Reduced Order Models for Profiled Steel Diaphragm Panels

The objective of this paper is to provide progress on development and validation of reduced order models for the in plane strength and stiffness of profiled steel panels appropriate for use in structural models of an entire building. Profiled steel panels, i.e, metal deck, often serve as a key distribution element in building lateral force resisting systems. Acting largely as an in-plane shear diaphragm, metal deck as employed in walls, roofs, and floors plays a key role in creating and driving three-dimensional building response. As structural modeling evolves from two-dimensional frameworks to fully three-dimensional buildings, accurate and computationally efficient models of profiled steel panels are needed. Three-dimensional building response is increasingly required by ever-evolving structural standards, particularly in seismic design, and structural efficiency demands that the benefits of three-dimensional response be leveraged in design. Equivalent orthotropic plate models provide a potential reduced order model for profiled steel panels that is investigated in this paper. A recent proposal for the rigidities in such a model are assessed against shell finite element models of profiled steel panels. In addition, the impact of discrete connections and discrete panels, as occurs in an actual roof system, are assessed when applying these reduced order models. Extension of equivalent orthotropic plate models to elastic buckling and strength, in addition to stiffness, both represent work in progress, but initial results are provided. Examples show that equivalent orthotropic plate models must be used with care to yield useful results. This effort is an initial step in developing efficient whole building models that accurately incorporate the behavior of profiled steel panels as diaphragms

Image-Based Photo Hulls

We present an efficient image-based rendering algorithm that computes photo hulls of a scene photographed from multiple viewpoints. Our algorithm, called image-based photo hulls (IBPH), like the image-based visual hulls (IBVH) algorithm from Matusik et. al. (2000) on which it is based, takes advantage of epipolar geometry to efficiently reconstruct the geometry and visibility of a scene. Our IBPH algorithm differs from IBVH in that it utilizes the color information of the images to identify the scene geometry. These additional color constraints often result in a more accurately reconstructed geometry, which projects to better synthesized virtual views of the scene. We demonstrate our algorithm running in a real-time 3D telepresence application using video data acquired from four viewpoints

Multi-resolution space carving using level set methods

We present a multi-resolution space carving algorithm that reconstructs a 3D model of a visual scene photographed by a calibrated digital camera placed at multiple viewpoints. Our approach employs a level set framework for reconstructing the scene. Unlike most standard space carving approaches, our level set approach produces a smooth reconstruction composed of manifold surfaces. Our method outputs a polygonal model, instead of a collection of voxels. We texture-map the reconstructed geometry using the photographs, and then render the model to produce photo-realistic new views of the scene

Seismic Computational Analysis of CFS-NEES Building

The objective of this paper is to explore computational modeling of a coldformed steel framed building subjected to earthquake excitation. The selected two-story building will be subjected to full-scale motion on a shaking table in 2013 as part of the National Science Foundation funded Cold-Formed Steel – Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (CFS-NEES) project. The ledger-framed building employs load bearing cold-formed steel members throughout (wall, floors, and roofs) and employs OSB sheathed shear walls and an OSB sheathed diaphragm for the lateral force resisting system. Two- and three-dimensional analysis models capable of providing vibration, pushover, linear and nonlinear time history analysis are created in OpenSees. To date, the key nonlinearity investigated in the models is the characterization of the shear walls. The shear walls are either modeled as (a) elastic perfectly plastic, consistent with “state of the practice” level knowledge from AISI-S213 or (b) fully hysteretic with pinching and strength degradation based on shear walls tests conducted specifically for this building. The impact of the diaphragm stiffness is also investigated. Interaction of the lateral and gravity system, interaction of the joists, ledger, and walls, and the impact of openings on the diaphragm all remain for future work. The model is being employed to help determine the predicted experimental performance and develop key sensor targets in the response. In addition, the model will be used in incremental dynamic analysis to explore seismic performance-based design and sensitivity to model fidelity (2D, 3D, etc.) for cold-formed steel framed buildings

Seismic Modeling and Incremental Dynamic Analysis of the Cold-Formed Steel Framed CFS-NEES Building

The objective of this paper is to present seismic modeling of a two-story cold-formed steel (CFS) framed building. The selected building, known as the CFSNEES building, was designed to current U.S. standards and then subjected to full-scale shake table tests under the U.S. National Science Foundation Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES) program. Test results showed that the building’s stiffness and capacity was considerably higher than expected and the building suffered only non-structural damage and no permanent drift, even at maximum considered earthquake (per ASCE 7 and the selected California site) level. Past modeling, including that of the authors, largely focused on nonlinear hysteretic modeling of the shear walls. The test results indicate that additional building elements must be considered to develop an accurate characterization of the strength, stiffness, and ductility of the building. Advanced 3D models were developed in OpenSees to accurately depict the lateral response and included all structural and non-structural framing and sheathing, explicit diaphragm modeling, and nonlinear boundary conditions to capture bearing load paths. This paper details the modeling techniques adopted and typical results including comparison with experiments. The impact of the various modeling assumptions on the results is also explored to provide a measure of system sensitivity. In addition, incremental dynamic analysis was performed on the building model and the results post-processed consistent with the FEMA P695 protocol. For the CFS-NEES building, designed to current standards, results indicate that the advanced model predicts an acceptable collapse margin ratio. In the future, the modeling protocols established here provide a means to analyze a suite of CFS-framed archetype buildings and provide further insight on seismic response modification coefficients

The Ginzburg-Landau Free Energy Functional of Color Superconductivity at Weak Coupling

We derive the Ginzburg-Landau free energy functional of color superconductivity in terms of the thermal diagrams of QCD in its perturbative region. The zero mode of the quadratic term coefficient yields the same transition temperature, including the pre-exponential factor, as the one obtained previously from the Fredholm determinant of the two quark scattering amplitude. All coefficients of the free energy can be made identical to those of a BCS model by setting the Fermi velocity of the latter equal to the speed of light. We also calculate the induced symmetric color condensate near $T_c$ and find that it scales as the cubic power of the dominant antisymmetric color component. We show that in the presence of an inhomogeneity and a nonzero gauge potential, while the color-flavor locked condensate dominates in the bulk, the unlocked condensate, the octet, emerges as a result of a simultaneous color-flavor rotation in the core region of a vortex filament or at the junction of super and normal phases.Comment: 32 pages, Plain Tex, 3 figure

Fastener-Based Computational Models with Application to Cold-Formed Steel Shear Walls

The objective of this paper is to validate a tool that design engineers could employ to develop mechanics-based predictions of the lateral response of wood-sheathed cold-formed steel (CFS) framed shear walls applicable in a wide variety of situations. Wood framed shear walls enjoy a variety of tools, most notably SAPWood and its predecessor CASHEW, that provide a means to predict the complete hysteretic behavior of a shear wall based on the nail fastener schedule and board selection. The existence of these tools helps engineers in unique design situations, encourages innovation in shear wall design particularly for Type I shear walls, and provides enabling modeling details critical for seismic performance-based design. Recently, as part of the CFS-NEES effort, the cyclic performance of CFS stud-to-sheathing connections has been characterized. In addition, the cyclic performance of full CFS shear walls, utilizing the same connections, has also been characterized. This paper explores an engineering model implemented in OpenSees that directly employs the fastener-based characterization as the essential nonlinearity in a CFS framed shear wall. CFS shear wall framing is modeled with beam elements, hold downs are modeled with linear springs, sheathing is modeled as a rigid diaphragm, and the stud-to-sheathing connections as zero-length springs utilizing the Pinching04 material model in OpenSees. Production, analysis, and post-processing of the model are automated with custom Matlab scripts that form the basis for a future engineering tool. The model is validated against monotonic and cyclic shear wall tests, and is shown to have good agreement. In addition to providing a mechanical means to assess shear walls, high fidelity shell finite element models are completed in ABAQUS to shed additional light on the mechanics-based OpenSees model. The long-term goal of the modelling is to provide a reliable means to predict the lateral response of any CFS framed system that relies on connection deformations, such as gravity walls or wood-sheathed floor diaphragms in addition to shear walls

Methods for Volumetric Reconstruction of Visual Scenes

In this paper, we present methods for 3D volumetric reconstruction of visual scenes photographed by multiple calibrated cameras placed at arbitrary viewpoints. Our goal is to generate a 3D model that can be rendered to synthesize new photo-realistic views of the scene. We improve upon existing voxel coloring/space carving approaches by introducing new ways to compute visibility and photo-consistency, as well as model infinitely large scenes. In particular, we describe a visibility approach that uses all possible color information from the photographs during reconstruction, photo-consistency measures that are more robust and/or require less manual intervention, and a volumetric warping method for application of these reconstruction methods to large-scale scenes