This paper presents a numerical approach to evaluate the damping properties of a stay cable with an external viscous damper. The idea is to model the cable by using non-linear corotational beam elements and to study small vibrations around the static deformed equilibrium configuration. This gives a complex eigenvalue problem from which the modal damping ratios can be calculated. The performance of the proposed method is assessed through two numerical applications. Compared with the analytical methods based on differential equations widely used in the literature, the proposed non-linear finite element approach has the advantages that the effect of the sag is considered in an accurate way and that there is no limitation regarding the number and the value of the structural parameters that can be introduced in the model. 

This paper presents a full-scale dynamic testing on a simply supported railway bridge with integrated end-shields, by using a hydraulic exciter. Experimental frequency response functions are determined based on load controlled frequency sweeps. Apart from accurate estimates of natural frequencies, damping and mode shapes, the experimental testing also gives valuable information about the dynamic characteristics at resonance and amplitude dependent nonlinearities. Numerical models are used to simulate the dynamic response from passing trains which is compared to experimental testing of similar train passages. The results show that the bridge deck is partially constrained due to the interaction between the end-shields and the wing walls with the surrounding soil. Measurements at the supports also show that the flexibility of the foundation needs to be accounted for. An updated numerical model is able to accurately predict the response from passing trains. The response is lower than that predicted from the initial simulations and the bridge will fulfil the design requirements regarding vertical deck acceleration.

Precast and prestressed hollow core concrete slabs, that combine low self-weight and high strength, are often used for long span floors. However, this implies that the slabs are also confronted with the issue of human induced floor vibration serviceability. In this paper, experimental results from both hammer-impact and walking tests of a slab consisting of 6 hollow core concrete elements and of dimension 10 m × 1.2 m are presented. Comparisons with results Finite element results are performed. Three different walking paths and four numerical models taken from the literature for the single pedestrian load are considered. The results show that with transversal and diagonal walking paths, the vibrations due to the torsional mode of the slab can be higher than the ones due to the lowest bending mode. They show also that the four pedestrian loads give rather different numerical results.

This article presents an energy-momentum integration scheme for the nonlinear dynamic analysis of planar Euler-Bernoulli beams. The co-rotational approach is adopted to describe the kinematics of the beam and Hermitian functions are used to interpolate the local transverse displacements. In this paper, the same kinematic description is used to derive both the elastic and the inertia terms. The classical midpoint rule is used to integrate the dynamic equations. The central idea, to ensure energy and momenta conservation, is to apply the classical midpoint rule to both the kinematic and the strain quantities. This idea, developed by one of the authors in previous work, is applied here in the context of the co-rotational formulation to the first time. By doing so, we circumvent the nonlinear geometric equations relating the displacement to the strain which is the origin of many numerical difficulties. It is rigorously shown that the proposed method conserves the total energy of the system and, in absence of external loads, the linear and angular momenta remain constant. The accuracy and stability of the proposed algorithm, especially in long term dynamics with a very large number of time steps, is assessed through four numerical examples.

This article presents an energy-momentum integration scheme for the nonlinear dynamic analysis of planar Bernoulli/Timoshenko beams. The co-rotational approach is adopted to describe the kinematics of the beam and Hermitian functions are used to interpolate the local transverse displacements. In this paper, the same kinematic description is used to derive both the elastic and the inertia terms. The classical midpoint rule is used to integrate the dynamic equations. The central idea, to ensure energy and momenta conservation, is to apply the classical midpoint rule to both the kinematic and the strain quantities. This idea, developed by one of the authors in previous work, is applied here in the context of the co-rotational formulation to the first time. By doing so, we circumvent the nonlinear geometric equations relating the displacement to the strain which is the origin of many numerical difficulties. It can be rigorously shown that the proposed method conserves the total energy of the system and, in absence of external loads, the linear and angular momenta remain constant. The accuracy and stability of the proposed algorithm, especially in long term dynamics with a very large number of time steps, is assessed through two numerical examples.

The transient dynamic response of a steel beam-column subjected to impact loading is a complex phenomenon involving large localized plastic deformations and non-smooth contact interactions. Exposed to high intensity of the contact force generated from impact, the beam-column may undergo large displacement and inelastic deformation. Previous research has shown that a calibrated elasto-plastic single degree of freedom system is able to reproduce both the displacement and the force time-history of a steel beam subjected to non-impulsive loading or low-velocity impact. In these models, the static force-displacement curve is derived from either experiments or detailed 3D nonlinear analysis. Tri-linear resistance function has been extensively used to reproduce the different stages of the response including catenary effects. A rigorous treatment of such a complex problem calls for the use of non-smooth analysis tools to handle the impulsive nature of the impact force, the unilateral constraint, the impenetrability condition and the discontinuity of the velocity in a rigorous manner. In this paper, we present a non-smooth elasto-plastic single degree of freedom model under impact loading that permits the use of arbitrary resistance function. Adopting the non-smooth framework offers tools such as differential measures and convex analysis concepts to deal with unilateral contact incorporating Newton’s impact law. The mid-point scheme is adopted to avoid numerical unrealistic energy decay or blowup. Furthermore, the non-penetration condition is numerically satisfied by imposing the constraint at only the velocity level to guarantee energy-momentum conservation [1]. The explicit expression of resistance functions of the beam that are used in the SDOF model are obtained from a simplified nonlinear static analysis of two beam-column models. In the analysis, a linear relation between normal force and bending moment is assumed for the plastification of the hinges. Two proposals to simplify the explicit expressions of the model’s response behavior are given. Performing an energy-based analysis, we predict maximum displacement that is needed to absorb the kinetic energy arising from the impact for different coefficient of restitution. The numerical examples underline the validity of the model by showing good agreement with the predictions of reference models.

Due to their low self-weight and high strength, precast and prestressed hollow core concrete slabs are widely used in construction. However, the combination of low self-weight and long span implies that the slabs are sensitive to vibrations induced by human activities. In this work, experimental tests and numerical analyses are performed in order to understand the dynamic behaviour of hollow core concrete floors. For the experiments, a test floor of dimension 10 m × 7.2 m and consisting of 6 hollow core elements was built. Very good agreements between experimental and numerical results have been obtained. Comprehensive numerical parametric analyses have been performed in order to determine the optimal value of the material parameters.

This report contains a parametric study on the dynamic response of railway bridges on flexible supports. The results are based on simulations using 2D and 3D models. The dynamic stiffness of the supports is described by separate models of the foundation, including relevant stress and strain dependent soil properties from permanent loading that is linearized in a subsequent dynamic analysis. The complex-valued dynamic stiffness constitutes the boundary conditions in a separate analysis of the bridge superstructure that is solved in frequency domain.

Two different foundation types are studied; shallow slab foundation with relatively good ground conditions, and pile group foundations with relatively poor ground conditions. In both cases, the foundation slab and the pile group have fixed geometry. In the parametric study, the corresponding vertical static foundation stiffness range from 2 – 20 GN/m for the slab foundation and 5 – 25 GN/m for the pile group foundation.

For the slab foundations, both the stiffness and damping highly depends on the properties of the soil, foundation depth and geometry of the foundation slab. For the pile group foundations, the stiffness is mainly governed by the pile group and the damping by the soil.

Based on the simulations, the additional damping from the slab foundation is in most cases negligible. Only for relatively soft foundations and short-span bridges significant additional damping is seen. For the pile group foundations, the additional damping is in some cases significant, especially for deeper foundations and short-span bridges. Considering a lower bound of the parametric study does however result in a negligible contribution.

The dynamic response from passing trains show that the assumption of fixed supports in most cases is conservative. However, the flexible supports may result in a lower natural frequency that should be accounted for in order to not underestimate the resonance speed of the train.

If flexible supports are included in a dynamic analysis, both the stiffness and damping component needs to be included. The frequency-domain approach presented in this report is a viable solution technique but is not implemented in most commercial software used in the industry.

This paper presents a new simplified model of the nonlinear dynamic behavior of a steel column subjected to impact loading. In this model, the impacted column, which undergoes large displacement, consists of two rigid bars connected by generalized elastic–plastic hinges where the deformation of the entire steel column as well as the connections is concentrated. The effect of the rest of the structure on the column is modeled by an elastic spring and a point masse both attached to the top end of the column which is also loaded by a compressive force. The plastification of the hinges follows the normality rule with a yield surface that accounts for the interaction between M and N. The latter is described by a super-elliptic yield surface that allows ones to consider a wide range of convex yield criterion by simply varying the roundness factor that affects the shape of the limit surface. By including these features, the model captures both geometry and material nonlinearities. Both the flow rule and the equations of motion are integrated using the midpoint scheme that conserves energy. The non-smooth nature of impact is considered by writing the equations of motion of colliding masses using differential measures. Contact conditions are written in terms of velocity and combined with Newton's law to provide the constitutive law describing interactions between masses during impact. Numerical applications show that the model is able to capture the behavior of a column subjected to impact.