• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.285-292
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• 2020

The methodology classifying structural types of concrete buildings in the existing seismic fragility functions is too simple to estimate the fragility of existing residential buildings and neighborhood living facilities, especially those below five stories. Their structural types are dependent on information contained in the building register such as main use, total floor area, story, permission date, and first story floor area of the individual building. All of this information is not considered for classifying types in the existing functions; therefore, the goal of this study was to suggest a methodology that classifies structural types of concrete buildings by utilizing such information. The results of this study showed that the suggested methodology can classify structural types better than the existing methodology. Nevertheless, there is still a need to simplify the methodology because fragility estimation demands quickness rather than accuracy.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.967-982
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• 2016

Current codes design the buildings based on life safety criteria. In a performance-based design (PBD) approach, decisions are made based on demands, such as target displacement and performance of structure in use. This type of design prevents loss of life but does not limit damages or maintain functionality. As a newly developed method, resilience-based design (RBD) aims to maintain functionality of buildings and provide liveable conditions after strong ground movement. In this paper, the seismic performance of plain and strengthened RC frames (an eight-story and two low-rise) is evaluated. In order to evaluate earthquake performance of the frames, the performance points of the frames are calculated by the capacity spectrum method (CSM) of ATC-40. This method estimates earthquake-induced deformation of an inelastic system using a reduced response spectrum. Finally, the seismic performances of the frames are evaluated and the results are compared with a resilience-based design criterion.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.83-94
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• 2022

In recent years, some studies have identified and quantified factors that can increase or decrease the seismic vulnerability of buildings. These modifier factors, related to the building characteristics and condition, are taken into account in the vulnerability assessment, by means of a numerical estimation resulting from the quantification of these modifiers through vulnerability indexes. However, views have differed on the definition and the quantification of modifiers. In this study, modifier parameters and scores of the Risk-UE Level 1 method are adjusted based on the Algerian seismic code recommendations and the reviews proposed in the literature. The adjusted modifiers and scores are applied to reinforced concrete (RC) buildings in Boumerdes city, in order to assess probable seismic damage. Comparison between estimated damage and observed damage caused by the 2003 Boumerdes earthquake is done, with the objective to (i) validate the model involving influence of the modifier parameters on the seismic vulnerability, and (ii) to define the relationship between modifiers and damage. This research may help planners in improving seismic regulations and reducing vulnerability of existing buildings.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.3 no.3_4
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• pp.611-628
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• 2012

The inelastic earthquake response of existing, reinforced concrete buildings with an open ground story, designed according to the old Greek codes, is investigated before and after their seismic strengthening with steel braces restricted to the open ground stories. The seismic performance evaluation is based on Part 3 of Eurocode 8 for assessment and retrofitting of buildings. Three and five-story, symmetric and non-symmetric buildings are subjected to a set of seven pairs of synthetic accelerograms, compatible with the design spectrum, and conclusions are drawn regarding the effectiveness of the strengthening solutions. Seismic behavior of the selected models confirms results of previous work regarding the insufficient capacity of the open ground stories for design level earthquakes. It is also shown that strengthening only the weak ground story, a choice having the substantial advantage of low cost and continued usage of the building during its seismic retrofitting, can remove the inherent weakness without shifting the problem to the stories above and thus making such buildings at least as strong as those without a weak first story. This partial strengthening is possible for symmetric as well as eccentric buildings, in which torsion plays a further detrimental role.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.39-47
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• 2020

Lightly reinforced concrete (RC) moment frames may suffer significant damage during large earthquake events. Most buildings with RC moment frames were designed without considering seismic loads. The load-displacement response of gravity load designed frames could be altered by masonry infill walls. The objective of this study is to investigate the load-displacement response of gravity load designed frames with masonry infill walls. For this purpose, three-story gravity load designed frames with masonry infill walls were considered. The masonry infilled RC frames demonstrated larger lateral strength and stiffness than bare RC frames, whereas their drift capacity was less than that of bare frames. A specimen with a partial-height infill wall showed the least drift capacity and energy dissipation capacity. This specimen failed in shear, whereas other specimens experienced a relatively ductile failure mode (flexure-shear failure).

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.68 no.3
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• pp.289-297
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• 2018

The real behavior of the RC structures constructed based on the assumed specifications of the used materials is matched with the designed ones when the assumed and the applied specifications in construction are the same. Despite in the construction phase of the reinforced concrete (RC) structures always it is tried to implement the same specifications of materials as given in the executive drawings, but considering the unpredicted/uncontrolled parameters that affect the specification of materials, always there is a deviation between the constructed and the designed materials' specifications. The objective of this paper is to submit a guideline for the evaluation of the strength and damage to the existing RC structures encountered deviation in materials' strengths. To achieve this goal, the lateral strength (plastic behaviors) and damage to twenty-five RC moment-resisting frames (MRFs) are studied by applying the inelastic analysis. In this study, a couple of concrete and reinforcement strengths' deviations are investigated. The obtained results indicate that in general, there is a semi-linear relationship between the deviation in the strength of reinforcement and the changes in the lateral strength values of the MRFs. The relative effect of the deviation in the strength of reinforcements is more than the relative effect of the deviation in the concrete strength on the damage rate. The obtained results could be a guideline for the engineers in the survey of the existing buildings encountered deviation in materials' strengths during their construction phase.

• Journal of Korean Association for Spatial Structures
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• v.4 no.3 s.13
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• pp.49-56
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• 2004

This paper predicted the shear deformation, such as strain of shear reinforcement and shear track width, of reinforced concrete (RC) members using Transformation Angle Truss Model (TATM) in order to apply to the shea, analysis of RC buildings. To check the validity of TATM for the shear deformation of RC beams, four RC beams with different shear span-to-depth ratios were cast, instrumented and tested. Observed results were compared with theoretical results by MCFT(Response-2000), RA-STM, FA-STM, and TATM. The proposed model, TATM, better predicted the relationships of the shear stress-strain of shear reinforcement and the shear stress-shear track width than other truss models.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.555-565
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• 2020

The main objective of seismic codes is to prevent structural collapse and ensure life safety. Collapse probability of a structure is usually assessed by making a series of analytical model assumptions. This paper investigates the effect of finite element modeling (FEM) assumptions on the estimated collapse capacity of a reinforced concrete (RC) frame building and points out the modeling limitations. Widely used element formulations and hysteresis models are considered in the analysis. A full-scale, three-story RC frame building was utilized as the experimental model. Alternative finite element models are established by adopting a range of different modeling strategies. Using each model, the collapse capacity of the structure is evaluated via Incremental Dynamic Analysis (IDA). Results indicate that the analytically estimated collapse capacities are significantly sensitive to the utilized modeling approaches. Furthermore, results also show that models that represent stiffness degradation lead to a better correlation between the actual and analytical responses. Results of this study are expected to be useful for in developing proper models for assessing the collapse probability of RC frame structures.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.423-435
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• 2020

Open ground story (OGS) reinforced concrete (RC) buildings are vulnerable to the complete collapse or severe damages under seismic actions. This study investigates the effectiveness of four different strengthening techniques representing the local and global modifications to improve the seismic performance of a non-ductile RC OGS frame. Steel caging and concrete jacketing methods of column strengthening are considered as the local modification techniques, whereas steel bracing and RC shear wall systems are selected as the global strengthening techniques in this study. Performance-based plastic design (PBPD) approach relying on energy-balance concept has been adopted to determine the required design force demand on the strengthening elements. Nonlinear static and dynamic analyses are carried out on the numerical models of study frames to assess the effectiveness of selected strengthening techniques in improving the seismic performance of OGS frame.. Strengthening techniques based on steel braces and RC shear wall significantly reduced the peak interstory drift response of the OGS frame. However, the peak floor acceleration of these strengthened frames is amplified by more than 2.5 times as compared to that of unstrengthened frame. Steel caging technique of column strengthening resulted in a reasonable reduction in the peak interstory drift response without substantial amplification in peak floor acceleration of the OSG frame.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.7 no.5
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• pp.667-689
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• 2014

Structural walls (also known as shear walls) are one of the common lateral load resisting elements in reinforced concrete (RC) buildings in seismic regions. The performance of RC structural walls in recent earthquakes has exposed some problems with the existing design of RC structural walls. The main issues lie around the buckling of bars, out-of plane deformation of the wall (especially the zone deteriorated in compression), reinforcement getting snapped beneath a solitary thin crack etc. This study compares performance of a typical wall designed by different standards. For this purpose, a case study RC shear wall is taken from the Hotel Grand Chancellor in Christchurch which was designed according to the 1982 version of the New Zealand concrete structures standard (NZS3101:1982). The wall is redesigned in this study to comply with the detailing requirements of three standards; ACI-318-11, NZS3101:2006 and Eurocode 8 in such a way that they provide the same flexural and shear capacity. Based on section analysis and pushover analysis, nonlinear responses of the walls are compared in terms of their lateral load capacity and curvature as well as displacement ductilities, and the effect of the code limitations on nonlinear responses of the different walls are evaluated. A parametric study is also carried out to further investigate the effect of confinement length and axial load ratio on the lateral response of shear walls.