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

• Proceedings of the KSR Conference
• /
• 2010.06a
• /
• pp.1486-1491
• /
• 2010

Recently, the frequency and magnitude of the earthquake have increased. The structural safety of the public facilities such as bridges and tunnels etc. which were not concerned for earthquake resistant design are increased. Fiber reinforcement polymer that has been frequently studied for seismic retrofit has advantage as seismic reinforcement material, but it has disadvantage of the brittleness. Therefore, the investigation of safety and seismic reinforcement are required. In this study, new FRP-ductile material layered composites proposed to seismic performance reinforced of subway tunnel. Tensile test of FRP-ductile material layered composites showed that Maximum tensile force of FRP-ductile using Aluminum is similar to existing FRP reinforcement material and maximum strain was increased. In case of application of domestic subway tunnel which need ductility, layered composites of FRP-Aluminum is estimated effectively for increase of seismic performance.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
• /
• 2008.04a
• /
• pp.331-336
• /
• 2008

An self-centering energy-dissipative (SCED) bracing system has recently been developed as a new seismic force resistant bracing system. The advantage of the SCED brace system is that, unlike other comparable advanced bracing systems that dissipate energy, such as the buckling restrained brace system, it has a self-centering capability that reduces or eliminates residual building deformations after major seismic events. In this study seismic performance of SCED braced frames is evaluated for a set of 20 design level earthquake records. According to analysis results the SCED systems showed more uniform interstory drift demand for buildings with 8 story or fewer. The residual deformation in SCED buildings turned out to be much less than that of moment-resisting frames.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.35 no.4
• /
• pp.527-544
• /
• 2020

This research presents the design and numerical assessment of composite steel-concrete frame structures with welded dissipative fuses. The assessment has been carried out based on linear response spectrum, nonlinear static pushover and time history procedures. The analytical expressions which define the envelope of the nonlinear response of the dissipative fuses are first presented and calibrated against experimental results available in literature. The assessment is then carried out according to a design methodology proposed herein. Outcomes of the numerical assessment indicate that the use of welded dissipative fuses successfully limited damage within the replaceable parts. Furthermore, although structures with dissipative fuses present lower strength and, generally, lower displacement capacity, their displacement ductility and global dissipative performance are generally higher than conventional structures, especially when the structure with dissipative fuses presents a dissipative configuration adjusted to the bending moment distribution diagram calculated for the applied seismic action.

• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
• /
• v.11 no.3
• /
• pp.207-219
• /
• 2022

During the structural design of urban over-track high-rise buildings, two problems are most likely encountered: the abrupt change of story stiffness between the podium and the upper towers, as well as the demand for train-induced vibration control. Traditional earthquake-resistant structures have to be particularly designed with transfer stories to meet the requirement of seismic control under earthquakes, and thus horizontal seismic isolation techniques are recommended to solve the transfer problem. The function of mitigating the vertical subway-induced vibration can be integrated into the isolation system including thick rubber bearings and 3D composite vibration control devices. Engineering project cases are presented in this paper for a more comprehensive understanding of the engineering practice and research frontiers of urban over-track high-rise buildings in China.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.40 no.4
• /
• pp.541-562
• /
• 2011

In the design of earthquake resistant reinforced concrete (RC) structures, both flexural strength and deformability need to be considered. However, in almost all existing RC design codes, the design of flexural strength and deformability of RC beams are separated and independent on each other. Therefore, the pros and cons of using high-performance materials on the flexural performance of RC beams are not revealed. From the theoretical results obtained in a previous study on flexural deformability of RC beams, it is seen that the critical design factors such as degree of reinforcement, concrete/steel yield strength and confining pressure would simultaneously affect the flexural strength and deformability. To study the effects of these factors, the previous theoretical results are presented in various charts plotting flexural strength against deformability. Using these charts, a "concurrent flexural strength and deformability design" that would allow structural engineers to consider simultaneously both strength and deformability requirements is developed. For application in real construction practice where concrete strength is usually prescribed, a simpler method of determining the maximum and minimum limits of degree of reinforcement for a particular pair of strength and deformability demand is proposed. Numerical examples are presented to illustrate the application of both design methods.

• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• v.14 no.6
• /
• pp.493-503
• /
• 2018

With the further increase of span length, the cable-stayed bridge tends to be more slender, and becomes more susceptible to the seismic action. By taking a super long-span cable-stayed bridge with main span of 1400m as example, structural response of the bridge under the E1 horizontal and vertical seismic excitations is investigated numerically by the multimode seismic response spectrum and time-history analysis respectively, the seismic behavior and also the effect of structural nonlinearity on the seismic response of super long-span cable-stayed bridge are revealed. Furthermore, the effect of structural parameters including the girder depth and width, the tower structural style, the tower height-to-span ratio, the side-tomain span ratio, the auxiliary piers in side spans and the anchorage system of stay cables etc on the seismic performance of super long-span cable-stayed bridge is investigated numerically by the multimode seismic response spectrum analysis, and the favorable earthquake-resistant structural system of super long-span cable-stayed bridge is proposed.

• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• v.8 no.3
• /
• pp.699-712
• /
• 2015

Bracing structures with off-centre bracing system is one of the new resistant systems that frequently used in the frame with pin connections. High ductility, high-energy dissipation and decrease of base shear are advantages of this bracing system. However, beside these advantages, reconstruction and hard repair of off-centre bracing system cause inappropriate performance in the earthquake. Therefore, in this paper, the goal is investigating the behavior of this type of bracing system with ductile element (circular dissipater), in order to providing replacement of damaged member without needing repair or reconstruction of the general system. To achieve this purpose, some numerical studies have been performed using ANSYS software, a frame with off-centre bracing system and optimum eccentricity (OBS-C-O) and another frame with the same identifications without ductile element (OBS) has been created. In order to investigate precisely on the optimum placement of circular elements under monotonic load again three steal frames were modeled. Furthermore, the behavior of this general system investigated for the first time, linear and nonlinear behavior of these two steel frames compared to each other, to achieve the benefit of using the circular element in an off-centre bracing system. Eventually, the analytical results revealed that the performance of steel ring at the end of off-centre braces system illustrating as a first defensive line and buckling fuse in the off-centre bracing system.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
• /
• v.25 no.1
• /
• pp.81-92
• /
• 2013

The objective of conventional seismic design is to ensure an acceptable safety level while avoiding catastrophic failures of structures and loss of life. Over the last many years, a large amount of research has been devoted into developing effective earthquake resistant systems in order to raise the seismic performance level of structures. The purpose of this study is to propose a new damping system, which realize not only increasing seismic performance but also easy repairing after an earthquake. The proposed damping system is slit in the bottom of wall with damping devices installed in the slit horizontally aiming to dissipate energy during earthquakes. Cyclic loading tests were conducted to investigate hysteretic behavior and energy dissipation capacity. Test results show that the proposed systems exhibit a stable hysteretic response and the energy dissipation in this system is concentrated on the damping devices.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
• /
• v.19 no.4
• /
• pp.507-514
• /
• 2007

This paper summarizes the results of a research on the isolate effects and economical efficiencies of seismic isolation design compared with the existing earthquake-resistant design, and presents seismic performance of the base isolation system consisting of sliding-type bearing and lead rubber bearing (LRB) compared with that consisting of the LRB only. From the results of the research, it is verified that seismic isolation is very effective to mitigate the influence of earthquake on structures and it is possible to increase the serviceability due to decrease of the floor acceleration. Also, from the point of view of reduction of story acceleration and base shear, the base isolation system consisting of sliding-type bearing and LRB is more effective than that with LRB only. In respect of economical efficiency, special care should be taken in using this method since costs which have to be paid in proportin to increased performance are high.