Dynamic Response of Infrastructure to Environmentally Induced Loads


Book Description

This book provides state of the art coverage of important current issues in the analysis, measurement, and monitoring of the dynamic response of infrastructure to environmental loads, including those induced by earthquake motion and differential soil settlement. The coverage is in five parts that address numerical methods in structural dynamics, soil–structure interaction analysis, instrumentation and structural health monitoring, hybrid experimental mechanics, and structural health monitoring for bridges. Examples that give an impression of the scope of the topics discussed include the seismic analysis of bridges, soft computing in earthquake engineering, use of hybrid methods for soil–structure interaction analysis, effects of local site conditions on the inelastic dynamic analysis of bridges, embedded models in wireless sensor networks for structural health monitoring, recent developments in seismic simulation methods, and seismic performance assessment and retrofit of structures. Throughout, the emphasis is on the most significant recent advances and new material. The book comprises extended versions of contributions delivered at the DE-GRIE Lab Workshop 2014, held in Thessaloniki, Greece, in November 2014.







Analysis and Design of Retaining Structures Against Earthquakes


Book Description

GSP 60 contains eight papers on retaining structures to withstand earthquakes presented at sessions of the ASCE National Convention, held in Washington, D.C., November 10-14, 1996.




A Better Way to Build


Book Description

While architects have been the subject of many scholarly studies, we know very little about the companies that built the structures they designed. This book is a study in business history as well as civil engineering and construction management. It details the contributions that Charles J. Pankow, a 1947 graduate of Purdue University, and his firm have made as builders of large, often concrete, commercial structures since the company's foundation in 1963. In particular, it uses selected projects as case studies to analyze and explain how the company innovated at the project level. The company has been recognized as a pioneer in "design-build," a methodology that involves the construction company in the development of structures and substitutes negotiated contracts for the bidding of architects' plans. The Pankow companies also developed automated construction technologies that helped keep projects on time and within budget. The book includes dozens of photographs of buildings under construction from the company's archive and other sources. At the same time, the author analyzes and evaluates the strategic decision making of the firm through 2004, the year in which the founder died. While Charles Pankow figures prominently in the narrative, the book also describes how others within the firm adapted the business so that the company could survive a commercial market that changed significantly as a result of the recession of the 1990s. Extending beyond the scope of most business biographies, this book is a study in industry innovation and the power of corporate culture, as well as the story of one particular company and the individuals who created it.




Recommended Seismic Design Criteria for New Steel Moment-Frame Buildings (FEMA 350)


Book Description

This report, FEMA-350 - Recommended Seismic Design Criteria for New Steel Moment-Frame Buildings has been developed by the SAC Joint Venture under contract to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to provide organizations engaged in the development of consensus design standards and building code provisions with recommended criteria for the design and construction of new buildings incorporating moment-resisting steel frame construction to resist the effects of earthquakes. It is one of a series of companion publications addressing the issue of the seismic performance of steel moment-frame buildings. The set of companion publications includes: FEMA-350 - Recommended Seismic Design Criteria for New Steel Moment-Frame Buildings. This publication provides recommended criteria, supplemental to FEMA-302 - 1997 NEHRP Recommended Provisions for Seismic Regulations for New Buildings and Other Structures, for the design and construction of steel moment-frame buildings and provides alternative performance-based design criteria. FEMA-351 - Recommended Seismic Evaluation and Upgrade Criteria for Existing Welded Steel Moment-Frame Buildings. This publication provides recommended methods to evaluate the probable performance of existing steel moment-frame buildings in future earthquakes and to retrofit these buildings for improved performance. FEMA-352 - Recommended Postearthquake Evaluation and Repair Criteria for Welded Steel Moment-Frame Buildings. This publication provides recommendations for performing postearthquake inspections to detect damage in steel moment-frame buildings following an earthquake, evaluating the damaged buildings to determine their safety in the postearthquake environment, and repairing damaged buildings. FEMA-353 - Recommended Specifications and Quality Assurance Guidelines for Steel Moment-Frame Construction for Seismic Applications. This publication provides recommended specifications for the fabrication and erection of steel moment frames for seismic applications. The recommended design criteria contained in the other companion documents are based on the material and workmanship standards contained in this document, which also includes discussion of the basis for the quality control and quality assurance criteria contained in the recommended specifications. The information contained in these recommended design criteria, hereinafter referred to as Recommended Criteria, is presented in the form of specific design and performance evaluation procedures together with supporting commentary explaining part of the basis for these recommendations.




Computational Structural Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering


Book Description

The increasing necessity to solve complex problems in Structural Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering requires the development of new ideas, innovative methods and numerical tools for providing accurate numerical solutions in affordable computing times. This book presents the latest scientific developments in Computational Dynamics, Stochastic Dynam




Hybrid Simulation


Book Description

Hybrid Simulation: Theory, Implementation and Applications deals with a rapidly evolving technology combining computer simulation (typically finite element) and physical laboratory testing of two complementary substructures. It is a multidisciplinary technology which relies heavily on control theory, computer science, numerical techniques and finds applications in aerospace, civil, and mechanical engineering.




A Modern Approach to Regression with R


Book Description

This book focuses on tools and techniques for building regression models using real-world data and assessing their validity. A key theme throughout the book is that it makes sense to base inferences or conclusions only on valid models. Plots are shown to be an important tool for both building regression models and assessing their validity. We shall see that deciding what to plot and how each plot should be interpreted will be a major challenge. In order to overcome this challenge we shall need to understand the mathematical properties of the fitted regression models and associated diagnostic procedures. As such this will be an area of focus throughout the book. In particular, we shall carefully study the properties of resi- als in order to understand when patterns in residual plots provide direct information about model misspecification and when they do not. The regression output and plots that appear throughout the book have been gen- ated using R. The output from R that appears in this book has been edited in minor ways. On the book web site you will find the R code used in each example in the text.




Random Vibration in Mechanical Systems


Book Description

Random Vibration in Mechanical Systems focuses on the fundamental facts and theories of random vibration in a form particularly applicable to mechanical engineers. The book first offers information on the characterization and transmission of random vibration. Discussions focus on the normal or Gaussian random process; excitation-response relations for stationary random processes; response of a single-degree-of-freedom system to stationary random excitation; wide-band and narrow-band random processes; and frequency decomposition of stationary random processes. The text then examines failure due to random vibration, including failure due to first excursion up to a certain level; fatigue failure due to a stationary narrow-band random stress process; failure due to an accumulation of damage; failure due to response remaining above a certain level for too great a fraction of the time; and failure mechanisms. The manuscript is a vital reference for mechanical engineers and researchers interested in random vibration in mechanical systems.




Elements of Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics


Book Description

Earthquake engineering is the ultimate challenge for structural engineers. Even if natural phenomena such as earthquakes involve great uncertainties, structural engineers need to design buildings, bridges, and dams capable of resisting the destructive forces produced by earthquakes. However, structural engineers must rely on the expertise of other specialists to realize these projects. Thus, this book not only focuses on structural analysis and design, but also discusses other disciplines, such as geology, seismology, and soil dynamics, providing basic knowledge in these areas so that structural engineers can better interact with different specialists when working on earthquake engineering projects."