Title:
A method for generating simplified finite element models for electrical cabinets

dc.contributor.advisor Goodno, Barry J.
dc.contributor.advisor Craig, James I.
dc.contributor.author Lim, Edwin
dc.contributor.committeeMember DesRoches, Reginald
dc.contributor.committeeMember White, Donald
dc.contributor.committeeMember Caldwell, Philip
dc.contributor.department Civil and Environmental Engineering
dc.date.accessioned 2017-01-11T14:04:06Z
dc.date.available 2017-01-11T14:04:06Z
dc.date.created 2016-12
dc.date.issued 2016-11-07
dc.date.submitted December 2016
dc.date.updated 2017-01-11T14:04:06Z
dc.description.abstract An electrical switchboard cabinet is one of the essential pieces of equipment in an electrical distribution system running from a power plant to important facilities such as hospitals. The cabinet houses electrical devices, such as circuit breakers, busbars, and meters that are critical to continued operation of a variety of essential facilities. The cabinet is usually constructed using cold-formed steel members, steel panels, and screw and bolt connections. Methods typically used to assess the dynamic behavior of a properly anchored cabinet are experimental tests and high fidelity finite element models in which all structural elements (i.e., members and panels) are modeled using shell elements. However, these methods are time consuming and expensive, and interpretation of the results may be difficult especially for multiple cabinet arrangements. Therefore, a method to generate a simplified finite element model for the cabinet is proposed in this study. The simplified model consists of Timoshenko beam elements, shell elements, and springs and constraint equations. This model has the capability to capture the possible nonlinear behavior of the cabinet such as buckling of steel panels, failure of screw connections, and possible elastic local buckling near the ends of beam members. The proposed simplified cabinet model was validated using the benchmark cabinet model in both geometric linear and nonlinear pushover analyses. Further applications of the simplified cabinet model in frequency response analysis and time history analysis are also discussed.
dc.description.degree Ph.D.
dc.format.mimetype application/pdf
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/1853/56303
dc.language.iso en_US
dc.publisher Georgia Institute of Technology
dc.subject Switchboard cabinet
dc.subject Simplified model
dc.subject Local buckling
dc.subject Effective-width prediction
dc.subject Cold-formed steel structure
dc.title A method for generating simplified finite element models for electrical cabinets
dc.type Text
dc.type.genre Dissertation
dspace.entity.type Publication
local.contributor.advisor Craig, James I.
local.contributor.advisor Goodno, Barry J.
local.contributor.corporatename School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
local.contributor.corporatename College of Engineering
relation.isAdvisorOfPublication 721d215d-4d37-4f95-ae9d-149253045b28
relation.isAdvisorOfPublication 9f583563-7183-4979-a3ac-3d46c66e8b58
relation.isOrgUnitOfPublication 88639fad-d3ae-4867-9e7a-7c9e6d2ecc7c
relation.isOrgUnitOfPublication 7c022d60-21d5-497c-b552-95e489a06569
thesis.degree.level Doctoral
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