• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.71-86
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• 2021

This paper focuses on the development and assessment of the expected damage for the rocking response of rigid anchored blocks, with irregular geometry and non-uniform mass distribution, considering the site conditions and the seismicity of Mexico City. The non-linear behavior of the restrainers is incorporated to evaluate the pure tension and tension-shear failure mechanisms. A probabilistic framework is performed covering a wide range of block sizes, slenderness ratios and eccentricities using physics-based ground motion simulation. In order to incorporate the uncertainties related to the propagation of far-field earthquakes with a significant contribution to the seismic hazard at study sites, it was simulated a set of scenarios using a stochastic summation methods of small-earthquakes records, considered as Empirical Green's Function (EGFs). As Engineering Demand Parameter (EDP), the absolute value of the maximum block rotation normalized by the body slenderness, as a function of the peak ground acceleration (PGA) is adopted. The results show that anchorages are more efficient for blocks with slenderness ratio between two and three, while slenderness above four provide a better stability when they are not restrained. Besides, there is a range of peak intensities where anchored blocks located in soft soils are less vulnerable with respect to those located in firm soils. The procedure used in here allows to take decisions about risk, reliability and resilience assessment of different types of contents, and it is easily adaptable to other seismic environments.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.83 no.5
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• pp.627-644
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• 2022

In past major earthquakes (1994 Northridge, 1995 Kobe, Chi-Chi 1999, Kocaeli 1999), significant damages occurred in the liquid storage tanks. The basic failure patterns were observed to be the buckling of the tank wall and uplift of the anchorage system. The damages in the industrial facilities and nuclear power plants have caused the spread of toxic substances to the environment and significant fires. Seismic isolation can be used in liquid storage tanks to decouple the structure and decrease the structural demand in the superstructure in case of ground shaking. Previous studies on the use of seismic isolation systems on liquid storage tanks show that an isolation system reduces the impulsive response but might slightly increase the convective one. There is still a lack of understanding of the seismic response of seismically isolated liquid storage tanks considering the fluid-structure interaction. In this study, one broad tank, one medium tank, and one slender tank are selected and designed. Two- and three-dimensional elastomeric bearings are used as seismic isolation systems. The seismic performance of the tanks is then investigated through nonlinear dynamic time-history analyses. The effectiveness of each seismic isolation system on tanks' performance was investigated. Isolator tension forces, modal analysis results, hydrodynamic stresses, strains, sloshing heights and base shear forces of the tanks are compared. The results show that the total base shear is lower in 3D-isolators compared to 2D-isolators. Even though the tank wall stresses, and strains are slightly higher in 3D-isolators, they are more efficient to prevent the tension problem.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.717-726
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• 2007

If conventional reinforcements are used for high-strength concrete (HSC) structures, a large amount of the reinforcement must be required to compensate for the brittleness of HSC and make the best use of HSC. This raises some structural problems such as steel congestion and an increase in self-weight. Therefore, alternative reinforcing materials and methods for HSC structures are needed. In this study, four full-scale beam specimens constructed with HSC (100 MPa) were tested to investigate the effect of the different shear reinforcements on the shear behavior. These four specimens were reinforced for shear stirrups with normal and high strength steels, headed bars, and carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) bars, respectively. In addition, steel fibers were added to the HSC in the two of the specimens to observe their beneficial effects. The use of high strength steels resulted in the improvement of the shear capacity since the shear resistance provided by the shear reinforcements and the bond strength were increased. The specimen reinforced with headed bars also showed a superior performance to the conventional steel reinforced specimen due to the considerably high anchorage strength of headed bar. CFRP bars used in this research, however, seemed to be inadequate for shear reinforcement because of the inferior bond capacity. The presence of the steel fibers in concrete led to remarkable improvement in the ductility of the specimens as well as in the overall cracks control capability.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.303-314
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• 2010

A study for the nonlinear analysis method of prestressed concrete(PSC) girders with external tendons is presented. The PSC girders with external tendons show the complex nonlinear behavior due to the slip of external tendons at deviator and the change of eccentricity between the girders and external tendons. The external tendon between anchorage-deviator or deviator-deviator is modeled as an assemblage of the curved elements. The slip effect of the external tendon at deviator is taken into account using the force equilibrium relationship between the friction force and the driving force at each deviator. The finite element model and analysis method of the external tendon suggested herein are integrated in the nonlinear analysis program of segmentally erected PSC frames developed by the authors. The proposed analysis method is verified through the comparison of the analysis and experimental results obtained from other investigators. From the ultimate analysis results of PSC beams with external tendons having different number of deviators, the yielding and ultimate loads of PSC beams found to be increased as the number of deviators are increased. In addition, the ultimate capacity of the PSC beam increases according to the increase of friction coefficient between deviator and external tendon, whereas found to decease over the certain value of friction due to the effect of the moment transmitted to the member by the friction force exerted from the external tendon.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2021

Concrete structures gradually age due to deterioration of materials or excess loads and environmental factors, and their performance decreases, affecting the usability and safety of structures. Although external tension construction methods are widely used among the reinforcement methods of old bridges, it is insufficient to identify the effects and effects of reinforcement depending on the level of aging. Therefore, in this study, a four-point loading experiment was conducted on the subject with the non-reinforced and external tensioning method to confirm the reinforcement effect of the external tensioning method, assuming the aging of the structure as a reduction in the compressive strength and tensile reinforcement of concrete, to analyze the behavior of the reinforcement and confirm the reinforcement effect. As a result of the experiment, it was difficult to identify the amount of reinforcement in the extreme condition due to early elimination of the anchorage. Therefore, compliance with the regulations on anchor bolts is required when applying the external tension reinforcement method. Crack load and yield load increased depending on whether external tension was reinforced, but before the crack, the stiffness before and after reinforcement was similar, making it difficult to confirm the reinforcement effect.