Search results for "Mechanical Engineering & Transports"
showing 10 items of 408 documents
Influence of design mistakes and material degradation on the collapse of a long-span RC roof in South Italy
2020
Abstract In 2004, during ordinary maintenance work, consisting in the waterproofing of a building located in the South of Italy, the long-span (14.50 m) in situ cast reinforced concrete (RC) roof partially collapsed. The building, constructed in 1950, was in service as a cinema up to 1967 and utilized as a school up to 1985. Finally, it was a hotel up to 2000. In 2004, when the building was not in service and underwent maintenance work, it partially collapsed under the dead load. After the collapse, which involved a large portion of the roof, several beams and two columns, the Court nominated a first Official Technical Consultant in order to investigate on the causes of failure and related …
A hierarchy of simplified constitutive models within isotropic strain gradient elasticity
2017
Abstract Simplified isotropic models of strain gradient elasticity are presented, based on the mutual relationship between the inherent (dual) gradient directions (i.e. the gradient direction of any strain gradient source and the lever arm direction of the promoted double stress). A class of gradient-symmetric materials featured by gradient directions obeying a reciprocity relation and by 4 independent h.o. (higher order) coefficients is envisioned, along with the sub-classes of hemi-collinear materials (3 h.o. coefficients, gradient directions in part coincident), collinear materials (2 h.o. coefficients, equal gradient directions) and micro-affine materials (1 h.o. coefficient, behavioral…
Speckle Interferometry Analysis of Full-bending Behavior of GFRP Pultruded Material
2016
Abstract The use of Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer materials (GFRP) has increased in the last years even among civil structural engineering due to their high specific strength, lightweight and excellent corrosion resistance. With application of the pultrusion method, the manufacture of large-scale profiles with various cross-section forms became potentially possible with relatively low costs. Usually two different technological approaches are available to realize the element: in the first one a mat-roving-mat sequence is adopted, in the second one only roving is present. Continuous filament mat (CFM, fibers distributed randomly in all directions) is often used to build up laminate thickness…
Targeted steel frames by means of innovative moment resisting connections
2021
Abstract The present paper proposes the use of stepped cross section devices on steel frames aiming at reproducing a pre-established target push-over curve. To this aim a Limited Resistance Plastic Device (LRPD) to be inserted along selected structural members is proposed. The following two main specific features for LRPD are required: any elastic flexural stiffness variation of the original selected member must be avoided; an ultimate plastic bending moment value equal to an assigned percentage of the original limit resistance value must be ensured. Steel frames equipped with LRPD are modeled by means of an extension of a recently proposed Fibre Smart Displacement Based (FSDB) beam element…
Stochastic response determination of structural systems modeled via dependent coordinates: a frequency domain treatment based on generalized modal an…
2019
Generalized independent coordinates are typically utilized within an analytical dynamics framework to model the motion of structural and mechanical engineering systems. Nevertheless, for complex systems, such as multi-body structures, an explicit formulation of the equations of motion by utilizing generalized, independent, coordinates can be a daunting task. In this regard, employing a set of redundant coordinates can facilitate the formulation of the governing dynamics equations. In this setting, however, standard response analysis techniques cannot be applied in a straightforward manner. For instance, defining and determining a transfer function within a frequency domain response analysis…
Fractional Derivatives in Interval Analysis
2017
In this paper, interval fractional derivatives are presented. We consider uncertainty in both the order and the argument of the fractional operator. The approach proposed takes advantage of the property of Fourier and Laplace transforms with respect to the translation operator, in order to first define integral transform of interval functions. Subsequently, the main interval fractional integrals and derivatives, such as the Riemann–Liouville, Caputo, and Riesz, are defined based on their properties with respect to integral transforms. Moreover, uncertain-but-bounded linear fractional dynamical systems, relevant in modeling fractional viscoelasticity, excited by zero-mean stationary Gaussian…
Analysis and optimization against buckling of beams interacting with elastic foundation
2017
We consider an infinite continuous elastic beam that interacts with linearly elastic foundation and is under compression. The problem of the beam buckling is formulated and analyzed. Then the optimization of beam against buckling is investigated. As a design variable (control function) we take the parameters of cross-section distribution of the beam from the set of periodic functions and transform the original problem of optimization of infinite beam to the corresponding problem defined at the finite interval. All investigations are on the whole founded on the analytical variational approaches and the optimal solutions are studied as a function of problems parameters. peerReviewed
Vibrations of a continuous web on elastic supports
2017
We consider an infinite, homogenous linearly elastic beam resting on a system of linearly elastic supports, as an idealized model for a paper web in the middle of a cylinder-based dryer section. We obtain closed-form analytical expressions for the eigenfrequencies and the eigenmodes. The frequencies increase as the support rigidity is increased. Each frequency is bounded from above by the solution with absolutely rigid supports, and from below by the solution in the limit of vanishing support rigidity. Thus in a real system, the natural frequencies will be lower than predicted by commonly used models with rigid supports. peerReviewed
Automatic Recognition and Analysis of Scanned Non-crimp Fabrics for Calculation of their Fluid Flow Permeability
2007
Automatic recognition of scanned images of distorted bi-axial fiber bundle arrangements is considered in order to obtain the overall permeability of the formed fiber network. Scanned images are pre-processed with color normalization followed by usage of a threshold to find the pixels belonging to the bundles, the threads keeping the bundles together, and the distinct gaps formed between the bundles. Since the scanned images virtually have a perfect grayscale, the intensity can be treated as a corresponding signal of the image. Next the regular character of the fiber network is investigated using Fourier analysis on the fiber bundles as well as on the threads. The direction, position, and s…
Advanced models for smart multilayered plates based on Reissner Mixed Variational Theorem
2017
In the present work, families of equivalent singe layer and layer-wise models for the static and free vibrations analysis of magneto-electro-elastic multilayered plates are developed. The models are defined in the framework of a unified formulation, which offers a systematic approach for generating refined plate theories through suitable expansions of the through-the-thickness components of the relevant fields, considering the expansion order as a free parameter. The key features of the developed formulation are: a) the condensation of the electric and magnetic description into the mechanical representation, based on the quasi-static electric-magnetic approximation, which allows to reduce t…