Jun 2009, Volume 3 Issue 2
    

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  • RESEARCH ARTICLE
    Zhijun LI, Zichen DENG

    In this paper, a novel “composite reaching law” was explained in details: 1) the equation of discrete motion for a control system; 2) the design of discrete-time variable structure control. In addition, the model of a three-storey shear-type building structure was used to verify the effectiveness of the discrete variable structure control method. The results of numerical example analysis of the model show that the control law can effectively reduce the peak value of seismic response of the building structure and the chattering effect of the control system.

  • RESEARCH ARTICLE
    Yiyi CHEN, Dazhao ZHANG, Weichen XUE, Wensheng LU

    The seismic behavior of a structural system composed of pre-stressed concrete stand supporting a retractable steel roof was studied, which is typically based on the prototype of engineering project of Shanghai Qizhong Tennis Center. By elasto-plastic finite element analysis and shaking table test, the following were investigated: the effects of roof configurations in opening and closing, the effect of pre-stress on the structural seismic response, and the failure mechanism of the spatial stand frame systems featured with circularly arranged columns and inverse-cone type stands. It was found that the roof status has great effect on the natural period, vibration modes, and seismic response of the whole structure, the stand response to horizontal seismic excitation is stronger in roof opening configuration than in closing state, and the response mode is dominantly translational rather than rotational, though the stand is characterized by its fundamentally torsional vibration mode. The study indicated that the pre-stressed inverse-cone stands can keep the system from global side-sway collapse under gravity loads, even in the case that most columns loose moment capacity.

  • RESEARCH ARTICLE
    Zhi ZHANG, Qian GU, Shaomin PENG, Quanzhi CAI

    Combined with the actual project, this paper carries out a nonlinear finite element analysis on 2 groups, 6 short-limbed shear walls, through the finite element calculation software ANSYS. The stress-strain relation of the models, and the effects of the type of sections and the axial compression ratios on the models can be obtained, providing a reference for future design.

  • RESEARCH ARTICLE
    Chujie JIAO, Wei SUN, Shi HUAN, Guoping JIANG

    Impact compression experiments for the steel fiber–reinforced high-strength concrete (SFRHSC) at medium strain rate were conducted using the split Hopkinson press bar (SHPB) testing method. The volume fractions of steel fibers of SFRHSC were between 0 and 3%. The experimental results showed that, when the strain rate increased from threshold value to 90 s-1, the maximum stress of SFRHSC increased about 30%, the elastic modulus of SFRHSC increased about 50%, and the increase in the peak strain of SFRHSC was 2-3 times of that in the matrix specimen. The strength and toughness of the matrix were improved remarkably because of the superposition effect of the aggregate high-strength matrix and steel fiber high-strength matrix. As a result, under impact loading, cracks developed in the SFRHSC specimen, but the overall shape of the specimen remained virtually unchanged. However, under similar impact loading, the matrix specimens were almost broken into small pieces.

  • RESEARCH ARTICLE
    Xiaojia CHEN, Yuanlin WANG

    This paper introduces a non-classical nonlinear acoustic theory for microcrack detection in materials, comparing contact nonlinearity with material nonlinearity. The paper’s main work concentrates on the experimental and numerical verification of the effectivity of contact nonlinear acoustic detection by using the contact nonlinear parameter β, which can be represented by the ratio of the second-harmonic amplitude to the square of the first-harmonic amplitude. Both experiments and numerical tests are performed. The results show that β is sensitive to the initiation of microcracks and varies with the development of the microcracks. The numerical test illustrates the decline of β when microcracks penetrate each other.

  • RESEARCH ARTICLE
    Kun YE, Li LI

    Structural pounding under earthquake has been recently extensively investigated using various impact analytical models. In this paper, a brief review on the commonly used impact analytical models is conducted. Based on this review, the formula used to determine the damping constant related to the impact spring stiffness, coefficient of restitution, and relative approaching velocity in the Hertz model with nonlinear damping is found to be incorrect. To correct this error, a more accurate approximating formula for the damping constant is theoretically derived and numerically verified. At the same time, a modified Kelvin impact model, which can reasonably account for the physical nature of pounding and conveniently implemented in the earthquake-induced pounding simulation of structural engineering is proposed.

  • RESEARCH ARTICLE
    Hock Tian CHENG, Bashar S. MOHAMMED, Kamal Nasharuddin MUSTAPHA

    This paper presents the results of a research project aimed at providing standard circular web openings to the popular precast pretensioned inverted T-beam. Opening size and placement and required materials strengths were investigated. In this paper the nonlinear analysis and design of simply supported pretensioned inverted T-beam with circular web openings are presented. Two design parameters are varied: opening location and number of openings. The results from nonlinear finite element analysis were substantiated by test results from five pretensioned inverted T-beams with web opening and one solid beam. Good agreement is shown between the theoretical and the experimental results. The test results obtained from this investigation show that the performance of the specimens with web openings is almost identical to that of the specimen without web openings. A simple design method for pretensioned inverted T-beam with circular web openings is proposed.

  • RESEARCH ARTICLE
    Baoguo CHEN, Rui DING, Junjie ZHENG, Shibiao ZHANG

    A field test was conducted to investigate the distribution of temperature field and the variation of thermal stress for a prestressed concrete (PC) box-girder bridge. The change of hydration heat temperature consists of four periods: temperature rising period, constant temperature period, rapid temperature fall period and slow temperature fall period. The peak value of hydration heat temperature increases with the increasing casting temperature of concrete; the relation between them is approximately linear. According to field tests, the thermal stress incurred by hydration heat may induce temperature cracks on the PC box-girder. Furthermore, the nonlinear distribution of temperature gradient and the fluctuation of thermal stress induced by exposure to sunlight were also obtained based on continuous in-situ monitoring. Such results show that the prevailing Chinese Code (2004) is insufficient since it does not take into account the temperature gradient of the bottom slab. Finally, some preventive measures against temperature cracks were proposed based on related studies. The conclusions can provide valuable reference for the design and construction of PC box-girder bridges.

  • RESEARCH ARTICLE
    Yan HAN, Zhengqing CHEN, Shidong LUO, Shankui YANG

    Based on the spatial model, a reliable and accurate calculation method on the shape finding of self-anchored suspension bridge with spatial cables was studied in this paper. On the principle that the shape of the main cables between hangers is catenary, the iteration method of calculating the shapes of the spatial main cables under the load of hanger forces was deduced. The reasonable position of the saddle was determined according to the shape and the theoretical joint point of the main cables. The shapes of the main cables at completed cable stage were calculated based on the unchanging principle of the zero-stress lengths of the main cables. By using a numerical method combining with the finite element method, one self-anchored suspension bridge with spatial cables was analyzed. The zero-stress length of the main cables, the position of the saddle, and the pre-offsetting of the saddle of the self-anchored suspension bridge were given. The reasonable shapes of the main cables at bridge completion stage and completed cable stage were presented. The results show that the shape-finding calculation method is effective and reliable.

  • RESEARCH ARTICLE
    Zhengqing CHEN

    Flutter derivatives are essential for flutter analysis of long-span bridges, and they are generally identified from the vibration testing data of a sectional model suspended in a wind tunnel. Making use of the forced vibration testing data of three sectional models, namely, a thin-plate model, a nearly streamlined model, and a bluff-body model, a comparative study was made to identify the flutter derivatives of each model by using a time-domain method and a frequency-domain method. It was shown that all the flutter derivatives of the thin-plate model identified with the frequency-domain method and time-domain method, respectively, agree very well. Moreover, some of the flutter derivatives of each of the other two models identified with the two methods deviate to some extent. More precisely, the frequency-domain method usually results in smooth curves of the flutter derivatives. The formulation of time-domain method makes the identification results of flutter derivatives relatively sensitive to the signal phase lag between vibration state vector and aerodynamic forces and also prone to be disturbed by noise and nonlinearity.

  • RESEARCH ARTICLE
    Hanlong LIU, Xuanming DING

    The three-dimensional effects of pile head and the applicability of plane-section assumption are main problems in low-strain dynamic tests on cast-in-situ concrete thin-wall pipe piles. The velocity and displacement responses were calculated by a theoretical formula deduced by the authors. The frequency and influencing factor of high-frequency interference were analyzed. A numerical method was established to calculate the peak value and arrival time of incoming waves on top of the piles. The regularity along circumferential and the influence of radius or impulse width were studied. The applicability of plane-section assumption was investigated by comparison of velocity responses at different points in the sections at different depths. The waveform of velocity response at different points forked after the first peak, indicating that the propagation of stress waves did not well meet the plane- section assumption.

  • RESEARCH ARTICLE
    R. R. SHAKIR, Jungao ZHU

    In this paper, a nonlinear elastic model was developed to simulate the behavior of compacted clay concrete interface (CCCI) based on the principle of transition mechanism failure (TMF). A number of simple shear tests were conducted on CCCI to demonstrate different failure mechanisms; i.e., sliding failure and deformation failure. The clay soil used in the test was collected from the “Shuang Jang Kou” earth rockfill dam project. It was found that the behavior of the interface depends on the critical water contents by which two failure mechanisms can be recognized. Mathematical relations were proposed between the shear at failure and water content in addition to the transition mechanism indicator. The mathematical relations were then incorporated into the interface model. The performance of the model is verified with the experimental results. The verification shows that the proposed model is capable of predicting the interface shear stress versus the total shear displacement very well.

  • RESEARCH ARTICLE
    Yuchuan DU, Yuanjing GENG, Lijun SUN

    For a local area road network, the available traffic data of traveling are the flow volumes in the key intersections, not the complete OD matrix. Considering the circumstance characteristic and the data availability of a local area road network, a new model for traffic assignment based on Monte Carlo simulation of intersection turning movement is provided in this paper. For good stability in temporal sequence, turning ratio is adopted as the important parameter of this model. The formulation for local area road network assignment problems is proposed on the assumption of random turning behavior. The traffic assignment model based on the Monte Carlo method has been used in traffic analysis for an actual urban road network. The results comparing surveying traffic flow data and determining flow data by the previous model verify the applicability and validity of the proposed methodology.

  • RESEARCH ARTICLE
    Yaoyun XING, Jian DAI, Zhujiu XIA

    This paper analyzes the present situation of the settlement and the influence of tourism development and construction. It discusses the attitude toward the conservation and development of the settlement as well as the way to maintain the production, life, and culture of the Mosian and the way to promote the sustainable development of the settlement by tourism.

  • RESEARCH ARTICLE
    Yong DING, Baizhan LI, Qing LUO, Hong LIU, Meng LIU

    This paper analyzes the potential of natural resources to improve the indoor thermal environment in Chongqing through the statistical analysis of natural resources including solar energy, wind, water, and earth, etc. The building form, systems, and principle of usage of natural resources are briefly analyzed through the building site decision, building form design, and computer simulation, which will be the real reference for the design of building energy efficiency.

  • RESEARCH ARTICLE
    Weiming GONG, Guoliang DAI, Haowen ZHANG

    The application of pile-end post-grouting piles for super-large bridge pile foundations in some important projects was introduced in this paper. There are totally 21 test piles. The maximum pile diameter varies from 2.5 m to 3 m, and the maximum length is 125 m; the bearing capacity of the post-grouting piles is over ten thousands tons. Based on the test results, the bearing capacity, displacement, and bearing characteristic before and after grouting were analyzed. The results show that the bearing capacity of the piles are increased in different degrees after grouting although the technical parameters, including the patterns of grouting pipes, pressure, dosages of cement, duration of grouting lasting time, are different. However, the obtained values are very discrete. In addition, the calculation formula for the post-grouting piles under specified grouting condition was deduced based on the statistics analysis results of 57 test piles. The research results have been applied in the design of bridge foundation.

  • RESEARCH ARTICLE
    Pusheng SHEN, Hui FANG, Xinhong XIA

    This paper aims to study the different vertical displacements in tall hybrid-structures and the corresponding engineering measures. First, the method to calculate the different vertical displacements in tall hybrid-structures is presented. This method takes into account the effects of construction process by applying loads sequentially story by story. Based on the concrete creep and shrinkage calculation formula in American Concrete Institute (ACI) code, with the assumption that loads are increased linearly in members, the creep and shrinkage effects of members are analyzed by adopting two parameters named average load-aged coefficient and average age-last coefficient. The effects of steel ratio on members creep are analyzed by age-adjusted module method (AEMM). The effects that core-tube were constructed in advance to outer steel frame were also considered. Then, based on the sample calculation, the measures to effectively reduce the different vertical displacements in hybrid-structures are proposed. This method is simple and practical in the calculation of different vertical displacements in tall and super-tall hybrid-structures.

  • ERRATUM
    Hanlong LIU, Xuanming DING