Corneliu Cismasiu

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The paper reports on the work on hybrid-{T}refftz finite elements developed by the Structural Analysis Research Group, ICIST, Technical University of Lisbon. A dynamic elastoplastic problem is used to describe the technique used to establish the alternative stress and displacement models of the hybrid-{T}refftz finite element formulations. They are derived using independent time, space and finite element bases, so that the resulting solving systems are symmetric, sparse, naturally $p$-adaptive and particularly well suited to parallel processing. The performance of the hybrid-{T}refftz stress and displacement models is illustrated with a number of representative static and dynamic applications of elastic and elastoplastic structural problems.

Shock absorbers have been widely used in the automotive and aeronautical industries for many years. Inspired on these devices, the paper presents an analytical and numerical assessment of a high performance protective system for building structures against blast loads, which is composed of a shielding element connected to the main structure, at the floor levels, through ductile Energy Absorbing Connectors (EACs). The EACs exploit the external tube inversion mechanism to absorb a significant part of the imparted kinetic energy from the blast wave. While the system prototype has been developed in laboratory, it was characterized and tested in a full-scale blast testing campaign. A validated finite element model was used next to analyze its performance in a more demanding design scenario. The introduction of EACs notably reduces the peak horizontal loads and the kinetic energy transferred to the protected structure, being expected a significant reduction of the stresses in the supporting vertical elements, in addition to the protection of structural and non-structural members. These results encourage further studies of the presented protective system that can be potentially employed for a large variety of blast threat scenarios, especially when increasing the stand-off is not a possible/viable option and sensitive facilities have to be protected.