There are many active and passive vibration control techniques to reduce the effect of energy on structures which emerges during an earthquake and reduce the displacement of buildings that is caused by ground acceleration. Main advantage of passive vibration control techniques over active vibration control techniques is / no external power or a sensor is required for passive vibration control devices (PVCDs) and it results in lower installation and maintenance costs. However, PVCDs require a predefined optimum damping ratio and optimum damping distribution along the structure since they are not adaptive to changing ground acceleration values. During the design of the PVCDs numerous factors such as building properties and earthquake characteristics should be considered. Dry friction damper is an example of PVCD and has an extensive usage in many different fields due to its high energy damping capacity with low cost and ease of installation. In this thesis, damping of seismic energy at buildings with dry friction dampers is investigated and a new optimization method is developed in frequency domain by employing Describing Function Method (DFM) which reduces the computational effort compared to the time domain and finite element solutions drastically. The accuracy and verification of the presented method is investigated by comparing the frequency domain results with time marching solutions. Furthermore, damper placement and slip forces on the dampers are optimized for single and multi-story buildings equipped with dry friction dampers by utilizing the developed method.

Virtual crack closure technique (VCCT) is commonly used to analyze debonding/delamination onset and growth in fiber reinforced composite assemblies. VCCT is a computational fracture mechanics based approach, and is based on Irwin&rsquo / s crack closure integral. In this study, the debonding/delamination onset and growth potential in a bonded fiber reinforced composite skin-flange assembly is investigated using the VCCT. A parametric finite element analyses is conducted. The finite element analyses results are compared with coupon level experimental results available in the literature. The effects of different finite element modeling techniques are investigated. The bonded flange-assembly is modeled with pure solid (3D) elements, plane stress (2D) shell elements and plane strain (2D) shell elements. In addition, mesh density, element order and geometric non-linearity parameters are investigated as well. The accuracy and performance of these different modeling techniques are assessed. Finally, effect of initial defect location on delamination growth potential is investigated. The results presented in this study are expected to provide an insight to practicing engineers in the aerospace industry.

The objective of this thesis is to investigate the progressive failure behavior of laminated fiber reinforced composite shell structures under different loading conditions. The laminates are assumed to be orthotropic and the first order shear deformation theory is applied. Three-node layered flat-shell elements are used in the analysis. To verify the numerical results obtained, experimental and analytical results found in literature are compared with the outputs of the study, and the comparison is found to have shown good agreement with the previous work. Rectangular graphite/epoxy composite laminates under transverse loading are analyzed through several boundary conditions and stacking sequences. Maximum stress criteria, Hashin&rsquo / s criteria and Tsai Wu criteria are employed to detect the failure and progressive failure methodology is be implemented according to instantaneous degradation approach. First ply failure, final failure loads, corresponding deformations and failure patterns are presented and compared.

The aim of this study is to design a compliant lock mechanism for a dishwasher, using a systematic approach. Functionally binary pinned-pinned segment that exhibits bistable behavior is utilized. Pseudo-rigid-body model of the whole mechanism and the half segment is developed separately and the corresponding calculations are carried out. Among current solutions a different method namely &ldquo / arc fitting method&rdquo / is developed and it is utilized to construct the model. A software code is written to get the exact solutions, which require the evaluation of elliptic integrals. Results are compared with the analytical model and confirmed with physical prototype. Predefined tip forces are seen to provide the transition from one stable position to other. Durability, reliability and compactness characteristics are particularly considered.

An elastic FGM layer bonded to a semi-infinite linear elastic, isotropic, homogeneous half plane is considered. The half plane contains periodic cracks perpendicular to the interface. Mechanical loading is applied through crack surface pressure, resulting in a mode I crack problem. The plane elasticity problem described above is formulated by using Fourier transforms and Fourier series. A singular integral equation is obtained for the auxiliary variable, namely derivative of the crack surface displacement. Solution is obtained, and stress intensity factors are calculated for various values of crack period, crack length, crack location, layer thickness and material gradation.

Cracks often exist in structural members that are exposed to repeated loading, which will certainly lower the structural integrity. A crack on a structural member introduces a local flexibility which is a function of the crack depth and location. This may cause nonlinear dynamic response of the structure. In this thesis, a new method is suggested to detect and locate a crack in a structural component. The method is based on the fact that nonlinear response of a structure with a crack will be a function of the crack location and crack magnitude. The method suggested is the extension of a recently developed technique for identification of non-linearity in vibrating multi degree of freedom system. In this method, experimentally measured receptances at different forcing levels are used as input, and the existence and location of a nonlinearity are sought. In order to validate the method, simulated experimental data is used. Characteristics of a cracked beam are simulated by using experimentally obtained analytical expressions, given in the literature. The structure itself is modelled by using finite element method. Several case studies are performed to test and demonstrate the applicability, efficiency and sensitivity of the method suggested. The effect of crack depth on nonlinear system response is also studied in numerical examples.

Vibration generated from various sources (engine, road surface, tires, exhaust, etc.) should be considered in the design of a car body. These vibrations travel through transfer systems (drivetrain, suspension, body, etc.) to the steering wheel, seats and other areas where it is detected by the passengers of the vehicle. Transmission routes must be studied and efforts made to keep transfer systems from amplifying vibration and to absorb it instead. Since the superior vibration transfer system is the car body, finite element analysis and experimental vibration analysis are performed on car body-in-white. Body vibration analysis entails understanding and improving the body&rsquo / s dynamic characteristics that act as vibration transfer channels. In the previous study, a finite element model has been created for a car body-in-white available in Automotive Laboratory (Mechanical Engineering Department, Middle East Technical University, Ankara) and its natural frequencies and mode shapes have been determined using finite element analysis software. In this study, vibration tests have been performed on actual car body-in-white. Frequency response functions between 34 response locations and force application point have been measured. Using these frequency response functions, natural frequencies and mode shapes of the body-in-white have been determined. Finite element analysis and experimental results have been compared to evaluate the finite element model reliability.

In this study, sound radiation and power flow characteristics of plates which constitute the bodies of common engineering applications like cars and household appliances are investigated. Three different vibro-acoustical measurement techniques are used in an integrated manner and results obtained are compared with those obtained from analytical models developed. Two-microphone sound intensity measurement with a probe utilizing side-by-side configuration is used to analyze the near-field radiation characteristics of a square steel plate excited by a shaker at its midpoint. Surface intensity is simultaneously measured on the plate with another probe consisting of a condenser microphone and an eddy-current non-contact displacement transducer to compare the results with those obtained from two-microphone sound intensity measurement. Surface intensity is also measured with a probe consisting of a condenser microphone and an accelerometer as an alternative configuration. Structural intensity is used to identify the power flow patterns on the plate. All measurements are repeated for externally damped configuration of the same plate and results are analyzed. Easily adoptable two distinct, lumped parameter models of the plate are developed to compute the sound power radiated by the structure. In these models, the plate is modeled by employing the pulsating sphere and vibrating piston as the elementary source types, alternatively. In the model employing vibrating piston in the baffle, results are obtained with and without mutual interaction among partitions. Results obtained from these models are compared with the experimental results. Error analysis is also conducted for all of the measurement techniques employed.

Statistical Energy Analysis (SEA) is one of the methods in literature to estimate high frequency vibrations. The inputs required for the SEA power balance equations are damping and coupling loss factors, input powers to the subsystems. In this study, the coupling loss factors are derived for two and three plates joined with a stiffener system. Simple formulas given in the literature for coupling loss factors of basic junctions are not used and the factors are calculated from the expressions derived in this study. The stiffener is modelled as line mass, Euler beam, and open section channel having double and triple coupling. Plate is modelled as Kirchoff plate. In the classical SEA approach the joint beam is modelled as another subsystem. In this study, the beam is not a separate subsystem but is used as the characteristics of the joint and to calculate the coupling loss factor between coupled plates. Sensitivity of coupling loss factors to system parameters is studied for different beam approaches. The derived coupling loss factors and input powers are used to calculate the subsystem energies by SEA. The last plate is joined to the first one to simulate the fuselage structure. A plate representing floor structure and acoustic volume are also added. The different modelling types are assessed by applying pressure wave excitation. It is shown that deriving the parameters as given in this study increases the efficiency of the SEA method.

The phenomenon dropwise condensation on a horizontal gold coated tube is investigated by both analytical and experimental methods in this study. A computer program is prepared to calculate the dropwise condensation heat transfer rate on the horizontal gold coated tube. An experimental setup was also manufactured to measure the dropwise condensation heat transfer rate. The effects of flow rate, temperature of cooling water and also steam to wall temperature difference have been analytically investigated by using Mathcad computer program. Experiments were carried out at different inlet temperatures of cooling water. Effects of cooling water at different flow rates are also experimentally investigated. Results of the experiments are compared to those of the literature and the analytical results.