A pressure-sensitive rheological origin of high friction angles of granular matter observed in NASA–MGM project

An abnormally high peak friction angle of Ottawa sand was observed in(National Aeronautics and Space Administration) NASA–(Mechanics of Granular Materials) MGM tests in microgravity conditions on the space shuttle. Previous investigations have been unsuccessful in providing a constitutive insight into this behavior of granular materials under extremely low effective stress conditions. Here, a recently proposed unified constitutive model for transient rheological behavior of sand and other granular materials is adopted for the analytical assessment of high peak friction angles. For the first time, this long-eluded behavior of sand is attributed to a hidden rheological transition mechanism, that is not only rate-sensitive, but also pressure-sensitive. The NASA–MGM microgravity conditions show that shear-tests of sand can be performed under abnormally low confining stress conditions. The pressure-sensitive behavior of granular shearing that is previously ignored is studied based on the μ(I) rheology and its variations. Comparisons between the model and the NASA microgravity tests demonstrate a high degree of agreement. The research is highly valid for pressure-sensitive and rate-dependent problems that occur during earthquakes, landslides, and space exploration.

Introduction of structural aseismic research in China in recent four years

The paper mainly summarized the developments on structural aseismic theory, aseismic analysis and design of reinforced concrete structure, lifeline system, several another kinds of structures, site and structure foundation, structure mitigation and isolation of vibration in China in recent four years. This is the introduction of recent re-search results of Chinese professionals for international organizations and professionals. At the same time, it provides numerous abstract materials for colleagues to realize the trend of the structural aseismic theory and re-search range needing more study.

Mechanical Characterisation of Densified Hardwood with Regard to Structural Applications

The demand for high-performance,yet eco-friendly materials is increasing on all scales from small applications in the car industry,instrument or furniture manufacturing to greater dimensions like floorings,balcony furnishings and even construction.Wood offers a good choice on all of these scales and can be modified and improved in many different ways.In this study,two common European hardwood species,Beech(Fagus sylvatica L.)and Ash(Fraxinus excelsior L.)were densified in radial direction by thermo-mechanical treatment and the densified product was investigated in an extensive characterisation series to determine all relevant mechanical properties.Compression in the three main directions(longitudinal,tangential,radial)and tension perpendicular to the grain(tangential,radial)were tested and compared to reference specimens with native density.Strength and modulus of elasticity were determined in all tests.In addition,a Life Cycle Assessment was carried out to evaluate the environmental impact associated to the densification process.The experimental investigations showed that strength and stiffness of hardwood in the longitudinal and tangential directions improve significantly by radial densification,whereas some properties in the radial direction decrease.The Life Cycle Assessment showed that artificial wood drying has higher impact than wood densification.Furthermore,the transport distance of the raw material highly influences the environmental impact of the final densified product.The paper then also offers an overview of possible applications in structural timber construction.Densified hardwood is a viable option as local reinforcement,where high compressive or tensile strength is needed.The wood densification process offers an alternative to the use of carbon-intense steel components or hardwoods from tropical forests.

Analysis on Buckling Performance of Submarine Pipelines During Deepwater Pipe-Laying Operation

Pipes inevitably encounter high ambient pressure and bending moment during the deepwater pipe-laying process,which can lead to elliptical buckling and even deterioration failure.For the safety of pipe-laying operation,available formulas for the pipe stability are established on the basis of the assumption of uniform deformation along the tube length and symmetrical buckling.This method can predict the nonlinear response of elliptical collapse of steel circular tubes for different ratios of diameter to thickness（D/t）under pure bending or combined bending and external pressure.In these formulas,the strain-displacement relationship is deduced from the nonlinear ring theory,and the Ramberg-Osgood constitutive model is applied to simulate the inelastic material behavior.Meanwhile,the principle of virtual work is adopted to derive the equilibrium equations.A set of equations is solved by the Newton-Raphson method,and the iterative scheme contains nested iteration for the constitutive relation.In order to check the effectiveness of this theoretical method,illustrative examples are presented in this paper.Besides,the numerical simulation is carried out by use of ANSYS.A comparison of the results shows that the theoretical method can provide reasonable prediction for engineering practice.

Configuration Analysis of Deepwater S-Lay Pipeline

The safety of offshore pipeline has drawn a great deal of attention during deepwater installation due to the combined actions of high external pressure, axial tension, and bending moment. Meanwhile, the pipeline configuration has a remarkable effect on the structural behaviour of the tube. The special studies focus on the deepwater S-lay technique in the present paper. The stiffened catenary theory is applied to establish the static equilibrium governing differential equation of a pipe element, and the solution equations of the total pipeline configuration from a lay-barge over a stinger to the seabed are derived, The numerical iteration method for solving pipeline configuration is described in detail, and the corresponding program is developed to conduct the analysis of effects of various parameters such as laying water depth, pipe diameter, thickness of concrete weighted coating layer, stinger length, control strain, and axial tension on pipeline configuration. The results show that the laying water depth, the submerged weight of the pipe, and the axial tension are the critical factors influencing pipeline configuration. In addition, geometrical parameters of the stinger such as length, radius, and shape have an important effect on the pipe-laying capacity of the vessel. The validity of the program is further verified by means of a comparison with results obtained from the commercial finite element software OFFPIPE.

Probabilistic Lifetime Assessment of Marine Reinforced Concrete with Steel Corrosion and Cover Cracking

In order to study the durability behavior of marine reinforced concrete structure suffering from chloride attack, the structural service life is assumed to be divided into three critical stages, which can be characterized by steel corrosion and cover cracking. For each stage, a calculated model used to predict the lifetime is developed. Based on the definition of durability limit state, a probabilistic lifetime model and its time-dependent reliability analytical method are proposed considering the random natures of influencing factors. Then, the probabilistic lifetime prediction models are applied to a bridge pier located in the Hangzhou Bay with Monte Carlo simulation. It is found that the time to corrosion initiation to follows a lognormal distribution, while that the time from corrosion initiation to cover cracking t~ and the time for crack to develop from hairline crack to a limit crack width t2 can be described by Weibull distributions. With the permitted failure probability of 5.0%, it is also observed that the structural durability lifetime mainly depends on the durability life to and that the percentage of participation of the life to to the total service life grows from 61.5% to 83.6% when the cover thickness increases from 40 mm to 80 mm. Therefore, for any part of the marine RC bridge, the lifetime predictions and maintenance efforts should also be directed toward controlling the stage of corrosion initiation induced by chloride ion.

Numerical simulation of dynamic characteristics of a cable-stayed aqueduct bridge

In this paper, a full-scale 3-D finite element model of the Jundushan cable-stayed aqueduct bridge is established with ANSYS Code. The shell, fluid, tension-only spar and beam elements are used for modeling the aqueduct deck, filled water, cables and support towers, respectively. A multi-element cable formulation is introduced to simulate the cable vibration. The dry （without water） and wet （with water） modes of the aqueduct bridge are both extracted and investigated in detail. The dry modes of the aqueduct bridge are basically similar to those of highway cable-stayed bridges. A dry mode may correspond to two types of wet modes, which are called the in-phase （with lower frequency） and out-of-phase （with higher frequency） modes. When the water-structure system vibrates in the in-phase/out-of-phase modes, the aqueduct deck moves and water sloshes in the same/opposite phase-angle, and the sloshing water may take different surface-wave modes. The wet modes of the system reflect the properties of interaction among the deck, towers, cables and water. The in-phase wet frequency generally decreases as the water depth increases, and the out-of-phase wet frequency may increase or decrease as the water depth increases.

A comparative study for the impact performance of shaped charge JET on UHPC targets

With the development of two-stage munitions(a precursor shaped charge(SC)and a following kinetic energy projectile)to attack the hard concrete targets,as well as the increasing applications of ultra-high performance concrete(UHPC)in both civil and military protective structures,a comparative study on the impact performance of SC formed jet on UHPC target is performed experimentally and numerically at present.Firstly,a series of jet penetration/perforation test on the UHPC,45# steel and UHPC/45# steel composite targets are conducted.By assessing the penetration depth and borehole(crater and tunnel)diameter,the influences of target material and configuration as well as the standoff distance of SC on the impact performance of jet are experimentally discussed.Then,by adopting the 2 D multi-material Arbitrary Lagrange-Euler(ALE)algorithm,Fluid-Structure Interaction(FSI)method and erosion algorithm implemented in the finite element code LS-DYNA,the formation and impact performance of jet in the present test are well reproduced.Finally,based on the validated numerical algorithms,constitutive models and the corresponding parameters,the influences of target material(UHPC,NSC and 45# steel),standoff distance,target configuration(stacked and spaced)and weight efficiency on the impact performance of jet are further discussed.The derived conclusions could provide helpful references for evaluating the ballistic performance of jet and designing the protective structures.

Spallation Mechanism of RC Slabs Under Contact Detonation

The spallation of the concrete slabs or walls resulting from contact detonation constitutes risk to the personnel and equipment inside the structures because of the high speed concrete fragments even though the overall structures or structural members are not destroyed completely.Correctly predicting the damage caused by any potential contact detonation can lead to better for-tification design to withstand the blast loadings.It is therefore of great significance to study the mechanism involved in the spallation of concrete slabs and walls.Existing studies on this topic of-ten employ simplified material models and 1D wave analysis,which cannot reproduce the realistic response in the spallation process.Numerical simulations are therefore carried out under different contact blast loadings in the free air using LS-DYNA.Sophisticated concrete and reinforcing bar material models are adopted,taking into account the strain rate effect on both tension and com-pression.The erosion technique is used to model the fracture and failure of materials under tensile stress.Full processes of the deformation and dynamic damage of reinforced concrete (RC) slabs and plain concrete slabs are thus observed realistically.It is noted that with the increase of quantity of explosive,the dimensions of damage crater increase and the slabs experience four different damage patterns,namely explosive crater,spalling,perforation,and punching.Comparison be-tween the simulation results of plain concrete slabs and those of RC slabs show that reinforcing bars can enhance the integrity and shearing resistance of the slabs to a certain extent,and mean-while attenuate the ejection velocity and decrease the size of the concrete fragments.Therefore,optimizing reinforcement arrangement can improve the anti-spallation capability of the slabs and walls to a certain extent.

Characterization of Stress Concentration by Tangential Component Hp(x) of Metal Magnetic Memory Signals

The correlation between the stress concentration and the spontaneous magnetic signals of metal magnetic memory(MMM) was investigated via tensile tests. Sheet specimens of the Q235 steel were machined into standard bars with rectangular holes to obtain various stress concentration factors. The tangential component Hp(x) of MMM signals and its related magnetic characteristic parameters throughout the loading process were presented and analyzed. It is found that the tangential component Hp(x) is sensitive to the abnormal magnetic changes caused by the local stress concentration in the defect area. The minimum magnetic field is positively correlated to the magnitude of the load and the distance from the notch. The tangential magnetic stress concentration factor presents good numerical stability during the entire loading process, and can be used to evaluate the stress concentration factor. The results obtained will be a complement to the MMM technique.

Interface defeat studies of long-rod projectile impacting on ceramic targets

The interface defeat phenomenon always occurs when a long-rod projectile impacting on the ceramic target with certain velocity,i.e.,the projectile is forced to flow radially on the surface of ceramic plates for a period of time without significant penetration.Interface defeat has a direct effect upon the ballistic performance of the armor piercing projectile,which is studied numerically and theoretically at present.Firstly,by modeling the projectiles and ceramic targets with the SPH(Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics)particles and Lagrange finite elements,the systematic numerical simulations on interface defeat are performed with the commercial finite element program AUTODYN.Three different responses,i.e.,complete interface defeat,dwell and direct penetration,are reproduced in different types of ceramic targets(bare,buffered,radially confined and oblique).Furthermore,by adopting the validated numerical algorithms,constitutive models and the corresponding material parameters,the influences of projectile(material,diameter,nose shape),constitutive models of ceramic(JH-1 and JH-2 models),buffer and cover plate(thickness,constraints,material),as well as the prestress acted on the target(radial and hydrostatic) on the interface defeat(transition velocity and dwell time) are syste matically investigated.Finally,based on the energy conservation approach and taking the strain rate effect of ceramic material into account,a modified model for predicting the upper limit of transition velocity is proposed and validated.The present work and derived conclusions can provide helpful reference for the design and optimization of both the long-rod projectile and ceramic armor.

Experimental Analysis of the Performances of Unit Refrigeration Systems Based on Parallel Compressors with Consideration of the Volumetric and Isentropic Efficiency

The performances of a refrigeration unit relying on compressors working in parallel have been investigated considering the influence of the compressor volumetric efficiency and isentropic efficiency on the compression ratio.Moreover,the following influential factors have been taken into account:evaporation temperature,condensation temperature and compressor suction-exhaust pressure ratio for different opening conditions of the compressor.The following quantities have been selected as the unit performance measurement indicators:refrigeration capacity,energy efficiency ratio(COP),compressor power consumption,and refrigerant flow rate.The experimental results indicate that the system refrigeration capacity and COP decrease with a decrease in evaporation temperature,increase of condensation temperature,and increase in pressure ratio.The refrigerant flow rate increases with the increase in evaporation temperature,decrease in condensing temperature and increase in pressure ratio.The compressor power consumption increases with the increase in condensing temperature and increase in pressure ratio,but is not significantly affected by the evaporation temperature.

Mechanical Analysis of Submarine Pipeline During off-Bottom Towing Operation

The off-bottom tow is an important method to lay pipeline for offshore oil and gas transportation in shallow water area. During the off-bottom towing operation, the actions such as sea current resistance, friction force of seabed, pontoon buoyancy, and tow force of tugboat can cause large deformation and fatigue damage to the pipeline. In order to keep the pipeline in safety, the lateral and vertical defomlations of pipeline must be controlled within an appropriate range. Theoretical study is carried out in the paper on the environmental forees acting on pipeline, pontoons and chaias, and the confimation of tow parameters including tow forces of tugboat, number of pontoons and length of chains. Then the pipeline in the off-bettom towing process may be simplified into a continuous beam with elastic supports under the concentrated and distributed forces. A finite element method is applied to achieve numerical solutions describing the distributions of deformation and stress along the pipeline. The results show that the lateral shape of the pipeline is like an arc with the maximal deformation appearing at the middle of the pipeline. The distributions of stress are similar between two arbitrary pontoons. Moreover, both deformation and stress have the inverse relation with the tow forces of tugboat.

Experimental study on seismic behavior of semi-rigid connection between steel beam and concrete wall

Beam-column or beam-wall connections are an important problem in high-rise buildings. In this study, based on the analysis of an example structure, an analytical model for design of the semi-rigid connections between steel beams and RC walls in high-rise hybrid buildings is proposed. Also, the mechanical characteristics of these connections subjected to low-reversed cyclic loading are investigated through comparison of experimental results from three semi-rigid connections and two rigid connections. Moreover, some latent problems for design of these connections as well as the corresponding solutions are discussed. The results from the experiments and analyses indicate that semi-rigid connections exhibit satisfactory capacity and seismic performance, and the proposed design can be used in practice.

Influence of Reinforcement Mesh Configuration for Improvement of Concrete Durability

Steel bar in concrete structures under harsh environmental conditions, such as chlorine corrosion, seriously affects its service life. Bidirectional electromigration rehabilitation （BIEM） is a new method of repair technology for reinforced concrete structures in such chloride corrosion environments. By applying the BIEM, chloride ions can be removed from the concrete and the migrating corrosion inhibit can be moved to the steel surface. In conventional engineering, the concrete structure is often configured with a multi-layer steel mesh. However, the effect of the BIEM in such structures has not yet been investigated. In this paper, the relevant simulation test is carried out to study the migration law of chloride ions and the migrating corrosion inhibitor in a concrete specimen with complex steel mesh under different energizing modes. The results show that the efficiency of the BIEM increases 50% in both the monolayer steel mesh and the double-layer steel mesh. By using the single-sided BIEM, 87% of the chloride ions are removed from the steel surface. The different step modes can affect the chloride ion removal. The chloride ions within the range of the reinforcement protective cover are easier to be removed than those in the concrete between the two layers of steel mesh. However, the amount of migrating corrosion inhibitor is larger in the latter circumstances.

Research on the Fatigue Flexural Performance of RC Beams Attacked by Salt Spray

The fatigue flexural performance of RC beams attacked by salt spray was studied. A testing method involving electro osmosis, electrical accelerated corrosion and salt spray was proposed. This corrosion process method effectively simulates real-world salt spray and fatigue loading exerted by RC components on sea bridges. Four RC beams that have different stress amplitudes were tested. It is found that deterioration by corrosion and fatigue loading reduces the fatigue life of the RC and decreases the ability of deformation. The fatigue life and deflection ability could be reduced by increasing the stress amplitude and the corrosion duration time. The test result demonstrates that this experimental method can couple corrosion deterioration and fatigue loading reasonably. This procedure may be applied to evaluate the fatigue life and concrete durability of RC components located in a natural salt spray environment.

BUCKLING ANALYSIS UNDER COMBINED LOADING OF THIN-WALLED PLATE ASSEMBLIES USING BUBBLE FUNCTIONS

Bubble functions are finite element modes that are zero on the boundary of the element but nonzero at the other point. The present paper adds bubble functions to the ordinary Complex Finite Strip Method(CFSM) to calculate the elastic local buckling stress of plates and plate assemblies. The results indicate that the use of bubble functions greatly improves the convergence of the Finite Strip Method(FSM) in terms of strip subdivision, and leads to much smaller storage required for the structure stiffness and stability matrices. Numerical examples are given, including plates and plate structures subjected to a combination of longitudinal and transverse compression, bending and shear. This study illustrates the power of bubble functions in solving stability problems of plates and plate structures.

Reliability-Based Load and Resistance Factors Design for Offshore Jacket Platforms in the Bohai Bay:Calibration on Target Reliability Index

The target reliability index has been effectively used as the best solution to deal with the relationship between the structural safety and the optimal economy in any structural design. However, the target reliability index for offshore jacket platforms based on different sea areas in China has never been calibrated. This paper presents an approach for its calibration, and suggests many kinds of associated load cases. The uncertainties of loads and structural resistance are mainly in- vestigated. The target reliability index for structural components, tubular joints and piles of offshore jacket plaffortns are discussed respectively in detail. Finally, through the calibrated results from the offshore jacket platforms of QK18-1, JZ20-2, SZ36-1 and BZ28-1 in the Bohai Bay, it is proposed to adopt 2.8 as the target reliability index of offshore jacket platforms in the Bohai Bay for a 25-year design period. The results provide significant reference for the design of offshore jacket platforms.

ANALYSIS ON TRANSVERSE IMPACT RESPONSE OF AN UNRESTRAINED TIMOSHENKO BEAM

A moving rigid-body and an unrestrained Timoshenko beam, which is subjected to the transverse impact of the rigid-body, are treated as a contact-impact system. The generalized Fourier-series method was used to derive the characteristic equation and the characteristic function of the system. The analytical solutions of the impact responses for the system were presented. The responses can be divided into two parts: elastic responses and rigid responses. The momentum sum of elastic responses of the contact-impact system is demonstrated to be zero, which makes the rigid responses of the system easy to evaluate according to the principle of momentum conservation.