Conceptual damage-sensitive features for structural health monitoring: Laboratory and field demonstrations

The use of damage-sensitive features to evaluate structural condition or health is a very critical aspect of structural health monitoring. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the potential of two different damage-sensitive features for detecting damage. Different damage scenarios are simulated on a large-scale laboratory structure and a three-span highway bridge for demonstration. The features presented in this paper are the modal flexibility-based deflection and curvature both of which are obtained directly from dynamic properties. In the literature, flexibility associated with mode shapes and mode shapes curvatures have been mostly explored. In this study, multi-input–multi-output dynamic data are used to obtain modal flexibility, which is a close approximation to the actual flexibility. A main novelty is that the curvature is calculated from the deflected shapes using the modal flexibility as opposed to using modal vectors. In this paper, the theory of the methodology is explained and then experimental studies and results are presented. For the experimental studies, the laboratory specimen and the three-span bridge were gradually damaged. It is shown that both deflection and curvature are conceptual and physically meaningful features for damage detection and localization. The issues and the requirements for these features to perform successfully are also presented.     

Growth of β-FeSi2 layers deposited from a molten salt

β-FeSi₂ layers have been successfully grown using a molten salt method for the first time. It was found that single phase and homogeneous β-FeSi₂ layers with a columnar domain structure can be grown on FeSi substrates. The layer thickness was demonstrated to be controllable by the growth temperature and time, and was diffusion controlled. It was shown that the layers were void- and crack-free compared to similar layers grown on Fe substrates: this difference is explained in terms of Fe diffusion. This vacuum-free simple growth technique is useful for the fabrication of large area semiconductor devices at low cost.     

Structural Response of Nuclear Containment Shield Buildings with Construction Openings

Steam generator replacement at nuclear power plants requires large construction openings in nuclear containment structures. This study examines the effects of such openings placed in a 61?cm (2?ft) thick dome of a shield building. The dome is cast in two layers, and the limiting cases of the two layers acting as one and the lower layer carrying the entire load are considered. Without openings, the stresses due to dead load in the structure are very low when compared to the material strength. With openings, the loads are easily redistributed around the opening, and the maximum stresses for the conservative case are between three and four and one-half times larger than in the original structure with no openings. The extent of the affected area around the holes is relatively small. Smooth corners in the openings are necessary to avoid high local stress concentrations.     

Approach for Overcoming Numerical Inaccuracy Caused by Load Discontinuity

It was found that the discontinuity at the end of an impulse will lead to numerical inaccuracy as this discontinuity will result in an extra impulse and thus an extra displacement in the time history analysis. In addition, this extra impulse is proportional to the discontinuity value at the end of the impulse and the size of integration time step. To overcome this difficulty, an effective approach is proposed to reduce the extra impulse and hence the extra displacement. In fact, the novel approach proposed in this paper is to perform a single small time step immediately upon the termination of applied impulse, whereas other time steps can be conducted by using the step size determined from accuracy consideration in period. The feasibility of this approach is analytically explored. Further, analytical results are confirmed by numerical examples. Numerical studies also show that this approach can be applied to other step-by-step integration methods. It seems that to slightly complicate the programming of dynamic analysis codes is the only disadvantage of this approach.     

Response level crossing rate of a linear system excited by a partially specified Gaussian load process

The problem of determining the maximum mean response level crossing rate of a linear system driven by a partially specified Gaussian load process has been considered. The partial specification of the load is given only in terms of its total average energy. The critical input power spectral (PSD) function, which maximizes the mean response level crossing rate, is obtained. The critical input PSD turns out to be highly narrow-banded which fails to capture the erratic nature of the excitation. Consequently, the trade-off curve between the maximum mean response level crossing rate and the maximum disorder in the input process, quantified in terms of its entropy rate, has been generated. The method of Pareto optimization is used to tackle the conflicting objectives of the simultaneous maximization of the mean response level crossing rate and the input entropy rate. The non-linear multi-objective optimization has been carried out using a recently developed multi-criteria genetic algorithm scheme. Illustrative example of determining the critical input of an axially vibrating rod, excited by a partially specified stationary Gaussian load process, has been considered.     

Numerical study on PEMFC’s geometrical parameters under different humidifying conditions

Steady-state and three-dimensional simulations were carried out to study the influences of geometrical parameters on the performance of PEMFC under different hydrating conditions. Flow fields, species transport, transport of water in polymer membrane and movement of liquid water in cathode and anode porous layers were determined, in order to accomplish a complete estimation of ohmic and concentration losses of PEMFC power. The geometrical parameters were thickness of the polymer membrane, cathode catalyst layer as well as gas channel to rib width ratio. Every simulation was made under different relative humidities of inlet flows (50 and 100%) for every change of characteristic length. Results show that the influence of the geometrical parameters on ohmic and concentration losses is of considerable importance. The performance of PEMFC is seriously affected under dehydrating conditions. However, such performance may be considerably improved by using suitable geometrical parameters. Cathode and anode liquid saturation may not only affect the transport of species, but also the polymer electrolyte water content. These results show the importance of simultaneously calculating both the water absorption and desorption through the polymer electrolyte and the liquid saturation in the cathode and anode porous mediums to obtain an actual view of ohmic and concentration losses of the PEMFC performance.     

高坝洲电站碾压混凝土纵向围堰拆除爆破设计与实践

介绍了高坝洲电站碾压混凝土下游纵向围堰现场爆破试验成果,在分析爆破试验效果的基础上进行碾压混凝土围堰拆除爆破设计,详细分析了拆除爆破实施效果及主要影响因素.     

Non-steady-state model for kinetics of free radical polymerization, 4. Direct thermal initiation

This paper deals with the non-steady-state kinetics of direct thermal initiated polymerization. The initiation is assumed to be a bimolecular reaction of the monomer. The relationship between the radical concentration and the monomer conversion is rigorously derived. In further treatment a few very close approximations are introduced based on the fact that the number of monomer molecules reacting in the initiation step is much less than that consumed in the propagation step for a process producing high polymer, and the value of the rate constant for propagation or chain transfer is much lower than that for chain termination. Expressions for various molecular parameters, such as molecular weight distribution, number-average and weight-average degrees of polymerization, and dispersity, are given. Several numerical examples are provided.