Sharif Digital Repository

Grain geometry is an important factor affecting the stability envelop of solid rocket motors. This paper presents a series of subscale tactical motor firings, clearly showing the effect of combustion chamber internal geometry on stability. Three types of grain cartridges were used in these motors: a circular perforation (CP) and two variations of a seven-pointed star. Combination of these three basic grains produced motors that have completely different internal geometries. A polyurethane-based 81% solids composite propellant was used in all tests. This marginally stable propellant has a nominal burning rate of 7.1 mm/s for the metalized formulation that contains 7% aluminum powder and 5.7... 

The dynamic response of the leg (tether) of a Tension Leg Platform (TLP), subjected to axial load at the top of the leg, is presented. The structural model is very simple, but several complicated factors, such as foundation effect, buoyancy and simulated ocean wave load, are considered. As an application, the effect of added mass fluctuation on the dynamic response of the leg subjected to such a load is presented. This effect is important in the fatigue life study of tethers. A first order perturbation method is used, in order to formulate and solve the problem. The differential equation is solved by means of non-harmonic Fourier expansion, in terms of eigenfunctions obtained from a... 

A large number of offshore platforms of various types have been installed in deep or shallow waters throughout the world. These structures are mainly made of tubular members which are interconnected by using tubular joints. In tubular frames, joints may exhibit considerable flexibility in both elastic and plastic range of response. The resulting flexibility may have marked effects on the overall behavior of offshore platforms.This paper investigates the effects of joint flexibility on local and global behavior of tubular framed structures in linear range of response. A new joint flexibility element is developed on the basis of flexibility matrix and implemented in a finite-element program to... 

The development of damage detection techniques for offshore jacket structures is vital for preventing catastrophic events. This paper applies a frequency response based method for the purpose of structural health monitoring. In this approach, the concept of a minimum rank perturbation theory is used. The feasibility of using a finite number of sensors and its effect on damage detection capabilities is investigated. In addition, the performance of the proposed method is evaluated in the case of multiple damages. The aforementioned points are illustrated using the numerical study of a two dimensional jacket platform  

The assessment of existing platforms under past environmental (wave, wind, current and etc.) loads and probable future loads (earthquake) is a relatively new process and has not yet been standardized as the design has. This lack of standardization creates some difficulty in establishing performance requirements which must be developed depending upon the risks (i.e., hazards, exposures and consequences) associated with the future operation of the platform. The present criteria of the offshore structure standards for seismic assessment can be improved using Building prestandards. Recently some documents such as FEMA-356 and ATC-40 are developed for seismic assessment of buildings. However... 

Structural control under seismic excitation is becoming an important problem in earthquake engineering. Among several control systems, semi-active control is usually possible and efficient. In the conventional bracing systems it is assumed that the braces buckle under little compressive forces. In this research a semi-active on-off brace strategy is implemented to improve the conventional braces performance. A new completely tensile ribbed bracing system (RBS) has been developed to use the whole capacity of the member. In the proposed system the buckling of compressive member is prevented using a ribbed shape cylinder. RBS causes a permanent-stiffness-presence system that leads to less... 

Employing dampers to control wave-induced and seismic vibrations of offshore jacket platforms is an attractive method in order to mitigate fatigue and seismic damage. However, adjustable parameters of a damper are designed by considering only one type of environmental loads; either normal-condition load or extreme-condition load. So, it is important to investigate effectiveness of damping system, for both of two main categories of environmental loads. Also it is ideal for the system to have an acceptable performance in both normal and extreme conditions. The idea investigated in the current study is to use a friction damper device (FDD) and a tuned mass damper (TMD) simultaneously in... 

In this paper a new approach is introduced for structural health monitoring of offshore jacket platforms. The procedure uses the measured ambient vibration responses and the corresponding readable natural frequencies and mode shapes of the structural system. Since offshore platforms are composed of heavy topsides supported by jacket structures, participation of the first mode is dominant in each direction in the response of the structure under field excitations. Moreover, ambient vibrations such as wave loads and boat impacts only excite the first modes of the structure. Therefore, it is difficult to find higher modes and the pertinent frequencies by use of accelerometers data. The... 

Because of fluctuation in leg tension, pitch motion is very effective in fatigue and life safety of leg elements in tension leg structures (TLSs). In this paper exact solution for pitch vibration of a TLS interacting with ocean wave is presented. The legs are considered as elastic springs. The flow is assumed to be irrotational and single-valued velocity potentials are defined. The effects of radiation and scattering are considered in the boundary value problem. Because of linear behavior of legs during wave excitation, ignoring coupling effects with other degrees of freedom, the analytical solution of pitch response has good agreement with the real behavior of the structure  

A friction damper device (FDD) is used for vibration control of an existing steel jacket platform under seismic excitation. First, the damping is presented for vibration mitigation of structures located in seismically active zones. A new method for quick design of friction or yielding damping devices is presented. The effectiveness of the damping system employing such FDDs in a jacket platform is evaluated numerically. The influence of key parameters of the damping system on the vibration suppression of the offshore structure is studied in detail. To examine the vibration control effectiveness of the FDD for the jacket platform, performance of the controlled structure under the seismic... 

Many existing buildings are irregular in plan or elevation because of asymmetric placement of masonry infills. The stiffness of masonry infill is a considerable value relating to that of the structure. Produced torsion from eccentricity because of infill stiffness leads to extra forces and deformations in structural members and diaphragms. An appropriate alternative to solve this problem especially in existing buildings is using dampers. Dampers can enhance structural performance by reducing seismically induced lateral displacements and by reducing inelastic behavior of beams and columns. In this paper some simple models are used to show structural modeling and a conceptual discussion is... 

A beam-column fiber element for the large displacement, nonlinear inelastic analysis of Concrete-Filled Steel Tubes (CFT) is implemented. The method of description is Total Lagrangian formulation. An 8 degree of freedom (DOF) element with three nodes, which has 3 DOF per end node and 2 DOF on the middle node, has been chosen. The quadratic Lagrangian shape functions for axial deformation and the quartic Hermitian shape function for the transverse deformation are used. It is assumed that the perfect bond is maintained between steel shell and concrete core. The constitutive models employed for concrete and steel are based on the results of a recent study and include the confinement and biaxial... 

The performance of friction dampers to mitigate the wave-induced vibrations in jacket-type offshore platforms has been investigated in this study. Due to the random nature of ocean waves, a full stochastic analysis method has been used to evaluate the response of the structures equipped with these devices. A stochastic linearization technique has also been used to take the nonlinear behavior of these hysteretic dampers into account. At last, the developed mathematical formulation has been applied to evaluate the response of realistic models, and to find out the optimal values for the adjustable parameters of the friction dampers to dissipate the wave induced vibrations of the platforms. ©... 

Performances of tuned mass dampers and friction dampers to mitigate the wave induced vibrations in jacket type offshore platforms have been compared in this study. Due to the random nature of ocean waves, a full stochastic analysis method has been used to evaluate the response of the structures equipped with these devices. A stochastic linearization technique has been used to take the nonlinear behavior of friction dampers into account. The developed mathematical formulation has been applied to evaluate the response of realistic models, and to find out the optimal values for the adjustable parameters of friction dampers. The results have been verified in comparison with time domain nonlinear... 

In this article, the ribbed bracing system is proposed and evaluated through experimental and numerical studies. Ribbed bracing system is composed of a supplemental part with ribbed interfaces that is attached to a brace member and allows for its free length reduction to prevent the development of compressional forces responsible for buckling of the brace. Ribbed bracing system provides two different mechanisms: completely closed ribbed bracing system and improved-centering ribbed bracing system which are validated, in this study, through design, fabrication, and testing of small-scale specimens subjected to cyclic quasi-static loading. As verified by the test results, in improved-centering... 

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... 

By using the normalised least mean squared (NLMS) algorithm, a semi-active multi-variable adaptive controller is designed for a seismically excited structure. There is no need for a large power supply. A number of valves and battery size low-power supplies will suffice. The valves control the amount of flow of a fluid through bypass on-off orifice channels in installed energy dissipating mechanisms. Each mechanism is composed of a piston attached to a A-shaped chevron wind-bracing on each floor and to a cylinder attached to the upper floor. Adaptive controller parameters are estimated by the LMS optimiser, in order to search for optimal non-classical damping coefficients of the dissipating... 

In this paper, a semi-active multivariable adaptive controller is designed for a framed structure under a seismic disturbance using a filtered-x NLMS optimizer. Actuator and large power supply are not required, since just some valves and a battery-size power supply are sufficient for controlling the amount of hydraulic fluid flow through the by-pass on off-orifice channel in an energy dissipating system, which consists of a piston attached to Λ-shaped wind bracing of the building and a cylinder attached to the upper floor. It is assumed that only a rough finite element model of the structure is available. In addition, in order to search for optimal non-classical viscous damper coefficients,...