Stiffness Degradation of Shear Wall with Frame Column and its Influence to Structural Performance

The shear wall with frame column has a wide application prospect in practical engineering for it has better ductility, bearing capacity and stiffness degradation than the shear wall with unframed column. In this paper, the finite element model of shear wall with frame column for an experiment was established in ABAQUS software firstly, Then on the base of proving the model’s precision, the axial compression ratio and the stiffness ratio of shear wall with frame column were adjusted, the influence of different axial compression ratio and stiffness ratio on the stiffness degradation coefficient was analyzed and the corresponding formulas were fitted. At last, by changing the axial compression ratio and the stiffness ratio of shear wall with frame column, The influence of stiffness degradation on the maximum displacement amplification coefficient and the bottom shear amplification coefficient were studied and the relevant formulas were fitted.

Understanding the Stony Bridge between Osteoporosis and Vascular Calcification: Impact of the FGF23/Klotho axis

A relationship between osteoporosis (OP) and vascular calcification (VC) is now proposed. There are common mechanisms underlying the regulation of them. Fibroblast growth factor- (FGF-) 23 and Klotho are hormones associated with the metabolic axis of osteovascular metabolism. Most recently, it was suggested that the FGF23-klotho axis is associated with increasing incidence of fractures and is potentially involved in the progression of the aortic-brachial stiffness ratio. Herein, we discussed the potential role of the FGF23/Klotho axis in the pathophysiology of OP and VC. We want to provide an update review in order to allow a better understanding of the potential role of the FGF23/Klotho axis in comorbidity of OP and VC. We believe that a better understanding of the relationship between both entities can help in proposing new therapeutic targets for reducing the increasing prevalence of OP and VC in the aging population.

Conceptual Design of a Compliant Hip Orthosis for Trendelenburg Gait

Weakness of the hip abduction muscles can result in a gait disorder named Trendelenburg gait, which can lead to problems in the hip joint, knees, and ankles. In this paper, the conceptual design of a compliant hip orthosis to prevent Trendelenburg gait is presented. A theoretical analysis and measurements on a technical prototype show a high stiffness ratio between adduction and flexion-extension of the leg, and minimal shear forces from the orthosis on the human body while staying close to the human body.

Parameters optimization of dynamic vibration absorber based on grounded stiffness, inerter, and amplifying mechanism

In the field of dynamics and control, some typical vibration devices, including grounded stiffness, inerter and amplifying mechanism, have good vibration isolation and reduction effects, especially in dynamic vibration absorber (DVA). However, most of the current research studies only focus on the performance of a single device on the system, and those DVAs are gradually becoming difficult to meet the growth of performance demand for vibration control. On the basis of Voigt dynamic vibration absorber, a novel dynamic vibration absorber model based on the combined structure of grounded stiffness, inerter, and amplifying mechanism is presented, and the analytical solution of the optimal design formula is derived. First, the motion differential equation of the system is established, and the normalized amplitude amplification factor of the displacement is calculated. It is found that the system has three fixed points unrelated to the damping ratio. The optimal frequency ratio is obtained based on the fixed-point theory. In order to ensure the stability of the system, it is found that inappropriate inerter coefficient will cause the system instable when screening optimal grounded stiffness ratio. Accordingly, the best working range of inerter is determined. Finally, optimal grounded stiffness ratio and approximate optimal damping ratio are also obtained. The influence of inerter coefficient and magnification ratio on the response of the primary system is analyzed. The correctness of the derived analytical solution is verified by numerical simulation. Compared with other dynamic vibration absorbers, it is verified that presented model has superior vibration absorption performance and provides a theoretical basis for the design of a new type of dynamic vibration absorbers.

Dynamic characteristics analysis of planetary gear system with internal and external excitation under turbulent wind load

According to the working characteristics of a 1.5 MW wind turbine planetary gear system under complex and random wind load, a two-parameter Weibull distribution model is used to describe the distribution of random wind speed, and the time-varying load caused by random wind speed is obtained. The nonlinear dynamic model of planetary gear transmission system is established by using the lumped parameter method, and the relative relations among various components are derived by using Lagrange method. Then, the relative relationship between the components is solved by Runge Kutta method. Considering the influence of random load and stiffness ratio on the planetary gear transmission system, the nonlinear dynamic response of cyclic load and random wind load on the transmission system is analyzed. The analysis results show that the variation of the stiffness ratio makes the planetary gear have abundant nonlinear dynamics behavior and the planetary gear can get rid of chaos and enter into stable periodic motion by changing the stiffness ratio properly on the premise of ensuring transmission efficiency. For the variable pitch wind turbine, the random change of external load increases the instability of the system.

The size-dependent elastohydrodynamic lubrication contact of a coated half-plane with non-Newtonian fluid

Based on the couple-stress theory, the elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) contact is analyzed with a consideration of the size effect. The lubricant between the contact surface of a homogeneous coated half-plane and a rigid punch is supposed to be the non-Newtonian fluid. The density and viscosity of the lubricant are dependent on fluid pressure. Distributions of film thickness, in-plane stress, and fluid pressure are calculated by solving the nonlinear fluid-solid coupled equations with an iterative method. The effects of the punch radius, size parameter, coating thickness, slide/roll ratio, entraining velocity, resultant normal load, and stiffness ratio on lubricant film thickness, in-plane stress, and fluid pressure are investigated. The results demonstrate that fluid pressure and film thickness are obviously dependent on the size parameter, stiffness ratio, and coating thickness.

Optimum design for a novel inerter-based vibration absorber with an amplified inertance and grounded stiffness for enhanced vibration control

This article presents the results of the study of a novel inerter-based vibration absorber with an amplified inertance mechanism and grounded stiffness, to control excessive vibrational movements of an excited primary structure. The inerter vibration absorber used in this study acts as a passive tuned inerter damper. An undamped primary structure model with a single degree of freedom controlled by the proposed inerter vibration absorber is developed and used to derive the equations of motion of the coupled system. The optimum frequency ratio and the optimum damping ratio of inerter vibration absorber are found using the fixed point theory for harmonic force-excited primary structures. Then, the optimum grounded stiffness ratio is deduced. Based on the inclusion of an amplified inertance mechanism, it is found that for given inertance mass ratio, the change in the amplification ratio results in three cases for the optimum grounded stiffness ratio, that is, negative, zero, and positive. From these three cases of grounded stiffness, the inerter vibration absorber with positive grounded stiffness has demonstrated the best control performance. Under optimum parameters, the results indicate that the inerter vibration absorber in this article outperforms some existing inerter vibration absorbers under the harmonic excitation, in terms of decreases in the peak vibration response of the primary system and widens the suppression bandwidth. Finally, the further comparison among the inerter vibration absorber under random (white noise) excitation also shows that the model in this article is superior to other inerter vibration absorbers in terms of smallest mean square response and smallest variance of the time history of the primary system.

Pile-Soil Stress Ratio and Settlement of Composite Foundation Bidirectionally Reinforced by Piles and Geosynthetics under Embankment Load

The settlement calculation of composite foundation bidirectionally reinforced by piles and geosynthetics is always a difficult problem. The key to its accuracy lies in the determination of pile-soil stress ratio. Based on the theory of double parameters of the elastic foundation plate, the horizontal geosynthetics of composite foundation are regarded as the elastic thin plate, and the vertical piles and surrounding soil are regarded as a series of springs with different stiffness. The deflection equation of horizontal geosynthetics considering its bending and pulling action is obtained according to the static equilibrium conditions. The equation is solved by using Bessel function of complex variable, and the corresponding deflection function of horizontal geosynthetics is deduced. Then, the calculation formula of pile-soil stress ratio and settlement of composite foundation is derived by considering the deformation coordination of pile and soil. The results of engineering case analysis show that the theoretical calculation results are in good agreement with the measured values, which indicates that the proposed method is feasible and the calculation accuracy is good. Finally, the influence of composite modulus of horizontal geosynthetics, tensile force of geosynthetics, and pile-soil stiffness ratio on pile-soil stress ratio and settlement is further analyzed. The results show that the pile-soil stress ratio increases with the increase of the composite modulus of the horizontal geosynthetics, the tensile force of geosynthetics, and the pile-soil stiffness ratio, and the settlement decreases with the increase of the composite modulus of the horizontal geosynthetics, the tensile force of geosynthetics, and the pile-soil stiffness ratio. When the flexural stiffness of the horizontal geosynthetics is small, the influence of the tensile action of the geosynthetics on the pile-soil stress ratio and settlement of the composite foundation cannot be ignored.

On the Relation between Strength and Stiffness of Cable Tray

In order to realize the optimal design of the cable supporting system for the purpose of material saving and energy saving and green manufacturing, the strength-stiffness ratio is proposed in the paper in nondimensional form, which defines quantitatively the relation between the static load strength and stiffness of the cable tray. On the premise of ensuring service safety, the correlation between the strength and stiffness of the cable tray under static load is discussed extensively through the theoretical analysis of the mechanical model. The weakest link in the carrying capacity of the cable tray as well as the issue that needs to pay attention is proposed in the process of design and the test of the cable tray. A reasonable strength-stiffness ratio will help to make full use of the potential of material strengths. The value of the strength-stiffness ratio is obtainable by means of the finite element method or by the loading test of the cable tray. It is shown through the analysis that the value of the strength-stiffness ratio being setting in the range close to but less than 1 will make comparatively reasonable material utilization and will help the deflection test going smoothly to obtain a relatively safer allowable working load for the cable tray.