• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.54 no.5
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• pp.999-1016
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• 2015

In this paper, we introduce a new method for assembly of shipbuilding blocks at sea and present its feasibility focusing on structural safety. The core concept of this method is to assemble ship building blocks by use of bolting, gluing and welding techniques at sea without dock facilities. Due to its independence of dock facilities, shipyard construction capability could be increased considerably by the proposed method. To show the structural safety of this method, a bulk carrier and an oil tanker were employed, and we investigated the structural behavior of those ships to which the new block assembly method was applied. The ship hull models attached with connective parts are analyzed in detail through finite element analyses, and the cargo capacity of the bulk carrier is briefly discussed as well. The results of these studies show the potential for applying this new block assembly method to practical shipbuilding.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.66 no.5
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• pp.637-648
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• 2018

When the centers of mass and stiffness of a building do not coincide, the structure experiences torsional responses. Such systems can consist of the underlying soil and the super-structure. The underlying soil may modify the earthquake input motion and change structural responses. Specific effects of the input motion shall also not be ignored. In this study, seismic demands of asymmetric buildings considering soil-structure interaction (SSI) under near-fault ground motions are evaluated. The building is modeled as an idealized single-story structure. The soil beneath the building is modeled by non-linear finite elements in the two states of loose and dense sands both compared with the fixed-base state. The infinite boundary conditions are modelled using viscous boundary elements. The effects of traditional and yield displacement-based (YDB) approaches of strength and stiffness distributions are considered on seismic demands. In the YDB approach, the stiffness considered in seismic design depends on the strength. The results show that the decrease in the base shear considering soft soil induced SSI when the YDB approach is assumed results only in the center of rigidity to control torsional responses. However, for fixed-base structures and those on dense soils both centers of strength and rigidity are controlling.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.47-66
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• 2008

The present work utilizes system identification technique for health monitoring of shear building, wherein Parametric State Space modeling has been adopted. The method requires input excitation to the structure and also output acceleration responses of both undamaged and damaged structure obtained from numerically simulated model. Modal parameters like eigen frequencies and eigen vectors have been extracted from the State Space model after introducing appropriate transformation. Least square technique has been utilized for the evaluation of the stiffness matrix after having obtained the modal matrix for the entire structure. Highly accurate values of stiffness of the structure could be evaluated corresponding to both the undamaged as well as damaged state of a structure, while considering noise in the simulated output response analogous to real time scenario. The damaged floor could also be located very conveniently and accurately by this adopted strategy. This method of damage detection can be applied in case of output acceleration responses recorded by sensors from the actual structure. Further, in case of even limited availability of sensors along the height of a multi-storeyed building, the methodology could yield very accurate information related to structural stiffness.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.881-896
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• 2015

The authors' research group has developed a noncontact type of sensors which directly measure the inter-story drift displacements of a building during a seismic event. Soon after that event, such seismically-induced drift displacement data would provide structural engineers with useful information to judge how the stories have been damaged. This paper presents a scheme of estimating the story cumulative plastic deformation ratios based on such measured drift displacement information toward the building safety monitoring. The presented scheme requires the data of story drift displacements and the ground motion acceleration. The involved calculations are rather simple without any detailed information on structural elements required: the story hysteresis loops are first estimated and then the cumulative plastic deformation ratio of each story is evaluated from the estimated hysteresis. The effectiveness of the scheme is demonstrated by utilizing the data of full-scale building model experiment performed at E-defense and conducting numerical simulations.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.82 no.1
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• pp.55-67
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• 2022

The precast reinforced concrete frame system is a method for industrialization of construction. However, the seismic performance factor of this structural system is not explicitly clarified in some existing building codes. In this paper, the seismic performance factor for the existing precast concrete building frame systems with cast-in-situ reinforced shear walls were evaluated. Nonlinear behavior of the precast beam-column joints and cast-in-situ reinforced shear walls were considered in the modeling of the structures. The ATC-19's coefficient method was used for calculating the seismic performance factor and the FEMA P-695's approach was adopted for evaluating the accuracy of the computed seismic performance factor. The results showed that the over-strength factor varies from 2 to 2.63 and the seismic performance factor (R factor) varies from 5.1 to 8.95 concerning the height of the structure. Also, it was proved that all of the examined buildings have adequate safety against the collapse at the MCE level of earthquake, so the validity of R factors was confirmed. The obtained incremental dynamic analysis (IDA) results indicated that the minimum adjusted collapse margin ratio (ACMR) of the precast buildings representing the seismic vulnerability of the structures approximately equaled to 2.7, and pass the requirements of FEMA P-695.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.561-571
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• 2023

Ensuring the safety of a structure necessitates that repairs are carried out based on accurate inspections and records of damage information. Traditional methods of recording damage rely on individual paper-based documents, making it challenging for inspectors to accurately record damage locations and track chronological changes. Recent research has suggested the adoption of building information modeling (BIM) to record detailed damage information; however, localizing damages on a BIM model can be time-consuming. To overcome this limitation, this study proposes a method to automatically localize damages on a BIM model in real-time, utilizing consecutive images and measurements from an inertial measurement unit in close proximity to damages. The proposed method employs a visual-inertial odometry algorithm to estimate the camera pose, detect damages, and compute the damage location in the coordinate of a prebuilt BIM model. The feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method were validated through an experiment conducted on a campus building. Results revealed that the proposed method successfully localized damages on the BIM model in real-time, with a root mean square error of 6.6 cm.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.203-214
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• 2018

Deflection control in tall buildings is a challenging issue. Connecting of the towers is an interesting idea for architects as well as structural engineers. In this paper, two reinforced concrete core-wall towers are connected by a truss bridge with buckling restrained braces. The buildings are 40 and 60-story. The effect of the location of the bridge is investigated. Response spectrum analysis of the linear models is used to obtain the design demands and the systems are designed according to the reliable codes. Then, nonlinear time history analysis at maximum considered earthquake is performed to assess the seismic responses of the systems subjected to far-field and near-field record sets. Fiber elements are used for the reinforced concrete walls. On average, the inter-story drift ratio demand will be minimized when the bridge is approximately located at a height equal to 0.825 times the total height of the building. Besides, because of whipping effects, maximum roof acceleration demand is approximately two times the peak ground acceleration. Plasticity extends near the base and also in major areas of the walls subjected to the seismic loads.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Intelligent Systems Conference
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• 1998.03a
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• pp.71-74
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• 1998

In recent years, advances in construction techniques and materials have given rese to flexible light-weight structures like high-rise buildings and long-span bridges. Because these structures extremely susceptible to environmental loads, such as earthquakes and strong winds, these random loadings usually produce large deflection and acceleration on these structures. Vibration control system of structures are becoming an integral part of the structural system of the next generation of tall building. The proposed control system is applied to single degree of structure with mass damping and compared with conventional PID and neural network PID control system.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.195-208
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• 2016

Seismic isolation systems are essentially designed to preserve structural safety, prevent occupants injury and properties damage. An active saturated LMI-based control design is proposed to attenuate seismic disturbances in base-isolated structures under saturation actuators. Using a mathematical model of an eight-storied building structure, an active control algorithm is designed. Performance evaluation of the controller is carried out in a simplified model version of a benchmark building system, which is recognized as a state-of-the-art model for numerical experiments of structures under seismic perturbations. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm is robust with respect to model and seismic perturbations. Finally, the performance indices show that the proposed controller behaves satisfactorily and with a reasonable control effort.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.54 no.3
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• pp.475-489
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• 2015

This study presents the validation of a numerical model developed for dynamic analysis of buildings with roller seismic isolation bearings. Experimental methods allowed validation of the motion equations of a physical model of a building with and without roller bearings under base excitation. The results are presented in terms of modal parameters, frequency response functions (FRFs) and acceleration response. The agreement between numerical and experimental results proves the accuracy of the developed numerical model. Finally, the performance of the constructed seismic protection system is assessed through a parametric study.