This doctoral research work focuses on the simulation of progressive collapse of reinforced concrete structures. It aims at contributing to the ‘alternate load path’ design approach suggested by the General Services Administration (GSA) and the Department of Defense (DoD) of the United States, by providing a detailed yet flexible numerical modelling tool. <p><p>The finite element formulation adopted here is based on a multilevel approach where the response at the structural level is naturally deduced from the behaviour of the constituents (concrete and steel) at the material level. One-dimensional nonlinear constitutive laws are used to model the material response of concrete and steel. These constitutive equations are introduced in a layered beam approach, where the cross-sections of the structural members are discretised through a finite number of layers. This modelling strategy allows deriving physically motivated relationships between generalised stresses and strains at the sectional level. Additionally, a gradual sectional strength degradation can be obtained as a consequence of the progressive failure of the constitutive layers. This means that complex nonlinear sectional responses exhibiting softening can be obtained even for simplified one dimensional constitutive laws for the constituents.<p><p>This numerical formulation is used in dynamic progressive collapse simulations to study the structural response of a multi-storey planar frame subject to a sudden column loss. The versatility of the proposed methodology allows assessing the influence of the main material and design parameters in the structural failure. Furthermore, the effect of particular modelling options of the progressive collapse simulation technique, such as the column removal time or the strategy adopted for the structural verification, can be evaluated.<p><p>The potential strain rate effects on the structural response of reinforced concrete frames are also investigated. To this end, a strain rate dependent material formulation is developed, where the rate effects are introduced in both the concrete and steel constitutive response. These effects are incorporated at the structural level through the multilayered beam approach. In order to assess the degree of rate dependence in progressive collapse, the results of rate dependent simulations are presented and compared to those obtained via the rate independent approach. The influence of certain parameters on the rate dependent structural failure is also studied.<p><p>The differences obtained in terms of progressive failure degree for the considered parametric variations and modelling options are analysed and discussed. The parameters observed to have a major influence on the structural response in a progressive collapse scenario are the ductility of the steel bars, the degree of symmetry and/or continuity of the reinforcement and the column removal time. The results also depend on the strategy considered (GSA vs DoD). The strain rate effects are confirmed to play a significant role in the failure pattern. Based on these observations, general recommendations for the design of progressive collapse resisting structures are finally derived.<p><p><p><p><p>L’effondrement progressif est un sujet de recherche qui a connu un grand développement suite aux événements désastreux qui se sont produits au cours des dernières décennies. Ce phénomène est déclenché par la défaillance soudaine d’un nombre réduit d’éléments porteurs de la structure, qui provoque une propagation en cascade de l’endommagement d’élément en élément jusqu’à affecter une partie importante, voire la totalité de l’ouvrage. Le résultat est donc disproportionné par rapport à la cause. La plupart des codes de construction ont inclus des prescriptions pour le dimensionnement des structures face aux actions accidentelles. Malheureusement, ces procédures se limitent à fournir des ‘règles de bonne pratique’, ou proposent des calculs simplifiés se caractérisant par un manque de détail pour permettre leur mise en oeuvre.<p><p>Cette thèse de doctorat intitulée Simulation de l’Effondrement Progressif des Structures en Béton Armé: Influence des Paramètres Materiaux et de Dimensionnement et Investigation des Effets de Vitesse a pour but de contribuer à la simulation numérique de l’effondrement progressif des structures en béton armé. Une formulation aux éléments finis basée sur une approche multi-échelles a été développée, où la réponse à l’échelle structurale est déduite à partir de la réponse au niveau matériel des constituants (le béton et l’acier). Les sections des éléments structuraux sont divisées en un nombre fini de couches pour lesquelles des lois constitutives unidimensionnelles sont postulées. Cet outil permet une dégradation graduelle de la résistance des sections en béton armé suite à la rupture progressive des couches. Des comportements complexes au niveau des points de Gauss peuvent être ainsi obtenus, et cela même à partir de lois unidimensionnelles pour les constituants.<p><p>Cette formulation est utilisée pour la simulation de l’effondrement progressif d’ossatures 2D, avec prise en compte des effets dynamiques. La versatilité de la présente stratégie numérique permet d’analyser l’influence de différents paramètres matériaux et de dimensionnement, ainsi que d’autres paramètres de modélisation, sur la réponse structurale face à la disparition soudaine d’une colonne.<p><p>Les effets de la vitesse de déformation sur le comportement des matériaux constituants est aussi un sujet d’attention dans ce travail de recherche. Des lois constitutives prenant en compte ces effets sont postulées et incorporées au niveau structural grâce à l’approche multi-couches. Le but est d’étudier l’influence des effets de la vitesse de chargement sur la réponse structurale face à la disparition d’un élément porteur. Les resultats obtenus à l’aide de cette approche avec effets de vitesse sont comparés à ceux obtenus avec des lois indépendantes de la vitesse.<p><p>Les différences dans la réponse à la disparition d’une colonne sont analysées pour les variations paramétriques étudiées. Les paramètres ayant une influence importante sont notamment: la ductilité des matériaux constituants et la disposition et/ou la symétrie des armatures. Les effets de vitesse sont également significatifs. Sur base de ces résultats, des recommandations sont proposées pour le dimensionnement et/ou l’analyse des structures face à l’effondrement progressif.<p> / Doctorat en Sciences de l'ingénieur / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In this thesis the structural dynamics, upon photo-excitation, of the charge-densitywave (CDW) material 4Hb-TaSe2 is investigated on the time-scale of atomic motion and simultaneously on the spatial-scale of atomic dimensions. CDW materials have been of interest since their discovery in the 1970’s because of their remarkable non-linear and anisotropic electrical properties, gigantic dielectric constants, unusual elastic properties and rich dynamical behaviour. Some of these exotic properties were extensively investigated in thermal equilibrium soon after their discovery but only recently have ultrafast techniques like femtosecond spectroscopy become available to study their out-of-equilibrium behaviour on the time-scale of atomic motion. By studying their behaviour on this time-scale a more in-depth understanding of their macroscopic properties can be gained. However, to do investigations on the atomic time-scale and simultaneously directly observe the evolution of the atomic arrangements is another challenge. One approach is through the previously mentioned technique of femtosecond pump-probe spectroscopy but converting the usual ultrashort optical probing source to an ultrashort electron or x-ray source that can diffract off the sample and reveal structural detail on the atomic level. Here, the femto-to-picosecond out-of-equilibrium behaviour upon photo-excitation in 4Hb-TaSe2 is investigated using an ultrashort electron probe source. Two variations of using an electron probe source are used: conventional scanning Femtosecond Electron Diffraction (FED) and a new approach namely Femtosecond Streaked Electron Diffraction (FSED). The more established FED technique, based on femtosecond pumpprobe spectroscopy, is used as the major investigating tool while the FSED technique, based on ultrafast streak camera technology, is an attempt at broadening the scope of available techniques to study structural dynamics in crystalline material on the subpicosecond time-scale. With these two techniques, the structural dynamics during the phase transition from the commensurate- to incommensurate-CDW phase in 4Hb-TaSe2 is observed through diffraction patterns with a temporal resolution of under 500 fs. The study reveals strong coupling between the electronic and lattice systems of the material and several time-constants of under and above a picosecond are extracted from the data. Using these time-constants, the structural evolution during the phase transition is better understood and with the newly gained knowledge, a model of all the processes involved after photo-excitation is proposed. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In hierdie tesis word die strukturele dinamika van die lading-digtheid-golf (LDG) materiaal 4Hb-TaSe2 ondersoek op die tydskaal van atomiese bewegings en gelyktydig op die ruimtelikeskaal van atomiese dimensies. LDG materie is al van belang sedert hul ontdekking in die 1970’s as gevolg van hul merkwaardige nie-lineêre en anisotrope elektriese eienskappe, reuse diëlektriese konstantes, ongewone elastiese eienskappe en ryk dinamiese gedrag. Sommige van hierdie eksotiese eienskappe is omvattend ondersoek in termiese ewewig kort na hul ontdekking, maar eers onlangs is dit moontlik deur middle van ultravinnige tegnieke soos femtosekonde spektroskopie om hulle uit-ewewigs gedrag te bestudeer op die tydskaal van atomiese beweging. Deur die gedrag op hierdie tydskaal te bestudeer kan ’n meer insiggewende begrip van hul makroskopiese eienskappe verkry word. Om ondersoeke in te stel op die atomiese tydskaal en gelyktydig direk die evolusie van die atoom posisie te waarneem is egter ’n moeilike taak. Een benadering is deur middle van femtosekonde “pump-probe” spektroskopie maar dan die gewone optiese “probe” puls om te skakel na ’n electron of x-straal puls wat van die materiaal kan diffrak en dus strukturele inligting op die atomiese vlak kan onthul. Hier word die femto-tot-pico sekonde uit-ewewig gedrag in 4Hb-TaSe2 ondersoek met behulp van elektron pulse. Twee variasies van die gebruik van ’n elektron bron word gebruik: konvensionele “Femtosecond Electron Diffraction” (FED) en ’n nuwe benadering, naamlik, “Femtosecond Streaked Electron Diffraction” (FSED). Die meer gevestigde FED tegniek, wat gebaseer is op femtosekonde “pump-probe” spektroskopie, word gebruik as die hoof ondersoek metode terwyl die FSED tegniek, wat gebaseer is op die ultra vinnige “streak camera” tegnologie, ’n poging is om beskikbare tegnieke uit te brei wat gebruik kan word om strukturele dinamika in materie te bestudeer op die sub-picosekonde tydskaal. Met behulp van hierdie twee tegnieke, word die strukturele dinamika tydens die fase oorgang van die ooreenkomstige tot nie-ooreenkomstige LDG fase in 4Hb-TaSe2 deur diffraksie patrone met ’n tydresolusie van minder as 500 fs waargeneem. Die studie toon ’n sterk korrelasie tussen die elektroniese sisteem en kristalrooster. Verskeie tydkonstantes van onder en bo ’n picosekonde kon ook uit die data onttrek word en gebruik word om die strukturele veranderinge beter te verstaan. Hierdie nuwe kennis het ons in staat gestel om ’n model van al die betrokke prosesse voor te stel.

No description available.

The study of the motion of manoeuvring aircraft has traditionally considered the aircraft to be rigid. This simplifying assumption has been shown to give quite accurate results for the flight dynamics of many aircraft types. As modern transport aircraft have developed however, there has been a marked increase in the size and weight of these aircraft. This trend is likely to continue with the development of future blended-wing-body and supersonic transport aircraft. This increase in size and weight has brought about a unique set of aeroelastic and handling quality issues. The aerodynamic forces and moments acting on an aeroplane have traditionally been represented using the aerodynamic derivative approach. It has been shown that this quasisteady aerodynamic model inadequately predicts the aircraft’s stability characteristics, and that the inclusion of unsteady aerodynamics “greatly improves the fidelity” of aircraft models. This thesis thus presents a novel numerical simulation of an aeroelastic aeroplane for real-time analysis. The model is built around the standard six degree-of-freedom equations of motion for a rigid aeroplane using the mean-axes system, and includes unsteady aerodynamics and structural dynamics. This is suitable for pilot-in-the-loop simulation, handling qualities and flight loads analysis, and control law development. The dynamics of the structure are modelled as a set of normal modes, and the equations of motion are realised in state-space form. The unsteady aerodynamic forces acting on the aeroplane are described by an indicial state-space model, including unsteady tailplane downwash and compressibility effects. An implementation of the model is presented in the MATLAB/ Simulink environment. The interaction between the flight control system, the aeroelastic system and the rigidbody motion of the aeroplane can result in degraded handling qualities, excessive actuator control, and fatigue problems. The introduction of load alleviation systems for the management of loads due to manoeuvres and gusts is also likely to result in the handling qualities of the aeroplane being degraded. This thesis presents a number of studies into the impact of structural dynamics, unsteady aerodynamics, and load alleviation on the handling qualities of a flexible civil transport aeroplane. The handling qualities of the aeroplane are assessed against a number of different handling qualities criteria and flying specifications, including the Neal-Smith, Bandwidth, and CAP criterion. It is shown that aeroelastic effects alter the longitudinal and lateral-directional characteristics of the aeroplane, resulting in degraded handling qualities. Manoeuvre and gust load alleviation are similarly found to degrade handling qualities, while active mode control is shown to offer the possibility of improved handling qualities.

Most modern product development utilizes computational models. With increasing demands on reducing the product development lead-time, it becomes more important to improve the accuracy and efficiency of simulations. In addition, to improve product performance, a lot of products are designed to be lighter and more flexible, thus more prone to nonlinear behaviour. Linear finite element (FE) models, which still form the basis of numerical models used to represent mechanical structures, may not be able to predict structural behaviour with necessary accuracy when nonlinear effects are significant. Nonlinearities are often localized to joints or boundary conditions. Including nonlinear behaviour in FE-models introduces more sources of uncertainty and it is often necessary to calibrate the models with the use of experimental data. This research work presents a model calibration method that is suitable for mechanical systems with structural nonlinearities. The methodology concerns pre-test planning, parameterization, simulation methods, vibrational testing and optimization. The selection of parameters for the calibration requires physical insights together with analyses of the structure; the latter can be achieved by use of simulations. Traditional simulation methods may be computationally expensive when dealing with nonlinear systems; therefore an efficient fixed-step state-space based simulation method was developed. To gain knowledge of the accuracy of different simulation methods, the bias errors for the proposed method as well as other widespread simulation methods were studied and compared. The proposed method performs well in comparison to other simulation methods. To obtain precise estimates of the parameters, the test data should be informative of the parameters chosen and the parameters should be identifiable. Test data informativeness and parameter identifiability are coupled and they can be assessed by the Fisher information matrix (FIM). To optimize the informativeness of test data, a FIM based pre-test planning method was developed and a multi-sinusoidal excitation was designed. The steady-state responses at the side harmonics were shown to contain valuable information for model calibration of FE-models representing mechanical systems with structural nonlinearities. In this work, model calibration was made by minimizing the difference between predicted and measured multi-harmonic frequency response functions using an efficient optimization routine. The steady-state responses were calculated using the extended multi-harmonic balance method. When the parameters were calibrated, a k-fold cross validation was used to obtain parameter uncertainty. The proposed model calibration method was validated using two test-rigs, one with a geometrical nonlinearity and one with a clearance type of nonlinearity. To attain high quality data efficiently, the amplitude of the forcing harmonics was controlled at each frequency step by an off-line force feedback algorithm. The applied force was then measured and used in the numerical simulations of the responses. It was shown in the validation results that the predictions from the calibrated models agree well with the experimental results. In summary, the presented methodology concerns both theoretical and experimental aspects as it includes methods for pre-test planning, simulations, testing, calibration and validation. As such, this research work offers a complete framework and contributes to more effective and efficient analyses on mechanical systems with structural nonlinearities.

Les structures mécaniques complexes résultent de l’assemblage de plusieurs composants, possédant souvent des propriétés mécaniques différentes, reliés à leurs interfaces par différents types de jonctions. L’hétérogénéité des comportements dynamiques de ces sous-structures et leurs sollicitations extérieures vont générer des efforts sur la structure principale et des accélérations importantes au niveau des équipements embarqués, affectant leur fonctionnement, leur fiabilité, leur sécurité. Il est alors nécessaire de les protéger en les isolant du reste de la structure.Ces travaux concernent la maîtrise des niveaux vibratoires et visent à fournir une méthode de caractérisation dynamique des interfaces entre différentes sous-structures. Celle-ci est ensuite intégrée dans une démarche visant à minimiser la puissance transmise entre des sous-structures sources et réceptrices.Une méthode de modes de flux de puissance a été développée, dont les valeurs et efforts propres fournissent, respectivement, des informations quantitatives et qualitatives sur les flux de puissance à l’intérieur d’une structure. Son application à l’étude de la puissance transmise entre deux sous-structures permet d’identifier les directions et les participations des principaux chemins de puissance transitant par les jonctions.Ces résultats ont été appliqués afin de proposer une méthodologie de conception robuste des interfaces de structures. Deux démarches d’optimisation ont été comparées visant à minimiser la puissance transmise par rapport aux paramètres de raideurs des jonctions. L’importance de considérer la robustesse de ces solutions a été soulignée par une approche complémentaire non-probabiliste. / Complex mechanical structures are composed of an assembly of several components, often exhibiting different mechanical properties and joined at their interfaces by different junction types. The various dynamic behaviours of these substructures and the applied external loadings generate important efforts on the main structure, resulting in high acceleration responses of the on-board equipments, affecting their performance, reliability and security. It is therefore necessary to protect them from these harsh conditions by isolating them from the rest of the structure.These researches are related to structural vibration control and aim at proposing a new method to dynamically characterize interfaces between different substructures. This method is then integrated to a robust design approach to minimize the power transmitted between a source and a receiver substructure. A power flow mode method has been developed, which allows determining eigenvalues and eigenvectors respectively representing qualitative and quantitative information on the power flowing inside the structure. This has been further applied to study the power transmitted at the interface, making it possible to identify the direction associated to the dominant power flow pattern and to quantify their contribution.These results have been applied to propose a robust design approach of structural interfaces. Optimization procedures have been implemented and compared to minimize the power transmitted between with respect to the interface stiffness parameters. The importance of considering the robustness of these solutions has been underlined by performing a complementary analysis based on a non-probabilistic approach.

[pt] O presente trabalho avalia a utilização de elementos enriquecidos para obtenção de cargas críticas, freqüências de vibração e seus respectivos modos de peças estruturais bidimensionais (flexão de placas retangulares sujeitas a compressão em seu plano). O método de aproximação empregado foi o de Rayleigh-Ritz voltado para o uso de elementos finitos convencionais enriquecidos com funções de deslocamentos adicionais internas e de contorno. As funções ditas internas são desenvolvidas de forma a não envolver deslocamentos e rotações nodais e no contorno. Já as funções ditas de contorno são concebidas de forma a envolver apenas deslocamentos internos e ao longo de um lado apenas, sem deslocamentos generalizados nodais. Para este estudo foram desenvolvidas duas famílias de funções, uma com termos adicionais trigonométricos e outra com termos adicionais polinomiais. Para o cálculo de cargas críticas e freqüências são utilizadas as matrizes de rigidez elástica, rigidez geométrica e de massa, introduzidas em problemas generalizados de autovalores. Resultados numéricos são obtidos através de procedimentos computacionais utilizando o software Maple. Verifica-se que as funções adicionais trigonométricas, embora mais satisfatórias que as polinomiais quanto à convergência, exigem maior esforço computacional. São comparados resultados de elementos para placas esbeltas (teoria de Kirchhoff), com três e quatro graus de liberdade por nó, onde o quarto grau de liberdade corresponde à derivada mista (torção). Mostra-se que as funções adicionais, não-nodais, requerem o uso do elemento com quatro graus de liberdade por nó, para se ter convergência no cálculo das cargas críticas e freqüências em situações gerais. Outros exemplos abordam preliminarmente a inclusão de efeitos de dano e ortotropia no material, visando a modelagem de lajes comprimidas e pilares com seções retangulares alongadas. Esta modelagem envolvendo combinação de funções adicionais gerais e elementos convencionais representa um passo no desenvolvimento de uma técnica aplicável à combinação de modos globais e localizados de instabilidade / [en] The focus of the present work is to developand evaluate enriched elements used to obtain critical loads, frequencies of vibration and respective modes for two-dimensional structural components (rectangular plates in bending under inplane compressive loading). The Rayleigh-Ritz approximation method has been employed, directed to the use of conventional finite elements enriched by internal and boundary additional displacements functions. The socalled internal functions are do not involve nodal and boundary displacements and rotations. The boundary functions are conceived to include displacements within the element and along one side, without involving any generalized nodal displacements. Two displacement function families were developed, the first with trigonometric additional terms and the second with polynomial additional terms. Critical loads and frequencies, and respective modes, are obtained by the use of elastic stifiness, geometric, and mass matrices, introduced in generalized eigenvalue problems. Numerical results are obtained by computational procedures using Maple software. The trigonometric additional functions, in spite of better convergence properties, demand greater computational effort. The basic elements are classical thin plate elements (Kirchhoff's theory) with three or four degrees of freedom per node, where the fourth degree of freedom corresponds to the mixed derivative (torsion). The results indicate that non- nodal additional functions require the use of elements with four freedom degrees by node to obtain convergence of critical loads and frequencies convergence in general situations. Other examples consist of preliminary approaches to include damage effects, in reinforced orthotropic plates, as modeling columns with wide rectangular sections and compressed slabs. The use of general additional functions combined with conventional elements represents a step on the development of a technique applicable to global and localized instability modes.

Ao empregar a teoria de controle para a dinâmica de uma estrutura, é possível projetar um observador potencialmente complexo que a partir da leitura de apenas um sensor estime o estado do sistema e determine os modos de vibração presentes. Este trabalho, no entanto, estuda o uso de filtros modais em controle de vibrações, com a motivação de que essa estratégia dependa de menos componentes eletrônicos. O objetivo é encontrar um filtro modal que possua alto desempenho em malha fechada mesmo com um número reduzido de sensores. Primeiramente foi desenvolvido o modelo dinâmico do sistema em malha aberta, com posterior otimização do filtro modal por meio do método do ponto interior. Depois, foi desenvolvido o modelo dinâmico do sistema em malha fechada. A seguir, um algoritmo genético otimizou o sistema de controle de vibrações seguindo duas metodologias. A primeira considera apenas as posições dos sensores como variáveis de otimização, enquanto a segunda leva em consideração não só as posições dos sensores como também os ganhos do filtro modal e o ganho de retroalimentação de velocidade. Os resultados do estudo do sistema em malha aberta mostram que se trata se um problema de otimização não-convexa, mas todas as tentativas levaram a crer que o mínimo global tenha sido encontrado para a função objetivo proposta, baseada no desvio quadrático da função de resposta em frequência do filtro modal com relação a uma referência pré-estabelecida. Os resultados do estudo do sistema em malha fechada mostram que considerar as posições e os ganhos como variáveis de otimização levam a um filtro modal mais conveniente do que o que é obtido levando-se em consideração apenas as posições. Finalmente, a partir da interpretação dos resultados, conclui-se que mesmo com um filtro modal composto por 5 sensores é possível ainda desenvolver um sistema de controle de vibrações que seja de fase mínima. Apesar de existir spillover de observação do ponto de vista de um filtro modal, nota-se que todos os modos estão em fase, o que acaba por ser até benéfico para o sistema de controle de vibrações. / The control systems theory may be applied to structural dynamics in order to design a potentially complex observer which is able to estimate the system\'s state from the readings of a sole sensor. This work, though, focused on the application of modal filters in vibration control based on the premise that this strategy will require a simpler hardware. The main target consists of finding a modal filter which can deliver high performance in vibration control despite being composed of a reduced number of sensors. In the first step, a dynamic model of a modal filter on a cantilever beam was developed, followed by an optimization carried on with the interior-point method. Then, the dynamic model of the closed-loop cantilever beam was developed aftwerwards. However, this time a genetic algorithm was used as the optimization method instead, with two methodologies being employed. While the first one considered only the placement of the sensors, the second one also takes into consideration the modal filter gains and the negative velocity feedback gain. The results yielded by the open-loop cantilever beam analysis showed that it is a non-convex optimization problem. However, all of the attempts support the belief that the global minimum has been found in the sense of the proposed objective function, which was based on the quadratic error between the frequency response function (FRF) of the modal filter and an idealized FRF used as reference. The results yielded by the closed-loop system optimization showed that it is more convenient to consider as optimization variables not only the placement of the sensors, but also their gains and the negative velocity feedback gain. Finally, after pondering over the obtained results, it has been concluded that the observation spillover resulting from a modal filter composed of a reduced number of sensors may be turned to the vibration control system\'s favour by means of optimization. The minimal-phase modal filter composed of 5 sensors found in this work stands out as the most notable example in this work, being able to guarantee stability for the first 12 modes since all of them are in-phase.

O estudo da dinâmica estrutural de risers oceânicos apresenta instigantes desafios aos pesquisadores da área da engenharia de estruturas, uma vez que os meios tradicionais de análises dinâmicas lineares nem sempre se ajustam às suas complexas particularidades. No atual estágio do desenvolvimento científico da área de engenharia de estruturas, a aplicação de técnicas de análise dinâmica não linear, dentro de determinadas hipóteses, mostra-se como uma das alternativas possíveis e viáveis à tradicional análise dinâmica linear. Com vistas a uma nova abordagem do problema, o presente trabalho adota uma metodologia de análise não linear dinâmica de risers oceânicos em configuração de lançamento de catenária, conjugada a uma técnica de processamento de Modelos de Ordem Reduzida para o estudo dos fenômenos dinâmicos manifestados por risers. Trata-se de um método de modelagem local, restrito à região de contato unilateral do riser com o solo, considerado este último um meio viscoelástico. Os resultados da aplicação desta metodologia são demonstrados nos estudos de caso apresentados com comparações com modelos numéricos (Método dos Elementos Finitos) e modelos físicos. / The dynamic study of offshore risers still demands large efforts from structural engineering researchers, since these systems may behave in a way that is not well modeled and understood using simply linear dynamic theories. Nevertheless, the current development stage of non linear dynamic theories gives hope that their use for the analyses of such systems can be of great value, even though, this must be carefully done specially by the analyst. The present work refers to a non linear dynamic methodology application to offshore risers, particularly steel catenary risers, by a technique known as reduced-order modeling, in the study of dynamic phenomena that these structures may present. The model is local, which means that it represents the touch-down zone of the riser-soil system. The soil modeling was presumed to be viscoelastic. The results obtained in case studies are compared with those from numerical (Finite Element Method) and small scale physical models.

Several modifications have been implemented to numerical simulation codes based on blade element momentum theory (BEMT), for application to the design of ocean current turbine (OCT) blades. The modifications were applied in terms of section modulus and include adjustments due to core inclusion, buoyancy, and added mass. Hydrodynamic loads and mode shapes were calculated using the modified BEMT based analysis tools. A 3D model of the blade was developed using SolidWorks. The model was integrated with ANSYS and several loading scenarios, calculated from the modified simulation tools, were applied. A complete stress and failure analysis was then performed. Additionally, the rainflow counting method was used on ocean current velocity data to determine the loading histogram for fatigue analysis. A constant life diagram and cumulative fatigue damage model were used to predict the OCT blade life. Due to a critical area of fatigue failure being found in the blade adhesive joint, a statistical analysis was performed on experimental adhesive joint data. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2016. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection