Resistance spotwelding is the most significant joining technique utilized in various industries, like automotive, boilers, vessels, etc., that are commonly subjected to variable tensile-shear forces due to the unsuitable use of the input spot welding variables, which mainly cause the welded joints failure during the service life of the welded assembly. So, in order to avoid such failures, the welding quality of some materials like aluminum must be improved taking into consideration the performance and weight saving of the welded structure. Thus, the need for optimizing the used welding parameters becomes essential for predicting a goodwelded joint.Accordingly, this study aims at investigating the influence of the spot welding variables, including the squeeze time, welding time, and current on the tensile-shear force of the similar and dissimilar lap joints for aluminum and steel sheets. It was concluded that the use of Taguchi design can improve the welded joints strength through designing the experiments according to the used levels of the input parameters in order to obtain their optimal values that give the optimum tensile-shear force as the response. As a consequence of the present work, the optimal spot welding parameters were successfully obtained.
The paper presents the method of simplified parametric analysis of the sensitivity of a pre-tensioned concrete beam. The presented approach is based on the DOE (design of experiments) data collection which is simulation technique allowing for identification of variables deciding about the effectiveness and costs of designed structures. Additionally, application of the hyper-surface of the construction response allows designers to the development of multi-dimensional trade-off graphs to facilitate, the assessment of the scope of changes in random state variables permitted due to the adequate criteria and selection of their values close to optimum. Design basics, procedures and results of the presented considerations of sensitivity assessment and reliability of the structure has been shown on the example of a pre-stressed concrete beam designed in accordance with the requirements and procedures of Eurocode 2.
This paper concerns load testing of typical bridge structures performed prior to operation. In-situ tests of a twospan post-tensioned bridge loaded with three vehicles of 38-ton mass each formed the input of this study. On the basis of the results of these measurements an advanced FEM model of the structure was developed for which the sensitivity analysis was performed for chosen uncertainty sources. Three uncorrelated random variables representing material uncertainties, imperfections of positioning and total mass of loading vehicles were indicated. Afterwards, two alternative FE models were created based on a fully parametrised geometry of the bridge, differing by a chosen global parameter – the skew angle of the structure. All three solid models were subjected to probabilistic analyses with the use of second-order Response Surface Method in order to define the features of structural response of the models. It was observed that both the ranges of expected deflections and their corresponding mean values decreased with an increase of the skewness of the bridge models. Meanwhile, the coefficient of variation and relative difference between the mean value and boundary quantiles of the ranges remain insensitive to the changes in the skew angle. Owing to this, a procedure was formulated to simplify the process of load testing design of typical bridges differing by a chosen global parameter. The procedure allows - if certain conditions are fulfilled - to perform probabilistic calculations only once and use the indicated probabilistic parameters in the design of other bridges for which calculations can be performed deterministically.
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