• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.32 no.3C
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• pp.85-94
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• 2012

This paper described a centrifuge study in order to investigate ground-underground hollow structure interaction-induced rocking behavior in liquefied ground. Uplift of the underground hollow structures is initiated due to liquefaction in sandy grounds when the ground is exposed to a strong shaking during earthquakes because the apparent unit weight of these structures is smaller than that of the liquefied soil. In order to evaluate the dynamic behavior of the underground hollow structure and the effects of original subsoil during the uplifting, model tests were performed by changing the relative density of the original subsoil and installing an acrylic box as a trench. The results of the present study show that rocking behavior of the underground hollow structure due to shear deformation of the surrounding subsoil or lateral movement from the original subsoil contributed to large magnitude of the uplift due to strong shaking.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.149-165
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• 2016

Floods have been known to be one of the main causes of bridge collapse. Contrary to earthquakes, flood events tend to occur repeatedly and more frequently in rainfall areas; flood-induced damage and collapse account for a significant portion of disasters in many countries. Nevertheless, in contrast to extensive research on the seismic fragility analysis for civil infrastructure, relatively little attention has been devoted to the flood-related fragility. The present study proposes a novel methodology for deriving flood fragility curves for bridges. Fragility curves are generally derived by means of structural reliability analysis, and structural failure modes are defined as excessive demands of the displacement ductility of a bridge under increased water pressure resulting from debris accumulation and structural deterioration, which are known to be the primary causes of bridge failures during flood events. Since these bridge failure modes need to be analyzed through sophisticated structural analysis, flood fragility curve derivation that would require repeated finite element analyses may take a long time. To calculate the probability of flood-induced failure of bridges efficiently, in the proposed framework, the first order reliability method (FORM) is employed for reducing the required number of finite element analyses. In addition, two software packages specialized for reliability analysis and finite element analysis, FERUM (Finite Element Reliability Using MATLAB) and ABAQUS, are coupled so that they can exchange their inputs and outputs during structural reliability analysis, and a Python-based interface for FERUM and ABAQUS is newly developed to effectively coordinate the fragility analysis. The proposed framework of flood fragility analysis is applied to an actual reinforced concrete bridge in South Korea to demonstrate the detailed procedure of the approach.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.284-289
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• 2016

In recent years, the earthquake sequence in Christchurch, New Zealand (NZ) was unprecedented in terms of repeated earthquake shocks with substantial levels of ground motion affecting modern infrastructure, and in particular, broad and precise reports for liquefaction-induced permanent ground deformation (PGD) and repairs of wastewater (WW) pipelines were collected. In this study, a geographical information system (GIS) and linear regression analysis were performed using data for the length and repair points of earthenware (EW) and concrete (CONC) wastewater pipelines acquired after the MW 6.2 February 22, 2011 earthquake. The repair rates (repairs/km) for the EW and CONC wastewater pipelines were evaluated inside the areas of PGD, and both angular distortion of ground and lateral ground strain were calculated from the high resolution LiDAR data acquired before and after the seismic event. The research results showed that both pipelines have similar trends of damage but the CONC wastewater pipeline with higher stiffness showed less damage. The results of linear regression analyses can be used to predict the repair rates for EW and CONC wastewater pipelines inside the areas of PGD induced by future earthquakes.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.69 no.4
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• pp.407-416
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• 2019

This paper develops a wireless sensor for online fatigue crack detection and failure warning based on crack-induced nonlinear ultrasonic modulation. The wireless sensor consists of packaged piezoelectric (PZT) module, an excitation/sensing module, a data acquisition/processing module, a wireless communication module, and a power supply module. The packaged PZT and the excitation/sensing module generate ultrasonic waves on a structure and capture the response. Based on nonlinear ultrasonic modulation created by a crack, the data acquisition/processing module periodically performs fatigue crack diagnosis and provides failure warning if a component failure is imminent. The outcomes are transmitted to a base through the wireless communication module where two-levels duty cycling media access control (MAC) is implemented. The uniqueness of the paper lies in that 1) the proposed wireless sensor is developed specifically for online fatigue crack detection and failure warning, 2) failure warning as well as crack diagnosis are provided based on crack-induced nonlinear ultrasonic modulation, 3) event-driven operation of the sensor, considering rare extreme events such as earthquakes, is made possible with a power minimization strategy, and 4) the applicability of the wireless sensor to steel welded members is examined through field and laboratory tests. A fatigue crack on a steel welded specimen was successfully detected when the overall width of the crack was around $30{\mu}m$, and a failure warnings were provided when about 97.6% of the remaining useful fatigue lives were reached. Four wireless sensors were deployed on Yeongjong Grand Bridge in Souht Korea. The wireless sensor consumed 282.95 J for 3 weeks, and the processed results on the sensor were transmitted up to 20 m with over 90% success rate.

• Explosives and Blasting
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.29-41
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• 2024

The increasing demand for metallic minerals due to global growth and the continued exploitation of near-surface minerals requires safe and efficient ways to mine ores present in deep mines. In deep mines, stresses concentrated around the cavity increase, which can lead to problems such as induced seismicity and rockbursts. In addition, the transfer of energy from blasting to deeply located faults can cause fault slip, which can lead to earthquakes, and controlling these events is key to deep mining methods. In this technical report, we will introduce the Underhand Closed Bench (UCB) mining method, which can control possible accidents and increase productivity when mining in deep mines.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.385-398
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• 2011

This paper discusses the applicability of Acoustic Emission (AE) to assess the damage in reinforced concrete (RC) structures subjected to complex dynamic loadings such as those induced by earthquakes. The AE signals recorded during this type of event can be complicated due to the arbitrary and random nature of seismicity and the fact that the signals are highly contaminated by many spurious sources of noise. This paper demonstrates that by properly filtering the AE signals, a very good correlation can be found between AE and damage on the RC structure. The basic experimental data used for this research are the results of fourteen seismic simulations conducted with a shake table on an RC slab supported on four steel columns. The AE signals were recorded by several low-frequency piezoelectric sensors located on the bottom surface of the slab. The evolution of damage under increasing values of peak acceleration applied to the shake table was monitored in terms of AE and dissipated plastic strain energy. A strong correlation was found between the energy dissipated by the concrete through plastic deformations and the AE energy calculated after properly filtering the signals. For this reason, a procedure is proposed to analyze the AE measured in a RC structure during a seismic event so that it can be used for damage assessment.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.225-237
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• 2013

Excessive vibrations induced by earthquake excitation and wind load are an obstacle in design and construction of tall and super tall buildings. An innovative vibration control structure system (Mega-Sub Controlled Structure System-MSCSS) was recently proposed to further improve humans comfort and their safeties during natural disasters. Preliminary investigations were performed using a two dimensional equivalent simplified model, composed by 3 mega-stories. In this paper, a more reasonable and realistic scaled model is design to investigate the dynamical characteristics and controlling performances of this structure when subjected to strong earthquake motion. The control parameters of the structure system, such as the modulated sub-structures disposition; the damping coefficient ratio (RC); the stiffness ratio (RD); the mass ratio of the mega-structure and sub-structure (RM) are investigated and their optimal values (matched values) are obtained. The MSCSS is also compared with the so-called Mega-Sub Structure (MSS) regarding their displacement and acceleration responses when subjected to the same load conditions. Through the nonlinear time history analysis, the effectiveness and the feasibility of the proposed mega-sub controlled structure system (MSCSS) is demonstrated in reducing the displacement and acceleration responses and also improving human comfort under earthquake loads.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.463-479
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• 2020

Currently, there are many lateral resisting systems utilized in resisting lateral loads being produced in an earthquake. Such systems can significantly reduce the roof's displacement when placed at an optimum location. Since in the design of tall buildings, the minimum distance between adjacent buildings is important. In this paper, the critical excitation method is used to determine the best location of the belt truss system while calculating the minimum required distance between two adjacent buildings. For this purpose, the belt truss system is placed at a specific story. Then the critical earthquakes are computed so that the considered constraints are satisfied, and the value of roof displacement is maximized. This procedure is repeated for all stories; i.e., for each, a critical acceleration is computed. From this set of computed roof displacement values, the story with the least displacement is selected as the best location for the belt truss system. Numerical studies demonstrate that absolute roof displacements induced through critical accelerations range between 5.36 to 1.95 times of the San Fernando earthquake for the first example and 7.67 to 1.22 times of the San Fernando earthquake for the second example. This method can also be used to determine the minimum required distance between two adjacent buildings to eliminate the pounding effects. For this purpose, this value is computed based on different standard codes and compared with the results of the critical excitation method to show the ability of the proposed method.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.285-296
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• 2017

Base isolation is a quite practical control strategy for enhancing the response of structural systems induced by strong ground motions. Due to the dynamic effects of base isolation systems, reduction in the interstory drifts of the superstructure is often achieved at the expense of high base displacement level, which may lead to instability of the structure or non-practical designs for the base isolators. To reduce the base displacement, several hybrid structural control strategies have been studied over the past decades. This study investigates a particular strategy that employs Tuned Mass Dampers (TMDs) for improving the performance of base-isolated structures and unlike previous studies, specifically focuses on the effectiveness of this hybrid control strategy in structures that are equipped with nonlinear base isolation systems. To consider the nonlinearities of base isolation systems, a Bouc-Wen model is selected and nonlinear dynamic OpenSees models are used to perform several time-history simulations in time and frequency domains. Through these numerical simulations, the effects of several parameters such as the fundamental period of the structure, dynamic properties of the TMD and isolation systems and properties of the input ground motion on the behaviour of TMD-structure-base isolation systems are examined. The results of this study provide a better insight into the performance of linear shear-story structures with nonlinear base isolators and show that there are many scenarios in which TMDs can still improve the performance of these systems.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.379-399
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• 2015

Existing building structures can easily present material mechanical properties which can largely vary even within a single structure. The current European Technical Code, Eurocode 8, does not provide specific instructions to account for high variability in mechanical properties. As a consequence of the high strength variability, at the occurrence of seismic events, the structure may evidence unexpected phenomena, like torsional effects, with larger experienced deformations and, in turn, with reduced seismic performance. This work is focused on the torsional effects related to the irregular stiffness and strength distribution due to the concrete strength variability. The analysis has been performed on a case-study, i.e., a 3D RC framed 4 storey building. A Normal distribution, compatible to a large available database, has been taken to represent the concrete strength domain. Different plan layouts, representative of realistic stiffness distributions, have been considered, and a statistical analysis has been performed on the induced torsional effects. The obtained results have been compared to the standard analysis as provided by Eurocode 8 for existing buildings, showing that the Eurocode 8 provisions, despite not allowing explicitly for material strength variability, are conservative as regards the estimation of structural demand.