Hideharu Nakamura

Outline of the seismic buckling design guideline of an FBR — a tentative draft

Abstract Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry (Japan), commissioned by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, is carrying out the Demonstration Test and Research Program of Buckling of FBR (FY 1987-FY 1993). The first half of the research program was finished after establishing a seismic buckling design guideline (a tentative draft). The purpose of this paper is to describe the dynamic buckling characteristics of FBR main vessels and the outline of the rationalized buckling design guideline for seismic loadings.

Shear-bending buckling analyses of fast breeder reactor main vessels

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to describe the computation results and the knowledge of the buckling analysis strategy. Since fast breeder reactor main vessels are thin shell structures, plastic shear-bending buckling is one of the most important problems. To clarify the buckling behaviour, we carried out many tests and numerical calculations. Based on the experience of those buckling analyses, available elements, mesh division, modelling of shape imperfections etc. are described. These results show that the numerical analysis can be a useful tool for evaluating buckling phenomena.

Dam Gate Diagnosing Advisor-an expert system for steel structures

The Dam Gate Diagnosing Advisor (DGDA) is a frame-based expert system developed in the field of civil and structural engineering for diagnosing dam gates at hydro power stations. The function of DGDA is to diagnose the current status of each dam gate and to predict its remaining life term based on both structural engineering and empirical standpoints. To make the diagnoses reliable, the authors have developed an easy-to-use structural analysis program using the finite-element method and a flexible relational database consisting of questionnaire surveys, measurement data, and design information on each dam gate. Also developed is a method for handling data and knowledge uncertainty, which combines the analytic hierarchy process, a nonBayesian decision theory, with ordinary frame-/rule-based knowledge representation.<<ETX>>

An Expert System for Deterioration Assessment of Civil Engineering Steel Structures in Marine Environment

Corrosion deterioration of civil engineering steel structures, such as steel pile piers and sheet pile walls in marine environments, has lately become of interest, and many unsolved problems on corrosion deterioration of the structures are now under investigation in various organizations.At first, we investigated the actual state of steel pile piers and sheet pile walls in port facilities, and developed a corrosion data-base of the structures. Next, we related the data-base to an expert system for corrosion deterioration assessment of the structures, which had some functions, such as stress check up, judgement of maintenance step, and life time prediction.In this paper, we described the data-base, and the outline of the whole advising system for corrosion deterioration assessment.