Connection designs are established to ensure the stability of joined cut sections, the joints so designed should be based on the optimal performance as per the requirements. The connection joints so established should not be based on just strength but reliability and durability as well. This study focuses on tackling one of the major issues faced when using Glass Fibre Reinforced Polymers (GFRPs) as construction materials, which is based on the abrupt failure of the material under critical or maximum loading. Connection designs are established in GFRP short column H-sections based on Bolted Splicing connections by Eurocode 3 for steel splicing connections. A total of seven Connection designs are established using bearing and non-bearing splicing connections. A total of five models for each connection is established for manual testing and Finite Element Analysis (FEA) is used to simulate and analyze these connection designs. Parameters such as ultimate load, displacement at ultimate load, stiffness, compressive strength, failure mode, load versus displacement behavior graph, and percentage compressive strength compared to the un-cut section are provided in this study. The strongest specimen in this study displaced 128% and 127.7% compressive strength compared to an un-cut GFRP H-section when tested using manual testing and FEA accordingly.

In this research, crash test results from CNG locating method optimization approach for crashworthiness and testing its safety are presented. The locating process is based on principal energy considerations inspired from the current design process in passenger vehicle design development. The potential of the vehicle concept to absorb kinetic energy can be estimated at the very beginning of the design process by the free crash lengths in the different areas of the vehicle and estimates of average forces required in the specific segment and parts of the car body at particular crash phases. Based on the basic principle of vehicle crash analysis using the finite element method, a passenger VAN finite element model was selected to simulate the front and side rear collision test of the VAN, therefore the LS-DYNA software is adopted to calculate the deformation of the car and the acceleration time history curves during the crashing process; the anti-impact capability of the vehicle is evaluated from this simulation. It is important to determine appropriate force distributions and the corresponding loads paths through the whole structure for all relevant crash load in dedicated crash test cases. The results demonstrate that the improvement of local structure and location for the required CNG tanks in safe locations in vehicle chassis can promote the crashworthiness of the car, but the further improvement needs a major change of the vehicle structure. The outcomes are interpreted by using LS-PREPOST to analyze the energy absorption characteristics during crash for different cases at a velocity of 50km/h the duration of 12ms. The result analysis was necessary to derive distinct deformation phases characteristic and following that, the essential crash elements are compared with and without CNG tanks installation in each crash case. At last, the conclusion determines the proposed tank locating model in the selected passenger VAN is within the safe range of crash analysis standards.

Cracks are one of the main causes of structural failure and they develop in the structures due to various reasons such as fatigue, temperature variation, excessive load, cyclic load, environmental effects, impact loading etc. Thus, structural health monitoring is necessary to avoid risks, damages and failures. So, in order to avoid an extensive failure or accident, the early prognosis of crack in structures is necessary. Visual inspection and some non-destructive testing (NDT) methods for detection of crack are difficult as it requires time, expenses and are quite inefficient. So the alternative methods are motivated to be developed. In this study, vibration analysis, finite element analysis (FEA) and an alternative way which is artificial neural network (ANN) is used to predict, detect and identify the damages in structures. It is found that the theoretical, experimental, finite element analysis and artificial neural network have good accuracy in predicting the crack characteristics.

This paper presents a numerical investigation on the flexural performance of a novel cementitious reinforced GEM-TECH material using finite element method. A discrete nonlinear FE model using the commercial software ANSYS was employed to model a steel-reinforced GEM-TECH beam. Element SOLID65 was used to model the cementitious material while LINK180 element was used to model the reinforcing bars and stirrups. For model validation, FEA results and crack plots were compared to those obtained from the experimental results of five reinforced GEM-TECH beams: three beams designed with target density of 1810 kg/m3 and two beams with target density of 1600 kg/m3. Both load-deflection plots and the failure mode crack plots predicted by the FE model were in good agreement with the experimental results.

This work illustrates the manufacturing of the honeycomb hexagonal topology structures by the kirigami technical, and the compressive testing of this specimen. The cellular configuration is simulated using a series of finite element models representing fullscale. The models are benchmarked against experimental results from pure compression tests. Finite element models of the honeycomb assemblies under compressive loading have been developed using nonlinear shell elements from an ANSYS code. Good agreement is observed between numerical nonlinear simulations and the experimental results.

This paper describes computer aided finite element analysis of parabolic leaf spring. The present work is an improvement in design of EN45A parabolic leaf spring used by a light commercial automotive vehicle. Development of a leaf spring is a long process which requires lots of test to validate the design and manufacturing variables. A three-layer parabolic leaf spring of EN45A has been taken for this work. The thickness of leaves varies from center to the outer side following a parabolic pattern. These leaf springs are designed to become lighter, but also provide a much improved ride to the vehicle through a reduction on interleaf friction. The CAD modeling of parabolic leaf spring has been done in CATIA V5 and for analysis the model is imported in ANSYS-11 workbench. The finite element analysis (FEA) of the leaf spring has been carried out by initially discretizing the model into finite number of elements and nodes and then applying the necessary boundary conditions. Maximum displacement, directional displacement, equivalent stress and weight of the assembly are the output targets of this analysis for comparison & validation of the work.

This piece of work aims at the modeling and using the finite element method approach (FEM) to analyze the fatigue behavior of bolted beam to column end-plate connection in the structural steel framework subjected to static loading. A detailed three dimensional (3D) simulation model of the bolted beam to column end-plate connection is constructed in PRO-E wildfire and it is analyzed in the ANSYS workbench to obtain its behavior. The bolted end-plate connection is chosen as an important type of beam to column joint. The end-plate connection is chosen for its complexity in the analysis and behavior due to the number of connection components and their inheritable behavior. The solid elements, bonded contact and the bolt pretension are included to obtain the behavior of the structure. The FEA results of the structure with or without bolt pretension are compared with the available literature. At last the fatigue behavior of connections under over tensioning is presented in this work.