• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제26권6호
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• pp.687-707
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• 2007

High-tech facilities engaged in the production of semiconductors and optical microscopes are extremely expensive, which may require time-domain analysis for seismic resistant design in consideration of the most critical directions of seismic ground motions. This paper presents a framework for generating three-dimensional critical seismic ground acceleration time histories compatible with the response spectra specified in seismic design codes. The most critical directions of seismic ground motions associated with the maximum response of a high-tech facility are first identified. A new numerical method is then proposed to derive the power spectrum density functions of ground accelerations which are compatible with the response spectra specified in seismic design codes in critical directions. The ground acceleration time histories for the high-tech facility along the structural axes are generated by applying the spectral representation method to the power spectrum density function matrix and then multiplied by envelope functions to consider nonstationarity of ground motions. The proposed framework is finally applied to a typical three-story high-tech facility, and the numerical results demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed approach.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• 제17권4호
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• pp.387-398
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• 2019

On the basis that ground motions may arrive at a structure from any horizontal direction and that different directions of seismic incidence would result in different structural dynamic responses, this paper focuses on orienting the crucial seismic incidence of transmission tower-line systems based on the wavelet energy method. A typical transmission tower-line system is chosen as the case study, and two finite element (FE) models are established in ABAQUS, with and without consideration of the interaction between the transmission towers and the transmission lines. The mode combination frequency is defined by considering the influence of the higher-order modes of the structure. Subsequently, wavelet transformation is performed to obtain the total effective energy input and the effective energy input rate corresponding to the mode combination frequency to further judge the critical angle of seismic incidence by comparing these two performance indexes under different seismic incidence angles. To validate this approach, finite element history analysis (FEHA) is imposed on both FE models to generate comparative data, and good agreement is found. The results demonstrate that the wavelet energy method can forecast the critical angle of seismic incidence of a transmission tower-line system with adequate accuracy, avoiding time-consuming and cumbersome computer analysis. The proposed approach can be used in future seismic design of transmission tower-line systems.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• 제16권4호
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• pp.415-423
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• 2019

Near-fault ground motions can impose particularly high seismic demands on structures due to the pulses that are typically observed in the velocity time-histories. In this study it is empirically found that the critical response can be estimated from the directions corresponding to the maximum (max) or minimum (min) pulse-energy. Determination of the pulse-energy requires removing of the high-frequency content. For achieving this, the wavelet analysis and the least-square-fitting (LSF) algorithm are adopted. Results obtained by the two strategies are compared and differences between them are analyzed. Finally, the relationship between the critical response and the response derived from directions having the max or min pulse-energy confirms that using the pulse-energy for deriving the critical response of the building structures is reasonable.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제83권2호
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• pp.207-227
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• 2022

In general, the interaction conditions between the discrete stones are not taken into account by structural engineers during the modeling and analyzing of historical stone bridges. However, many structural damages in the stone bridges occur due to ignoring the interaction conditions between discrete stones. In this study, it is aimed to examine the seismic behavior of a historical stone bridge by considering the interaction stiffness parameters between stone elements. For this purpose, Tokatli historical stone arch bridge was built in 1179 in Karabük-Turkey, is chosen for three-dimensional (3D) seismic analyses. Firstly, the 3D finite-difference model of the Tokatli stone bridge is created using the FLAC3D software. During the modeling processes, the Burger-Creep material model which was not used to examine the seismic behavior of historical stone bridges in the past is utilized. Furthermore, the free-field and quiet non-reflecting boundary conditions are defined to the lateral and bottom boundaries of the bridge. Thanks to these boundary conditions, earthquake waves do not reflect in the 3D model. After each stone element is modeled separately, stiffness elements are defined between the stone elements. Three situations of the stiffness elements are considered in the seismic analyses; a) for only normal direction b) for only shear direction c) for both normal and shear directions. The earthquake analyses of the bridge are performed for these three different situations of the bridge. The far-fault and near-fault conditions of 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake are taken into account during the earthquake analyses. According to the seismic analysis results, the directions of the stiffness parameters seriously changed the earthquake behavior of the Tokatli bridge. Moreover, the most critical stiffness parameter is determined for seismic analyses of historical stone arch bridges.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제68권5호
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• pp.575-589
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• 2018

It is well known that the incidence angle of seismic excitation has an influence on the structural response of buildings, and this effect can be more significant in the case of near-fault signals. However, current seismic codes do not include detailed requirements regarding the direction of application of the seismic action and they have only recently introduced specific provisions about near-fault earthquakes. Thus, engineers have the task of evaluating all the relevant directions or the most critical conditions case by case, in order to avoid underestimating structural demand. To facilitate the identification of the most critical incidence angle, this paper presents a procedure which makes use of a two-degree of freedom model for representing a building. The proposed procedure makes it possible to avoid the extensive computational effort of multiple dynamic analyses with varying angles of incidence of ground motion excitation, which is required if a spatial multi-degree of freedom model is used for representing a building. The procedure is validated through the analysis of two case studies consisting of an eight- and a six-storey reinforced concrete frame building, selected as representative of existing structures located in Italy. A set of 124 near-fault ground motion records oriented along 8 incidence angles, varying from 0 to 180 degrees, with increments of 22.5 degrees, is used to excite the structures. Comparisons between the results obtained with detailed models of the two structures and the proposed procedure are used to show the accuracy of the latter in the prediction of the most critical angle of seismic incidence.

• 한국콘크리트학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국콘크리트학회 2004년도 추계 학술발표회 제16권2호
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• pp.5-8
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• 2004

In order to investigate the effect of the height of application point of lateral loads and reinforcing steel bars in walls and columns in improving the seismic behavior of confined concrete block masonry walls, an experimental research program is conducted. A total of four one-half scale specimens are tested under repeated lateral loads. Specimens are tested to failure with increasing maximum lateral drifts while a vertical axial load was applied and maintained constant. The constant vertical axial stresses applied are 0, 0.84 and 1.80MPa, while the amount of reinforcements in horizontal and vertical directions are $0\%,\;0.08\%\;and\;0.18\%$ respectively. Test results obtained for each specimen include cracking patterns, load-deflection data, and strains in reinforcement and walls in critical locations. Analysis of test data showed that above parameters generate a considerable effect on the seismic performance of confined concrete block masonry walls.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제39권1호
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• pp.125-145
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• 2011

Pushover analysis has gained significant popularity as an analytical tool for realistic determination of the inelastic behaviour of RC structures. Though significant work has been done to evaluate the demands realistically, the evaluation of capacity and realistic failure modes has taken a back seat. In order to throw light on the inelastic behaviour and capacity evaluation for the RC framed structures, a 3D Reinforced concrete frame structure was tested under monotonically increasing lateral pushover loads, in a parabolic pattern, till failure. The structure consisted of three storeys and had 2 bays along the two orthogonal directions. The structure was gradually pushed in small increments of load and the corresponding displacements were monitored continuously, leading to a pushover curve for the structure as a result of the test along with other relevant information such as strains on reinforcement bars at critical locations, failure modes etc. The major failure modes were observed as flexural failure of beams and columns, torsional failure of transverse beams and joint shear failure. The analysis of the structure was by considering all these failure modes. In order to have a comparison, the analysis was performed as three different cases. In one case, only the flexural hinges were modelled for critical locations in beams and columns; in second the torsional hinges for transverse beams were included in the analysis and in the third case, joint shear hinges were also included in the analysis. It is shown that modelling and capturing all the failure modes is practically possible and such an analysis can provide the realistic insight into the behaviour of the structure.