Lateral movements in composite high-rise buildings under seismic action

Daring human nature has already led to the construction of high-rise buildings in naturally challenging geological regions and in worse environments of the world. However; literature review divulges that there is a lag in research of certain generic principles and rules for the prediction of lateral movement in multistorey construction. The present competitive trend orders the best possible used of available construction material and resources. Hence; the mixed used of reinforced concrete with structural steel is gaining prevalence day by day. This paper investigates the effects of Seismic load on composite multistorey building provided with core wall and trusses through FEM modelling. The results showed that increased rigidity corresponds to lower period of vibration and hence higher seismic forces. Since Seismic action is a function of mass and response acceleration, therefore; mass increment generate higher earthquake load and thus cause higher impact base shear and overturning movement. Whereas; wind force depends on building exposed, larger the plan dimension greater is the wind impact. Nonetheless; outriggers trusses noticeably contribute, in improving the serviceability of structure subjected to wind and earthquake forces.

Shear strength tests of lipped channel beams

This paper presents the details of experimental studies on the shear behaviour and strength of lipped channel beams (LCBs). The LCB sections are commonly used as flexural members in residential, industrial and commercial buildings. To ensure safe and efficient designs of LCBs, many research studies have been undertaken on the flexural behaviour of LCBs. To date, however, limited research has been conducted into the strength of LCB sections subject to shear actions. Therefore a detailed experimental study involving 20 tests was undertaken to investigate the shear behaviour and strength of LCBs. This research has shown the presence of increased shear capacity of LCBs due to the additional fixity along the web to flange juncture, but the current design rules (AS/NZS 4600 and AISI) ignore this effect and were thus found to be conservative. Therefore they were modified by including a higher elastic shear buckling coefficient. Ultimate shear capacity results obtained from the shear tests were compared with the modified shear capacity design rules. It was found that they are still conservative as they ignore the presence of post-buckling strength. Hence the AS/NZS 4600 and AISI design rules were further modified to include the available post-buckling strength. Suitable design rules were also developed under the direct strength method (DSM) format. This paper presents the details of this study and the results including the modified shear design rules.

Review of the fire performance of LSF walls

Load bearing LSF walls are commonly made of cold-formed steel frames, gypsum plasterboards and insulation, and their fire performance is an important aspect of design. Many experimental and numerical studies have been conducted on the fire performance of LSF walls at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT). These studies have shown that increasing the number or thickness or quality of gypsum plasterboards has improved the fire resistance ratings (FRR) of LSF walls while the use of cavity insulation has reduced their FRR. Therefore new LSF wall systems with external insulation sandwiched between two layers of plasterboards were proposed, which provided higher FRR than cavity insulated walls. There are also other parameters that can improve the fire performance of LSF walls such as the steel type, stud geometry and depth, type of screw fasteners used, joints in the plasterboard and the plasterboard fall off time. This paper presents a review of the fire performance of LSF walls as a function of these parameters based on our research at QUT. Their effects on both the thermal and structural performance of LSF walls are discussed in detail and suitable improvements are recommended, for example, improved plasterboard joint types.

Experimental study on the fire performance of superior LSF wall systems

Load bearing Light Gauge Steel Frame (LSF) walls are commonly made of conventional lipped channel sections and gypsum plasterboards. Recently, innovative steel sections such as hollow flange channel sections have been proposed as studs in LSF wall frames with a view to improve their fire resistance ratings. A series of full scale fire tests was then undertaken to investigate the fire performance of the new LSF wall systems under standard fire conditions. Test wall frames made of hollow flange section studs were lined with fire resistant gypsum plasterboards on both sides, and were subjected to increasing temperatures as given by the standard fire curve on one side. Both uninsulated and cavity insulated walls were tested with varying load ratios from 0.2 to 0.6. This paper presents the details of this experimental study on the fire performance of LSF walls and the results. Test results showed that the walls made of the new hollow flange channel section studs have a superior fire performance in comparison to that of lipped channel section stud walls. They also showed that the fire performance of cavity insulated walls was inferior to that of uninsulated walls. The reasons for this fire behaviour are described in this paper.

Vulnerability and damage analysis of reinforced concrete framed buildings subjected to near field blast events

Terrorists usually target high occupancy iconic and public buildings using vehicle borne incendiary devices in order to claim a maximum number of lives and cause extensive damage to public property. While initial casualties are due to direct shock by the explosion, collapse of structural elements may extensively increase the total figure. Most of these buildings have been or are built without consideration of their vulnerability to such events. Therefore, the vulnerability and residual capacity assessment of buildings to deliberately exploded bombs is important to provide mitigation strategies to protect the buildings' occupants and the property. Explosive loads and their effects on a building have therefore attracted significant attention in the recent past. Comprehensive and economical design strategies must be developed for future construction. This research investigates the response and damage of reinforced concrete (RC) framed buildings together with their load bearing key structural components to a near field blast event. Finite element method (FEM) based analysis was used to investigate the structural framing system and components for global stability, followed by a rigorous analysis of key structural components for damage evaluation using the codes SAP2000 and LS DYNA respectively. The research involved four important areas in structural engineering. They are blast load determination, numerical modelling with FEM techniques, material performance under high strain rate and non-linear dynamic structural analysis. The response and damage of a RC framed building for different blast load scenarios were investigated. The blast influence region for a two dimensional RC frame was investigated for different load conditions and identified the critical region for each loading case. Two types of design methods are recommended for RC columns to provide superior residual capacities. They are RC columns detailing with multi-layer steel reinforcement cages and a composite columns including a central structural steel core. These are to provide post blast gravity load resisting capacity compared to typical RC column against a catastrophic collapse. Overall, this research broadens the current knowledge of blast and residual capacity analysis of RC framed structures and recommends methods to evaluate and mitigate blast impact on key elements of multi-storey buildings.

Computer simulation of H and He effects in fusion reactor materials

Fusion power is an appealing source of clean and abundant energy. The radiation resistance of reactor materials is one of the greatest obstacles on the path towards commercial fusion power. These materials are subject to a harsh radiation environment, and cannot fail mechanically or contaminate the fusion plasma. Moreover, for a power plant to be economically viable, the reactor materials must withstand long operation times, with little maintenance. The fusion reactor materials will contain hydrogen and helium, due to deposition from the plasma and nuclear reactions because of energetic neutron irradiation. The first wall divertor materials, carbon and tungsten in existing and planned test reactors, will be subject to intense bombardment of low energy deuterium and helium, which erodes and modifies the surface. All reactor materials, including the structural steel, will suffer irradiation of high energy neutrons, causing displacement cascade damage. Molecular dynamics simulation is a valuable tool for studying irradiation phenomena, such as surface bombardment and the onset of primary damage due to displacement cascades. The governing mechanisms are on the atomic level, and hence not easily studied experimentally. In order to model materials, interatomic potentials are needed to describe the interaction between the atoms. In this thesis, new interatomic potentials were developed for the tungsten-carbon-hydrogen system and for iron-helium and chromium-helium. Thus, the study of previously inaccessible systems was made possible, in particular the effect of H and He on radiation damage. The potentials were based on experimental and ab initio data from the literature, as well as density-functional theory calculations performed in this work. As a model for ferritic steel, iron-chromium with 10% Cr was studied. The difference between Fe and FeCr was shown to be negligible for threshold displacement energies. The properties of small He and He-vacancy clusters in Fe and FeCr were also investigated. The clusters were found to be more mobile and dissociate more rapidly than previously assumed, and the effect of Cr was small. The primary damage formed by displacement cascades was found to be heavily influenced by the presence of He, both in FeCr and W. Many important issues with fusion reactor materials remain poorly understood, and will require a huge effort by the international community. The development of potential models for new materials and the simulations performed in this thesis reveal many interesting features, but also serve as a platform for further studies.

A probabilistic model for fatigue crack propagation analysis

A simple probabilistic model for predicting crack growth behavior under random loading is presented. In the model, the parameters c and m in the Paris-Erdogan Equation are taken as random variables, and their stochastic characteristic values are obtained through fatigue crack propagation tests on an offshore structural steel under constant amplitude loading. Furthermore, by using the Monte Carlo simulation technique, the fatigue crack propagation life to reach a given crack length is predicted. The tests are conducted to verify the applicability of the theoretical prediction of the fatigue crack propagation.

环境介质对40Cr结构钢高周和超高周疲劳行为的影响

选用40Cr结构钢,分别在空气、水和3.5%NaCl水溶液中进行旋转弯曲疲劳实验,研究环境介质对该结构钢高周和超高周疲劳特性的影响.结果表明,40Cr钢在水环境中的疲劳强度比在空气中明显降低;在3.5%NaCl水溶液环境中的疲劳强度比在水中低.断面观察显示,在水和3.5%NaCl水溶液中,疲劳裂纹多源萌生;在稳态扩展阶段,裂纹沿晶界扩展并存在广泛分布的沿晶二次裂纹.

结构钢中绝热剪切带形成与扩展的光学观测与数值模拟

绝热剪切带(Adiabatic Shear Band,ASB)是许多金属材料在冲击载荷作用下发生破坏的主要原因之一,它是近年来冲击动力学和损伤力学研究的前沿和热点.相关的理论研究主要针对一维剪切条件,分析应力、应变、剪切速度、材料热物理和力学性能、初始缺陷大小之间的关系,得到一个由多个物理量组合而成的量来判别材料出现剪切带的难易.ASB的实验主要利用Hopkinson压杆、扭杆、压剪炮等加载技术,研究钛合金、钨合金、高强结构钢等材料的剪切带特征,包括局部温度和变形分布、剪切带出现的阈值等.但是,对剪切带演化过程的在位观察及其动态实时演化的研究还较少见,妨碍了人们对由于剪切局部化而导致的材料破坏机理的深入认识.针对45钢,在Hopkinson压杆上,开展了不同冲击加载条件下剪切带演化过程的在位观察及可视化研究.利用自行设计的高分辨力的光学观测系统和基于数字相关理论的图像处理软件,捕捉了单一试样在冲击加载条件下ASB逐渐形成和扩展的过程.同时,利用LS-DYNA商业程序对试样的冲击压缩过程进行了数值模拟,所得主要结果与实验观测基本一致.

Heat affected zone microstructures and their influence on toughness in two microalloyed HSLA steels

Microstructures and Charpy impact properties have been examined in two microalloyed steels following heat treatments to simulate weld heat affected zone (HAZ) structures over a range of heat input conditions, characterised by the cooling time from 800 to 500°C (Δt8/5). The base materials were low carbon structural steel plates microalloyed with vanadium and nitrogen (V-N) and niobium (Nb), respectively. The toughnesses of the HAZs displayed remarkably different behaviours as shown by their impact transition temperatures. For the V-N steel, the toughness improved with increasingly rapid cooling (low heat input conditions) whereas the Nb steel showed an opposite trend. Some of this behaviour could be explained by the presence of coarse ferrite grains in the slowly cooled V-N steel. However, other conditions where all the structures were bainitic and rather similar in optical micrographs gave widely different toughness values. The recently developed method of five dimensional boundary analysis based on electron backscattering diffraction has been applied to these cases for the first time. This showed that the lath boundaries in the bainite were predominantly on {1 1 0} planes of the ferrite and that the average spacing of these boundaries varied depending on steel composition and cooling rate. Since {1 1 0} is also the slip plane in ferrite, it is considered that close spacing between the lath boundaries inhibits general plasticity at stress concentrations and favours initiation of fracture. The differences between the two steels are believed to be due to their transformation behaviours on cooling where precipitation of vanadium nitride in austenite accelerates ferrite formation and raises the temperature of the phase transformation in V-N steels.

A Avenida Paulista como pólo de expressões públicas e coletivas na cidade de São Paulo

O presente relatório discute uma das significativas dimensões da avenida Paulista na cidade de São Paulo: sua crescente ocupação para manifestações políticas, articuladas principalmente por categorias profissionais como bancários, funcionários públicos, professores e metalúrgicos, além de outras mais abrangentes como os protestos pelo impeachment, liderados por setores estudantis. O principal objetivo é analisar a visibilidade privilegiada adquirida por essas manifestações, e por conseguinte a importância desse espaço em sua dimensão pública na metrópole.

Efeito da temperatura de pré-aquecimento e características do pulso na microestrutura de aço estrutural de alta resistência e baixa liga soldado com arco elétrico e proteção gasosa

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Avaliação da resistência ao desgaste abrasivo de revestimentos soldados do tipo Fe-C-Cr utilizados na indústria sucroalcooleira

Pós-graduação em Engenharia Mecânica - FEIS

Influência do raio de ponta do entalhe, do tipo de carregamento e da microestrutura no processo à fratura do aço estrutural ABNT-4340

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)