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Organisationseinheit der BAM
- 7 Bauwerkssicherheit (74)
- 7.0 Abteilungsleitung und andere (74)
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Paper des Monats
- ja (3)
Reclassification of bridges, i.e., a change in load rating, using reliability-based methods and a direct update with proof load information has been presented by many authors. However, bridge reclassification has hardly been studied from a decision analytic perspective, i.e., with quantification of the risks and benefits of different classification choices, and the expected benefit gain from proof loading. We derive, explain and exemplify a decision analytic approach for bridge reclassification along with models for (1) elastic and ultimate capacity and their adaptation with proof load information, (2) proof load information with classification outcomes accounting for target reliabilities and, (3) utilities including socio-economic benefits from reclassification. The approach and models are exemplified with a case study based on reclassification of bridges with a low existing classification. Decision rules, for practical use by a highway authority to find the optimal classification, are identified and documented based on: (1) the measurement of the capacity at elastic limit by proof loading, (2) the bridge reclassification benefits, and, (3) the required annual reliability level. From a Value of Information analysis, it is concluded that the proof load information is highly valuable for reclassification in cases of high socio-economic benefits and high reliability requirements.
Die zunehmende Anwendung hochfesten Betons in ermüdungsbelasteten Bauwerken, herausfordernde Belastungsszenarien im Bereich von On- und Offshore Windenergieanlagen bezüglich sehr hoher Lastwechselzahlen sowie das gleichzeitige Streben nach energie- und ressourcenschonendem Bauen stellen die Bemessung von Beton gegen Ermüdung vor neue Aufgaben. Eine Vielzahl von Studien beschreibt bereits die Auswirkung von Einflussfaktoren wie Mischungszusammensetzung, Feuchte, Probekörpergröße oder Belastungsart auf die Ermüdungsfestigkeit und den Ermüdungsprozess. Aufgrund der unterschiedlichen Geometrien und Mischungen der in den verschiedenen Studien verwendeten Proben sind die Auswirkungen der Einflussfaktoren jedoch kaum miteinander vergleichbar. In dem vom Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Klimaschutz (BMWK) geförderten Verbundprojekt WinConFat wurden deshalb verschiedene Einflussfaktoren gezielt an Proben mit einheitlichen Mischungen untersucht. Das durch die Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM) bearbeitete Teilprojekt fokussierte sich auf den „Einfluss der Probengeometrie und -größe auf die Ermüdung von Beton“. Neben der Erhebung von Daten zur Ermüdungsfestigkeit wurde der Ermüdungsprozess mit zerstörungsfreien Prüf- und Messmethoden untersucht. Diese Prüfmethoden wurden auch hinsichtlich ihrer Anwendbarkeit zur Erfassung der ermüdungsbedingten Schädigungsentwicklung an Betonbauwerken im Rahmen von Monitoringkonzepten bewertet. Untersucht wurden die Ermüdungsfestigkeiten und der Ermüdungsprozess an Zylindern mit drei unterschiedlichen Betonmischungen sowie unterschiedlicher Größe und Schlankheit. Die Ergebnisse dieser Untersuchungen werden im Folgenden vorgestellt und diskutiert.
Die heute in der Anwendung befindlichen Bemessungskonzepte für Ermüdung von Beton stammen zum Teil noch aus den 1990er Jahren und sind speziell hinsichtlich hochfester Betone konservativ ausgelegt. Um die Vorteile von Türmen für Windkraftanlagen, vor allem auch aus hochfesten Betonen, im Zuge des geplanten Ausbaus der Windenergieversorgung in Deutschland wirtschaftlich nutzbar zu machen, müssen diese Bemessungskonzepte weiterentwickelt werden. Dafür sind umfangreiche Untersuchungen zur Ermittlung von Bruchlastwechselzahlen und zur Charakterisierung der Schädigungsentwicklung unter Ermüdungsbeanspruchung erforderlich. Allgemein anerkannte bzw. verbindliche Regelwerke oder Verfahren zur experimentellen Bestimmung der Ermüdungsfestigkeit (Bruchlastwechselzahlen) an Betonproben gibt es zurzeit aber nicht und die bisher durchgeführten Untersuchungen variieren in Parametern wie Probengeometrie, Probengröße und Prüffrequenz. Eine vergleichende Analyse der Ergebnisse der Studien und insbesondere die Übertragbarkeit auf bauteilrelevante Abmessungen ist auf dieser Grundlage nur sehr eingeschränkt möglich.
O3BET Quality Protocols
(2023)
Presentation of the process-oriented approach for the development of the quality protocolls (standard operation procedures and work instructions) for the O3BETs. O3BETs are innovative testing facilities for building envelopes which are developed in the course of the Metabuilding Labs EU Horizon 2020 project.
An analytical expression for the frequency response function of a coupled pedestrian-bridge system is presented and evaluated using an experimental measurement campaign performed on the Folke Bernadotte Bridge in Stockholm, Sweden. A finite element model and the modal models that consider the human–structure interaction effect are calibrated with respect to the measurements. The properties of the spring–mass–damper model representing the pedestrians were identified, considering the different structural modes of the system. Good agreement was obtained between the experimental and theoretical frequency response functions. A sensitivity analysis of the obtained solution was performed, validating the determined analytical expression for the frequency response function of the coupled pedestrian-bridge system that takes into account the human–structure interaction effect.
Bewertung der Innenhydrophobierung als neuartige AKR-Vermeidungsstrategie bei Betonfahrbahndecken
(2023)
Zur Vermeidung von AKR-Schäden an Betonfahrbahndecken im deutschen Autobahnnetz wurden mit dem ARS 04/2013 verbindliche Eignungsprüfungen zum Ausschluss alkaliempfindlicher Gesteinskörnungen bei Neubau- und Erhaltungsmaßnahmen eingeführt. Das hatte eine signifikante Reduzierung geeigneter Gesteinskörnungen zur Folge. Deshalb wird geprüft, ob durch die Zugabe eines Hydrophobierungsmittels während der Betonherstellung grenzwertig alkaliempfindliche Gesteinskörnungen nutzbar gemacht werden können. In diesem Beitrag wird der Einfluss der Dosierung eines Compounds mit Hydrophobierungsmittel (HM) auf die Frisch- und Festbetoneigenschaften eines Waschbetons mit einer reaktiven Grauwacke dargestellt. Es zeigt sich, dass aufgrund des Antagonismus die zunehmende Dosierung des HM-Compounds eine signifikante Erhöhung der Zugabe des Luftporenbildners auf Wurzelharzbasis erfordert. Der AKR-Schädigungsprozess wird ab einer Dosierung des HM-Compounds von 0,75 M.-%, bezogen auf den Zementgehalt, hinreichend vermindert. Die mechanischen Eigenschaften des hydrophobierten Waschbetons verschlechtern sich im betrachteten Dosierungsbereich des HM-Compounds nur geringfügig. Auch der Frost-Tausalz-Widerstand vermindert sich, ohne den normativen Grenzwert für die Abwitterung zu überschreiten.
Proof load testing may be performed to confirm the reliability of the bridge for an existing classification or to prove the reliability for a higher classification. In this paper, a probabilistic decision analysis approach is applied to the scenario for the evaluation of target proof load in the situation where information on the bridge resistance model is lacking. In this case, the resistance model is established by proof loading and taking very basic prior knowledge into account. The decision scenario is modelled in the context of the proof load test planner who shall choose the required load level for assessment of a bridge. The choice of the load level depends on the risks due to the testing and the expected benefit gain from the test. Information acquired about the loading response from monitoring during the proof load testing is modelled by taking basis in the model uncertainty formulation. The optimal proof load level for classification of a single lane, simply supported bridge of 8m span subjected to live load from very heavy (gross weight > 80 tons) transport vehicles was calculated. The optimal proof load level was identified as leading to a positive expected benefit gain to the decision maker while also satisfying target reliability criteria for remaining service life. The analysis was performed for the evaluation of bridge performance with respect to five classifications of very heavy transport vehicles with different vehicle weights and configurations.
Lithium-ion batteries are a key technology to achieve the goals of limiting climate change due to the important role as traction technology for Electric Vehicles and in stationary energy storage systems. Over(dis) charge, mechanical damage due to accidents or thermal abuse such as fires can initiate an accelerated self-heating process of the batteries, called thermal runaway. A thermal runaway can propagate from cell to cell within a larger assembly of cells such as modules or battery packs and can cause rapid heat and toxic gas emissions. The resulting battery fire can spread to adjacent facilities, e.g. other cars in underground car parks or to a whole building in case of a large stationary energy storage.
For proof of fire protection requirements or to design suitable fire protection systems, Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) simulations are getting more and more important. The aim of CFD fire simulations is to predict the global hazards of a fire to its surroundings, that is mainly characterized by the release of heat and smoke and its spread in the fire environment. There are many numerical investigations of lithium-ion batteries in the literature. One class of models is used to simulate the charge and discharge process of lithium-ion batteries and to predict the temperature or voltage evolution inside the battery. On the other hand, there are models describing batteries under abuse conditions to predict the consequences of a thermal runaway event to the local environment, like the temperatures inside a battery or at the battery surface. Henriksen et al. use a generic battery gas mixture to simulate an explosion of vented gases from a Lithium Iron Phosphate battery and compare experimental results for the explosion pressure and the position of the flame front to the outcomes of a simulation with Xifoam. Larsson et al. used a combination of CFD simulations with FDS and thermal model with COMSOL to predict the temperature development of neighboring cells in a thermal runaway propagation. Truchot et al. use a design Heat Release Rate (HRR) curve for a battery based on experimental measurements to build up an overall HRR curve for a truck loaded with 100 lithium-ion batteries. This summed up HRR and corresponding smoke production curve is then used as an input for a simulation of a truck fire in a tunnel with Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS). The pre-definition of the HRR curve is a frequently used method in fire engineering. It has the disadvantage, that the heat release cannot be influenced by physical processes, such as changed ventilation conditions or extinguishing measures. In this paper, a model is presented that determines the release of heat and gases based on the thermal runaway mechanisms of the battery, which can be used in CFD fire simulations with focus on prediction of fire hazards to nearby environment.
The levelized cost of energy (LCoE) is an important measure to quantify the macro-economic efficiency of an offshore wind farm and to enable a quantitative comparison with other types of energy production. The costs of the structural integrity management - which is required to ensure an adequate lifetime reliability of the turbine support structures - are part of the operational expenditures of an offshore wind farm. An optimization of the structural integrity management may reduce the operational expenditures and consequently the LCoE. However, the effect of the structural integrity management on the LCoE is hardly known. To investigate this effect, this paper presents a sensitivity analysis of the LCoE of a generic offshore wind farm. The probabilistic models of the parameters influencing the LCoE are based on a literature study including an explicit model for the structural integrity management.
The analysis reveals that LCoE may potentially be reduced if an optimization of the structural integrity management enables a service life extension.
In the present paper, an approach for updating the continuous stress range distribution of a welded connection of a wind turbine support structure with predicted information from strain measurements is presented. Environmental conditions, such as wind or, in offshore fields, waves and currents, in combination with rotor excitations generate cyclic stresses affecting the reliability of welded joints of the support structure over the service life. Using strain measurements, these conditions can be monitored, and the resulting stress ranges, under consideration of measurement, mechanical and material uncertainties, can be reconstructed. These stress ranges can be used as an input for updating the prior probability density function (PDF) of the stress ranges predicted by the overall dynamics and a detailed design analysis. Applying Bayesian probability theory and decision theoretical implications, the predicted posterior probability density of the stress ranges is calculated based on the design information and uncertainties. This approach is exemplified, and it is shown how the predicted stress ranges and the design stress ranges are distributed. The prior and the predicted posterior stress ranges are used for a reliability calculation for potentially entering a pre-posterior decision analysis
Der Erhalt einer dauerhaft sicheren Infrastruktur erfordert neben der Berücksichtigung technisch bedingter Alterungs- und Schädigungsprozesse auch die Umsetzung aktueller gesellschaftlicher Herausforderungen wie die Integration neuer Mobilitätskonzepte, Steigerung der Resilienz gegenüber Klimawandel oder Ressourcenschonung. Die parallele Umsetzung dieser „alten“ und „neuen“ Anforderungen lässt sich nur durch räumlich und zeitlich skalenübergreifende Betrachtungen lösen, die ohne digitale Prozesse nicht möglich sein werden. Am Beispiel des Elements der Querscheinfuge in Betonstraßenoberflächen wird in diesem Vortrag aufgezeigt, wie die BAM durch Kombination diverser Projekte zu einzelnen Aspekten dieser Fragestellung in einem ganzheitlichen Konzept eines digitalen Zwillings dieses Bauelements löst.
Wasserstoffinduzierte Spannungsrisskorrosion führt zu Standsicherheitsproblemen an Spannbetonbrückenbauwerken mit hochempfindlichen Spannstählen im Spannblockverfahren. An der Altstädter Brücke (Brandenburg a. d. H.) bot sich die Gelegenheit, kurz vor deren Rückbau umfangreiche Untersuchungen zur Detektion und Verifizierung dieses Schadensbildes durchzuführen und verschiedene Monitoringverfahren hinsichtlich ihrer Eignung für diese spezielle Fragestellung zu untersuchen.
From a fire safety point of view, the burning behavior of lithium-ion batteries is of high interest. The heat release rate (HRR) is the most important fire parameter to analyze the fire hazards of burning objects, so that an accurate determination of it is crucial. In this paper, two different measurement techniques, the Oxygen Consumption Calorimetry (OCC) and the Sensible Enthalpy Rise Approach (SERA) are simultaneously performed in the same calorimeter to measure the HRR of two different types of lithium-ion batteries. HRR values as well as total energies determined by SERA are higher than measured with OCC: The total energy released is about 10–12 times (SERA) and 6–9.5 times (OCC) the electrical stored energy for both battery types, whereas the timescales of the release differ strongly between the types, resulting in maximum HRRs of 3.4 MW (SERA) and 1.5 MW (OCC)
for one module of type A and 0.8 MW (SERA) and 0.6 (OCC) of type B respectively. Furthermore, a sensitive dependency of the HRR measurement with SERA on the position of the wall temperature measurement is observed.
With the aim of identifying the origin and the manufacturer of a cement, a reliable procedure that provides unambiguous results is needed. Such procedure could resolve practical issues in damage research, liability issues and forensic investigations. A substantial number of attempts for fingerprinting of building materials, including cement, has already been carried out during the last decades. Most of them were based on concentration analysis of the main elements/components. This review provides an overview of provenance studies of cement and the main approaches commonly used. Provenance studies of cement via isotope techniques are also presented and discussed as representatives of the state-of-the-art in the field. Due to the characteristic properties and the occurrence of carefully selected isotope ratios, unique fingerprints of different kinds of materials can be provided by these methods. This property has largely been explored in various scientific fields such as geo- and cosmochemistry, food forensics, archaeology, geochronology, biomedical studies, and climate change processes. However, the potential of isotope techniques in cement and concrete research for provenance studies has barely been investigated.
Therefore, the review outlines a suitable approach using isotope ratios, which could lead to reliable provenancing of cementitious materials in the future.
Monitoring 4.0/5.0
(2021)
Mehr als 10 % des deutschen Bruttoinlandsprodukts werden für Investitionen imBausektor eingesetzt. Die unmittelbar folgende Erkenntnis, dass eine zukunftsorientierte, nachhaltige Umgestaltung unserer Gesellschaft nicht ohne einen substanziellen Beitrag des Bausektors gelingen kann, hat sich mittlerweile weitgehend durchgesetzt. Die Komplexität der zugehörigen technischen Herausforderungen ist jedoch nicht zu unterschätzen.
Structural health monitoring systems have been widely implemented to provide real-time continuous data support and to ensure structural safety in the context of structural integrity management. However, the quantification of the potential benefits of structural health monitoring systems has not yet attracted widespread attention. At the same time, there is an urgent need to develop strategies, such as optimizing the monitoring period, monitoring variables, and other factors, to maximize the potential benefits of structural health monitoring systems. Considering the continuity of structural health monitoring information, a framework is developed in this article to support decision-making for structural Health monitoring systems arrangement in the context of structural integrity management, which integrates the concepts of value of information and risk-based inspection planning based on an approach which utilizes a conjugate prior probability distribution for updating of the probabilistic models of structural performances based on structural health Monitoring information. An example considering fatigue degradation of steel structures is investigated to illustrate the application of the proposed framework. The considered example shows that the choice of monitoring variables, the Monitoring period, and the monitoring quality may be consistently optimized by the application of the proposed framework and approach. Finally, discussions and conclusions are provided to clarify the potential benefits of the proposed Framework with a special view to practical applications of structural health monitoring systems.
Due to the energy transition in Germany and the European Union, the relevance of renewable energy is steadily increasing. Besides hydropower and solar energy, offshore and onshore wind energy already forms a major part of renewables energies and will also be further expanded in the future (COMMISSION, 2020). In addition to the investments in the expansion of renewable energy, further research and development should focus on reducing the levelized cost of energy (LCoE) of wind energy to improve its market position.
The LCoE is the average net cost of electricity generated by a power plant that converts a certain type of energy into electrical power. The LCoE is estimated as the ratio of the discounted lifetime costs (i.e. capital expenditures (CAPEX) plus operational expenditures (OPEX)) to the discounted sum of the annual energy production (AEP) over its lifetime. For an offshore wind farm, the CAPEX contain the investment costs for the structures and remaining parts of the wind farm. The OPEX include the cost related to the structural integrity management (SIM) and the operation and maintenance of the remaining parts. The AEP is a function of the number of turbines, the nominal (turbine) capacity, the nominal capacity availability factor, the turbine availability, and the feed in tariff.
Several options are available to reduce the LCoE of a wind farm. For example, the energy production can be increased by increasing the turbine availability. Another option is to optimize the SIM and thus reduce the OPEX. To study the influence of SIM on the LCoE of a wind farm, we perform a variance-based sensitivity analysis of the LCoE (Saltelli et al., 2008). In this analysis, the importance of a given parameter influencing the LCoE is measured in term of its first-order sensitivity index, which quantifies the contribution the parameter to the variance of the LCoE. The CAPEX and OPEX are decomposed into costs related to the structures and costs associated to the remaining parts of the wind farm. The mean value of the CAPEX and OPEX related to the structures and the remaining parts are determined based on a literature study. The OPEX related to the structures are assumed to be in accordance with the requirements and regulations of German Hydrographic Authority (Hydrographie, 2015). They amount to 1.6% of the total OPEX for an average scenario (Martinez-Luengo and Shafiee, 2019).
The determined sensitivity indices for the parameters influencing the LCoE are shown (Figure 1). The nominal capacity, the nominal capacity availability factor, the turbine availability factor, and the feed in tariff have the highest (first-order) sensitivity indices. The CAPEX and OPEX for the wind turbine support structures have small sensitivity indices. It can be concluded that an optimization of the SIM may have negligible influence on the LCoE. However, an extension of the service life by means of structural health information (Thöns et al., 2017) may have an effect due to its reasonable influence on the LCoE .
Support structures of offshore wind turbines are subject to cyclic stresses generated by different time-variant random loadings such as wind, waves, and currents in combinationwith the excitation by the rotor. In the design phase, the cyclic demand on wind turbine support structure is calculated and forecasted with semi or fully probabilistic engineering models. In some cases, additional cyclic stresses may be induced by construction deviations, unbalanced rotor masses and structural dynamic phenomena such as, for example, the Sommerfeld effect. Both, the significant uncertainties in the design and a validation of absence of unforeseen adverse dynamic phenomena necessitate the employment of measurement Systems on the support structures. The quality of the measurements of the cyclic demand on the support structures depends on (a) the precision of the measurement System consisting of sensors, amplifier and data normalization and (b) algorithms for analyzing and converting data to structural health information. This paper presents the probabilistic modelling and analysis of uncertainties in strain measurements performed for the purposes of reconstructing stress resultants in wind turbine towers.
It is shown how the uncertainties in the strain measurements affect the uncertainty in the individual components of the reconstructed forces and moments. The analysis identifies the components of the vector of stress resultants that can be reconstructed with sufficient precision.
Predictive information and maintenance optimization for deteriorating structures is concerned with scheduling (a) the collection of information by inspection and monitoring and (b) maintenance actions such as repair, replacement, and retrofitting based on updated predictions of the future condition of the structural system. In this article, we consider the problem of jointly identifying—at the beginning of the service life—the optimal inspection time and repair strategy for a generic welded joint in a generic offshore wind turbine structure subject to fatigue. The optimization is performed based on different types of decision analyses including value of information analyses to quantify the expected service life cost encompassing inspection, repair, and fatigue damage for all relevant combinations of inspection time, repair method, and repair time. Based on the analysis of the expected service life cost, the optimal inspection time, repair method, and repair time are identified. Possible repair methods for a welded joint in an offshore environment include welding and grinding, for which detailed models are formulated and utilized to update the joint’s fatigue performance. The decision analyses reveal that an inspection should be scheduled approximately at mid-service life of the welded joint. A repair should be performed in the same year after an indication and measurement of a fatigue crack given an optimal inspection scheduling. This article concludes with a discussion on the results obtained from the decision and value of information analyses.
Productivity and sustainability are key factors for the technical development of the construction sector during the next decades. Only a corresponding, goal-oriented and efficient combination of specifically developed construction materials and techniques based on innovative digital technologies and ideas will contribute to the huge societal challenges of the future. On a material level, sustainability in concrete production stands for the use of alternative binders, aggregates and reinforcing fibres in combination with bio-based additives to produce robust mixtures with a minimized CO2-footprint. On a constructional level, the focus will be on reducing manpower on site by automated techniques like additive manufacturing and by an increased use of prefabricated elements up to modular room cells, accompanied by innovative methods for the re-use of constructional elements, reduction of supplementary constructions and digitally optimized site logistics. This presentation will discuss recent developments in these fields, as well as upcoming ideas.
Optimization of the duration of Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) campaigns is rarely performed.
This article provides a utility-based solution to posteriorly determine: i) optimal monitoring Durations and ii) the extension of the service life of the welds on a steel bridge deck. The approach is Illustrated with a case study focusing on remaining fatigue life estimation of the welds on the orthotropic steel deck of the Great Belt Bridge, in Denmark. The identification of the optimal monitoring duration and the decision about extending the service life of the welds are modelled by maximizing the expected benefits and minimizing the structural risks. The results are a parametric analysis, mainly on the effect of the target probability, benefit, cost of failure, cost of rehabilitation, cost of monitoring and Discount rate on the posterior utilities of monitoring strategies and the choice of service life considering the risk variability and the costs and benefits models. The results show that the decision on short-term monitoring, i.e., 1 week every six months, is overall the most valued SHM strategy. In addition, it is found that the target probability is the most sensitive parameter affecting the optimal SHM Durations and service life extension of the welds.
Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) aus regenerativen Quellen, stellt einen potenziellen Kraftstoff für den Schwer- und Fernverkehr des Straßenverkehrs dar. Gegenüber seinen positiven Eigenschaften zu dem in diesem Verkehrssektor häufig verwendeten Kraftstoff Diesel birgt der Kraftstoff aber auch Gefahren für Personen und Bauwerke durch seine sehr niedrige Temperatur bei der Speicherung von ca. -160 °C und seine Explosionsfähigkeit in der Gas-Phase. In der Arbeit wurde sich mit der Gefährdung von Personen und Bauwerken hinsichtlich der von LNG ausgehenden Gefahren in Tunneln auseinandergesetzt.
Tunnel stellen besonders schützenswerte Bauwerke dar, da aus vorhergehenden Störfällen in Tunneln bekannt ist, dass diese mit hohen Personen-, Bauwerks-, und Volkswirtschaftlichen-Schäden einhergehen können.
Untersuchungsschwerpunkt bei der Bewertung von Gefährdungen durch LNG stellte eine Ereigniskaskade bestehend aus Freisetzung, Verdampfung, Stoffausbreitung und Zündung des sich gebildeten explosionsfähigen LNG-Gas/Luft-Gemisches dar. Mit dem Ziel eine solche Ereigniskaskade realitätsnah vorhersagen und zukünftig hierzu Risikoanalysen durchführen zu können wurden innerhalb der Arbeit Parameterstudien sowie Kalibrierungen und Validierungen gegenüber experimentellen Untersuchungen durchgeführt.
Mit den Modellen wurden in der Arbeit exemplarische Fallbeispiele zu Störfällen untersucht. Ergebnisse dieser waren, dass Gefährdungen insbesondere von flüssigem LNG nach dessen Freisetzung und der Verbrennung von LNG-Gas/Luft-Gemischen ausgingen.zeige weniger
Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) aus regenerativen Quellen, stellt einen potenziellen Kraftstoff für den Schwer- und Fernverkehr des Straßenverkehrs dar. Gegenüber seinen positiven Eigenschaften zu dem in diesem Verkehrssektor häufig verwendeten Kraftstoff Diesel birgt der Kraftstoff aber auch Gefahren für Personen und Bauwerke durch seine sehr niedrige Temperatur bei der Speicherung von ca. -160 °C und seine Explosionsfähigkeit in der Gas-Phase. In der Arbeit wurde sich mit der Gefährdung von Personen und Bauwerken hinsichtlich der von LNG ausgehenden Gefahren in Tunneln auseinandergesetzt.
Tunnel stellen besonders schützenswerte Bauwerke dar, da aus vorhergehenden Störfällen in Tunneln bekannt ist, dass diese mit hohen Personen-, Bauwerks-, und Volkswirtschaftlichen-Schäden einhergehen können.
Untersuchungsschwerpunkt bei der Bewertung von Gefährdungen durch LNG stellte eine Ereigniskaskade bestehend aus Freisetzung, Verdampfung, Stoffausbreitung und Zündung des sich gebildeten explosionsfähigen LNG-Gas/Luft-Gemisches dar. Mit dem Ziel eine solche Ereigniskaskade realitätsnah vorhersagen und zukünftig hierzu Risikoanalysen durchführen zu können wurden innerhalb der Arbeit Parameterstudien sowie Kalibrierungen und Validierungen gegenüber experimentellen Untersuchungen durchgeführt.
Mit den Modellen wurden in der Arbeit exemplarische Fallbeispiele zu Störfällen untersucht. Ergebnisse dieser waren, dass Gefährdungen insbesondere von flüssigem LNG nach dessen Freisetzung und der Verbrennung von LNG-Gas/Luft-Gemischen ausgingen.
Der Markt von LNG als Transportgut und als Kraftstoff ist seit Jahrzehnten kontinuierlich am Wachsen, wobei das Hauptanwendungsgebiet im Schiffsverkehr lag. LNG ist verflüssigtes Erdgas mit Hauptbestandteil Methan, das neben fossilen, aus erneuerbaren Quellen, wie synthetischen Methan oder Biogas, gewonnen werden kann. LNG hat als Kraftstoff sehr gute Eigenschaften dessen Potenzial als alternativer Kraftstoff zu Diesel im Schwerlast- und Fernverkehr gesehen wird. Dabei weist LNG gegenüber Diesel geringere Emissionen von CO2, Feinstaub, Stickoxiden und Lärm auf und hat gegenüber anderen erneuerbaren Energiespeichern wie CNG, Elektrobatterien oder Wasserstoff die höchste volumetrische und zweitgrößte gravimetrische Energiedichte. Neben seinen Vorteilen zu anderen erneuerbaren Energieträgern birgt LNG durch seine sehr niedrige Temperatur von bis zu 160°C und seiner Brennbarkeit aber auch neue Gefahren für Personen und Infrastrukturen.
Zur Bewertung von Gefahren und zur späteren Durchführung von Risikobewertungen bedarf es Methoden und Modellen deren Untersuchung Ziel des Forschungsprojekts war. Schwerpunkt der Untersuchung stellt die Freisetzung von LNG in Tunnel, mit sich anschließender Stoffausbreitung und verzögerter Zündung des Kraftstoff-Luftgemisches dar. Unfallszenarien mit Brandereignissen in Tunnel haben gezeigt, dass diese meist mit hohen Personen, Bauwerks und volkswirtschaftlichen Schäden verbunden sind. Des Weiteren zeigten Untersuchungen das von Gasexplosionen in Umschließungen wie sie ein Tunnel darstellt, mehr Gefahren ausgehen als von Gasexplosionen im Freifeld.
Im Vortrag werden die untersuchten Modelle und die aus dem Projekt gewonnenen Erkenntnisse für die Stoffausbreitung und Verbrennung der Gasphase von LNG in Umschließungen vorgestellt.
The use of load and structural performance measurement information is vital for efficient structural integrity management and for the cost of energy production with Offshore Wind Turbines (OWTs). OWTs are dynamically sensitive structures subject to an interaction with a control unit exposed to repeated cyclic wind and wave loads causing deterioration and fatigue. This study focuses on the quantification of the value of structural and environmental information on the integrity management of OWT structures, with the focus on fatigue of welded joints. By utilizing decision analysis, structural reliability methods, measurement data, as well as the cost-benefit models, a Value of Information (VoI) analysis can be performed to quantify the most beneficial measurement strategy. The VoI assessment is demonstrated for the integrity management of a butt welded joint of a monopile support structure for a 3 MW OWT with a hub height of approximately 71m. The conditional value of three-year measured oceanographic information and one-year strain monitoring information is quantified posteriori in conjunction with an inspection and repair planning. This paper provides insights on how much benefits can be achieved through structural and environmental information, with practical relevance on reliability-based maintenance of OWT structures.
The risk analysis of road tunnels faces a growing complexity in fire scenarios, e.g. caused by new energy carriers. Essentially, such complex scenarios involve many interactions between the tunnel users, the fire source and the safety measures. One example is the alarm of tunnel users either initiated by the perception of smoke or by the fire alarm system. To consider these interactions for the quantification of consequences, e.g. fatalities, risk analysis requires a complex model. However, the complex model can compute in practice only few discrete scenarios due to its high computational cost, whereas risk analysis generally needs the consequences of a high number of random scenarios. Metamodels can solve this contradiction. They are able to approximate the consequences of many random scenarios with low computational cost based on the consequences of few discrete scenarios computed with the complex model. The efficiency of metamodels depends on the required number of these discrete scenarios. In this sense, this dissertation proposes an efficient metamodel within an innovative methodology for risk analysis of road tunnels to allow to consider an increased complexity of scenarios. This metamodel applies the following methods or models: the projection array-based design method specifies the experimental design for the discrete scenarios; the combination of the fire model FDS and the microscopic evacuation model FDS+Evac constitutes the complex model; and moving least squares produces the response surface model. The response surface model approximates the consequences of the random scenarios and therewith introduces an uncertainty, called metamodel uncertainty, which is quantified with the prediction interval method. Additionally, stochastic individual characteristics of tunnel users in discrete scenarios computed with FDS+Evac attribute evacuation uncertainties to the consequences. An original development in this dissertation, the ’direct approach’, directly transfers the evacuation uncertainties of the discrete scenarios to any random scenario. The evaluation of the metamodel in this dissertation shows following results. Firstly, the response surface model sufficiently represents the consequences of the complex model. Secondly, the metamodel uncertainty is also essential for this representation, but the prediction interval method reveals a drawback in the risk analysis. Potential approaches to deal with this drawback are discussed. Finally, the direct approach reproduces the evacuation uncertainty of the complex model which then clearly affects the consequences of random scenarios. Therefore, the consideration of the evacuation uncertainty plays an important role for the risk analysis. Furthermore, the projection array-based design method was adapted in this dissertation with two approaches, namely the combination of the experimental designs for FDS and FDS+Evac as well as their sequential refinement. Both approaches contribute to the efficiency of the metamodel. These results lead to following conclusions. Firstly, the metamodel efficiently integrates the consequences of discrete scenarios into risk analysis and thus allows to consider an increased complexity. Secondly, the metamodel is an advancement for risk analysis not only for road tunnelsbutalsomoregeneralinfiresafetyengineering. Forthesetworeasons,themetamodel might be interesting for other methodologies for risk analysis. In addition, the metamodel is generic and is therefore widely applicable on other issues beside from risk analysis, e.g. to assess the safety of structures related to time-consuming experiments depending on multiple variables.
This paper analyses the suitability of the Sensible Enthalpy Rise Approach for measuring the heat release rate of electric-vehicle-scale lithium-ion batteries. An apparatus is designed that meets the conditions of an electric-vehicle-scale lithium-ion battery fire by using cement board as wall material. Modifications of the Sensible Enthalpy Rise Methodology are presented due to the high emissivity and inhomogeneous temperature distribution of the apparatus wall material: a power 4 approach for the heat flow from the walls to the ambient air and an alternative determination methodology for the wall temperature. A one factor at a time parameter study is performed with Computational Fluid Dynamics simulations, investigating a new calibration method based on a fit approach compared to common methods, the wall temperature determination, the approach for the ambient heat flow, the calibration power and the volume flow at the outlet. The simulations show, that suitable estimations of the heat release rate are obtained by using the modifications for wall temperature determination and the power 4 approach for the ambient heat flow. The three calibration methods provide suitable constants, if the calibration power in the same order of magnitude as the mean of the heat release rate profile of the test object.
In this paper, the influence of a fixed water mist firefighting system on a high-speed non-premixed horizontal methane jet fire is investigated with focus on its effect on temperatures and heat load of the jet fire and on ist surroundings. Six tests are performed in which gas is released out of an orifice with a diameter of 1 mm and a release pressure of up to 186 bar. In addition to temperature and radiation measurements, the release pressure, gas mass flow rate and exhaust gas concentrations are detected to determine the heat release. Video and IRanalysis are used to evaluate the interactions between jet fire and water mist. The experiments show, that water mist reduces the temperatures inside the jet fire flow field and its radiative heat flux. It can lower the Risk of ignition of adjacent surfaces and materials, as temperatures fall below autoignition temperatures of common materials like plastics. Although water mist does not extinguish the fire, it has an impact on the energy release by reducing combustion efficiency due to heat exchange with the water mist and oxygen displacement.
Fatigue safety verification of existing bridges that uses ‘‘re-calculation’’ based on codes, usually results in insufficient fatigue safety, triggering invasive interventions. Instead of “re-calculation”, Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) should be used for the assessment of the existing bridges. Monitoring systems provide data that can reduce uncertainties associated with the fatigue loading process and the structural resistance. The objective of this paper is to quantify the value of the SHM system implemented in a 60-years-old road viaduct to investigate its fatigue safety, through modeling of the fundamental decisions of performing monitoring in conjunction with its expected utility. The quantification of the conditional value of information is based on the decision tree analysis that considers the structural reliability, various decision scenarios as well as the cost-benefit assessments. This leads to a quantitative decision basis for the owner about how much time and money can be saved while the viaduct fulfills its function reliably and respects the safety requirements. The originality of this paper stands in the application of the value of information theory to an existing viaduct considering the fatigue failure of the system based on the monitoring data and the cost-benefit of monitoring method.
A method to determine the influencing parameters of a structural and damage detection system is proposed based on the value of Information analysis. The value of information analysis utilizes the Bayesian pre-posterior decision theory to quantify the value of damage detection system for the structural integrity management during service life. First, the influencing parameters of the structural system, such as deterioration type and rate are introduced for the performance of the prior probabilistic system model. Then the influencing parameters on the damage detection system performance, including number of sensors, sensor locations, measurement noise, and the Type-I error are investigated. The preposterior probabilistic model is computed utilizing the Bayes’ theorem to update the prior system model with the damage indication information. Finally, the value of damage detection system is quantified as the difference between the maximum utility obtained in pre-posterior and prior analysis based on the decision tree analysis, comprising structural probabilistic models, consequences, as well as benefit and costs analysis associated with and without monitoring. With the developed approach, a case study on a statically determinate Pratt truss bridge girder is carried out to validate the method. The analysis shows that the deterioration rate is the most sensitive parameter on the effect of relative value of information over the whole service life. Furthermore, it shows that more sensors do not necessarily lead to a higher relative value of information; only specific sensor locations near the highest utilized components lead to a high relative value of information; measurement noise and the Type-I error should be controlled and be as small as possible. An optimal sensor employment with highest relative value of information is found. Moreover, it is found that the proposed method can be a powerful tool to develop optimal service life maintenance strategies—before implementation—for similar bridges and to optimize the damage detection system settings and sensor configuration for minimum expected Costs and risks.
We analyse the performance of risk reduction strategies for Terrorist attacks with Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) for large governmental building structures in terms of cost-efficiency, significance and effectiveness Accounting for life safety in conjunction with societal preferences and capabilities. The approach builds upon an extended Bayesian pre-posterior decision analysis and the principles of the marginal lifesaving costs based on the Life Quality Index (LQI). The decision scenario is formulated for a decision maker responsible for the safety of governmental or large commercial buildings and consequently the direct risks, the indirect risks due to fatalities and economical importance of the building beside the expected cost for the individual risk reduction strategies are modelled, aggregated and optimised. The considered risk reduction strategies encompass an explicit consideration and distinction of information and actions such as (i) threat surveillance may trigger the temporary evacuation of the building, (ii) the implementation of protection provisions provided by codes and guidelines, (iii) a detailed progressive collapse assessment and specific protection measures and (iv) the combination of protection and surveillance. All considered strategies are found to contribute to risk reduction and can be costefficient, especially for higher threat probabilities. The risk reduction strategies comply with societal macroeconomic and demographical characteristics and societal preferences according to the LQI. The progressive collapse assessment with targeted protection measures is found to be the most cost-efficient, significant and effective counter-terrorism strategy. This finding points to the necessity for a comprehensive utilisation of scientific methods and sophisticated engineering for progressive collapse assessment to determine targeted protection measures.
Based on methane from renewable resources, LNG is an alternative fuel for heavy and long-distance traffic in land transport. Contrary to its positive properties, the fuel contains risks from an explosion and extremely low temperatures for personal and infrastructure safety. CFD-models are suitable for doing risk analyses for arbitrary scenarios. For examining how to model for risk research the dispersion of LNG-vapor, this paper contains a model variant study, with an evaluation by experiments.
This paper describes the use of the CFD-code ANSYS Fluent for simulating experiments of the ‘LNG Safety Program Phase II‘. The content of the well-documented experiments was the research of the vaporization rate of LNG on land and the dispersion of LNG-vapor in the air. Based on the comparison to two experiments, overall 12 CFD-model variants with varying thermal and turbulence parameters were examined how they affect the transient LNG-vapor dispersion in air.
The definition of turbulence-boundary-condition at the domain borders had the biggest impact on modeling, followed by the turbulence model. The most accurate model variant had been applied for observing the spreading behavior of LNG-vapor in the air after evaporation on land and analyzing the influence of the LNG-composition to the dispersion. The results show that the mixture of LNG-vapor and the air in the free field is cooler than the ambient air and spreads like a heavy gas on the ground.
Severe mechanical fatigue conditions for worldwide proliferating windfarms are a Major challenge for high-performance concrete in towers, connecting joints and foundations of wind turbines. High-performance concrete offers potential for the application in offshore windfarms, not only regarding its good mechanical, but also chemical resistivity due to low diffusivity in the highly densified microstructure. For a more reliable fatigue assessment, monitoring based on nondestructive testing can be a valuable complement to design rules. Both approaches demand reliable experimental data, information about scalability and the development of standardized testing methods. This article presents results of an ongoing research program of BAM (Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung), which is a part of a joint national project (WinConFat) funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. The subproject implemented by BAM examines the fatigue behavior in dependence of size and slenderness for varying concrete strength at different stress levels. Besides fatigue strength, nondestructive testing is carried out additionally.
Methods used are strain measurement and ultrasonic testing. The change of strain, stiffness and ultrasonic pulse velocity in the fatigue process is discussed. Results disclose a deeper insight into the damage process under cyclic loading of high-performance concrete and contribute to improve nondestructive monitoring.
Severe mechanical fatigue conditions for worldwide proliferating windfarms are a Major challenge for high-performance concrete in towers, connecting joints and foundations of wind turbines. High-performance concrete offers potential for the application in offshore windfarms, not only regarding its good mechanical, but also chemical resistivity due to low diffusivity in the highly densified microstructure. For a more reliable fatigue assessment, monitoring based on nondestructive testing can be a valuable complement to design rules. Both approaches demand reliable experimental data, information about scalability and the development of standardized testing methods. This article presents results of an ongoing research program of BAM (Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung), which is a part of a joint national project (WinConFat) funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. The subproject implemented by BAM examines the fatigue behavior in dependence of size and slenderness for varying concrete strength at different stress levels. Besides fatigue strength, nondestructive testing is carried out additionally.
Methods used are strain measurement and ultrasonic testing. The change of strain, stiffness and ultrasonic pulse velocity in the fatigue process is discussed. Results disclose a deeper insight into the damage process under cyclic loading of high-performance concrete and contribute to improve nondestructive monitoring.
Quantification of the posterior utilities of SHM campaigns on an orthotropic steel bridge deck
(2019)
This paper contains a quantification and decision theoretical optimization of the posterior utilities for several options for monitoring campaigns on the particular case of fatigue life predictions of an orthotropic steel deck. The monitoring campaigns are defined by varying monitoring durations and phases. The decision analysis is performed with real data from the Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) of the Great Belt Bridge (Denmark) which, among others, consist of measured strains, pavement temperatures and traffic intensities. The fatigue loading prediction model is based on regression models linking daily averaged pavement temperatures, daily aggregated heavy-traffic Counts and derived S-N fatigue damages, all of them derived from the outcomes of different monitoring campaigns. A probabilistic methodology is utilized to calculate the fatigue reliability profiles of selected instrumented welded joints. The posterior utilities of SHM campaigns are then quantified by considering the structural fatigue reliability, various monitoring campaigns and the corresponding cost-benefit models. The decisions of identifying the optimal monitoring campaign and of extending the service life or not in conjunction with monitoring results are modelled. The optimal monitoring campaign is identified - retrospectively - by maximizing the expected benefits and minimize risks in dependency of the monitoring duration and the monitoring associated costs. The results, despite relying on a number of simplistic assumptions, pave the way towards the use of pre-posterior decision support to optimise the design of monitoring campaigns for similar bridges, with an overall goal to proof the cost efficiency of SHM approaches to civil infrastructure management.
We introduce a new concept that enables a decision analyst to explore and quantify the benefits of decision alternatives that exceed the scope of a pre‐posterior decision or value of information analysis. This new concept, namely, the expected value of sample information and action analysis, facilitates to examine decision alternatives that become only possible with additional knowledge. The concept is introduced by taking basis in proof load testing as a source of (pre‐)posterior knowledge. Pre‐posterior decision analysis is necessary in order to optimize the structural design through proof loading information. The application of the common value of information Analysis and the new value of information and action analysis are demonstrated in a case study.
Risk Assessment and Value of Action Analysis for Icing Conditions of Wind Turbines Close to Highways
(2019)
The paper presents research results from the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Network INFRASTAR in the field of reliability approaches for decision-making for wind turbines and bridges. This paper addresses the application of Bayesian decision analysis for installation of heating systems in wind turbine blades in cases where an ice detection system is already installed in order to allow wind turbines to be placed close to highways. Generally, application of ice detection and heating systems for wind turbines is very relevant in cases where the wind turbines are planned to be placed close to urban areas and highways, where risks need to be considered due to icing events, which may lead to consequences including human fatality, functional disruptions, and/or economic losses. The risk of people being killed in a car passing on highways near a wind turbine due to blades parts or ice pieces being thrown away in cases of overicing is considered in this paper. The probability of being killed per kilometer and per year is considered for three cases: blade parts thrown away as a result of a partial or total failure of a blade, ice thrown away in two cases, i.e., of stopped wind turbines and of wind turbines in operation. Risks due to blade parts being thrown away cannot be avoided, since low strengths of material, maintenance or manufacturing errors, mechanical or electrical failures may result in failure of a blade or blade part. The blade (parts) thrown away from wind turbines in operation imply possible consequences/fatalities for people near the wind turbines, including in areas close to highways.
Similar consequences are relevant for ice being thrown away from wind turbine blades during icing situations. In this paper, we examine the question as to whether it is valuable to put a heating System on the blades in addition to ice detection systems. This is especially interesting in countries with limited space for placing wind turbines; in addition, it is considered if higher power production can be obtained due to less downtime if a heating system is installed.
This paper presents a probabilistic methodology based on the thermo-mechanical finite elements analysis to investigate the impact of the variability of the thermal properties of the concrete in the fire safety of structures. This is meant to evaluate if characteristic values or safety factors for the conductivity and specific heat are
required during the semi-probabilistic structural fire safety assessment. To illustrate the use of the proposed methodology, this work includes a case-study with a tunnel lining which considers the uncertainties related to the thermal and mechanical properties of the concrete, the soil load, and the temperatures described by the
standard temperature-time curve. Two failure criteria are considered: one was the maximum temperature of 300 °C at the reinforcement and the other based on the temperature-dependent strength as provided in the Eurocode EN 1992-1-2. Several finite element analyses are performed. The design of experiments is executed by a Correlation Latin Hypercube Sampling. The calculated probability of failure has different values depending on the adopted failure criteria. A sensitivity analysis using the Spearman's rank correlation coefficient was carried out and demonstrates that the uncertainty related to the specific heat has the greatest impact on the results.
Today, in scientific events often a certain separation between researchers from laboratories with highly sophisticated equipment and those from less privileged laboratories can be observed. It is not an uncommon situation that results presented at conferences are rubbished or ridiculed because the investigator only used low-end analytical methods.
The assessment of the study is then biased based on the equipment, regardless of the actual quality of the study.
In many regions of the world the urbanisation process is accelerating dramatically. This puts pressure on urban planners but also politics to develop strategies for sustainable city growth. With the rapidly increasing demand for living space in urban areas, cities typically grow vertically. This is largely driven by real estate markets and sometimes also by the desire for status symbols.
Certainly, vertical urban growth makes sense, when horizontal growth destroys important flora and Fauna (e.g. in rain forest regions), but in many cases vertical growth is result of real-estate business and Expansion limitation due to state or country borders. However, economics and borders are made by humans. They follow human-made rules. Gravity does not. Therefore, from a point of view of sustainable materials and resourceuse, the trending vertical growth of cities may come under scrutiny.
The following aspects should be considered, when a decision is taken between a new quarter with limited number of storeys or a new skyscraper.
Sustainability means meeting the needs of today without compromising the needs of the next generations. How can we meet the needs of the next generations, if we do not even know what these needs are? If we do not listen to the next generation and learn from them? Do we even meet the needs of today for everyone on earth?
Innovation, science and engineering are driving forces to mastering the global challenges of the next decades. The basis is education. ISEE stands for Innovation, Science, Engineering and education. This book summarises the presentations, discussions and Statements that were made during the ISEE-Africa conference held in Nairobi in 2019 from January 30 to February 1.
The ISEE conference is a gathering of international researchers, scholars, and students, who came together to discuss jointly relevant topics related to better education for the engineers and architects of the future.
Today, we know that the climate change is real. Many regions in the world are already suffering significantly, and the only way for humanity to overcome the challenges is to develop more sustainable technologies to the benefit of the entire global society. However, sustainable technologies require for deeper understanding, more conscious thinking, and smarter engineering. The only way how this can be achieved is to educate the developers, the decision makers, the engineers of tomorrow in a more knowledge driven way, and to equip them with the assertiveness required for the implementation.
In this book, topics of construction and sustainable materials are linked to educational challenges. It addresses teachers, academic and political decision makers, and change drivers. The specific objective is to be critical, thought-provoking and inspiring. This way, we do hope that the book can deliver credible solution strategies for enhanced education for a new generation of decision makers with higher awareness of global and environmental challenges as well as innovation potentials.
Basierend auf Methan aus regenerativen Quellen, stellt LNG einen alternativen Kraftstoff für den schweren Fernverkehr da. Gegenüber seinen positiven Eigenschaften birgt der Kraftstoff aber auch Risiken, durch seine sehr niedrige Temperatur und seine Brennbarkeit, für die Personen- und Bauwerkssicherheit. Für die Erforschung der Risiken eignen sich CFD-Modelle, deren Erforschung unter anderem Ziel des TF-SiVi Projekts der BAM war.
Einen Einblick in die angewendete Methodik zur Erforschung von Unfallszenarien mit LNG gibt der Vortrag.
Quantification of the posterior utilities of SHM campaigns on an orthotropic steel bridge deck
(2019)
This paper contains a quantification and decision theoretical optimization of the posterior utilities for several options for monitoring campaigns on the particular case of fatigue life predictions of an orthotropic steel deck. The monitoring campaigns are defined by varying monitoring durations and phases. The decision analysis is performed with real data from the Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) of the Great Belt Bridge (Denmark) which, among others, consist of measured strains, pavement temperatures and traffic intensities. The fatigue loading prediction model is based on regression models linking daily averaged pavement temperatures, daily aggregated heavy-traffic Counts and derived S-N fatigue damages, all of them derived from the outcomes of different monitoring campaigns. A probabilistic methodology is utilized to calculate the fatigue reliability profiles of selected instrumented welded joints. The posterior utilities of SHM campaigns are then quantified by considering the structural fatigue reliability, various monitoring campaigns and the corresponding cost-benefit models. The decisions of identifying the optimal monitoring campaign and of extending the service life or not in conjunction with monitoring results are modelled. The optimal monitoring campaign is identified - retrospectively - by maximizing the expected benefits and minimize risks in dependency of the monitoring duration and the monitoring associated costs. The results, despite relying on a number of simplistic assumptions, pave the way towards the use of pre-posterior decision support to optimise the design of monitoring campaigns for similar bridges, with an overall goal to proof the cost efficiency of SHM approaches to civil infrastructure management.
A method to determine the structural and damage detection system influencing parameters is proposed based on the value of information analysis. The value of information analysis utilizes the Bayesian pre-posterior decision theory to quantify the value of SHM for the structural integrity management during service life. First the influencing parameters of the structural system such as deterioration type and rate are introduced for the performance of the prior probabilistic system model. Then the damage detection system performance influencing parameters including number of sensors, sensor locations, measurement noise and the Type I error are investigated. The pre-posterior probabilistic model is computed utilizing the Bayes’ theorem to update the prior system model with the damage indication information. Finally, the value of information is quantified as the difference between the maximum utility obtained in pre-posterior and prior analysis based on the decision tree analysis, comprising structural probabilistic models, consequences as well as benefit and costs analysis associated with and without monitoring. With the developed approach, a case study on a statically determinate Pratt truss bridge girder is carried out to validate the method. The analysis shows that the higher the deterioration rate is, the more it is beneficial to do SHM. Furthermore, it shows that more sensors do not necessarily lead to a higher value of information; only specific sensor locations near the highest utilized components lead to a high value of information; measurement noise and the Type I error should be controlled and as small as possible. An optimal sensor employment with highest value of information is found. Moreover, it is found that the proposed method can be a powerful tool to develop optimal service life maintenance strategies - before implementation - for similar bridges and to optimize the damage detection system settings and sensor configuration for minimum expected costs and risks.
Applications of Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) for the design and analysis of Offshore Wind Turbine (OWT) structures has gained much attention within the past few years. Being exposed to repeated cyclic wind and wave loads, OWTs are dynamically sensitive structures and can benefit from monitoring systems to predict time-dependent deterioration. This study focuses on the quantification of the value of SHM information on the maintenance of OWT structures, with emphasis on fatigue of welded joint. By utilizing the decision tree, structural reliability, SHM data, as well as the cost-benefit assessments, a value of information (VoI) analysis can be done to model the fundamental decision of whether the service life of an OWT foundation can be extended beyond the initial design life. The application is demonstrated on a butt weld of a monopile support structure of a 3 MW offshore wind turbine with a hub height of approximately 71m where the prior probability analysis is modelled as a probabilistic fatigue damage model based on S-N approach and designed wind data. The posterior probability of failure of welded joints is updated using the three-year measured oceanographic and one-year strain data. The expected value of SHM information can be found as the difference between the maximum utility obtained in posterior analysis with SHM information and the maximum utility obtained using only prior information. This work can provide insights on how much benefits can be achieved through SHM information, with practical relevance on reliability-based design optimization and fatigue life extension of OWT structures.
This paper presents a probabilistic methodology based on the thermo-mechanical finite elements analysis to investigate the impact of the variability of the thermal properties of the concrete in the fire safety of structures. This is meant to evaluate if characteristic values or safety factors for the conductivity and specific heat are required during the semi-probabilistic structural fire safety assessment. To illustrate the use of the proposed methodology, this work includes a case-study with a tunnel lining which considers the uncertainties related to the thermal and mechanical properties of the concrete, the soil load, and the temperatures described by the standard temperature-time curve. Two failure criteria are considered: one was the maximum temperature of 300 °C at the reinforcement and the other based on the temperature-dependent strength as provided in the Eurocode EN 1992-1-2. Several finite element analyses are performed. The design of experiments is executed by a Correlation Latin Hypercube Sampling. The calculated probability of failure has different values depending on the adopted failure criteria. A sensitivity analysis using the Spearman's rank correlation coefficient was carried out and demonstrates that the uncertainty related to the specific heat has the greatest impact on the results.
The methods of computational damage mechanics are well-established for the description of degradation of materials under monotone loading. An extension to structural damage induced by cyclic loading is however significantly limited. This is due to enormous computational costs required to resolve each load cycle by conventional temporal incremental integration schemes while a typical fatigue loading history comprises between thousands and millions of cycles. Despite the permanent increase of computational resources and algorithmic performance, a successful approach is rather based on the development of novel multiscale in time integration schemes.
A Fourier transformation-based temporal integration (FTTI) is represented, which takes advantage of temporal scale separation incorporated into the cycle jump method. The response fields are approximated by a Fourier series whose coefficients undergo the evolution on a long-time scale. This is correlated with the evolution of the history variables, including damage, by means of the adaptive cycle jump method of various orders. The necessary extrapolation rates are obtained from the underlying solution of a short-time scale problem, which results from the oscillatory boundary condition and fulfills the global equilibrium of the Fourier coefficients. In this way, a remarkable speedup is achieved because the number of cycles to be fully integrated dramatically decreases.
The key idea behind the FTTI method is that the global in space equilibrium problem is linear since it is decoupled from the evolution equations. The latter are solved in the quadrature points under response fields prescribed throughout the whole load cycle. Consequently, integration of a single load cycle is much more efficient than the conventional single scale integration where the global equilibrium iteration and the local iteration of the evolution equations are coupled. This results in an additional speedup of the FTTI method.
The performance of the FTTI technique is demonstrated for two different constitutive behaviors: a viscoplastic model with a damage variable governed by the local equivalent viscoplastic strain; a quasi-brittle response where the damage variable is driven by a non-local equivalent strain. The latter is implicitly introduced as proposed by Peerlings. Both, the explicit and implicit extrapolation schemes are validated. The FTTI solutions agree very well with the reference cycle-by -cycle solutions, while significantly reducing the computational costs. The adaptive determination of the jump length can properly recognize the particular responses throughout the fatigue loading history (stationary fatigue, acceleration of fatigue damage when approaching failure) as well as stress redistribution phenomena.
Damage detection systems (DDS) provide information of the structural system integrity in contrast to e.g. local information by inspections or non-destructive testing techniques. In this paper, an approach is developed and demonstrated to utilize DDS information to update the structural system reliability and to integrate this information in structural system risk and utility analyses. For this aim, a novel performance modelling of DDS building upon their system characteristics and non-destructive testing reliability is introduced. The DDS performance modelling accounts for a measurement system in combination with a damage detection algorithm attached to a structural system in the reference and damage states and is modelled with the probability of indication accounting for type I and II errors. In this way, the basis for DDS performance comparison and assessment is provided accounting for the dependencies between the damage states in a structure. For updating of the structural system reliability, an approach is developed based on Bayesian updating facilitating the use of DDS information on structural system level and thus for a structural system risk analysis. The structural system risk analysis encompasses the static, dynamic, deterioration, reliability and consequence models, which provide the basis for the system model for calculating the direct risks due to component failure and the indirect risks due to system failure. Two case studies with the developed approach demonstrate a high Value of DDS Information due to risk and expected cost reduction.
In this paper, a contact problem between two bodies, discretized by finite elements, is solved by adding an auxiliary NURBS layer between the bodies. The advantages of a smooth contact formulation in a NURBS approach are combined with simple mesh generation procedures for the bodies discretized with finite elements. Mesh tying conditions are used to couple the NURBS layer with the finite element discretization. The NURBS layer is the master side for contact and mesh tying. Mesh tying is enforced either using pointwise or mortar type approaches. Frictionless 2D and 3D contact problems are considered using small deformations. The contact problem is discretized with the mortar method and a penalty approach is used to enforce the contact constraints. A robust element-based quadrature is applied for mortar tying and contact discretizations, thus avoiding computationally expensive Segmentation.
This paper addresses the effects of the deterioration on the value of damage detection information. The quan-tification of the value of damage detection information for deteriorated structures is based on Bayesian pre-posterior decision analysis, comprising structural system performance models, consequence, benefit and costs models and damage detection information models throughout the service life of a structural system. The value of damage detection information accounts for the relevance and precision of the information to ensure the structural integrity and to reduce the potential structural system risks and expected costs throughout the ser-vice life before implementing damage detection system. With the developed approach, the value of damage detection information for a statically determinate Pratt truss bridge girder subjected to different deterioration models is calculated. The analysis shows the impact of the deterioration model parameters on the value of damage detection information. The results can be used to develop optimal maintenance strategies before im-plementation of the damage detection system.
The worldwide spread of windfarms brings new challenges, especially for concrete structures as a part of towers, connecting joints and foundations of wind turbines. High-cyclic loadings in such structures lead to a high relevance of the subject of fatigue. A proper assessment of the fatigue strength of concrete demands therefore a basis of reliable experimental data and the development of standardized testing methods. This article presents first results of an ongoing research program of BAM (Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung) which is a part of a joint project (WinConFat) funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. The subproject investigates the effects of size and slenderness of the specimens on the fatigue behaviour of high strength concrete at different stress levels. Not only the fatigue strength, but also the fatigue process itself is monitored by means of several measurement methods. Strain measurements are used to calculate the load dependent elastic modulus in the fatigue hysteresis as indicators for fatigue development. Furthermore, the application of non-destructive methods like acoustic emission analysis and ultrasonic measurement in laboratory tests gives a deeper insight into damage processes under cyclic loading. The results shall be used to improve design rules for concrete members under fatigue load and to develop or improve non-destructive techniques for in-service structural health monitoring.
The worldwide spread of windfarms brings new challenges, especially for concrete structures as a part of towers, connecting joints and foundations of wind turbines. High-cyclic loadings in such structures lead to a high relevance of the subject of fatigue. A proper assessment of the fatigue strength of concrete demands therefore a basis of reliable experimental data and the development of standardized testing methods. This article presents first results of an ongoing research program of BAM (Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung) which is a part of a joint project (WinConFat) funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. The subproject investigates the effects of size and slenderness of the specimens on the fatigue behaviour of high strength concrete at different stress levels. Not only the fatigue strength, but also the fatigue process itself is monitored by means of several measurement methods. Strain measurements are used to calculate the load dependent elastic modulus in the fatigue hysteresis as indicators for fatigue development. Furthermore, the application of non-destructive methods like acoustic emission analysis and ultrasonic measurement in laboratory tests gives a deeper insight into damage processes under cyclic loading. The results shall be used to improve design rules for concrete members under fatigue load and to develop or improve non-destructive techniques for in-service structural health monitoring.
On 14 August 2018, the Morandi bridge in Genoa Italy collapsed, which caused 43 people to die and great losses. Here I am not going to talk about why it collapsed. But I want to say what we can do to prevent this kind of tragedy from happening. Any structures are like us, if we are sick, we go to doctors. But if structures are sick, how could we know?
Yes, through structural health monitoring-SHM! SHM is process of implementing damage detection strategy, which is like a doctor giving us indication of the structure health status. However, the SHM is not like our health insurance which can be free. Some structure owners may be hesitated on investing large money before they see the VALUE.
Although it is proved that SHM is beneficial, the existing literature doesn’t tell them: when to do the monitoring? How often to do that? Which SHM techniques to choose? After monitoring, what action to take? There are so many decisions needed to be made, that’s why here comes my research, which can help to answer all these questions by breaking the wall of value of monitoring information!
So how do we do that? Here we introduce a decision tree. A Decision tree is a decision support tool that uses a tree-like graph or model to describe decisions and their possible outcomes, including how likely it will happen, how severe the consequences will be. Based on the probabilities and their respective costs and benefits, the value of every decision can be quantified.
Based on the decision trees, different SHM strategies can be compared and the optimal strategy will be the one with highest value. After Knowing the value of SHM, we can improve the decision basis for design, operation and life-cycle integrity management of structures to reduce the risk, reduce the cost and extend service life benefits.
So that everyone in society can benefit from a safer and more reliable environment!
This paper addresses how the value of damage detection Information depends on key Parameters of the Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) system including number of sensors and sensor locations. The Damage Detection System (DDS) provides the information by comparing ambient vibration measurements of a (healthy) reference state with measurements of the current structural system. The performance of DDS method depends on the physical measurement properties such as the number of sensors, sensor positions, measuring length and sensor type, measurement noise, ambient excitation and sampling frequency, as well as on the data processing algorithm including the chosen type I error for the indication threshold. The quantification of the value of Information (VoI) is an expected utility based Bayesian decision analysis method for quantifying the difference of the expected economic benefits with and without information. The (pre-)posterior probability is computed utilizing the Bayesian updating theorem for all possible indications. If changing any key parameters of DDS, the updated probability of system failure given damage detection information will be varied due to different indication of probability of damage, which will result in changes of value of damage detection information. The DDS system is applied in a statically determinate Pratt truss bridge girder. Through the analysis of the value of information with different SHM system characteristics, the settings of DDS can be optimized for minimum expected costs and risks before implementation.
This paper addresses how the value of damage detection Information depends on key Parameters of the Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) system including number of sensors and sensor locations. The Damage Detection System (DDS) provides the information by comparing ambient vibration measurements of a (healthy) reference state with measurements of the current structural system. The performance of DDS method depends on the physical measurement properties such as the number of sensors, sensor positions, measuring length and sensor type, measurement noise, ambient excitation and sampling frequency, as well as on the data processing algorithm including the chosen type I error for the indication threshold. The quantification of the value of Information (VoI) is an expected utility based Bayesian decision analysis method for quantifying the difference of the expected economic benefits with and without information. The (pre-)posterior probability is computed utilizing the Bayesian updating theorem for all possible indications. If changing any key parameters of DDS, the updated probability of system failure given damage detection information will be varied due to different indication of probability of damage, which will result in changes of value of damage detection information. The DDS system is applied in a statically determinate Pratt truss bridge girder. Through the analysis of the value of information with different SHM system characteristics, the settings of DDS can be optimized for minimum expected costs and risks before implementation.
Accurate models for the long term behavior of concrete structures are important to ensure a durable and reliable design.
A variety of interacting phenomena, such as the loss of prestress, the degradation due to chemical reactions or creep and shrinkage, influence the fatigue resistance. Therefore, a reliable numerical model to predict the performance of concrete over its lifetime is required.
The presented fatigue model is an extension of a static damage model to allow easy coupling in a multiphysics context. The evolution equation of the damage driving variable is enhanced to allow damage growth below the static limit. The model is defined in the time domain and does not include the number of cycles as a parameter.
Thus, it can capture both static and cyclic failure.
Additionally, this allows calibrating the majority of the model parameters static experiments. The model is integrated by resolving each loading cycle, requiring about ten time steps per cycle. The high computational costs are handled via a time scale separation.
The short time scale describes one cycle with marginal changes in the internal variables. These changes are integrated along the large time scale of material deterioration. Various high-order time integration schemes are compared.
Wöhler curves relate loading amplitudes to the number of cycles that the material endures. They are used to validate the model against experimental data.
Appropriate monitoring of transportation infrastructures (e.g. bridges) is of utmost importance to ensure safe operation conditions. Accurate and reliable assessment of such structures can be achieved through the integration of data from non-destructive testing, advanced modeling and model updating techniques. The Bayesian framework has been widely used for updating engineering and mechanical models, due to its probabilistic description of information, in which the posterior probability distribution reflects the knowledge, over the model parameters of interest, inferred from the data. For most real-life applications, the computation of the true posterior involves integrals that are analytically intractable, therefore the implementation of Bayesian inference requires in practice some approximation methods.
This paper investigates the application of Variational Bayesian Inference for structural model parameter identification and update, based on measurements from a real experimental setup. The Variational Bayesian method circumvents the issue of evaluating intractable integrals by using a factorized approximation of the true posterior (mean field approximation) and by choosing a family of conjugate distributions that facilitates the calculations. Inference in the Variational Bayesian framework is seen as solving an optimization problem with the aim of finding the parameters of the factorized posterior which would minimize its Kullback-Leibler divergence in relation to the exact posterior. The Variational Approach is an efficient alternative to sampling methods, such as Markov Chain Monte Carlo, since the latter’s accuracy depends on sampling from the posterior distribution a sufficient amount of times (and therefore requiring an equivalent number of computations of the forward problem, which can be quite expensve).
The durability of concrete structures and its performance over the lifetime is strongly influenced by many interacting phenomena such as e.g. mechanical degradation due to fatigue loading, loss of prestress, degradation due to chemical reactions or creep and shrinkage. Failure due to cyclic loading is generally not instantaneous, but characterized by a steady damage accumulation.
Many constitutive models for concrete are currently available, which are applicable for specific loading regimes, different time scales and different resolution scales. A key limitation is that the models often do not address issues related to fatigue on a structural level. Very few models can be found in the literature that reproduce deterioration of concrete under repeated loading-unloading cycles.
The objective of this paper is the presentation of numerical methods for the simulation of concrete under fatigue loading using a temporal multiscale method.
First, a continuum damage model for concrete is developed with a focus on fatigue under compressive stresses. This includes the possibility to model stress redistributions and capture size effects. In contrast to cycle based approaches, where damage is accumulated based on the number of full stress cycles, a strain based approach is developed that can capture cyclic degradation under variable loading cycles including different amplitudes and loading frequencies. Second, a multiscale approach in time is presented to enable structural computations of fatigue failure with a reduced computational effort. The damage rate within the short time scale corresponding to a single cycle is computed based on a Fourier based approach. This evolution equation is then solved on the long time scale using different time integration schemes.
Porous media flow is an important aspect of geomechanics and material behaviour of concrete under heating and drying. We will present a model for multiphase nonisothermal flow and its solution using the finite element method. In contrast to single phase models (e.g.), which have to consider vaporization or condensation as a temperate dependency on the thermal capacity, the phase changes will be explicitly considered. More complex models have been proposed (e.g.), which also capture the multiphase nature of the flow field. These models, however, also include the coupling to a mechanics field, with many of the constitutive relations of the flow field dependent on the specific damage formulation employed. The resulting complexity of the constitutive models leads to a high number of experiments and difficult calibration procedures to determine their parameters.
The simulation of the moisture distribution under fast and slow heating is presented. The constitutive relations employed here do not assume any particular damage-mechanical model and will therefore allow free choice when mechanical coupling is desired. The resulting pore pressure field is an important prerequisite for the modeling of concrete spalling. Suitable numerical methods to achieve optimal convergence will be discussed.
By using direct coupling between the parts of a multiphysics problem, the models for each part can be simplified, making calibration and sensitivity calculations easier. This is also important for more complicated problems, where the need for simpler material laws that handle coupled phenomena becomes more evident. In particular, this contribution is an essential step towards the modeling of concrete spalling.
Coupling of an isogeometric surface and bulk finite element discretization for contact problems
(2018)
The finite element (FE) framework is a standard tool for the simulation of mechanical problems providing advantages like automated meshing algorithms and effcient quadrature rules. However, for contact problems, the FE discretization is - due to the C0 continuity at element intersections - characterized by a non-smooth normal feld.
Conversely, isogeometric discretizations provide a smooth normal feld also at interelement borders and were recently applied to contact mechanical problems using the mortar method. The application of isogeometric analysis for complex volumetric problems has not reached the same level of automation as the FE-framework, i.e. due to the intricate mesh generation.
This work aims at combining the advantages of both discretization procedures by coupling an isogeometric contact surface with a bulk FE-discretization. The isogeometric contact interface is represented by a NURBS surface, which is tied to the FE mesh. For the discretization of the bulk parts, higher order spectral elements are used. The contact problem is discretized with the mortar method and a penalty approach is used to enforce the contact constraints. Two different types of coupling of the NURBS surface and the bulk part are considered: mortar and pointwise mesh tying. The mortar mesh tying approach shows accurate results, whereas the pointwise tying leads to large oscillations in the contact stresses. Element-based quadrature is applied for mortar tying, as well as for mortar contact discretizations. Using an isogeometric layer, the related quadrature error can be effciently reduced by a higher degree interpolation or increased integration order.
Modeling the interactions of creep, shrinkage and damage in a multiphysics simulation of concrete
(2018)
The time dependent, mechanical behavior of concrete is affected by multiple phenomena like creep, shrinkage and damage propagation. The interactions of these processes are supposed to have significant influence on the materials response to external loading. For example it can be observed that the compressive strength of concrete rises with lowering the moisture content [Dahms, 1968].
Most of the constitutive models for finite element methods are designed with just a single phenomena in mind. In multiphysics simulations it is quiet common to use a linear superposition, i.e. additive decomposition of the total strain into elastic shrinkage, creep or thermal strains.
In this paper, the interactions of creep, shrinkage and damage models are investigated, in particular for cases where the assumption of linear superposition is questionable. A gradient enhanced damage model proposed by [Peerlings et al., 1996] is employed. Creep is modeled as a Kelvin chain as described in [Jirásek and Bažant, 2001]. Shrinkage is simulated by using two different approaches. The first model simulates shrinkage as an additional moisture dependent strain component. In the second model, shrinkage is simulated as a moisture dependent pore pressure applied to the solid bulk.
The impact of model interactions will be discussed with a focus on simulating the influence of the moisture content on the macroscopic strength. The model is validated by comparison to experimental data.
Appropriate monitoring of transportation infrastructures (e.g. bridges) is of utmost importance to ensure safe operation conditions. Accurate and reliable assessment of such structures can be achieved through the integration of data from non-destructive testing, advanced modeling and model updating techniques. The Bayesian framework has been widely used for updating engineering and mechanical models, due to its probabilistic description of information, in which the posterior probability distribution reflects the knowledge, over the model parameters of interest, inferred from the data. For most real-life applications, the computation of the true posterior involves integrals that are analytically intractable, therefore the implementation of Bayesian inference requires in practice some approximation methods.
This paper investigates the application of Variational Bayesian Inference for structural model parameter identification and update, based on measurements from a real experimental setup. The Variational Bayesian method circumvents the issue of evaluating intractable integrals by using a factorized approximation of the true posterior (mean field approximation) and by choosing a family of conjugate distributions that facilitates the calculations. Inference in the Variational Bayesian framework is seen as solving an optimization problem with the aim of finding the parameters of the factorized posterior which would minimize its Kullback-Leibler divergence in relation to the exact posterior. The Variational Approach is an efficient alternative to sampling methods, such as Markov Chain Monte Carlo, since the latter’s accuracy depends on sampling from the posterior distribution a sufficient amount of times (and therefore requiring an equivalent number of computations of the forward problem, which can be quite expensive).
Appropriate monitoring of transportation infrastructures (e.g. bridges) is of utmost importance to ensure safe operation conditions. Accurate and reliable assessment of such structures can be achieved through the integration of data from non-destructive testing, advanced modeling and model updating techniques. The Bayesian framework has been widely used for updating engineering and mechanical models, due to its probabilistic description of information, in which the posterior probability distribution reflects the knowledge, over the model parameters of interest, inferred from the data. For most real-life applications, the computation of the true posterior involves integrals that are analytically intractable, therefore the implementation of Bayesian inference requires in practice some approximation methods.
This paper investigates the application of Variational Bayesian Inference for structural model parameter identification and update, based on measurements from a real experimental setup. The Variational Bayesian method circumvents the issue of evaluating intractable integrals by using a factorized approximation of the true posterior (mean field approximation) and by choosing a family of conjugate distributions that facilitates the calculations. Inference in the Variational Bayesian framework is seen as solving an optimization problem with the aim of finding the parameters of the factorized posterior which would minimize its Kullback-Leibler divergence in relation to the exact posterior. The Variational Approach is an efficient alternative to sampling methods, such as Markov Chain Monte Carlo, since the latter’s accuracy depends on sampling from the posterior distribution a sufficient amount of times (and therefore requiring an equivalent number of computations of the forward problem, which can be quite expensive).
Coupling of an isogeometric surface and bulk finite element discretization for contact problems
(2018)
This work aims at combining the advantages of both discretization procedures (IGA and FEM) by coupling an isogeometric contact surface with a bulk FE-discretization. The isogeometric contact interface is represented by a NURBS surface, which is tied to the FE mesh. For the discretization of the bulk parts, higher order spectral elements are used. The contact problem is discretized with the mortar method and a penalty approach is used to enforce the contact constraints. Two different types of coupling of the NURBS surface and the bulk part are considered: mortar and pointwise mesh tying. The mortar mesh tying approach shows accurate results, whereas the pointwise tying leads to large oscillations in the contact stresses. Element-based quadrature is applied for mortar tying, as well as for mortar contact discretizations. Using an isogeometric layer, the related quadrature error can be efficiently reduced by a higher degree interpolation or increased integration order.
This article introduces an approach and framework for the quantification of the value of structural health monitoring (SHM) in the context of the structural risk and integrity management for systems. The quantification of the value of SHM builds upon the Bayesian decision and utility theory, which facilitates the assessment of the value of information associated with SHM. The principal approach for the quantification of the value of SHM is formulated by modeling the fundamental decision of performing SHM or not in conjunction with their expected utilities. The expected utilities are calculated accounting for the probabilistic performance of a system in conjunction with the associated structural integrity and risk management actions throughout the life cycle, the associated benefits, structural risks, and costs and when performing SHM, the SHM information, their probabilistic outcomes, and costs. The calculation of the expected utilities necessitates a comprehensive and rigorous modeling, which is introduced close to the original formulations and for which analysis characteristics and simplifications are described and derived. The framework provides the basis for the optimization of the structural risk and integrity management based on utility gains including or excluding SHM and inspection information. Studies of fatigue deteriorating structural Systems and their characteristics (1) provide decision Support for the performance of SHM, (2) explicate the influence of the structural component and system characteristics on the value of SHM, and (3) demonstrate how an integral optimization of SHM and inspection strategies for an efficient structural risk and integrity management can be performed.
Fires in road tunnels constitute complex scenarios with interactions between the fire, tunnel users and safety measures. More and more methodologies for risk analysis quantify the consequences of these scenarios with complex models. Examples for complex models are the computational fluid dynamics model Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) and the microscopic evacuation model FDS+Evac. However, the high computational effort of complex models often limits the number of scenarios in practice. To balance this drawback, the scenarios are often simplified. Accordingly, there is a challenge to consider complex scenarios in risk analysis.
To face this challenge, we improved the metamodel used in the methodology for risk analysis presented on ISTSS 2016. In general, a metamodel quickly interpolates the consequences of few scenarios simulated with the complex models to a large number of arbitrary scenarios used in risk analysis. Now, our metamodel consists of the projection array-based design, the moving least squares method, and the prediction interval to quantify the metamodel uncertainty. Additionally, we adapted the projection array-based design in two ways: the focus of the sequential refinement on regions with high metamodel uncertainties; and the combination of two experimental designs for FDS and FDS+Evac.
To scrutinise the metamodel, we analysed the effects of three sequential refinement steps on the metamodel itself and on the results of risk analysis. We observed convergence in both after the second step (ten scenarios in FDS, 192 scenarios in FDS+Evac). In comparison to ISTSS 2016, we then ran 20 scenarios in FDS and 800 scenarios in FDS+Evac. Thus, we reduced the number of scenarios remarkably with the improved metamodel. In conclusion, we can now efficiently integrate complex scenarios in risk analysis. We further emphasise that the metamodel is broadly applicable on various experimental or modelling issues in fire safety engineering.
The High-Fidelity Generalized Method of Cells (HFGMC) is one technique, distinct from traditional finite-element approaches, for accurately simulating nonlinear composite material behavior. In this work, the HFGMC global system of equations for doubly periodic repeating unit cells with nonlinear constituents has been reduced in size through the novel application of a Petrov-Galerkin Proper Orthogonal Decomposition order-reduction scheme in order to improve its computational efficiency. Order-reduced models of an E-glass/Nylon 12 composite led to a 4.8–6.3x speedup in the equation assembly/solution runtime while maintaining model accuracy. This corresponded to a 21–38% reduction in total runtime.Thesignificant difference in assembly/solution and total runtimes was attributed to the evaluation of integration point inelastic field quantities; this step was identical between the unreduced and order-reduced models. Nonetheless, order-reduced techniques offer the potential to significantly improve the computational efficiency of multiscale calculations.
Bei Monopfahlgründungen von Offshore-Windenergieanlagen wird die Verbindung zwischen Monopfahl und Übergangsstück als geschraubter Ringflansch ausgeführt. Die zunehmende Leistungsfähigkeit der Windenergieanlagen führt zu immer größeren Schnittgrößen in diesem Anschluss. In der Folge erhöhen sich nicht nur die Querschnittsabmessungen, sondern es kommen auch zunehmend größere Schrauben zum Einsatz. Da die einschlägigen Regelwerke zur Bemessung dieser Verbindungen nicht für Schrauben der Größen M64 oder M72 konzipiert wurden, stellt sich die Frage der Übertragbarkeit auf solche Anwendungsfälle.
Im Rahmen des Aufsatzes werden Einflüsse diskutiert, die eine Herabsetzung der Schraubentragfähigkeit verursachen könnten. Diese Einflüsse, vornehmlich geometrische Imperfektionen, werden systematisch untersucht und ergänzend in praxisrelevanten Beispielen bewertet. Die somit gewonnenen Erkenntnisse werden für die abschließende Beurteilung der großen Schrauben in Ringflanschverbindungen herangezogen.
A key limitation of the most constitutive models that reproduce a Degradation of quasi-brittle materials is that they generally do not address issues related to fatigue. One reason is the huge computational costs to resolve each load cycle on the structural level. The goal of this paper is the development of a temporal Integration scheme, which significantly increases the computational efficiency of the finite element method in comparison to conventional temporal integrations.
The essential constituent of the fatigue model is an implicit gradient-enhanced formulation of the damage rate. The evolution of the field variables is computed as amultiscale Fourier series in time.On a microchronological scale attributed to single cycles, the initial boundary value problem is approximated by linear BVPs with respect to the Fourier coefficients. Using the adaptive cycle jump concept, the obtained damage rates are transferred to a coarsermacrochronological scale associated with the duration of material deterioration. The performance of the developedmethod is hence improved due to an efficient numerical treatment of the microchronological problem in combination with the cycle jump technique on the macrochronological scale. Validation examples demonstrate the convergence of the obtained solutions to the reference simulations while significantly reducing the computational costs.
Die Feuerwiderstandsdauer von ungeschützten Stahlbauteilen lässt sich durch den Einsatz reaktiver Brandschutzsysteme (RBS) signifikant erhöhen. Durch den profilfolgenden Auftrag der Brandschutzbeschichtung und die hierfür erforderlichen geringen Trockenschichtdicken, welche in der Regel nur wenige Millimeter betragen, können neben den brandschutztechnischen Anforderungen auch die an die Stahlkonstruktion gestellten gestalterischen Ansprüche erfüllt werden. Kommt es zu einem Brand, schäumt das reaktive Brandschutzsystem auf und bildet eine thermische Schutzschicht um das Stahlbauteil aus. Dadurch wird die Erwärmung des Stahls verlangsamt und der Festigkeitsverlust infolge Temperatur wird verzögert. Die Verwendung von reaktiven Brandschutzsystemen auf Stahlbauteilen wird durch Zulassungen geregelt. In Bezug auf den durch die Zulassung geregelten Anwendungsbereich von reaktiven Brandschutzsystemen auf zugbeanspruchten Stahlbauteilen haben sich in den vergangenen Jahren verschiedene Änderungen ergeben. Der nachfolgende Beitrag gibt hierzu einen aktuellen Überblick und beschreibt die Hintergründe, welche zu den neuen Regelungen geführt haben. Ferner erfolgt in diesem Zusammenhang ein Ausblick auf noch zu untersuchende Fragestellungen, welche bisher noch nicht durch die Regelungen in den Zulassungen abgedeckt werden. Bei den nachfolgenden Ausführungen handelt es sich um einen Auszug des Beitrages für die 18. EIPOS-Sachverständigentage Brandschutz.