No description available.

The outstanding characteristics of structural efficiency, durability and aesthetic beauty make the thin shell structure a much more viable structural design solution as compared to the more traditional methods of design. However, the manifestation of these outstanding characteristics is directly related to the form of the structure. This makes the form of the structure a key factor in ensuring the success of the design. The correct form of the structure is not known in advance and requires a process known as form-finding or shape-finding. Hence, the focus of this research is to enhance this form-finding process, through the development of a computer design tool that is capable of accurately predicting the form of a pure compression thin shell structure, quickly and easily, in a manner that ensures that the desired characteristics are obtained within the structure. The analyses show that the computer model only corresponded to the shape of the physical chain model in two out of the six cases analyzed. The results suggest that the shapes produced by the computer model corresponded more closely to the shapes produced by the square slabs of yield-line analysis or the physical models developed using the hanging fabric modelling technique. In conclusion, the physical hanging chain models did not provide a correct representation of the shapes produced by the computer model.

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published_or_final_version / Civil and Structural Engineering / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 1987.

No description available.

No description available.

In Australia, the standard structural system for residential construction is brick veneer where the stud wall (whether timber or cold-formed steel) is the load-bearing element and an external skin of brickwork is used for weatherproofing, insulation and aesthetic reasons. The stud wall framed structure has plasterboard interior cladding attached (commonly known as lining), brick-veneer exterior cladding, with terracotta or concrete roof tiles or steel sheet roofing. Therefore, the stud frame is lined on only one side with plasterboard material. This differs from the standard practice used in North America where both sides where both sides of the stud frame are usually lined, one with internal plasterboard material and the other with insulated external cladding material and a brick skin is not used. / Thesis (PhD)--University of South Australia, 2006.

Thin walled beams warp under torsional and longitudinal loads. Warping restraint produces high longitudinal stresses. This is an analysis of the stress distribution in the side members of commercial vehicle chassis frames under the effects of the previously little studied longitudinal loads which may act on a truck chassis through spring hanger brackets. The structure analysed is a model chassis frame consisting of channel section side members and four cross members with different joint connections. The developed theories are incorporated into a special purpose finite element program which may be used in the preliminary stages of chassis frame design. Although the program is only used for the longitudinal load case in this thesis, it is generally applicable for other chassis load cases, including torsion, bending, etc. and combination of these. The theoretical results obtained from the program and the finite element analysis on complete chassis frame models are validated against experiments performed on a strain-gauged chassis frame model constructed with the same dimensions and constructional details as the finite element models with the appropriate loading and boundary conditions. Suggestions for the optimum design and attachment positions for components such as spring hanger bracket which may apply longitudinal loads to the side members of the chassis frame are discussed from the point of view of longitudinal loadings.

This thesis presents the results of a comprehensive research study of the bearing behaviour of single or multiple bolted plates in bolt shear at ambient and elevated temperatures. A total of 18 tests were carried out to provide detailed experimental information on bearing behaviour of plates with single bolt. A series of parametric studies using the commercial finite element package ABAQUS were conducted to investigate the effects of different design parameters on the connected plate bearing behaviour, including initial stiffness, ultimate resistance and deformation at the ultimate resistance. The finite element models were verified by comparing the simulated results against the author’s tests conducted as part of this research and other researchers’ test results. Based on the parametric study results, an analytical model was proposed to predict the bearing load-deformation relationship of bolted plate in bolt shear. It was found that the stiffness and ultimate resistance could be predicted accurately by using existing methods. The main contribution of the analytical study was the development of a simple method to calculate the maximum plate deformation (bolt-hole elongation) at the ultimate resistance, based on proposed strain distributions according to different failure modes. This method has been verified against the parametric study results and has been found to be suitable for ambient and elevated temperature applications.