Sharif Digital Repository

Over the past few decades considerable experimental and numerical studies have been conducted on the Reinforced Concrete columns to Steel beams (RCS) connections. Most of those researches have focused on studying the joint failure modes and ultimate joint strength of specimens utilizing strong beams and columns with weak joints. In this paper, two interior RCS connections were designed based on the Strong Column-Weak Beam (SCWB) criterion. Both specimens were tested under quasi-static reversed cyclic loading. The tested specimens were modeled by a finite element method, which verified with experimental results. Several models with different joint details were investigated using the verified... 

This paper presents the background of low back problem caused by repetitive fatigue loading. We emphasize on mechanism of Intervertebral Disc (IVD) and conditions for which the disc does not recover its original status under repetitive work and cause low back pain. The objective of this study is to identify structural changes in system parameters for fatigue loaded intervertebral disc. Principal component analysis (PCA) is used for studying the behavioral change of spine against cyclic loading as a function of time. Percentage difference and similarity factor was calculated for the analysis. Specimens were applied with impulse testing to measure the stiffness and acceleration after fracture,... 

In this article, simulations of the stress-strain behavior in aluminum alloys were investigated under cyclic loadings at various strain rates. Four plasticity approaches were applied to simulate cyclic behaviors. To validate obtained results, strain-controlled tensile-compressive fatigue tests were performed in the low cycle fatigue regime. Isothermal fatigue experiments were conducted at various strain rates. Thermo-mechanical fatigue experiments were carried out at different rates of cooling and heating processes. Numerical results demonstrated a good agreement with experimental data at the mid-life cycle of the material. Material constants for different models were also presented for... 

In the special zones of frame elements, which are used for seismic energy dissipation, inelastic interaction among the internal forces needs to be considered more precisely. This paper describes a special element called a VM link element for modeling the shear-flexural interaction in the inelastic zones of beam elements. The element may be used in the any inelastic location of frames subjected to the monotonic or cyclic loadings. The inelastic shear and flexural deformations are considered by using the multi-surfaces plasticity concept with dissimilar yield surfaces. A new kinematic hardening and new non-associated flow rules are introduced for definition of the plastic deformations and... 

The noncoaxiality of the principal stress direction and plastic principal strain increment has been broadly recognized as an influencing parameter for design of soil structures. Here we performed a series of systematic hollow cylinder experiments to study the effects of stress anisotropy on the noncoaxiality of dense Babolsar and Toyoura sands. A total of 25 undrained torsional shear tests were carried out under constant mean confining pressure, and fixed principal stress directions, α. We investigated the stress-strain behavior of dense sands for different α-directions, and cyclic stress ratio, CSR, under monotonic and cyclic loading conditions. The results show that the noncoaxiality value... 

In the present paper, a mixed, shear-flexural (VM) hinge element, with zero or nonzero length, for using in frames, has been introduced, where shear-flexural interaction has been considered. The element has the capability of modeling flexural yielding, shear yielding and their interaction in frames, subjected to all kinds of monotonic or cyclic loadings. The inelastic shear and flexural deformations and tangential stiffnesses are considered by using the multi-surfaces approach with dissimilar yield surfaces and by a stiffness matrix with nonzero off-diagonal components. A new kinematics hardening rule and, also, a new non-associated flow rule are introduced. The mixed hinge element can be... 

Geotechnical design may be unsafe if the anisotropic behavior of soil is not considered. The behavior of anisotropic materials depends on the principal stresses and their directions. A detailed experimental programme was conducted to study the e ect of stress direction on the monotonic and cyclic behavior of dense sand. A total of 20 undrained tests were performed at a constant mean con ning stress (00m), a constant intermediate principal stress ratio (b = (2 - 3)=(1 -3)), and principal stress directions (). Two ne sands, Babolsar and Toyoura, were selected as the test materials. The isotropically consolidated specimens were prepared by the wet tamping technique. The results showed that the... 

The low-cycle fatigue performance of shear panel damper (SPD) highly depends on the geometry of its shape and the criterion considered for its design. The main contribution of the current study is to find the optimum shape of the SPD subjected to cyclic loading by considering two different objective functions. The maximum equivalent plastic strain and the ratio of energy dissipation through plastic deformation to the maximum equivalent plastic strain are selected as the first and second objective functions, respectively. Since the optimization procedure requires high computational efforts, a hybrid computational approach is used to perform two paramount phases of estimating the inelastic... 

The consolidation behavior of composite powders during pressure cycling at room temperature in uniaxial compaction experiments was studied and compared with monotonic compaction. Aluminum and various amounts of SiC powders (up to 50 vol%) were used to investigate the effect of hard reinforcement particle on the densification of soft aluminum matrix. The cyclic compaction was carried out at various pressure amplitudes, ranges from 90 to 360 MPa, at the frequency of 1 Hz. The pressure cycling was continued up to 5000 cycle, in which, the rate of consolidation was found to be fairly low. The consolidation of the composite powders under different loading modes was analyzed through... 

Low back pain is a common reason for activity limitation in people younger than 45 years old, and was proved to be associated with heavy physical works, repetitive lifting, impact, stationary work postures and vibrations. The study of load transferring and the loading condition encountered in spinal column can be simulated by finite element models. The intervertebral disc is a structure composed of a porous material. Many physical models were developed to simulate this phenomenon. The confounding effects of poroelastic properties and loading conditions on disc mechanical responses are, nevertheless, not cleared yet. The objective of this study was to develop an axisymmetric poroelastic... 

In this paper, a fully coupled three-dimensional dynamic analysis is carried out to investigate the dynamic behavior of pile foundations in liquefied ground. A critical state bounding surface plasticity model is used to model soil skeleton, while a fully coupled (u- P) formulation is employed to analyze soil displacements and pore water pressures. Furthermore, in this study, variation of permeability coefficient during liquefaction is taken into account; the permeability coefficient is related to excess pore water pressure ratio. Results of a centrifuge test on pile foundations are used to demonstrate the capability of the model for reliable analysis of piles under dynamic loading. Then, the... 

Soils have an anisotropic response, and changing the inclination (α) and magnitude of the major principal stress will affect collapse potential and brittleness, as well as shear strength and shear stiffness. In this paper, the effect of the stress path, with changes in intermediate principal stress, on the dynamic behavior of Babolsar sand, is studied. A series of undrained monotonic and cyclic tests on loose sand with induced anisotropy were conducted by using automatic hollow cylinder apparatus. Special attention was paid to the significant role of the intermediate principal stress parameter (b) in the deformation behavior of the sand during cyclic loading. Results show that at constant α,... 

In this paper, the crack propagation in ductile materials is simulated under cyclic and dynamic loading. The adaptive finite element method is used to model the discontinuity due to crack propagation. The ductile fracture assumptions and continuum damage mechanics are utilized to model the material rupture behavior. Moreover both the rate-independent and rate-dependent constitutive equations are elaborated and the crack closure effect and combined hardening model are discussed in addition to some aspects of finite element implementation. Finally, a comparison is performed between the numerical simulation results and those of experiments to illustrate the robustness of proposed computational...