• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• v.15 no.3
• /
• pp.295-306
• /
• 2018

Reinforced concrete containment (RCC) building has long been considered as the last barrier for keeping the radiation from leaking into the environment. It is important to quantify the performance of these structures and facilities considering extreme conditions. However, the preceding research on evaluating nuclear power plant (NPP) structures, particularly considering mainshock-aftershock seismic sequences, is deficient. Therefore, this manuscript serves to investigate the seismic fragility of a typical RCC building subjected to mainshock-aftershock seismic sequences. The implementation of the fragility assessment has been performed based on the incremental dynamic analysis (IDA) method. A lumped mass RCC model considering the tri-linear skeleton curve and the maximum point-oriented hysteretic rule is employed for IDA analyses. The results indicate that the seismic capacity of the RCC building would be overestimated without taking into account the mainshock-aftershock effects. It is also found that the seismic capacity of the RCC building decreases with the increase of the relative intensity of aftershock ground motions to mainshock ground motions. In addition, the effects of artificial mainshock-aftershock ground motions generated from the repeated and randomized approaches and the polarity of the aftershock with respect to the mainshock on the evaluation of the RCC are also researched, respectively.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.67 no.6
• /
• pp.587-601
• /
• 2018

Elevated water tanks are inverted pendulum type structures where drift limit is an important criterion for seismic design and performance evaluation. Explicit drift criteria for elevated water tanks are not available in the literature. In this study, probabilistic approach is used to determine maximum drift limit for damage state of yielding and damage state of collapse for the elevated water tanks supported on RC frame staging. The two damage states are defined using results of incremental dynamic analysis wherein a total of 2160 nonlinear time history analyses are performed using twelve artificial spectrum compatible ground motions. Analytical fragility curves are developed using two-parameter lognormal distribution. The maximum allowable drifts corresponding to yield and collapse level requirements are estimated for different tank capacities. Finally, a single fragility curve is developed which provides maximum drift values for the different probability of damage. Further, for rational consideration of the uncertainties in design, three confidence levels are selected and corresponding drift limits for damage states of yielding and collapse are proposed. These values of maximum drift can be used in performance-based seismic design for a particular damage state depending on the level of confidence.

• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• v.18 no.3
• /
• pp.391-405
• /
• 2020

The use of passive energy dissipation devices has been widely used in the construction industry to minimize the probability of damage occurred under intense ground motion. In this study, collapse margin ratio (CMR) and fragility curves are the main parameters in the assessment to characterize the collapse safety of the structures. The assessment is done on three types of RC frame structures, incorporating three types of dampers, viscoelastic, friction, and BRB dampers. The Incremental dynamic analyses (IDA) were performed by simulating an array of 20 strong ground motion (SGM) records considering both far-field and near-field seismic scenarios that were followed by fragility curves. With respect to far-field ground motion records, the CMR values of the selected frames indicate to be higher and reachable to safety margin more than those under near-field ground motion records that introduce a high devastating impact on the structures compared to far-field excitations. This implies that the near field impact affects the ground movements at the site by attenuation the direction and causing high-frequency filtration. Besides that, the results show that the viscoelastic damper gives better performance for the structures in terms of reducing the damages compared to the other energy dissipation devices during earthquakes.

• Journal of Korean Society of Coastal and Ocean Engineers
• /
• v.33 no.6
• /
• pp.374-382
• /
• 2021

The scour risk assessment was conducted for ultimate limit state of newly developed penta pod suction bucket support structures for a 5.5 MW offshore wind turbine. The hazard was found by using an empirical formula for scour depth suitable for considering marine environmental conditions such as significant wave height, significant wave period, and current velocity. The scour fragility curve was calculated by using allowable bearing capacity criteria of suction foundation. The scour risk was assessed by combining the scour hazard and the scour fragility.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.83 no.2
• /
• pp.229-244
• /
• 2022

This paper investigates the seismic performance of buildings designed using DDBD (Direct Displacement based Design) and FBD (Force based Design) approaches from the probabilistic viewpoint. It aims to estimate the collapse capacity of structures and assess the adequacy of seismic design codes. In this regard, (i) IDA (Incremental Dynamic Analysis) curves, (ii) interstory drift demand distribution curves, (iii) fragility curves, and (iv) the methodology provided by FEMA P-695 are applied to examine two groups of RC moment resistant frame buildings: 8-story structures with different plans, to study the effect of different span arrangements; and 3-, 7- and 12-story structures with a fixed plan, to study the dynamic behavior of the buildings. Structural modeling is performed in OpenSees software and validated using the results of an experimental model. It is concluded that increasing the building height would not significantly affect the response estimation of IDA and fragility curves of DDBD-designed structures, while the change in span arrangements is effective in estimating responses. In the investigation of the code adequacy, unlike the FBD approach, the DDBD can satisfy the performance criteria presented in FEMA P-695 and hence provide excellent performance.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.53 no.12
• /
• pp.4179-4188
• /
• 2021

This study identifies efficient earthquake intensity measures (IMs) for seismic performances and fragility evaluations of the reactor containment building (RCB) in the advanced power reactor 1400 (APR1400) nuclear power plant (NPP). The computational model of RCB is constructed using the beam-truss model (BTM) for nonlinear analyses. A total of 90 ground motion records and 20 different IMs are employed for numerical analyses. A series of nonlinear time-history analyses are performed to monitor maximum floor displacements and accelerations of RCB. Then, probabilistic seismic demand models of RCB are developed for each IM. Statistical parameters including coefficient of determination (R²), dispersion (i.e. standard deviation), practicality, and proficiency are calculated to recognize strongly correlated IMs with the seismic performance of the NPP structure. The numerical results show that the optimal IMs are spectral acceleration, spectral velocity, spectral displacement at the fundamental period, acceleration spectrum intensity, effective peak acceleration, peak ground acceleration, A95, and sustained maximum acceleration. Moreover, weakly related IMs to the seismic performance of RCB are peak ground displacement, root-mean-square of displacement, specific energy density, root-mean-square of velocity, peak ground velocity, Housner intensity, velocity spectrum intensity, and sustained maximum velocity. Finally, a set of fragility curves of RCB are developed for optimal IMs.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
• /
• v.27 no.2
• /
• pp.83-90
• /
• 2023

The recent increase in earthquake activities has highlighted the importance of seismic performance evaluation for civil infrastructures. In particular, the container crane essential to maintaining the national logistics system with port operation requires an exact evaluation of its seismic response. Thus, this study aims to assess the seismic vulnerability of container cranes considering their seismic characteristics. The seismic response of the container crane should account for the structural members' yielding and buckling, as well as the crane wheel's uplifting derailment in operation. The crane's yielding and buckling limit states were defined using the stress of crane members based on the load and displacement curve obtained from nonlinear static analysis. The derailment limit state was based on the height of the rail, and nonlinear dynamic analysis was performed to obtain the seismic fragility curves considering defined limit states and seismic characteristics. The yield and derailment probabilities of the crane in the near-fault ground motion were approximately 1.5 to 4.7 and 2.8 to 6.8 times higher, respectively, than those in the far-fault ground motion.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.88 no.4
• /
• pp.311-322
• /
• 2023

Riverine flood is one of the critical natural threats to river-crossing bridges. As floods are the most-occurred natural hazard worldwide, survival probability of bridges due to floods must be assessed in a speedy but precise manner. In this regard, the paper presents a reliability-based approach for a rapid assessment of failure probability of vulnerable bridge components under floods. This robust method is generic in nature and can be applied to both concrete and steel girder bridges. The developed methodology essentially utilizes limit state performance functions, expressed in terms of capacity and flood demand, for probable failure modes of various vulnerable components of bridges. Advanced First Order Reliability Method (AFORM), Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS), and Latin Hypercube Simulation (LHS) techniques are applied for the purpose of reliability assessment and developing flood fragility curves of bridges in which flow velocity and water height are taken as flood intensity measures. Upon validating the proposed method, it is applied to a case study bridge that experiences the flood scenario of a river in Gujarat, India. Research outcome portrays how effectively and efficiently the proposed reliability-based method can be applied for a quick assessment of flood vulnerability of bridges in any flood-prone region of interest.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
• /
• 2006.05a
• /
• pp.194-197
• /
• 2006

This study represents results of fragility curve development for 4-span continuous bridge. 2 type bridge model is chosen frame type and 2-roller 1-hinge type. To research the response of bridge under earthquake excitation, Monte Carlo simulation is performed to study nonlinear dynamic analysis. For nonlinear time history analysis a set of 150 synthetic time histories were generated. Fragility curves in this study are represented by lognormal distribution functions with two parameters and developed as a function of PGA. Five damage states were defined to express the condition of damage based on the actual experimental damage data of bridge column. As a result of this research, the value of damage probability corresponding to each damage state were determined and frame type bridge are favorable under seismic event.

• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• v.2 no.1
• /
• pp.25-42
• /
• 2011

This paper discusses a mechanical model for the vulnerability assessment of old masonry building aggregates that takes into account the uncertainties inherent to the building parameters, to the seismic demand and to the model error. The structural capacity is represented as an analytical function of a selected number of geometrical and mechanical parameters. Applying a suitable procedure for the uncertainty propagation, the statistical moments of the capacity curve are obtained as a function of the statistical moments of the input parameters, showing the role of each one in the overall capacity definition. The seismic demand is represented by response spectra; vulnerability analysis is carried out with respect to a certain number of random limit states. Fragility curves are derived taking into account the uncertainties of each quantity involved.