This book presents experimental results and theoretical advances in the field of ultra-low-cycle fatigue failure of metal structures under strong earthquakes, where the dominant failure mechanism is ductile fracture. Studies on ultra-low-cycle fatigue failure of metal materials and structures have caught the interest of engineers and researchers from various disciplines, such as material, civil and mechanical engineering. Pursuing a holistic approach, the book establishes a fundamental framework for this topic, while also highlighting the importance of theoretical analysis and experimental results in the fracture evaluation of metal structures under seismic loading. Accordingly, it offers a valuable resource for undergraduate and graduate students interested in ultra-low-cycle fatigue, researchers investigating steel and aluminum structures, and structural engineers working on applications related to cyclic large plastic loading conditions.
Failure Analysis - Structural Health Monitoring of Structure and Infrastructure Components is a collection of chapters written by academicians, researchers, and practicing engineers from all over the world. The chapters focus on some developments as well as problems in structural health monitoring (SHM) in civil engineering structures and infrastructures. The book covers a variety of multidisciplinary topics, including SHM, risk analysis, seismic analysis, and various modeling and simulation methodologies. This book is an excellent resource for undergraduate and postgraduate students, academics, and researchers across a wide variety of engineering disciplines, as well as for practicing engineers and other professionals in the engineering industry.
A review is presented of available information on the behavior of brittle and ductile materials under conditions of thermal stress and thermal shock. For brittle materials, a simple formula relating physical properties to thermal-shock resistance are derived and used to determine the relative significance of two indices currently in use for rating materials. The importance of simulating operating conditions in thermal-shock testing is deduced from the formula and is experimentally illustrated by showing that BeO could be both inferior or superior to Al2O3 in thermal shock depending on the testing conditions. For ductile materials, thermal-shock resistance depends upon the complex interrelation among several metallurgical variables which seriously affect strength and ductility. These variables are briefly discussed and illustrated from literature sources. The importance of simulating operating conditions in tests for rating ductile materials is especially to be emphasized because of the importance of testing conditions in metallurgy. A number of practical methods that have been used to minimize the deleterious effects of thermal stress and thermal shock are outlined.
Our knowledge to model, design, analyse, maintain, manage and predict the life-cycle performance of infrastructure systems is continually growing. However, the complexity of these systems continues to increase and an integrated approach is necessary to understand the effect of technological, environmental, economic, social, and political interactions on the life-cycle performance of engineering infrastructure. In order to accomplish this, methods have to be developed to systematically analyse structure and infrastructure systems, and models have to be formulated for evaluating and comparing the risks and benefits associated with various alternatives. Civil engineers must maximize the life-cycle benefits of these systems to serve the needs of our society by selecting the best balance of the safety, economy, resilience and sustainability requirements despite imperfect information and knowledge. Within the context of this book, the necessary concepts are introduced and illustrated with applications to civil and marine structures. This book is intended for an audience of researchers and practitioners world‐wide with a background in civil and marine engineering, as well as people working in infrastructure maintenance, management, cost and optimization analysis. The chapters originally published as articles in Structure and Infrastructure Engineering.
Maintenance, Monitoring, Safety, Risk and Resilience of Bridges and Bridge Networks contains the lectures and papers presented at the Eighth International Conference on Bridge Maintenance, Safety and Management (IABMAS 2016), held in Foz do Iguaçu, Paraná, Brazil, 26-30 June, 2016. This volume consists of a book of extended abstracts and a DVD containing the full papers of 369 contributions presented at IABMAS 2016, including the T.Y. Lin Lecture, eight Keynote Lectures, and 360 technical papers from 38 countries. The contributions deal with the state-of-the-art as well as emerging concepts and innovative applications related to all main aspects of bridge maintenance, safety, management, resilience and sustainability. Major topics covered include: advanced materials, ageing of bridges, assessment and evaluation, bridge codes, bridge diagnostics, bridge management systems, composites, damage identification, design for durability, deterioration modeling, earthquake and accidental loadings, emerging technologies, fatigue, field testing, financial planning, health monitoring, high performance materials, inspection, life-cycle performance and cost, load models, maintenance strategies, non-destructive testing, optimization strategies, prediction of future traffic demands, rehabilitation, reliability and risk management, repair, replacement, residual service life, resilience, robustness, safety and serviceability, service life prediction, strengthening, structural integrity, and sustainability. This volume provides both an up-to-date overview of the field of bridge engineering as well as significant contributions to the process of making more rational decisions concerning bridge maintenance, safety, serviceability, resilience, sustainability, monitoring, risk-based management, and life-cycle performance using traditional and emerging technologies for the purpose of enhancing the welfare of society. It will serve as a valuable reference to all involved with bridge structure and infrastructure systems, including students, researchers and engineers from all areas of bridge engineering.
Performance-Based Seismic Design (PBSD) is a structural design methodology that has become more common in urban centers around the world, particularly for the design of high-rise buildings. The primary benefit of PBSD is that it substantiates exceptions to prescribed code requirements, such as height limits applied to specific structural systems, and allows project teams to demonstrate higher performance levels for structures during a seismic event.However, the methodology also involves significantly more effort in the analysis and design stages, with verification of building performance required at multiple seismic demand levels using Nonlinear Response History Analysis (NRHA). The design process also requires substantial knowledge of overall building performance and analytical modeling, in order to proportion and detail structural systems to meet specific performance objectives.This CTBUH Technical Guide provides structural engineers, developers, and contractors with a general understanding of the PBSD process by presenting case studies that demonstrate the issues commonly encountered when using the methodology, along with their corresponding solutions. The guide also provides references to the latest industry guidelines, as applied in the western United States, with the goal of disseminating these methods to an international audience for the advancement and expansion of PBSD principles worldwide.
This book presents the main outcomes of the first European research project on the seismic behavior of adjustable steel storage pallet racking systems. In particular, it describes a comprehensive and unique set of full-scale tests designed to assess such behavior. The tests performed include cyclic tests of full-scale rack components, namely beam-to-upright connections and column base connections; static and dynamic tests to assess the friction factor between pallets and rack beams; full-scale pushover and pseudodynamic tests of storage racks in down-aisle and cross-aisle directions; and full-scale dynamic tests on two-bay, three-level rack models. The implications of the findings of this extensive testing regime on the seismic behavior of racking systems are discussed in detail, highlighting e.g. the confirmation that under severe dynamic conditions “sliding” is the main factor influencing rack response. This work was conceived during the development of the SEISRACKS project. Its outcomes will contribute significantly to increasing our knowledge of the structural behavior of racks under earthquake conditions and should inform future rack design.
