scholarly journals The Influence of the Geometrical Features on the Seismic Response of Historical Churches Reinforced by Different Cross Lam Roof-Solutions

Author(s):  
Nicola Longarini ◽  
Pietro Giuseppe Crespi ◽  
Marco Zucca

Abstract Recent Italian earthquakes have shown the seismic vulnerability of many typical historical masonry churches characterized by one nave and wooden roofs. Under transverse earthquake the nave transverse response of this kind of churches can be influenced by the geometrical and material features. To increase the seismic performance, strengthening interventions aimed to pursue the global box-behavior by the realization of dissipative roof-structure represent a valid strategy especially for avoiding out-of-plane mechanisms. In this way, the roof structure must be able to represent a tool for the damped rocking of the perimeter walls. Cross-laminated timber panels (CLT) have been recently adopted as roof-diaphragm having shown valid ductile behavior in experimental tests, satisfying the conservative restoration criteria at the same time. In this paper, after a description of the numerical approach for the damped rocking mechanism for one nave configuration church, the effectiveness of different CLT based roof-diaphragms in the nave transverse response is investigated for four historical churches. The seismic responses are performed by comparative dynamic nonlinear analyses and the results are shown in terms of displacements and shear actions transferred to the façade. The influence of the geometrical features of the churches on the nave transversal response is deepened by sensitivity analyses with the aim to predict the displacements and shear variations under the same earthquake excitation.

Author(s):  
Marco Miglietta ◽  
Nicolò Damiani ◽  
Gabriele Guerrini ◽  
Francesco Graziotti

AbstractTwo full-scale building specimens were tested on the shake-table at the EUCENTRE Foundation laboratories in Pavia (Italy), to assess the effectiveness of an innovative timber retrofit solution, within a comprehensive research campaign on the seismic vulnerability of existing Dutch unreinforced masonry structures. The buildings represented the end-unit of a two-storey terraced house typical of the North-Eastern Netherlands, a region affected by induced seismicity over the last few decades. This building typology is particularly vulnerable to earthquake excitation due to lack of seismic details and irregular distribution of large openings in masonry walls. Both specimens were built with the same geometry. Their structural system consisted of cavity walls, with interior load-bearing calcium-silicate leaf and exterior clay veneer, and included a first-floor reinforced concrete slab, a second-floor timber framing, and a roof timber structure supported by masonry gables. A timber retrofit was designed and installed inside the second specimen, providing an innovative sustainable, light-weight, reversible, and cost-effective technique, which could be extensively applied to actual buildings. Timber frames were connected to the interior surface of the masonry walls and completed by oriented strands boards nailed to them. The second-floor timber diaphragm was stiffened and strengthened by a layer of oriented-strand boards, nailed to the existing joists and to additional blocking elements through the existing planks. These interventions resulted also in improved wall-to-diaphragm connections with the inner leaf at both floors, while steel ties were added between the cavity-wall leaves. The application of the retrofit system favored a global response of the building with increased lateral capacities of the masonry walls. This paper describes in detail the bare and retrofitted specimens, compares the experimental results obtained through similar incremental dynamic shake-table test protocols up to near-collapse conditions, and identifies damage states and damage limits associated with displacements and deformations.


Author(s):  
Thomas Ceyrowsky ◽  
Andre Hildebrandt ◽  
Martin Heinrich ◽  
Rüdiger Schwarze

Abstract A volute’s loss coefficient is highly sensitive to Mach number, circumferential velocity and flow rate at volute inlet. In case of a backswept impeller, these parameters are coupled to each other. An increased flowrate leads to a steeper absolute flow angle at impeller exit and hence to a decrease of circumferential velocity. The absolute Mach number is also altered. Therefore, in order to investigate the effects of flowrate and flow angle separately, one would have to vary the diffuser width together with the flowrate, keeping the flow angle constant. This corresponds to coupling the volute with aerodynamically similar impellers, designed for higher and lower flowrates. Since this is elaborate, there is no adequate study available in open literature, assessing a volute’s global loss map. In this work, a new numerical approach for the prediction of a volute’s representative loss map is presented: The volute is calculated by means of steady CFD as a standalone component. The inlet boundary conditions are carefully selected by means of 1D and applied together with different diffuser widths. This allows for separate investigation of the impacts of flow angle, flow rate and Mach number. Validation against full stage CFD confirms the applicability of the standalone model. The results exhibit that minimum losses do not necessarily occur at the theoretical matching point but either when the volute is smaller or bigger, depending on the inlet flow angle. Investigations of the loss mechanisms at different operating conditions provide useful guidelines for volute design. Finally, the validity of these study’s findings for volutes with different geometrical features is examined by comparison with experimental data as well as with fullstage CFD.


Author(s):  
Pedro Silva Delgado ◽  
António Arêde ◽  
Nelson Vila Pouca ◽  
Aníbal Costa

The main purpose of this chapter is to present numerical methodologies with different complexities in order to simulate the seismic response of bridges and then use the results for the safety assessment with one probabilistic approach. The numerical simulations are carried out using three different methodologies: (i) plastic hinge model, (ii) fiber model and (iii) damage model. Seismic response of bridges is based on a simplified plane model, with easy practical application and involving reduced calculation efforts while maintaining adequate accuracy. The evaluation of seismic vulnerability is carried out through the failure probability quantification involving a non-linear transformation of the seismic action in its structural effects. The applicability of the proposed methodologies is then illustrated in the seismic analysis of two reinforced concrete bridges, involving a series of experimental tests and numerical analysis, providing an excellent set of results for comparison and global calibration.


Metals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 964
Author(s):  
Eduardo Nuñez ◽  
Guillermo Parraguez ◽  
Ricardo Herrera

Brittle failure mechanisms can affect the seismic performance of structures composed of intersecting moment resisting frames, if the biaxial effects are not considered. In this research, the bidirectional cyclic response of H-columns with weak-axis moment connections was studied using numerical models. Several configurations of joints with bidirectional effects and variable axial loads were studied using the finite element method (FEM) in ANSYS v17.2 software. The results obtained showed a ductile behavior when cyclic loads are applied. No evidence of brittle failure mechanisms in the studied joint configurations was observed, in line with the design philosophy established in current seismic provisions. However, beams connected to the column minor axis reached a partially restrained behavior. Joints with four beams connected to the column exhibited a partially restrained behavior for all axial load levels. An equivalent force displacement method was used to compare the hysteretic response of 2D and 3D joints, obtaining higher deformations in 3D joints with respect to 2D joints with a similar number of connected beams. Consequently, design procedures are not capable of capturing the 3D deformation phenomenon.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Cascetta ◽  
F. Caputo ◽  
A. De Luca

This paper deals with the development of a numerical model, based on the Finite Element (FE) theory for the prediction of the squeal frequency of a railway disc brake. The analytical background has been discussed and presented, as well as the most efficient methods for evaluating the system stability; the attention has been paid particularly to the complex eigenvalues method, which has been adopted within this paper to investigate the railway disc brake system. Numerical results have been compared with measurements from experimental tests in order to validate the proposed numerical approach. At the end of this work, a sensitivity analysis, aimed at understanding the effects of some physical parameters influencing the stability of the brake system and the squeal propensity, has been carried out.


Author(s):  
Chris R. Morton ◽  
Serhiy Yarusevych

The current study investigates flow past a step cylinder for ReD = 1050 and D/d = 2 using both experimental and numerical methods. The focus of the study is on the vortex shedding and vortex interactions occurring in the step cylinder wake. Flow visualization with hydrogen bubble technique and planar Laser Induced Fluorescence has shown that three distinct spanwise vortex cells form: a single vortex shedding cell in the wake of the small cylinder and two vortex shedding cells in the wake of the large cylinder. Vortex connections form between the spanwise vortices in these cells downstream of the step, and vortex dislocations occur at cell boundaries. Complementary to the experimental tests, an LES-RANS hybrid numerical simulation is used to model the flow development. A comparison of the experimental and numerical results indicates that the numerical approach adequately models vortex dynamics in the wake of a step cylinder and, thus, may be used to analyze time dependent, three-dimensional flow topology which is difficult to characterize quantitatively using experimental methods.


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