Modeling and analysis of hysteretic structural behavior

For damaging response, the force-displacement relationship of a structure is highly nonlinear and history-dependent. For satisfactory analysis of such behavior, it is important to be able to characterize and to model the phenomenon of hysteresis accurately. A number of models have been proposed for response studies of hysteretic structures, some of which are examined in detail in this thesis. There are two popular classes of models used in the analysis of curvilinear hysteretic systems. The first is of the distributed element or assemblage type, which models the physical behavior of the system by using well-known building blocks. The second class of models is of the differential equation type, which is based on the introduction of an extra variable to describe the history dependence of the system.

Owing to their mathematical simplicity, the latter models have been used extensively for various applications in structural dynamics, most notably in the estimation of the response statistics of hysteretic systems subjected to stochastic excitation. But the fundamental characteristics of these models are still not clearly understood. A response analysis of systems using both the Distributed Element model and the differential equation model when subjected to a variety of quasi-static and dynamic loading conditions leads to the following conclusion: Caution must be exercised when employing the models belonging to the second class in structural response studies as they can produce misleading results.

The Massing's hypothesis, originally proposed for steady-state loading, can be extended to general transient loading as well, leading to considerable simplification in the analysis of the Distributed Element models. A simple, nonparametric identification technique is also outlined, by means of which an optimal model representation involving one additional state variable is determined for hysteretic systems.

Analysis of a concrete arch highway bridge reinforced with structural steel

An article in the Engineering News-Record for March 30, 1923, describes a new concrete arch bridge across the Connecticut River between Springfield and West Springfield, Mass.

A probabilistic energy model for non-domestic building sectors applied to analysis of school buildings in greater London

The diversity of non-domestic buildings at urban scale poses a number of difficulties to develop models for large scale analysis of the stock. This research proposes a probabilistic, engineering-based, bottom-up model to address these issues. In a recent study we classified London's non-domestic buildings based on the service they provide, such as offices, retail premise, and schools, and proposed the creation of one probabilistic representational model per building type. This paper investigates techniques for the development of such models. The representational model is a statistical surrogate of a dynamic energy simulation (ES) model. We first identify the main parameters affecting energy consumption in a particular building sector/type by using sampling-based global sensitivity analysis methods, and then generate statistical surrogate models of the dynamic ES model within the dominant model parameters. Given a sample of actual energy consumption for that sector, we use the surrogate model to infer the distribution of model parameters by inverse analysis. The inferred distributions of input parameters are able to quantify the relative benefits of alternative energy saving measures on an entire building sector with requisite quantification of uncertainties. Secondary school buildings are used for illustrating the application of this probabilistic method. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Analysis of structural health monitoring data from hammersmith flyover

There has recently been considerable research published on the applicability of monitoring systems for improving civil infrastructure management decisions. Less research has been published on the challenges in interpreting the collected data to provide useful information for engineering decision makers. This paper describes some installed monitoring systems on the Hammersmith Flyover, a major bridge located in central London (United Kingdom). The original goals of the deployments were to evaluate the performance of systems for monitoring prestressing tendon wire breaks and to assess the performance of the bearings supporting the bridge piers because visual inspections had indicated evidence of deterioration in both. This paper aims to show that value can be derived from detailed analysis of measurements from a number of different sensors, including acoustic emission monitors, strain, temperature and displacement gauges. Two structural monitoring systems are described, a wired system installed by a commercial contractor on behalf of the client and a research wireless deployment installed by the University of Cambridge. Careful interpretation of the displacement and temperature gauge data enabled bearings that were not functioning as designed to be identified. The acoustic emission monitoring indicated locations at which rapid deterioration was likely to be occurring; however, it was not possible to verify these results using any of the other sensors installed and hence the only method for confirming these results was by visual inspection. Recommendations for future bridge monitoring projects are made in light of the lessons learned from this monitoring case study. © 2014 This work is made available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license,.

Application of acetone and dimethyl ether chemical ionization reagent gases to structural analysis

Acetone and dimethyl ether( DME) have been shown to be reagent gases of exceptional utitlity and versatility for the characterization of a variety of class of organic compounds. The fragmentation mechanisms of the adduct product ions, formed by ion/molceule reaction of the substrate with the ionized gases, have been studied and substantiated by experiments with acetone-d(6) and DME-d(6).

Analysis of structural relaxation in a Li(2)O2SiO(2) glass using rate heating approach

The structural relaxation process of an inorganic glass (Li(2)O2SiO(2)) at different cooling rates has been studied by differential scanning calorimetry. A four-parameter model-Tool-Narayanaswamy-Moynihan (TNM) model was applied to simulate the normalized specific heat curve measured. Four parameters, Delta h*/R, beta, In A, and x were obtained and compared with the values obtained from the isothermal approach. (C) 1999 Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Evolutionary analysis of phycobiliproteins: Implications for their structural and functional relationships

Phycobiliproteins, together with linker polypeptides and various chromophores, are basic building blocks of phycobilisomes, a supramolecular complex with a light-harvesting function in cyanobacteria and red algae. Previous studies suggest that the different types of phycobiliproteins and the linker polypeptides originated from the same ancestor. Here we retrieve the phycobilisome-related genes from the well-annotated and even unfinished cyanobacteria genomes and find that many sites with elevated d(N)/d(S) ratios in different phycobiliprotein lineages are located in the chromophore-binding domain and the helical hairpin domains (X and Y). Covariation analyses also reveal that these sites are significantly correlated, showing strong evidence of the functional-structural importance of interactions among these residues. The potential selective pressure driving the diversification of phycobiliproteins may be related to the phycobiliprotein-chromophore microenvironment formation and the subunits interaction. Sites and genes identified here would provide targets for further research on the structural-functional role of these residues and energy transfer through the chromophores.