• Journal of Korean Association for Spatial Structures
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.105-116
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• 2018

The objective of this study is to investigate the response reducing effect of a seismic isolation system installed between 300m dome and supports under both horizontal and vertical seismic ground motion. The time history analysis is performed to investigate the dynamic behavior of single layer lattice domes with and without a lead rubber bearing seismic isolation system. In order to ensure the seismic performance of lattice domes against strong earthquakes, it is important to investigate the mechanical characteristics of dynamic response. Horizontal and vertical seismic ground motions cause a large asymmetric vertical response of large span domes. One of the most effective methods to reduce the dynamic response is to install a seismic isolation system for observing seismic ground motion at the base of the dome. This paper discusses the dynamic response characteristics of 300m single layer lattice domes supported on a lead rubber seismic isolation device under horizontal and vertical seismic ground motions.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.121-129
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• 2012

All contemporary seismic Codes have adopted smooth design acceleration response spectra, which have derived by statistical analysis of many elastic response spectra of natural accelerograms. The above smooth design spectra are characterized by two main branches, an horizontal branch that is 2.5 times higher than the peak ground acceleration, and a declining parabolic branch. According to Eurocode EN/1998, the period range of the horizontal, flat branch is extended from 0.1 s, for rock soils, up to 0.8 s for softer ones. However, from many natural recorded accelerograms of important earthquakes, the real spectral amplification factor appears to be much higher than 2.5 and this means that the spectrum leads to an unsafe seismic design of the structures. This point is an issue open to question and it is the object of the present study. In the present paper, the spectral amplification factor of the smooth design acceleration spectra is re-calculated on the grounds of a known "reliability index" for a desired probability of exceedance. As a pilot scheme, the seismic area of Greece is chosen, as it is the most seismically hazardous area in Europe. The accelerograms of the 82 most important earthquakes, which have occurred in Greece during the last 38 years, are used. The soil categories are taken into account according to EN/1998. The results that have been concluded from these data are compared with the results obtained from other strong earthquakes reported in the World literature.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.3 no.5
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• pp.767-781
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• 2012

The residual capacity against collapse of a main shock-damaged bridge can be coupled with the aftershock ground motion hazard to make an objective decision on its probability of collapse in aftershocks. In this paper, a steel tower suspension bridge with a main span of 2000 m is adopted for a case-study. Seismic responses of the bridge in longitudinal and transversal directions are analyzed using dynamic elasto-plastic finite displacement theory. The analysis is conducted in two stages: main shock and aftershocks. The ability of the main shock-damaged bridge to resist aftershocks is discussed. Results show that the damage caused by accumulated plastic strain can be ignored in the long-span suspension bridge. And under longitudinal and transversal seismic excitations, the damage is prone to occur at higher positions of the tower and the shaft-beam junctions. When aftershocks are not large enough to cause plastic strain in the structure, the aftershock excitation can be ignored in the seismic damage analysis of the bridge. It is also found that the assessment of seismic damage can be determined by superposition of damage under independent action of seismic excitations.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.373-387
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• 2018

Semi-active isolation systems based on leverage-type stiffness control strategies have been widely studied. The main concept behind this type of system is to adjust the stiffness in the isolator to match the fundamental period of the isolated system by using a simple leverage mechanism. Although this system achieves high performance under far-field earthquakes, it is unsuitable for near-fault strong ground motion. To overcome this problem, this study considers the potential energy effect in the control law of the semi-active isolation system. The minimal energy weighting (MEW) between the potential energy and kinetic energy was first optimized through a series of numerical simulations. Two MEW algorithms, namely generic and near-fault MEW control, were then developed to efficiently reduce the structural displacement responses. To demonstrate the performance of the proposed method, a two-degree-of-freedom structure was employed as a benchmark. Numerical results indicate that the dynamic response of the structure can be effectively dampened by the proposed MEW control under both far-field and near-fault earthquakes, whereas the structural responses resulting from conventional control methods may be greater than those for the purely passive control method. Moreover, according to experimental verifications, both the generic and near-fault MEW control modes yielded promising results under impulse-like earthquakes. The practicability of the proposed control algorithm was verified.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.1029-1044
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• 2015

To investigate the seismic pounding response of long-span bridges with high-piers under strong ground motions, shaking table tests were performed on a 1/10-scaled bridge model consisting of three continuous spans with rigid frames and one simply-supported span. The seismic pounding responses of this bridge model under different earthquake excitations including the uniform excitation and the traveling wave excitations were experimentally studied. The influence of dampers to the seismic pounding effects at the expansion joints was analyzed through nonlinear dynamic analyses in this research. The seismic pounding effects obtained from numerical analyses of the bridge model are in favorable agreement with the experimental results. Seismic pounding effect of bridge superstructures is dependent on the structural dynamic properties of the adjacent spans and characteristics of ground motions. Moreover, supplemental damping can effectively mitigate pounding effects of the bridge superstructures, and reduce the base shear forces of the bridge piers.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.147-168
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• 2011

To ensure safety and long term performance, structural control has rapidly matured over the past decade into a viable means of limiting structural responses to strong winds and earthquakes. Nonlinear response history analysis requires rigorous procedure to compute seismic demands. Therefore the simplified nonlinear analysis procedures are useful to determine performance of the structure. In this investigation, application of improved capacity demand diagram method in the control of structural system is presented for the first time. Developed pole assignment method (DPAM) in structural systems control is introduced. Genetic algorithm (GA) is employed as an optimization tool for minimizing a target function that defines values of coefficient matrices providing the placement of actuators and optimal control forces. The ground acceleration is modified under induced control forces. Due to this, performance of structure based on improved nonlinear demand diagram is selected to threshold of nonlinear behavior of structure. With small energy consumption characteristics, semi-active devices are especially attractive solutions for limiting earthquake effects. To illustrate the efficiency of DPAM, a 30-story steel moment frame structure employing the semi-active control devices is applied. In comparison to the widely used linear quadratic regulation (LQR), the DPAM controller was shown to be just as effective and better in the reduction of structural responses during large earthquakes.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.825-837
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• 2017

Due to the severe impacts of recent earthquakes, the use of seismic isolation is paramount for the safety of nuclear structures. The diversity observed in seismic events demands ongoing research to analyze the devastating attributes involved, and hence to enhance the sustainability of base-isolated nuclear power plants. This study reports the seismic performance of a seismically-isolated nuclear reactor containment building (NRCB) under strong short-period ground motions (SPGMs) and long-period ground motions (LPGMs). The United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission-based design response spectrum for the seismic design of nuclear power plants is stipulated as the reference spectrum for ground motion selection. Within the period range(s) of interest, the spectral matching of selected records with the target spectrum is ensured using the spectral-compatibility approach. NRC-compliant SPGMs and LPGMs from the mega-thrust Tohoku earthquake are used to obtain the structural response of the base-isolated NRCB. To account for the lack of earthquakes in low-to-moderate seismicity zones and the gap in the artificial synthesis of long-period records, wavelet-decomposition based autoregressive moving average modeling for artificial generation of real ground motions is performed. Based on analysis results from real and simulated SPGMs versus LPGMs, the performance of NRCBs is discussed with suggestions for future research and seismic provisions.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.547-569
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• 2013

In recent years there has been increasing international interest about designing structures that cost less to repair after they have been subjected to strong earthquakes. Considering this interest, an innovative repairable fuse device has been developed for dissipative beam-to-column connections in moment-resisting composite steel and concrete frames. The seismic performance of the device was assessed through an extensive experimental program comprising ten cyclic and two monotonic tests. These tests were conducted on a single beam-to-column specimen with different fuse devices for each test. The devices varied in terms of the chosen geometric and mechanical parameters. The tests showed that the devices were able to concentrate plasticity and to dissipate large amounts of energy through non-linear behavior. Numerical models were developed with Abaqus and simplified design models are also proposed.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.21-43
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• 2005

Masonry is a composite non-homogeneous structural material, whose mechanical properties depend on the properties of and the interaction between the composite components - brick and mortar, their volume ratio, the properties of their bond, and any cracking in the masonry. The mechanical properties of masonry depend on the orientation of the bed joints and the stress state of the joints, and so the values of the shear modulus, as well as the stiffness of masonry structural elements can depend on various factors. An extensive testing programme in several countries addresses the problem of measurement of the stiffness properties of masonry. These testing programs have provided sufficient data to permit a review of the influence of different testing techniques (mono and bi-axial tests), the variations caused by distinct loading conditions (monotonic and cyclic), the impact of the mortar type, as well as influence of the reinforcement. This review considers the impact of the measurement devices used for determining the shear modulus and stiffness of walls on the results. The results clearly indicate a need to re-assess the values stated in almost all national codes for the shear modulus of the masonry, especially for masonry made with lime mortar, where strong anisotropic behaviour is in the stiffness properties.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.237-250
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• 2015

Beam-column joints are highly vulnerable locations which are to be designed for high ductility in order to take care of unexpected lateral forces such as wind and earthquake. Previous investigations reveal that the addition of steel fibres to concrete improves its ductility significantly. Also, due to presence of slab the strength and ductility of the beam increases considerably and ignoring the effect of slab can lead to underestimation of beam capacity and defiance of strong column weak beam concept. The influence of addition of steel fibres on the strength and behaviour of steel fibre reinforced high performance concrete (SFRHPC) interior beam-column-slab joints was investigated experimentally. The specimens were subjected to reverse cyclic loading. The variable considered was the volume fraction of crimped steel fibres i.e., 0%, 0.5% and 1.0%. The results show that the addition of steel fibres improves the first crack load, strength, ductility, energy absorption capacity and initial stiffness of the beam.