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The significant wave height is a critical parameter in the design and analysis of marine structures, as well as in their operational use. Consequently, predicting this parameter greatly contributes to improving the design and analysis of marine structures. Various modeling approaches for wave characteristics include numerical, empirical, and artificial intelligence models. This study employs the SWAN model, which is a third-generation model for the simulation and estimation of wave characteristics. Furthermore, soft computing models, including individual and hybrid artificial intelligence models such as Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS), Support Vector Machine (SVM), and Emotional Artificial Neural Networks (EANN), have been utilized for wave height prediction, using data from the Amirabad buoy for validation purposes. In this research, the model inputs consist of wind speed, while the outputs are the wave heights. The analysis of the different models was carried out using statistical metrics, including bias, root mean square error, coefficient of variation, and coefficient of determination. The evaluation of the models using these statistics indicates an acceptable agreement between the significant wave heights estimated by the SWAN model and the buoy data. Additionally, each of the three artificial intelligence models mentioned demonstrates a relatively accurate capability in predicting wave height. A comparison of the results from the artificial intelligence models revealed that the Support Vector Machine model exhibited higher accuracy than the others. The Support Vector Machine model serves as an alternative method to the SWAN model or other numerical techniques, enhancing modeling outcomes when wave height data is unavailable or lacks the necessary statistical quality.
 

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Backgrounds: Listeria monocytogenes is an opportunistic pathogen causing listeriosis, its pathogenicity is due to the presence of virulence factors including InlA, InlB, PlcA, PlcB, ActA, Iap, and Hly. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the formation of biofilm and its association with serotypes and virulence factors in L. monocytogenes isolates.
Material and Methods: In this study, 51 L. monocytogenes isolates were collected from blood, urine, feces, placenta, rectum, and vagina samples as well as livestock and food samples. Biofilm production was measured using microtiter plate assay, and virulence genes were identified by PCR method.
Findings: Out of 51 isolates, 27 (52.9%) were non-biofilm producers, 17 (33.3%) were weak biofilm producers, four (7.8%) were medium biofilm producers, and three (5.9%) were strong biofilm producers. According to this study results, different L. monocytogenes strains could form biofilm with various intensities. The actA, flaA, inlJ, inlA, and plcB genes were observed in all the isolates. The frequency of the hlyA, plcA, iap, inlB, and inlC genes among the isolates was 90.2, 94.1, 98, 88.2, and 82.4%, respectively. There was no significant correlation between the presence/absence of virulence genes in biofilm producing and non-biofilm forming isolates, except for the inlC and iap genes, which showed a significant correlation with the ability to form biofilm.
Conclusion: Due to the high prevalence rate of biofilm formation among the isolates and the importance of biofilm production in medical surfaces and food industries, eradication of biofilm-forming isolates is important.
 

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Abstract In this paper the effect of two types of common initial geometric imperfections on the reliability of steel frames is investigated. These imperfections are the coordinates of connection nodes and crookedness of members. Most finite element reliability analyses in past literature neglect this source of uncertainty. For this purpose static nonlinear pushover structural analysis is used from which reliabilities are estimated based on FORM and Monte Carlo sampling methods. Furthermore to investigate the importance of uncertain parameters, reliability sensitivity analysis is performed by use of the direct differentiation method which has been implemented in the object oriented software framework Open Sees. It is demonstrated that some of these geometric imperfections have significant influence on reliability assessment of steel frames.

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Abstract Most structural failures are because of break in consisting materials. These breaks are initiated with crack extension, which is a serious threat to the behavior of structure, so different methods have been developed for distinguishing and showing such cracks. Meanwhile, the new methods based on original wavelet transform are efficient and very important in the subject of signals. The main aim of this paper is to fin the methods capable of distinguishing the specifications of cracks practically. first a modal analysis of the structure was For this purpose, performed using ANSYS software, Then the structure was analyzed as original wavelet using the wavelet toolbox of MATLAB software the results are shown in two dimensional charts of coefficient-position.

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Abstract: The effect of two types of common initial geometric imperfections on the reliability of steel frames was investigated. These imperfections are the coordinates of connection nodes and crookedness of members. Most of the finite element reliability analyses in the past haveneglect this source of uncertainty. For this purpose, static non-linear pushover structural analysis was used in the present work from which reliabilities were estimated based on the FORM and Monte Carlo sampling methods. Furthermore, to investigate the importance of uncertain parameters, reliability sensitivity analysis was performed by the use of direct differentiation method, which was implemented in the object oriented framework of OpenSees software. It was demonstrated that some of these geometric imperfections have significant influence on the reliability assessment of steel frames.

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Abstract: In the present article, the effect of fire on the axial compressive strength of reinforced concrete (RC) columns was studied. Method of research was laboratory investigation. The axial compressive strength of RC columns was measured by applying variable heat in different time intervals in the process of experiment. Thirty two samples of fine-scale RC columns with square and circular cross sections, the gross cross section area of 225 cm² (for both sections), longitudinal reinforcement area of 3.1 cm², general height of 30 cm for all samples and other uniform structural characteristics ( 25 c f   MPa , 300 y f  MPa ) were exposed to fire and different temperatures (300°C to 700°C) were applied in the time intervals of 30, 60 and 90 minutes. Then they were exposed to axial loading by hydraulic jack with 200 ton capacity, and their strengths were measured. It is worth noting that, in the heating stage of samples, caps with thermal insulation were used in order to prevent instantaneous strain at the two ends of the samples. By carrying out the experiments, it became clear that at the time of fire, two factors, i.e., the "period of fire" and "temperature of fire" resulted in the loss of strength in RC columns. Of course, the "period of fire" factor was more effective than temperature of fire. It also became clear that RC columns with circular cross section fail faster in comparison with the columns with square cross sections at the time of fire. In order to evaluate and measure the results obtained, a relative factor called "Fire Factor" was utilized. The results indicated that the amount of axial compressive strength loss resulting from fire is approximately 3-5% greater in circular RC columns in comparison with square columns.

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In this paper, crack detection possibility in an arch dam structure is investigated by wavelet transform analysis. An arch dam is a solid concrete dam, curved upstream in plan. In addition to resisting part of the pressure of the reservoir by its own weight, it obtains a large measure of stability by transmitting the remainder of the water pressure and other loads by arch action into the canyon walls. The complete necessity of high safety, economical design, complex of designing and its application increase the importance of concrete arch dams. Successful arch action is dependent on a unified monolithic structure, and special care must be taken in the construction of an arch dam to ensure that no structural discontinuities such as open joints or cracks exist at the time the structure assumes its water load. According to the principles of theory of structures, there is a relationship between the dynamic and static responses and, consequently, the stiffness. Any sudden change in stiffness leads to dynamic and static response variation. This condition will help to estimate the damage and to investigate the structural response before and after the failure. Wavelet analysis has recently been considered for damage detection and structural health monitoring (SHM). It provides a powerful tool to characterize local features of a signal. The basis function in wavelet analysis is defined by two parameters: scale and translation. This property leads to a multi-resolution representation for stationary signals. It has high ability in analysis of static and dynamic response signals. Staionary wavelet transform (SWT) can show the location of frequency changes. That these locations are the points that they have been damaged. The case study is the concrete curvature arch of KAROON-1 (Shahid Abbaspour) dam with the height of 200 m. This dam is considered as one of the most complex dams because of different external and internal radia and angles, as well as asymmetrical center of the external and internal archs in different levels. Using the geometrical dimensions of the above-mentioned dam- from respective design sheetsand its mechanical and physical properties, the dam with and without crack was modeled by the ABAQUS FE software package. After frequency analysis of the dam by ABAQUS for both safe and cracked models in the same frequency mode, displacement responses at the cracked level (crest) were extracted along the reservoir’s longitudinal axis. Afterwards, the responses were used for the wavelet analysis by the wavelet toolbar of the MATLAB software and the detection of crack in the dam structure was investigated with SWT. The results of wavelet analysis showed that the graphs have considerable rise at or around the crack location. But there was no noise or any harmony in the graphs of the safe dam. Hence, detecting the location of crack in dam structures is possible with wavelet transform.

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  The main aspect of this research study is investigation on scour phenomenon around marine pipelines with respect to submerged impermeable plates beneath the pipe. So far, numerous investigations have been done but the main difference of this study with them is installation an impermeable base plate under the pipelines. Installing these impermeable plates mainly causes that the developed streamlines under the bed, located under the pipeline, are lengthened and accordingly the pressure gradient reduces across the pipe. Reduction of the pressure gradient may be considered an important issue since one of the most important criteria of establishing and progressing of scour under pipelines is the formation of piping phenomenon under the pipelines. This phenomenon is due to dominance of the pressure gradient on floating weight of the bed materials. For this research study, firstly scour phenomena under the pipelines were investigated both for unprotected pipelines and protected pipelines with submerged impermeable plates, with the piping phenomenon under the pipelines were being considered for both cases. The experiments were carried out in a channel with 10m length, 0.25m width and 0.5m depth. P.V.C. pipes with four diameters (i.e., 2cm, 3cm, 4cm and 5cm) and 0.5cm thickness were investigated. The bed materials were consisted of sediment particles with median size of 0.50 mm and geometric standard deviation of 1.43. The specific gravity of bed materials was 2.65. All experiments were run at clear water conditions. For each test the steady approach flow was adjusted so that the ratio of velocity to critical velocity was equal to about 0.85 on the centerline of the flume. A number of rectangular galvanized iron plates with 25cm in length, 0.7mm thickness and various dimensions of breadths were selected as countermeasure tools for scouring phenomenon. Then, the scour depth beneath two parallel pipelines with side by side arrangements and their interaction on scouring process were investigated. Finally, with installing impermeable base plates under the pipelines, the effect of these plates on scour phenomenon were studied for any arrangements of the parallel pipelines. The experimental results showed that installation a plate under the pipeline could prevent the formation of scour hole to some degrees and protect them from scour hazards. For all test cases of unprotected pipelines, the maximum dimensionless scour depth beneath the pipelines decreased when the pipe diameter increased. For side by side arrangement of two parallel pipelines, the formed scour depth decreased when the distance of pipelines increased. Then, for practical purposes, in order to reduce the maximum scour depth it is recommended that the distance of two parallel pipelines increases as far as possible or a submerged base plate may be used beneath the under pipeline. For all test cases of pipelines with impermeable base plates, the scour process will not further occur unless due to wake vortices

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Most of structural failures are because of break in consisting materials. Beginning of these breaks is with crack which extension of them is a serious threat to behavior of structure, so the methods of distinguishing and showing of cracks are most important subjects which are being investigated. In this article, a new smart portable mechanical system to detect damage in beam structures form using fuzzy-genetic algorithm is introduced. Acceleration-time history of the three point of beam is obtained. The signals are then decomposed into smaller components using new EMD (Empirical Mode Decomposition) method with every IMF containing a specific range of the frequency. The dominate frequencies of the structure are obtained from these IMFs using Short-Time Fourier transform. Subsequently, a new method of damage detection in simply supported beams is introduced based on fuzzy-genetic algorithm. The new method is capable of identifying the location and severity of the damage. This algorithm is developed to detect the location and severity of the damage along the beam, which can detect the damage location and severity based on the pattern of beam frequency variations between undamaged and damaged states.

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Corrosion in spiral steel prestressed wires tensioned around core are one of the major weaknesses of prestressed concrete pipes which their untimely detection can cause sudden failure and damages. To date, these kinds of pipes are used and produced in Iran and their abrupt failure due to corrosion has been experienced. In this study acoustic emission monitoring in prestressed concrete was used to investigate the corrosion. An approximately full-scale experimental sample pipe is made in Middle East Technical University laboratory. The pipe is loaded by internal water pressure and accelerated corrosion applied to the sample and the resulted acoustic emission signals are recorded using piezoelectric sensors during corrosion. The sample is tested under wetting and drying cycles frequently for corrosion detection in which during the experiment, pipe inside pressure was fluctuated and Kaiser Effect was studied in different conditions. Experimental results show significant changes in some gained acoustic emission parameters as the pipe work pressure increases to higher amounts. It is shown that the changed AE parameters can be used for damage prediction, condition assessment and corrosion detection of prestressed concrete pipelines.

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Abstract

Rotational friction dampers are a specific type of friction dampers which have several advantages. Dampers are used to improve the cyclic behavior of structures against forces caused by wind and earthquake. These types of dampers will cause energy dissipation by its rotating and rerotating. However, complete and comprehensive researches have not been performed on the effect of rotational friction dampers and their effect on the bearing capacity of steel frames. In this research, the behavior of concrete-filled steel tube (CFT)  in two cases frame braced with rotational friction dampers and frame braced without rotational friction dampers is investigated. For verification, the results obtained from finite element method software, ABAQUS, were compared with that of experimental studies for test samples used in a building with a height of 300m in Osaka, Japan. The hysteresis curves of the modeled samples are in good agreement with the experimental results.

In order to investigate the performance of steel composite frame (with CFTs) braced with rotational friction dampers towards to steel composite frame (with CFTs) braced without rotational friction dampers  under the effect of three earthquake Far-field records, the structure was modeled, designed and analyzed in ETABS software. The use of bracing with rotational friction dampers has caused a decrease in the displacement of the roof’s center of mass for each record mentioned above which modeled in ETABS software. It decreased by 13 to 49 % for 9 records and increased by 2 to 17 % for 2 records. The use of bracing along with rotational friction damper modeled in ABAQUS software under the effect of each record has caused a decrease in base shear. The extent of these reductions was different for each record mentioned above. In each record modeled in ETABS software, the base shear of the structure has not reduced similarly; however, in some cases, the base shear has increased. It had a decrease of 11 to 37% for 7 records and an increase of 3 to 26% for 4 records.

 Then a Single-storey frame with single-span With the same materials and specifications introduced in ETABS software in ABAQUS software Has been modeled. For lateral loading of columns, the lateral loading protocol based on ATC-24 and the instructions for using dampers in the design and reinforcement of buildings have been used.
 According to Regulation No. 766 of the Program and Budget Organization, the loading cycles introduced in ETABS software with a frequency of 1.15T have been used in the ABAQUS Limited Components Software to move. The use of rotary braces and crankshafts in the ABAQUS limited component software under the influence of each of the discussed records has reduced the displacement of the structure relative to the structure without braces and without rotational friction dampers of the structure mentioned above was exerted under the record effect of the same earthquake in ABAQUS software The use of bracing along with rotational friction damper modeled in ABAQUS software under the effect of each record has caused a decrease in base shear. The amount of energy reduction for records understudy was not equal and varied from 8% to 34.7%. The hysteresis curves of base shear of braced structures with and without dampers are well presented.

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Reinforced concrete structures with standard steel rebar are vulnerable to corrosion and harsh environmental conditions, hence RC structures reinforced with fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) rebar were commonly used these days. Du to FRP rebar’s better performance such as high strength, low self-weight, electromagnetic transparency and, as mentioned, non-corrodibility nature, using them as reinforcing bar is very widespread now. Because of financial matters, between different kinds of FRPs, GFRP is a better choice. Considering GFRP’s high strength and elastic behavior until failure, Although a large amount of reinforcement ratio is needed in composite beam components, the flexural stiffness of GFRP rebar reinforced beams is relatively lower compared to steel-RC, and more deflection and cracking are allowed in the serviceability design of these beams. Recently, shear and flexural behavior of continuous concrete beams reinforced with GFRP bars has been well investigated. Because of linear elastic behavior of GFRP materials until failure, considering moment redistribution in analysis and design of these beams is not allowed in almost all of cods and guidelines. Although many experimental and numerical researches investigated the moment redistribution in FRP-RC continuous beams with rectangular section, the behavior of these beams with T-section is almost unknown. This paper is a numerical investigation of existence and variety of moment redistribution in concrete continuous T-section beams reinforced with GFRP bars using finite element method with ABAQUS software. The verification of numerical models was done with some experimental beams, so the simulation can be used for further researches. The considering variables included the longitudinal reinforcement percentage, the number of main bars with constant bar ratio, transverse reinforcement ratio, stirrup space with constant ratio and constant bar size. For investigating mentioned parameters, 35 beams were modeled in software according to Canadian design and construction of building structures with FRP code, so 5 groups of beams were made which one beam is constant in each group. T-section beams were modeled assuming which failure happens because of concrete crashing not rebar failure. Deflection and serviceability were not interested, so bond-slippage behavior of GFRP rebar with concrete is not considered in modeling. Problem is indeterminate, so the percentage of moment redistribution was determined by comparing the reactions resulted from numerical and elastic analysis. Load-deflection and load-moment redistribution curves were used to discuss. The results show, as there is in steel-RC structures, moment redistribution exist in GFRP-RC continuous beams with T-section; however the amount of it is lower. Amount of bars between 2.5 times of balance reinforcement ratio and 3.5 times of it, in top and bottom of beam, shows the highest flexibility load and moment redistribution capacity. Increasing the number of main bars with constant reinforcement ratio and increasing the stirrup space with constant transverse reinforcement ratio reduce the moment redistribution capacity. It seems that the minimum amount of transverse reinforcement considered in Canadian code is not enough for preventing shear failure in these beams. So, with considering some points, the moment redistribution can be taken to account in analysis and design of GFRP-RC continuous beams with T-section.

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Adding fresh concrete to old concrete is a common method for repairing or strengthening structures. In this research, in order to evaluate the shear and tensile strength of the joint of old and new concrete under successive cycles of freezing and thawing of new concrete with cement grades of 300, 350 and 400 kg/m3 and three water-to-cement ratios of 0.4, 0.45, 0.5 and bubble-making materials with amounts of 0.0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3 and 0.4 of the weight of cement used. Then, 300 consecutive cycles of freezing and thawing were performed on the samples after 3, 7 and 28 days of processing period. Freezing and thawing periods include lowering the temperature of the samples from 4°C to -18°C and raising it from -18°C to 4°C, which is done alternately and in a period of 4 hours for each thawing-freezing cycle. The samples were frozen for 3 hours and placed in water for 1 hour for the thawing process. The results of this research show that the effect of freezing and thawing cycles on the shear strength is more than the tensile strength of the bond and the increase in the weight percentage of the bubble-making material has the greatest effect on the shear stress during the 28-day processing period, and with the increase in the weight percentage of the bubble-making material from zero to 0.4, the difference in the amount of shear stress in the conditions with and without the freezing and thawing cycle decreases. The maximum decrease in the shear strength of the joint bond after the application of the temperature cycle is zero in the amount of bubble-making material, so that for a 28-day concrete sample, the shear strength decreases by 93% on average in the ratio of water to cement and different grades of cement. According to the results of this research, with the increase in the weight percentage of bubble-making materials from zero to 0.4, for concrete with 300, 350 and 400 kg/m³ grade, the amount of shear stress for different water-cement ratios and different processing periods decreases on average by 15%, 14% and 11%, respectively. But for laboratory conditions with freezing and thawing cycles, the amount of shear stress increases significantly with the increase in the weight percentage of bubble-making materials, so that for concrete with 300, 350 and 400 kg/m³ grade in the 28-day processing period and the ratio of water to cement 0.45, with the increase in the weight percentage of bubble-making materials from zero to 0.4, the amount of shear stress reaches from a very small value of 0.42, 0.45 and 0.47 to 2.59, 2.91 and 2.99 MPa. With the increase of water-cement ratio in conditions without freezing and thawing cycle, the amount of shear strength decreases, but in conditions with freezing and thawing cycles, the shear strength first increases and then decreases, so that the highest value of shear strength occurs in the water-cement ratio of 0.45.  Also, the highest bond strength after applying freezing and thawing cycles in the samples, after 3 days of processing in water to cement ratio of 0.4, grade of 400 kg/m3 and using 0.4% of cement weight used as bubble material occurs.
 

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Abstract
Steel shear walls have been used in various buildings as a system to resist lateral loads. The special advantage of this type of wall is its good malleability, high initial hardness, and high energy consumption power. But due to its special geometry, the steel shear wall undergoes buckling in the elastic range. To prevent steel sheet buckling in steel shear walls, there are two general solutions: using metal stiffeners or using concrete cover that is connected to steel sheet through shears. Based on this research, a solution has been proposed to improve the seismic performance of modern steel-concrete composite shear walls. The composite steel shear wall is a modern lateral bearing system consisting of a steel sheet with a reinforced concrete cover, which is connected to the sheet from one side or both sides by clips. In the composite steel shear wall, the reinforced concrete cover, by restraining the steel sheet and preventing its buckling, increases the shear capacity of the steel shear wall to the point of yielding in shearing inside the plate instead of tension in the direction of the tensile field. The composite steel shear wall, while increasing the shear capacity of the system, increases the resistance of the panel against destructive factors such as corrosion, fire, impact, explosion, and other cases and causes a reduction of more than 25 to 50 percent in the consumption of steel in medium and large buildings. In the new composite steel shear wall system, a distance is created between the concrete cover and the boundary beams and columns. Tests on conventional and modern composite steel shear walls show that the modern system has little damage compared to the conventional system. From nonlinear static analysis using the finite element method and with the help of ABAQUS software, the influence of the geometric characteristics of steel stiffeners on the seismic performance of the modern steel-concrete composite shear wall has been investigated. After modeling the steel-concrete composite shear wall and validating the numerical model with laboratory results, the effect of parameters such as the number of stiffeners, the type of arrangement, including vertical, horizontal, diagonal, and combined, on the maximum bearing capacity of the composite shear wall, ductility coefficient, additional strength, energy consumption, compressive damage of the concrete hardener, and failure modes have been investigated. The results of this research show that the use of T-shaped steel stiffeners and their arrangement have a significant effect on the bearing capacity of steel-concrete composite shear walls and cause the overall buckling of the steel sheet to become local buckling between the stiffeners. The use of diagonal stiffeners increases the capacity of steel shear walls by 25%. The ductility factor and added strength factor of the steel frame with diagonal stiffeners are about 39 and 124% higher than the ductility factor and added strength factor of the base sample without the use of stiffeners, respectively. The use of diagonal stiffeners in composite shear walls compared to composite shear walls without steel stiffeners increases energy consumption by about 18%. The use of T-shaped steel diagonal stiffeners in composite shear walls compared to composite shear walls without steel stiffeners causes a significant reduction in the damage and failure of the concrete stiffener.