112,857 research outputs found
Live Project: Understanding the Design Process from Project Brief to Post Occupancy Evaluation
Out-of-plane seismic response of stone masonry walls: experimental and analytical study of real piers
This paper presents the application of an existing simplified displacement-based procedure to the
characterization of the nonlinear force-displacement relationship for the out-of-plane behaviour of
unreinforced traditional masonry walls. According to this procedure, tri-linear models based on three
different energy based criteria were constructed and confronted with three experimental tests on
existing stone masonry constructions. Moreover, a brief introduction is presented regarding the main
characteristics of the in situ cyclic testing recently carried out using distributed loads, as well as results
obtained during the experimental campaigns performed. The comparison between the experimental and the analytical results are presented and discussed
Out-of-plane in situ cyclic testing of unreinforced stone masonry walls with distributed loads
The present paper reports an in situ experimental test campaign carried out on existing
buildings, in order to investigate the seismic behaviour of traditional masonry walls subject to
out-of-plane loads. For the testing proposes, an experimental test setup based on a selfequilibrated
scheme was developed and optimized to be applied in situ in two specimens on
original and strengthened conditions. The obtained results are presented and carefully
discussed namely from the reinforcement solutions’ efficiency point-of-view, as well as
compared to previous experimental data obtained for the same type of masonry walls.
Additionally, a simplified linearized displacement-based procedure was adapted in order to
characterize the nonlinear force-displacement relationship for unreinforced traditional
masonry walls and to analytically predict the experimental test results. The confrontation
between the experimental and the analytical results are presented and discussed
Structural optimisation problem in support to building retrofitting decision
Various analysis methods, either linear elastic or non-linear, static or dynamic, are available for the performance analysis of existing buildings. Despite its advantages, it must be admitted that non-linear time history analysis can frequently become overly complex and impractical for general use as a first assessment. Simplified models, as the Capacity Spectrum Method, are frequently not able to accurately assess irregular structures. Considering these limitations, it is proposed and evaluated a simplified MDOF non-linear dynamic model, accounting for non-linear storey behaviour and storey damping. Based on the MDOF non-linear dynamic model, were developed optimization algorithms for the redesign of existing non-seismically designed structures. The optimization procedure searches for the optimum storey strengthening distribution (strength, stiffness or damping) in order to meet specific performance requirements, in terms of maximum inter-storey drift for a given seismic demand level. Numerical examples are presented in order to illustrate the capability of methodology
Tricriticality and Reentrance in a Naive Spin-Glass Model
In this paper a spin-1 spin-glass model under the presence of a uniform
crystal field is investigated. It is shown that the model presents both
continuous and first-order phase transition separated by a tricritical point.
The phase diagram is obtained within the replica-symmetric solution and
exhibits reentrance phenomena at low temperatures. Possibly it is the simplest
model which can describe inverse freezing phenomena.Comment: 12 pages, 1 figur
Homological Domination in Large Random Simplicial Complexes
In this paper we state the homological domination principle for random
multi-parameter simplicial complexes, claiming that the Betti number in one
specific dimension (which is explicitly determined by the probability
multi-parameter) significantly dominates the Betti numbers in all other
dimensions. We also state and discuss evidence for two interesting conjectures
which would imply a stronger version of the homological domination principle,
namely that generically homology of a random simplicial complex coincides with
that of a wedges of k-dimensional spheres. These two conjectures imply that
under an additional assumption (specified in the paper) a random simplicial
complex collapses to a k-dimensional complex homotopy equivalent to a wedge of
spheres of dimension k.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figur
Viscous heating effects in fluids with temperature-dependent viscosity: triggering of secondary flows
Viscous heating can play an important role in the dynamics of fluids with
strongly temperature-dependent viscosities because of the coupling between the
energy and momentum equations. The heat generated by viscous friction produces
a local temperature increase near the tube walls with a consequent decrease of
the viscosity and a strong stratification in the viscosity profile. The problem
of viscous heating in fluids was investigated and reviewed by Costa & Macedonio
(2003) because of its important implications in the study of magma flows.
Because of the strong coupling between viscosity and temperature, the
temperature rise due to the viscous heating may trigger instabilities in the
velocity field, which cannot be predicted by a simple isothermal Newtonian
model. When viscous heating produces a pronounced peak in the temperature
profile near the walls, a triggering of instabilities and a transition to
secondary flows can occur because of the stratification in the viscosity
profile. In this paper we focus on the thermal and mechanical effects caused by
viscous heating. We will present the linear stability equations and we will
show, as in certain regimes, these effects can trigger and sustain a particular
class of secondary rotational flows which appear organised in coherent
structures similar to roller vortices. This phenomenon can play a very
important role in the dynamics of magma flows in conduits and lava flows in
channels and, to our knowledge, it is the first time that it has been
investigated by a direct numerical simulation.Comment: 18 pages manuscript, 10 figures, to be published in Journal of Fluid
Mechanics (2005
- …