The course aims at providing students with theoretical knowledge and practical hands-on experience on the modelling of nonlinear inelastic response of structures subjected to strong earthquake ground motion or other extreme loading scenarios.
Course Prerequisites
The course foresees that students will have followed courses on Structural Mechanics and Linear Structural Analysis.
Teaching Methods
- Lectures - Project tutorials
Assessment Methods
- Undertaking and submission of assigned homeworks - Written exam
Contents
PART A – FINITE ELEMENT NONLINEAR MODELLING OF RC FRAME STRUCTURES - Geometric nonlinearity and material inelasticity in RC frame structures subjected to cyclic loading. Concentrated plasticity vs. Distributed inelasticity modelling. - Displacement-based vs. Force-based beam-column formulations. Fibre sectional analysis. Nonlinear solution procedures. Convergence criteria. - Nonlinear dynamic analysis (NDA). Numerical integration algorithms. Equivalent viscous damping. Numerical damping. Selection of records. Modeling of seismic isolation and dampers. - Incremental dynamic analysis (IDA). Nonlinear static analysis (Pushover). Incremental loading strategies. Adaptive pushover. - Nonlinear Static Procedure (NSP) - N2 method, Capacity Spectrum Method, Adaptive Capacity Spectrum Method - Nonlinear modelling of walls or wall cores, stairs, infills, beam-column joints, rebar slippage, shear deformation, rigid and flexible diaphragms. Modelling of constraints: geometrical transformations, Lagrange multpliers, Penalty functions.
PART B – FINITE ELEMENT NONLINEAR MODELLING OF STEEL FRAME STRUCTURES - Hysteretic behaviour and modelling of welded/bolted connections. Modelling of concentric and eccentric braces, also with shear dissipative links. Nonlinear modelling of braces and connections. - Local instability and racks. Warping in slender cold-formed steel open sections. 7-DOF beam element. Nonlinear response and failure mechanisms of steel racks. Buckling analysis.
PART C – DISCRETE ELEMENT NONLINEAR MODELLING STRUCTURES UNDER EXTREME LOADING - Discrete elements modelling. The Applied Element Modelling (AEM) method; historical development, formulation and applications overview. - Using AEM to explicitely model the collapse of wall cores, masonry structures, buildings and bridges.
