• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2008.04a
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• pp.483-489
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• 2008

Masonry infill walls are frequently used as interior partitions and exterior walls in low- or middlerise RC buildings In the structural design and assessment of structural behaviors of buildings, the infill walls are usually treated as non-structural elements and they are ignored in analytical models. In this study, seismic behaviors of RC frame with/without masonry infill walls were investigated. To this end, the infill walls were modeled as equivalent diagonal struts. Based on analytical results, it has been shown that masonry infill walls can increase the global strength and stiffness of a structure. Accordingly, inter-story drift ratio will be decreased but seismic forces applied to the structure were increased than design seismic load because natural period of the structure was decreased. It is also seen from the analytical results that the inelastic deformation of RC frame with soft story is concentrated on the first story columns and thus, partial damage may have possibility of collapse of system.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.249-259
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• 2019

To study the seismic resistance of the shear capacity of the RC beam-column joints of two-story and four-story RC buildings, sample buildings are designed with ordinary moment resisting frame. For the shear capacity of joints, the equations of FEMA 356 and NZ seismic assessment are selected and compared. For comparison, one group of buildings is designed only for gravity loads and the other group is designed for seismic and gravity loads. For 16 cases of the designed buildings, seismic performance point is evaluated through push-over analysis and the capacity of joint shear strength is checked. Not only for the gravity designed buildings but also for seismic designed buildings, the demand of joint shear is exceeding the capacity at exterior joints. However, for interior joint, the demand of joint shear exceeds the capacity only for one case. At exterior joints, the axial load stress ratio is lower than 0.21 for gravity designed buildings and 0.13 for seismic designed buildings.

• International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.135-153
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• 2013

This study investigates the direct displacement based design (DDBD) approach for different types of reinforced concrete structural systems including single moment-resisting, dual wall-frame and dual steel-braced systems. In this methodology, the displacement profile is calculated and the equivalent single degree of freedom system is then modeled considering the damping characteristics of each member. Having calculated the effective period and secant stiffness of the structure, the base shear is obtained, based on which the design process can be carried out. For each system three frames are designed using DDBD approach. The frames are then analyzed using nonlinear time-history analysis with 7 earthquake accelerograms and the damage index is investigated through lateral drift profile of the models. Results of the analyses and comparison of the nonlinear time-history analysis results indicate efficiency of the DDBD approach for different reinforced concrete structural systems.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.5 no.5
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• pp.565-585
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• 2009

Superelastic Shape Memory Alloys (SMAs) are gaining acceptance for use as reinforcing bars in concrete structures. The seismic behaviour of concrete frames reinforced with SMAs is being assessed in this study. Two eight-storey concrete frames, one of which is reinforced with regular steel and the other with SMAs at the plastic hinge regions of beams and regular steel elsewhere, are designed and analyzed using 10 different ground motion records. Both frames are located in the highly seismic region of Western Canada and are designed and detailed according to current seismic design standards. The validation of a finite element (FE) program that was conducted previously at the element level is extended to the structure level in this paper using the results of a shake table test of a three-storey moment resisting steel RC frame. The ten accelerograms that are chosen for analyzing the designed RC frames are scaled based on the spectral ordinate at the fundamental periods of the frames. The behaviour of both frames under scaled seismic excitations is compared in terms of maximum inter-storey drift, top-storey drift, inter-storey residual drift, and residual top-storey drift. The results show that SMA-RC frames are able to recover most of its post-yield deformation, even after a strong earthquake.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.89 no.1
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• pp.77-91
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• 2024

During strong seismic events, inelastic shear deformation occurs in beam-column joints. To capture inelastic shear deformation, an analytical model for beam-column joint in reinforced concrete (RC) frame structures has been proposed in this study. The proposed model has been developed using a rotational spring and rigid links. The stiffness properties of the rotational spring element have been assigned in terms of a moment rotation curve developed from the shear stress-strain backbone curve. The inelastic rotation behavior of joint has been categorized in three stages viz. cracking, yielding and ultimate. The joint shear stress and strain values at these stages have been estimated using analytical models and experimental database respectively. The stiffness properties of joint rotational spring have been modified by incorporating a geometry factor based on dimensions of adjoining beam and column members. The hysteretic response of the joint rotational spring has been defined by a pivot hysteresis model. The response of the proposed analytical model has been verified initially at the component level and later at the structural level with the two actually tested RC frame structures. The proposed joint model effectively emulates the inelastic behavior precisely with the experimental results at component as well as at structural levels.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.279-293
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• 2021

Most of the existing seismic codes for RC buildings consider only a scenario earthquake for analysis, often characterized by the response spectrum at the specified location. However, any real earthquake event often involves occurrences of multiple earthquakes within a few hours or days, possessing similar or even higher energy than the first earthquake. This critically impairs the rehabilitation measures thereby resulting in the accumulation of structural damages for subsequent earthquakes after the first earthquake. Also, the existing seismic provisions account for the non-linear response of an RC building frame implicitly by specifying a constant response modification factor (R) in a linear elastic design. However, the 'R' specified does not address the changes in structural configurations of RC moment-resisting frames (RC MRFs) viz., building height, number of bays present, bay width, irregularities arising out of mass and stiffness changes, etc. resulting in changed dynamic characteristics of the structural system. Hence, there is an imperative need to assess the seismic performance under sequential earthquake ground motions, considering the adequacy of code-specified 'R' in the representation of dynamic characteristics of RC buildings. Therefore, the present research is focused on the evaluation of the non-linear response of medium-rise 3D RC MRFs with and without vertical irregularities under bi-directional sequential earthquake ground motions using non-linear dynamic analysis. It is evident from the results that collapse probability increases, and 'R' reduces significantly for various RC MRFs subjected to sequential earthquakes, pronouncing the vulnerability and inadequacy of estimation of design base shear by code-specified 'R' under sequential earthquakes.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.99-123
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• 2015

In this study, structural vulnerability of reinforced concrete moment resisting frames (RC-MRFs) by considering the Iran-specific characteristics is investigated to manage the earthquake risk in terms of multicomponent seismic excitations. Low and medium rise RC-MRFs, which constitute approximately 80-90% of the total buildings stock in Iran, are focused in this fragility-based assessment. The seismic design of 3-12 story RC-MRFs are carried out according to the Iranian Code of Practice for Seismic Resistant Design of Buildings (Standard No. 2800), and the analytical models are formed accordingly in open source nonlinear platforms. Frame structures are categorized in three subclasses according to the specific characteristics of construction practice and the observed seismic performance after major earthquakes in Iran. Both far and near fields' ground motions have been considered in the fragility estimation. An optimal intensity measure (IM) called Sa, avg and beta probability distribution were used to obtain reliable fragility-based database for earthquake damage and loss estimation of RC buildings stock in urban areas of Iran. Nonlinear incremental dynamic analyses by means of lumped-parameter based structural models have been simulated and performed to extract the fragility curves. Approximate confidence bounds are developed to represent the epistemic uncertainties inherent in the fragility estimations. Consequently, it's shown that including vertical ground motion in the analysis is highly recommended for reliable seismic assessment of RC buildings.

• Coupled systems mechanics
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• v.7 no.6
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• pp.731-753
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• 2018

The recent seismic events have led to concerns on safety and vulnerability of Reinforced Concrete Moment Resisting Frame "RC-MRF" buildings. The seismic design demands are greatly dependent on the computational tools, the inherent assumptions and approximations introduced in the modeling process. Thus, it is essential to assess the relative importance of implementing different modeling approaches and investigate the computed response sensitivity to the corresponding modeling assumptions. Many parameters and assumptions are to be justified for generation effective and accurate structural models of RC-MRF buildings to simulate the lateral response and evaluate seismic design demands. So, the present study aims to develop reliable finite element model through many refinements in modeling the various structural components. The effect of finite element modeling assumptions, analysis methods and code provisions on seismic response demands for the structural design of RC-MRF buildings are investigated. where, a series of three-dimensional finite element models were created to study various approaches to quantitatively improve the accuracy of FE models of symmetric buildings located in active seismic zones. It is shown from results of the comparative analyses that the use of a calibrated frame model which was made up of line elements featuring rigid offsets manages to provide estimates that match best with estimates obtained from a much more rigorous modeling approach involving the use of shell elements.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Building Construction
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.207-215
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• 2014

As a reinforcement material for RC members, the modified epoxy mortar has been reported one of the superior materials since the material can improve the load capacity and the seismic performance of the RC members. However, there were few experimental studies and analytical research for improving seismic performance with the material. This study is to propose an effective reinforcement plan for RC Ordinary Moment Resisting Frame (OMRF) with the evaluation of seismic performance and economic analysis. For the objective, first, the load-deflection curve of a simple beam specimen was compared with the analytical results. Second, a 5-story RC OMRF structure was designed only for gravity load and the alternatives for seismic reinforcement were suggested. Third, pushover analysis was executed for evaluation of design coefficients and seismic performance of the structures. Finally, an effective reinforcement plan was suggested based on the results of quantity take-off and economic analysis. The findings of this study can be utilized as the basic data when the modified epoxy mortar is applied to practice for improving the seismic performance of RC members.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.85-92
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• 2024

This study presents code-compliant seismic details by addressing dry mechanical splices for precast concrete (PC) beam-column connections in the ACI 318-19 code. To this end, critical observations of previous test results on precast beam-column connection specimens with the proposed seismic detail are briefly reported in this study, along with a typical reinforced concrete (RC) monolithic connection. On this basis, nonlinear dynamic models were developed to verify seismic responses of the PC emulative moment-resisting frame systems. As the current design code allows only the emulative design approach, this study aims at identifying the seismic performances of PC moment frame systems depending on their emulative levels, for which two extreme cases were intentionally chosen as the non-emulative (unbonded self-centering with marginal energy dissipation) and fully-emulative connection details. Their corresponding hysteresis models were set by using commercial finite element analysis software. According to the current seismic design provisions, a typical five-story building was designed as a target PC building. Subsequently, nonlinear dynamic time history analyses were performed with seven ground motions to investigate the impact of emulation level or hysteresis models (i.e., energy dissipation performance) on system responses between the emulative and non-emulative PC moment frames. The analytical results showed that both the base shear and story drift ratio were substantially reduced in the emulative system compared to that of the non-emulative one, and it indicates the importance of the code-compliant (i.e., emulative) connection details on the seismic performance of the precast building.