• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.233-246
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• 2022

In this study, the city of Osijek is used as a case study area for low to medium seismicity regions with deep soil over deep geological deposits to determine horizontal PGA values. For this reason, we propose new regional attenuation equations for PGA that can simultaneously capture the effects of deep geology and local soil conditions. A micro-zoning map for the city of Osijek is constructed using the derived empirical scaling equations and compared to all prior seismic hazard estimates for the same area. The findings suggest that the deep soil atop deep geological sediments results in PGA values that are only 6 percent larger than those reported at rock soil sites atop geological rocks. Given the rarity of ground motion records for deep soils atop deep geological layers around the world, we believe this case study is a start toward defining more reliable PGA estimates for similar areas.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.190-195
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• 2013

We estimated near-surface shear-wave velocity (${\nu}_s$) at the Hwacheon seismic station using a geologic log of a well, microtremors recorded during a period of 56 days, and records of three teleseismic events ($M_w{\geq}6.0$). The vs of the 10-m thick soil layer (${\nu}^s_s$= 296 m/s) was determined from horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratios of microtremors recorded at the surface. The average ${\nu}_s$ ($\bar{\nu}_s$= 1,309 m/s) from the surface to the 96-m depth of a borehole sensor, was computed using spectral coherence analyses of data recorded by surface- and borehole-sensors for the three teleseismic events. Using these calculated values of ${\nu}^s_s$ and $\bar{\nu}_s$, the computed bedrock ${\nu}_s$ is 2,150 m/s and the time-averaged ${\nu}_s$ to a 30-m depth is 696 m/s. Accordingly the Hwacheon seismic station is regarded as a relatively good site. The deduced near-surface ${\nu}_s$ can be used for further quantitative evaluation of site amplification and earthquake hazard.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.127-132
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• 2011

We acquired and interpreted more than 650 km of high-resolution seismic reflection profiles in the Hupo Basin, offshore east coast of Korea at $37^{\circ}N$ in the East Sea (Japan Sea) to image shallow and basement deformation. The seismic profiles reveal that the main depocenter of the Hupo Basin in the study area is bounded by the large offset Hupo Fault on the east and an antithetic fault on the west; however, the antithetic fault is much smaller both in horizontal extension and in vertical displacement than the Hupo Fault. Sediment infill in the Hupo Basin consists of syn-rift (late Oligocene. early Miocene) and post-rift (middle Miocene.Holocene) units. The Hupo Fault and other faults newly defined in the Hupo Basin strike dominantly north and show a sense of normal displacement. Considering that the East Sea has been subjected to compression since the middle Miocene, we interpret that these normal faults were created during continental rifting in late Oligocene to early Miocene times. We suggest that the current ENE direction of maximum principal compressive stress observed in and around the Korean peninsula associated with the motion of the Amurian Plate induces the faults in the Hupo Basin to have reverse and right-lateral, strike-slip motion, when reactivated. A recent earthquake positioned on the Hupo Fault indicates that in the study area and possibly further in the eastern Korean margin, earthquakes would occur on the faults created during continental rifting in the Tertiary.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.432-439
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• 2009

For more reliable estimation of seismic source, attenuation properties and dynamic ground property, site amplification function should be considered. Among various estimation methods, this study used the Nakamura's method (1989) for estimating site amplification characteristics. This method was originally applied to the surface waves of background noise and therefore there are some limitations in applying to general wave energy. However, recently this method has been extended and applied to the S wave energy successfully. This study applied the method to S wave and Coda wave energy, which is equivalent to the backscattered S wave energy. We used more than 60 observed ground motions from 5 earthquakes which were occurred recently, with magnitude range from 3.6 to 5.1. Each station showed characteristic site amplification property in low-, high- and resonance frequencies. Some of the stations showed as high as 4 times of site amplification in the range of specific frequencies, which may imply abnormal small scale geologic strata below the station or development of various trapped modes in the basin structure. Moreover, removal of site amplification can give us more reliable seismic source and attenuation parameters, addition to the seismic hazard estimation.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.525-534
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• 2014

Environmental problems typically occurring in abandoned mine lands (AML) include: contaminated and acidic surface water and groundwater; stockpiled waste rock and mill tailings; and ground subsidences due to mining operations. This study examines the effectiveness of various geophysical techniques for mapping potential hazard and contaminated zones. Four AML sites with sedimentation contamination problems, acid mine drainage (AMD) channels, ground subsidence, manmade liner leakage, and buried mine tailings, were selected to examine the applicability of various geophysical methods to the identification of the different types of mine hazards. Geophysical results were correlated to borehole data (core samples, well logs, tomographic profiles, etc.) and water sample data (pH, electrical conductivity (EC), and heavy metal contents). Zones of low electrical resistivity (ER) corresponded to areas contaminated by heavy metals, especially contamination by Cu, Pb, and Zn. The main pathways of AMD leachate were successfully mapped using ER methods (low anomaly peaks), self-potential (SP) curves (negative peaks), and ground penetrating radar (GPR) at shallow penetration depths. Mine cavities were well located based on composite interpretations of ER, seismic tomography, and well-log records; mine cavity locations were also observed in drill core data and using borehole image processing systems (BIPS). Damaged zones in buried manmade liners (used to block descending leachate) were precisely detected by ER mapping, and buried rock waste and tailings piles were characterized by low-velocity zones in seismic refraction data and high-resistivity zones in the ER data.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.205-216
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• 2024

Recently, seismic Probabilistic Safety Assessment (PSA) methods have been developed for process plants, such as gas plants, oil refineries, and chemical plants. The framework originated from the PSA of nuclear power plants, which aims to assess the risk of reactor core damage. The original PSA method was modified to adopt the characteristics of a process plant whose purpose is continuous operation without shutdown. Therefore, a fault tree, whose top event is shut down, was constructed and transformed into a Bayesian Network (BN), a probabilistic graph model, for efficient risk-informed decision-making. In this research, the fault tree-based BN from the previous research is further developed to consider the multi-hazard of earthquake-induced fire and explosion (EQ-induced F&E). For this purpose, an event tree describing the occurrence of fire and explosion from a release is first constructed and transformed into a BN. And then, this BN is connected to the previous BN model developed for seismic PSA. A virtual plot plan of a gas plant is introduced as a basis for the construction of the specific EQ-induced F&E BN to test the proposed BN framework. The paper demonstrates the method through two examples of risk-informed decision-making. In particular, the second example verifies how the proposed method can establish a repair and retrofit strategy when a shutdown occurs in a process plant.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Hazard Mitigation
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• v.1 no.3 s.3
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• pp.123-136
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• 2001

The purpose of application of moment tensor inversion method is to determine source parameters, such as, focal mechanism, seismic moment and source depth. This paper presents results of focal mechanism solutions of 14 recent events with magnitudes ranging from M3.3 to M4.8 by using moment tensor inversion method called TDMT_INV. The strike of faults is in the direction of NE-SW and NW-SE with the movement of strike-slip or strike-slip of minor reverse component. The compressional axis of the stress field is predominantly E-W or ENE-WSW except for some faults, which are distributed at Ryongnam Massif and Wonsan, they have a compressional axis of N-S or NNW-SSE.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Hazard Mitigation
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.23-28
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• 2010

Reliable dynamic analysis is essential in order to properly maintain structures so that structural hazards may be minimized. The finite element method (FEM) is proven to be an affective approximate method of structural analysis if proper element types and meshes are chosen. When the method is applied to dynamics analyzed in time domain, the meshes may need to be modified at each time step. As many meshes need to be generated, adaptive mesh generation schemes have become an important part in complex time domain dynamic finite element analyses of structures. In this paper, an adaptive mesh generation scheme for dynamic finite element analyses of structures is described. The concept of representative strain value is used for error estimates and the refinements of meshes use combinations of the h-method (node movement) and the r-method (element division). The validity of the scheme is shown through a cantilever beam example under a concentrated load with varying values. The example shows reasonable accuracy and efficient computing time. Furthermore, the study shows the potential for the scheme's effective use in complex structural dynamic problems such as those under seismic or erratic wind loads.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Hazard Mitigation
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• v.5 no.4 s.19
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• pp.95-105
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• 2005

Korea is located away from plate boundaries which are not safe from earthquakes. However, having witnessed the large-scale earthquake in the Tangshan region in 1976 deemed as a safe plate, it should not be assured that Korea is absolutely safe from earthquakes. In addition, many seismologists have claimed that there indeed is a high possibility of earthquakes above mid scale that would occur in Korea. Because it is impossible to prevent earthquake, studies on seismic design and earthquake disaster control system are widely being conducted. However, studies on early response to earthquakes or recovery process are still very limited, and only a few studies for establishing earthquake damage evaluation system are being conducted. Thus, this study aimed to present essential data for establishing earthquake damage evaluation system that takes into account the real situation of structures in Korea. In this study, a nonseimically reinforced concrete apartment structure in Gangnamgu was selected as an standard type of such structures and its earthquake damage was estimated. The result of damage evaluation based on the derivation of vulnerability function and realtive story displacement was compared to that abtained using HAZUS Program Vulnerability Function.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.301-308
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• 2018

This paper presents an optimal design method of a hybrid structural control system considering multi-hazard. Unlike a typical structural control system in which one system is designed for one specific type of hazard, a simultaneous optimal design method for both active and passive control systems is proposed for the mitigation of seismic and wind induced vibration responses of structures. As a numerical example, an optimal design problem is illustrated for a hybrid mass damper(HMD) and 30 viscous dampers which are installed on a 30 story building structure. In order to solve the optimization problem, a self-adaptive Harmony Search(HS) algorithm is adopted. Harmony Search algorithm is one of the meta-heuristic evolutionary methods for the global optimization, which mimics the human player's tuning process of musical instruments. A self-adaptive, dynamic parameter adjustment algorithm is also utilized for the purpose of broad search and fast convergence. The optimization results shows that the performance and effectiveness of the proposed system is superior with respect to a reference hybrid system in which the active and passive systems are independently optimized.