A phased approach to enable hybrid simulation of complex structures

Hybrid simulation has been shown to be a cost-effective approach for assessing the seismic performance of structures. In hybrid simulation, critical parts of a structure are physically tested, while the remaining portions of the system are concurrently simulated computationally, typically using a finite element model. This combination is realized through a numerical time-integration scheme, which allows for investigation of full system-level responses of a structure in a cost-effective manner. However, conducting hybrid simulation of complex structures within large-scale testing facilities presents significant challenges. For example, the chosen modeling scheme may create numerical inaccuracies or even result in unstable simulations; the displacement and force capacity of the experimental system can be exceeded; and a hybrid test may be terminated due to poor communication between modules (e.g., loading controllers, data acquisition systems, simulation coordinator). These problems can cause the simulation to stop suddenly, and in some cases can even result in damage to the experimental specimens; the end result can be failure of the entire experiment. This study proposes a phased approach to hybrid simulation that can validate all of the hybrid simulation components and ensure the integrity large-scale hybrid simulation. In this approach, a series of hybrid simulations employing numerical components and small-scale experimental components are examined to establish this preparedness for the large-scale experiment. This validation program is incorporated into an existing, mature hybrid simulation framework, which is currently utilized in the Multi-Axial Full-Scale Sub-Structuring Testing and Simulation (MUST-SIM) facility of the George E. Brown Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES) equipment site at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. A hybrid simulation of a four-span curved bridge is presented as an example, in which three piers are experimentally controlled in a total of 18 degrees of freedom (DOFs). This simulation illustrates the effectiveness of the phased approach presented in this paper.     

Development of a hybrid simulation controller for full‐scale experimental investigation of seismic retrofits for soft‐story woodframe buildings

Hybrid simulations of a full‐scale soft‐story woodframe building specimen with various retrofits were carried out as part of the Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation Research project – NEES‐Soft: seismic risk reduction for soft‐story woodframe buildings. The test structure in the hybrid simulation was a three‐story woodframe building that was divided into a numerical substructure of the first story with various retrofits and a full‐scale physical substructure of the upper two stories. Four long‐stroke actuators, two at the second floor and two at the roof diaphragm, were attached to the physical substructure to impose the simulated seismic responses including both translation and in‐plane rotation. Challenges associated with this first implementation of a full‐scale hybrid simulation on a woodframe building were identified. This paper presents the development and validation of a scalable and robust hybrid simulation controller for efficient test site deployment. The development consisted of three incremental validation phases ranging from small‐scale, mid‐scale, to full‐scale tests conducted at three laboratories. Experimental setup, procedure, and results of each phase of the controller development are discussed, demonstrating the effectiveness and efficiency of the incremental controller development approach for large‐scale hybrid simulation programs with complex test setup. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A model-order reduction framework for hybrid simulation based on component-mode synthesis

Testing of stiff physical substructures (PSs) still poses major technical issues that prevent from adopting hybrid simulation (HS) as a standard structural testing method. Firstly, elastic deformation of reaction frames, as well as the limited resolution of displacement transducers, deteriorate displacement control accuracy. Secondly, as a consequence of control errors, small perturbations of actuator displacements entail large restoring force oscillations that spuriously excite the higher eigenmodes of the hybrid model. For this reason, in the current practice, force-controlled hydraulic jacks handle vertical degrees of freedom, which are typically associated with stiff axially loaded members and excluded from the time integration loop. Vertical forces are either kept constant or adjusted during the experiment based on simplified redistribution rules. Besides deterioration of displacement control accuracy, stiff PSs naturally increase the frequency bandwidth of the hybrid model, whose higher eigenfrequencies (divided by the testing time scale) may fall outside the frequency bandwidth of the actuation system, thus destabilizing the HS. This is a collateral issue to which, in the authors' knowledge, no sufficient attention as been dedicated yet, and this paper tries to address it. From this standpoint, we propose component-mode synthesis as a rigorous approach for deriving reduced-order physical and numerical substructure mass and stiffness matrices that minimize the frequency bandwidth of the hybrid model. The proposed methodology allowed for performing HSs of a load-bearing unreinforced masonry structure including both horizontal and vertical degrees of freedom with a standard three-actuator setup used for cyclic testing.     

Iterative implicit integration procedure for hybrid simulation of large nonlinear structures

A fully implicit iterative integration procedure is presented for local and geographically distributed hybrid simulation of the seismic response of complex structural systems with distributed nonlinear behavior. The purpose of this procedure is to seamlessly incorporate experimental elements in simulations using existing fully implicit integration algorithms designed for pure numerical simulations. The difficulties of implementing implicit integrators in a hybrid simulation are addressed at the element level by introducing a safe iteration strategy and using an efficient procedure for online estimation of the experimental tangent stiffness matrix. In order to avoid physical application of iterative displacements, the required experimental restoring force at each iteration is estimated from polynomial curve fitting of recent experimental measurements. The experimental tangent stiffness matrix is estimated by using readily available experimental measurements and by a classical diagonalization approach that reduces the number of unknowns in the matrix. Numerical and hybrid simulations are used to demonstrate that the proposed procedure provides an efficient method for implementation of fully implicit numerical integration in hybrid simulations of complex nonlinear structures. The hybrid simulations presented include distributed nonlinear behavior in both the numerical and experimental substructures. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Development of a ten-element hybrid simulation platform and an adjustable yielding brace for performance evaluation of multi-story braced frames subjected to earthquakes

This paper presents a ten-element hybrid (experimental-numerical) simulation platform, referred to as UT10, which was developed for running hybrid simulations of braced frames with up to ten large-capacity physical brace specimens. This paper presents the details of the development of different components of UT10 and an adjustable yielding brace (AYB) specimen, which was designed to perform hybrid simulations with UT10. As the first application of UT10, a five-story buckling-restrained braced frame and a special concentrically braced frame (BRBF and SCBF) were designed and tested with AYB specimens and buckling specimens representing the braces. Cyclic tests of the AYB, one- and three-element hybrid simulations of the BRBF, and four-element hybrid simulations of the SCBF inside the UT10 confirmed the functionality of UT10 for running hybrid simulations on multiple specimens. The tests also indicated that AYB was capable of producing a stable hysteretic response with characteristics similar to BRBs. Comparison of the results of the hybrid simulations of the BRBF and SCBF with their fully numerical models showed that the modeling inaccuracies of the yielding braces could potentially affect the global response of the multi-story braced frames further emphasizing the need for experimental calibration or hybrid simulation for achieving more accurate response predictions. UT10 provides a simple and reconfigurable platform that can be used to achieve a realistic understanding of the seismic response of multi-story frames with yielding braces, distinguish their modeling limitations, and improve different modeling techniques available for their seismic response prediction.     

A new approach to numerical simulation of source development of earthquake

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Application of hybrid‐simulation to fragility assessment of the telescoping self‐centering energy dissipative bracing system

Substructure hybrid simulation has been the subject of numerous investigations in recent years. The simulation method allows for the assessment of the seismic performance of structures by representing critical components with physical specimens and the rest of the structure with numerical models. In this study the system level performance of a six‐storey structure with telescoping self‐centering energy dissipative (T‐SCED) braces is validated through pseudo‐dynamic (PsD) hybrid simulation. Fragility curves are derived for the T‐SCED system. This paper presents the configuration of the hybrid simulation, the newly developed control software for PsD hybrid simulation, which can integrate generic hydraulic actuators into PsD hybrid simulation, and the seismic performance of a structure equipped with T‐SCED braces. The experimental results show that the six‐storey structure with T‐SCED braces satisfies performance limits specified in ASCE 41. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

基于图形处理器的伪谱和高阶有限 差分混合方法地震波数值模拟

伪谱和高阶有限差分混合方法, 在垂直方向采用交错网格有限差分算子, 利用其并行程度高的特点, 在水平方向采用伪谱算子, 保留其高精度的优势, 是计算地震波场的有效方法. 图形处理器(graphic processing unit, 简写为GPU) 由于其高度并行性, 在计算此类问题中有显著的优势. 由英伟达(NVIDIA)公司推出的统一计算设备架构(compute unified device architecture, 简写为CUDA)平台极大地简化了GPU编程的难度. 为提高计算效率, 本文实现了基于CUDA 平台的混合方法二维地震波场模拟. 然后基于二维均匀介质模型将CPU与GPU版本的运行时间进行对比. 实际测试结果表明, 基于CUDA 的并行模拟方法在保证计算精度的同时显著地提高了计算速度, 为开展大规模非均匀地球介质地震波传播数值模拟提供了一种可选的方法.      

Online numerical simulation: A hybrid simulation method for incomplete boundary conditions

Hybrid simulation is a powerful and cost‐effective simulation technique to evaluate structural dynamic performance. However, it is sometimes rather difficult to guarantee all the boundaries on the physical substructures, especially when the boundary conditions are very complex, due to limited laboratory resources. Lacking of boundary conditions is bound to change the stress state of the structure and eventually result in an inaccurate evaluation of structural performance. A model updating‐based online numerical simulation method is proposed in this paper to tackle the problem of incomplete boundary conditions. In the proposed method, 2 sets of finite element models with the same constitutive model are set up for the overall analysis of the whole structure and the constitutive model parameter estimation of the physical substructure, respectively. The boundary conditions are naturally satisfied because the response is calculated from the overall structural model, and the accuracy is improved as the material constitutive parameters are updated. The effectiveness of the proposed method is validated via numerical simulations and actual hybrid tests on a RC frame structure, and the results show that the negative effect of incomplete boundary conditions is almost eliminated and the accuracy of hybrid simulation is very much improved.     

模块化预制拼装铁路实心桥墩抗震性能数值分析

为适应施工期短的严/高寒地区和近海铁路桥梁工程发展,提高铁路桥梁工程的施工效率和工程质量.文中提出了一种用于铁路桥梁工程中的模块化预制拼装实心桥墩,该桥墩不仅可以纵向节段连接,还可以通过多个可互连的模块水平连接.基于ABAQUS程序,开展了铁路桥梁模块化预制拼装桥墩在单调、往复荷载作用下力学性能数值分析,对该桥墩的承载...     

Hybrid simulation of a multi‐span RC viaduct with plain bars and sliding bearings

This paper deals with the seismic response assessment of an old reinforced concrete viaduct and the effectiveness of friction‐based retrofitting systems. Emphasis was laid on an old bridge, not properly designed to resist seismic action, consisting of 12 portal piers that support a 13‐span bay deck for each independent roadway. On the basis of an OpenSEES finite element frame pier model, calibrated in a previous experimental campaign with cyclic displacement on three 1:4 scale frame piers, a more complex experimental activity using hybrid simulation has been devised. The aim of the simulation was twofold: (i) to increase knowledge of non‐linear behavior of reinforced concrete frame piers with plain steel rebars and detailing dating from the late 1950s; and (ii) to study the effectiveness of sliding bearings for seismic response mitigation. Hence, to explore the performance of the as built bridge layout and also of the viaduct retrofitted with friction‐based devices, at both serviceability and ultimate limit state conditions, hybrid simulation tests were carried out. In particular, two frame piers were experimentally controlled with eight‐actuator channels in the as built case while two frame piers and eight sliding bearings were controlled with 18‐actuator channels in the isolated case. The remaining frame piers were part of numerical substructures and were updated offline to accurately track damage evolution. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Predictive stability indicator: a novel approach to configuring a real‐time hybrid simulation

Real‐time hybrid simulation (RTHS) is an effective and versatile tool for the examination of complex structural systems with rate dependent behaviors. To meet the objectives of such a test, appropriate consideration must be given to the partitioning of the system into physical and computational portions (i.e., the configuration of the RTHS). Predictive stability and performance indicators (PSI and PPI) were initially established for use with only single degree‐of‐freedom systems. These indicators allow researchers to plan a RTHS, to quantitatively examine the impact of partitioning choices on stability and performance, and to assess the sensitivity of an RTHS configuration to de‐synchronization at the interface. In this study, PSI is extended to any linear multi‐degree‐of‐freedom (MDOF) system. The PSI is obtained analytically and it is independent of the transfer system and controller dynamics, providing a relatively easy and extremely useful method to examine many partitioning choices. A novel matrix method is adopted to convert a delay differential equation to a generalized eigenvalue problem using a set of vectorization mappings, and then to analytically solve the delay differential equations in a computationally efficient way. Through two illustrative examples, the PSI is demonstrated and validated. Validation of the MDOF PSI also includes comparisons to a MDOF dynamic model that includes realistic models of the hydraulic actuators and the control‐structure interaction effects. Results demonstrate that the proposed PSI can be used as an effective design tool for conducting successful RTHS. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd     

钢框架结构典型震害的计算机模拟研究

为模拟钢框架结构的典型震害,本文基于ANSYS软件建立了钢框架结构简化模型。该模型可以考虑楼板对钢框架结构整体性能的影响,并且进一步考虑了楼板与钢梁之间的滑移、节点域变形,以及梁柱节点焊缝的断裂等因素。应用本文建立的钢框架结构模型对北岭地震中Blue Cross大厦的震害进行了模拟,与实际震害对比的结果表明,该模型能够比较精确地模拟地震作用下钢框架结构的响应。钢框架结构模型对节点焊缝断裂的钢框架结构震害研究有着重要的意义。     

基于损伤分析的旧曲线梁桥抗震性能评估

曲线桥梁在役期间可能面临地震灾害,导致结构损坏甚至坍塌,为了评估在役桥梁的抗震性能,提出基于损伤分析的曲线梁桥抗震性能评估方法.建立旧曲线梁桥有限元模型,基于损伤分析的原理,提出适合曲线梁桥地震响应特性的构件损伤模型,在全桥有限元模型中输入不同类型地震动,计算各构件的损伤指数,并结合旧桥检算系数,由各构件损伤指数综合得...     

Establishing a predictive performance indicator for real‐time hybrid simulation

Real‐time hybrid simulation (RTHS) is increasingly being recognized as a powerful cyber‐physical technique that offers the opportunity for system evaluation of civil structures subject to extreme dynamic loading. Advances in this field are enabling researchers to evaluate new structural components/systems in cost‐effective and efficient ways, under more realistic conditions. For RTHS, performance metric clearly needs to be developed to predict and evaluate the accuracy of various partitioning choices while incorporating the dynamics of the transfer system, and computational/communication delays. In addition, because of the dynamics of the transfer system, communication delays, and computation delays, the RTHS equilibrium force at the interface between numerical and physical substructures is subject to phase discrepancy. Thus, the transfer system dynamics must be accommodated by appropriate actuator controllers. In this paper, a new performance indicator, predictive performance indicator (PPI), is proposed to assess the sensitivity of an RTHS configuration to any phase discrepancy resulting from transfer system dynamics and computational/communication delays. The predictive performance indicator provides a structural engineer with two sets of information as follows: (i) in the absence of a reference response, what is the level of fidelity of the RTHS response? and (ii) if needed, what partitioning adjustments can be made to effectively enhance the fidelity of the response? Moreover, along with the RTHS stability switch criterion, this performance metric may be used as an acceptance criteria for conducting single‐degree‐of‐freedom RTHS. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A Self-tuning Robust Control System for nonlinear real-time hybrid simulation

In a real-time hybrid simulation, a transfer system is used to enforce the interface interaction between computational and physical substructures. A model-based, multilayer nonlinear control system is developed to accommodate extensive performance variations and uncertainties in a physical substructure. The aim of this work is to extend the application of real-time hybrid simulation to investigating failure, nonlinearity, and nonstationary behavior. This Self-tuning Robust Control System (SRCSys) consists of two layers: robustness and adaptation. The robustness layer synthesizes a nonlinear control law such that the closed-loop dynamics perform as intended under a broad range of parametric and nonparametric uncertainties. Sliding mode control is employed as the control scheme in this layer. Then, the adaptation layer reduces uncertainties at run time through slow and controlled learning of the control plant. The tracking performance of the SRCSys is evaluated in two experiments that have highly uncertain physical specimens.     

不同版本规范设计的底框砌体结构地震易损性对比

历次地震震害表明,底框砌体结构在遭遇大地震时破坏严重。本文比较了《GBJ11-89建筑抗震设计规范》和《GB50011-2001建筑抗震设计规范》中关于该类结构的抗震设计要求。参考某地一个实际底框砌体结构建筑设计资料,分别按上述两版本规范设计了2个具有代表性的底框砌体结构。采用层间剪切模型基于IDA方法对结构进行了地震易损性分析,对比分析结果表明:按两版本规范设计的底框砌体结构的破坏均出现在过渡层;在设防地震作用下,按《89规范》设计的结构达到中等破坏的概率最大,使用功能受到影响,按《01规范》设计的结构达到轻微破坏状态的概率最大,使用功能基本无影响;在罕遇地震作用下,按《01规范》设计的结构发生严重破坏和毁坏的概率比按《89规范》设计的结构明显降低,抗震能力明显提高。本文提供的结果可丰富底框砌体结构地震易损性数据,为区域地震风险评估、震害预测等研究提供更加精细的易损性模型。     

地震波传播的三维伪谱和高阶有限差分混合方法并行模拟

基于交错网格伪谱法和高阶精度有限差分方法,发展了模拟非均匀介质地震波传播的三维伪谱和有限差分混合算法.该方法在两个水平方向利用交错网格伪谱算子计算空间微分,保留了该方法高效、高精度的优势,在垂直方向采用交错网格高阶精度有限差分算子实现空间微分计算．利用有限差分方法的局部性特征,将三维计算区域在垂直方向上划分为一系列子区域,并分配给不同的处理器,实现了在并行计算机集群上的三维并行计算．通过模拟算例,与离散波数法比较,检验了该算法的精度．为了检验该方法的实用性,在64个处理器上,对三维沉积盆地模型进行了67108864个网格点的并行计算,模拟的波场主频率为1.25Hz,讨论了沉积盆地深度对三维沉积盆地地面运动的影响．      

A method for estimating specimen tangent stiffness for hybrid simulation

Researchers have long recognized the importance and potential benefits of utilizing the tangent stiffness matrix of a test specimen in hybrid simulations employing implicit and mixed‐integration schemes. However, the computation of the tangent stiffness matrix during testing has proved to be challenging, particularly for test specimens with more than one degree of freedom (dof). This paper presents a new methodology that is more straightforward and simpler than existing techniques for computing the tangent stiffness matrix of a multi‐dof test specimen. The proposed method is combined with the operator‐splitting method (OSM), and the capabilities, advantages and limitations of the new formulation are demonstrated through several examples. The accuracy, stability, and error propagation characteristics of the modified OSM are also studied theoretically as well as numerically. The research results show that the proposed algorithm provides results that are better than those produced via the regular OSM alone, especially for damped structures undergoing highly inelastic behavior during testing. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Assessment of a capacity spectrum seismic design approach against cyclic and seismic experiments on full‐scale precast RC structures

Within the last decades, simplified methods alternative to dynamic nonlinear analysis have been developed to estimate the seismic performance of structures toward a performance‐oriented design. Considering drift as the main parameter correlated with structural damage, its estimation is of main importance to assess the structural performance. While traditional force‐based design deals with calibrated force reduction factors based on the expected structural ductility, other methods are based on the definition of a viscous damping factor defined as a function of the expected energy dissipated by the structure. An example is the capacity spectrum method. This method can be applied even without any a priori calibration or designer arbitrariness. This allows considering several peculiarities of the seismic behavior of precast structures, which may be influenced by nontraditional hysteresis of connections and members, interaction with the cladding panels, P‐δ effects, etc. The paper aims at verifying the soundness and accuracy of this method through the comparison of its predictions against the results of cyclic and pseudodynamic tests on precast structures, including single‐ and multistory buildings either stiff or flexible, obtained on full‐scale building prototypes tested within the framework of recent research projects (namely, “Precast Structures EC8,” “Safecast,” and “Safecladding”). Two simple methodologies of determination of the equivalent viscous damping from a force‐displacement cycle, based on the dissipated energy in relation to 2 different estimates of the elastic strain energy, are addressed and compared. Comments on the possible use of this procedure for the estimation of the seismic performance of precast structures are provided.