正交异性钢桥面板典型疲劳细节变形与裂纹尖端应力分析

为了解车轮荷载作用对正交异性钢桥面板典型疲劳细节的影响,以长门特大桥为背景,采用有限元法建立正交异性钢桥面板节段模型及易开裂部位的子模型,分析在不同横向荷载分布下3处典型疲劳细节受力及面内外变形,得到各细节最不利加载位置。对最不利位置进行加载,分析疲劳裂纹尖端应力强度因子变化规律,研究不同疲劳细节裂纹类型及扩展能力。结果表明:单轮荷载作用下,横隔板弧形缺口位置会发生面内外变形,顶板-U肋焊根处以面外变形为主,横隔板间的顶板-U肋焊缝焊根位置面外变形最大。在裂纹较短时,随着长度的增加,弧形缺口裂纹从张开型裂纹逐渐转向张开型、滑开型混合裂纹,且横隔板处的顶板-U肋焊根裂纹为复合型裂纹,横隔板间的顶板-U肋焊根裂纹为张开型裂纹。横隔板弧形缺口裂纹和顶板-U肋焊缝焊根裂纹的尖端应力强度因子的最大值,分别出现在裂纹长度为20 mm和40 mm附近,该处裂纹较容易继续扩展。     

信号培训系统的虚实互动机制研究

从信号培训系统目前存在的问题出发,提出一种虚实互动的机制来构建信号培训系统的方法。研究结果表明,本方法可以针对目前信号培训的特点,建立能够适应不同线路环境,满足不同实物设备组成方式和实训实操要求的信号培训系统。     

基于车激动力响应互相关指标的桥梁基础冲刷诊断方法

针对当前桥梁基础冲刷诊断和检测方法过程复杂、成本高且受环境影响大等问题,提出一种基于车激动力响应互相关指标的桥梁基础冲刷诊断方法。该方法通过桥墩和桥跨不同测点的纵向加速度响应自由衰减段信号的互相关分析,建立基础冲刷诊断指标体系,实现冲刷定位和均匀性诊断。首先,依据互相关函数幅值向量置信度判据指标进行基础冲刷初判;然后,通过响应互相关函数幅值向量因子变化率向量进行冲刷定位,再根据横桥向互相关函数幅值变化率向量诊断冲刷均匀性;并通过统计评估方法提高诊断精度;最后,结合1座连续梁桥算例进行多种冲刷工况的数值仿真分析,对所提方法的有效性和适用性进行验证。结果表明：该方法能够很好地实现基础冲刷的定位和均匀性诊断,指标具有较高敏感性;同时具有较好的抗噪性能,通过所提出诊断指标体系的综合使用可消除噪声对诊断结果的干扰。该方法具有诊断结果精度高、过程简便易行、无需进行复杂且误差较大的模态识别、允许试验测试参数和条件适量变化等优点,可嵌入常规桥梁荷载试验同步开展,具有很好的工程应用潜力和实用价值。     

Centrifuge modelling of pipe-soil interaction in clay with crust layer

Seabed in regions, such as the Gulf of Guinea and North West Shelf of Australia, may exhibit a crust layer where the undrained shear strength can be an order of magnitude higher than that of the immediately underlying sediment. This can complicate design of steel catenary risers, where fatigue depends on the cyclic vertical stiffness of the pipe-soil interaction. Potential punch-through of the riser into the underlying soft soil may invalidate design assumptions based on the pipe-soil stiffness within the crust layer. The long-term evolution of pipe-soil stiffness within the crust layer, which exhibits similar properties to an over-consolidated soil, is also poorly understood. This paper describes centrifuge model tests undertaken in a clay sample with a crust layer, simulating the punch-through process of a pipe under load control and investigating the pipe-soil stiffness during long-term cyclic loading tests under displacement control. Results confirm that the potential for punching-through the crust layer depends strongly on the relative ratio of pipe diameter to crust layer thickness. The long-term evolution of pipe-soil stiffness showed a steady increase after an initial remoulding stage in contractile soils (normally consolidated and lightly over-consolidated), but a steady reduction in the heavily over-consolidated, more dilatant, crust. The magnitude of pipe-soil stiffness changes (during both remoulding and reconsolidation) is governed by the over-consolidation ratio of the soil and the amplitude of the cyclic displacements. This study provides insights on the relevant cyclic stiffness to consider when assessing SCR fatigue life in over-consolidated soils and soils exhibiting a superficial crust layer.     

A coupled numerical approach to simulate the effect of earthquake frequency content on seismic behavior of submarine tunnel

Roughly 90% of all natural vibrations have epicenters in offshore zones and may cause destruction of submarine and floating structures. Such excitations can influence the safe performance of facilities set up on the seabed, like tunnels, jacket legs and subsea oil pipelines. Some researches on this theme have been carried out to demonstrate the importance of seaquake analyses and their effects have been underlined. The present study intends to numerically simulate a two-dimensional fluid-structure interaction (FSI) problem in order to examine the dynamic response of submarine tunnel under real horizontal earthquakes. Pressure is considered as independent nodal variables to represent the fluid flow effects and the induced time-dependent acceleration in porous medium equation is incorporated in the analysis and the tunnel shell is considered as flexible. This work highlights the importance of the input ground motion frequency content that governs the development of the induced seismic stress/strain around the lining of the tunnel. The results demonstrate that for deep sea the increment rate of the circumferential stress caused by surface gravity waves is below 7% when compared to the no-wave interface condition. Moreover, it is confirmed that long-period record may amplify the overall response of the system (up to 60%) specially the lateral and vertical displacements, as well as the principal stress to a lesser extent. The developed numerical model can attend to further analysis of tunnels embedded in a half-space in conjunction with fluid undergoing the severe long-period earthquakes.     

Time-domain coupled dynamic simulation for SFT-mooring-train interaction in waves and earthquakes

In this study, Submerged Floating Tunnel (SFT)-mooring-train coupled dynamics is solved in the time domain to investigate their dynamic and hydro-elastic interactions under wave and earthquake excitations. The SFT is modeled by the rod-FE (finite element) theory, and it is connected to mooring lines through dummy-connection-mass and linear and rotational springs. A 3D rigid-multi-body dynamic model is developed for train dynamics that consists of seven rigid bodies. The tunnel-train interaction is taken into consideration based on the wheel-rail correspondence assumption and the simplified Kalker linear creep theory. The developed computer simulation program is validated through comparisons with commercial programs and published results when possible. In the case of earthquake-induced dynamics of the coupled system, the effects of soil conditions, tunnel length, mooring interval, seismic-wave propagation, and seaquake are investigated. The magnitudes of the SFT downward motions induced by the moving train are small compared with the motions induced by earthquakes. The earthquake causes transient SFT responses especially at their lowest wet natural frequencies while high-frequency motions are induced by seaquake effect. Structural damping and seismic propagation play an important role in dynamic responses. The interaction of the tunnel and moving train is also evaluated for various train speeds in terms of the derailment and offload factors and riding-comfort criterion. For the given SFT and train designs, the offload factor and riding-comfort criterion can slightly exceed their limits at certain earthquake conditions with the speed as high as 70 m/s, which can be adjusted by reducing train speed.     

Environmental lumping for efficient fatigue assessment of large-diameter monopile wind turbines

Fatigue damage is one of the governing factors for the design of offshore wind turbines. However, the full fatigue assessment is a time-consuming task. During the design process, the site-specific environmental parameters are usually condensed by a lumping process to reduce the computational effort. Preservation of fatigue damage during lumping requires an accurate consideration of the met-ocean climate and the dynamic response of the structure. Two lumping methods (time-domain and frequency-domain) have been evaluated for a monopile-based 10 MW offshore wind turbine, both based on damage-equivalent contour lines. Fatigue damage from lumped load cases was compared to full long-term fatigue assessment. The lumping methods had an accuracy of 94–98% for the total long-term fatigue damage and 90% for individual wind speed classes, for aligned wind and waves. Fatigue damage was preserved with the same accuracy levels for the whole support structure. A significant reduction of computational time (93%) was achieved compared to a full long-term fatigue assessment. For the cases with 30° and 60° wind-wave misalignment, there was a mean underestimation of approximately 10%. Variations in penetration depth did not affect the selection of the lumped sea-state parameters. This work presents a straightforward method for the selection of damage-equivalent lumped load cases, which can adequately preserve long-term fatigue damage throughout the support structure, providing considerable reduction of computational effort.     

Mode jumping in the lateral buckling of subsea pipelines

Unburied subsea pipelines under high-temperature conditions tend to relieve their axial compressive stress by forming localised lateral buckles. This phenomenon is traditionally studied under the assumption of a specific lateral deflection profile (mode) consisting of a fixed number of lobes. We study lateral thermal buckling as a genuinely localised buckling phenomenon by applying homoclinic (‘flat’) boundary conditions. By not having to assume a particular buckling mode we are in a position to study transitions between these traditional modes in typical loading sequences. For the lateral resistance we take a realistic nonlinear pipe-soil interaction model for partially embedded pipelines. We find that for soils with appreciable breakout resistance, i.e., nonmonotonicity of the lateral resistance characteristic, sudden jumps between modes may occur. We consider both symmetric and antisymmetric solutions. The latter turn out to require much higher temperature differences between pipe and environment for the jumps to be induced. We carry out a parameter study on the effect of various pipe-soil interaction parameters on this mode jumping. Away from the jumps post-buckling solutions are reasonably well described by the traditional modes whose analytical expressions may be used during preliminary design.     

Structural safety assessment procedure for membrane-type LNG CCS considering hydroelasticity effect

As environmental regulations have become more onerous, the demand for LNG and LNG carriers has increased. The LNG cargo containment system (LNG CCS) is one of the most important facilities in LNG carriers, and many membrane types of LNG CCS have been developed so far. Traditionally, sloshing model tests are performed and a series of statistical approaches are used to obtain design sloshing pressures. Then, these design loads are utilized to analyze the structural safety of LNG CCS. In the sloshing model test, the flat and almost rigid plate is used as the LNG CCS instead of a real model, and thus, the hydroelasticity effect cannot be considered. In the present research, the effect of hydroelasticity on sloshing pressure was investigated in a fluid-structure interaction simulation. A wet drop simulation was conducted, and its results subsequently were compared with wet drop experimental test results to ensure their validity. Then, two types of structure model, namely a flat-rigid plate model and a flat-flexible CCS model, were generated to investigate the effect of hydroelasticity. Also, a fluid hitting analysis model was devised to realize the sloshing phenomenon, and the two generated structure models were applied as the structure domain in the analysis. In the fluid hitting simulations, it was found that the hydroelasticity effect on sloshing pressure is significant. Thus, correction factors, which are quantitative values of the effect of hydroelasticity, were derived (and are proposed herein). Finally, a structural safety assessment procedure for consideration of the hydroelasticity effect was derived (and is suggested herein).     

Fitness-for-purpose assessment of cracked offshore wind turbine monopile

In this paper, the procedure for flaw acceptability assessment is examined through a case study of a semi-elliptical surface crack in an offshore monopile as it grows till it forms a through thickness crack. Using the procedure prescribed in an industrial standard (BS 7910), the fracture ratio, K_r is shown to increase monotonically with increasing crack depth. The load ratio, L_r, is initially insensitive to the crack depth. However, there is a rapid increase in L_r when the crack depth to thickness ratio exceeds 80%. L_r values obtained from detailed 3D FE limit analysis using elastic-perfectly-plastic material behaviour do not exhibit the asymptotic behaviour predicted by BS 7910 as the flaw transitions from deep crack to through-thickness crack. Furthermore, K_r predicted by BS 7910 is shown to be an over-estimation for the typical dimensions of offshore monopiles. The findings suggest that a structure with a deep flaw may be identified as unacceptable based on BS 7910 when it may still possess a non-trivial amount of structural residual life. This is a concern for monopiles where crack growth as a large flaw forms a significant part of the total life.