No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

Reinforced concrete slabs are a conventional type of foundation that is widely used in residential, commercial and industrial buildings. Most of the slab foundations are constructed directly on the ground without another structural medium in between and some of the slabs are therefore influenced by ground softening. A slab foundation is designed to transfer vertical loads and bridge imperfections in the ground, but excessive soil distortion may destroy the support conditions of the slab and through this influence the stability of the superstructures. The aim of this project is to study how ground softening and its further development influence a typical concrete slab. Furthermore, an approximate analytical method to evaluate the condition of a slab due to ground softening was studied. A practical case has been studied to capture the actual failure behaviours of a reinforced concrete slab, based on a previous project. For the case studied, possible future mining activities close to a high bay warehouse may cause damaging settlement in the underground. The fault that may appear softens the soils underneath the foundation, which may deteriorate and cause collapse of the concrete slab under the warehouse. Two types of failure scenarios were studied; subsoil softening and subsoil collapse. The Finite Element Method (FEM) was used to analyse the behaviour of the slab and the development of the failures in the subsoil. A commercial FEM software package, Abaqus, was used as the analytic tool, with a built-in Concrete Damaged Plasticity model (CDP) that for the concrete material model. Both linear and nonlinear material properties have been used in the analyses with same softening effect of the subsoil. A large number of models were analysed to simulate the development of the fault and capture the failure modes of the slab at different stages. Excessive tensile cracks and vertical deformations were found in both failure scenarios studied. A possible internal stability problem of the warehouse due to this was also found. The nonlinear behaviour of the concrete slab was captured through the failure scenarios before damage. It is shown that the serviceability of the reinforced concrete slab can be influenced by softening ground, and a more realistic description of the possible failures was here obtained based on the nonlinear model compared to previous elastic analyses. Keywords:     Reinforced concrete slab, Nonlinear, Ground softening, Finite Element Method (FEM), Abaqus, Concrete Damaged Plasticity (CDP). / Armerade betongplattor är en vanlig typ av fundament som ofta används för bostäder, kommersiella och industriella byggnader. De flesta av grundplattorna konstrueras direkt på marken utan andra strukturella medium emellan och vissa av plattorna påverkas därför av mjuknande undergrunder. En grundplatta är konstruerad för att överföra vertikala laster och överbrygga imperfektioner i marken, men stora sättningar i undergrunden kan förstöra plattans stödförhållanden och genom detta störa stabiliteten för överbyggnaderna. Syftet med projektet är att studera hur mjuknande undergrund och dess propagering påverkar en typisk betongplatta. Vidare används en approximativ analysmetod för att utvärdera tillståndet hos en platta på sådan mark. Ett praktiskt fall har studerats för att fånga det verkliga brottbeteendet hos en armerad betongplatta, vilket bygger på ett tidigare genomfört projekt. För det studerade fallet kan eventuell framtida gruvdrift nära ett höglager orsaka skadliga sättningar i undergrunden. Den förkastning som kan uppstå kan leda till uppmjukning av jordarna under fundamentet, vilket kan förvärras och orsaka kollaps av betongplattan under lagret. Två typer av brottscenarier studerades; uppmjuknande respektive full kollaps av undergrunden. Finita Element Metoden (FEM) användes för att analysera beteendet hos plattan och utvecklingen av fbrott och förskjutning i undergrunden. Ett kommersiellt FEM programpaket, Abaqus, användes som analytiskt verktyg, med en inbyggd plasticitets och skademodell (CDP) för att beskriva betongmaterialets egenskaper. Både linjärelastiska och icke-linjära materialegenskaper har använts i analyserna, för att simulera effekten av den mjukande undergrunnden. Ett stort antal modeller analyserades för att simulera skadepropageringen och fånga brottmoder i plattan genom olika skeden. Dragsprickor och vertikala deformationer uppstod i bägge de studerade scenariorna. Ett möjligt intern stabilitetsproblem hos lagret på grund av detta konstaterades också. Det olinjära beteendet hos betongplattan fångades fram tills allvarlig skada uppstod. Det visas att funktionen i bruksgränsstadiet hos den armerade betongplattan kan påverkas genom uppmjuknande undergrund, och att en mer realistisk beskrivning av möjliga brott här kunde erhållas genom den olinjära modellen, jämfört med tidigare elastiska analyser. Nyckelord:   Betongplatta , Icke-linjärt uppträdande, Finita Element Metoden (FEM), FE-modell, Abaqus, Plasticitets och skademodell för betong (CDP).

The presented thesis describes the development of an automation design procedure for structural design of concrete slab bridges and how it can be used to conduct a set-based structural design. The automation procedure integrated finite element modelling, analysis and structural related verification (verifications in geometry, ULS and SLS) together and realised automatic implementation of the two processes. By employing the automation design procedure and the set-based design methodology, a case study is performed based on an existed bridge. In contrast with a traditional point-based design process, the set-based structural design considers a wide range of possible design solutions, called design space, which are combinations of possible choices of different design parameters. In the case study, the design parameters like structural dimensions and reinforcement layout are considered and constitutes the design space. The design space is first narrowed by structural related constraints and further narrowed by multiple criteria which are material cost, material mass and global warming impact (equivalent CO2 emission) until reaching an optimal solution considering the three criteria. The results of the case study reveal the potential of set-based design by using the automation design procedure in obtaining optimal design solutions on the three mentioned criteria. Meanwhile, a rough time estimation shows the automatic procedure helps improve the design efficiency. It also suggests that the evaluation and decision of the finally chosen solution should be the trade-offs between material cost and environmental impact.

<p> The modeling, design and simulation of optical waveguides and integrated optical triplexer filters are presented. The work includes two subjects. One is application of improved three-point fourth-order finite-difference method and the other is design of triplexer optical filter for fiber-to-the-home passive optical network.</p> <p> The improved three-point fourth-order finite-difference method utilizes special format of one dimensional Helmholtz Equation and adopts generalized Douglas scheme and boundary conditions matching at interface. The modal analysis of dielectric slab waveguides and metal slab waveguides that support Surface Plasmon Plaritons by using this improved fourth-order finite-difference method is compared by using traditional first-order central difference method. The application of using improved three-point fourth-order finite-difference method in modal analysis of optical fiber waveguide is also provided.</p> <p> The modeling, design and simulation of monolithically integrated triplexer optical filter based on silicon wire waveguide are presented in detail. The design of this device facilitates multi-mode interference device (MMI) and arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) device to function as coarse wavelength division multiplexing and dense wavelength division multiplexing respectively. The MMI is used to separate downstream signs for upstream signal and AWG is used to further separate two down-stream signals with different bandwidths required. This design is validated by simulation that shows excellent performance in terms of spectral response as well as insertion loss.</p> / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc)