Bridge vibration due to traffic loading has been a subject of extensive research in the last decades. The focus of such research has been to develop solution algorithms and investigate responses or behaviors of interest. However, proving the quality and reliability of the model output in structural engineering has become a topic of increasing importance. Therefore, this study is an attempt to extend concepts of uncertainty and sensitivity analyses to assess the dynamic response of a coupled model in bridge engineering considering time-dependent vehicular loading. A setting for the sensitivity analysis is proposed, which enables performing the sensitivity analysis considering random stochastic processes. The classical and proposed sensitivity settings are used to identify the relevant input parameters and models that have the most influence on the variance of the dynamic response. The sensitivity analysis exercises the model itself and extracts results without the need for measurements or reference solutions; however, it does not offer a means of ranking the coupled models studied. Therefore, concepts of total uncertainty are employed to rank the coupled models studied according to their fitness in describing the dynamic problem.
The proposed procedures are applied in two examples to assess the output of coupled subsystems and coupled partial models in bridge engineering considering the passage of a heavy vehicle at various speeds.
This term paper presents a literature review and discusses concepts of the following point: 1- Factors affecting small-strain stiffness in soil; 2- Methods to determine small-strain shear stiffness in laboratory and in-situ; 3- Brief introduction into wave propagation and 4- Bender elements technique to determine shear wave velocity in soil.
The initial shear modulus, Gmax, of soil is an important parameter for a variety of geotechnical design applications. This modulus is typically associated with shear strain levels about 5*10^-3% and below. The critical role of soil stiffness at small-strains in the design and analysis of geotechnical infrastructure is now widely accepted.
Gmax is a key parameter in small-strain dynamic analyses such as those to predict soil behavior or soil-structure interaction during earthquake, explosions, machine or traffic vibration where it is necessary to know how the shear modulus degrades from its small-strain value as the level of shear strain increases. Gmax can be equally important for small-strain cyclic situations such as those caused by wind or wave loading and for small-strain static situations as well. Gmax may also be used as an indirect indication of various soil parameters, as it, in many cases, correlates well to other soil properties such as density and sample disturbance. In recent years, a technique using bender elements was developed to investigate the small-strain shear modulus Gmax.
The objective of this thesis is to study the initial shear stiffness for various sands with different void ratios, densities, grain size distribution under dry and saturated conditions, then to compare empirical equations to predict Gmax and results from other testing devices with results of bender elements from this study.
Die schwerelose Ökonomie auf der Suche nach ihrem Gewicht : wissenschaftliche E-Books in den USA
(2012)
