Search results for "Structural engineering"
showing 10 items of 1998 documents
Impacts of roundabouts in suburban areas on congestion-specific vehicle speed profiles, pollutant and noise emissions: an empirical analysis
2019
Abstract Increasing concern about global warming and air quality has meant an increasing use of energetic and environmental indicators in roundabout design. This research compares different suburban roundabouts in terms of traffic performance, pollutant and noise emissions through an integrated empirical assessment. Field measurements were carried out with a light duty vehicle in single-lane (SL), compact two-lane (CTL) and multi-lane (ML) roundabouts using Portable Emission Measurements Systems, On-Board Diagnostic scan tool and Sound Level Meter, to measure real-world exhaust emissions, engine activity and acoustic data, respectively. Afterwards, predictive discrete choice models that cor…
Ultrasonic Guided Waves-Based Monitoring of Rail Head: Laboratory and Field Tests
2010
Recent train accidents have reaffirmed the need for developing a rail defect detection system more effective than that currently used. One of the most promising techniques in rail inspection is the use of ultrasonic guided waves and noncontact probes. A rail inspection prototype based on these concepts and devoted to the automatic damage detection of defects in rail head is the focus of this paper. The prototype includes an algorithm based on wavelet transform and outlier analysis. The discrete wavelet transform is utilized to denoise ultrasonic signals and to generate a set of relevant damage sensitive data. These data are combined into a damage index vector fed to an unsupervised learning…
An unsupervised Learning Algorithm for Fatigue Crack Detection in Waveguides
2009
Ultrasonic guided waves (UGWs) are a useful tool in structural health monitoring (SHM) applications that can benefit from built-in transduction, moderately large inspection ranges, and high sensitivity to small flaws. This paper describes an SHM method based on UGWs and outlier analysis devoted to the detection and quantification of fatigue cracks in structural waveguides. The method combines the advantages of UGWs with the outcomes of the discrete wavelet transform (DWT) to extract defect-sensitive features aimed at performing a multivariate diagnosis of damage. In particular, the DWT is exploited to generate a set of relevant wavelet coefficients to construct a uni-dimensional or multi-di…
The Line Element-less Method Analysis of orthotropic beam for the De Saint Venant torsion problem
2010
Abstract This paper deals with the extension of a novel numerical technique, labelled line element-less method (LEM), in order to provide approximate solutions of the De Saint Venant torsion problem for orthotropic beams having simply and multiply connected cross-section. A suitable transformation of coordinates allows to take full advantage of the theory of analytic complex functions as in the isotropic case. A complex potential function analytic in all the transformed domain whose real and imaginary parts are related to the shear stress components and to the orthotropic ratio is introduced and expanded in the double-ended Laurent series involving harmonic polynomials. An element-free weak…
The indirect force method
1990
Abstract It is known that the matrix force method shows some advantages over the displacement method for certain classes of problems, particularly in optimization and in the stress concentration analysis. Notwithstanding this, few efforts have been made to employ this method in engineering problems. In this paper, within the elastic analysis of frames and trusses, the indirect force method, utilizing beam-node type finite elements, is proposed. This method is based on the kinematical and mechanical study of nodes and of beams, the latter connected with the nodes by their first extremes according to a preliminary arrangement. In this formulation kinematical singularities are included, in the…
High-fidelity analysis of multilayered shells with cut-outs via the discontinuous Galerkin method
2021
Abstract A novel numerical method for the analysis of multilayered shells with cut-outs is presented. In the proposed approach, the shell geometry is represented via either analytical functions or NURBS parametrizations , while generally-shaped cut-outs are defined implicitly within the shell modelling domain via a level set function . The multilayered shell problem is addressed via the Equivalent-Single-Layer approach whereby high-order polynomial functions are employed to approximate the covariant components of the displacement field throughout the shell thickness. The shell governing equations are then derived from the Principle of Virtual Displacements of three-dimensional elasticity an…
Limit analysis of frame systems stiffended by panels
1974
Limit analysis of frame systems stiffened by nonperforated and perforated panels by discretisation of the panels into one-dimensional finite elements. The fundamental equation of the problem arrived at is very general in scope and is of particular interest for the analysis of the structural-systems subjected to shear as the effect of the wind or of the earthquake one.
Dynamic shakedown of structures with variable appended masses and subjected to repeated excitations
1996
Elastic shakedown for discrete, or finite-element discretized, structures subjected to combinations of static and time-variable loads is addressed in the hypothesis of elastic-perfectly plastic material behavior. The static load is conceived as the weight of an additional mass appended to the structure, whereas the time-variable load is conceived as an unknown sequence of excitations belonging to a specified domain, with intervals between subsequent excitations during which the structure is considered as being motionless. It is shown that, in the plane of the static and time-variable load parameters, the structure's dynamic shakedown domain is nonconvex and that its boundary curve generally…
Damping effect on the ITER vacuum vessel displacements during slow downward locked and rotating asymmetric vertical displacement events
2018
Abstract In this paper, we present the electromechanical coupled analysis of the ITER vacuum vessel in case of slow downward locked and rotating Asymmetric VDEs. The numerical model for simulating the AVDE includes the asymmetric distribution of the halo currents obtained by a suitable 3D kink perturbation of a slow VDE downward computed by the 2D code DINA. In the case of a rotational AVDE, the rotation frequency of the kink asymmetry has been chosen to be ω = 2π × 5 rad/s. The model includes the mesh of the main passive components facing the plasma. The whole torus (360 degrees) has been discretized. It is shown that the very high complexity of the numerical model can be suitably treated.…
Results of a literature review on methods for estimating buildings energy demand at district level
2019
Abstract In the framework of distributed energy planning, evaluating reliable energy profiles of different sectors has a prominent role. At the same time, it is a quite challenging task, since the availability of actual energy profiles of buildings at the district level is not widespread. A survey of over 70 studies in scientific literature has been accomplished and a set of criteria has been defined for classifying the selected contributions based on the energy demand data features, source and/or estimation methods, highlighting the ones adopting hourly energy profiles. As final results, tables summarizing the main methods characteristics and a selection of studies providing directly useab…