The Richards’ equation describes the flow phenomenon in unsaturated porous media and is essential to hydrology and environmental science. This study evaluated the numerical stability of two different forms of the Richards’ equation. Sensitivity analyses were performed to investigate the control parameters of the equation. The results show that the h-form Richards’ equation has better applicability for calculating variable saturation flows than the θ-form Richards’ equation. For the h-form Richards’ equation, the hydraulic conductivity of the soil in the low-suction range and the specific moisture capacity in the high-suction range primarily influenced the solution. In addition, sensitivity analyses indicated that the saturated hydraulic conductivity, initial condition, and air-entry pressure have a higher sensitivity to the simulation results than the saturated water content, rainfall intensity, and decline rate of hydraulic conductivity. Moreover, their correctness needs to be guaranteed first in numerical simulations. The research findings can provide a helpful reference for improving the reliability of numerical simulations of unsaturated flows.

Based on the domain reduction idea and artificial boundary substructure method, this paper proposes an FK-FEM hybrid approach by integrating the advantages of FK and FEM (i.e., FK can efficiently generate high-frequency three translational motion, while FEM has rich elements types and constitutive models). An advantage of this approach is that it realizes the entire process simulation from point dislocation source to underground structure. Compared with the plane wave field input method, the FK-FEM hybrid approach can reflect the spatial variability of seismic motion and the influence of source and propagation path. This approach can provide an effective solution for seismic analysis of underground structures under scenario of earthquake in regions where strong earthquakes may occur but are not recorded, especially when active faults, crustal, and soil parameters are available. Taking Daikai subway station as an example, the seismic response of the underground structure is simulated after verifying the correctness of the approach and the effects of crustal velocity structure and source parameters on the seismic response of Daikai station are discussed. In this example, the influence of velocity structure on the maximum interlayer displacement angle of underground structure is 96.5% and the change of source parameters can lead to the change of structural failure direction.

The seismic analysis of a viscoelastic half-space under two-dimensional (2D) oblique incident waves is carried out by the finite/infinite element method (FIEM). First, the frequency-domain exact solutions for the displacements and stresses of the free field are derived in general form for arbitrary incident P and SV waves. With the present formulation, no distinction needs to be made for SV waves with over-critical incident angles that make the reflected P waves disappear, while no critical angle exists for P waves. Next, the equivalent seismic forces of the earthquake (Taft Earthquake 1952) imposed on the near-field boundary are generated by combining the solutions for unit ground accelerations with the earthquake spectrum. Based on the asymmetric finite/infinite element model, the frequency-domain motion equations for seismic analysis are presented with the key parameters selected. The results obtained in frequency and time domain are verified against those of Wolf’s, Luco and de Barros’ and for inversely computed ground motions. The parametric study indicated that distinct phase difference exists between the horizontal and vertical responses for SV waves with over-critical incident angles, but not for under-critical incident angles. Other observations were also made for the numerical results inside the text.

In this study, a static shear energy algorithm is presented for the damage assessment of beam-like structures. According to the energy release principle, the strain energy of a damaged element suddenly changes when structural damage occurs. Therefore, the change in the static shear energy is employed to determine the damage locations in beam-like structures. The static shear energy is derived from the spectral factorization of the elementary stiffness matrix and structural deflection variation. The advantage of using shear energy as opposed to total energy is that only a few deflection data points of the beam structure are required during the process of damage identification. Another advantage of the proposed approach is that damage detection can be performed without establishing a structural finite-element model in advance. The proposed technique is first validated using a numerical example with single, multiple, and adjacent damage scenarios. A channel steel beam and rectangular concrete beam are employed as experimental cases to further verify the proposed approach. The results of the simulation and experiment examples indicate that the proposed algorithm provides a simple and effective method for defect localization in beam-like structures.

This study proposes a shape optimization method for K6 aluminum alloy spherical reticulated shells with gusset joints, considering geometric, material, and joint stiffness nonlinearities. The optimization procedure adopts a genetic algorithm in which the elastoplastic non-linear buckling load is selected as the objective function to be maximized. By confinement of the adjustment range of the controlling points, optimization results have enabled a path toward achieving a larger elastoplastic non-linear buckling load without changing the macroscopic shape of the structure. A numerical example is provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. In addition, the variation in structural performance during optimization is illustrated. Through parametric analysis, practical design tables containing the parameters of the optimized shape are obtained for aluminum alloy spherical shells with common geometric parameters. To explore the effect of material nonlinearity, the optimal shapes obtained based on considering and not considering material non-linear objective functions, the elastoplastic and elastic non-linear buckling loads, are compared.

Reduced web section (RWS) connections can prevent lateral-torsional buckling and web local buckling experienced by reduced beam section (RBS) connections. In RWS connections, removing a large portion of web can result in shear demand intolerance induced to plastic hinge region. The present study aims to resolve the problems of RBS and RWS connections by proposing two new connections: (1) RBS with stiffener (RBS-ST) and (2) RBS with reduced web (RW-RBS) connections. In the first connection (RBS-ST), a series of stiffeners is connected to the beam in the reduced flange region, while the second connection (RW-RBS) considers both a reduction in flanges and a reduction in web. Five beam-to-column joints with three different connections, including RBS, RBS-ST, and RW-RBS connections were considered and simulated in ABAQUS. According to the results, RBS-ST and RW-RBS connections can decrease or even eliminate lateral-torsional buckling and web local buckling in RBS connection. It is important to note that RW-RBS connection is more effective in long beams with smaller shear demands in the plastic hinge region. Moreover, results showed that RBS and RW-RBS connections experienced strength degradation at 4% to 5% drift, while no strength degradation was observed in RBS-ST connection until 8% drift.

This article aims to propose a finite element formulation based on Quasi-3D theory for the static bending analysis of functionally graded porous (FGP) sandwich plates. The FGP sandwich plates consist of three layers including the bottom skin of homogeneous metal, the top skin of fully ceramic and the FGP core layer with uneven porosity distribution. A quadrilateral (Q4) element with nine degrees of freedom (DOFs) per node is derived and employed in analyzing the static bending response of the plate under uniform and/or sinusoidally distributed loads. The accuracy of the present finite element formulation is verified by comparing the obtained numerical results with the published results in the literature. Then, some numerical examples are performed to examine the effects of the parameters including power-law index k and porosity coefficient \xi on the static bending response of rectangular FGP sandwich plates. In addition, a problem with a complicated L-shape model is conducted to illustrate the superiority of the proposed finite element method.

Although fibers are used only infrequently as an additive in concrete in the construction industry, fiber-enhanced concrete is known to provide a wide range of advantages over conventional concrete. The main objective of this study was to investigate the influences of fiber type and content on the mechanical properties and durability of high-performance fiber-reinforced concrete (HPFRC) designed using a novel densified mixture design algorithm with fly ash and rice husk ash. Three types of fiber, including polypropylene (PP) fiber, steel fiber (SF), and hybrid fiber (HF), were considered. Based on the results, the inclusion of fibers decreased HPFRC flowability, regardless of fiber type. Although the compressive strength of HPFRC with 1.6% PP fiber content was 11.2% below that of the reference HPFRC specimen at 91 d of curing age, the 91-d compressive strengths of both SF and HF-enhanced HPFRC specimens were significantly better than that of the reference HPFRC specimen. Furthermore, the HPFRC specimens incorporating SF and HF both exhibited better splitting tensile and flexural strengths as well as less drying shrinkage than the HPFRC specimens incorporating PP fiber. However, the fiber-enhanced specimens, especially those with added SF, registered less surface electrical resistivity and greater vulnerability to chloride ion penetration than the reference HPFRC specimen.

This paper aims to characterize the evolution of the fracture process and the cracking behavior in forta-ferro (FF) and polypropylene (PP) fiber-reinforced concrete under the uniaxial compressive loading using experimental analysis and digital image correlation (DIC) on the surface displacement. For this purpose, 6 mix designs, including two FF volume fractions of 0.10%, and 0.20% and three PP volume fractions of 0.20%, 0.30%, and 0.40%, in addition to a control mix were evaluated according to compressive strength, modulus of elasticity, toughness index, and stress–strain curves. The influence of fibers on the microstructural texture of specimens was analyzed by scanning electron microscope (SEM) imaging. Results show that FF fiber-reinforced concrete specimens demonstrated increased ductility and strength compared to PP fiber. DIC results revealed that the major crack and fracture appeared at the peak load of the control specimen due to brittleness and sudden gain of large lateral strain, while a gradual increase in micro-crack quantity at 75% of peak load was observed in the fiber specimens, which thenbegan to connect with each other up to the final fracture. The accuracy of the results supports DIC as a reliable alternative for the characterization of the fracture process in fiber-reinforced concrete.