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CONTENTS
Volume 16, Number 4, October 2015
 


Abstract
This paper investigates a magnetoelectric (ME) vibration energy harvester that can scavenge energy in arbitrary directions in a plane as well as wide working bandwidth. In this harvester, a circular cross-section cantilever rod is adopted to extract the external vibration energy due to the capability of it\'s free end oscillating in arbitrary in-plane directions. And permanent magnets are fixed to the free end of the cantilever rod, causing it to experience a non-linear force as it moves with respect to stationary ME transducers and magnets. The magnetically coupled cantilever rod exhibits a nonlinear and two-mode motion, and responds to vibration over a much broader frequency range than a standard cantilever. The effects of the magnetic field distribution and the magnetic force on the harvester\'s voltage response are investigated with the aim to obtain the optimal vibration energy harvesting performances. A prototype harvester was fabricated and experimentally tested, and the experimental results verified that the harvester can extract energy from arbitrary in-plane directions, and had maximum bandwidth of 5.5 Hz, and output power of 0.13 mW at an acceleration of 0.6 g (with g=9.8 ms-2).

Key Words
two-dimensional vibration energy harvesting; nonlinear and two-mode motion; ME transducer; cantilever rod

Address
Jin Yang, Qiangmo Yu, Jiangxin Zhao, Nian Zhao, Yumei Wen and Ping Li: Department of Optoelectronic Engineering, Research Center of Sensors and Instruments, Chongqing, China

Abstract
This paper presents a novel concept of healing some of the damages in wind turbine blades (WTBs) such as cracks and delamination. This is achieved through an inherent functioning autonomous repairing system. Such wind turbine blades have the benefit of reduced maintenance cost and increased operational period. Previous techniques of developing autonomous healing systems uses hollow glass fibres (HGFs) to deliver repairing fluids to damaged sites. HGFs have been reported with some limitations like, failure to fracture, which undermines their further usage. The self-healing technique described in this paper represents an advancement in the engineering of the delivery mechanism of a self-healing system. It is analogous to the HGF system but without the HGFs, which are replaced by multiple hollow channels created within the composite, inherently in the FRP matrix at fabrication. An in-house fabricated NACA 4412 WTB incorporating this array of network hollow channels was damaged in flexure and then autonomously repaired using the vascular channels. The blade was re-tested under flexure to ascertain the efficiency of the recovered mechanical properties.

Key Words
wind turbine blade; self-healing; flexural stiffness; vascular network; fibre reinforced polymer

Address
Omosola Fifo, Kevin Ryan and Biswajit Basu: Department of Civil, Structural & Environmental Engineering, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland

Abstract
Wireless sensor technology has been opened up numerous opportunities to advanced health and maintenance monitoring of civil infrastructure. Compare to the traditional tactics, it offers a better way of providing relevant information regarding the condition of building structure health at a lower price. Numerous domestic buildings, especially longer-span buildings have a low frequency response and challenging to measure using deployed numbers of sensors. The way the sensor nodes are connected plays an important role in providing the signals with required strengths. Out of many topologies, the dense and sparse topologies wireless sensor network were extensively used in sensor network applications for collecting health information. However, it is still unclear which topology is better for obtaining health information in terms of greatest components, node\'s size and degree. Theoretical and computational issues arising in the selection of the optimum topology sensor network for estimating coverage area with sensor placement in building structural monitoring are addressed. This work is an attempt to fill this gap in high-rise building structural health monitoring application. The result shows that, the sparse topology sensor network provides better performance compared with the dense topology network and would be a good choice for monitoring high-rise building structural health damage.

Key Words
wireless sensor network; building structural health monitoring, dense network; sparse network; Optimum topology sensor network

Address
Mohammad E. Haque: Department of Electrical , Electronics and System Engineering, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Selangor, 36000, Bangi, Malaysia
Mohammad F.M. Zain and Mohammad A.Hannan: Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Selangor, 36000, Bangi, Malaysia
Mohammad H. Rahman: School of Engineering and Information Technology, UNSW at the Australian Defense Force Academy, Canberra, Australia

Abstract
This paper presents techniques to harvest higher voltage from piezoelectric cantilever energy harvester by structural alteration. Three different energy harvesting structures are considered namely, stepped cantilever beam, stepped cantilever beam with rectangular and trapezoidal cavity. The analytical model of three energy harvesting structures are developed using Euler-Bernoulli beam theory. The thickness, position of the rectangular cavity and the taper angle of the trapezoidal cavity is found to shift the neutral axis away from the surface of the piezoelectric element which in turn increases the generated voltage. The performance of the energy harvesters is evaluated experimentally and is compared with regular piezoelectric cantilever energy harvester. The analytical and experimental investigations reveal that, the proposed energy harvesting structures generate higher output voltage as compared to the regular piezoelectric cantilever energy harvesting structure. This work suggests that through simple structural modifications higher energy can be harvested from the widely reported piezoelectric cantilever energy harvester.

Key Words
energy harvesting; piezoelectric; stepped beam; rectangular cavity; trapezoidal cavity

Address
A. Rami Reddy, M. Umapathy, D. Ezhilarasi and G. Uma: Department of Instrumentation and Control Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli-620015, TamilNadu, India

Abstract
In this paper, a simple and efficient phenomenological macroscopic one-dimensional model is proposed which is able to simulate main features of shape memory alloys (SMAs) particularly ferro-elasticity effect. The constitutive model is developed within the framework of thermodynamics of irreversible processes to simulate the one-dimensional behavior of SMAs under uniaxial simple tension-compression as well as pure torsion+/- loadings. Various functions including linear, cosine and exponential functions are introduced in a unified framework for the martensite transformation kinetics and an analytical description of constitutive equations is presented. The presented model can be used to reproduce primary aspects of SMAs including transformation/orientation of martensite phase, shape memory effect, pseudo-elasticity and in particular ferro-elasticity. Experimental results available in the open literature for uniaxial tension, torsion and bending tests are simulated to validate the present SMA model in capturing the main mechanical characteristics. Due to simplicity and accuracy, it is expected the present SMA model will be instrumental toward an accurate analysis of SMA components in various engineering structures particularly when the ferro-elasticity is obvious.

Key Words
shape memory alloys; constitutive modeling; martensitic transformation; pseudo-elasticity; ferro-elasticity

Address
A.R. Damanpack and M. Bodaghi:Smart Materials and Structures Laboratory, Department of Mechanical and Automation Engineering,The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China;
Thermo-elasticity Center of Excellence, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
W.H. Liao: Smart Materials and Structures Laboratory, Department of Mechanical and Automation Engineering,
The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
M.M. Aghdam and M. Shakeri:Thermo-elasticity Center of Excellence, Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran




Abstract
The scour induced by strong currents and wave action decreases the embedded length of monopiles and leads to a decrease of their structural stability. The objective of this study is the development and consideration of scour-monitoring techniques for offshore monopile foundations. Tests on physical models are carried out with a model monopile and geo-materials prepared in a cylindrical tank. A strain gauge, two coupled ultrasonic transducers, and ten electrodes are used for monitoring the scour. The natural frequency, ultrasonic reflection images, and electrical resistivity profiles are obtained at various scour depths. The experimental results show that the natural frequency of the model monopile decreases with an increase in the scour depth and that the ultrasonic reflection images clearly detect the scour shape and scour depth. In addition, the electrical resistivity decreases with an increase in scour depth. This study suggests that natural frequency measurement, ultrasonic reflection imaging, and electrical resistivity profiling may be used as effective tools to monitor the scour around an offshore monopile foundation.

Key Words
electrical resistivity; monopole; natural frequency; scour depth; ultrasonic reflection

Address
Yong-Hoon Byun, Kiwon Park and Jong-Sub Lee: School of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering, Korea University, 145, Anam-ro, Sungbuk-gu, Seoul, 136-713, Korea


Abstract
Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR) has been extensively applied for various laboratory and field studies. Numerous different TDR probes are currently available for measuring soil moisture content and detecting interfaces (i.e., due to landslides or structural failure). This paper describes the development of an innovative spiral-shaped TDR probe that features much higher sensitivity and resolution in detecting interfaces than existing ones. Finite element method (FEM) simulations were conducted to assist the optimization of sensor design. The influence of factors such as wire interval spacing and wire diameter on the sensitivity of the spiral TDR probe were analyzed. A spiral TDR probe was fabricated based on the results of computer-assisted design. A laboratory experimental program was implemented to evaluate its performance. The results show that the spiral TDR sensor featured excellent performance in accurately detecting thin water level variations with high resolution, to the thickness as small as 0.06 cm. Compared with conventional straight TDR probe, the spiral TDR probe has 8 times the resolution in detecting the water level changes. It also achieved 3 times the sensitivity of straight TDR probe.

Key Words
time domain reflectometry; TDR; spiral TDR probe; sensor; interface detection; computer-aid design

Address
Quan Gao and Xiong Yu: Department of Civil Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA
Guangxi Wu: Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA


Abstract
Friction isolators are one of the most important types of bearings used to mitigate damages of earthquakes. The adaptive behavior of these isolators allows them to achieve multiple levels of performances and predictable seismic behavior during different earthquake hazard levels. There are three main types of friction isolators. The first generation with one sliding surface is known as Friction Pendulum System (FPS) isolators. The double concave friction pendulum (DCFP) with two sliding surfaces is an advanced form of FPS, and the third one, with fully adaptive behavior, is named as triple concave friction pendulum (TCFP). The current study has been conducted to investigate and compare seismic responses of these three types of isolators. The structure is idealized as a two-dimensional single degree of freedom (SDOF) resting on isolators. The coupled differential equations of motion are derived and solved using state space formulation. Seismic responses of isolated structures using each one of these isolators are investigated under seven near fault earthquake motions. The peak values of bearing displacement and base shear are studied employing the variation of essential parameters such as superstructure period, effective isolation period and effective damping of isolator. The results demonstrate a more efficient seismic behavior of TCFP isolator comparing to the other types of isolators. This efficiency depends on the selected effective isolation period as well as effective isolation damping. The investigation shows that increasing the effective isolation period or decreasing the effective isolation damping improves the seismic behavior of TCFP compared to the other isolators. The maximum difference in seismic responses, the base shear and the bearing displacement, for the TCFP isolator are calculated 26.8 and 13.4 percent less than the DCFP and FPS in effective isolation damping equal to10%, respectively.

Key Words
friction isolators; friction pendulum system; double concave friction pendulum; triple concave friction pendulum; seismic responses; near fault ground motions

Address
Vahid Loghman and Faramarz Khoshnoudian: Faculty of Civil Engineering, AmirKabir University of Technology (Tehran Polytechnic), Hafez St., Tehran, Iran

Abstract
Tuned mass dampers (TMD) are devices employed in vibration control since the beginning of the twentieth century. However, their implementation for controlling the seismic response in civil structures is more recent. While the efficiency of TMD on structures under far-field earthquakes has been demonstrated, the convenience of its employment against near-fault earthquakes is still under discussion. In this context, the study of this type of device is raised, not as an alternative to the seismic isolation, which is clearly a better choice for new buildings, but rather as an improvement in the structural safety of existing buildings. Seismic records with an impulsive character have been registered in the vicinity of faults that cause seismic events. In this paper, the ability of TMD to control the response of structures that experience inelastic deformations and eventually reach collapse subject to the action of such earthquakes is studied. The results of a series of nonlinear dynamic analyses are presented. These analyses are performed on a numerical model of a structure under the action of near-fault earthquakes. The structure analyzed in this study is a steel frame which behaves as a single degree of freedom (SDOF) system. TMD with different mass values are added on the numerical model of the structure, and the TMD performance is evaluated by comparing the response of the structure with and without the control device.

Key Words
tuned mass damper; near fault earthquakes; collapse; non-linear dynamic analyses

Address
Martín Domizio, Daniel Ambrosini and Oscar Curadelli: Structural Engineering Master Program. Engineering Faculty, National University of Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina;
CONICET, National Research Council from Argentina, Argentina


Abstract
This paper presents an advanced life cycle cost (LCC) analysis of a ground source heat pump (GSHP) system and suggests a smart operation mode with a thermal performance test (TPT) and an energy pile system constructed on the site of the Incheon International Airport (IIA). First, an economic analysis of the GSHP system was conducted for the second passenger terminal of the IIA considering actual influencing factors such as government support and the residual value of the equipment. The analysis results showed that the economic efficiency of the GSHP system could be increased owing to several influential factors. Second, a multiple regression analysis was conducted using different independent variables in order to analyze the influence indices with regard to the LCC results. Every independent index, in this case the initial construction cost, lifespan of the equipment, discount rate and the amount of price inflation can affect the LCC results. Third, a GSHP system using an energy pile was installed on the site of the construction laboratory institute of the IIA. TPTs of W-shape and spiral-coil-type GHEs were conducted in continuous and intermittent operation modes, respectively, prior to system operation of the energy pile. A cooling GSHP system in the energy pile was operated in both the continuous and intermittent modes, and the LCC was calculated. Furthermore, the smart operation mode and LCC were analyzed considering the application of a thermal storage tank.

Key Words
life cycle cost; ground source heat pump; energy pile; smart operation mode

Address
Seok Yoon and Seung-Rae Lee: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Korean Advanced Institute for Science and Technology, 291Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 305-701, Republic of Korea



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