Resumo em Inglês:

The response of simply supported rectangular plates carrying moving masses and resting on variable Winkler elastic foundations is investigated in this work. The governing equation of the problem is a fourth order partial differential equation. In order to solve this problem, a technique based on separation of variables is used to reduce the governing fourth order partial differential equations with variable and singular coefficients to a sequence of second order ordinary differential equations. For the solutions of these equations, a modification of the Struble's technique and method of integral transformations are employed. Numerical results in plotted curves are then presented. The results show that response amplitudes of the plate decrease as the value of the rotatory inertia correction factor R0 increases. Furthermore, for fixed value of R0, the displacements of the simply supported rectangular plates resting on variable elastic foundations decrease as the foundation modulus F0 increases. The results further show that, for fixed R0 and F0, the transverse deflections of the rectangular plates under the actions of moving masses are higher than those when only the force effects of the moving load are considered. Therefore, the moving force solution is not a safe approximation to the moving mass problem. Hence, safety is not guaranteed for a design based on the moving force solution. Also, the analyses show that the response amplitudes of both moving force and moving mass problems decrease both with increasing Foundation modulus and with increasing rotatory inertia correction factor. The results again show that the critical speed for the moving mass problem is reached prior to that of the moving force for the simply supported rectangular plates on variable Winkler elastic foundation.

Resumo em Inglês:

The nominal strength of slab-column joints made of highstrength concrete (HSC) columns and normal strength concrete (NSC) slabs is of great importance in structural design and construction of concrete buildings. This topic has been intensively studied during the last decades. Different types of column-slab joints have been investigated experimentally providing a basis for developing design provisions. However, available data does not cover all classes of concretes, reinforcements, and possible loading cases for the proper calculation of joint stresses necessary for design purposes. New numerical methods based on modern software seem to be effective and may allow reliable prediction of column-slab joint strength. The current research is focused on analysis of available experimental data on different slab-to-column joints with the aim of predicting the nominal strength of slabcolumn joint. Neural networks technique is proposed herein using MATLAB routines developed to analyze available experimental data. The obtained results allow prediction of the effective strength of column-slab joints with accuracy and good correlation coefficients when compared to regression based models. The proposed method enables the user to predict the effective design of column-slab joints without the need for conservative safety coefficients generally promoted and used by most construction codes.

Resumo em Inglês:

Structural optimization using computational tools has become a major research field in recent years. Methods commonly used in structural analysis and optimization may demand considerable computational cost, depending on the problem complexity. Therefore, many techniques have been evaluated in order to diminish such impact. Among these various techniques, Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) may be considered as one of the main alternatives, when combined with classic analysis and optimization methods, to reduce the computational effort without affecting the final solution quality. Use of laminated composite structures has been continuously growing in the last decades due to the excellent mechanical properties and low weight characterizing these materials. Taken into account the increasing scientific effort in the different topics of this area, the aim of the present work is the formulation and implementation of a computational code to optimize manufactured complex laminated structures with a relatively low computational cost by combining the Finite Element Method (FEM) for structural analysis, Genetic Algorithms (GA) for structural optimization and ANN to approximate the finite element solutions. The modules for linear and geometrically non-linear static finite element analysis and for optimize laminated composite plates and shells, using GA, were previously implemented. Here, the finite element module is extended to analyze dynamic responses to solve optimization problems based in frequencies and modal criteria, and a perceptron ANN module is added to approximate finite element analyses. Several examples are presented to show the effectiveness of ANN to approximate solutions obtained using the FEM and to reduce significatively the computational cost.

Resumo em Inglês:

The behavior of braced steel frame structures is of special importance due to its extensive use. Also the application of active and semi-active control systems, regarding to their benefits in obtaining better seismic performance has increased significantly. The majority of the works on steel structures and steel connections has been done under far field records, and the behavior of steel frame structures equipped with yielding dampers under these circumstances has not yet been fully analyzed. The main purpose of this paper is to determine the behavior of structures equipped with yielding dampers, located in near field based on energy concepts. In order to optimize their seismic behavior, the codes and solutions are also presented.The selected system is a braced steel frame system which is equipped with yielding dampers and the analysis is performed using the "Perform 3D V.4" software and the conclusions are drawn upon energy criterion. The effect of PGA variation and height of the frames are also considered in the study .Finally, using the above mentioned results, a proper solution is presented for typical systems in order to increase the energy damping ability and reduce the destructive effects in structures on an earthquake event, so that a great amount of induced energy is damped and destruction of the structure is prevented as much as possible.

Resumo em Inglês:

This paper presents the numerical implementation of a new proposed interface model for modeling the behavior of mortar joints in masonry walls. Its theoretical framework is fully based on the plasticity theory. The Von Mises criterion is used to simulate the behavior of brick and stone units. The interface laws for contact elements are formulated to simulate the softening behavior of mortar joints under tensile stress; a normal linear cap model is also used to limit compressive stress. The numerical predictions based on the proposed model for the behavior of interface elements correlate very highly with test data. A new explicit formula based on results of proposed interface model is also presented to estimate the strength of unreinforced masonry structures. The closed form solution predicts the ultimate lateral load of unreinforced masonry walls less error percentage than ATC and FEMA-307. Consequently, the proposed closed form solution can be used satisfactorily to analyze unreinforced masonry structures.

Resumo em Inglês:

Static and free vibration analysis of carbon nano wires with rectangular cross section based on Timoshenko beam theory is studied in this research. Differential quadrature method (DQM) is employed to solve the governing equations. From the knowledge of author, it is the first time that free vibration of nano wires is investigated. It is also the first time that differential quadrature method is used for bending analysis of nano wires.