Existing design provisions in design standards and conventional analysis methods for structural steel members are based on the simplifying kinematic Vlasov assumption that neglects cross-sectional distortional effects. While the non-distortional assumption can lead to reasonable predictions of beam static response and buckling strength in common situations, past work has shown the inadequacy of such assumption in a number of situations where it may lead to over-predicting the strength of the members. The present study thus develops a series of generalized theories/solutions for the static analysis and buckling analysis of steel members with wide flange cross-sections that capture distortional effects of the web. Rather than adopting the classical Vlasov assumption that postulates the cross-section to move and rotate in its own plane as a rigid disk, the present theories assume the web to be flexible in the plane of the cross-section and thus able to bend laterally, while both flanges to move as rigid plates within the plane of the cross-section to be treated as Euler-Bernouilli beams. The theories capture shear deformation effects in the web, as well as local and global warping effects. Based on the principle of minimum potential energy, a distortional theory is developed for the static analysis of wide flange steel beams with mono-symmetric cross-sections. The theory leads to two systems of differential equations of equilibrium. The first system consists of three coupled equilibrium differential equations that characterize the longitudinal-transverse response of the beam and the second system involves four coupled equilibrium differential equations of equilibrium and characterizes the lateral-torsional response of the beam. Closed form solutions are developed for both systems for general loading. Based on the kinematics of the new theory, two distortional finite elements are then developed. In the first element, linear and cubic Hermitian polynomials are employed to interpolate displacement fields while in the second element, the closed-form solutions developed are adopted to formulate special shape functions. For longitudinal-transverse response the elements consist of two nodes with four degree of freedom per node for longitudinal-transverse response and for lateral-torsional response, the elements consist of two nodes with eight degrees of freedom per node. The solution is able to predict the distortional deformation and stresses in a manner similar to shell solutions while keeping the modeling and computational effort to a minimum. Applications of the new beam theory include (1) providing new insights on the response of steel beams under torsion whereby the top and bottom flanges may exhibit different angles of twist, (2) capturing the response of steel beams with a single restrained flange as may be the case when a concrete slab provides lateral and/or torsional restraint to the top flange of a steel beam, and (3) modelling the beneficial effect of transverse stiffeners in reducing distortional effects in the web. The second part of the study develops a unified lateral torsional buckling finite element formulation for the analysis of beams with wide flange doubly symmetric cross-sections. The solution captures several non-conventional features. These include the softening effect due to web distortion, the stiffening effect induced by pre-buckling deformations, the pre-buckling nonlinear interaction between strong axis moments and axial forces, the contribution of pre-buckling shear deformation effects within the plane of the web, the destabilizing effects due to transverse loads being offset from the shear centre, and the presence of transverse stiffeners on web distortion. Within the framework of the present theory, it is possible to evoke or suppress any combination of the features and thus isolate the individual contribution of each effect or quantify the combined contributions of multiple effects on the member lateral torsional capacity. The new solution is then applied to investigate the influence of the ratios of beam span-to-depth, flange width-to-thickness, web height-to-thickness, and flange width-to-web height on the lateral torsional buckling strength of simply supported beams and cantilevers. Comparisons with conventional lateral torsional buckling solutions that omit distortional and pre-buckling effects quantify the influence of distortional and/or pre-buckling deformation effects. The theory is also used to investigate the influence of P-delta effects of beam-columns subjected to transverse and axial forces on their lateral torsional buckling resistance. The theory is used to investigate the load height effect relative to the shear centre. Comparisons are made with load height effects as predicted by non-distortional buckling theories. The solution is adopted to quantify the beneficial effect of transverse stiffeners in controlling/suppressing web distortion in beams and increasing their buckling resistance.

No description available.

Current design codes generally use an equivalent linear approach for preliminary design of a seismic isolation system. The equivalent linear approach is based on effective parameters, rather than physical parameters of the system, and may not accurately account for the nonlinearity of the isolation system. The second chapter evaluates an alternative normalized strength characterization against the equivalent linear characterization. Following considerations for evaluation are included: (1) ability to effectively account for variations in ground motion intensity, (2) ability to effectively describe the energy dissipation capacity of the isolation system, and (3) conducive to developing design equations that can be implemented within a code framework. Although current code guidelines specify different seismic performance objectives for fixed-base and isolated buildings, the future of performance-based design will allow user-selected performance objectives, motivating the need for a consistent performance comparison of the two systems. Based on response history analysis to a suite of motions, constant ductility spectra are generated for fixed-base and isolated buildings in chapter three. Both superstructure force (base shear) and deformation demands in base-isolated buildings are lower than in fixed-base buildings responding with identical deformation ductility. To compare the relative performance of many systems or to predict the best system to achieve a given performance objective, a response index is developed and used for rapid prototyping of response as a function of system characteristics. When evaluated for a life safety performance objective, the superstructure design base shear of an isolated building is competitive with that of a fixed-base building with identical ductility, and the isolated building generally has improved response. Isolated buildings can meet a moderate ductility immediate-occupancy objective at low design strengths whereas comparable ductility fixed-base buildings fail to meet the objective. In chapter four and five, the life cycle performance of code-designed conventional and base-isolated steel frame buildings is evaluated using loss estimation methodologies. The results of hazard and structural response analysis for three-story moment resisting frame buildings are presented in this paper. Three-dimensional models for both buildings are created and seismic response is assessed for three scenario earthquakes. The response history analysis results indicate that the performance of the isolated building is superior to the conventional building in the design event. However, for the Maximum Considered Earthquake, the presence of outliers in the response data reduces confidence that the isolated building provides superior performance to its conventional counterpart. The outliers observed in the response of the isolated building are disconcerting and need careful evaluation in future studies.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(工学) / 甲第20705号 / 工博第4402号 / 新制||工||1684(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院工学研究科電気工学専攻 / (主査)教授 引原 隆士, 教授 土居 伸二, 教授 松尾 哲司 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Philosophy (Engineering) / Kyoto University / DFAM

No description available.

In this study, methods for the geometric nonlinear analysis and the material nonlinear analysis of plane frames subjected to elevated temperatures are presented. The method of analysis is based on a Eulerian (co-rotational) formulation, which was developed initially for static loads, and is extended herein to include geometric and material nonlinearities. Local element force-deformation relationships are derived using the beam-column theory, taking into consideration the effect of curvature due to temperature gradient across the element cross-section. The changes in element chord lengths due to thermal axial strain and bowing due to the temperature gradient are also taken into account. This "beam-column" approach, using stability and bowing functions, requires significantly fewer elements per member (i.e. beam/column) for the analysis of a framed structure than the "finite-element" approach. A computational technique, utilizing Newton-Raphson iterations, is developed to determine the nonlinear response of structures. The inclusion of the reduction factors for the coefficient of thermal expansion, modulus of elasticity and yield strength is introduced and implemented with the use of temperature-dependent formulas. A comparison of the AISC reduction factor equations to the Eurocode reduction factor equations were found to be in close agreement. Numerical solutions derived from geometric and material analyses are presented for a number of benchmark structures to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed method of analysis. The solutions generated for the geometrical analysis of a cantilever beam and an axially restrained column yield results that were close in proximity to the exact, theoretical solution. The geometric nonlinear analysis of the one-story frame exhibited typical behavior that was relatively close to the experimental results, thereby indicating that the proposed method is accurate. The feasibility of extending the method of analysis to include the effects of material nonlinearity is also explored, and some preliminary results are presented for an experimentally tested simply supported beam and the aforementioned one-story frame. The solutions generated for these structures indicate that the present analysis accurately predicts the deflections at lower temperatures but overestimates the failure temperature and final deflection. This may be in part due to a post-buckling reaction after the first plastic hinge is formed. Additional research is, therefore, needed before this method can be used to analyze the materially nonlinear response of structures.

Significant research is ongoing in the world to meet the needs of social and environmental crisis by harnessing wind and solar energy at high altitudes. One such approach is the use of an inflatable High Altitude Aerial Platform (HAAP). In the presented work, such periodically supported beam-like structures are analyzed using various mathematical models primarily modeling them as an equivalent beam using one-dimensional theories. The Euler-Bernoulli Theory (EBT) has been widely used for high aspect ratio beams, whereas the First Order Shear Deformation Theory (FSDT), or the Timoshenko beam theory, considers transverse shear effects and hence is superior in modeling low aspect ratio beams. First, an Isogeometric Analysis (IGA) is conducted using both FSDT and EBT to predict thermal buckling of periodically supported composite beams. Isogeometric analysis overcomes the limitations of the Gibbs phenomenon at discontinuities for a periodically supported beam using a higher order textit{k}-refinement. Next, an Integral Equation Approach (IEA) is implemented using EBT to obtain natural frequencies and buckling loads of periodically supported non-prismatic beams. Ill-conditioning errors were alleviated using admissible orthogonal Chebychev polynomials to obtain higher modes. We also present the prediction of the onset of flutter instability for metal plate and inflatable wing shaped foam test articles analyzed using finite element analysis (FEA). FEA updating based on modal testing and by conducting a geometrically nonlinear analysis resulted in a good agreement against the experiment tests. Furthermore, a nonlinear co-rotational large displacement/rotation FEA including the effects of the pressure as a follower forces was implemented to predict deformations of an inflatable structures. The developed FEA based tool namely Structural Analysis of Inflatables using FEA (SAIF) was compared with the experiments and available literature. It is concluded that the validity of the developed tool depends on the flexibility of the beam, which further depends upon the length of the beam and the bending rigidity of the beam. Inflatable structures analyzed with materials with high value of the Young's modulus and low to medium slenderness ratio tend to perform better against the experimental data. This is attributed to the presence of wrinkling and/or the Brazier effect (ovalling of the cross section) for flexible beams. The presented work has applications in programmable buckling, uncertainty quantification, and design of futuristic HAAP models to help face the upcoming environmental crises and meet the societal needs. / Doctor of Philosophy / In the future, developed countries are projected to face an increase in renewable energy demands due to environmental crises and increasing societal needs for energy due to urbanization. Wind energy, a renewable source, has received increasing attention. Wind farms require large land space and offshore wind energy harvesting is prone to unstable environments. Crosswind kite power is one of the promising and emerging fields where one can harvest energy from the wind farm inaccessible and apparently endless winds at high altitudes. In this dissertation, we present analysis and experiments on investigating complex structures, such as inflatable high altitude aerial platforms (HAAP) by using various mathematical models, primarily modeling them as an equivalent beam using one-dimensional theories. We investigate the effects of internal pressure on such structures, which unlike many other types of applied loads, follow the direction of the deflections. When supported on multiple supports, these structures are more efficient in terms of increased payload capacity due to a better distribution of loads, despite the increased weight penalty. To name a few, there are direct applications of periodic supports in design of bridges and railway sleepers. To avoid violent vibrations or failure, we also investigate the effect of multiple supports on the so-called natural frequency, vibration frequency under absence of applied loads, and buckling loads, instabilities under compression, of such beam-like structures. The presented work will aid in the design of futuristic HAAP models to help face the upcoming environmental crises and meet the energy demands of society due to urbanization.

During the months I have been at Virginia Tech, I have experienced the most exciting time of my life. There are many persons who helped me to pursue my Master's degree. I would like to take this opportunity to express my appreciations to them. I would like to thank my advisor and committee chairman, Dr Finley A. Charney. He has supported me for the entire duration of this project with all of his efforts. Without his assistance, it would have been very difficult for me to learn so many concepts in the field of nonlinear dynamic analysis and practical earthquake engineering. I would also like to acknowledge my other committee members, Dr. Raymond Plaut and Dr. W. Samuel Easterling, for taking the time to review the thesis and providing valuable insights and feedback on this thesis. I would like to thank my father, Chan Kwok Fung, who encouraged me to pursue my Master Degree, and my mother, Yu Yuk Ping, who brought me to life. I would like to thank my sister, Doris Chan, and my girlfriend, Ka Man Chan, for supporting and encouraging me during the past two years at Virginia Tech. Finally, I would like to give thanks to the rest of my family, friends, professors, and fellow graduate students for their help and encouragement during my stay at Virginia Tech. / Master of Science

No description available.

No description available.