• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.471-482
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• 2018

The composite reinforced concrete and steel (RCS) structural systems have larger structural lateral stiffness, higher inherent structural damping, and faster construction speed than either traditional reinforcement concrete or steel structures. In this paper, four RCS subassemblies with or without the RC slab designed following a strong column-weak beam philosophy were constructed and tested under reversed-cyclic loading. Parameters including the width of slab and composite effect of the RC slab and beam were explored. The test results showed that all specimens performed in a ductile manner with plastic hinges formed in the beam ends near the column faces. The seismic responses of composite connections are influenced significantly by different width of slabs. Compared with that of the steel beam without the RC slab, it was found that the load carrying capacity of composite connections with the RC slab increased by 30% on average, and strength degradation, energy dissipation also had better performance, while the ductility of that were almost the same. Furthermore, the contribution of connection deformation to the overall specimen displacement was analyzed and compared. It decreased approximately 10% due to the coupling effect in the columns and beams with the RC slab. Based on the test result, some suggestions are presented for the design of composite RCS joints.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.241-264
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• 2013

Since the beginning of the twentieth century, the progressive and rapid spread of reinforced concrete (RC) has led to the adoption of mixed masonry-RC solutions, such as the confined masonry. However, together with structures conceived with a definite role for earthquake behaviour, the spreading of RC technology has caused the birth of mixed solutions inspired more by functional aspects than by structural ones, such as: internal masonry walls replaced by RC frames, RC walls inserted to build staircases or raising made from RC frames. Usually, since these interventions rise from a spontaneous build-up, any capacity design or ductility concepts are neglected being designed only to bear vertical loads: thus, the vulnerability assessment of this class becomes crucial. To investigate the non-linear seismic response of these structures, suitable models and effective numerical tools are needed. Among the various modelling approaches proposed in the literature and codes, the authors focus their attention on the equivalent frame model. After a brief description of the adopted model and its numerical validation, the authors aim to point out some specific peculiarities of the seismic response of mixed masonry-RC structures and their repercussions on safety verification procedures (referring in particular way to the non-linear static ones). In particular, the results of non-linear static analyses performed parametrically to various configurations representative of different interventions are discussed.

• International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.229-245
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• 2017

Post-earthquake observations revealed that seismic performance of beam-column connections in precast concrete structures affect the overall response extensively. Seismic design of precast reinforced concrete structures requires improved beam-column connections to transfer reversed load effects between structural elements. In Turkey, hybrid beam-column connections with welded components have been applied extensively in precast concrete industry for decades. Beam bottom longitudinal rebars are welded to beam end plates while top longitudinal rebars are placed to designated gaps in joint panels before casting of topping concrete in this type of connections. The paper presents the major findings of an experimental test programme including one monolithic and five precast hybrid half scale specimens representing interior beam-column connections of a moment frame of high ductility level. The required welding area between beam bottom longitudinal rebars and beam-end plates were calculated based on welding coefficients considered as a test parameter. It is observed that the maximum strain developed in the beam bottom flexural reinforcement plays an important role in the overall behavior of the connections. Two additional specimens which include unbonded lengths on the longitudinal rebars to reduce that strain demands were also tested. Strength, stiffness and energy dissipation characteristics of test specimens were investigated with respect to test variables. Seismic performances of test specimens were evaluated by obtaining damage indices.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.5 no.5
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• pp.47-56
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• 2001

In order to assure the safety of NPP structures, margin of safety or conservatism is incorporated in each design step. Seismic risk evaluation of NPP structures is performed based on the realistic capacity and response of structure eliminated the safety margin and conservatism. In this study, the comparative study on the various evaluation methods of the inelastic energy absorption capacity was performed. The inelastic energy absorption capacity due to the nonlinear behavior of structures has significant effect on the results of seismic probabilistic risk assessment. And the comparison study of the HCLPF(high confidence of low probability of failure) values according to the inelastic energy absorption factors was performed. As a conclusion, the inelastic energy absorption factor of NPP containment structure is estimated about 1.5~1.75. It is essential to estimate the nonlinear behavior of structure and its ductility factor correctly for the seismic risk assessment.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.377-396
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• 2011

In seismic design and structural assessment using the displacement-based approach, real structures are simplified into equivalent single-degree-of-freedom systems with equivalent properties, namely period and damping. In this work, equations for the optimal pair of equivalent properties are derived using statistical procedures on equivalent linearization and defined in terms of the ductility ratio and initial period of vibration. The modified Clough hysteretic model and 30 artificial accelerograms, compatible with the acceleration spectra for firm and soft soils, defined by the Japanese Design Specifications for Highway Bridges are used in the analysis. The results obtained with the proposed equations are verified and their limitations are discussed.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.59-66
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• 2017

Modern seismic codes rely on performance-based seismic design methodology which requires that the structures withstand inelastic deformation. Many studies have focused on the inelastic deformation ratio evaluation (ratio between the inelastic and elastic maximum lateral displacement demands) for various inelastic spectra. This paper investigates the inelastic response spectra through the ductility demand ${\mu}$, the yield strength reduction factor $R_y$, and the inelastic deformation ratio. They depend on the vibration period T, the post-to-preyield stiffness ratio ${\alpha}$, the peak ground acceleration (PGA), and the normalized yield strength coefficient ${\eta}$ (ratio of yield strength coefficient divided by the PGA). A new inelastic deformation ratio $C_{\eta}$ is defined; it is related to the capacity curve (pushover curve) through the coefficient (${\eta}$) and the ratio (${\alpha}$) that are used as control parameters. A set of 140 real ground motions is selected. The structures are bilinear inelastic single degree of freedom systems (SDOF). The sensitivity of the resulting inelastic deformation ratio mean values is discussed for different levels of normalized yield strength coefficient. The influence of vibration period T, post-to-preyield stiffness ratio ${\alpha}$, normalized yield strength coefficient ${\eta}$, earthquake magnitude, ruptures distance (i.e., to fault rupture) and site conditions is also investigated. A regression analysis leads to simplified expressions of this inelastic deformation ratio. These simplified equations estimate the inelastic deformation ratio for structures, which is a key parameter for design or evaluation. The results show that, for a given level of normalized yield strength coefficient, these inelastic displacement ratios become non sensitive to none of the rupture distance, the earthquake magnitude or the site class. Furthermore, they show that the post-to-preyield stiffness has a negligible effect on the inelastic deformation ratio if the normalized yield strength coefficient is greater than unity.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.253-267
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• 2014

Based on the test on a 1/2.5-scaled model of a two-bay and three-story inner frame composed of reinforced concrete beams and lattice steel reinforced concrete (SRC) irregular section columns under low cyclic reversed loading, the failure process and the features of the frame were observed. The subsequence of plastic hinges of the structure, the load-displacement hysteresis loops and the skeleton curve, load bearing capacity, inter-story drift ratio, ductility, energy dissipation and stiffness degradation were analyzed. The results show that the lattice SRC inner frame is a typical strong column-weak beam structure. The hysteresis loops are spindle-shaped, and the stiffness degradation is insignificant. The elastic-plastic inter-story deformation capacity is high. Compared with the reinforced concrete frame with irregular section columns, the ductility and energy dissipation of the structure are better. The conclusions can be referred to for seismic design of this new kind of structure.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2009.05a
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• pp.7-8
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• 2009

In this research, comparison and analysis were performed to understand how the cover thickness influences the equation for calculating the amount of confining reinforcement for reinforced concrete columns. And, also, an equation for calculating the amount of confining reinforcement was proposed for reasonable seismic design. In addition, appropriateness and safety of the proposed equation were examined based on the various experimental results performed at home and abroad.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.233-244
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• 2019

In this work, we have studied the effects of different soil thicknesses, haunch heights, reinforcement forms and construction technologies on the seismic performance of a composite precast fabricated utility tunnel by pseudo-static tests. Five concrete specimens were designed and fabricated for low-cycle reciprocating load tests. The hysteretic behavior of composite precast fabricated utility tunnel under simulated seismic waves and the strain law of steel bars were analyzed. Test results showed that composite precast fabricated utility tunnel met the requirements of current codes and had good anti-seismic performance. The use of a closed integral arrangement of steel bars inside utility tunnel structure as well as diagonal reinforcement bars at its haunches improved the integrity of the whole structure and increased the bearing capacity of the structure by about 1.5%. Increasing the thickness of covering soil within a certain range was beneficial to the earthquake resistance of the structure, and the energy consumption was increased by 10%. Increasing haunch height within a certain range increased the bearing capacity of the structure by up to about 19% and energy consumption by up to 30%. The specimen with the lowest haunch height showed strong structural deformation with ductility coefficient of 4.93. It was found that the interfaces of haunches, post-casting self-compacting concrete, and prefabricated parts were the weak points of utility tunnel structures. Combining the failure phenomena of test structures with their related codes, we proposed improvement measures for construction technology, which could provide a reference for the construction and design of practical projects.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.529-537
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• 2007

The purpose of this study is to discuss how strength and ductility of each system in low-rise reinforced concrete buildings composed of extremely brittle, shear and flexural failure lateral-load resisting systems have influence on seismic capacities of the overall system, which is based on nonlinear seismic response analyses of single-degree-of-freedom structural systems. In order to simulate the triple lateral-load resisting system, structures are idealized as a parallel combination of two modified origin-oriented hysteretic models and a degrading trilinear hysteretic model that fail primarily in extremely brittle, shear and flexure, respectively. Stiffness properties of three models are varied in terms of story shear coefficients, and structures are subjected to various ground motion components. By analyzing these systems, interaction curves of demand strengths of the triple system for various levels of ductility factors are finally derived for practical purposes. The result indicates that demand strength levels derived can be used as a basic information for seismic evaluation and design criteria of low-rise reinforced concrete buildings having the triple lateral-load resisting system.