• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.187-197
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• 2020

Ground motion records are commonly used for fragility curves (FCs) developing utilized in seismic loss estimating analysis for earthquake prone zones. These records could be 'real', say the recorded acceleration time series or 'simulated' records consistent with the regional seismicity and produced by use of alternative simulation methods. This study has focused on fragility curves developing for masonry buildings through computational 'simulated' ground motion records while evaluating the properness of these fragilities compared to the curves generated by the use of 'real' records. Assessing the dynamic responses of structures, nonlinear computational time history analyses through the equivalent single degree of freedom systems have been implemented on OpenSees platform. Accordingly, computational structural analyses of multi-story 3D frame structures with different stiffening members considering soil interaction have been carried out with finite element software according to (1992) Earthquake East-West component. The obtained results have been compared to each frame regarding soil interaction. Conclusion and recommendations with the discuss of obtaining findings are presented.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.65-71
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• 2012

Changes in the styles of communities are leading of increases in the number of high-rise apartments and commercial-apartment structures. Tall high-rise structures, while presenting unique economies of scale and cost effectiveness, tend to be highly engineered and complex structures. In the event of a fire, this complexity in design also results in a complexity in the behavior of fire propagation and control. High-rise structures are among the most potentially dangerous due to the high population density in the building, and the inherent limitations on evacuation and on fire control services. One of the most critical points of fire propagation is the movement of fire through the outer wall structures. Controlling such propagation is essential in controlling the spread of the fire throughout the building itself, as well as controlling the potential for its spread to adjacent buildings. In this study, we will be examining the potential for fire control design and effects mitigation using a 1/4.5 scale model. The primary focus of the study will be the effects of extended balconies into the structure of high-rise apartments. The authors will also consider the effectiveness of reduced-scale model tests.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.379-389
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• 2018

In this research, the explicit closed-form local buckling solution of steel plates in contact with concrete, with both loaded and unloaded edges elastically restrained against rotation and subjected to eccentric compression is presented. The Rayleigh-Rize approach is applied to establish the eigenvalue problem for the local buckling performance. Buckling shape which combines trigonometric and biquadratic functions is introduced according to that used by Qin et al. (2017) on steel plate buckling under uniform compression. Explicit solutions for predicting the local buckling stress of steel plate are obtained in terms of the rotational stiffness. Based on different boundary conditions, simply yet explicit local buckling solutions are discussed in details. The proposed formulas are validated against previous research and finite element results. The influences of the loading stress gradient parameter, the aspect ratio, and the rotational stiffness on the local buckling stress resultants of steel plates with different boundary conditions were evaluated. This work can be considered as an alternative to apply a different buckling shape function to study the buckling problem of steel plate under eccentric compression comparing to the work by Qin et al. (2018), and the results are found to be in consistent with those in Qin et al. (2018).

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.164-172
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• 2007

Surface cracks in concrete are common defects that can cause significant deterioration and failure of concrete structures. Therefore, the early detection, assessment, and repair of the cracks in concrete are very important for the structural health. Among studies for crack depth assessment, self-calibrating surface wave transmission method seems to be a promising nondestructive technique, though it is still difficult in determination of the crack depth due to the variation of the experimentally obtained transmission functions. In this paper, the spectral energy transmission method is proposed for the crack depth estimation in concrete structures. To verify this method, an experimental study was carried out on a concrete slab with various surface-opening crack depths. Finally, effectiveness of the proposed method is validated by comparing the conventional time-of-flight and cutting frequency based methods. The results show an excellent potential as a practical and reliable in-situ nondestructive method for the crack depth estimation in concrete structures.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.713-723
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• 2017

Steel plate shear walls (SPSWs) are effective lateral systems which have high initial stiffness, appropriate ductility and energy dissipation capability. Recently, steel plate shear walls with low yield point strength (LYP), were introduced and they attracted the attention of designers. Structures with this new system, besides using less steel, are more stable. In the present study, the effects of plates with low yield strength on the seismic design parameters of steel frames with steel plate shear walls are investigated. For this purpose, a variety of this kind of structures with different heights including the 2, 5, 10, 14 and 18-story buildings are designed based on the AISC seismic provisions. The structures are modeled using ANSYS finite element software and subjected to monotonic lateral loading. Parameters such as ductility (${\mu}$), ductility reduction ($R_{\mu}$), over-strength (${\Omega}_0$), displacement amplification ($C_d$) and behavior factor (R) of these structures are evaluated by carrying out the pushover analysis. Analysis results indicate that the ductility, over-strength and behavior factors decrease by increasing the number of stories. Also, the displacement amplification factor decreases by increasing the number of stories. Finally, the results were compared with the suggestions provided in the AISC code for steel plate shear walls. The results indicate that the values for over-strength, behavior and displacement amplification factors of LYP steel plate shear wall systems, are larger than those proposed by the AISC code for typical steel plate shear wall systems.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.666-674
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• 2010

There is a few problems in the preliminary seismic performance evaluation procedure of subway infrastructures, such as cut-and-cover tunnel structures and bridge structures, recently because the characteristics of subway infrastructures are not properly considered in the procedure. In particular, the evaluation procedure of vehicular bridge structures is applied to subway bridges without any modification. Moreover, the present evaluation procedure is lack of both theoretical and empirical backgrounds, which makes the evaluation less reliable. This paper presents problems in the existing preliminary evaluation procedure and proposes possible modification(revision) to the procedure.

• Advances in Computational Design
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.233-267
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• 2018

Conventional seismic design of concentrically braced frame (CBF) structures suggests that the gusset plate connecting a steel brace to beams and/or columns should be designed as non-dissipative in earthquakes, while the steel brace members should be designed as dissipative elements. These design intentions lead to thicker and larger gusset plates in design on one hand and a potentially under-rated contribution of gusset plates in design, on the other hand. In contrast, research has shown that compact and thinner gusset plates designed in accordance with the elliptical clearance method rather than the conventional standard linear clearance method can enhance system ductility and energy dissipation capacity in concentrically braced steel frames. In order to assess the two design methods, six cyclic push-over tests on full scale models of concentric braced steel frame structures were conducted. Furthermore, a 3D finite element (FE) shell model, incorporating state-of-the-art tools and techniques in numerical simulation, was developed that successfully replicates the response of gusset plate and bracing members under fully reversed cyclic axial loading. Direct measurements from strain gauges applied to the physical models were used primarily to validate FE models, while comparisons of hysteresis load-displacement loops from physical and numerical models were used to highlight the overall performance of the FE models. The study shows the two design methods attain structural response as per the design intentions; however, the elliptical clearance method has a superiority over the standard linear method as a fact of improving detailing of the gusset plates, enhancing resisting capacity and improving deformability of a CBF structure. Considerations were proposed for improvement of guidelines for detailing gusset plates and bracing members in CBF structures.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.695-703
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• 2018

Based on monitoring data collected from the Nanjing Dashengguan Bridge over the last five years, this paper systematically investigates the effects of temperature field and train loadings on the structural responses of this long-span high-speed railway bridge, and establishes the early warning thresholds for various structural responses. Then, some lessons drawn from the structural health monitoring system of this bridge are summarized. The main context includes: (1) Polynomial regression models are established for monitoring temperature effects on modal frequencies of the main girder and hangers, longitudinal displacements of the bearings, and static strains of the truss members; (2) The correlation between structural vibration accelerations and train speeds is investigated, focusing on the resonance characteristics of the bridge at the specific train speeds; (3) With regard to various static and dynamic responses of the bridge, early warning thresholds are established by using mean control chart analysis and probabilistic analysis; (4) Two lessons are drawn from the experiences in the bridge operation, which involves the lacks of the health monitoring for telescopic devices on the beam-end and bolt fractures in key members of the main truss.

• International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.199-213
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• 2017

Chloride penetration is among the main causes of corrosion initiation in reinforced concrete (RC) structures producing premature degradations. Weather and exposure conditions directly affect chloride ingress mechanisms and therefore the operational service life and safety of RC structures. Consequently, comprehensive chloride ingress models are useful tools to estimate corrosion initiation risks and minimize maintenance costs for RC structures placed under chloride-contaminated environments. This paper first presents a coupled thermo-hydro-chemical model for predicting chloride penetration into concrete that accounts for realistic weather conditions. This complete numerical model takes into account multiple factors affecting chloride ingress such as diffusion, convection, chloride binding, ionic interaction, and concrete aging. Since the complete model could be computationally expensive for long-term assessment, this study also proposes model simplifications in order to reduce the computational cost. Long-term chloride assessments of complete and reduced models are compared for three locations in France (Brest, Strasbourg and Nice) characterized by different weather and exposure conditions (tidal zone, de-icing salts and salt spray). The comparative study indicates that the reduced model is computationally efficient and accurate for long-term chloride ingress modeling in comparison to the complete one. Given that long-term assessment requires larger climate databases, this research also studies how climate models may affect chloride ingress assessment. The results indicate that the selection of climate models as well as the considered training periods introduce significant errors for mid- and long- term chloride ingress assessment.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.161-174
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• 2018

The present study investigates the soil-structure interaction (SSI) effects on the seismic performance of smart base-isolated structures. The adopted control algorithm for tuning the control force plays a key role in successful implementation of such structures; however, in most studied carried out in the literature, these algorithms are designed without considering the SSI effect. Considering the SSI effects, a linear quadratic regulator (LQR) controller is employed to seismic control of a smart base-isolated structure. A particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm is used to tune the gain matrix of the controller in both cases without and with SSI effects. In order to conduct a parametric study, three types of soil, three well-known earthquakes and a vast range of period of the superstructure are considered for assessment the SSI effects on seismic control process of the smart-base isolated structure. The adopted controller is able to make a significant reduction in base displacement. However, any attempt to decrease the maximum base displacement results in slight increasing in superstructure accelerations. The maximum and RMS base displacements of the smart base-isolated structures in the case of considering SSI effects are more than the corresponding responses in the case of ignoring SSI effects. Overall, it is also observed that the maximum and RMS base displacements of the structure are increased by increasing the natural period of the superstructure. Furthermore, it can be concluded that the maximum and RMS superstructure accelerations are significant influenced by the frequency content of earthquake excitations and the natural frequency of the superstructure. The results show that the design of the controller is very influenced by the SSI effects. In addition, the simulation results demonstrate that the ignoring the SSI effect provides an unfavorable control system, which may lead to decline in the seismic performance of the smart-base isolated structure including the SSI effects.