• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.50 no.3
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• pp.494-503
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• 2018

As public acceptance of nuclear energy in Korea worsens due to the Fukushima accident and the earthquakes that occurred in the Gyeongju area near the Wolsong nuclear power plant (NPP), estimating the effects of earthquakes has become more essential for the nuclear industry. Currently, most countermeasures against earthquakes are limited to large-scale disasters. Minor-scale earthquakes used to be ignored. Even though people do not feel the shaking due to minor earthquakes and minor earthquakes incur little damage to NPPs, they can change the environmental conditions, for instance, underground water level and the conductivity of the groundwater. This study conducted a questionnaire survey of residents living in the vicinity of an NPP to determine their perception and acceptance of plant safety against minor earthquakes. The results show that the residents feel earthquakes at levels that can be felt by people, but incur little damage to NPPs, as minor earthquakes (magnitude of 2.0-3.9) and set this level as a standard for countermeasures. Even if a minor earthquake has little impact on the safety of an NPP, there is still a possibility that public opinion will get worse. This study provides analysis results about problems of earthquake measures of Korean NPPs and specific things that can bring about an effect of deterioration of public acceptance. Based on these data, this article suggests that active management of minor earthquakes is necessary for the sustainability of nuclear energy.

• Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
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• 1997.04a
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• pp.28-37
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• 1997

An earthquake of Richter magnitude 4.5 occurred on December 13, 1996 at 1:10 p.m. in Yung-Wol, Kang-Won-Do. Brief investigation on the effects of the earthquake has been performed on December 15 by the reconnaissance team of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea. Minor damages were observed in several structures including two elementary schools and two municipal office buildings. Most of the damages on R.C. beams is believed to be existing ones due to poor construction and maintenance of the structures those have been increased by the earthquake.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.38 no.6
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• pp.621-631
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• 2024

In designing earthquake-resistant structures, we traditionally select dynamic loads based on the recurrence period of earthquakes, using individual seismic records or aligning them with the design spectrum. However, these records often represent isolated waveforms lacking continuity, underscoring the need for a deeper understanding of natural seismic phenomena. The Earth's crustal movement, both before and after a significant earthquake, can trigger a series of both minor and major seismic events. These minor earthquakes, which often occur in short time before or after the major seismic events, prompt a critical reassessment of their potential impact on structural design. In this study, we conducted a detailed tunnel response analysis to assess the impact of both single mainshock and multiple earthquake scenarios (including foreshock-mainshock and mainshock-aftershock sequences). Utilizing numerical analysis, we explored how multiple earthquakes affect tunnel deformation. Our findings reveal that sequential seismic events, even those of moderate magnitude, can exert considerable stress on tunnel lining, resulting in heightened bending stress and permanent displacement. This research highlights a significant insight: current seismic design methodologies, which predominantly focus on the largest seismic intensity, may fail to account for the cumulative impact of smaller, yet frequent, seismic events like foreshocks and aftershocks. Our results demonstrate that dynamic analyses considering only a single mainshock are likely to underestimate the potential damage (i.e., ovaling deformation, failure lining, permanent displacement etc.) when compared to analyses that incorporate multiple earthquake scenarios.

• Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
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• 1998.04a
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• pp.52-57
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• 1998

Becaruse of the continual occurrence of minor and moderate earthquake in Korean peninsula, it is generally considered that Korean is nor located in safe region against probable earthquake and more, even though being recognized as a safe contry in earthquake. It is in particular noted that nowadays there has been much concern about undesirable disaster due to unexpected earthquake since the disaster of 1995 Kobe earthquake. Thus, the objective of this research is to develop appropriate design spectrum which could be practicably used in seismic design of important structures taking into consideration of local physical characteristics. Particularly, we have to keep in mind the lessons from 1985 Mexico earthquake which had disregarded deep research on local ground conditions, being a possible magnification phenomena of ground motions in weak soil layer. Various spectra has been described based on the analysis of historical earthquakes, and appropriate design spectrum has been proposed herein.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.501-511
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• 2022

Earthquake Resistant Design Philosophy seeks (a) no damage, (b) no significant structural damage, and (c) significant structural damage but no collapse of normal buildings, under minor, moderate and severe levels of earthquake shaking, respectively. A procedure is proposed for seismic design of low-rise reinforced concrete special moment frame buildings, which is consistent with this philosophy; buildings are designed to be ductile through appropriate sizing and reinforcement detailing, such that they resist severe level of earthquake shaking without collapse. Nonlinear analyses of study buildings are used to determine quantitatively (a) ranges of design parameters required to assure the required deformability in normal buildings to resist the severe level of earthquake shaking, (b) four specific limit states that represent the start of different structural damage states, and (c) levels of minor and moderate earthquake shakings stated in the philosophy along with an extreme level of earthquake shaking associated with the structural damage state of no collapse. The four limits of structural damage states and the three levels of earthquake shaking identified are shown to be consistent with the performance-based design guidelines available in literature. Finally, nonlinear analyses results are used to confirm the efficacy of the proposed procedure.

• Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
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• 2005.03a
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• pp.121-128
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• 2005

In this study the influences of ground motion characteristics and structural properties on energy demands were evaluated using 100 earthquake ground motions recorded in different soil conditions, and the results were compared with those of previous works. Results show that ductility ratios and the site conditions have significant influence on input energy. The ratio of hysteretic to input energy is considerably influenced by the ductility ratio and damping ratio, while site condition has minor effects.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.119-125
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• 2009

We predict the earthquake rate in Korea following Bayesian approach. We make a model that can utilize the data to predict other levels of earthquake. An event tree model which is a frequently used graphical tool in describing accident initiation and escalation to more severe accident is transformed into an influence diagram model. Prior distributions for earthquake occurrence rate and probabilities to escalating to more severe earthquakes are assumed and likelihood of number of earthquake in a given period of time is assessed. And then posterior distributions are obtained based on observed data. We find that the minor level of earthquake is increasing while major level of earthquake is less likely.

• Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
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• 2002.09a
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• pp.197-204
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• 2002

The resent earthquakes in worldwide have caused extensive damage to highway reinforced concrete bridge piers. It has been observed in the Korean Peninsula that the number of minor or low earthquake motions have increased year by year. Since the concern about the earthquake hazards is increased, the objective of this research is to evaluate the damage of reinforced concrete bridge piers subjected to probable earthquake motions. Experimental investigation was conducted to study the seismic performance of the full-scale specimens in size D=1.2m H=4.8m, which were constructed with different longitudinal lap splice and loading pattern, through the quasi-static test and the pseudo-dynamic test. It is thought that this result could contribute to establish the retrofit decision-making and disaster planning of reinforced concrete bridge piers in earthquake regions. And it could be also possible to quantify the damage of reinforced concrete bridge piers under cyclic loading

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 1998.10a
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• pp.553-558
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• 1998

Since the mid of the 20th century in the world, it has been observed that the number of minor or moderate earthquake motions tend to be increased year by year. Owing to the topographical condition, moreover, large numbers of skew bridges have been constructed for the requirements of more than DB18 ton bridge in Korea. It has been also observed from foreign countries that lots of superstructures collapse in bridge were occurred in previous earthquakes, inclusive of 1995 Kobe earthquake. This is caused by a relative displacement between the upper and lower structure of bridge by the earthquake and the rotation with respect to the vertical axis of skew bridges, which were subjected to and earthquake motion. In this study, the probabilistic analysis of unseating failure of skew bridges under scenario earthquake has been carried out by evaluating the longitudinal displacement of skew bridges.

• Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
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• 1997.04a
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• pp.173-181
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• 1997

To investigate the effects of haunch repair on the system seismic performance of steel moment-resisting frames (steel MRFs), a case study was conducted for a 13-story frame damaged during the 1994 Northridge earthquake. It was assumed that only those locations with reported damage would be repaired with haunches. A new analytical modeling technique for the dual panel zone developed by the author was incorporated in the analysis. Both the inelastic static and dynamic analyses did not indicate detrimental side effects resulting from the repair. As a result of the increased strength in dual panel zones, yielding in these locations were eliminated and larger plastic rotation demand occurred in the beams next to the shallow end of the haunches. Nevertheless, the beam plastic rotation demand produced by the Sylmar record of 1994 Northridge earthquake was still limited to 1.7% radians. The repair resulted in a minor increase in earthquake energy input. In the original structure, the panel zones should dissipate about 80%(for the Oxnard record) and 70%(for the Sylmar record) of the absorbed energy, assuming no brittle failure of moment connections. After repair, the energy dissipated in the panel zones and beams were about equal.