• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.463-475
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• 2019

In this paper, a procedure to develop fragility curves of structures equipped with semi-active tuned mass dampers (SATMDs) considering multiple failure criteria has been presented while accounting for the uncertainties of the input excitation, structure and control device parameters. In this procedure, Latin hypercube sampling (LHS) method has been employed to generate 30 random SATMD-structure systems and nonlinear incremental dynamic analysis (IDA) has been conducted under 20 earthquakes to determine the structural responses, where failure probabilities in each intensity level have been evaluated using Monte Carlo simulation (MCS) method. For numerical analysis, an eight-story nonlinear shear building frame with bilinear hysteresis material behavior has been used. Fragility curves for the structure equipped with optimal SATMDs have been developed considering single and multiple failure criteria for different performance levels and compared with that of uncontrolled structure as well as structure controlled using passive tuned mass damper (TMD). Numerical analysis has shown the capability of SATMDs in significant enhancement of the seismic fragility of the nonlinear structure. Also, considering multiple failure criteria has led to increasing the fragility of the structure. Moreover, it is observed that the influence of the uncertainty of input excitation with respect to the other uncertainties is considerable.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.56 no.2
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• pp.257-273
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• 2015

Numerical value of correlation between effective parameters in the strength of a structure is as important as its stochastic properties in determining the safety of the structure. In this article investigation is made about the variation of coefficient of correlation between effective parameters in corrosion initiation time of reinforcement and the time of concrete cover cracking in reinforced concrete (RC) structures. Presence of many parameters and also error in measurement of these parameters results in uncertainty in determination of corrosion initiation and the time to crack initiation. In this paper, assuming diffusion process as chloride ingress mechanism in RC structures and considering random properties of effective parameters in this model, correlation between input parameters and predicted time to corrosion is calculated using the Monte Carlo (MC) random sampling. Results show the linear correlation between corrosion initiation time and effective input parameters increases with increasing uncertainty in the input parameters. Diffusion coefficient, concrete cover, surface chloride concentration and threshold chloride concentration have the highest correlation coefficient respectively. Also the uncertainty in the concrete cover has the greatest impact on the coefficient of correlation of corrosion initiation time and the time of crack initiation due to the corrosion phenomenon.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.51-70
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• 2008

CFD is applied to evaluate pedestrian wind comfort at outdoor platforms in a high-rise apartment building. Model validation is focused on generic building sub-configurations that are obtained by decomposition of the actual complex building geometry. The comfort study is performed during the design stage, which allows structural design changes to be made for wind comfort improvement. Preliminary simulations are performed to determine the effect of different design modifications. A full wind comfort assessment study is conducted for the final design. Structural remedial measures for this building, aimed at reducing pressure short-circuiting, appear to be successful in bringing the discomfort probability estimates down to acceptable levels. Finally, the importance of one of the main sources of uncertainty in this type of wind comfort studies is illustrated. It is shown that the uncertainty about the terrain roughness classification can strongly influence the outcome of wind comfort studies and can lead to wrong decisions. This problem is present to the same extent in both wind tunnel and CFD wind comfort studies when applying the same particular procedure for terrain relation contributions as used in this paper.

• Coupled systems mechanics
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.15-32
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• 2022

The comprehensive understanding of the fiber reinforced polymer behavior requires the use of advanced non-destructive testing methods due to its heterogeneous microstructure and anisotropic mechanical proprieties. In addition, the material response under load is strongly associated with manufacturing defects (e.g., voids, inclusions, fiber misalignment, debonds, improper cure and delamination). Such imperfections and microstructures induce various damage mechanisms arising at different scales before macrocracks are formed. The origin of damage phenomena can only be fully understood with the access to underlying microstructural features. This makes X-ray Computed Tomography an appropriate imaging tool to capture changes in the bulk of fibrous materials. Moreover, Digital Volume Correlation (DVC) can be used to measure kinematic fields induced by various loading histories. The correlation technique relies on image contrast induced by microstructures. Fibrous composites can be reinforced by different fiber architectures that may lead to poor natural contrast. Hence, a priori analyses need to be performed to assess the corresponding DVC measurement uncertainties. This study aimed to evaluate measurement resolutions of global and regularized DVC for glass fiber reinforced polymers with different fiber architectures. The measurement uncertainties were evaluated with respect to element size and regularization lengths. Even though FE-based DVC could not reach the recommended displacement uncertainty with low spatial resolution, regularized DVC enabled for the use of fine meshes when applying appropriate regularization.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.597-609
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• 2023

One of the applicable methods for the stabilization of soil walls is the nailing system which consists of tensile struts. The stability and safety of soil nail wall systems are influenced by the geometrical parameters of the nailing system. Generally, the determination of nailing parameters in order to achieve optimal performance of the nailing system for the safety of soil walls is defined in the framework of optimization problems. Also, according to the various uncertainty in the mechanical parameters of soil structures, it is necessary to evaluate the reliability of the system as a probabilistic problem. In this paper, the optimal design of the nailing system is carried out in deterministic and probabilistic cases using meta-heuristic and reliability-based design optimization methods. The colliding body optimization algorithm and first-order reliability method are used for optimization and reliability analysis problems, respectively. The objective function is defined based on the total cost of nails and safety factors and reliability index are selected as constraints. The mechanical properties of the nailing system are selected as design variables and the mechanical properties of the soil are selected as random variables. The results show that the reliability of the optimally designed soil nail system is very sensitive to uncertainty in soil mechanical parameters. Also, the design results are affected by uncertainties in soil mechanical parameters due to the values of safety factors. Reliability-based design optimization results show that a nailing system can be designed for the expected level of reliability and failure probability.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.219-230
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• 2022

Knowing that the variability of soil properties is an important source of uncertainty in geotechnical analyses, we will study in this paper the effect of this variability on the seismic response of a structure within the framework of Soil Structure Interaction (SSI). We use the proposed and developed model (N2-ISS, Mekki et al., 2014). This approach is based on an extension of the N2 method by determining the capacity curve of the fixed base system oscillating mainly in the first mode, then modified to obtain the capacity curve of the system on a flexible basis using the concept of the equivalent nonlinear oscillator. The properties of the soil that we are interested in this paper will be the shear wave velocity and the soil damping. These parameters will be modeled at first, as independent random fields, then, the two parameters will be correlated. The results obtained showed the importance of the use of random field in the study of SSI systems. The variability of soil damping and shear wave velocity introduces significant uncertainty not only in the evaluation of the damping of the soil-structure system but also in the estimation of the displacement of the structure and the base-shear force.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.385-401
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• 2022

Uncertainty quantification is the most important challenge in seismic fragility assessment of structures. The precision increment of the quantification method leads to reliable results but at the same time increases the computational costs and the latter will be so undesirable in cases such as reliability-based design optimization which includes numerous probabilistic seismic analyses. Accordingly, the authors' effort has been put on the development and validation of an approach that has reduced computational cost in seismic fragility assessment. In this regard, it is necessary to apply the appropriate methods for consideration of two categories of uncertainties consisting of uncertainties related to the ground motions and structural characteristics, separately. Also, cable-stayed bridges have been specifically selected because as a result of their complexity and the according time-consuming seismic analyses, reducing the computations corresponding to their fragility analyses is worthy of studying. To achieve this, the fragility assessment of three case studies is performed based on existing and proposed approaches, and a comparative study on the efficiency in the estimation of seismic responses. For this purpose, statistical validation is conducted on the seismic demand and fragility resulting from the mentioned approaches, and through a comprehensive interpretation, sufficient arguments for the acceptable errors of the proposed approach are presented. Finally, this study concludes that the combination of the Capacity Spectrum Method (CSM) and Uniform Design Sampling (UDS) in advanced proposed forms can provide adequate accuracy in seismic fragility estimation at a significantly reduced computational cost.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.475-487
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• 2024

Many uncertainties affect the stability assessment of rock structures. Some of these factors significantly influence technology decisions. Some of these factors belong to the geological domain, and spatial uncertainty measurements are useful for structural stability analysis. This paper presents an integrated approach to study the stability of rock structures, including spatial factors. This study models two main components: discrete structures (fault zones) and well known geotechnical parameters (rock quality indicators). The geostatistical modeling criterion are used to quantify geographic uncertainty by producing simulated maps and RQD values for multiple equally likely error regions. Slope stability theorem would be demonstrated by modeling local failure zones and RQDs. The approach proided is validated and finally, the slope stability analysis method and fuzzy Laypunov criterion are applied to mining projects with limited measurement data. The goals of this paper are towards access to adequate, safe and affordable housing and basic services, promotion of inclusive and sustainable urbanization and participation, implementation of sustainable and disaster-resilient buildings, sustainable human settlement planning and manage. Simulation results of linear and nonlinear structures show that the proposed method is able to identify structural parameters and their changes due to damage and unknown excitations. Therefore, the goal is believed to achieved in the near future by the ongoing development of AI and fuzzy theory.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.39 no.6
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• pp.877-893
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• 2011

Response spectra of earthquake ground motions are important in the earthquake-resistant design and reliability analysis of structures. The formulation of the response spectrum in the frequency domain efficiently computes and evaluates the stochastic response spectrum. The frequency information of the excitation can be described using different functional forms. The shapes of the calculated response spectra of the excitation show strong magnitude and site dependency, but weak distance dependency. In this paper, to compare the effect of the earthquake ground motion variables, the contribution of these sources of variability to the response spectrum's uncertainty is calculated by using a stochastic analysis. The analytical results show that earthquake source factors and soil condition variables are the main sources of uncertainty in the response spectra, while path variables, such as distance, anelastic attenuation and upper crust attenuation, have relatively little effect. The presented formulation of dynamic structural response in frequency domain based only on the frequency information of the excitation can provide an important basis for the structural analysis in some location that lacks strong motion records.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.279-295
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• 2011

This paper develops a probabilistic methodology for the seismic reliability analysis of structures with random properties. The earthquake loading is assumed to be described in terms of response spectra. The proposed methodology takes advantage of the response spectra and thus does not require explicit dynamic analysis of the actual structure. Uncertainties in the structural properties (e.g. member cross-sections, modulus of elasticity, member strengths, mass and damping) as well as in the seismic load (due to uncertainty associated with the earthquake load specification) are considered. The structural reliability is estimated by determining the failure probability or the reliability index associated with a performance function that defines safe and unsafe domains. The structural failure is estimated using a performance function that evaluates whether the maximum displacement has been exceeded. Numerical illustrations of reliability analysis of elastic and elastic-plastic single-story frame structures are presented first. The extension of the proposed method to elastic multi-degree-of-freedom uncertain structures is also studied and a solved example is provided.