Smeared crack approach: back to the original track

This paper briefly reviews the formulations used over the last 40 years for the solution of problems involving tensile cracking, with both the discrete and the smeared crack approaches. The paper focuses on the smeared approach, identifying as its main drawbacks the observed mesh‐size and mesh‐bias spurious dependence when the method is applied ‘straightly’. A simple isotropic local damage constitutive model is considered, and the (exponential) softening modulus is regularized according to the material fracture energy and the element size. The continuum and discrete mechanical problems corresponding to both the weak discontinuity (smeared cracks) and the strong discontinuity (discrete cracks) approaches are analysed and the question of propagation of the strain localization band (crack) is identified as the main difficulty to be overcome in the numerical procedure. A tracking technique is used to ensure stability of the solution, attaining the necessary convergence properties of the corresponding discrete finite element formulation. Numerical examples show that the formulation derived is stable and remarkably robust. As a consequence, the results obtained do not suffer from spurious mesh‐size or mesh‐bias dependence, comparing very favourably with those obtained with other fracture and continuum mechanics approaches. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

港口靠船桩工作性状计算的双参数法

港口靠船桩是承受重复性荷载或多循环荷载的一种横向承载桩。双参数法能较好地描述靠船桩 (单桩、群桩 )的桩土工作性状。用双参数法进行计算时 ,所给的地面条件必须由重复荷载或多循环荷载作用下实测出来。根据现场试桩资料 ,标定桩土参数 ,即k =mx1/n的指数l/n、桩土相对柔度系数α、桩土综合刚度EI等值 ,可以用来设计试桩附近局部地区同类条件下的其它长桩。对于没有进行试桩的某些工程 ,可以联合运用双参数法和p -y曲线法进行桩的分析     

Evaluation of bending moments and shear forces at unit connections of very large floating structures using hydroelastic and rigid body analyses

This paper investigates the characteristics of bending moments, shear forces and stresses at unit connections of very large floating structures (VLFS) under wave loads. The responses of VLFS are calculated by solving multi-body motion equation considering hydroelasticity and connection stiffness. Hydroelastic responses are calculated by the direct method. Higher-order boundary element method (HOBEM) is used for fluid analysis and finite element method (FEM) is introduced for structural analysis. The equation of motion is modified to describe the unit connections by employing spring elements. Bending moments and shear forces at the connections are obtained from the dynamic equilibrium condition for pressures and inertia forces. Two types of VLFS units such as tandem arranged units and side-by-side arranged units are considered in the numerical examples. The influences of connection stiffness, wave frequency and heading angle on responses of VLFS are investigated through the numerical examples. Rigid body analysis along with hydroelastic analysis is also carried out in the numerical analysis and comparison of those two approaches is discussed.     

西南某电站右岸倾坡内夹泥裂隙成因探讨

西南某拟建大型水电站的右岸岩体中存在倾向坡内的夹泥裂隙，通过对其的发育情况以及所处的地质环境进行系统的研究和认真剖析，认为该区内的倾坡内夹泥裂隙的成因并非正常卸荷引起，而是在构造的基础上，穹隆挽近期隆起的结果，为右岸坝肩稳定性评价提供了可靠的依据。     

Proportioning earthquake‐resistant RC frames in central/eastern U.S.

A maximum allowable period criterion is used to determine reasonable stiffness requirements for reinforced concrete frames with the seismicity associated with central and eastern U.S. A general relationship is developed to describe the displacement demand expected for central and eastern U.S. based on a survey of available ground motions, opinions of seismologists, and code‐based provisions. A series of hypothetical reinforced concrete frames is proportioned using a maximum allowable period criterion and evaluated for expected maximum displacement response using non‐linear dynamic analyses and a suite of ground motions. Results indicate that for the reinforced concrete structural systems considered in the study, proportioning for gravity loads will provide sufficient stiffness in central and eastern U.S. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A non-linear stress-stiffness model for geomaterials at small to intermediate strains

A double exponential fitting model (DEFM) capable of expressing the non-linear stress-stiffness relationship of geomaterials has been proposed by Shibuya et al. (1997). The model comprises two material constants; the elastic stiffness at very small strains and the strength, together with other free parameters to determine the complete stress-stiffness relationship. In this paper, the capability of the original function used for DEFM in simulating the tangent stiffness-stress relationship of geomaterials is first discussed. Second, the methods for determining the free model parameters, as well as its conversion to obtain a stress-strain relationship are proposed. The applicability of DEFM to predicting non-linear stress-stiffness relationship is examined in detail in a total of forty-nine fitting cases of compression test data on sedimentary rock, artificial soft rock and soft clay. It is found that the DEFM is effective in expressing the non-linear stress-stiffness relationship of various kinds of geomaterials at small to intermediate strains, say less than 0.5%. The superiority of this model compared to other fitting models currently in use is also demonstrated in some of the fitting cases.     

ISO-834标准火灾作用后钢管混凝土的轴压刚度和抗弯刚度

火灾后钢管混凝土的轴压刚度和抗弯刚度是钢管混凝土结构变形性能和抗震分析的重要指标，也是火灾后钢管混凝土修复和加固的重要依据之一，本文利用数值方法计算了标准火灾作用后钢管混凝土轴压构件和纯弯构件荷载-变形关系曲线，分析了受火时间、材料强度、含钢率、截面尺寸等因素的影响规律，最后推导了标准火灾作用后钢管混凝土轴压刚度和抗弯刚度的简化计算公式，所得结果可供有关钢管混凝土结构工程设计时参考。     

钢筋砼摩擦耗能支撑框架结构的单元刚度和力学模型分析

为研究钢筋砼摩擦耗能支撑框架结构的动力反应性能 ,对其中的摩擦耗能器单元和框架杆单元的单元刚度和力学模型做了分析。钢筋砼摩擦耗能支撑单元由支撑杆单元和钢板—橡胶摩擦耗能器单元组成 ,支撑单元可取空间杆单元 ,摩擦耗能器单元为平面应力矩形单元。摩擦耗能器单元的剪切恢复力曲线为理想的弹塑性曲线 ,根据耗能器单元的力学模型 ,可确定其在每一时刻的刚度 ;框架结构空间杆单元的恢复力模型采用双线型模型 ,根据杆单元的力学模型 ,可确定其在每一时刻的刚度。并利用所编制的程序对十层单榀两跨空间普通框架和摩擦耗能支撑框架在地震作用下进行了弹塑性反应时程分析 ,结果表明耗能支撑框架的顶层最大位移明显小于普通框架