Qian Ruo-jun

A New Catenary Cable Element

In this paper, a new explicit analytical solution of a single cable with two fixed points was presented by considering the equilibrium and geometric conditions of the cable mini-element. Combining the analytic solution and virtual work principle, the authors proposed a new two-node catenary cable element. By comparing the stiffness matrix of the new cable element and the two-node straight-line cable element, a simplified matrix form was presented and a nonlinear analysis procedure considering the influence of cable initial sag and force was given. This cable element has the advantage of high computing precision and simple expression compared with multi-node cable element and other cable elements. Two numerical examples illustrated the accuracy and reliability of the nonlinear element presented in this paper.

Study on response spectrum method used for seismic response analysis of semi-rigid Steel frames

Based on modal analysis of semi-rigid steel frames, the influence of connection stiffness to structural natural frequencies is first analyzed. Then seismic response of semi-rigid steel frames is computed by response spectrum method considering the change of structural natural frequencies. The results show the semi-rigid frames reduce column-base shearing force and enhance top-point displacement. Adopting the natural frequencies modification method proposed in the paper, response spectrum method can be used to compute seismic response of semi-rigid steel frames.