Robustness is a prerequisite in the design of a structure and represent a modern research topic in the field of structural engineering. Many definitions have been given to this concept; many design codes focuses the attention on avoiding disproportionation between cause and effect. Lind introduced the concept of “damage tolerance” as the capacity of the system to be able to sustain some damage without failure. Frames structures are considered as a case study of damage tolerance. The peculiarity of these schemes is the presence of a high degree of static indeterminacy, which makes the structures able to differentiate the load paths from the elevation to the foundation. In this framework, the analysis of the topology of the elements of the scheme is performed. For this purpose, a novel metric for “structural complexity” is presented. Information theory is used for the analysis of predominant mechanisms in the transfer of loads from the elevation nodes to the foundations through the set of elements of the frame. The generation of the fundamental static determinate mechanisms, similar to the load paths, is performed by means of algebraic graph theoretical concepts. Then, the effects on the whole structure of the removal of a single element of the frame are highlighted and discussed. The removal on the element is governed by a damage parameter, which reduces the stiffness of the element. Since a general behaviour is sought, a linear elastic model is used. At the end, some general considerations on the robustness of the structures with respect to the so called “black swan events” are drawn.

Complexity and robustness of frame structures / DE BIAGI, Valerio; Chiaia, Bernardino; Placidi, L.. - STAMPA. - (2013), pp. 131-131. (Intervento presentato al convegno XXI Congresso dell'Associazione Italiana di Meccanica Teorica e Applicata tenutosi a Torino nel settembre 2013).

Complexity and robustness of frame structures

DE BIAGI, VALERIO;CHIAIA, Bernardino;
2013

Abstract

Robustness is a prerequisite in the design of a structure and represent a modern research topic in the field of structural engineering. Many definitions have been given to this concept; many design codes focuses the attention on avoiding disproportionation between cause and effect. Lind introduced the concept of “damage tolerance” as the capacity of the system to be able to sustain some damage without failure. Frames structures are considered as a case study of damage tolerance. The peculiarity of these schemes is the presence of a high degree of static indeterminacy, which makes the structures able to differentiate the load paths from the elevation to the foundation. In this framework, the analysis of the topology of the elements of the scheme is performed. For this purpose, a novel metric for “structural complexity” is presented. Information theory is used for the analysis of predominant mechanisms in the transfer of loads from the elevation nodes to the foundations through the set of elements of the frame. The generation of the fundamental static determinate mechanisms, similar to the load paths, is performed by means of algebraic graph theoretical concepts. Then, the effects on the whole structure of the removal of a single element of the frame are highlighted and discussed. The removal on the element is governed by a damage parameter, which reduces the stiffness of the element. Since a general behaviour is sought, a linear elastic model is used. At the end, some general considerations on the robustness of the structures with respect to the so called “black swan events” are drawn.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11583/2540898
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