• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.1049-1066
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• 2016

An approximate analysis is presented for multi-story setback buildings subjected to ground motions. Setback buildings with mass and stiffness discontinuities are common in modern architecture and quite often they are asymmetric in plan. The proposed analysis provides basic dynamic data (frequencies and peak values of base resultant forces) and furthermore an overview of the building response during a ground excitation. The method is based on the concept of the equivalent single story system, which has been introduced by the author in earlier papers for assessing the response of uniform in height buildings. As basic quantities of the dynamic response of elastic setback buildings can be derived by analyzing simple systems, a structural layout of minimum elastic rotational response can be easily constructed. The behavior of such structural configurations, which is basically translational into the elastic phase, is also examined into the post elastic phase when the strength assignment of the various bents is based on a planar static analysis under a set of lateral forces simulating an equivalent 'seismic loading'. It is demonstrated that the almost concurrent yielding of all resisting elements preserves the translational response, attained at the end of the elastic phase, to the post elastic one.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.53 no.4
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• pp.791-818
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• 2015

RC buildings constitute the prevailing type of construction in earthquake-prone region like Kathmandu Valley. Most of these building constructions were based on conventional methods. In this context, the present paper studied the seismic behaviour of existing RC buildings in Kathmandu Valley. For this, four representative building structures with different design and construction, namely a building: (a) representing the non-engineered construction (RC1 and RC2) and (b) engineered construction (RC3 and RC4) has been selected for analysis. The dynamic properties of the case study building models are analyzed and the corresponding interaction with seismic action is studied by means of non-linear analyses. The structural response measures such as capacity curve, inter-storey drift and the effect of geometric non-linearities are evaluated for the two orthogonal directions. The effect of plan and vertical irregularity on the performance of the structures was studied by comparing the results of two engineered buildings. This was achieved through non-linear dynamic analysis with a synthetic earthquake subjected to X, Y and $45^{\circ}$ loading directions. The nature of the capacity curve represents the strong impact of the P-delta effect, leading to a reduction of the global lateral stiffness and reducing the strength of the structure. The non-engineered structures experience inter-storey drift demands higher than the engineered building models. Moreover, these buildings have very low lateral resistant, lesser the stiffness and limited ductility. Finally, a seismic safety assessment is performed based on the proposed drift limits. Result indicates that most of the existing buildings in Nepal exhibit inadequate seismic performance.

• Journal of the Korean housing association
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.61-69
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• 2006

Vertical vibrations on the slab of buildings are affected by types of vibration sources, transfer paths, and the material property and the size of members. Among these parameters, the vibration sources and the transfer path can not be controlled, but the property and the size of members can be controlled in the phase of design the members. In this study, the vibration responses according to the property and size of members were obtained by using a prediction program based on dynamic-stiffness matrix. Three parameters which are not usually considered as major factors for architecral planning were selected fur these analyses. They are the strength of materials, the thickness of wall and the thickness of slab. The ground vibration source located near a building was used as vibration input data in the analyses. This study has its originality on presenting appropriate property and size of structural members in order to reduce vertical vibration of slab in shear-wall structures. Analysing the results from the vibration estimation program according to the variations of parameters, the appropriate ratio among the sizes of structural members were proposed. From these results, the vibration level on the slab which is not constructed yet would be predicted and the vibration peak level can be reduced or shifted into the desirable frequency range. Therefore, the vertical vibration could be controlled in the phase of designing buildings.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.43-51
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• 2013

In this paper, analytical models for reinforced concrete shear wall systems designed based on Korean Building Code (KBC2009) are proposed, which have special and semi-special seismic details and are compared with experimental results for a verification of analytical models. In addition, semi-special seismic details aimed to improve constructability and enhance economic efficiency were proposed and evaluated. The analytical models were performed based on nonlinear static and dynamic analysis. Through the nonlinear analyses, two seismic details showed the similar seismic behavior from the cyclic test and the analytical models for the two different seismic details represented the behavior in terms of the initial stiffness, maximum strength and strength degradation. And newly proposed seismic details(semi-special) provided with similar hysterestic behavior as well as the maximum drift.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.409-436
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• 2014

Although it is widely accepted that the interaction -between masonry infill and structural members significantly affects the seismic response of reinforced concrete (RC) frames, this interaction is generally neglected in current design-oriented seismic analyses of structures. Moreover, the role of masonry infill is expected to be even more relevant in the case of existing frames designed only for gravitational loads, as infill walls can significantly modify both lateral strength and stiffness. However, the additional contribution to both strength and stiffness is often coupled to a modification of the global collapse mechanisms possibly resulting in brittle failure modes, generally related to irregular distributions of masonry walls throughout the frame. As a matter of principle, accurate modelling of masonry infill should be at least carried out by adopting nonlinear 2D elements. However, several practice-oriented proposals are currently available for modelling masonry infill through equivalent (nonlinear) strut elements. The present paper firstly outlines some of the well-established models currently available in the scientific literature for modelling infill panels in seismic analyses of RC frames. Then, a parametric analysis is carried out in order to demonstrate the consequences of considering such models in nonlinear static and dynamic analyses of existing RC structures. Two bay-frames with two-, three- and four-storeys are considered for performing nonlinear analyses aimed at investigating some critical aspects of modelling masonry infill and their effects on the structural response. Particularly, sensitivity analyses about specific parameters involved in the definition of the equivalent strut models, such as the constitutive force-displacement law of the panel, are proposed.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.81 no.6
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• pp.715-728
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• 2022

A new type of buckling-restrained braces (BRBs) with a longitudinally profiled steel plate working as the core (LPBRB) is proposed and experimentally investigated. Different from conventional BRBs with a constant thickness core, both stiffness and strength of the longitudinally profiled steel core along its longitudinal direction can change through itself variable thickness, thus the construction of LPBRB saves material and reduces the processing cost. Four full-scale component tests were conducted under quasi-static cyclic loading to evaluate the seismic performance of LPBRB. Three stiffening methods were used to improve the fatigue performance of LPBRBs, which were bolt-assembled T-shaped stiffening ribs, partly-welded stiffening ribs and stiffening segment without rib. The experimental results showed LPBRB specimens displayed stable hysteretic behavior and satisfactory seismic property. There was no instability or rupture until the axial ductility ratio achieved 11.0. Failure modes included the out-of-plane buckling of the stiffening part outside the restraining member and core plate fatigue fracture around the longitudinally profiled segment. The effect of the stiffening methods on the fatigue performance is discussed. The critical buckling load of longitudinally profiled segment is derived using Euler theory. The local bulging behavior of the outer steel tube is analyzed with an equivalent beam model. The design recommendations for LPBRB are presented finally.

• Advances in Automotive Engineering
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.41-59
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• 2018

In the study, investigation of fiber- reinforced composite materials that can be an alternative to conventional steel was performed by finite element analysis with the help of software. Steel and composite materials have been studied on a four axle truck chassis model. Three-dimensional finite element model was created with software, and then analyzes were performed. The analyses were performed for static and dynamic/fatigue cases. Fatigue cases are formed with the help of design spectra model and fatigue analyses were performed as static analyses with this design spectra. First, analyses were performed for steel and after that optimization analyses were made for the AS4-PEEK carbon fiber composite and Eglass-Epoxy fiber composite materials. Optimization of composite material analyzes include determining the total laminate thickness, thickness of each ply, orientation of each ply and ply stacking sequence. Analyzes were made according to macro mechanical properties of composite, micromechanics case has not been considered. Improvements in weight reduction up to %50 provided at the end of the composite optimization analyzes with satisfying stiffness performance of chassis. Fatigue strength of the composite structure depends on various factors such as, fiber orientation, ply thickness, ply stack sequence, fiber ductility, ductility of the matrix, loading angle. Therefore, the accuracy of theoretical calculations and analyzes should be correlated by testing.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.399-407
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• 2010

The flexural behaviors of two types of beam members exposed to freeze-thaw cycles were evaluated. This study aims to examine the effect of freeze-thaw cycles on the behavior characteristics of reinforced concrete (RC) beams. For the purpose, a part of the beam specimens were damaged until yielding of tension reinforcement was reached, before they were exposed to 150 and 300 cycles of freeze-thaw. Cyclic tests, as well as monotonic tests, were conducted to evaluate the stiffness degradation characteristics when same cycle is repeated. The material tests showed that relative dynamic modulus of concrete exposed to 300 cycles of freeze-thaw moderately decreased to 86.8% of normal concrete, indicating that concrete used in this study has good durability against freeze and thaw damage. The results of monotonic tests showed reduction of flexural strength, ductility and stiffness of the beam specimens exposed to freeze-thaw cycles compared with those of the control speciments. In particular, BDF13 specimens, which had been subjected to artificial cracking damage, did not showed enough flexural strength to satisfy nominal moment required by current concrete structure design code. In the monotonic tests results, BF75 specimens exposed to freeze-thaw cycles showed 10% or more cyclic stiffness degradation. Therefore, it was thought that deformation of concrete in compression have to be considered in design process of members under cyclic load, such as seismic device.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.365-382
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• 2019

In steel frame-tube structures (SFTSs) the application of flexural beam is not suitable for the beam with span-to-depth ratio lower than five because the plastic hinges at beam-ends can not be developed properly. This can lead to lower ductility and energy dissipation capacity of the SFTS. To address this problem, a replaceable shear link, acting as a ductile fuse at the mid length of deep beams, is proposed. SFTS with replaceable shear links (SFTS-RSLs) dissipate seismic energy through shear deformation of the link. In order to evaluate this proposal, buildings were designed to compare the seismic performance of SFTS-RSLs and SFTSs. Several sub-structures were selected from the design buildings and finite element models (FEMs) were established to study their hysteretic behavior. Static pushover and dynamic analyses were undertaken in comparing seismic performance of the FEMs for each building. The results indicated that the SFTS-RSL and SFTS had similar initial lateral stiffness. Compared with SFTS, SFTS-RSL had lower yield strength and maximum strength, but higher ductility and energy dissipation capacity. During earthquakes, SFTS-RSL had lower interstory drift, maximum base shear force and story shear force compared with the SFTS. Placing a shear link at the beam mid-span did not increase shear lag effects for the structure. The SFTS-RSL concentrates plasticity on the shear link. Other structural components remain elastic during seismic loading. It is expected that the SFTS-RSL will be a reliable dual resistant system. It offers the benefit of being able to repair the structure by replacing damaged shear links after earthquakes.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.250-263
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• 2001

The up and down speed of heddle frames that produce woven cloth by insertion of weft yarns between warp yarns has been increased recently much for productivity improvement, which induces higher inertial stresses and vibrations in the heddle frame. the heddle frame is required to reduce its mass because the heddle frame contributes the major portion of the stresses in the heddle frames during accelerating and decelerating. Conventional aluminum heddle frames have fatigue life of around 5 months at 550rpm due to their low fatigue flexural strength as well as low bending stiffness. In this work, since carbon/epoxy composite materials have high specific fatigue strength(S/p), high specific modulus(E/p), high damping capacity and sandwich construction results in lower deflections and higher buckling resistance, the sandwich structure composed of carbon/epoxy composite skins and polyurethane foam were employed for the high-speed heddle frame. The design map for the sandwich beams was accomplished to determine the optimum thickness and the stacking sequences for the heddle frames. Also the effects of the number of ribs on the stress of the heddle frame were investigated by FEM analyses. Finally, the high-speed heddle frames were manufactured with sandwich structures and the static and dynamic properties of the aluminum and the composite heddle frames were tested and compared with each other.