Sharif Digital Repository

This study aims to perform a comprehensive thermo-economic analysis, optimization and ranking of cross and counter-flow plate-fin recuperators employing rectangular, triangular, offset strip and louver fins. The analysis is mainly conducted for two recuperator structures: (i) fins’ configurations on both hot and cold sides are the same; (ii) fins on hot side and cold side are dissimilar in configuration. Considering effective practical optimization constraints and design parameters, Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm (NSGA-II) is used to maximize the recuperator effectiveness and minimize its total cost, simultaneously. Pareto-optimal fronts are presented to specify the desirable... 

Characteristics of connections in steel moment-resisting frames are of utmost importance in determining the seismic performance of these structural systems. The results of several previous experimental studies have indicated that Partially Restrained (PR) connections possess excellent properties, which make them a reliable substitution for Fully Restrained (FR) connections. These properties include needing less base shear, being more economic, and, in many cases, being able to absorb more energy. In this study, the behavior of two proposed PR connections with torsional plate is studied through finite element simulations. The results of the numerical studies regarding initial stiffness and... 

Structural behavior of ring stiffened thick walled cylinders made of functionally graded materials (FGMs) is investigated in this paper. Functionally graded materials are inhomogeneous composites which are usually made from a mixture of metal and ceramic. The gradient compositional variation of the constituents from one surface to the other provides an elegant solution to the problem of high transverse shear stresses that are induced when two dissimilar materials with large differences in material properties are bonded. FGM formation of the cylinder is modeled by power-law exponent and the variation of characteristics is supposed to be in radial direction. A finite element formulation is... 

In the present study, an attempt is made to present the governing equations on the post-buckling of two-dimensional (2D) FGP beams and propose appropriate optimization procedure to achieve optimal post-buckling behavior and mass. To this end, Timoshenko beam theory, Von-Karman nonlinear relations, virtual work principle, and generalized differential quadrature method are considered to derive and solve governing equations and associated boundary condition (Hinged–Hinged) for an unknown 2D porosity distribution. Proposed method is validated using the papers in the literature. The optimization procedure including defining porosity distributions (interpolations), post-buckling function and... 

Using a combination of the pole placement and online empirical mode decomposition (EMD) methods, a new algorithm is proposed for adaptive active control of structural vibration. The EMD method is a time-frequency domain analysis method that can be used for nonstationary and nonlinear problems. Combining the EMD method and Hilbert transform, which is called Hilbert-Huang transform, achieves a method that can be implemented to extract instantaneous properties of signals such as structural response dominant instantaneous frequencies. In the proposed algorithm, these estimated instantaneous properties are utilized to improve the pole-placement method as an adaptive active control technique. The... 

We study drag reduction of a uniform flow over a flat surface due to a series of rectangular microgrooves created on the surface. The results reveal that making grooves on the surface usually leads to the generation of secondary vortices inside the grooves that, in turn, decreases the friction drag force and increases the pressure drag force. By increasing the thickness of the grooves to the thickness of the obstacle, the pressure drag increases due to the enhancement of the generated vortices and the occurrence of separation phenomenon and the friction drag reduces due to a decrease of the velocity gradient on the surface. In addition, by increasing the grooves depth ratio, the pressure... 

Ferromagnetic shape memory alloys (FSMA) are new class of smart material and have been investigated for sensor and actuator and energy harvester applications.this paper presents the basis for a novel pressure sensor based on ferromagnetic shape memory alloys. Underlying mechanism for sensing applications is martensitic reorientation accompanied by a chang of magnetization of plate. When this alloy, is exposed in an external magnetic field or stress, has change of magnetization in result.the change in the magnetization of the alloy in accordance with the Faraday induction law, in the wires of the coil leads to the induction voltage. In this paper, a phenomenological constitutive structural... 

Due to flexibility of thin plates, high-amplitude vibrations are observed when they are subjected to severe dynamic loads. Because of the extensive application of circular plates in industry, attenuating the undesired vibrations is of foremost importance. In this paper, Adaptable Vibration Suppressors (AVSs) as a semi-active control approach were utilized to suppress the vibrations in a free circular plate under the concentrative harmonic excitation. Using mode summation method, the mathematical model of the hybrid system including the plate and an arbitrary number of vibration suppressors was analyzed. By developing a complex multiple-loop algorithm, optimum values for the parameters of... 

Due to flexibility of thin plates, high-amplitude vibrations are observed when they are subjected to severe dynamic loads. Because of the extensive application of circular plates in industry, attenuating the undesired vibrations is of foremost importance. In this paper, Adaptable Vibration Suppressors (AVSs) as a semi-active control approach were utilized to suppress the vibrations in a free circular plate under the concentrative harmonic excitation. Using mode summation method, the mathematical model of the hybrid system including the plate and an arbitrary number of vibration suppressors was analyzed. By developing a complex multiple-loop algorithm, optimum values for the parameters of... 

Heave plates are structural components used for reducing the vibrations caused by environmental forces on marine and offshore structures by changing the hydrodynamic properties. The fact that the added mass increase via heave plates does not always lead to the structural response reduction underscores the role of damping in maintaining the vibration amplitude within allowable limits. In the present experimental study, a novel combined rigid-elastic design is used to improve the damping through the velocity increase in the elastic part and added mass creation in the central rigid part. The desired percentage of total added mass and damping can be adjusted by changing the rigid-to-elastic... 

Reliability evaluations play a significant role in engineering applications to ensure the serviceability and safety of advanced structures such as those made of composites. Here, a dynamic reliability evaluation analysis based on the probability density evolution Method (PDEM) has been adapted to assess the reliability of composite structures under uncertainties within the material properties and the external loadings. A Back-Propagation Neural Network approach is employed to identify the system's nonlinear structural response, which is often the case under large deformations. To exemplify, a split Hopkinson pressure bar system was employed to mimic the mechanical behavior of a... 

Abstract: Using adhesively bonded composite patch repairs has been increased in various industries to improve the structural integrity of cracked metallic structures in recent decades. Monitoring of crack propagation and composite patch debonding, as two dominant failure mechanisms in this repair technique, plays a significant role in the integrity assessment of the component. This research conducts an experimental investigation on the simultaneous monitoring of these two failure mechanisms in a cracked metallic specimen repaired by a composite patch. For this purpose, the electromechanical impedance method was used to evaluate the feasibility of recognizing the type of damage at any phase... 

Free vibration response of a joined shell system including cylindrical and spherical shells is analyzed in this research. It is assumed that the system of joined shell is made from a functionally graded material (FGM). Properties of the shells are assumed to be graded through the thickness. Both shells are unified in thickness. To capture the effects of through-the-thickness shear deformations and rotary inertias, first-order shear deformation theory of shells is used. The Donnell type of kinematic assumptions is adopted to establish the general equations of motion and the associated boundary and continuity conditions with the aid of Hamilton’s principle. The resulting system of equations is... 

In this paper, the three-dimensional (3D) stress analysis of plate-type structures in instability conditions is presented. The displacement-based and hybrid-mixed four-node quadrilateral elements are developed taking the advantages of the sampling surfaces (SaS) method. The SaS formulation is based on considering inside the plate N not equally spaced SaS parallel to the middle surface to specify the displacements of these surfaces as primary plate unknowns. The displacements, strains and stresses are assumed to be distributed through the thickness using Lagrange polynomials of degree N–1 that lead to a well-set higher-order plate theory. The locations of SaS are based on the use of Chebyshev... 

In the present study, based on 12-unknown higher order shear deformation theory (HSDT), buckling and vibration analysis of FG-CNTRC rectangular plate are investigated for various types of temperature distribution and boundary conditions. Implementing Hamilton’s principle, the equations of motion are derived and solved by adopting the Navier solution for the simply supported boundary conditions and DQM method for other boundary conditions. Validation is carried out by comparing the numerical results with those obtained in the open literature. Also, a detailed parametric analysis is carried out to illuminate the influence of different system parameters such as CNT distributions, CNT volume... 

Damping characteristics of three-layered sandwich cylindrical shells with the focus on mode switching phenomenon are investigated in the present study. All layers of the sandwich cylinder are formulated based on the first-order shear deformation theory. Considering the von Karman strain displacement relations, the nonlinear equations of motion are derived through Hamilton’s principle. By separating the displacement components into previbration and vibration states and substituting in the obtained nonlinear equations of motion, the previbration equilibrium equations and vibration equations of motion are obtained. The acquired equations are solved by applying the generalized differential... 

Block shear failure in the base metal of welded steel connections is a potential failure mode affecting many steel structures. However, there are only a few studies on the block shear failure of welded connections under combined shear and axial loading. Combined loading is defined as a simultaneous loading parallel and perpendicular to the weld lines (or an inclined loading) in the plane of the connecting plate. In this research, a nonlinear finite element model is used to study the effect of connection geometry and weld group configuration on the block shear strength of welded connections under combined loading. In current design standards, the block shear failure planes are assumed to... 

Compact heat exchangers are among the vital components used in various industries. In this study, a general framework has been developed with a multi-scale point of view for three-dimensional simulation of multi-stream plate-fin heat exchangers. The most important features in the MSPFHEs simulation, such as phase change phenomena, multi-component mixtures, multiple streams, transversal, lateral and longitudinal conduction, non-uniformity of inlet flow, variable fluid properties, and heat leakage are simultaneously considered in this model. The modular form of the model structure has facilitated layer-by-layer simulation of cross flow heat exchangers as well as parallel flow ones. Our model... 

This is the first research on the free vibration analysis of functionally graded graphene platelets reinforced composite (FG-GPLRC) viscoelastic annular plate resting on the visco-Pasternak foundation and subjected to the nonlinear temperature gradient and mechanical loading within the framework of higher-order shear deformation theory (HSDT). Hamilton's principle is employed to establish governing equations within the framework of HSDT. In this paper, viscoelastic properties are modeled according to Kelvin-Voigt viscoelasticity. The deflection as the function of time can be solved by the fourth-order Runge-Kutta numerical method. Generalized differential quadrature method (GDQM) is applied... 

This is the first research on the nonlinear frequency analysis of a multi-scale hybrid nanocomposite (MHC) disk (MHCD) resting on an elastic foundation subjected to nonlinear temperature gradient and mechanical loading is investigated. The matrix material is reinforced with carbon nanotubes (CNTs) or carbon fibers (CF) at the nano- or macroscale, respectively. We present a modified Halpin–Tsai model to predict the effective properties of the MHCD. The displacement–strain of nonlinear vibration of multi-scale laminated disk via third-order shear deformation theory (TSDT) and using Von Karman nonlinear shell theory is obtained. Hamilton’s principle is employed to establish the governing...