Modeling Steel Frame Buildings in Three Dimensions. II: Elastofiber Beam Element and Examples

This is the second of two papers describing a procedure for the three-dimensional nonlinear time-history analysis of steel-framed buildings. An overview of the procedure and the theory for the panel zone element and the plastic hinge beam element are presented in part I. In this paper, the theory for an efficient new element for modeling beams and columns in steel frames called the elastofiber element is presented, along with four illustrative examples. The elastofiber beam element is divided into three segments—two end nonlinear segments and an interior elastic segment. The cross sections of the end segments are subdivided into fibers. Associated with each fiber is a nonlinear hysteretic stress-strain law for axial stress and strain. This accounts for coupling of nonlinear material behavior between bending about the major and minor axes of the cross section and axial deformation. Examples presented include large deflection of an elastic cantilever beam, cyclic loading of a cantilever beam, pushover analysis of a 20-story steel moment-frame building to collapse, and strong ground motion analysis of a two-story unsymmetric steel moment-frame building.     

Thermomechanical Framework for the Constitutive Modeling of Asphalt Concrete

This study is concerned with the constitutive modeling of asphalt concrete. Unlike most constitutive models for asphalt concrete that do not take into account the evolution of the microstructure of the material, this study incorporates the evolution of the microstructure by using a framework that recognizes that a body’s natural configurations can evolve as the microstructure changes. The general framework, on which this study is based, is cast within a full thermomechanical setting. In this paper, we develop models within the context of a mechanical framework that stems from the general framework for models based on the full thermodynamic framework and the resulting equations represent a nonlinear rate type viscoelastic model. The creep and stress relaxation experiments of Monismith and Secor are used for validating the efficacy of the model, and it is found that the predictions of the theory agree very well with the available experimental results. The advantages of using such a framework are many, especially when one wants to model the diverse mechanical and thermodynamic response characteristics of asphalt and asphalt concrete.     

A Comparative Study of Explicit Frequency and Conventional Signal Representations for Speech Recognition

Krishnan, S., and Rao, P. V. S., A Comparative Study of Explicit Frequency and Conventional Signal Representations for Speech Recognition,Digital Signal Processing6(1996), 249–264.The performance of a speech recognition system depends to a large extent on the signal representation strategy. It is therefore important to evaluate various signal representations, with a view to comparing their relative performance on speech recognition tasks. Various comparative studies have been reported earlier in the literature in this respect. However, these studies are limited to comparing some subsets of representations on different kinds of recognition tasks. In this sense, they preclude a fair comparison of the representations on the same task. In contrast, we attempt here a systematic and fairly comprehensive comparison of signal representations along various dimensions (frequency and amplitude scales, speaker normalization, and two statistical classifiers) on a standard (TIMIT) speech database. This study shows that the line spectrum pair frequency representation augmented with spectral amplitudes yields the best recognition performance.     

Effect of cold rolling on the elastic properties of (Al2O3)p-Al composite

Mechanical shaping of an aluminium alloy reinforced with Al₂O₃ particulates, (Al₂O₃)_p-Al, was carried out by a cold rolling operation. Rolling was performed unidirectionally in a direction perpendicular to the extrusion direction of the composite, until edge cracks formed. Cold rolling was found to cause particulate cracking and interfacial debonding, as wellas the redistribution of (Al₂O₃)_p. These parameters have significant roles in determining the elastic properties of the resultant composite.     

Precipitation behavior in a medium carbon,ti-v-n microalloyed steel

The precipitation behavior of a medium carbon steel microalloyed with Ti, V, and N has been studied by analytical transmission electron microscopy in the as-cast and isothermally heat-treated states, as well as at different stages in the thermomechanical processing of the steel. Mixed (Ti,V) nitrides were found in all the structures, but there was no evidence for mixed carbonitride formation. The Hillert-Staffansson model was used to predict the composition of the nitrides as a function of tem-perature. Upon prolonged aging many of the precipitates became “fragmented” and were no longer single crystals. At the same time, the volume fraction of precipitates dropped, while their average Ti content increased. Possible explanations for this unexpected behavior are discussed in this article.     

Quantum size effect in thin films

When the thickness of a film is of the order of the de Broglie wavelength of the electron, size effects appear in the electrical properties of the material. In this paper we derive the current in the presence of a magnetic field perpendicular to the plane of the film. We use the quantum mechanical density-matrix formalism. Unlike previous works we obtain an exact expression for the current. It is found that the current has a non-linear behavior with the electric field. The current also oscillates with the thickness of the film.     

Age Replacement In Simple Systems With Increasing Loss Functions

Some age replacement policies are investigated and conditions for the unique existence of an optimum policy are derived. The optimum policy is the one which minimizes the expected cost per unit time over an infinite time span or maximizes the proportion of time during which the system is in operation. Losses have been expressed through increasing operating cost, if the objective is to minimize the expected total cost per unit time and through increasing renewal times if the objective is to maximize the availability of the system.     

Complex two-unit system with preventive maintenance

A two-unit warm standby redundant system with repair and preventive maintenance is considered. The pdf of the life time of a unit while in standby is assumed to be Erlangian. The pdfs of all the other random variables are arbitrary. Identifying suitable regeneration points, expressions for the Laplace transforms of the availability and reliability of the system are derived.