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Use of three-force member concept for rigid bodies whenever possible, to circumvent the more taxing use of equilibrium equations has been long-established. However, most students fail to reap its benefits due to a number of reasons, including the fact that its importance is hardly emphasized to them; skills and details needed for the concept are missing in many undergraduate textbooks on Statics. This paper revisits and solidifies the understanding of three-force member in exploiting its potential for solving difficult problems. The paper addresses one of the most frequent students' questions and concerns that the authors have faced in their experience of teaching Statics. This topic is revitalized herein, and its importance emphasized, to obviate the possibility of students' wrong impression about its obsoleteness, by presenting detailed material in a pedagogical manner to serve as an addendum to any textbook for university undergraduate course in Statics. This serves as a good reference for both instructors and students in the course and eliminates their difficulty in accessing a concise document on the topic. Four examples, with increasing complexity, are solved where quicker and easier steps using three-force member concept are compared with the lengthier and relatively more difficult use of equilibrium equations.

Laminated composite plates have become a crucial point of interest in the industry, with the need to ensure sustained and stable structures throughout the plates' lifespan. This study conducted a bibliometric analysis using the Scopus database, gathering 8221 documents for further scrutiny based on the linked meta-data. Utilizing the VOS viewer software version 1.6.19, maps were generated from scientific publishing network data, illustrating connections between researchers' nations and keywords. The investigation into co-occurring phrases associated with laminated composite plates employed author keywords. The results reveal a significant and close relationship among top authors, suggesting a strong research connection, with the United States and China leading the field. Top cited documents and keyword correlations are examined to gauge current research interests. These critical reviews serve as essential resources for scholars and practitioners in the field. Additionally, the review discusses the advancements in and practical applications of different theories for laminated composite plates, with a focus on a bibliometric study using the Scopus database. This paper categorizes models within the context of an equivalent single-layer laminate, analyzing variations in established theories and methodologies for modeling laminated composite plates to offer a nuanced understanding of approaches and assessments in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A boundary point method solution for the analysis of thin Kirchhoff plates with internal rigid supports is presented in this paper. The model is capable of handling supports of different shapes and layouts. The rigidity condition used extensively in this work refers to zero deflection over all the patched supported area. A typical application to the aforementioned is the analysis of floor slab systems supported with columns or walls, in which the stiffness of the columns and walls is considered infinitely large. To accurately model the plate–support interaction, each patched support area is divided to a group of cells and the compatibility conditions between the plate and the supported patched areas are satisfied. Two numerical examples are presented and their results are compared with the finite element methods (FEM) as well as with the available results in the literature. The comparison verifies the accuracy of the proposed solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pressure vessels that undergo repairs are normally pressure tested to verify their structural integrity before returning into service. Conventionally, the entire vessel is pressure tested, according to the relevant construction code. In this paper, partitioning the pressure vessel is suggested as an equivalent alternative test arrangement, where pressure testing is limited to the zone where a repair has been performed. Use of such an arrangement would alleviate potential concerns associated with the conventional testing method. Procedures are provided to specify the position of the partition relative to the repair location, in order to maintain the state-of-stress to that achieved in a conventional pressure test. Validity of this approach has been demonstrated for a repaired full-circumferential welded joint in the wall of a cylindrical pressure vessel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a related work previously carried out by the authors, finite element analysis of cylindrical vessel-cylindrical nozzle juncture based on the use of thin shell theory, due to the fact that the intersecting nozzle sizes are moderate to large, have been presented. Such analysis becomes invalid in cases when the nozzles are small in sizes which may result in nozzles whose configuration violates the validity of shell assumption. As a result, use of solid elements (based on theory of elasticity) in modeling the cylindrical vessels with small-diameter nozzles is presented in the present paper. Discussions of the numerical experiments and the results achieved are, first, given. The results are then compared with the prediction by other models reported in the literature. In order to arrive at the overall design charts that cover all the possible ranges of nozzle-to-vessel diameter ratio, the charts for the vessels with moderate-to-large-diameter nozzles are augmented with those of cylindrical vessels intersected by small-diameter nozzles developed in this work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]