Forced transverse vibrations of a simply supported rectangular orthotropic plate in the case where the force acts over a plate subdomain

The present study deals with the exact solution of the title problem in the case where a uniformly distributed p₀ cos ωt-type force acts over a rectangular portion of the plate. The problem is of interest in naval and ocean engineering systems where a motor or an engine mounted on a plate or slab induces a dynamic excitation over a finite area. Mechanical designers commonly consider the problem from the point of view of a concentrated dynamic or static force. On the other hand, modelling the structural system as an orthotropic element is of considerable interest in ocean and naval design in view of the ever-increasing use of composite materials and also of the anisotropic characteristics often induced by metallurgical processes.     

The importance of site-specific characters in prediction models for blast-induced ground vibrations

The aim of this study is to show the effect of geological factors in predicting the level of blast-induced ground vibrations. The site-specific character of ground must be involved in the prediction models especially if the ground conditions have a variable character like in this case. But in a blasting environment, this is only possible by using an empirical way. Towards this aim, an in-situ experimental study in a highly jointed sandstone quarry was carried out to incorporate the variable conditions into the prediction models. Therefore, 60 shots were organized and their ground vibrations monitored in two different directions to compare the results. These shots were normal production shots involving the true technological properties as well as geological properties into the prediction model. Based on these, the empirical relations between particle velocity, the amount of explosive and distance have been developed. The results show that the performances of these estimations depend on the site-specific character of these empirical relations. The best prediction was obtained with only 2.08% error level provided that the true technological and geological properties are involved.     

EQUIVALENT LINEARIZATION OF GENERALLY PINCHING HYSTERETIC,DEGRADING SYSTEMS

Many types of structural systems that undergo cycles of inelastic deformation under severe natural hazard loadings exhibit ‘pinching’ of hysteresis loops. In this paper, a generally pinching hysteretic restoring force model—an extension of the Bouc–Wen differential hysteresis model—is used in stochastic equivalent linearization of single-degree-of-freedom structural systems. The severity and rate of pinching are controlled by the hysteretic energy dissipation and the pinching level can be specified to match experimental data. Under white noise excitations, estimates of reponse statistics from linearization are shown to compare favourably with those from Monte Carlo simulation. Numerical studies on the sensitivity of the accuracy of response statistics obtained by linearization to changes in the hysteresis parameters showed that, for a range of practical cases, the linearization method can be used in lieu of simulation and that, in low-frequency systems, some hysteresis parameters may be set to a constant value a priori to reduce the number of model parameters that needs to be estimated or identified, and to simplify further random vibration analysis and/or performance evaluation studies.     

STOCHASTIC SEISMIC PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF TUNED LIQUID COLUMN DAMPERS

The seismic performance of Tuned Liquid Column Dampers (TLCDs) for the passive control of flexible structures is investigated using random vibration analysis. A non-stationary stochastic process with frequency and amplitude modulation is used to represent the earthquake strong motion, and a simple equivalent linearization technique is used to account for the non-linear damping force in the TLCD. The governing equations of motion for the structure TLCD system are formulated and reduced to a first-order state vector equation, from which the differential equation for the system response covariance matrix is obtained. The TLCD performance is evaluated on the basis of selected structural response statistics, namely, the expected maximum and root-mean-square displacements, and root-mean-square absolute accelerations and interstorey shears. A parametric study and sensitivity analysis are conducted to assess the TLCD performance and identify critical design parameters. Illustrative examples are presented using SDOF and MDOF shear-beam structural models, a wide-banded stationary random base acceleration and two non-stationary random input ground motions representative of long- and short-duration ground accelerations with significant low-frequency content.     

Experimental analysis of track-ground vibrations on a stretch of the Portuguese railway network

This paper presents a comprehensive experimental campaign developed on a stretch of the Portuguese railway network. The experimental work includes three fundamental and complementary components: the characterization of the ground, the characterization of the track and the measurement of the vibrations generated by railway traffic. The characterization of the ground was performed using a combination of conventional and geophysical tests (cross-hole and SASW). The mechanical characterization of the track was performed through receptance tests and the rail unevenness profile was accurately measured. The vibrations due to the passage of more than 20 trains were measured. First, a selection of the results is presented and analysed in detail; later, the variability of the responses is briefly discussed. The presented data may be used by other researchers (e.g. in the validation of their prediction models), since it can be downloaded from www.fe.up.pt/~csf/DataCarregado.zip.     

Numerical modelling of drop load tests

Assessment of the attenuation of induced vibrations in the ground plays an important role in evaluating comfort and structural safety. Analytical and empirical wave attenuation relationships of increasing complexity and detail are presented in the paper, as well as a numerical model that accurately reproduces wave attenuation for a well-documented site, namely the one of the Tower of Pisa, Italy. A new source model is calibrated on near-field data and used as input for the dynamic coupled consolidation finite element analysis to achieve a satisfactory simulation. The accuracy of simpler analytical and empirical approaches is then comprehensively assessed through comparison with the validated numerical model and the field data obtained from geophones at various distances from the impact source.     

Simulating fundamental and higher harmonic VIV of slender structures

Vortex-induced vibrations (VIV) of slender marine structures are complicated response processes, where a number of distinct frequency components might be simultaneously active. These are categorized as fundamental and higher harmonics respectively, where the latter can have a tremendous impact on the fatigue life. The present work proposes a method for time domain simulation of such multi-frequency response, by introducing a higher harmonic load term to a pre-existing semi-empirical hydrodynamic force model. Forced motion tests of a circular cylinder were simulated to experimentally and qualitatively validate the fluid-structure energy transfer. Next, the model was used to predict the response of a tension dominated riser in uniform current, for 22 velocities in the range 0.3 m/s to 2.4 m/s. The empirical input was chosen to give an average best fit with respect to the cross-flow strain measurements, which allowed dominating frequencies, fatigue damage, higher harmonics and response variability to be predicted with a high level of realism. Same set of empirical coefficients was subsequently used to predict VIV of three additional flexible pipe experiments in uniform flow, with significant differences in structural properties. The results were satisfactory for all cases, but could be improved by moderate changes to the empirical input.     

饱和地基表面基础在Rayleigh波作用下的摇摆振动分析

考虑地基与基础的相互作用,运用Biot波动方程理论,研究了饱和地基表面有质量的刚性圆形基础在入射Rayleigh波作用下的摇摆振动问题。将饱和地基中的总波场分解为自由波场、刚体辐射波场及刚体散射波场,从而考虑基础对Rayleigh波的散射。采用Hankel变换求解土体控制方程,结合基础摇摆振动的混合边值条件以及Rayleigh波的动力作用获得基础摇摆振动振幅的表达式。计算结果分析了泊松比、基础质量、透水条件、土体渗透系数等对基础摇摆振动的影响。研究结果表明,与弹性介质相比,饱和地基中孔隙水的存在减弱了基础的摇摆振动,其作用效果与土体渗透系数及地基表面排水条件密切相关。     

分数导数模型描述的饱和土桩纵向振动分析

土体具有黏弹性性质,为了更好地考虑饱和土体固相土骨架的黏弹性性质,在分数导数理论和多孔介质理论的基础上,将土体视为液固饱和两相介质,并利用分数导数模型来描述饱和土固相土骨架的应力-应变关系,建立分数导数模型描述的饱和土的控制方程。在三维轴对称情况下,利用势函数和分离变量法研究了分数导数模型描述的饱和土中桩的振动问题。分析了模型参数对饱和土中桩的竖向振动的影响。研究表明,分数导数模型描述的饱和土的控制方程应用范围更广,模型参数对桩的竖向振动有较大的影响。