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Gives a bibliographical review of the finite element methods (FEMs) applied for the linear and nonlinear, static and dynamic analyses of basic structural elements from the theoretical as well as practical points of view. The range of applications of FEMs in this area is wide and cannot be presented in a single paper; therefore aims to give the reader an encyclopaedic view on the subject. The bibliography at the end of the paper contains 2,025 references to papers, conference proceedings and theses/dissertations dealing with the analysis of beams, columns, rods, bars, cables, discs, blades, shafts, membranes, plates and shells that were published in 1992‐1995.

Hybrid simulation, which is a general technique for obtaining the seismic response of an entire structure, is an improvement of the traditional seismic test technique. In order to improve the analysis accuracy of the numerical substructure in hybrid simulation, the purpose of this paper is to propose an innovative hybrid simulation technique. The technique combines the multi-scale finite element (MFE) analysis method and hybrid simulation method with the objective of achieving the balance between the accuracy and efficiency for the numerical substructure simulation.

To achieve this goal, a hybrid simulation system is established based on the MTS servo control system to develop a hybrid analysis model using an MFE model. Moreover, in order to verify the efficiency of the technique, the hybrid simulation of a three-storey benchmark structure is conducted. In this simulation, a ductile column—represented by a half-scale scale specimen—is selected as the experimental element, meanwhile the rest of the frame is modelled as microscopic and macroscopic elements in the Abaqus software simultaneously. Finally, to demonstrate the stability and accuracy of the proposed technique, the seismic response of the target structure obtained via hybrid simulation using the MFE model is compared with that of the numerical simulation.

First, the use of the hybrid simulation with the MFE model yields results similar to those obtained by the fine finite element (FE) model using solid elements without adding excessive computing burden, thus advancing the application of the hybrid simulation in large complex structures. Moreover, the proposed hybrid simulation is found to be more versatile in structural seismic analysis than other techniques. Second, the hybrid simulation system developed in this paper can perform hybrid simulation with the MFE model as well as handle the integration and coupling of the experimental elements with the numerical substructure, which consists of the macro- and micro-level elements. Third, conducting the hybrid simulation by applying earthquake motion to simulate seismic structural behaviour is feasible by using Abaqus to model the numerical substructure and harmonise the boundary connections between three different scale elements.

In terms of the implementation of the hybrid simulation with the MFE model, this work is helpful to advance the hybrid simulation method in the structural experiment field. Nevertheless, there is still a need to refine and enhance the current technique, especially when the hybrid simulation is used in real complex engineering structures, having numerous micro-level elements. A large number of these elements may render the relevant hybrid simulations unattainable because the time consumed in the numeral calculations can become excessive, making the testing of the loading system almost difficult to run smoothly.

The MFE model is implemented in hybrid simulation, enabling to overcome the problems related to the testing accuracy caused by the numerical substructure simplifications using only macro-level elements.

This paper is the first to recognise the advantage of the MFE analysis method in hybrid simulation and propose an innovative hybrid simulation technique, combining the MFE analysis method with hybrid simulation method to strike a delicate balance between the accuracy and efficiency of the numerical substructure simulation in hybrid simulation. With the help of the coordinated analysis of FEs at different scales, not only the accuracy and reliability of the overall seismic analysis of the structure is improved, but the computational cost can be restrained to ensure the efficiency of hybrid simulation.

Glass material is largely used for load-bearing components in buildings. For this reason, standardized calculation methods can be used in support of safe structural design in common loading and boundary conditions. Differing from earlier literature efforts, the present study elaborates on the load-bearing capacity, failure time and fire endurance of ordinary glass elements under fire exposure and sustained mechanical loads, with evidence of major trends in terms of loading condition and cross-sectional layout. Traditional verification approaches for glass in cold conditions (i.e. stress peak check) and fire endurance of load-bearing members (i.e. deflection and deflection rate limits) are assessed based on parametric numerical simulations.

The mechanical performance of structural glass elements in fire still represents an open challenge for design and vulnerability assessment. Often, special fire-resisting glass solutions are used for limited practical applications only, and ordinary soda-lime silica glass prevails in design applications for load-bearing members. Moreover, conventional recommendations and testing protocols in use for load-bearing members composed of traditional constructional materials are not already addressed for glass members. This paper elaborates on the fire endurance and failure detection methods for structural glass beams that are subjected to standard ISO time–temperature for fire exposure and in-plane bending mechanical loads. Fire endurance assessment methods are discussed with the support of Finite Element (FE) numerical analyses.

Based on extended parametric FE analyses, multiple loading, geometrical and thermo-mechanical configurations are taken into account for the analysis of simple glass elements under in-plane bending setup and fire exposure. The comparative results show that – in most of cases – thermal effects due to fire exposure have major effects on the actual load-bearing capacity of these members. Moreover, the conventional stress peak verification approach needs specific elaborations, compared to traditional calculations carried out in cold conditions.

The presented numerical results confirm that the fire endurance analysis of ordinary structural glass elements is a rather complex issue, due to combination of multiple aspects and influencing parameters. Besides, FE simulations can provide useful support for a local and global analysis of major degradation and damage phenomena, and thus support the definition of simple and realistic verification procedures for fire exposed glass members.

This paper gives a bibliographical review of the finite element methods (FEMs) applied for the linear and nonlinear, static and dynamic analyses of basic structural elements from the theoretical as well as practical points of view. The bibliography at the end of the paper contains more than 1330 references to papers, conference proceedings and theses/dissertations dealing with the analysis of beams, columns, rods, bars, cables, discs, blades, shafts, membranes, plates and shells that were published in 1999–2002.

A bibliographical review of the finite element methods (FEMs) applied for the linear and nonlinear, static and dynamic analyses of basic structural elements from the theoretical as well as practical points of view is given. The bibliography at the end of the paper contains 1,726 references to papers, conference proceedings and theses/dissertations dealing with the analysis of beams, columns, rods, bars, cables, discs, blades, shafts, membranes, plates and shells that were published in 1996‐1999.

The aim of this paper is to identify and analyze critical factors/elements influencing standards compliance and their level of influence in a developing country food industry, with specific reference to India.

A total of 13 critical elements were identified and structured using pair‐wise comparisons. Structural and reachability matrices were formed and iterated to yield levels of hierarchical influence of each element. MICMAC analysis was also performed to determine dependency and driving power of these elements.

The analysis brought out a compelling need for “sensitive and responsive” action by developing country governments while competing globally. Food industries in developing countries tend to detour while complying with standards, owing to costs involved in setting up systems and procedures. While a strong surveillance mechanism is the high point of a good compliant system this has to be preceded by supporting measures such as linking of domestic and international markets, consolidation of institutional structures, strengthening of legal/regulatory systems, etc.

Use of interpretative structural modeling (ISM) is inspired by the versatility displayed by this method, as reported by researchers, across a wide spectrum of economic and competitive complexities affecting businesses.

The study is a hitherto unexplored attempt, using interpretative structural modeling, to analyze standards compliance in a developing country's food industry.

The purpose of this paper is to present eight local elasto‐plastic beam element formulations incorporated into the corotational framework for two‐noded three‐dimensional beams. These formulations capture the warping torsional effects of open cross‐sections and are suitable for the analysis of the nonlinear buckling and post‐buckling of thin‐walled frames with generic cross‐sections. The paper highlights the similarities and discrepancies between the different local element formulations. The primary goal of this study is to compare all the local element formulations in terms of accuracy, efficiency and CPU‐running time.

The definition of the corotational framework for a two‐noded three‐dimensional beam element is presented, based upon the works of Battini .The definitions of the local element kinematics and displacements shape functions are developed based on both Timoshenko and Bernoulli assumptions, and considering low‐order as well as higher‐order terms in the second‐order approximation of the Green‐Lagrange strains. Element forces interpolations and generalized stress resultant vectors are then presented for both mixed‐based Timoshenko and Bernoulli formulations. Subsequently, the local internal force vector and tangent stiffness matrix are derived using the principle of virtual work for displacement‐based elements and the two‐field Hellinger‐Reissner assumed stress variational principle for mixed‐based formulations, respectively. A full comparison and assessment of the different local element models are performed by means of several numerical examples.

In this study, it is shown that the higher order elements are more accurate than the low‐order ones, and that the use of the higher order mixed‐based Bernoulli element seems to require the least number of FEs to accurately model the structural behavior, and therefore allows some reduction of the CPU time compared to the other converged solutions; where a larger number of elements are needed to efficiently discretize the structure.

The paper reports computation times for each model in order to assess their relative efficiency. The effect of the numbers of Gauss points along the element length and within the cross‐section are also investigated.

This paper deals with structural shape and thickness optimization of axisymmetric shell structures loaded symmetrically. In the finite element stress analysis use is made of newly developed linear, quadratic, and cubic, variable thickness, C(0) elements based on axisymmetric Mindlin‐Reissner shell theory. An integrated approach is used to carry out the whole shape optimization process in a fully automatic manner. A robust, versatile and flexible mesh generator is incorporated with facilities for generating either uniform or graded meshes, with constant, linear, or cubic variation of thickness, pressure etc. The midsurface geometry and thickness variations of the axisymmetric shell structure are defined using cubic splines passing through certain key points. The design variables are chosen as the coordinates and/or the thickness at the key points. Variable linking procedures are also included. Sensitivity analysis is carried out using either a semi‐analytical method or a global finite difference method. The objective of the optimization is the weight minimization of the structure. Several examples are presented illustrating optimal shapes and thickness distributions for various shells. The changes in the bending, membrane and shear strain energies during the optimization process are also monitored.

The purpose of this paper is to present a simplified hybrid modeling (HYMOD) approach which overcomes limitations regarding computational cost and permits the simulation and prediction of the nonlinear inelastic behavior of full-scale RC structures.

The proposed HYMOD formulation was integrated in a research software ReConAn FEA and was numerically studied through the use of different numerical implementations. Then the method was used to model a full-scale two-storey RC building, in an attempt to demonstrate its numerical robustness and efficiency.

The numerical results performed demonstrate the advantages of the proposed hybrid numerical simulation for the prediction of the nonlinear ultimate limit state response of RC structures.

A new numerical modeling method based on finite element method is proposed for simulating accurately and with computational efficiency, the mechanical behavior of RC structures. Currently 3D detailed methods are used to model single structural members or small parts of RC structures. The proposed method overcomes the above constraints.

This paper aims to summarize the main features of the fuselage structure description within the Common Parametric Aircraft Configuration Schema (CPACS) data format.

The CPACS fuselage structure description includes the definition of arbitrary sheets and structural profiles which can be combined with a variety of material definitions to so-called structural elements. Besides the definition of these structural elements, the definitions of structural members, such as stringers, frames, floor structures and pressure bulkheads, as well as the definitions of the complex load introduction regions that transfer loads from the wings and the empennage into the fuselage shell are introduced. Finally, exemplary models generated with different mesh generation tools developed at the DLR Institute of Structures and Design are presented. These models are suitable for subsequent static or dynamic structural analyses.

The CPACS fuselage structure description is suitable for defining standard fuselage configurations including complex load introduction regions suitable for different types of structural analysis.

The work shows exemplary fuselage models generated from the introduced CPACS fuselage description suitable for subsequent static and dynamic structural analyses. As the CPACS standard is available for download, the described definitions may be used by universities, research organizations or the industry.

The work presents the definitions of the fuselage structure within the CPACS schema that were mainly developed by the authors employed at the DLR Institute of Structures and Design. The exemplary applications show models generated completely on the basis of the definitions described in this paper.