Estimating Design Loads with Environmental Contour Approach Using Copulas for an Offshore Jacket Platform

Jacket-type offshore platforms are widely used for oil, gas field, and energy development in shallow water. The design of a jacket structure is highly dependent on target environmental variables. This study focuses on a strategy to estimate design loads for offshore jacket structures based on an environmental contour approach. In addition to the popular conditional distribution model, various classes of bivariate copulas are adopted to construct joint distributions of environmental variables. Analytical formulations of environmental contours based on various models are presented and discussed in this study. The design loads are examined by dynamic response analysis of jacket platform. Results suggest that the conditional model is not recommended for use in estimating design loads in sampling locations due to poor fitting results. Independent copula produces conservative design loads and the extreme response obtained using the conditional model are smaller than those determined by copulas. The suitability of a model for contour construction varies with the origin of wave data. This study provides a reference for the design load estimation of jacket structures and offers an alternative procedure to determine the design criteria for offshore structures.

Load optimal design for a primary test stand facility based on a zero-dimensional load model

In order to couple the numerical simulation of a primary test stand driver with an optimal load design, a zero- dimensional wire array load model is designed based on the Saturn load model using PSPICE, which is an upgraded version of the Simulation Program with Integrated Circuit Emphasis （SPICE） designed by the ORCAD Corporation to perform circuit simulations. This paper calculates different load parameters and discusses factors influencing the driving current curve. With appropriate driving current curves chosen, further magneto-hydrodynamic calculations are carried out and discussed to provide the best results for experiments. The suggested optimal load parameters play an important role in experimental load design.

Simplified design of rock cavern concrete lining to resist shock loading

一个简化方法对装载的吃惊在地下的岩石大洞 / 隧道为具体衬里的设计被建议。装载可以在地面表面或邻近大洞 / 隧道的爆炸的地面穿入射弹上源于炸药的爆炸。产生问题要求一致地在跨度上散布的一个短暂压力装载的一根横梁的动力学的答案。根据有岩石门栓和 shotcrete 的系统的机械特征，一个动态支持设计方法基于自由(SDOF ) 的相等的单个度被提出。SDOF 方法被用于获得最大的排水量在横梁中间跨度，它经常是在强风抵抗的设计的控制因素。在这个问题的明确的表达，建议方法联合 spalling 和结构的动力学理论的现象。一个例子被提供表明这个简化方法的适用性。

Topology optimization of 3D structures with design-dependent loads

Topology optimization of continuum structures with design-dependent loads has long been a challenge. In this paper, the topology optimization of 3D structures subjected to design-dependent loads is investigated. A boundary search scheme is proposed for 3D problems, by means of which the load surface can be identified effectively and efficiently, and the difficulties arising in other approaches can be overcome. The load surfaces are made up of the boundaries of finite elements and the loads can be directly applied to corresponding element nodes, which leads to great convenience in the application of this method. Finally, the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed method is validated by several numerical examples.

Optimum Environmental Load Design Criterion for Marine Structures Based on Investment and Benefit Analysis

Marine structures operating in natural ocean environment are subjected to various stochastic loads. For design of the marine structures, the most important task is to determine environmental load design criterion. This paper presents a method to determine the optimum environmental load design criterion for marine structures. This method is based on the investment and benefit analysis and it can reach the design purpose of decreasing total costs during the service life of the structures and increasing economic benefits.

Lightweight Design of Automobile Drive Shaft Based on the Characteristics of Low Amplitude Load Strengthening

There are two kinds of internationally recognized approaches in terms of lightweight design.One is based on fatigue accumulated damage theory to achieve better reliability by optimal structural design; another is to use high performance lightweight materials.The former method takes very few considerations on the structural strengthening effects caused by the massive small loads in service.In order to ensure safety,the design is usually conservative,but the strength potential of the component is not fully exerted.In the latter method,cost is the biggest obstacle to lightweight materials in automotive applications.For the purpose of light weighting design on a fuel cell vehicle,the new design method is applied on drive shafts.The method is based on the low amplitude load strengthening characteristics of the material,and allows the stress,corresponding to test load,to enter into the strengthened range of the material.Under this condition,the light weighting design should assure that the reliability of the shaft is not impaired,even maximizes the strength potential of machine part in order to achieve the weight reduction and eventually to reduce the cost.At last,the feasibility of the design is verified by means of strength analysis and modal analysis based on the CAD model of light weighted shaft.The design applies to the load case of half shaft in independent axle,also provides technological reference for the structural lightweight design of vehicles and other machineries.

Analysis and design of axially loaded piles in rock

Despite significant advancements in in situ test techniques,construction practices,understanding of rock joint and rock mass behaviours,and numerical analysis methods,the design of bored concrete cast-insitu piles in rock is still largely based on the assessment of bearing capacity.However,for many of the rock conditions encountered,the bearing capacity of piles is a nebulous concept and a figment of the designer’s imagination.Even if it can be reasonably quantified,it has little,if any,significance to the performance of a pile in rock.The load carrying capacity of even low strength rock(in most situations)is far in excess of the strength of the structure(for example,a building column)transmitting the load.Unsatisfactory performance of a pile in rock is usually a displacement issue and is a function of rock mass stiffness rather than rock mass strength.In addition,poor pile performance is much more likely to result from poor construction practices than excessive displacement of the rock mass.Exceptions occur for footings that are undermined,or where unfavourable structure in the rock allows movement towards a free surface to occur.Standards,codes of practices,reference books and other sources of design information should focus foundation design in rock on displacement rather than strength performance.Ground investigations should measure rock mass stiffness and defect properties,as well as intact rock strength.This paper summarises the fundamental concepts relating to performance of piles in rock and provides a basis for displacement focused design of piles in rock.It also presents comments relating to how piles are modelled in widely used commercial finite element software for soil-structure interaction analysis,within the context of the back-analysis of a pile load test,and proposes recommendations for pile analysis and design.

Modular Combination Design of Mine Rescue Capsule Based on Load Simulation

Mine rescue capsule is a typical emergency equipment in a coal mine.It provides a safe and confined space for miners when mining disasters occurred.The length of the passenger survival cell is suitable to be adjusted with several predefined modular cells according to various numbers of passengers.Aiming at the shortage of guidance rules for the modular combination design of mine rescue capsule,the configuration situations of survival cells are experimented with static and impact load analysis in ANSYS Workbench.The length range of a single cell,the combination schemes of miner survival section,and the effectiveness proof of assembled rescue capsules were solved sequentially by simulated load analysis on constructed structural models.The modular combination rules of the survival section are developed for variant passenger number ranging from 8 to 20.It also provides a reference for the optimal selection of rescue capsules with the same capacity.The proposed modular rules are effective for the rapid configuration design for mine rescue capsule driven by the number of passengers.

Optimization design of piles subjected to horizontal loads based on reliability theory

Based on reliability theory,a general method for the optimization design of piles subjected to horizontal loads is presented.This method takes into consideration various uncertainties caused by pile installation,variability of geotechnical materials from one location to another,and so on.It also deals with behavior and side constraints specified by standard specifications for piles.To more accurately solve the optimization design model,the first order reliability method is employed.The results from the numerical example indicate that the target reliability index has significant influence on design parameters.In addition,the optimization weight increases with the target reliability index.Especially when the target reliability index is relatively large,the target reliability index has significant influence on design weight of piles.

Design and Performance Evaluation of a Sustained Load Dual Grip Creep Testing Machine

The design and performance evaluation of a sustained load creep testing machine was undertaken in this research. The design was motivated by the need to make locally available, a cost effective, technically efficient, and easily operated creep testing facility;for creep behaviour studies of materials. Design drawings and purchase of materials and components for the design were undertaken after thorough evaluation of the following design and materials selection criteria: design principle and theory, local availability of raw materials and components required for the design, material properties, cost of materials and design, ease of utilization and maintenance, and basis of testing and data capture. The machine casing and frame, heating chamber (consisting of the furnace and a dual specimen mounting stage), load lever and hanger system, and the electro-technical components;were fabricated and coupled following the produced design specifications. The machine was tested and its performance was assessed using its heating efficiency, repeatability and reproducibity of experimental test results, maintainability and cost-effectiveness as criteria. It was observed from repeat tests that the machine has the capacity of generating reliable data for computing creep strain-time results. The efficiency and temperature regulating capacity of the heating unit of the machine were also observed to be very satisfactory. The cost of the design was about 112,000 Naira ($700.00) which is cheaper in comparison to similar commercial creep testing machines from abroad. The machine was also found not to pose maintenance or repairs challenges.

Shape design of the reinforcement for bending load-carrying capacity of under-matched butt joint under four-point bending load

To improve the bending load-carrying capacity （ BLCC） of under-matched butt joint under four-point bending load in the elastic stage, the shape design of the reinforcement is studied based on the theoretics of mechanics of materials. The concept, criterion, realization condition and design proposal of equal bending load-carrying capacity （EBLCC） are put forward. The theoretical analysis results have been verified by the finite element method. The simulation results are coincident basically with the ones of theoretical analysis. The research results show that the shape design of the reinforcement of EBLCC can improve BLCC of under-matched butt joint and the unilateral-side type reinforcement can replace double-side symmetry

Design of Non-contact On-load Automatic Regulating Voltage Transformer

At present, an automatic-mechanic contact tap-changer is widely used in power system, but it can not frequently operate. In addition, arc will occur when the switch changes. In order to solve these two problems, this paper presented an automatic on-load voltage-regulating distributing transformer which employed non-contact solid-state relay as tap-changer, and mainly introduced its structure, basic principal, design method of each key link and experimental results. Laboratory simulation experiments informed that the scheme was feasible. It was a smooth and effective experiment device, which was practical in application.

STUDY ON THE METHOD OF FATIGUE STRENGTH DESIGN FOR DYNAMICALLY LOADED JOURNAL BEARING

In this paper, a novel design method, which is different from the traditional and empirical one (i. e., taking p and pv as the basic checking parameters) is presented for the fatigue strength design of dynamically loaded journal bearings. The method makes it possible that dynamically loaded bearings can be desed as same as other machine elements by stress-strength criterion. The practical design results show that the method has high accuracy and reliability, and may open a new visa in bearing fatigue designs.

落石被动柔性防护网非线性静力设计方法及验证

被动柔性防护网是一种常见的落石灾害防治措施。针对当前落石被动柔性防护网尚无适用的工程化设计方法的现状,以非线性计算过程中结构内能与设计防护能级相等作为加载完成的判别准则,建立了落石被动柔性防护网的非线性静力设计方法。基于LS-DYNA对250~5000 kJ共8种常用能级的被动柔性防护网开展非线性动力分析,明确了冲击力的分布范围及相对大小,形成了适用于不同能级落石被动柔性防护网非线性静力设计的荷载模式。为了有效模拟被动柔性防护网特殊的受力特征,开发了由索单元与受拉弹簧单元组成的非线性耗能单元用于耗能器模拟,开发了内部由多段索单元组成的滑移索单元用于滑移边界以及网环单元模拟。基于对网片冲击试验的反演和3500 kJ被动柔性防护网的设计及足尺冲击试验检验,验证了所提出的落石被动柔性防护网非线性静力设计方法的有效性。

考虑腐蚀和液舱晃荡影响的养殖水舱结构响应计算

The environment and structure of the tanks used in aquaculture vessels are remarkably different from those of ordinary ships,and the resulting problem of structural strength is related to breeding safety.In this study,a model of aquaculture tank corrosion was constructed by using the multiphysical field coupling analysis software COMSOL Multiphysics,and wave and sloshing loads were calculated on the basis of potential flow theory and computational fluid dynamics.The influence of different calculation methods for corrosion allowance and sloshing load on the structural responses of aquaculture tanks was analyzed.Through our calculations,we found that the corrosion of aquaculture tanks is different from that of ordinary ships.The corrosion allowance in Rules for the Classification of Sea-going Steel Ships is small,and the influence of the aquaculture environment on corrosion can be ignored.Compared with the method set in the relevant rules,our proposed coupling direct calculation method for the structural response calculation of aquaculture tanks can better combine the specific environment of aquaculture tanks and provide more accurate calculations.

基于热平衡法生成同时发生设计日的方法研究

提出了基于热平衡法生成同时发生设计日的方法.首先基于热平衡法计算某城市的历年逐时动态冷负荷,以历年平均不保证50 h为依据确定理论设计负荷,采用综合聚类法挑选同时发生设计日.用热平衡法计算同时发生设计日、传统设计日的峰值负荷,确定为同时发生设计负荷和传统设计负荷.分别对比了哈尔滨、北京、长沙和广州样本房间的同时发生设计负荷、传统设计负荷与理论设计负荷的差异率.结果显示,各城市同时发生设计负荷与理论设计负荷的差异率偏差范围都远小于传统设计负荷与理论设计负荷的差异率.说明依据同时发生设计日的气象参数进行空调系统设计负荷计算是更加合理、准确的,基于热平衡法可以准确生成适合工程应用的同时发生设计日.

Optimal Design of Deforming Regulation for Compact Continuous Rolling Mill with Balanced Load

If the draught of each mill stand is limited by forced bite condition for compact continuous mill,the rolling load difference between one mill stand and another is very big.If deforming regulation of relative load for each mill stand is approximate to the same,the productive capacity of compact continuous mill can be brought into full play,and also the safety running and the smooth rolling of mill can be ensured.

Optimal seismic design of reinforced concrete structures under timehistory earthquake loads using an intelligent hybrid algorithm

A reliable seismic-resistant design of structures is achieved in accordance with the seismic design codes by designing structures under seven or more pairs of earthquake records. Based on the recommendations of seismic design codes, the average time-history responses （ATHR） of structure is required. This paper focuses on the optimal seismic design of reinforced concrete （RC） structures against ten earthquake records using a hybrid of particle swarm optimization algorithm and an intelligent regression model （IRM）. In order to reduce the computational time of optimization procedure due to the computational efforts of time-history analyses, IRM is proposed to accurately predict ATHR of structures. The proposed IRM consists of the combination of the subtractive algorithm （SA）, K-means clustering approach and wavelet weighted least squares support vector machine （WWLS-SVM）. To predict ATHR of structures, first, the input-output samples of structures are classified by SA and K-means clustering approach. Then, WWLS-SVM is trained with few samples and high accuracy for each cluster. 9- and 18-storey RC frames are designed optimally to illustrate the effectiveness and practicality of the proposed IRM. The numerical results demonstrate the efficiency and computational advantages of IRM for optimal design of structures subjected to time-history earthquake loads.