Sharif Digital Repository

The main purpose of this study is to offer a new method for transient analysis of availability and survivability of a system with the identical components and one repairman and with every combination of components either standard system for example series systems, parallel systems, stand-by systems and K out of N systems or complex system. This method is a technique for fault tree evaluation too. The considered system is supposed to consist of n components and there are some composition of them that systems the failure occurs when one of its composition occur. Some concepts such as fault tree, Markov models, Eigen vectors and Eigen values are employed for analyzing the transient availability... 

The liquefaction phenomenon is usually accompanied by a large amount of settlement. Based on the observations made in past earthquakes, ground improvement by densification is one of the most useful approaches to reduce the liquefaction-induced settlement. Currently, there is no analytical solution for evaluation of the amount of settlement and tilting of footings that are constructed on densified ground surrounded by liquefiable soil. A number of factors, such as underlying soil properties, dimensions of the footing and earthquake loading characteristics, cause the problem to become complicated. In this paper, the dynamic response of shallow foundations on both liquefiable and... 

A three-dimensional finite-element procedure is used to analyse laterally loaded piles in clay. A strain-hardening von Mises constitutive law is used in the analyses. Two field-measured full-scale case studies, one in soft clay and the other one in stiff clay, are investigated by the constructed finite-element model. In order to study soil anisotropy and soil mass secondary structure, the real shear strength and elastic modulus are back-calculated by fitting the pile head load-deflection curve to the field results. Comparing back-calculated shear strength values with the measured ones indicates high anisotropy effect in stiff clay. In order to verify the model validity, the maximum occurred... 

This paper presents the linear dynamic response of uniform beams with different boundary conditions excited by a moving load, based on the Elder-Bernouli beam theory. Using a dynamic green function, effects of different boundary conditions, velocity of load and other parameters are. assessed and some of the numerical results are compared with those given in the. references. © Sharif University of Technology, June 2009  

The influence of uplift on earthquake response of tall buildings via consideration the horizontal and vertical components of earthquake excitation with and without foundation uplift has been studied. A new finite element modeling method called direct modeling approach are utilized in this study to evaluate the variation of foundation uplift, lateral displacement, base shear and members' forces in each cases. The earthquake response of the models mentioned above, assuming linear behavior was compared to the response in nonlinear behavior. These studies show the importance of uplift foundation on the seismic behavior of tall buildings. The most important results in this study is base shear... 

Derailment of a passenger wagon on a rail with random irregularities is investigated in this paper. The wagon having 48 degrees of freedom is assumed to travel over a rail on a viscoelastic foundation. The wagon model is a 3-D, non-linear model of a passenger train car, considering non-linear elements for the primary and secondary suspension systems having friction and slack between their elements, the center pivot with kinematics constraints, forces between pads, and bolster. The motion of the wagon on rail with random vertical irregularities is simulated for different line grades and travel speeds. Derailment coefficient and a new derailment criterion are used to investigate probability of... 

In this study, a method for transient analysis of availability and survivability of a system with the standby components is presented. The availability and survivability of the standby systems is evaluated in two cases, the standby systems with the identical components and the standby systems with the non-identical components. In this study the Markov models, eigen vectors and eigen values for analyzing the transient availability and survivability of the system are employed. The method is implemented through an algorithm which is tested in MATLAB (matrix laboratory) programming environment. The new method enjoys a stronger mathematical foundation and more flexibility for analyzing the... 

Nonlinear numerical modeling of masonry-infilled frames is one of the most complicated problems in structural engineering field. This complexity is attributed to the existence of joints as the major source of weakness and material nonlinearities as well as the infill-frame interaction which cannot be properly modeled using the traditional finite element methods. Although there are many numerical studies available on solid masonry-infilled steel frames' behavior, however, few researches have been conducted on infilled frames with openings. In this paper a two-dimensional numerical model using the specialized discrete element method (DEM) software UDEC (2004) is developed for the nonlinear... 

A nonlinear seismic soil-pile-structure interaction (SSPSI) analysis of fixed offshore platforms constructed on pile foundations including both vertical and battered piles is presented. The analysis is carried out in time domain and the effects of soil nonlinearity, discontinuity at pile soil interfaces, energy dissipation through soil radiation damping, formation of soil layers on bed rock, structural material nonlinearity and geometrical nonlinearity are considered. A combination of FEM approach and BNWF approach is used in modeling pile (substructure), platform structure (superstructure) and soil media. Gapping in clay is modeled by a special connector configuration. To find out the... 

Mine tailings are the most common materials that are used in construction of tailings dams. Due to high level of environmental hazard and serious consequences that are associated with tailings dam failure, proper design of tailings dams is an important factor in mining industry. Water level fluctuation, change in permeability of dam foundation, seismic loads, and excessive settlements are the most common reasons of failure, particularly in upstream type tailings dams. Due to low shear strength of wet tailings, drying of tailing material is very common in practice during the dam construction. In hot climate, the received solar energy at the soil surface converts to soil heat flux, air heat... 

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... 

Dynamic behavior of a laminated composite beam (LCB) supported by a generalized Pasternak-type viscoelastic foundation, subjected to a moving two-degree-of-freedom (DOFs) oscillator with a constant axial velocity is studied. Analytical solution using the Galerkin method is sought and the couplings of the bending-tension, shear-tension, and bending-twist with the Poisson effect are considered. The possible separation of the moving oscillator from LCB during the course of motion is investigated by monitoring the contact force between the oscillator and LCB. The effects of the non-rigid foundation, oscillator parameters, and the load speed on the separation are also studied. It is found that... 

This article presents an investigation of multi-mode effect of tall buildings subjected to near-field pulse-like ground motions. Multi-story buildings are modeled as an equivalent continuum structure consisting of a combination of a flexural cantilever beam and a shear cantilever beam. The simplified model is subjected to near-field ground motions and the representative simplified pulses. The maximum interstory drift spectra and its location along the height are calculated on the basis of modal summation approach. So, the method is largely based upon the assumption of linearity of the system. The effects of shear to flexural deformation ratio, structural to input pulse period ratio, and the... 

In this paper, free vibration analysis of cross-ply layered composite beams (LCB) with finite length and rectangular cross-section rested on an elastic foundation is investigated by finite element method. Based on the Timoshenko beam theory which includes the shear deformation and rotary inertia, the stiffness and mass matrices of a LCB are obtained using the energy method. Then, the natural frequencies are calculated by employing eigenvalue technique. The obtained results are verified against existing data in the literatures for a LCB with no foundation and uniform cross-section. Good agreements are observed between these cases. In the same way, the natural frequencies of a specific case,... 

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... 

Surface waves generated during vibration of machine foundations are sometimes troublemaking and cause some damages to the nearby sensitive structures or people. Considering the function of the machines located on the foundations the dynamic loading could be harmonic or impact type. The main part of the generated energy is transferred to the ground by Rayleigh surface waves. One of the most reliable and economic methods for reduction of the effects of these generated waves is using open trenches around the dynamic sources, so called active isolation in literature. In this paper applicability and affecting parameters of the open trenches around the impact dynamic source is studied using... 

The response of infinite beams supported by nonlinear viscoelastic foundations subjected to harmonic moving loads is studied. A straightforward solution technique applicable in the frequency domain is presented in this paper. The governing equations are solved using a perturbation method in conjunction with complex Fourier transformation. A closed-formed solution is presented in an integral form based on the presented Green's function and the theorem of residues is used for the calculation of integrals. The solution is directed to compute the deflection and bending moment distribution along the length of the beam. A parametric study is carried out and influences of the load speed and... 

The response of a Timoshenko beam with uniform cross-section and infinite length supported by a generalized Pasternak-type viscoelastic foundation subjected to an arbitrary-distributed harmonic moving load is studied in this paper. Governing equations are solved using complex Fourier transformation in conjunction with the residue and convolution integral theorems. The solution is directed to compute the deflection, bending moment and shear force distribution along the beam length. A parametric study is carried out for an elliptical load distribution and influences of the load speed and frequency on the beam responses are investigated. © 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved  

The dynamics of nonlinear thin plates under influence of relatively heavy moving masses is considered. By expansion of the solution as a series of mode functions, the governing equations of motion are reduced to an ordinary differential equation for time development of vibration amplitude, which is Duffing's oscillator with time varying coefficients. Through the application of Banach's fixed-point theorem, the periodic solutions are predicted. The method presented in this paper is general so that the response of plate to moving force systems can also be considered. © 2002 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd  

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...