Sharif Digital Repository

In this paper, the capabilities of tuned mass dampers (TMDs) for the mitigation of response of nonlinear frame structures subjected to earthquakes have been studied. To determine the optimal parameters of a TMD, including its mass, stiffness and damping, we developed an optimization algorithm based on the minimization of a performance index, defined as a function of the response of the nonlinear structure to be controlled. Distributed genetic algorithm has been used to solve the optimization problem. For illustration, the method has been applied to the design of a linear TMD for an eight-story nonlinear shear building with bilinear hysteretic material behavior subjected to earthquake. The... 

In this paper, optimal design and assessment of the capability of Tuned Mass Dampers (TMDs) in improving the seismic behavior of Confined masonry walls, as the main element of historical buildings, has been studied. For this purpose, the design parameters of TMDs have been determined through minimization of wall response using Genetic Algorithms (GAs). To simulate the behavior of Confined masonry wall under earthquake, the triple linear shear beam model has been used. For illustration, the method has been tested on Confined masonry walls equipped with linear TMDs. To study the effects of frequency content and Peak Ground Acceleration (PGA) of earthquake records on the performance of TMDs,... 

This paper describes a methodology to develop the interface between a finite element software and optimization algorithm for optimization of concrete high arch dams. The objective function is the volume of the dam. The numbers of design variables are 31 including the thickness and upstream profile of crown cantilever, thickness of the left and right abutments, radius of curvature of water and air faces left and right by use of polynomial curve fitting and cubic spline function. The constraint conditions are the geometric shape, stress, and the stability against sliding. Initially, a program is developed in MATLAB in order to generate the coordinates of nodes; then, finite element software... 

A new method for structural optimization is presented for successive approximation of the objective function and constraints in conjunction with Lagrange multipliers approach. The focus is on presenting the methodology with simple examples. The basis of the iterative algorithm is that after each iteration, it brings the approximate location of the estimated minimum closer to the exact location, gradually. In other words, instead of the linear or parabolic term used in Taylor expansion, which works based on a short step length, an arch is used that has a constant curvature but a longer step length. Using this approximation, the equations of optimization involve the Lagrange multipliers as the... 

The application of ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) as an alternative to conventional/normal concrete (NC) has grown rapidly in recent years. However, there is limited knowledge on its shear behavior, which is essential for developing design guidelines for structural applications. A detailed parametric study was conducted on 38 beam specimens, half of which were made of UHPC and the other half made of NC. To ensure applicability of findings, two types of UHPC mixes were used, a proprietary and a generic mix. Eighteen of the beams were prepared and tested in Tabriz, Iran, while the other 20 were made and tested in Miami, FL. Test parameters included type of concrete (UHPC and NC), shear... 

In this paper, a new method is proposed for identification of inelastic shear frame structures with hesteresis, using data collected on their dynamic response. It uses the. Prandtl-Ishlinskii rate independent model for hysteresis, which was originally used in the field of plasticity and ferromagnetism. The proposed identification method is capable, of identifying the. mass, damping and restoring force of a frame, structure, which can be. used in forming the. equations of motion of the.frame. By solving the equations of motion, the. dynamic response is predicted. The method is based on the.combined use. of Quadratic Programming (QP) and Genetic Algorithms (GA). First, assuming a set of... 

In this research, 19 specimens of ultra-high performance fiber-reinforced concrete rectangular beams were made and their shear resistance was determined experimentally. The results were compared with estimations by ACI 318, RILEM TC 162-TDF, Australian guideline, and Iranian national building regulations. To compare the code estimations, the ratio of experimental shear strength to predicted shear strength was calculated for each code. This ratio is in fact a measure of safety factor on the one hand and a measure of precision of the estimation on the other hand. Based on the results of both studies, the authors concluded that the Australian guideline, with the amount of 2.5, provided the... 

In this research, 19 specimens of ultra-high performance fiber-reinforced concrete rectangular beams were made and their shear resistance was determined experimentally. The results were compared with estimations by ACI 318, RILEM TC 162-TDF, Australian guideline, and Iranian national building regulations. To compare the code estimations, the ratio of experimental shear strength to predicted shear strength was calculated for each code. This ratio is in fact a measure of safety factor on the one hand and a measure of precision of the estimation on the other hand. Based on the results of both studies, the authors concluded that the Australian guideline, with the amount of 2.5, provided the... 

In this paper, a new method is proposed for the identification of inelastic shear frame structures with hysteresis, using data collected on their dynamic response. It uses the Prandtl-Ishlinskii rate independent model for hysteresis. The proposed identification method is capable of identifying the mass, damping and restoring force of a frame structure, which can be used in forming the equations of motion of the frame. By solving the equations of motion, the dynamic response is predicted. The method is based on the combined using of the Quadratic Programming (QP) and Genetic Algorithms (GA). First, assuming a set of Prandtl-Ishlinskii constants, the QP is used to find the best frame... 

This paper presents a comparison of analytical and experimental results of an investigation on the diagonally stiffened steel plate shear walls (SPWs). Experimental studies were carried out on three 1/3-scaled, one story single bay shear walls. The first specimen was a control specimen which was unstiffened and the other two specimens were diagonally stiffened using different stiffener configurations. Finite-element models of full SPWs are developed using finite element model. The results are compared with experimental results to investigate the influence of stiffeners on the behavior of the specimens. Good agreement between analytical and experimental models is found in point of failure... 

In this paper, the effect of various arrangements of displacement, velocity and acceleration related weighting matrices on the performance of active control systems on nonlinear frames has been studied. Different arrangements of weighting matrices and feedback combinations of the response have been considered to design the active controllers using a single actuator for reducing the response of an eight-storey bilinear hysteretic frame under white noise excitations. The nonlinear Newmark-based instantaneous optimal control algorithm has been used, where the distributed genetic algorithm (DGA) is employed to determine the proper set of weighting matrices. For each set of feedback and weighting...