Pile-soil-structure interaction effect on structural response of piled jacket-supported offshore platform through in-place analysis

In-place analysis for offshore platforms is essentially required to make proper design for new structures and true assessment for existing structures. The structural integrity of platform components under the maximum and minimum operating loads of environmental conditions is required for risk assessment and inspection plan development. In-place analyses have been executed to check that the structural member with all appurtenances robustness and capability to support the applied loads in either storm condition or operating condition. A nonlinear finite element analysis is adopted for the platform structure above the seabed and the pile-soil interaction to estimate the in-place behavior of a typical fixed offshore platform. The analysis includes interpretation of dynamic design parameters based on the available site-specific data, together with foundation design recommendations for in-place loading conditions. The SACS software is utilized to calculate the natural frequencies of the model and to obtain the response of platform joints according to in-place analysis then the stresses at selected members, as well as their nodal displacements. The directions of environmental loads and water depth variations have important effects on the results of the in-place analysis behavior. The result shows that the in-place analysis is quite crucial for safe design and operation of offshore platform and assessment for existing offshore structures.

Among different types of loads on jacket structures, wave loads, especially breaking wave loads, are the most likely to threat the stability of the structure; therefore, the correct estimation of the wave loading of an offshore jacket structure is crucial for the design of these structures. Despite the importance of the correct estimation of breaking wave induced forces on jacket structures, so far, no slamming formulae to predict these forces are available in the design standards and guidelines or in other publications. Moreover, the implications of such extreme wave load events and the associated uncertainties for the dynamic response of the entire jacket structure, including the response of the foundation piles, are still not fully clarified. This PhD study attempts to improve the understanding of processes associated with the interaction of waves and jacket structures and to develop reliable wave slamming formulae for the prediction of breaking wave-induced loads on jacket structures. First, the present knowledge is analysed to identify the processes involved in the interaction as well as the related knowledge gaps. Second, the data available from previous tests performed on a truss structure under breaking and non-breaking waves in the Large Wave Flume (GWK tests) in Hannover are analysed to identify the most relevant influencing parameters and to provide reliable slamming formulae for breaking waves on legs and braces of jacket structures. Third, using a CFD model set-up for the waves generated in the large wave flume GWK and a CSD model for the truss structure tested in GWK, the laboratory tests are reproduced and a methodology is proposed to predict total forces induced by near-breaking and breaking waves on jacket structures. Finally, the proposed methodological approach including the slamming force formulae developed in this study is implemented to calculate total forces by breaking waves on a full-scale jacket structure (OC4 jacket). The Finite Element FE model of the OC4 jacket is extended by pile foundation model and the structural performance of the entire structure was examined by comparing the results by those of the numerical models developed for the same jacket structure. Finally, the dynamic response of the jacket structure with pile foundation to breaking waves is systematically analysed to achieve a substantially improved understanding of the processes involved in the wave-jacket-pile foundation interaction.

For urban tunneling projects it is essential to predict and prevent building damage. Although various case studies and experiments have shown that buildings considerably modify greenfield soil movements, widely accepted damage assessment methods neglect this soil-structure interaction and simplify structures as linear elastic beams. This paper summarizes an experimental investigation of the response of more realistic structures to tunneling-induced deformations. Small scale structural models with facade openings and brittle material properties were 3D printed and tested in a geotechnical centrifuge. Soil and structure displacement data were obtained by image-based measurement. Results demonstrate that structures notably mitigate differential greenfield ground displacements. It is also shown that maximum soil settlements, horizontal soil displacements beneath the structure and structural damage in the form of cracking significantly depend on the position of the structure in the settlement profile. The results provide a basis from which to predict building settlement response with greater certainty.

Natural Draught Cooling Tower (NDCT) is an important and essential structure in nuclear and thermal power stations as it contributes both to the energy efficient output and balance to an environment. From the structural point of view, high rise concrete structure is subject to various dynamic loads in an unfavorable way. Wind loading is important in NDCT design for structural safety, elastic stability, vibration properties and the initiation of concrete cracking in comparison to other structures. The behavior change of NDCT due to the variation of shell thickness when NDCT rested on a vertical pile foundation is very interesting. Therefore, the objective of the present paper is to briefly present the finite element modeling and analytical study of NDCT with twenty-seven different types of shell thickness models for the same height of NDCT. Each model is identified based on the separate case number from 1 to 27, and FEM analysis was carried out using Staad Pro-V8i software considering gravity loads, wind load. Further, design wind pressure at different levels along the height of NDCT was calculated as per IS 875 (part 3) 1987 code after applying Interference factor (IF) of 1.573. Due to the lack of wind study findings, the IF was considered as 1.573 while the maximum value of IF was 1.43 as per BS: 4485 (1975). Distribution of wind pressure at each level of NDCT in the circumferential direction was as per IS11504-1985. The overall study identified optimum shell thickness varying models to obtain the optimum foundation as well as super-stable structure. Further, the comparison was made between the guest and peak factor method and found that wind load due to gust factor method was critical and therefore recommended.

Pile group are vastly used in marine structures for several applications. Loadings exerted to these structures are divided into two main categories: lateral loading and vertical loading. All researchers agree to use vertical piles in the case of pure vertical loading where as the use of batter piles in the case of lateral loading is still in doubt. The behavior of batter piles in a pile group is somehow two-faced. Although batter piles reduce the lateral displacement of the pile group under lateral loading but they also cause stress concentration in batter pile and pile head. Thereby complete understanding of batter and vertical piles is of great importance. In our research, different pile group configurations are analyzed numerically that based on the finite difference method. Soil is modeled as a mohr-coulomb continuous medium obeying model and piles and pile head are assumed to be elastic concrete. To validate the simulation, results from numerical modeling are compared to those from available experimental data and analytical solution.

Iran is located in a seismic prone region with several earthquakes occurring annually causing extensive damage to structures and infrastructure. Guilan province is located in the northern part of the country, exhibiting a large population, moderate climate and extensive river system. This region experiences high humidity, several active faults and high seismic hazard potential. This highlights the importance of an active and extensive maintenance and rehabilitation program for the bridges in this region. Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) is an engineering tool used to control changing conditions of infrastructure providing useful information for management, decision making and in certain circumstances code revision. This paper proposes a method for SHM of bridges. In total, 123 concrete bridges were assessed based on this visual inspection; with statistical analysis of results carried out on decks, piles, abutments, restraints and river engineering which effectively addressed the deficiencies in bridges maintenance. Finally some practical solutions are suggested to enhance the performance and lifetime of bridges. Based on the knowledge of the authors, this is the first comprehensive study on a large group of bridges in Iran which can be used as a base for further studies on management and retrofitting of bridges in the region.

The Elba Island is located in the Northern Tyrrhenian Sea at midway between Tuscany (Northern Apennines Chain) and Corsica (Alpine Corsica structural pile). The complex Elba I. stack of nappes, which is considered the innermost outcrop of the Northern Apennines Chain, is also well known for its Fe-ore bodies and the relationships between the emplacement of the Mio-Pliocene magmatic bodies and tectonics. The geological survey of Elba I. performed at a scale of 1:10,000 and 1:5,000 (geological map at 1:15,000) allowed a revision of the stratigraphic and structural setting of the central and eastern Elba I. This new scheme results more complex compared to Trevisan’s classical one, which was based only on five tectonic “Complexes” (Trevisan, 1950; Barberi et al., 1969). Nine tectonic units were defined, and they all pertain to the Tuscan and Ligurian (including the Ligurian-Piedmontese Units) paleogeographic domains. Before their final emplacement in the Elba’s tectonic pile during the 8.5 to 5.4 Ma time interval, some of these units were intruded by two acidic plutons (Mt. Capanne and La Serra-Porto Azzurro monzogranites), and by dikes of variable composition. A total of nine units were recognised, from bottom to top: 1- Porto Azzurro Unit (PU). It is made up of phyllites, quartzites and micaschists (Mt. Calamita Fm.), probably of Paleozoic age. It shows a strong static recrystallisation due to the La Serra-Porto Azzurro intrusion and the related aplitic dike network (6.0-5.4 Ma). On top of the Mt. Calamita Fm., crystalline dolostones and dolomitic marbles were recognised and were attributed to its Mesozoic cover. The aplitic dikes are cut along the tectonic contact (Zuccale Detachment Fault) with the overlying units described below. 2- Ortano Unit (UO). It includes metavolcanites (Porphyroids) and quartzitic-phyllitic metasediments (Capo d’Arco Schists) which can be correlated to the Ordovician formations of Central Sardinia and Tuscany (Apuan Alps). A few aplitic dikes were also recognised, and they occur along the coast between Capo d’Arco and Ortano Valley. 3- Acquadolce Unit (AU). It is composed of marbles, grading upwards into calcschists and, finally, into phyllites, metasiltstones and metasandstones with intercalations of calcschists which contain fossils of Early Cretaceous age. At its top a serpentinite slice crops out. This Unit has been attributed to the Ligurian Domain (Ligurian-Piedmontese Units) and can be correlated with the “Calcschists with ophiolites” of the Gorgona Island. Near Capo d’Arco Residence, some lamprophyric dikes (Casa Carpini Lamprophyries) also occur. Locally, the carbonate lithotypes are transformed into Fe-skarn bodies (e.g., Torre di Rio skarn). 4- Monticiano-Roccastrada Unit (MU). This Tuscan Unit largely consists of Upper Carboniferous-Triassic metasiliciclastic rocks (the Permian-Carboniferous Rio Marina Fm. and the Triassic “Verrucano” Group). It also includes a Jurassic to Oligocene epimetamorphic succession (from the Capo Castello Calcschists to the Pseudomacigno) which crops out along the coast between Capo Pero and Capo Castello, and in the Valle Giove mining area. 5- Tuscan Nappe (TN). South of the locality La Parata, this unit is composed only of calcareous-dolomitic, at times vacuolar, breccias (“Calcare Cavernoso”), while northwards these rocks are overlain by Upper Triassic to Hettangian shallow marine carbonates, and Sinemurian to Dogger carbonatic, siliceous and marly pelagic sediments. 6- Grassera Unit (GU). It mostly consists of varicoloured slates with rare carbonate-siliceous and radiolarian cherts intercalations (Cavo Fm.). Between Cavo and La Parata, a basal decametric Calcschist Member also occurs. This anchimetamorphic unit, possibly of Cretaceous age, could have been originated in the Ligurian Domain: because of its peculiar lithologic association and metamorphic overprint it is considered a Ligurian-Piedmontese Unit.. 7- Ophiolitic Unit (OU). This Ligurian Unit is composed of seven tectonic subunits (Acquaviva “ASU”, Mt. Serra “SSU”, Capo Vita “CSU”, Sassi Turchini “TSU”, Volterraio “VSU”, Magazzini “MSU” and Bagnaia “BSU”), which are characterised by serpentinites, ophicalcites, Mg-gabbros, and by their Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous volcanic-sedimentary cover (Basalts, Mt. Alpe Cherts, Nisportino Fm., Calpionella Limestones and Palombini Shales). A shoshonitic dike (Mt. Castello Dike: 5.8 Ma) fills two ENE-WSW-trending normal faults cutting VSU in the Porto Azzurro area. Some calc-alkaline dikes (Mt. Capo Stella Dikes) were also identified in the Ligurian basalts along the western coast of Golfo Stella 8- Paleogene Flysch Unit (EU). It is constituted by shales with calcareous-marly, calcarenitic and arenaceous intercalations and, locally, by ophioliticcarbonate breccias (Colle Reciso Fm.). The fossiliferous content of the carbonate lithotypes points to a Middle Eocene age. This unit can be interpreted as a 98 syn-tectonic oceanic unit (Epiligurian Unit), which has the same paleogeographic origin of the Lanciaia Fm. in Southern Tuscany. Aplites (Capo Bianco Aplites: 7.9 Ma), locally sericitised (the so-called “Eurite”), and porphyries (Portoferraio Porphyries: 8.2 Ma and San Martino Porphyries: 7.4-7.2 Ma) intrude the sedimentary succession, but do not crosscut the basal contact with the underlying Ophiolitic Unit. 9- Cretaceous Flysch Unit (CU). It is a Ligurian, Helminthoid-type, oceanic succession. It consists of a basal tectonised complex, similar to OU (ophiolites, basalts and Jurassic-Cretaceous sedimentary cover slices), and of a sedimentary succession formed by Cretaceous Palombini Shales and Varicoloured Shales, which grade upwards into an arenaceous-conglomeratic (Ghiaieto Sandstones) and then to a calcareous-marly-arenaceous (Marina di Campo Fm.) flysch of Late Cretaceous Age. Similar to the EU, this unit is frequently intruded by locally thick acidic dikes and laccoliths. The structural setting of central and eastern Elba is characterised by a pile of eight structural units (Units 2-9), separated by low angle tectonic surfaces (thrusts and detachments), which lays onto the lowermost Porto Azzurro Unit 1, by a low-angle detachment fault marked by a decametric cataclastic horizon (Zuccale Fault and related cataclasite). The thrust surfaces (Late Eocene-Early Miocene) have been tentatively distinguished from the low-angle detachments, due to the extensional tectonics, which probably began during Burdigalian-Langhian, and continued during Messinian-Pliocene times, accompanied by magmatic intrusions. Other low angle tectonic surfaces are of complex interpretation because they derived from the superposition of tectonic events which occurred in different times and/or in different tectonic regimes. Among the high-angle faults, we recognised a NW-SE trending transfer fault system, which was preceded and followed by generations of normal faults, with WSW-NNE and N-S trends, respectively. The N-S-trending faults cut the whole tectonic pile, comprising all the detachment faults. The study of the tectonic relationships between the previous nine tectonic units and between these tectonic units and the Messinian-Pliocene magmatic events, suggests the following geological scenario for the evolution of the Elba Island: 1) Pre-magmatic stages (>8.5 Ma). They are recorded by: a- relics of the pre-Alpine schistosity within PU and UO, which can be attributed to the Sudetic phase of the Variscan orogeny; b- folding and thrusting of OU, EU and CU, with production of ophiolitic-carbonate breccias within PU, and the D1 tectono-metamorphic event (S1 relics) in AU, related to Eocene intra-oceanic deformation events; c- main deformation and metamorphic events of Tuscan (PU, UO, MU) and Ligurian-Piedmontese Units (and 19 Ma S2 in AU), overthrusting of the oceanic units (AU, OU, GU, EU+CU) onto the Tuscan ones, and a later refolding of the tectonic units, probably related to the Oligocene-Early Miocene collisional events; d- emplacement of AU between OU and MU, and of TN onto MU. The superposition of TN onto MU can be considered the older extensional event by low-angle detachments (Middle Miocene). 2) Syn-magmatic stages (8.5-5.4 Ma). This stage begins with the genesis and rise of anatectic melts due to the uplift of the asthenospheric mantle, within the stretched inner part of the Apenninic orogenic belt. During the uprise of the Mt. Capanne granitoid (6.8 Ma), the most of its cover, that was constituted by EU and CU (already injected by acidic dikes), was detached and shifted eastwards along a low-angle fault (Central Elba Fault, “CEF”). During this event the acidic dykes of the basal part of the flysch were sericitised (“eurite”: 6.7 Ma). Farther east, a shoshonitic dike intruded OU at 5.8 Ma and, possibly, lamprophyric dikes were emplaced within AU. A new uplift of the Mt. Capanne caused a further glide eastwards of EU+CU onto OU in the central Elba, and the development of transfer faults (as lateral ramps of detachments) within the Ligurian Units and, probably, the onset of the Zuccale Fault. At 6.0-5.4 Ma the emplacement of the La Serra-Porto Azzurro granitoid produced a wide thermometamorphic aureola and local skarn bodies within the host PU, UO, AU and MU. The uplift of this granitoid caused, or completed, the separation of the eastern and central Elba tectonic pile through the Zuccale detachment Fault. During this stage, the back-gliding of OU onto EU+CU in the Colle Reciso area, and the north- or north-eastwards gliding of CSU, completed the present tectonic pile of central and eastern Elba. 3) Post-magmatic events (

Fragility Analysis of Bridges with Liquefaction Effects33 8AbstractOver-crossing bridges inherited with a loss-span risk due to liquefaction-induced ground deformation. The objective of this study is to construct site-dependent fragility curves of over-crossing bridges with a ground failure. A simple supported PCI girder typical bridge in Taiwan adopted in this research is to perform an extensive nonlinear time history analysis. The soil-structure interaction is incorporated in the analytical model of the pile foundation. Bowels and Reese models account for compression only soil springs and the viscous boundary is simulated with Berge model. The acceleration son various site soil conditions in the 1999 Chi-Chi earthquakes serve as input ground excitations. Park-Ang damage index and loss-span ratios are employed to achieve the fragility curves of various liquefactions. The fragility curves of various damage states, site soil conditions, and liquefaction depths correlated with PGA provide a guideline to achieve an optimal retrofit scheme for existing bridges susceptible to the liquefaction risk.

Aero-hydro-servo-elastic models assess the structural response of offshore wind turbines. Given the demand for fast calculations across thousands of load cases, an integrated model of the soil--structure interaction (SSI) of foundations (here monopiles) cannot rely on complex nonlinear finite-element analysis (NFEA). Instead, beams on Winkler supports are commonly used for simplified monopile analysis, with spring stiffnesses calibrated from NFEA, and damping may be added to account for energy dissipation related to cyclic SSI. It is crucial to balance model complexity and calculation efficiency. A linear elastic model may be insufficient, while a fully nonlinear model accounting for hysteretic behaviour may be computationally excessive. Alternatively, a moderately accurate solution based on a linearized viscoelastic response may provide sufficient accuracy. The paper compares a hysteretic, nonlinear elastic, and linear viscoelastic model to address this. For a monopile subjected to a realistic loading, the displacements of the cyclic response are represented with fair accuracy by the linear viscoelastic model. However, the internal forces are often underestimated, and the method is computationally inefficient. Finally, integrating the three SSI models in an aero-hydro-servo-elastic model reveals that the simplified models provide a fair response during a shutdown but are less accurate during normal operation.

People have used pile foundations throughout history to support structures by transferring loads to deeper and stronger soil layers. One of the most important questions during the design of the pile foundation is the bearing capacity of the pile. The most reliable method for determining the bearing capacity is to use results from pile load tests. Traditionally, the static pile load tests have been used and more recent the dynamic tests. The rapid load test, at intermediate loading rates, was invented to overcome the disadvantages of the static tests (expensive and time-consuming) and the dynamic tests (the stress wave effects) and is conducted more and more in practice.

Protein adsorption at oil-water interfaces interfacial structure and function of proteins in emulsions

Seismic behavior of reinforced concrete frame substructure with cast-in-place slab on independent foundation

Progressive collapse is defined as the spread of an initial local failure of a critical load bearing structural element to the remaining structure, ultimately leading to the collapse of the entire building or of a large portion of it. After the partial collapse of the Ronan Point apartment tower in 1968, when a localised gas explosion ultimately led to the collapse of the whole corner of the building, progressive collapse firstly drew public attention due to its catastrophic consequences on human casualties and economic losses. Other recent collapse events, such as those of the Murrah Federal Building in 1995, Sampoong department store in 1995 and World Trade Centre towers in 2001, have further highlighted the importance of this topic and made engineering communities aware of the necessity to prevent the occurrence of progressive collapse in building structures. In the past decades, considerable research has been devoted to investigate progressive collapse of building structures. These research typically followed an alternate load path approach. This approach allows an initial failure to occur, while the remaining structure needs to seek alternate load paths to dissipate damage and prevent progressive collapse. In practice, the progressive collapse resistance of building structures is generally evaluated by notionally removing one or more load bearing structural elements, representing the initial failure. Despite all research efforts made, they have predominately focused on frame systems. Relevant investigations on reinforced concrete (RC) flat plate structures, a commonly used structural system, are still scarce. The flat plate system contains slabs, of uniform thickness, directly supported by columns without using beams, drop panels and column capitals. This provides structures with increased storey height, architectural convenience and significant savings in construction costs. Nevertheless, the slab-column connection is prone to punching shear failure, which may propagate to the vicinity of connections, potentially leading to progressive collapse. The present study aims at filling some of the current knowledge gap with comprehensive experimental, analytical and numerical investigations on RC flat plate structures. The experimental program consists of four quasi-static large-deformation tests performed on three 1/3-scale, 2×2-bay RC flat plate substructures subjected to critical column removal scenarios. The test specimens included one specimen tested under two consecutive corner column removal scenarios, one specimen under an edge column removal and one specimen under the scenario of concurrently removing both an edge and an interior column. For the loading scheme, a multi-point loading system was specially designed to simulate an increasing uniformly distributed load (UDL). The loading points of this system were equally positioned on the bays adjacent to the removed column(s) to apply the load until failure of the slab. Throughout each test, the structural behaviour of the slab was monitored by extensive apparatuses mounted to the slab both internally and externally. Failure and post-failure behaviours, failure modes, and collapse resisting mechanisms were observed and analysed. Additionally, a complement of analytical studies to the experimental tests, based on the observed yield lines, was carried out to estimate the flexural capacity of the test specimens. To numerically investigate the progressive collapse behaviour of RC flat plate structures, a set of 3D nonlinear finite element modelling approaches, using LS-DYNA software, was established. A total of five numerical models were explicitly created based on the four experimental tests in present research and one from the literature. The proposed modelling approach was basically composed of appropriate definitions of element types, bond-slip relationships, loadings and boundary conditions, and more importantly development of the material models for concrete and reinforcements and calibration of failure criteria for element erosion. A quasi-static loading scheme in displacement control in the numerical models was adopted, the same as that in the conducted tests, through explicitly modelling the multi-point loading system in order to replicate the true test conditions. The numerical models were respectively validated by comparing the load displacement responses, failure modes, crack patterns, and displacement and strain results against the experimental ones, which confirmed the appropriateness and reliability of the proposed models. The validated modelling techniques could be applied to further perform parametric studies of the progressive collapse resistance of RC flat plate substructures and prototype structures. In summary, the significant and original contribution of this research is to (1) obtain a solid understanding of the collapse behaviour of RC flat plate structures under critical column removal scenarios, (2) examine the analytical solution using the yield line theory to predict the flexural capacity of RC flat plate structures, (3) establish a set of numerical modelling techniques which can reasonably replicate the experimental process and provide valuable references of numerically analysing progressive collapse of RC flat plate structures, and (4) give design insights into Australian and international Standards in mitigating progressive collapse of RC flat plate structures.

Effective representation methods and proper signal priors are crucial in most signal processing applications. In this thesis we focus on different structured models and we design appropriate schemes that allow the discovery of low dimensional latent structures that characterise and identify the signals. Motivated by the highly non-linear structure of most datasets, we firstly investigate the geometry of manifolds. Manifolds are low dimensional, non-linear structures that are naturally employed to describe sets of strongly related signals such as the images of a 3-D object captured from different viewpoints. However, the use of manifolds in applications is not straightforward due to their usually non-analytic and non-linear form. We propose here a way to `disassemble' a manifold into simpler components by approximating it with affine subspaces. Our objective is to discover a set of low dimensional affine subspaces that can represent manifold data accurately while preserving the manifold's structure. To this end, we employ a greedy technique that iteratively merges manifold samples into groups based on the difference of local tangents. We use our algorithm to approximate synthetic and real manifolds and to demonstrate that it is competitive to state-of-the-art techniques. Then, we consider structured sparse representations of signals and we propose a new sparsity model, where signals are essentially composed of a small number of structured {\it molecules }. We define the molecules to be linear combinations of a small number of atoms in a redundant dictionary. Our multi-level model takes into account the energy distribution of the significant signal components in addition to their support. It permits to define typical visual patterns and recognise them in prototypical or deformed form. We define a new structural difference measure between molecules and their deformed versions, which is based on their sparse codes and we create an algorithm for decomposing signals into molecules that can account for different deviations in the internal molecule structure. Our experiments verify the benefits of the new image model in various restoration tasks and they confirm that the development of proper models that extend the mere notion of sparsity can be very useful for various inverse problems in imaging. Finally, we investigate the problem of learning molecule representations directly in the sparse code domain. We constrain sparse codes to be linear combinations of a few, possibly deformed, molecules and we design an algorithm that can learn the structure from the codes without transforming them back into the signal domain. To this end, we take advantage of our structural difference which is based on the sparse codes and we devise a scheme for representing the codes with molecules and learn the molecules at the same time. To illustrate the effectiveness of our proposed algorithm we apply it to various synthetic and real datasets and we compare the results with traditional sparse coding and dictionary learning techniques. From the experiments, we verify the superior performance of our scheme in interpreting and recognising correctly the underlying structure. In short, in this thesis we are interested in low-dimensional, structured models. Among the various choices, we focus on manifolds and sparse representations and we propose schemes that enhance their structural properties and highlight their effectiveness in signal representations.

Load-bearing structures in mechanical engineering applications typically face the challenge of withstanding and transmitting external loads. In most cases, the load path through the load-bearing structure is predetermined by the design. However, if parts of the load-bearing structure become weak or suffer damage, e.g. due to deterioration or overload, the load capacity becomes uncertain. In this thesis, the semi-active load redistribution to bypass a portion of the loading away from damaged parts of the structure is used in order to prevent the structure from failure or malfunction. So far, studies on semi-active or active measures to adapt or manipulate the dynamic behavior of a structure have primarily investigated damping or vibration control and not load redistribution. The proposed semi-active load redistribution provides a technological possibility to influence the load path during operation via augmenting already existing parts of the load-bearing structure with actuators. Furthermore, for accurate numerical predictions of the load redistribution capability, an adequate mathematical model is needed. Therefore, the accuracy of the load-bearing structure’s mathematical model predictions is evaluated and increased methodologically by model parameter uncertainty quantification and reduction. The structure to numerically and experimentally investigate load Redistribution in this thesis is based on a load-bearing structure developed within the SFB 805 and consists of a translational moving mass connected to a beam by a spring-damper system and two newly developed semi-active augmented guidance elements for load redistribution. The beam is supported at its ends by two supports. The stiffness characteristic of the supports can be adjusted to simulate structural damage. The structural damage, in turn, causes misalignment of the beam, which is defined as malfunction. A mathematical model of the load-bearing structure is derived for numerical investigations of the load redistribution capability and for controller design. A BAYESIAN inference based calibration procedure is applied to reduce and simultaneously quantify the model parameter uncertainty. Thus, the model is adjusted to the present conditions and the model prediction accuracy is increased. Clipped-optimal LQR and PID controllers are introduced for the semi-active load redistribution and designed based on the calibrated model. With the presented procedure, the model prediction variation due to Parameter uncertainty is reduced by up to 85%. Comparing the passive and semi-active load-bearing structure, the malfunction is reduced by up to 53% numerically and by up to 51% experimentally. The evaluation of the load paths shows that a redistribution of the load between the two supports is achieved by means of the semi-active guidance elements. The results of this thesis contribute to the methodological parameter uncertainty quantification and reduction as well as the technological application of semi-active load redistribution.