Sharif Digital Repository

Dynamic response of infinite beams supported by random viscoelastic Pasternak foundation subjected to harmonic moving loads is studied. Vertical stiffness in the support is assumed to follow a stochastic homogeneous field consisting of a small random variation around a deterministic mean value. By employing the first order perturbation theory and calculating appropriate Green's functions, the variance of the deflection and bending moment are obtained analytically in integral forms. To simulate the induced uncertainty, two practical cases of cosine and exponential covariance are utilized. A frequency analysis is performed and influences of the correlation length of the stiffness variation on... 

The vibration response of a Timoshenko beam supported by a viscoelastic foundation with randomly distributed parameters along the beam length and jected to a harmonic moving load, is studied. By means of the first-order two-dimensional regular perturbation method and employing appropriate Green's functions, the dynamic response of the beam consisting of the mean and variance of the deflection and of the bending moment are obtained analytically in integral forms. Results of a field measurement for a test track are utilized to model the uncertainty of the foundation parameters. A frequency analysis is carried out and the effect of the load speed on the response is studied. It is found that the... 

Ground Source Heat Pumps (GSHPs) have been installed all around the world to harvest shallow geothermal energy for heating and cooling building envelopes. However, the high initial cost of these systems (e.g., drilling and installation costs) limits the popularity and total usage of GSHPs around the world. To reduce the initial cost of these systems, geothermal heat exchangers are combined with structural components of the building, such as deep foundations, or energy walls. Energy piles or thermo-active foundations that serve dual purposes have been widely utilized in the last two decades in many developed countries. However, in most of the developing countries like Iran, there are several... 

Three-dimensional free vibration analysis of functionally graded piezoelectric (FGPM) annular plates resting on Pasternak foundations with different boundary conditions is presented. The material properties are assumed to have an exponent-law variation along the thickness. A semi-Analytical approach which makes use of state-space method in thickness direction and one-dimensional differential quadrature method in radial direction is utilized to obtain the influences of the Winkler and shearing layer elastic coefficients of the foundations on the non-dimensional natural frequencies of functionally graded piezoelectric annular plates. The analytical solution in the thickness direction can be... 

This paper presents the results of an experimental study of structural lightweight concrete with glass fiber reinforcement (GFRP) bar for prefabricated single footing. In this study, seven full scale concrete single footings specimens, which were reinforced by GFRP bar located on a bed of soil, were tested. One of the specimens was made of normal weight concrete and the others were made of structural lightweight concrete. Four of the lightweight footing specimens contained polymer fibers. Also, two of the lightweight footing specimens contained shear reinforcement. Results indicated that the maximum GFRP strain on normal weight and lightweight concrete footing with polypropylene fibers are... 

In this paper, the responses of multidegree of freedom (MDOF) structures on sliding foundations, subjected to harmonic or random base motions, are investigated taking into consideration the variations of friction forces. The variation of friction force is a consequence of variation of friction coefficient, which depends on such parameters as relative velocity and the existing pressure. Modelling of the friction force under the foundation raft is accomplished by using a fictitious rigid link with a rigid-perfectly plastic material. This results in identical equations of motion for the sliding structure, both in the sliding and nonsliding (stick) phases and considerably decreases the required... 

In the present study, free vibrations and stability of rotating single walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) is investigated by nonlocal theory of elasticity; while the CNT is partially resting on an elastic foundation. The governing equations of motion are presented by using Love's shell assumptions. An exact series expansion method of solution is employed and very accurate results are obtained. Some parameter studies including the effects of rotating speed, foundation stiffness, slenderness ratio and nonlocal parameter on the natural frequency and stability margins of the current model are studied. The studies show that rotation rates and foundation elasticity can contribute significantly in the... 

The present study aims at the investigation of free vibration analysis of thin cylindrical shells surrounded by an elastic medium, which is distributed over a particular length of the shell. The Love’s shell theory is utilized along with the Winkler foundation to obtain the governing equations of motion. An exact series expansion method of solution is employed for any arbitrary boundary conditions. The excellent accuracy of the obtained results is validated by comparing to the available literature. Moreover, several case studies are performed to provide an insight into the influence of some practically important parameters on free vibrations of circular cylindrical shells, including... 

A novel and robust approach is proposed to find the optimum shape of concrete arch dams located on any unsymmetrical shape of a valley. The approach is capable of finding the optimum shape for any given valley type in suitable time, based on abutment stability analysis, against thrust forces from an arch dam. The behavior and stability of a concrete arch dam is strongly dependent on the bedrock on which the dam rests. The stability of the abutment is considered a constraint in the proposed approach. In addition, a new objective function is introduced to decrease the final volume of the arch dam. Furthermore, a computer program was developed, which takes the effect of the dam foundation... 

Optimal design of micron-scale beams as a general case is an important problem for development of micro-electromechanical devices. For various applications, the mechanical parameters such as mass, maximum deflection and stress, natural frequency and buckling load are considered in strategies of micro-manufacturing technologies. However, all parameters are not of equal importance in each operating condition but multi-objective optimization is able to select optimal states of micro-beams which have desirable performances in various micro-electromechanical devices. This paper provides optimal states of design variables including thickness, distribution parameter of functionally graded... 

In this paper, the static pull-in behavior of electrostatically actuated functionally graded (FG) micro-beams resting on an elastic medium is studied using the modified strain gradient (MSG) theory. To this end, the equilibrium equation along with classical and non-classical boundary conditions is obtained by considering the fringing field and elastic foundations effects within the principle of minimum total potential energy. Also, the elastic medium is composed of a shear layer (Pasternak foundation) and a linear normal layer (Winkler foundation). The governing differential equation is solved for cantilever and doubly fixed FG beams using an iterative numerical method. This method is a... 

Seismic analysis of complex structures such as concrete dams has been the subject of numerous studies. One of the challenges in seismic analysis of such systems is proper modelling of massed foundation. Since concrete dams’ foundations are usually layered, this makes the homogenous half-space assumption relatively unrealistic. In this paper, the effects of massed layered foundation on seismic response of concrete gravity dams in dam-reservoir-foundation systems are investigated. Seismic finite element analysis of the system carried out using domain reduction method. This approach is compared with another available method named, free-field column. First set of analysis considers the effect of... 

Seismic analysis of complex structures such as concrete dams has been the subject of numerous studies. One of the challenges in seismic analysis of such systems is proper modelling of massed foundation. Since concrete dams’ foundations are usually layered, this makes the homogenous half-space assumption relatively unrealistic. In this paper, the effects of massed layered foundation on seismic response of concrete gravity dams in dam-reservoir-foundation systems are investigated. Seismic finite element analysis of the system carried out using domain reduction method. This approach is compared with another available method named, free-field column. First set of analysis considers the effect of... 

One of the acceptable assumptions in engineering practice is vertical propagation of earthquake waves. When the source of earthquake is located very deep in the ground, this assumption is valid, but for sources located in shallow ground, it loses its viability. In this study, linear seismic analysis of a system of concrete dam-massed foundation-reservoir is performed under inclined earthquake excitation. Both P- and SV-type earthquakes are considered for the purpose of the seismic analysis. To consider the effects of inhomogeneous waves for the case of SV wave propagation, post-critical angles are also considered in the analysis. To investigate the effects of earthquake frequency content on... 

In the present paper, the seismic response of an arch dam subjected to spatial variation of ground motions along the interface with its foundations is investigated. Recorded ground accelerations at the dam foundation interface of an arch dam were used for the purpose of this investigation. Topographic amplification between various points of the interface was studied by obtaining ratios of the response spectral displacement and spectral pseudo acceleration. Time shift and amplification between stations show the nonuniform nature of ground motions for large structures like dams. Recorded ground accelerations were interpolated for different nodes of the finite element model. The seismic... 

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... 

In this study, a cylindrical microshell stability reinforced by graphene nanoplatelets is investigated while an axial load is applied uniformly. In addition, viscoelastic foundation covers the composite nanostructure. Therefore, the impacts of the small scale parameter are studied while nonlocal strain gradient theory (NSGT) is considered. The present research deals for the first time with the consideration of viscoelastic, strain–stress size-dependent parameters along with taking into account of various boundary conditions (BCs), especially C-F ones put into effect on the proposed theory. The governing equations (G.Eqs) and BCs have been obtained utilizing energy method and solved with... 

In this study, a cylindrical microshell stability reinforced by graphene nanoplatelets is investigated while an axial load is applied uniformly. In addition, viscoelastic foundation covers the composite nanostructure. Therefore, the impacts of the small scale parameter are studied while nonlocal strain gradient theory (NSGT) is considered. The present research deals for the first time with the consideration of viscoelastic, strain–stress size-dependent parameters along with taking into account of various boundary conditions (BCs), especially C-F ones put into effect on the proposed theory. The governing equations (G.Eqs) and BCs have been obtained utilizing energy method and solved with... 

Timber joints with glued-in rod connections provide an interesting technical solution for numerous structural applications, also under harsh environmental conditions; yet little research is available on this topic. This paper experimentally investigated the effect of exposure to seawater wetting/drying cycles and seawater wetting/drying plus UV radiation cycles on the pull-out performance of glued-in rod timber connections. Three rod diameters, three anchorage lengths, and four exposures were considered, leading to manufacturing and testing a total of 189 specimens. The quasi-static monotonic pull-out resistance of joints was a function of rod diameter and anchorage length as well as... 

This is a fundamental study on the nonlinear vibrations considering large amplitude in multi-sized hybrid Nano-composites (MHC) disk (MHCD) relying on nonlinear elastic media and located in an environment with gradually changed temperature feature. Carbon fibers (CF) or carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in the macro or nano sizes respectively are responsible for reinforcing the matrix. For prediction of the efficiency of the properties MHCD's modified Halpin-Tsai theory has been presented. The strain-displacement relation in multi-sized laminated disk's nonlinear dynamics through applying Von Karman nonlinear shell-theory and using third-order-shear-deformation-theory (TSDT) is determined. The energy...