High Performance and Optimum Design of Structures and Materials V: Encompassing Shock and Impact Loading

The use of novel materials and new structural concepts nowadays is not restricted to highly technical areas like aerospace, aeronautical applications or the automotive industry, but affects all engineering fields including those such as civil engineering and architecture. The included contributions highlight the latest developments in design and manufacturing. Most high-performance structures require the development of a generation of new materials, which can more easily resist a range of external stimuli or react in a non-conventional manner. Particular emphasis is placed on intelligent structures and materials as well as the application of computational methods for their modelling, control and management. The book also addresses the topic of design optimisation. Contributions cover numerical methods, different optimisation techniques and new software. Optimisation problems include those related to the size, shape and topology of structures and materials. Optimisation techniques have much to offer to those involved in the design of new industrial products, as the appearance of powerful commercial computer codes has created a fertile field for the incorporation of optimisation in the design process of all engineering disciplines. The performance of structures under shock and impact loads is another area covered. The increasing need to protect civilian infrastructure and industrial facilities against unintentional loads arising from accidental impact and explosion events as well as terrorist attacks is reflected in the sustained interest worldwide. While advances have been made in recent decades, many challenges remain, such as developing more effective and efficient blast and impact mitigation approaches or assessing the uncertainties associated with large and small scale testing and validation of numerical and analytical models. The overall aim is to move towards a better understanding of the critical issues relating to the testing behaviour, modelling and analyses of protective structures against blast and impact loading. The studies contained in this volume were presented at the International Conference on High Performance and Optimum Structures and Materials Encompassing Shock and Impact Loading and address issues involving advanced types of structures, particularly those based on new concepts, and shock and impact resistance.

Table of Contents:
Section 1: Innovative materials and products Selective reinforcement of joining interface using nanofibers in single-lap joints of thermoplastic composites fabricated by the injection overmolding process: Creep deformation behaviour; Kinetic street furniture with Arm-Z; Influence of superplasticizer type and dosage on retention of consistency of rubberized concrete Section 2: Structural optimization Optimization of steel and timber hall structures; Optimum design of cable-stayed bridges considering cable failure; 30 years’ experience on the optimization of cable-stayed bridges; Structural topology optimization with high spatial definition by using the overweight approach Section 3: Blast and impact loads Analysis of charge shape influence on blast pressure; New predictive models for the ballistic limit of spacecraft sandwich panels subjected to hypervelocity impact; Assessment of coupled Lagrangian–Eulerian finite element simulations to model suction forces during hydrodynamic impacts; Engineering approach to calibrate a concrete model for high speed impact applications Section 4: Performance and sustainability of structures Full-scale reinforced concrete slabs with external reinforced polymer: Field test and numerical comparison; Group analytic network process for the sustainability assessment of bridges near shore; Influence of the projectile shape on the dynamic tensile characterization of concrete using a Split Hopkinson Bar; Pre-stressed reinforced concrete elements under blast loading: Numerical analysis and shock tube testing; Collapse fragility curves for seismic assessment of superplastic shape memory alloy in reinforced concrete structures