieve e malattia dei piccoli vasi, di cui 16 sottoposti a riabilitazione cognitiva tra un’esame di risonanza ma- gnetica funzionale di baseline e uno di follow-up. Le mappe di con- nettività sono state ottenute con il toolbox CONN. Il classificatore è riuscito a discriminare i due gruppi di pazienti in una configurazione leave-one-out annidata con un’accuratezza dell’87.5%. Questo lavoro di tesi è stato svolto durante un periodo di ricerca presso la School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering dell’University of Essex (Colchester, UK).