A hybrid model for estimation of ground movements due to mechanized tunnel excavation

To provide realistic predictions of mechanized tunnel excavation‐induced ground movements, this research develops an innovative simulation technique called hybrid modeling that combines a detailed process‐oriented finite element (FE) simulation (submodel) with the computational efficiency of metamodel (or surrogate model). This hybrid modeling approach has three levels. In Level 1, a small scale submodel is cut out from the global model and the continuous simulations are conducted in this submodel. Level 2 deals with identification of uncertain soil parameters based on the measurements (e.g., surface settlements) during tunnel excavation. In Level 3, the tunneling process parameters (e.g., grouting pressure) can be optimized to control tunneling‐induced ground movements or building deformations according to the design criterion. The proposed hybrid modeling approach is validated via a 3D numerical simulation of mechanized tunnel excavation. The results show the capability of the proposed approach to provide reliable model responses in the near field around the tunnel with reduced computational costs.     

A Decentralized Control Algorithm for Large‐Scale Building Structures

Abstract: Decentralized control strategy is more suitable for structural control of large‐scale structural systems as it increases in the feasibility of control implementation and decreases the risk on the failure of the control system compared with the conventional centralized control approach. In this article, a decentralized control algorithm is proposed for large‐scale linear building structures. A large‐scale building structure is divided into a set of smaller substructures based on its finite element model. Interconnections between adjacent substructures are treated as disturbances to the individual substructure. Each substructure is controlled by its own local controller using linear quadratic Gaussian control scheme with acceleration measurements as feedback signals. A computational procedure is developed for the recursive estimation of the unknown disturbances to each substructure. Two cases, with substructure interface measurement and without substructure interface measurement respectively, are considered. A numerical example of the decentralized control of the 20‐story Structural Engineers Association of California (SAC) benchmark linear building under seismic excitation is studied to evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithm. Simulation results demonstrate that the decentralized control algorithm has quite good control performance compared with the conventional centralized control approach. Therefore, the proposed decentralized control algorithm is viable for structural control of large‐scale linear structural systems.     

A locally weighted machine learning model for generalized prediction of drift capacity in seismic vulnerability assessments

Drift capacity of reinforced concrete (RC) columns is an important indicator to quantify the seismic vulnerability of RC frame buildings; however, it is challenging to accurately predict this value as the nonlinear behavior can vary greatly by column type. This article proposes a novel, local machine learning (ML) model, called locally weighted least squares support vector machines for regression (LWLS‐SVMR), which integrates LS‐SVMR and locally weighted training criteria to enhance and generalize the prediction of the drift capacity of RC columns, regardless of the type. A database of 160 circular RC columns covering flexure‐, shear‐, and flexure–shear‐critical specimens was developed to train and test the proposed LWLS‐SVMR. The proposed LWLS‐SVMR was validated by comparison with popular existing global and local learning approaches as well as a traditional empirical equation, and the results demonstrated that the proposed LWLS‐SVMR is superior to all other approaches and thus, is a promising artificial intelligence technique for enhancing the prediction of drift capacity, universally across RC flexure‐, shear‐, and flexure–shear‐critical columns. The LWLS‐SVMR exhibits capabilities which may yield it a feasible approach to predict complex, nonlinear behavior in a broad‐spectrum manner.     

Vibration‐Based Damage Localization in Flexural Structures Using Normalized Modal Macrostrain Techniques from Limited Measurements

Abstract: This article presents damage locating indices based on normalized modal macrostrain (MMS) as improvement on the typical curvature‐dependent methods. Vulnerability to noise and the use of numerical differentiation procedures are the key factors for the poor performance of many curvature‐dependent methods using displacement mode shapes. Whereas dynamic distributed strain measurement data from long‐gauge FBG sensors have significantly improved the performance of many damage identification methods, the sensitivity to local damage diminishes as the gauge length increases. The proposed model‐free damage identification techniques based on normalized MMS vectors are successfully implemented to locate damage in beam‐like structures through numerical simulations and experimental verifications. The unique advantages of the techniques are their simplicity, robustness to noise, ability to precisely identify small damage extents, and localize single and multiple damage states using limited measurable modes from few sensors.     

A generic framework for geotechnical subsurface modeling with machine learning

This study introduces a generic framework for geotechnical subsurface modeling, which accounts for spatial autocorrelation with local mapping machine learning (ML) methods. Instead of using XY coordinate fields directly as model input, a series of autocorrelated geotechnical distance fields (GDFs) is designed to enable the ML models to infer the spatial relationship between the sampled locations and unknown locations. The whole framework using GDF with ML methods is named GDF-ML. This framework is purely data-driven which avoids the tedious work in the scale of fluctuations (SOFs) estimating and data detrending in the conventional spatial interpolation methods. Six local mapping ML methods (extra trees (ETs), gradient boosting (GB), extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost), random forest (RF), general regression neural network (GRNN) and k-nearest neighbors (KNN)) are compared in the GDF-ML framework. The results show that the GDFs are better than the conventional XY coordinate fields based ML methods in both accuracy and spatial continuity. GDF-ML is flexible which can be applied to high-dimensional, multi-variable and incomplete datasets. Among these six methods, GDF with ET method (GDF-ET) clearly shows the best accuracy and best spatial continuity. The proposed GDF-ET method can provide a fast and accurate interpretation of the soil property profile. Sensitivity analysis shows that this method is applicable to very small training dataset size. The associated statistical uncertainty can also be quantified so that the reliability of the subsurface modeling results can be estimated objectively and explicitly. The uncertainty results clearly show that the prediction becomes more accurate when more sampled data are available.     

Vulnerability and Robustness of a Security Skyscraper Subjected to Aircraft Impact

Abstract: Ultra‐high‐performance concrete (UHPC) is particularly suitable for application in aircraft‐impact‐resistant high‐rise buildings for combined load‐bearing and protective structures. The material provides very high—steel‐like—compressive strength, sufficient ductility, and fire resistance due to the addition of steel and polypropylene fibers. The following contribution is focused on two key aspects: hydro‐code simulations of structural UHPC walls which protect vertical escape and rescue routes and structural dynamic simulations of the global structure to investigate the impact resistance considering the sudden loss of external columns. A high‐speed dynamic material model for UHPC is obtained by implementing the results of a series of Hopkinson‐Bar experiments which were recently published. The strain‐rate‐dependent material properties are implemented in the established RHT‐Concrete‐Model for hydro‐code applications being furthermore extended by a tensile softening law for fiber‐reinforced UHPC. Based on this material model a series of aircraft‐engine impact experiments are configurated supported by three‐dimensional nonlinear hydro‐code prognosis simulations. With a total of six impact experiments on combined fiber‐ and rebar‐reinforced UHPC panels, all relevant damage states of the structural wall are obtained. The experimental results are compared to the hydro‐code prognosis simulations to validate the simulative approach and the material model for UHPC. In addition to the local impact behavior, structural dynamic numerical simulations of a global high‐rise structure are presented being focused on the effect of the sudden and notional loss of columns in coincidence with the aircraft impact load function.     

Experimental and numerical study on water mist suppression system on room fire

Full-scale experiment and numerical simulations are carried out on a room fire to study water mist suppression system with heat release rate of 6 MW. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model of fire-driven fluid flow, FDS (Fire Dynamics Simulator), is used to solve numerically a form of the Navier–Stokes equations for fire. A fire experiment without water mist is performed and the temperatures are measured to validate the predictions of FDS code against the experimental data. Then a fire experiment with water mist suppression system is performed and the temperatures and extinguishing time are measured. The validated numerical model is used to simulate the experiment; the temperatures, oxygen concentration and extinguishing time are compared and studied. In numerical simulations, the cell size sensitivity is analyzed. The experimental results of temperatures and extinguishing time are compared with the results of numerical simulations. It appears that the numerical results are in good agreement (qualitatively) with the experimental data in temperature fields. These useful data can be helpful in accomplishing the design of water mist suppression system and the design regulations for fire safety management.     

Performance test of a tuned liquid mass damper for reducing bidirectional responses of building structures

In this study, a tuned liquid mass damper (TLMD) was proposed to reduce bidirectional responses of building structures, and its control performance was experimentally evaluated. The proposed TLMD with only one device body reduces bidirectional responses of building structures by behaving as a TMD and a TLCD in the weak and strong axial directions of a building floor plan, respectively. First, the control performance of a TLMD mounted on a scale‐downed single‐degree‐of‐freedom building model was experimentally evaluated by exciting this system with an actuator. Then, the real‐time hybrid shaking table testing method (RTHSTTM) was performed to assess the control efficiency of the total system by adopting the TLCD and the building model as the experimental and numerical parts, respectively. It was confirmed by comparing uncontrolled and controlled testing results that the proposed TLMD can be applied to reduce the responses in both the weak and strong directions of building structures. Also, the results from RTHSTTM showed that the performance of TLMD‐controlled building structure can be accurately evaluated by this method only using a TLMD as the experimental part. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Using Numerical Simulations and Engineering Reasoning under Uncertainty: Studying the Collapse of WTC‐1

Abstract: A series of numerical aircraft crash simulations and thermal behavior analyses were made at Purdue University to study the response of the World Trade Center Tower 1 (WTC‐1) on September 11, 2001. The process included accuracy verification for the computational tools using available experiment data. Numerical models for the Boeing 767–200ER aircraft and the structural system for the top 20 stories of WTC‐1 were developed for the simulations. A second aircraft model, simpler yet comparable in effect, was developed and used for a parametric sensitivity analysis. Results from these simulations and published by other researchers indicate that while the observed impact damage to tower exterior framing can be estimated accurately, the unseen impact damage to the core structure of the tower could not be estimated with high confidence. Although the computational tools helped in developing an understanding as to what might have happened as the aircraft penetrated and disintegrated into the structure, they were not able to reduce the uncertainty in the core damage estimate. However, reflecting insight from the behavior of the Pentagon building under the impact loads it received on the same day and studying the effects of elevated temperature on mechanical properties of steel in light of experimental data, the uncertainty in the core structural damage estimate was found to be of negligible importance with regards to the ultimate fate of the tower. It is demonstrated that through use of numerical simulations and engineering reasoning, a dominant factor in the collapse of the tower could be proposed with confidence. It was the loss of fire‐proofing in the tower core during aircraft impact that left the core vulnerable to ensuing thermal loads and resulted in the eventual collapse of the tower.     

Full‐scale experimental assessment of new connection for columns in vertically mixed structures

More stiffness of concrete frames on one hand and fewer weight of steel frames on the other hand motivates using a composite system so called vertically mixed structures. The reinforced concrete and steel frames are connected together at a story called transition story. A major challenge for the designers is the connection columns in the transition story for proper transferring of efforts and preventing stress concentration phenomenon. There are some suggestions, in the literature, to build a transition composite column instead of constructing a local connection. Four full‐scale specimens of three connection types are constructed and tested experimentally under cyclic load to investigate hysteresis characteristics, failure mechanism, deformability, and energy dissipation capacity of the model. A novel through bolt lap connection adapted from concrete‐filled tube (CFT) column is proposed. Finally, backbone curves of proposed column for more accurate seismic studies are presented. No evident sign of local failure is observed in the proposed connection. Placing the steel around the reinforced concrete column section prepares the maximum possible geometrical dimensions for the steel column section and the connection. The experimental results show no strength loss for the new proposed connection under two different axial loads in lateral cyclic loading up to 4% drift.     

Conceptual framework for decentralized green water‐infrastructure systems

We present a model for a decentralized green water‐infrastructure system (DGWIS) based on a new conceptual framework that optimises the use of captured rainwater, recycled wastewater and renewable energy resources. DGWIS is designed for building‐scale localised water supply systems that utilise rainwater and greywater and incorporate advanced small‐scale water treatment systems and renewable local energy sources such as solar and wind. Several constraints are considered: (i) available renewable energy; (ii) greywater production rate; (iii) potential captured rainwater; (iv) water demand; (v) water storage volumes required to accommodate greywater, harvested rainwater and separate water/energy supplies from the city and (vi) water treatment capacities. The proposed DGWIS optimisation framework demonstrates proof‐of‐concept and provides a solid foundation for an innovative paradigm shift towards water and energy sustainability.     

Self‐centering steel–timber hybrid shear wall with slip friction dampers: Theoretical analysis and experimental investigation

An innovative self‐centering steel–timber hybrid shear wall (SC‐STHSW) system is proposed as a promising structural solution for earthquake‐resilient buildings. The SC‐STHSW is composed of posttensioned (PT) steel rocking frame and infill light‐frame wood shear wall. The PT steel frame provides self‐centering capability, whereas the infill wood shear wall improves the lateral stiffness and the load resistance. Meanwhile, friction dampers are assembled into the connections between the steel frame and the infill wall to provide energy dissipation. Theoretical analysis and cyclic loading test were conducted to comprehend the load‐resisting behavior of the proposed SC‐STHSW system, and closed‐form solutions of the moment, shear, and axial force distribution along the length of the steel beam were formulated. Moreover, a nonlinear finite element model was developed, and the model was further used to verify the derived theoretical formulas. Results showed that the SC‐STHSW system was able to undergo large interstory drift without the development of plastic zones in the steel frame members, which resulted in very small residual deformation. The presented experimental and numerical results aim to provide a practical structural solution for high‐performance earthquake‐resilient buildings.     

Investigation of mechanical behaviour of a quasi-brittle material using Karagozian and Case concrete (KCC) model

The mechanical behaviour of a quasi-brittle material,i.e.Pietra Serena sandstone,was investigated both numerically and experimentally in order to build a reliable numerical modelling system applicable to more complex cases.The Karagozian and Case concrete(KCC) model was exploited as the material constitutive law and a new method to utilise this model for efficient and accurate simulation of quasibrittle materials is discussed.The capability of this model is evaluated by comparing the results of the numerical simulations with the corresponding experimental results,and the method itself is critically assessed.     

Collapse analysis of building structures under excitation of near‐fault ground motion with consideration of large deformation and displacement

The dynamic analysis of structural stability with consideration of material and geometrical non‐linearity is necessary for near fault‐earthquake that is rich in long‐period components and often induces the non‐linear large displacement and deformation response of a building structure. A macro‐element bilinear geometric stiffness model and simplified analytical model are proposed and developed to analyze the P‐Δ effects of structural dynamic response using a numerical approach. A structural stable threshold diagram is then proposed to evaluate the geometric stability of a building structure with large deformation under the excitation of a near‐fault earthquake. The analysis results reveal: (1) the simplified geometric stiffness analytical model is useful for analyzing structural dynamic P‐Δ effects and acquire very good accurate results even though the structural geometric stiffness varies between elastic and plastic zone; (2) stable threshold diagrams, based on dynamic analysis and statistical analysis procedures, are conducted by application of this proposed model to easily evaluate structural geometric stability with larger deformation imposed by a near‐fault earthquake. This method can supplement the insufficient capability for the static pushover analysis procedure to estimate the seismic proof demands for building without dynamic P‐Δ effects analysis; (3) the analysis results of stable threshold diagrams indicate that when stability coefficient θ of a building is greater than 1 or base shear factor (V/W) of the building is less than 0·2, static P‐Δ effects become noticeable. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Analysis of outrigger‐braced reinforced concrete supertall buildings: Core‐supported and tube‐in‐tube lateral systems

This study is primarily focused on the approximate analysis of reinforced concrete outriggers which are commonly used in the design and construction of supertall buildings subject to distributed horizontal loads. Existing global analysis formulae that provide preliminary results for lateral deflections and moments are reviewed for two lateral load resisting systems, namely, core‐supported‐with‐outrigger (CSOR) system and less frequent tube‐in‐tube‐with‐outrigger (TTOR) system. These formulae are only applicable for CSOR and neglect the reverse rotation of the outrigger actually suffered due to the propping action from the outer columns and give rather high predictions of the deflections compared with advanced numerical finite element (FE) models. An improved model is proposed which overcomes this issue and provides more consistent results to FE predictions. The same can also be extended to TTOR. Several case studies are investigated to verify the accuracy of the proposed methodologies. The global analysis is followed by the local analysis of reinforced concrete outrigger beams using strut‐and‐tie modelling and non‐linear FE analysis to obtain optimized reinforcement layouts (reduction of quantities of reinforcement). The results highlight the different challenges in detailing such structural members which are heavily loaded (high congestion of reinforcement), and the behaviour at failure can be brittle.     

Detailing the effects of geometry approximation and grid simplification on the capability of a CFD model to address the benchmark test case for flow around a computer simulated person

This paper details the use of a simplified CFD model to predict the flow patterns around a computer simulated person in a displacement ventilated room. The use of CFD is a valuable tool for indoor airflow analysis and the level of complexity of the model being investigated is often critical to the accuracy of predictions. The closer the computational geometry is to the real geometry of interest, the more accurate the corresponding results are expected to be. High complexity meshes enable elaborated geometries to be resolved. The drawback is, however, their increased computational cost. The Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) model (Version 5) enabled to investigate the effects of geometry and computational grid simplification on the accuracy of numerical predictions. The FDS model is based on a three-dimensional Cartesian coordinate system and all solid obstructions are forced to conform to the underlying numerical grid which is a potential limitation when dealing with complex geometries such as those of a human body. Nevertheless, the developed computational model was based exclusively on a three-dimensional rectangular geometry. At the same time, in order to limit the total number of grid cells, a relatively coarser grid than those used for similar simulations was adopted in the investigation. The developed model was then assessed in terms of its capability of reproducing benchmark temperature and air velocity distributions. The extent to which numerical results depend on different simulation settings was detailed and different boundary conditions are discussed in order to provide some guidance on the parameters that resulted to affect the accuracy of the predicted results. The comparison between numerical results and measurements showed that a simplified CFD model can be used to capture the airflow characteristics of the investigated scenario with predictions showing a favourable agreement with experimental data at least in the qualitative features of the flow (the detailed investigation of the local airflow field near the occupant can not be probably conducted apart from considering the real human geometry). Significant influence of simulator geometry and of boundary conditions was found.     

Damping estimation using enhanced virtual dynamic shaker: A web‐enabled framework

Damping estimation from laboratory, full‐scale, or computational simulation is critical in response prediction of structures under wind, waves, or earthquake effects. A virtual dynamic shaker (VDS)‐based scheme was recently developed for system identification (SI) of structures for processing (weakly) stationary responses, that is, frequency and damping features that offers, especially the added advantage of its basic simplicity over other schemes. While the VDS has shown performance, equivalent to other popular SI schemes, it is based on the assumption of the global flatness of the load spectrum (i.e., white noise assumption) like used in most other SI schemes, which may not always be appropriate in practical applications. In addition, it is restricted to data from a single‐degree‐of‐freedom (SDOF) response (or unimodal response) to obtain accurate modal characteristics. To address these potential shortcomings, this study revisits the VDS scheme and offers an enhancement by invoking local flatness assumption (EVDS) to possibly improve the damping estimation with the assumption that the load spectrum is flat only around the natural frequencies of the desired modes. A new formulation involving the effect of the ground motion induced vertical vibrations of a building is also introduced for both the VDS and the EVDS. Extensive examples through numerical simulation and full‐scale data, including a comparison with other popular SI schemes, demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed EVDS scheme. To facilitate expeditious and convenient utilization of the proposed EVDS as well as the VDS, this study has implemented a web‐enabled framework, named VDS‐Damping, for on‐demand and on‐the‐fly applications through user‐friendly input and result interfaces. A recently developed mode decomposition scheme, state space‐based mode decomposition (SSBMD), is implemented in the framework to assist in analyzing output from multiple modes and eliminates restriction of SDOF system. Accordingly, the SSBMD can also serve as a stand‐alone mode decomposition tool to separate response in each mode. This framework enables users to estimate damping on‐the‐fly by uploading with ease their data.     

Equivalent viscous damping in direct displacement‐based design of steel braced reinforced concrete frames

Performance‐based design method, particularly direct displacement‐based design (DDBD) method, has been widely used for seismic design of structures. Estimation of equivalent viscous damping factor used to characterize the substitute structure for different structural systems is a dominant parameter in this design methodology. In this paper, results of experimental and numerical investigations performed for estimating the equivalent viscous damping in DDBD procedure of two lateral resistance systems, moment frames and braced moment frames, are presented. For these investigations, cyclic loading tests are conducted on scaled moment resisting frames with and without bracing. The experimental results are also used to calibrate full‐scale numerical models. A numerical investigation is then conducted on a set of analytical moment resisting frames with and without bracing. The equivalent viscous damping and ductility of each analytical model are calculated from hysteretic responses. On the basis of analytical results, new equations are proposed for equivalent viscous damping as a function of ductility for reinforced concrete and steel braced reinforced concrete frames. As a result, the new equation is used in direct displacement‐based design of a steel braced reinforced concrete frame. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

堆石料的亚塑性边界面模型及其验证

 基于高莲士教授针对天生桥面板堆石坝灰岩所进行的堆石料在不同应力路径下的大型三轴试验结果, 提出亚塑性理论边界面模型参数的简捷确定方法。通过编制调参程序, 对堆石料典型三轴试验进行数值模拟, 与试验成果的对比表明, 模型能较好地反映各种复杂加载路径下堆石料变形性状。进而对恒应力比转折、恒应力比加卸载、平面应变试验等土体单元可能出现的复杂应力路径进行了预测, 对深入了解高围压下摩擦型材料的屈服及应力路径相关等特性具有一定意义。同时合理的模型参数为进行面板堆石坝的变形预测和数值仿真模拟奠定了基础。     

Interactions of overburden failure zones due to multiple-seam mining using longwall caving

This paper presents an investigation on the interactions of overburden failure zones induced by the mining of adjacent coal seams using the longwall caving method. Overburden failure is an important factor in safety assessments in the fields of mining engineering geology and safety geology, especially when mining under water bodies. In this study, the influence of the thickness and properties of the interburden between seams on the development and interactions of caving and fractured water flow zones are investigated by using in situ measurements, scale model testing and numerical simulations. The height of the fractured water flow zones in the scale model tests and numerical simulations are basically in good agreement with measurements after mining of the upper and lower seams of Seam No. 3 in the Cuizhuang Coalmine. Therefore, the scale tests and numerical simulations in the study are verified. The results show that interaction and superposition between two close distance seams cannot be ignored when the ratio (h/M) of the interburden thickness (h) to the cutting height of the lower seam (M) is less than a defined critical value. A dividing line, Line D, has been proposed to judge whether the interactions exist. When the (M, h/M) points are located above Line D, the caving zone induced by excavation of the lower seam will not propagate to the caving zone induced by the upper seam. Otherwise, for the (M, h/M) points below Line D, the interactions and superposition of the overburden failure must be considered when predicting the heights of the caving and fractured water flow zones.