• Journal of Digital Convergence
• /
• v.16 no.7
• /
• pp.429-439
• /
• 2018

The objective of the study was to analyze difference in cognitive function according to social isolation level in elderly Korean. The author classified the social isolation into the structural isolation and contact isolation. Structural isolation corresponded to the no spouse or no children and the contact isolation corresponded to the absence of contact with children, friends or social association. Author conducted multivariate regression analysis with the elderly people aged 65 years or older from the 5th wave of the Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing data. Number of sample was 3,971. It was confirmed that the level of cognitive function was lower according to level of social isolation. It was also confirmed that friends/neighborhood isolation, and social activity isolation showed significant relationships with cognitive functions. Based on the results, author suggested that to protect the elderly from negative effects of social isolation, we needed the policy to promote elderly's the participation in social activity. The study to analyze the factors related to social isolation was also needed.

• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• v.12 no.3
• /
• pp.285-296
• /
• 2017

Base isolation is a quite practical control strategy for enhancing the response of structural systems induced by strong ground motions. Due to the dynamic effects of base isolation systems, reduction in the interstory drifts of the superstructure is often achieved at the expense of high base displacement level, which may lead to instability of the structure or non-practical designs for the base isolators. To reduce the base displacement, several hybrid structural control strategies have been studied over the past decades. This study investigates a particular strategy that employs Tuned Mass Dampers (TMDs) for improving the performance of base-isolated structures and unlike previous studies, specifically focuses on the effectiveness of this hybrid control strategy in structures that are equipped with nonlinear base isolation systems. To consider the nonlinearities of base isolation systems, a Bouc-Wen model is selected and nonlinear dynamic OpenSees models are used to perform several time-history simulations in time and frequency domains. Through these numerical simulations, the effects of several parameters such as the fundamental period of the structure, dynamic properties of the TMD and isolation systems and properties of the input ground motion on the behaviour of TMD-structure-base isolation systems are examined. The results of this study provide a better insight into the performance of linear shear-story structures with nonlinear base isolators and show that there are many scenarios in which TMDs can still improve the performance of these systems.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.46 no.5
• /
• pp.569-580
• /
• 2014

Seismic isolation is a viable strategy for protecting safety-related nuclear structures from the effects of moderate to severe earthquake shaking. Although seismic isolation has been deployed in nuclear structures in France and South Africa, it has not seen widespread use because of limited new build nuclear construction in the past 30 years and a lack of guidelines, codes and standards for the analysis, design and construction of isolation systems specific to nuclear structures. The funding by the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission of a research project to the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and MCEER/University at Buffalo facilitated the writing of a soon-to-be-published NUREG on seismic isolation. Funding of MCEER by the National Science Foundation led to research products that provide the technical basis for a new section in ASCE Standard 4 on the seismic isolation of safety-related nuclear facilities. The performance expectations identified in the NUREG and ASCE 4 for seismic isolation systems, and superstructures and substructures are described in the paper. Robust numerical models capable of capturing isolator behaviors under extreme loadings, which have been verified and validated following ASME protocols, and implemented in the open source code OpenSees, are introduced.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
• /
• v.5 no.3
• /
• pp.325-343
• /
• 2018

This study aims to propose a performance-based design method of a novel passive base isolation system, BIO isolation system, which is inspired by an energy dissipation mechanism called 'sacrificial bonds and hidden length'. Fragility functions utilized in this study are derived, indicating the probability that a component, element, or system will be damaged as a function of a single predictive demand parameter. Based on PEER framework methodology for Performance-Based Earthquake Engineering (PBEE), a systematic design procedure using performance and fragility objectives is presented. Base displacement, superstructure absolute acceleration and story drift ratio are selected as engineering demand parameters. The new design method is then performed on a general two degree-of-freedom (2DOF) structure model and the optimal design under different seismic intensities is obtained through numerical analysis. Seismic performances of the biologically inspired (BIO) isolation system are compared with that of the linear isolation system. To further demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of this method, the BIO isolation system of a 4-storey reinforced concrete building is designed and investigated. The newly designed BIO isolators effectively decrease the superstructure responses and base displacement under selected earthquake excitations, showing good seismic performance.

• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• v.11 no.1
• /
• pp.25-43
• /
• 2016

The uneven distribution of rolling friction coefficient may lead to great uncertainty in the structural seismic isolation performance. This paper attempts to improve the isolation performance of a spring-damper-rolling isolation system by artificially making the uneven friction distribution to be concave. The rolling friction coefficient gradually increases when the isolator rolls away from the original position during an earthquake. After the spring-damper-rolling isolation system under different ground motions was calculated by a numerical analysis method, the system obtained more regular results than that of random uneven friction distributions. Results shows that the concave friction distribution can not only dissipate the earthquake energy, but also change the structural natural period. These functions improve the seismic isolation efficiency of the spring-damper-rolling isolation system in comparison with the random uneven distribution of rolling friction coefficient, and always lead to a relatively acceptable isolation state even if the actual earthquake significantly differs from the design earthquake.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
• /
• 2003.10a
• /
• pp.527-534
• /
• 2003

This paper presents the LRB-based hybrid base isolation systems employing additional active/semiactive control devices for seismic protection of cable-stayed bridges by examining the ASCE first generation benchmark problem for a cable-stayed bridge. In this study, ideal hydraulic actuators (HAs) and ideal magnetorheological dampers (MRDs) are considered as additional active and semiactive control devices, respectively. Numerical simulation results show that all the hybrid base isolation systems are effective in reducing the structural responses of the benchmark cable-stayed bridge under the historical earthquakes considered. The simulation results also demonstrate that the hybrid base isolation system employing semiactive MRBs is robust to the stiffness uncertainty of the structure, while the hybrid system with active HAs is not. Therefore, the LRB-based hybrid base isolation system employing MRDs could be more appropriate in real applications for full-scale civil infrastructures.

• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
• /
• v.3 no.1
• /
• pp.1-8
• /
• 2014

When seismic isolation system is applied to high aspect-ratio (height/wide-ratio) steel structures, there are several problems to be taken into consideration. One is lifting up tensile force on the isolation bearing by overturning moment caused by earthquake. Another is securing building stiffness to produce seismic isolation effects. Under these conditions, this paper reports the structural design of high-rise research building in the campus of Tokyo Institute of Technology. With the stepping-up system for the corner bearings, the narrow sides of single span framework are designed to concentrate the dead load as counter-weight for the tensile reaction under earthquake. Also we adopted concrete in-filled steel column and Mega-Bracing system covering four layers on north & south framework to secure the horizontal stiffness of the building.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.87 no.5
• /
• pp.405-418
• /
• 2023

This study focused on the effectiveness of seismic isolation technique in case of a reinforced concrete structure with soft story defined as the stiffness irregularity between adjacent stories. In this context, a seismically isolated 3-story reinforced concrete structure was analyzed by gradually increasing the first story height (3.0, 4.5, and 6.0 m). The seismic isolation system of the structure is assumed to be composed of lead rubber bearings (LRB). In the analyses, isolators were modeled by both deteriorating (temperature-dependent analyses) and non-deteriorating (bounding analyses) hysteretic representations. The deterioration in strength of isolator is due to temperature rise in the lead core during cyclic motion. The ground motion pairs used in bi-directional nonlinear dynamic analyses were selected and scaled according to codified procedures. In the analyses, different isolation periods (Tiso) and characteristic strength to weight ratios (Q/W) were considered in order to determine the sensitivity of structural response to the isolator properties. Response quantities under consideration are floor accelerations, and interstory drift ratios. Analyses results are compared for both hysteretic representations of LRBs. Results are also used to assess the significance of the ratio between the horizontal stiffnesses of soft story and isolation system. It is revealed that seismic isolation is a viable method to reduce structural damage in structures with soft story.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
• /
• v.14 no.6
• /
• pp.93-99
• /
• 2010

Seismic isolation offers an attractive approach for reducing seismic loads in the building and its components. This paper deals with the seismic isolation effects due to variation in period ratio between superstructure and isolation layer of the building. Seismic isolation effects of the moment-resisting frames with the various period ratio were studied by nonlinear time history analysis, and the guidelines on the stiffness ratio of the superstructure and isolation layer of the building for the effective seismic isolation follow from the results of this study. It is recommended that the isolation period should be greater than 2.5 times of that of the superstructure for the effective seismic isolation.

• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• v.9 no.3
• /
• pp.603-623
• /
• 2015

The scale and nature of the recent earthquakes in the world and the related earthquake disaster index coerce the concerned community to become anxious about it. Therefore, it is crucial that seismic lateral load effect will be appropriately considered in structural design. Application of seismic isolation system stands as a consistent alternative against this hazard. The objective of the study is to evaluate the structural and economic feasibility of reinforced concrete (RC) buildings with base isolation located in medium risk seismic region. Linear and nonlinear dynamic analyses as well as linear static analysis under site-specific bi-directional seismic excitation have been carried out for both fixed based (FB) and base isolated (BI) buildings in the present study. The superstructure and base of buildings are modeled in a 3D finite element model by consistent mass approach having six degrees of freedom at each node. The floor slabs are simulated as rigid diaphragms. Lead rubber bearing (LRB) and High damping rubber bearing (HDRB) are used as isolation device. Change of structural behaviors and savings in construction costing are evaluated. The study shows that for low to medium rise buildings, isolators can reduce muscular amount of base shears, base moments and floor accelerations for building at soft to medium stiff soil. Allowable higher horizontal displacement induces structural flexibility. Though incorporating isolator increases the outlay, overall structural cost may be reduced. The application of base isolation system confirms a potential to be used as a viable solution in economic building design.