Finite Element Analyses of Piled Foundations: Interaction Domains Under Undrained Conditions

Most of the bridges in Europe countries are now approaching their design life. Therefore, at present crucial is the choice of the most suitable retrofitting solution taking the current design standards into account. From an economic point of view the costs related to the foundations adaptation are not negligible at all, even because design...

Quasi-static cyclic two-way out-of-plane bending tests and analytical models comparison for URM walls

Out-of-plane failure is one of the most important mechanisms for unreinforced ma-sonry (URM) structures to be prevented in the seismic areas. The one-way out-of-plane bend-ing failure mechanism has been studied by several authors. The two-way bending failure mechanism has received much less attention and only few formulations for specific cases...

Influence of temperature on strength and failure mechanisms of resistance welded thermoplastic composites joints

In this work, the effect of temperature exposure on the strength of resistance welded joints is analysed. Glass fibre polyphenylene sulphide (GF/PPS) laminates were joined using the resistance welding technique and a stainless steel metal mesh as the heating element. Single lap shear tests at temperatures between 20°C and 150°C were performed to...

Dynamically loaded beam failure under corroded conditions

De-icing salts, used on roads in heavy winters, may enter reinforced concrete (RC) structures via its capillary pore system or via cracks, initiating reinforcement corrosion and reducing its remaining service-life. Vehicles passing real bridges exert a dynamic impact action that might activate a fatigue failure mechanism. In order to generate...

Identification of the information needs for sewer asset management by assessing failure mechanics

Asset management is a prerequisite for maintaining the required level of serviceability of urban drainage systems. The required asset management effort to achieve a certain level of service is unclear due to sewer systems process and structure complexity. One of the main questions of asset management is what kind of information is needed, and...

Re-assessing reliability based on survived loads

The reliability of flood defenses is often dictated by large uncertainties in the hydraulic loading and the structural resistance. Additional information decreases uncertainty, however, acquiring it is often costly. One source of information, even though in many cases readily available, is hardly used – survived loads. This article shows how...

SWOT analysis of breach models for common dike failure mechanisms

The use of breach models includes two tasks: predicting breach characteristics and estimating flow through the breach. Strengths and weaknesses as well as opportunities and threats of different simplified and detailed physically-based breach models are listed following theoretical and practical criteria. According to the theoretical criteria,...