Sharif Digital Repository

Semi-active devices are low-cost as well as small and by changing the properties of low-power intensive structures, the aims of control are accomplished. On the other hand, the limited control force which can be applied to the structure for each damper causes more dampers to be used in the structures compared to the larger and stronger control devices which are more costly. These dampers coupled with sensors and the structure themselves make a complex dynamic system which is best controlled by a decentralized method such as Market-Based Control (MBC). In MBC, the actuators and the supply energy are modeled as buyer and seller respectively in the market place. To define the demand function of... 

A methodology is developed for the design of optimum viscous fluid passive energy dissipation systems using pole assignment active control algorithm. In this method, the procedure to assign the new structural poles is slightly modified such that the resulting structural properties (i.e., the optimum locations of system poles) can be achieved merely by modification of structural stiffness and addition of a passive control system. A combination of stiffness reduction and increase of damping is utilized to reduce both acceleration and displacement response. It is shown that the control systems designed using this method provide structural performances slightly better than or close to those of... 

Long-span bridges usually experience different input excitations at their ground supports that emanate from differences in wave arrival times, and soil conditions, as well as loss of coherency in arriving waves. These spatial variations can drastically influence the dynamic response; hence, this phenomenon must be considered in any vibration-based identification method. There are numerous Multi-Input Multi-Output (MIMO) identification techniques that may be applied to data recorded at long-span bridges that experience spatial variations in their input motions. However, inertial soil-structure interaction effects severely reduce the accuracy of these techniques because the actual Foundation... 

A new concept to determine state of the damage in concrete gravity dams is introduced. The Pine Flat concrete gravity dam has been selected for the purpose of the analysis and its structural capacity, assuming no sliding plane and rigid foundation, has been estimated using the two well-known methods: nonlinear static pushover (SPO) and incremental dynamic analysis (IDA). With the use of these two methods, performance and various limit states of the dam have been determined, and three damage indexes have been proposed on the basis of the comparison of seismic demands and the dam's capacity. It is concluded that the SPO and IDA can be effectively used to develop indexes for seismic performance... 

The instability of large diameter single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) conveying fluid is investigated based on the molecular mechanics. Using the modal expansion for structural displacements, the governing equations of coupled fluid-structural dynamics of SWCNTs are derived. The natural frequencies and mode shape of the SWCNTs are obtained based on the molecular structural mechanics to account for the effect of chirality and discrete nature of SWCNTs. The results show that the vibrational behavior of large diameter SWCNTs conveying fluid is size dependent, but the effect of chirality is negligible. The obtained results are compared with the equivalent continuum-based model in the... 

This paper deals with the optimum design of vibration absorbers utilized to reduce undesirable random vibrational effects that are originated in linear structures. Analytical expressions, for the case of nonstationary white-noise accelerations, are derived. The criterion is different from most conventional optimum design criteria, since it is based on minimizing the displacement or the acceleration variance of the main structure responses, without considering performances required against failure. In this study, in order to control the structural vibrations induced on a mechanical structure excited by nonstationary based acceleration random process, the MOO (multi-objective optimum) design... 

The dynamics and stability of rotating circular cylindrical shells partially filled with ideal liquid is analyzed. The structural dynamics of the shell is modeled by using the first-order shear deformable shell theory and the flow inside the cylinder is simulated by a quasi 2D model based on the NavierStokes equations for ideal liquid. The fluid and structural models are combined using the nonpenetration condition of the flow on the wetted surface of the cylinder and the fluid pressure on the flexible shell. The obtained fluidstructure model is employed for the determination of the stable regions of the spinning frequency of the cylinder. A series of case studies are performed on the... 

In order to study the interaction of sloshing and structural vibrations of baffled tanks, a reduced order model based on modal analysis of structure model and boundary element method for fluids motion is developed. For this purpose, the governing equations of elastic structure and incompressible flow are used to derive simple models to simulate both fields. Using the modal analysis technique, the structural motions are applied to the fluid model and on the other hand by using boundary element method, the fluid loads are applied to the structural model. Based on this formulation, a code is developed which is applicable to an arbitrary elastic tank with arbitrary arrangement of baffles. The... 

A new method, based on the concepts of matrix analysis as well as the learning capabilities of neural networks, for the analysis of nonlinear trusses under dynamic loading is presented. The method can be applied to static trusses too. While there have been attempts in the past to use neural networks to identify and model different structures based on data measured on structural response directly, the main feature and advantage of this new method is in its capability to model a nonlinear truss by assembling the data collected on the response of its members. The basics of the method are: (1) for each truss member, a neural network is trained to learn and simulate its loadresponse behavior, (2)... 

This paper deals with the flexural instability of flexible spinning cylinders partially filled with viscous fluid. Using the linearized Navier-Stokes equations for the incompressible flow, a two-dimensional model is developed for fluid motion. The resultant force exerted on the flexible cylinder wall as the result of the fluid motion is calculated as a function of lateral acceleration of the cylinder axis in the Laplace domain. Applying the Hamilton principle, the governing equations of flexural motion of the rotary flexible cylinder mounted on general viscoelastic supports are derived. Then combining the equations describing the fluid force on the flexible cylinder with the structural... 

The morphological, physical and mechanical properties of polypropylene/clay nanocomposites (PPCNs) were prepared by in situ polymerization are investigated. Non-modified scmectite type clay (e.g. bentonite) was used to prepare bi-supported Ziegler-Natta catalyst of TiCl4/Mg(OEt)2/clay. Exfoliated PPCNs were obtained by in situ intercalative polymerization of propylene using produced bi-supported catalyst. X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) micrograph were used to assess the clay morphology and dispersion of clay. The crystalline structures of PPCNs were characterized by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The mechanical properties of PPCNs were... 

This paper presents a new experimental-numerical method for deriving the transfer functions of a half-automobile model, containing: chassis, body, engine, engine mount and steering wheel, with five degrees of freedom. In this method different parts of system are not required to be disassembled from the main system and the transfer functions of subsystem are obtained through testing of the whole system. This method is based on the experimental results and does not need a mathematical model of the half-automobile. In this method, transfer functions of various parts of chassis are calculated through obtaining the response of secondary elements mounted on the chassis to the displacement input... 

A practical procedure is developed for the design of passive control systems using viscous fluid dampers for nonlinear structures. The design methodology takes advantage of the modification of the damping, strength, and stiffness properties of the structure to achieve the desired relative displacement and absolute acceleration response. For this purpose, a study of poles in the complex plane is used to determine the required changes in the dynamic properties of nonlinear structures. Furthermore, a relatively simple relation between the ductility demands of highly damped single- and multiple-degree-of-freedom (SDF and MDF respectively) systems is established to reduce the computational burden... 

In this paper, the stability of whirling composite cylindrical shells partially filled with two liquid phases is studied. Using the first-order shear shell theory, the structural dynamics of the shell is modeled and based on the Navier-Stokes equations for ideal liquid, a 2D model is developed for liquid motion at each section of the cylinder. In steady state condition, liquids are supposed to locate according to mass density. In this study, the thick shells are investigated. Using boundary conditions between liquids, the model of coupled fluid-structure system is obtained. This coupled fluid-structure model is employed to determine the critical speed of the system. The effects of the main... 

A new time-domain hierarchical Bayesian framework is proposed to improve the performance of Bayesian methods in terms of reliability and robustness of estimates particularly for uncertainty quantification and propagation in structural dynamics. The proposed framework provides a reliable approach to account for the variability of the inference results observed when using different data sets. The proposed formulation is compared with a state-of-the-art Bayesian approach using numerical and experimental examples. The results indicate that the hierarchical Bayesian framework provides a more realistic account of the uncertainties, whereas the non-hierarchical Bayesian approach severely... 

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... 

Structural control using energy dissipater devices is emerging as a heavily researched strategy in earthquake engineering. Among several control systems, semiactive control is usually possible and efficient. In this research, a semiactive energy dissipating bracing system based on a viscous damper is proposed. In the conventional bracing systems, it is assumed that the braces can buckle under compression. Therefore, a semiactive on-off brace strategy is implemented to improve the conventional brace performance. Further, an energy absorbing mechanism is implemented. In the proposed system, the buckling of the member is prevented by implementing a one-way valve device. The permanent story... 

A traveling mass due to its mass inertia has significant effects on the dynamic response of the structures. According to recent developments in structural materials and constructional technologies, the structures are likely to be affected by sudden changes of masses and substructure elements, in which the inertia effect of a moving mass is not negligible. The transverse inertia effects have been a topic of interest in bridge dynamics, design of railway tracks, guide way systems and other engineering applications such as modern high-speed precision machinery process. In this study an analytical-numerical method is presented which can be used to determine the dynamic response of beams carrying... 

A unified model composed of the flow function model, dislocation model and Taylor theory is used to investigate the evolution of dislocation density, cell size, and strength of tantalum during ECAP process. From the flow function model, strain and strain rate distributions are achieved and then using a modified version of three-dimensional ETMB model, the dislocation density, cell size, and strength are predicted. The predicted dislocation density, cell size, and strength are compared with the experimental data and a remarkable agreement is obtained. In addition, the effect of dynamic recovery on the strength of the processed tantalum is modeled and compared with other materials. © 2008... 

For studying the behavior of structure in an earthquake, it is advisable to model the structure as a multi-degrees of freedom system, consisting of numerous single-degree of freedom substructures and pay attention to soil-structure interaction. System identification is divided into two categories: namely time domain method and frequency domain approach. In this paper, a localized substructure identification of shear building considering the soil-structure interaction is presented using a frequency domain approach. In order to deal with noise-corrupted data, a spectral smoothing technique with Parzen's window reduction method is adapted. It is shown that better convergence and accuracy can be...