The primary objective of initial shape analysis of a cable stayed bridge is to calculate initial installation cable tension forces and to evaluate fabrication camber of main span and pylon providing the final longitudinal profile of the bridge at the end of construction. In addition, the initial cable forces depending on the alternation of the bridge’s shape can be obtained from the analysis, and will be used to provide construction safety during construction. In this research, we conducted numerical experiments for initial shape of Ko-ha bridge, which will be constructed in the near future, using three different typical methods such as continuous beam method, linear truss method, and IIMF (Introducing Initial Member Force) method
Global structural analyses in civil engineering are usually performed considering linear-elastic material behavior. However, for steel structures, a certain degree of plasticization depending on the member classification may be considered. Corresponding plastic analyses taking material nonlinearities into account are effectively realized using numerical methods. Frequently applied finite elements of two and three-dimensional models evaluate the plasticity at defined nodes using a yield surface, i.e. by a yield condition, hardening rule, and flow rule. Corresponding calculations are connected to a large numerical as well as time-consuming effort and they do not rely on the theoretical background of beam theory, to which the regulations of standards mainly correspond. For that reason, methods using beam elements (one-dimensional) combined with cross-sectional analyses are commonly applied for steel members in terms of plastic zones theories. In these approaches, plasticization is in general assessed by means of axial stress only. In this paper, more precise numerical representation of the combined stress states, i.e. axial and shear stresses, is presented and results of the proposed approach are validated and discussed.
This paper presents a novel numerical procedure based on the combination of an edge-based smoothed finite element (ES-FEM) with a phantom-node method for 2D linear elastic fracture mechanics. In the standard phantom-node method, the cracks are formulated by adding phantom nodes, and the cracked element is replaced by two new superimposed elements. This approach is quite simple to implement into existing explicit finite element programs. The shape functions associated with discontinuous elements are similar to those of the standard finite elements, which leads to certain simplification with implementing in the existing codes. The phantom-node method allows modeling discontinuities at an arbitrary location in the mesh. The ES-FEM model owns a close-to-exact stiffness that is much softer than lower-order finite element methods (FEM). Taking advantage of both the ES-FEM and the phantom-node method, we introduce an edge-based strain smoothing technique for the phantom-node method. Numerical results show that the proposed method achieves high accuracy compared with the extended finite element method (XFEM) and other reference solutions.
The displacements and stresses in arch dams and their abutments are frequently determined with 20-node brick elements. The elements are distorted near the contact plane between the wall and the abutment. A cantilever beam testbed has been developed to investigate the consequences of this distortion. It is shown that the deterioration of the accuracy in the computed stresses is significant. A compatible 18-node wedge element with linear stress variation is developed as an alternative to the brick element. The shape of this element type is readily adapted to the shape of the contact plane. It is shown that the accuracy of the computed stresses in the vicinity of the contact plane is improved significantly by the use of wedge elements.
A simple multiscale analysis framework for heterogeneous solids based on a computational homogenization technique is presented. The macroscopic strain is linked kinematically to the boundary displacement of a circular or spherical representative volume which contains the microscopic information of the material. The macroscopic stress is obtained from the energy principle between the macroscopic scale and the microscopic scale. This new method is applied to several standard examples to show its accuracy and consistency of the method proposed.
Framed-tube system with multiple internal tubes is analysed using an orthotropic box beam analogy approach in which each tube is individually modelled by a box beam that accounts for the flexural and shear deformations, as well as the shear-lag effects. A simple numerical modeling technique is proposed for estimating the shear-lag phenomenon in tube structures with multiple internal tubes. The proposed method idealizes the framed-tube structures with multiple internal tubes as equivalent multiple tubes, each composed of four equivalent orthotropic plate panels. The numerical analysis is based on the minimum potential energy principle in conjunction with the variational approach. The shear-lag phenomenon of such structures is studied taking into account the additional bending moments in the tubes. A detailed work is carried out through the numerical analysis of the additional bending moment. The moment factor is further introduced to identify the shear lag phenomenon along with the additional moment.
This paper presents the combination of two different parallelization environments, OpenMP and MPI, in one numerical simulation tool. The computation of the system matrices and vectors is parallelized with OpenMP and the solution of the system of equations is done with the MPIbased solver MUMPS. The efficiency of both algorithms is shown on several linear and nonlinear examples using the Finite Element Method and a meshless discretization technique.
Creation of hierarchical sequence of the plastic and viscoplastic models according to different levels of structure approximations is considered. Developed strategy of multimodel analysis, which consists of creation of the inelastic models library, determination of selection criteria system and caring out of multivariant sequential clarifying computations, is described. Application of the multimodel approach in numerical computations has demonstrated possibility of reliable prediction of stress-strain response under wide variety of combined nonproportional loading.
When it comes to monitoring of huge structures, main issues are limited time, high costs and how to deal with the big amount of data. In order to reduce and manage them, respectively, methods from the field of optimal design of experiments are useful and supportive. Having optimal experimental designs at hand before conducting any measurements is leading to a highly informative measurement concept, where the sensor positions are optimized according to minimal errors in the structures’ models. For the reduction of computational time a combined approach using Fisher Information Matrix and mean-squared error in a two-step procedure is proposed under the consideration of different error types. The error descriptions contain random/aleatoric and systematic/epistemic portions. Applying this combined approach on a finite element model using artificial acceleration time measurement data with artificially added errors leads to the optimized sensor positions. These findings are compared to results from laboratory experiments on the modeled structure, which is a tower-like structure represented by a hollow pipe as the cantilever beam. Conclusively, the combined approach is leading to a sound experimental design that leads to a good estimate of the structure’s behavior and model parameters without the need of preliminary measurements for model updating.
This study is focused on finite element analysis of a model comprising femur into which a femoral component of a total hip replacement was implanted. The considered prosthesis is fabricated from a functionally graded material (FGM) comprising a layer of a titanium alloy bonded to a layer of hydroxyapatite. The elastic modulus of the FGM was adjusted in the radial, longitudinal, and longitudinal-radial directions by altering the volume fraction gradient exponent. Four cases were studied, involving two different methods of anchoring the prosthesis to the spongy bone and two cases of applied loading. The results revealed that the FG prostheses provoked more SED to the bone. The FG prostheses carried less stress, while more stress was induced to the bone and cement. Meanwhile, less shear interface stress was stimulated to the prosthesis-bone interface in the noncemented FG prostheses. The cement-bone interface carried more stress compared to the prosthesis-cement interface. Stair climbing induced more harmful effects to the implanted femur components compared to the normal walking by causing more stress. Therefore, stress shielding, developed stresses, and interface stresses in the THR components could be adjusted through the controlling stiffness of the FG prosthesis by managing volume fraction gradient exponent.
In this paper we present a theoretical background for a coupled analytical–numerical approach to model a crack propagation process in two-dimensional bounded domains. The goal of the coupled analytical–numerical approach is to obtain the correct solution behaviour near the crack tip by help of the analytical solution constructed by using tools of complex function theory and couple it continuously with the finite element solution in the region far from the singularity. In this way, crack propagation could be modelled without using remeshing. Possible directions of crack growth can be calculated through the minimization of the total energy composed of the potential energy and the dissipated energy based on the energy release rate. Within this setting, an analytical solution of a mixed boundary value problem based on complex analysis and conformal mapping techniques is presented in a circular region containing an arbitrary crack path. More precisely, the linear elastic problem is transformed into a Riemann–Hilbert problem in the unit disk for holomorphic functions. Utilising advantages of the analytical solution in the region near the crack tip, the total energy could be evaluated within short computation times for various crack kink angles and lengths leading to a potentially efficient way of computing the minimization procedure. To this end, the paper presents a general strategy of the new coupled approach for crack propagation modelling. Additionally, we also discuss obstacles in the way of practical realisation of this strategy.
The paper investigates accuracy of deflection predictions made by the finite element package ATENA and design code methods ACI and EC2. Deflections have been calculated for a large number of experimental reinforced concrete beams reported by three investigators. Statistical parameters have been established for each of the technique at different load levels, separately for the beams with small and moderate reinforcement ratio.
For modeling of singular fields of stresses and deformations in elasters with a crack is offered to use of three-dimesional a special finite element. Weak compessible of elasters is taken into account on the basis of threefold approximation of fields of displacements, deformations and function of volume change. At intensive cyclic loading of the elastomer constructions with a crack it is necessary to take into account warming and large deformations at the crack top. The stress-deformed state elasters with a crack is determined from the decision of a nonlinear problem by a modified method Newton-Kantorovich. Account stress intensity factors for a rectangular plate with a various arrangement of a through crack is executed. Process of development of a surface crack and dissipative warming in prismatic a element of shift is investigated.
Development and Analysis of Sparse Matrix Concepts for Finite Element Approximation on general Cells
(2004)
In engineering and computing, the finite element approximation is one of the most well-known computational solution techniques. It is a great tool to find solutions for mechanic, fluid mechanic and ecological problems. Whoever works with the finite element method will need to solve a large system of linear equations. There are different ways to find a solution. One way is to use a matrix decomposition technique such as LU or QR. The other possibility is to use an iterative solution algorithm like Conjugate Gradients, Gauß-Seidel, Multigrid Methods, etc. This paper will focus on iterative solvers and the needed storage techniques...
In this paper, systematic analyses for the shoring systems installed to support the applied loads during construction are performed on the basis of the numerical approach. On the basis of a rigorous time-dependent analysis, structural behaviors of reinforced concrete (RC) frame structures according to the changes in design variables such as the types of shoring systems, shore stiffness and shore spacing are analyzed and discussed. The time-dependent deformations of concrete such as creep and shrinkage and construction sequences of frame structures are also taken into account to minimize the structural instability and to reach to an improved design of shoring system because these effects may increase the axial forces delivered to the shores. In advance, the influence of the column shortening effect, generally mentioned in a tall building structure, is analyzed. From many parametric studies, it has been finally concluded that the most effective shoring system in RC frame structures is 2S1R (two shores and one reshore) regardless of the changes in design variables.
We propose an enhanced iterative scheme for the precise reconstruction of piezoelectric material parameters from electric impedance and mechanical displacement measurements. It is based on finite-element simulations of the full three-dimensional piezoelectric equations, combined with an inexact Newton or nonlinear Landweber iterative inversion scheme. We apply our method to two piezoelectric materials and test its performance. For the first material, the manufacturer provides a full data set; for the second one, no material data set is available. For both cases, our inverse scheme, using electric impedance measurements as input data, performs well.
The method of the finite elements is an adaptable numerical procedure for interpolation as well as for the numerical approximation of solutions of partial differential equations. The basis of these procedure is the formulation of suitable finite elements and element decompositions of the solution space. Classical finite elements are based on triangles or quadrangles in the two-dimensional space and tetrahedron or hexahedron in the threedimensional space. The use of arbitrary-dimensional convex and non-convex polyhedrons as the geometrical basis of finite elements increases the flexibility of generating finite element decompositions substantially and is sometimes the only way to get a clear decomposition...
A large-scale computer modeling and simulation method is presented for environmental flows in urban area. Several GIS and CAD data were used for the preparation of shape model and an automatic mesh generation method based on Delaunay method was developed. Parallel finite element method based on domain decomposition method was employed for the numerical simulation of natural phenomena. The present method was applied to the simulation of flood flow and wind flow in urban area. The present method is shown to be a useful planning and design tool for the natural disasters and the change of environments.
The influence of vortex-induces vibrations on vertical tie rods has been proved as a determinant load factor in the lifetime-oriented dimensioning of arched steel bridges. Particularly, the welded connection plates between the suspenders and the arches often exhibit cracks induced primarily rods. In this context, the synchronization of the vortex-shedding to the rod motion in a critical wind velocity range, the so-called lock-in effect, is of essential interest.
We conducted extensive molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the thermal conductivity of polycrystalline hexagonal boron-nitride (h-BN) films. To this aim, we constructed large atomistic models of polycrystalline h-BN sheets with random and uniform grain configuration. By performing equilibrium molecular dynamics (EMD) simulations, we investigated the influence of the average grain size on the thermal conductivity of polycrystalline h-BN films at various temperatures. Using the EMD results, we constructed finite element models of polycrystalline h-BN sheets to probe the thermal conductivity of samples with larger grain sizes. Our multiscale investigations not only provide a general viewpoint regarding the heat conduction in h-BN films but also propose that polycrystalline h-BN sheets present high thermal conductivity comparable to monocrystalline sheets.