Galerkin Meshless Formulations for 3D Beam Problems

The main idea of meshless methods is to approximate the unknown field by a linear combination of shape functions built without having recourse to a mesh of the domain. The computational domain is discretized using a set of scattered nodes. The shape functions associated with a given node is then built considering the weight functions whose support overlaps the one of the weight function of this node; thus, there is actually no need to establish connectivities between the different nodes as in the finite element method. Monte-Carlo integration techniques are promising schemes in the context of meshless techniques. The purpose of the present paper is to implement in EFG a new body integration technique for the evaluation of the stiffness matrix that does not rely on a partition of the domain into cells, but rather points. Numerical examples based on three-dimensional elasticity problems are presented to examine the accuracy and convergence of the proposed method. In this context, Quasi-Monte Carlo integration techniques are used. The results are compared to traditional EFG. Conclusions are drawn concerning the proposed techniques and its capabilities

Methods to Reduce the Risk to Wind Action of the Fixing Systems of Sollar Collectors

The interest in the non-conventional energy resources, a consequence of the severe restrictions imposed towards pollution of any kind, arises again the interest in using solar collectors. Implanting them on the terraces of new or existent home residencies, or any kind of other buildings, means to solve a sum of engineering problems, among them being also the stages of safely designing the plane panels for collectors and the sustaining skeleton, made in steel as well as the fixing systems adopted for the interface with the building itself. The necessity of considering the maximum wind speeds actions along other dynamic effects of its turbulence is the result of a many years experience, specially if one must also think in terms of efficiency and costs both for construction and exploitation. The pattern of the wind flow field suffers intricate alterations in the proximity of these collectors placed in the vicinity of the building surface and, in these situations, it is common to test the models at a reduced scale in wind tunnels with atmospheric boundary layers. The experimental study presented in this paper was undertaken in the Laboratory of Aerodynamics of the Faculty of Construction and Building Services in Iaşi and it reveals the results and the conclusions drawn from the analysis of the wind flow over a row of collectors differently arranged in order to evaluate the wind pressure coefficients used in design

Effect of Superficial Atmospheric Corrosion Upon the Internal Stresses in Structural Steel Elements

A research program is presented showing the stress status determined by the corrosion phenomenon inside a specimen of a structural steel element. Several stains are studied their diameters ranging from 1~mm to 6~mm and thickness of the corroded layer under 0.5~mm. The physical modeling is the result of testing in laboratory the phenomenon of superficial atmospheric corrosion and the numerical modeling was developed under a FEM program, ALGOR. A number of 3,200 finite elements of BRICK type were created and the evolution of normal and tangential stresses was scrutinized under the process of loosing elementary material transformed into scrap. Stresses in the damaged sphere were graphically put into evidence and determined with accuracy due to the performances of the program, showing the local perturbations and the pattern of stress concentrators. The studies showed the importance of reproducing with both physical and mathematical methods the intricate mechanism and sometimes unpredictable effects of corrosion phenomenon upon the structural steel elements

Study on the snow drifting modelling criteria in boundary layer wind tunnels

The paper presents a study on modelling the wind drifting of the snow deposited on the flat roofs of buildings in wind tunnel. The physical model of snow drifting in wind tunnel simulating the urban exposure to wind action is not frequently reported in literature, but is justified by the serious damages under accidental important snow falls combined with strong wind actions on the roofs of various buildings. A uniform layer of snow deposited on the flat roof was exposed to wind action in order to obtain the drifting. The parameters involved in the modelling at reduced scale, with particles of glass beads, of the phenomenon of transportation of the snow from the roof were analysed, particularly the roughness length and the friction wind speed. A numerical simulation in ANSYS CFX program was developed in parallel, by which a more accurate visualization of the particularities of the wind flow over the roof was possible, in the specific areas where the phenomenon of snow transportation was more susceptible to occur. Modified roughness length and friction wind speed were determined through methods used in the literature, an attempt being made in this work to analyse the factors that influence their values