TY - JOUR A1 - Rossi, Leonardo A1 - Winands, Mark H. M. A1 - Butenweg, Christoph ED - Zhang, Jessica T1 - Monte Carlo Tree Search as an intelligent search tool in structural design problems JF - Engineering with Computers : An International Journal for Simulation-Based Engineering N2 - Monte Carlo Tree Search (MCTS) is a search technique that in the last decade emerged as a major breakthrough for Artificial Intelligence applications regarding board- and video-games. In 2016, AlphaGo, an MCTS-based software agent, outperformed the human world champion of the board game Go. This game was for long considered almost infeasible for machines, due to its immense search space and the need for a long-term strategy. Since this historical success, MCTS is considered as an effective new approach for many other scientific and technical problems. Interestingly, civil structural engineering, as a discipline, offers many tasks whose solution may benefit from intelligent search and in particular from adopting MCTS as a search tool. In this work, we show how MCTS can be adapted to search for suitable solutions of a structural engineering design problem. The problem consists of choosing the load-bearing elements in a reference reinforced concrete structure, so to achieve a set of specific dynamic characteristics. In the paper, we report the results obtained by applying both a plain and a hybrid version of single-agent MCTS. The hybrid approach consists of an integration of both MCTS and classic Genetic Algorithm (GA), the latter also serving as a term of comparison for the results. The study’s outcomes may open new perspectives for the adoption of MCTS as a design tool for civil engineers. KW - Monte Carlo Tree Search KW - Structural design KW - Artificial intelligence KW - Civil engineering KW - Genetic algorithm Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00366-021-01338-2 SN - 1435-5663 SN - 0177-0667 VL - 38 IS - 4 SP - 3219 EP - 3236 PB - Springer Nature CY - Cham ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Morandi, Paolo A1 - Butenweg, Christoph A1 - Breis, Khaled A1 - Beyer, Katrin A1 - Magenes, Guido ED - Ansal, Atilla T1 - Latest findings on the behaviour factor q for the seismic design of URM buildings JF - Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering N2 - Recent earthquakes as the 2012 Emilia earthquake sequence showed that recently built unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings behaved much better than expected and sustained, despite the maximum PGA values ranged between 0.20–0.30 g, either minor damage or structural damage that is deemed repairable. Especially low-rise residential and commercial masonry buildings with a code-conforming seismic design and detailing behaved in general very well without substantial damages. The low damage grades of modern masonry buildings that was observed during this earthquake series highlighted again that codified design procedures based on linear analysis can be rather conservative. Although advances in simulation tools make nonlinear calculation methods more readily accessible to designers, linear analyses will still be the standard design method for years to come. The present paper aims to improve the linear seismic design method by providing a proper definition of the q-factor of URM buildings. These q-factors are derived for low-rise URM buildings with rigid diaphragms which represent recent construction practise in low to moderate seismic areas of Italy and Germany. The behaviour factor components for deformation and energy dissipation capacity and for overstrength due to the redistribution of forces are derived by means of pushover analyses. Furthermore, considerations on the behaviour factor component due to other sources of overstrength in masonry buildings are presented. As a result of the investigations, rationally based values of the behaviour factor q to be used in linear analyses in the range of 2.0–3.0 are proposed. KW - Unreinforced masonry buildings KW - Modern constructions KW - Seismic design KW - Linear elastic analysis KW - Behaviour factor q Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10518-022-01419-7 SN - 1573-1456 SN - 1570-761X VL - 20 IS - 11 SP - 5797 EP - 5848 PB - Springer Nature CY - Cham ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Marinković, Marko A1 - Butenweg, Christoph ED - Ford, Michael C. T1 - Experimental testing of decoupled masonry infills with steel anchors for out-of-plane support under combined in-plane and out-of-plane seismic loading JF - Construction and Building Materials N2 - Because of simple construction process, high energy efficiency, significant fire resistance and excellent sound isolation, masonry infilled reinforced concrete (RC) frame structures are very popular in most of the countries in the world, as well as in seismic active areas. However, many RC frame structures with masonry infills were seriously damaged during earthquake events, as the traditional infills are generally constructed with direct contact to the RC frame which brings undesirable infill/frame interaction. This interaction leads to the activation of the equivalent diagonal strut in the infill panel, due to the RC frame deformation, and combined with seismically induced loads perpendicular to the infill panel often causes total collapses of the masonry infills and heavy damages to the RC frames. This fact was the motivation for developing different approaches for improving the behaviour of masonry infills, where infill isolation (decoupling) from the frame has been more intensively studied in the last decade. In-plane isolation of the infill wall reduces infill activation, but causes the need for additional measures to restrain out-of-plane movements. This can be provided by installing steel anchors, as proposed by some researchers. Within the framework of European research project INSYSME (Innovative Systems for Earthquake Resistant Masonry Enclosures in Reinforced Concrete Buildings) the system based on a use of elastomers for in-plane decoupling and steel anchors for out-of-plane restrain was tested. This constructive solution was tested and deeply investigated during the experimental campaign where traditional and decoupled masonry infilled RC frames with anchors were subjected to separate and combined in-plane ‬and out-of-plane loading. Based on a detailed evaluation and comparison of the test results, the performance and effectiveness of the developed system are illustrated. KW - Masonry infill KW - Reinforced concrete frame KW - Earthquake KW - INSYSME KW - Decoupling Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2021.126041 SN - 1879-0526 SN - 0950-0618 VL - 318 IS - 1 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Marinkovic, Marko A1 - Butenweg, Christoph T1 - Numerical analysis of the in-plane behaviour of decoupled masonry infilled RC frames JF - Engineering Structures N2 - Damage of reinforced concrete (RC) frames with masonry infill walls has been observed after many earthquakes. Brittle behaviour of the masonry infills in combination with the ductile behaviour of the RC frames makes infill walls prone to damage during earthquakes. Interstory deformations lead to an interaction between the infill and the RC frame, which affects the structural response. The result of this interaction is significant damage to the infill wall and sometimes to the surrounding structural system too. In most design codes, infill walls are considered as non-structural elements and neglected in the design process, because taking into account the infills and considering the interaction between frame and infill in software packages can be complicated and impractical. A good way to avoid negative aspects arising from this behavior is to ensure no or low-interaction of the frame and infill wall, for instance by decoupling the infill from the frame. This paper presents the numerical study performed to investigate new connection system called INODIS (Innovative Decoupled Infill System) for decoupling infill walls from surrounding frame with the aim to postpone infill activation to high interstory drifts thus reducing infill/frame interaction and minimizing damage to both infills and frames. The experimental results are first used for calibration and validation of the numerical model, which is then employed for investigating the influence of the material parameters as well as infill’s and frame’s geometry on the in-plane behaviour of the infilled frames with the INODIS system. For all the investigated situations, simulation results show significant improvements in behaviour for decoupled infilled RC frames in comparison to the traditionally infilled frames. KW - Seismic loading KW - Earthquake KW - In-plane performance, isolation KW - Infill wall design KW - Numerical modelling Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.engstruct.2022.114959 SN - 0141-0296 VL - 272 IS - 1 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kubalski, Thomas A1 - Butenweg, Christoph A1 - El-Deib, Khaled ED - Jesse, Dirk T1 - Vereinfachte Berücksichtigung der Rahmentragwirkung in Mauerwerksgebäuden T1 - Simplified consideratioon of framing effects in masonry buildings JF - Bautechnik N2 - Aufgrund der gestiegenen Anforderungen durch höhere Ein-wirkungen aus Wind und Erdbeben ist eine Verbesserung und Optimierung der Berechnungs- und Bemessungsansätze für Mauerwerksbauten erforderlich. Eine bessere Ausnutzung der Tragwerksreserven ist durch die Berücksichtigung der Rah-mentragwirkung mit einer Aktivierung der Deckenscheiben in den Rechenmodellen möglich, die in der Praxis aufgrund der Komplexität der Wand-Decken-Interaktion bislang nicht aus-genutzt wird. Im vorliegenden Aufsatz wird ein vereinfachter Ansatz auf Grundlage der mitwirkenden Plattenbreite von Schubwänden aus Mauerwerk vorgestellt, der die wesentli-chen Einfl ussfaktoren in parametrisierten Tabellen erfasst. Damit steht den Tragwerksplanern ein einfach anwendbares Werkzeug zur Verfügung, um die Rahmentragwirkung in der Mauerwerksbemessung anzusetzen. N2 - Due to the increased requirements resulting from higher wind and earthquake loads, it is necessary to improve and optimise the calculation and design approaches for masonry structures. An important contribution to a better utilisation of the structural load-bearing reserves is the consideration of the framing ef-fects through the activation of the fl oor slabs in the calculation models, which has not been utilised in practice so far due to the complexity of the wall-slab interaction. The paper presents a simplifi ed approach based on the contributory slab width, which captures the essential infl uencing factors in parameter-ised tables. This provides structural engineers with a simple tool to exploit the frame load-bearing effect in masonry design. KW - Rahmentragwirkung KW - Mauerwerksgebäude KW - Wand-Decken-Interaktion KW - Momentenverteilung KW - DIN EN 1996 Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/bate.202200081 SN - 0932-8351 SN - 1437-0999 VL - 99 IS - 12 SP - 865 EP - 928 PB - Ernst & Sohn CY - Berlin ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Butenweg, Christoph A1 - Marinkovic, Marko A1 - Phlipp, Michel A1 - Lins, Robin A1 - Renaut, Philipp ED - Haghsheno, Shervin T1 - Isolierung und BIM-basiertes Bauwerksmonitoring des neuen Gebäudekomplexes für das BioSense-Institut in Novi Sad, Serbien JF - Bauingenieur N2 - Im Norden von Serbien erfolgt in Novi Sad der Neubau eines modernen Forschungsgebäudes für das BioSense-Institut mit finanzieller Unterstützung durch die Eu-ropäische Union. Der Gebäudeteil mit Laboren wird zum Schutz und zur Sicherstellung des reibungslosen Betriebs der sensiblen und kapitalintensiven technischen Einbauten mit ei-ner Erdbebenisolierung mit integrierter Körperschallisolation versehen. Zusätzlich wird der entkoppelte Laborteil des For-schungsgebäudes mit einem BIM-basierten Bauwerksmonito-ring versehen, um Änderungen des Gebäudezustands jederzeit abfragen und beurteilen zu können. KW - BIM KW - Sensor KW - Monitoring KW - Bauwerksüberwachung KW - Basisisolierung Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.37544/0005-6650-2022-06-28 SN - 1436-4867 SN - 0005-6650 N1 - D-A-CH-Teil VL - 97 IS - 6 SP - S3 EP - S5 PB - VDI Fachmedien CY - Düsseldorf ER -