Sharif Digital Repository

The probabilistic behavior and the reliability of high-temperature defective components under creep-fatigue conditions have been assessed, considering different sources of uncertainty in “material behavior”, “geometric parameters” and “operation conditions”. For this purpose, deterministic calculations of creep-fatigue crack growth have been derived based on the R5 procedure, and then these relationships have been used at the heart of the probabilistic assessments. One of the aims of this dissertation was to present a procedure for assessing the reliability of defective components operating under creep-fatigue conditions. This procedure has been implemented on a benchmark problem, i.e.... 

The main purpose of this research is to evaluate the probabilistic benefit of the implementation of second isolation layer in isolated structures to both the structure and the constructor. The innovation of this research is in the utilization of a seemingly useless part of the structure, which is the ridge, for mitigating the structure’s displacement. For this purpose, a five-story residential structure and its ridge have been isolated and modeled as an MDOF system with two degree of freedom in MATLAB software and the benefits due to the reduction in displacement and acceleration has been calculated. The results indicate 40 percent reduction in the main structure’s displacement and a benefit... 

In presence of epistemic and aleatoric uncertainties of the structural systems, it is better to investigate the events in probabilistic manner. Bayesian inference is an approach that can update the current knowledge of probabilities with new evidence. The main objective of this study was evaluating the advanteges of using Bayesian approach in two main area of structural health monitoring, model calibration and decision making. In each of these two areas, one case study was conducted. First case study was prediction of crack growth life in a pre-cracked aluminum plate and the results showed that using Bayesian approach in calibration of crack growth model and measurement model of health... 

Considering connections as ideally rigid or pinned is a common assumption during design and analysis of steel moment frames. However, in real world, steel connections show a non-linear behavior between these two ideal states. The aim of this research is to investigate the effect of partially restrained connections on the design and performance of two-dimensional steel moment frames under vertical and horizontal loads that are applied statically. For this aim, nonlinear finite element modeling is used in probabilistic evaluation process to assess the performance of existing structures. To capture the real behavior of structure in models, geometric and material sources of nonlinearity are... 

Infrastructure systems play a critical role in the economic and social activities of a community. Effective and continuous performance of these infrastructure systems is essential to the welfare and prosperity of the communities. Infrastructure systems comprise networks of interdependent assets that are built through a long and costly process. These assets are subject to a variety of factors that reduce the performance and reliability over time. These factors also increase the vulnerability of infrastructure assets in face of future probable hazards. In order to ensure the continuous and uninterrupted performance of infrastructure assets in post-hazard situations, asset managers should plan... 

Available Transmission Capability (ATC) is a measure of remaining capability in the transmission system for future use which is calculated and posted by Independent System Operator (ISO) considering various certain and uncertain power system parameters. ATC can be affected considerably by application of flexible AC transmission system (FACTS) controller among them Unified Power Flow Controller (UPFC) is the most recent one applied in power systems. This thesis is aimed to study the probabilistic ATC assessment incorporating UPFC. It first proposes a probabilistic ATC calculation method which is capable of considering various certain and uncertain parameters of ATC calculation in the... 

The present study looks into the fracture of perforated steel plates and their sensitivity in ductile fracture. It also examines the effects of strain rise phenomenon in these specimens. The main employed fracture model is VGM, which was first introduced by Rice and Tracey, and later enhanced by Kanvinde et al.. The general methodology includes finite element simulation and lab experiments on perforated plates, to determine ductility, strain concentration in hole periphery and model sensitivity. Fot thid purpose 86 steel sheet specimen with different holes and cuts were manufactured and tested. With the acquired data, the impact of strain concentration on the load carrying capabilities and... 

More than half a century has passed since the start of research on seismic liquefaction phenomenon in cohesionless soils, and various researchers has proposed different correlations for liquefaction prediction based on in situ tests. However, there still exists a great uncertainty in liquefaction prediction correlations, and liquefaction still occurs in different parts of the world. Hence, the main objective of this research is to reduce uncertainty in seismic liquefaction initiation correlations. While the technical literature indicates that soil resistance can alter due to liquefaction and shaking events and soil resistance after the liquefaction is not necessarily indicative of it prior... 

Different causes in the exploration, production and transport of oil in the marine environment result in oil spill events. Since elimination of the probability of occurrence of spills is not possible, it is important to have a plan to control the risk of oil spills by optimal response. In this research, a general stucture is presented for the DSS required for oil spill response planning. This system can be used for evaluation of the effectiveness of response drills, and risk-based ranking of receptor areas and spill sources. Ranking based on risk is realized through probabilistic or stochastic risk assessment. The applicability of the proposed system is examined in differnet case studies in... 

The objective of this study is to design a real structure based on value using the endurance time method, which is designed according to common design codes. In the value-based design of this structure, a variation of the lateral load coefficient has been used for the design of the investigated structural specimens. The term "value" in this research refers to the total costs incurred over the lifespan of the structure. The initial construction costs of the structure and the life cycle costs are optimized in the value-based design process. The initial construction cost in this research consists of two parts: the first part is variable costs that arise from the consumed materials in the...