Universitätsbibliothek
Weimar Open Access

Global Sensitivity Analysis of Reinforced Concrete Walls Subjected to Standard Fire—A Comparison of Methods

Reliable modelling in structural engineering is crucial for the serviceability and safety of structures. A huge variety of aerodynamic models for aeroelastic analyses of bridges poses natural questions on their complexity and thus, quality. Moreover, a direct comparison of aerodynamic models is typically either not possible or senseless, as the models can be based on very different physical assumptions. Therefore, to address the question of principal comparability and complexity of models, a more abstract approach, accounting for the effect of basic physical assumptions, is necessary. This paper presents an application of a recently introduced category theory-based modelling approach to a diverse set of models from bridge aerodynamics. Initially, the categorical approach is extended to allow an adequate description of aerodynamic models. Complexity of the selected aerodynamic models is evaluated, based on which model comparability is established. Finally, the utility of the approach for model comparison and characterisation is demonstrated on an illustrative example from bridge aeroelasticity. The outcome of this study is intended to serve as an alternative framework for model comparison and impact future model assessment studies of mathematical models for engineering applications.

Für eine Abschätzung des Heizwärmebedarfs von Gebäuden und Quartieren können thermisch-energetische Simulationen eingesetzt werden. Grundlage dieser Simulationen sind geometrische und physikalische Gebäudemodelle. Die Erstellung des geometrischen Modells erfolgt in der Regel auf Basis von Bauplänen oder Vor-Ort-Begehungen, was mit einem großen Recherche- und Modellierungsaufwand verbunden ist. Spätere bauliche Veränderungen des Gebäudes müssen häufig manuell in das Modell eingearbeitet werden, was den Arbeitsaufwand zusätzlich erhöht. Das physikalische Modell stellt die Menge an Parametern und Randbedingungen dar, welche durch Materialeigenschaften, Lage und Umgebungs-einflüsse gegeben sind. Die Verknüpfung beider Modelle wird innerhalb der entsprechenden Simulations-software realisiert und ist meist nicht in andere Softwareprodukte überführbar. Mithilfe des Building Information Modeling (BIM) können Simulationsdaten sowohl konsistent gespeichert als auch über Schnittstellen mit entsprechenden Anwendungen ausgetauscht werden. Hierfür wird eine Methode vorgestellt, die thermisch-energetische Simulationen auf Basis des standardisierten Übergabe-formats Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) inklusive anschließender Auswertungen ermöglicht. Dabei werden geometrische und physikalische Parameter direkt aus einem über den gesamten Lebenszyklus aktuellen Gebäudemodell extrahiert und an die Simulation übergeben. Dies beschleunigt den Simulations-prozess hinsichtlich der Gebäudemodellierung und nach späteren baulichen Veränderungen. Die erarbeite-te Methode beruht hierbei auf einfachen Modellierungskonventionen bei der Erstellung des Bauwerksinformationsmodells und stellt eine vollständige Übertragbarkeit der Eingangs- und Ausgangswerte sicher. Thermal building simulation based on BIM-models. Thermal energetic simulations are used for the estimation of the heating demand of buildings and districts. These simulations are based on building models containing geometrical and physical information. The creation of geometrical models is usually based on existing construction plans or in situ assessments which demand a comparatively big effort of investigation and modeling. Alterations, which are later applied to the structure, request manual changes of the related model, which increases the effort additionally. The physical model represents the total amount of parameters and boundary conditions that are influenced by material properties, location and environmental influences on the building. The link between both models is realized within the correspondent simulation soft-ware and is usually not transferable to other software products. By Applying Building Information Modeling (BIM) simulation data is stored consistently and an exchange to other software is enabled. Therefore, a method which allows a thermal energetic simulation based on the exchange format Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) including an evaluation is presented. All geometrical and physical information are extracted directly from the building model that is kept up-to-date during its life cycle and transferred to the simulation. This accelerates the simulation process regarding the geometrical modeling and adjustments after later changes of the building. The developed method is based on simple conventions for the creation of the building model and ensures a complete transfer of all simulation data.

The fire resistance of concrete members is controlled by the temperature distribution of the considered cross section. The thermal analysis can be performed with the advanced temperature dependent physical properties provided by 5EN6 1992-1-2. But the recalculation of laboratory tests on columns from 5TU6 Braunschweig shows, that there are deviations between the calculated and measured temperatures. Therefore it can be assumed, that the mathematical formulation of these thermal properties could be improved. A sensitivity analysis is performed to identify the governing parameters of the temperature calculation and a nonlinear optimization method is used to enhance the formulation of the thermal properties. The proposed simplified properties are partly validated by the recalculation of measured temperatures of concrete columns. These first results show, that the scatter of the differences from the calculated to the measured temperatures can be reduced by the proposed simple model for the thermal analysis of concrete.

With the advances of the computer technology, structural optimization has become a prominent field in structural engineering. In this study an unconventional approach of structural optimization is presented which utilize the Energy method with Integral Material behaviour (EIM), based on the Lagrange’s principle of minimum potential energy. The equilibrium condition with the EIM, as an alternative method for nonlinear analysis, is secured through minimization of the potential energy as an optimization problem. Imposing this problem as an additional constraint on a higher cost function of a structural property, a bilevel programming problem is formulated. The nested strategy of solution of the bilevel problem is used, treating the energy and the upper objective function as separate optimization problems. Utilizing the convexity of the potential energy, gradient based algorithms are employed for its minimization and the upper cost function is minimized using the gradient free algorithms, due to its unknown properties. Two practical examples are considered in order to prove the efficiency of the method. The first one presents a sizing problem of I steel section within encased composite cross section, utilizing the material nonlinearity. The second one is a discrete shape optimization of a steel truss bridge, which is compared to a previous study based on the Finite Element Method.