• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.73-91
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• 2015

The effectiveness of tuned mass dampers (TMDs) in reducing the seismic response of civil structures is still a debated issue. The few studies regarding TMDs on inelastic structures indicate that they would perform well under moderate earthquake loading, when the structure remains linear or weakly nonlinear, while tending to fail under severe ground shaking, when the structure experiences strong nonlinearities. TMD seismic efficiency should be therefore rationally assessed by considering to which extent moderate and severe earthquakes respectively contribute to the expected cost of damages and losses over the lifespan of the structure. In this paper, a method for evaluating, in a life-cycle cost (LCC) perspective, the seismic effectiveness of TMDs on inelastic building structures is presented and exemplified on the SAC LA 9-storey steel moment-resisting frame benchmark building. Results show that the LCC concept may provide an appropriate alternative to traditional performance criteria for the evaluation of the effectiveness of TMDs and that TMD installation on typical existing middle-rise buildings in high seismic hazard regions may significantly reduce building lifetime cost despite the poor control performance observed under the most severe seismic events.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.629-639
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• 2018

In this paper, the vibroacoustic responses of baffled laminated composite sandwich flat panel structure under the influence of harmonic excitation are studied numerically using a novel higher-order coupled finite-boundary element model. A numerical scheme for the vibrating plate has been developed in the frame work of the higher-order mid-plane kinematics and the eigen frequencies are obtained by employing suitable finite element steps. The acoustic responses are then computed by solving the Helmholtz wave equation using boundary element method coupled with the structural finite elements. The proposed scheme has been implemented via an own MATLAB base code to compute the desired responses. The validity of the present model is established from the conformance of the current natural frequencies and the radiated sound power with the available benchmark solutions. The model is further utilized to scrutinize the influence of core-to-face thickness ratio, modular ratio, lamination scheme and the support condition on the sound radiation characteristics of the vibrating sandwich flats panel. It can be concluded that the present scheme is not only accurate but also efficient and simple in providing solutions of the coupled vibroacoustic response of laminated composite sandwich plates.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.23-37
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• 2018

In this paper, seismic provisions related to built-up special concentrically braced frames (BSCBFs) are investigated under cyclic loading using non-linear finite element analysis of a single-bay single-story frame. These braces, which contain double angle and double channel brace sections, are considered in two types of single diagonal and X-braced frames. The results of this study show that current seismic provisions such as observing the 0.4 ratio for slenderness ratio of individual elements between stitch connectors are conservative in BSCBFs, and can be increased according to the type of braces. Furthermore, such increments will lead to decreasing or remaining the current middle protected zone requirements of each BSCBFs. Failure results of BSCBFs, which are related to the plastic equivalent strain growth of members and ductility capacity of the models, show that the behaviors of double channel back-to-back diagonal braces are more desirable than those of similar face-to-face ones. Also, for double angle diagonal braces, results show that the failure of back-to-back BSCBFs occurs faster in comparison with face-to-face similar braces. In X-braced frames, cyclic and failure behaviors of built-up face-to-face models are more desirable than similar back-to-back braces in general.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.29-46
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• 2005

In this study, a wavelet packet based method is proposed for identifying damage occurrence and damage location for beam-like structures. This method assumes that the displacement or the acceleration response time histories at various locations along a beam-like structure both before and after damage are available for damage assessment. These responses are processed through a proper level of wavelet packet decomposition. The wavelet packet signature (WPS) that consists of wavelet packet component signal energies is calculated. The change of the WPS curvature between the baseline state and the current state is then used to identify the locations of possible damage in the structure. Two numerical studies, one on a 15-storey shear-beam building frame and another on a simply-supported steel beam, and an experimental study on a simply-supported reinforced concrete beam are performed to validate the proposed method. Results show the WPS curvature change can be used to locate both single and sparsely-distributed multiple damages that exist in the structure. Also the accuracy of assessment does not seem to be affected by the presence of 20-15dB measurement noise. One advantage of the proposed method is that it does not require any mathematical model for the structure being monitored and hence can potentially be used for practical application.

• Journal of Korean Association for Spatial Structures
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• v.6 no.2 s.20
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• pp.61-68
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• 2006

In this thesis, a full-scale K shape damper test model was constructed in which a passive vibration control system. This passive vibration control system was incorporated with the use of a newly developed turbulent flow damper sealed by viscoelastic material. A series of tests and earthquake observation has been conducted in this test model. The purpose of the present thesis is to investigate the vibration response characteristics of the building and to verify the effectiveness of the vibration control system. By the static loading test, it was recognized that incorporation of the dampers had little influence on static horizontal stiffness of the building. Free vibration tests revealed that the dampers incorporated increased the damping ratio of the building up to 3 times compared with the undamped case. The effectiveness of the developed vibration control system was confirmed based on the excitation tests and earthquake response observation.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.25 no.11
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• pp.1743-1750
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• 2001

This paper presents an analysis of nonlinear response of the seismically isolated structure against earthquake excitation to evaluate isolation performances of a rubber bearing. In the analysis of the vibration of building, the building is modeled by lumped mass system where the restoring force is considered as linear, bilinear and trilinear. Fundamental equations of motion are derived for the base isolated structure, and hysteretic and nonlinear-elastic characteristics are considered for a numerical calculation. The excitation levels are magnified fur the recorded strong earthquake motions in order to examine dynamic stability of the structure. Seismic responses (of the building are compared fur the each restoring force type. As a result, it is shown that the effect of the motion by the nonlinear response of the building is comparatively not so large from a seismic design standpoint. The responses of the isolated structures reduce sufficiently and controled the motion of the building well in a practical range. By increasing the acceleration of the earthquake, the yielding of the farce was occurred in the concrete and steel frame, which shows the necessity of the exact nonlinear dynamic analysis.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.187-201
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• 2004

A shaking table test on a three-story one-bay steel frame model with metallic yield dampers and their parallel connection with oil dampers is carried out to study the dynamic characteristics and seismic performance of the energy dissipation system. It is found from the test that the combined energy dissipation system has favorable reducing vibration effects on structural displacement, and the structural peak acceleration can not evidently be reduced under small intensity seismic excitations, but in most cases the vibration reduction effect is very good under large intensity seismic excitations. Test results also show that stiffness of the energy dissipation devices should match their damping. Dynamic analysis method and mechanics models of these two dampers are proposed. In the analysis method, the force-displacement relationship of the metallic yield damper is represented by an elastic perfectly plastic model, and the behavior of the oil damper is simulated by a velocity and displacement relative model in which the contributions of the oil damper to the damping force and stiffness of the system are considered. Validity of the analytical model and the method is verified through comparison between the results of the shaking table test and numerical analysis.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.61 no.5
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• pp.645-655
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• 2017

To determine the seismic applicability of a long-span railway concrete upper-deck arch bridge with concrete-filled steel-tube (CFST) rigid skeleton ribs, some fundamental principles and seismic approaches for long-span bridges are investigated to update the design methods in the current Code for Seismic Design of Railway Engineering of China. Ductile and mixed isolation design are investigated respectively to compare the structural seismic performances. The flexural moment and plastic rotation demands and capacities are quantified to assess the seismic status of the ductile components. A kind of triple friction pendulum (TFP) system and lead-plug rubber bearing are applied simultaneously to regularize the structural seismic demands. The numerical analysis shows that the current ductile layout with continuous rigid frame approaching spans should be strengthened to satisfy the demands of rare earthquakes. However, the mixed isolation design embodies excellent seismic performances for the continuous girder approaching span of this railway arch bridge.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.599-609
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• 2019

After an earthquake, a quick seismic assessment of a structure can facilitate the recovery of operations, and consequently, improve structural resilience. Especially for facilities that play a key role in rescue or refuge efforts (e.g., hospitals and power facilities), or even economically important facilities (e.g., high-tech factories and financial centers), immediately resuming operations after disruptions resulting from an earthquake is critical. Therefore, this study proposes a prompt post-earthquake seismic evaluation method that uses displacement and acceleration measurements taken from real structural responses that resulted during an earthquake. With a prepared pre-earthquake capacity curve of a structure, the residual seismic capacity can be estimated using the residual roof drift ratio and stiffness. The proposed method was verified using a 6-story steel frame structure on a shaking table. The structure was damaged during a moderate earthquake, after which it collapsed completely during a severe earthquake. According to the experimental results, a reasonable estimation of the residual seismic capacity of structures can be performed using the proposed post-earthquake seismic evaluation method.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.623-633
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• 2019

A large number of available concrete buildings designed only considering gravity load that require seismic rehabilitation because of failure to meet plasticity criteria. Using steel bracings are a common type of seismic rehabilitation. The eccentric bracings with vertical link reduce non-elastic deformation imposed on concrete members as well as elimination of probable buckling problems of bracings. In this study, three concrete frames of 10, 15, and 20 stories designed only for gravity load have been considered for seismic improvement using performance-based plastic design. Afterwards, nonlinear time series analysis was employed to evaluate seismic behavior of the models in two modes including before and after rehabilitation. The results revealed that shear link can yield desirable performance with the least time, cost and number of bracings of concrete frames. Also, it was found that the seismic rehabilitation can reduce maximum relative displacement in the middle stories about 40 to 80 percent. Generally, findings of this study demonstrated that the eccentric bracing with vertical link can be employed as a suitable proxy to achieve better seismic performance for existing high rise concrete frames.