• Wind and Structures
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.303-312
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• 2022

As wind turbine rotors increase, the overall loads and dynamic response become an important issue. This problem is augmented by the exposure of wind turbines to severe atmospheric events with unconventional flows such as tornadoes, which need specific designs not included in standards and codes at present. An experimental study was conducted to analyze the loads induced by a tornado-like vortex (TLV) on horizontal-axis wind turbines (HAWT). A large-scale tornado simulation developed in The Wind Engineering, Energy and Environment (WindEEE) Dome at Western University in Canada, the so-called Mode B Tornado, was employed as the TLV flow acting on a rigid wind turbine model under two rotor operational conditions (idling and parked) for five radial distances. It was observed that the overall forces and moments depend on the location and orientation of the wind turbine system with respect to the tornado vortex centre, as TLV are three-dimensional flows with velocity gradients in the radial, vertical, and tangential direction. The mean bending moment at the tower base was the most important in terms of magnitude and variation in relation to the position of the HAWT with respect to the core radius of the tornado, and it was highly dependent on the rotor Tip Speed Ratio (TSR).

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.81 no.2
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• pp.147-161
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• 2022

The Brace-Type Shear Fuse (BSF) device is a newly proposed steel damper with excellent cumulative ductility and stable energy dissipation. In consideration of the current situation where there are not many alternatives for transversal seismic devices used in long-span three-tower self-anchored bridges (TSSBs), this paper implements improved BSFs into the world's longest TSSB, named Jinan Fenghuang Yellow River Bridge. The new details of the BSF are developed for the TSSB, and the force-displacement hysteretic curves of the BSFs are obtained using finite element (FE) simulations. A three-dimensional refined finite element model for the research TSSB was established in SAP2000, and the effects of BSFs on dynamic characteristics and seismic response of the TSSB under different site conditions were investigated by the numerical simulation method. The results show that remarkable controlling effects of BSFs on seismic response of TSSBs under different site conditions were obtained. Compared with the case without BSFs, the TSSB installed with BSFs has mitigation ratios of the tower top displacement, lateral girder displacement, tower bending moment and tower shear force exceeding 95%, 78%, 330% and 346%, respectively. Meanwhile, BSFs have a sufficient restoring force mechanism with a minor post-earthquake residual displacement. The proposed BSFs exhibit good application prospects in long-span TSSBs.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.86 no.4
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• pp.503-518
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• 2023

In tall constructions, the outriggers are regarded as a structural part capable of effectively resisting lateral loads. This study analyses the efficacy of hybrid outrigger system in high rise RCC building for various structural parameters identified. For variations in α, which is defined as the ratio of the relative flexural stiffness of the core to the axial rigidity of the column, static and dynamic analyses of hybrid outrigger system having a virtual and a conventional outrigger at two distinct levels were conducted in the present study. An investigation on the optimal outrigger position was performed by taking the results from absolute maximum inter storey drift ratio (ISD_max), roof acceleration (acc_roof), roof displacement (disp_roof), and base bending moment under both wind and seismic loads on analytical models having 40, 60 and 80 storeys. An ideal performance index parameter was introduced and was utilized to obtain the optimal position of the hybrid outrigger system considering the combined response of ISD_max, acc_roof, disp_roof and, criteria required for the structure under wind and seismic loads. According to the behavioural study, increasing the column area and outrigger arm length will maximise the performance of the hybrid outrigger system. The analysis results are summarized in a flowchart which provides the optimal positions obtained for each dependent parameter and based on ideal performance index which can be used to make initial suggestions for installing a hybrid outrigger system.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.195-202
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• 2022

This study investigates whether institutional investors increase or decrease the volatility of stock returns in the Thai stock market. For the purpose we used the data from SETSMART, a database provided by the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET). Our sample is a balanced panel data covering 3,160 firm-year observations from 316 nonfinancial firms listed on the SET from 2011 to 2020. We analyze the link between institutional holdings and the volatility of stock returns by the pooled Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) model, the fixed effects model, and the random-effects model. In particular, we regress the stock return volatility on institutional ownership while controlling for firm size, financial leverage, growth opportunities, and stock turnover and accounting for industry effects and year effects. Our results indicate institutional investors' positive and significant influence on the volatility of the stock returns. Additionally, we performed the dynamic Generalized Method of Moment (GMM) estimator to alleviate concerns of possible endogeneity. The result still shows a positive impact of institutional investors on the volatility in stock returns. Overall, the findings of this study suggest that an increase in the volatility of stock returns in the Thai stock market may stem from a higher proportion of equity held by the institutional investors.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.437-447
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• 2023

Inclined piles are commonly used in civil engineering constructions where significant lateral resistance is required. Many researchers proved their positive performance on the seismic behavior of the supported structure and the piles themselves. However, most of these numerical studies were done within the framework of linear elastic or elastoplastic soil behavior, neglecting therefore the soil non-linearity at low and moderate soil strains which is questionable and could be misleading in dynamic analysis. The main objective of this study is to examine the influence of the pile inclination on the seismic performance of the soil-pile-structure system when both the linear elastic and the nonlinear soil models are employed. Based on the comparative responses, the adequacy of the soil's linear elastic behavior will be therefore evaluated. The analysis is conducted by generating a three-dimensional finite difference model, where a full interaction between the soil, structure, and inclined piles is considered. The numerical survey proved that the pile inclination can have a significant impact on the internal forces generated by seismic activity, specifically on the bending moment and shear forces. The main disadvantages of using inclined piles in this system are the bending forces at the head and pile-to-head connection. It is crucial to account for soil nonlinearity to accurately assess the seismic response of the soil-pile-structure system.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.117-130
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• 2024

Probabilistic model of seismic demand is the main tool used for seismic demand estimation, which is a fundamental component of the new performance-based design method. This model seeks to mathematically relate the seismic demand parameter and the ground motion intensity measure. This study is intended to use Bayesian analysis to evaluate the accuracy of the seismic demand estimation of Steel moment resisting frames (SMRFs) through a completely Bayesian method in statistical calculations. In this study, two types of intensity measures (earthquake intensity-related indices such as magnitude and distance and intensity indices related to ground motion and spectral response including peak ground acceleration (PGA) and spectral acceleration (SA)) have been used to form the models. In addition, an extensive database consisting of sixty accelerograms was used for time-series analysis, and the target structures included five SMRFs of three, six, nine, twelve and fifteen stories. The results of this study showed that for low-rise frames, first mode spectral acceleration index is sufficient to accurately estimate demand. However, for high-rise frames, two parameters should be used to increase the accuracy. In addition, adding the product of the square of earthquake magnitude multiplied by distance to the model can significantly increase the accuracy of seismic demand estimation.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.137-147
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• 2024

Green hydrogen presents a sustainable and environmentally friendly solution for clean energy production and transportation. This study aims to identify the optimal profile of green hydrogen transportation risers originating from a floating offshore wind turbine (FOWT) integrated with a hydrogen production facility. Employing the Cummins equation, a fully coupled dynamic analysis for FOWT with a flexible riser was conducted, with the tower, mooring lines, and risers described using a lumped mass line model. Initially, motion response amplitude operators (RAOs) were compared with openly published results to validate the numerical model for the FOWT. Subsequently, a parametric study was conducted on the length of the buoyancy module section and the upper bare section of the riser by comparing the riser's tension and bending moment. The results indicated that as the length of the buoyancy module increases, the maximum tension of the riser decreases, while it increases with the lengthening of the bare section. Furthermore, shorter buoyancy modules are expected to experience less fatigue damage, with the length of the bare section having a relatively minor impact on this phenomenon. Consequently, to ensure safety under extreme environmental conditions, both the upper bare section and the buoyancy module section should be relatively short.

• Journal of Urban Science
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.19-30
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• 2023

The seismic design of water tanks for fire protection is important to prevent secondary earthquake damages due to fires. In this study, the seismic performance of stainless steel water tanks was evaluated considering both static and dynamic water pressure effects, and the influence of different panel shapes was investigated through numerical analysis. First, a basic water tank model comprised of flat panels was built, and then water pressure distribution including sloshing effects was evaluated. In the result of structural analysis, many panels of the basic water tank exceeded a specified allowable stress for load combinations including earthquake loads. In order to reduce the bending stress of the panel by increasing the moment of inertial of the panel section, alternative shapes of a truncated quadrangular pyramid were developed. Five water tanks with different alternative panel shapes were built and analyzed for the same load combinations. Based on the results of the numerical analysis, a number of effective aspect ratios were selected and modified to increase economic feasibility through additional analysis and structural safety check.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.50 no.5
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• pp.549-562
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• 2024

In this study a steel moment frame system to be installed on the exterior surface of an existing structure is proposed as a seismic retrofit device. The seismic performance of the retrofit system was investigated by installing it on the exterior of a single story single bay reinforced concrete frame and testing it under cyclic loading. The cyclic loading test results indicated that the steel frame significantly enhanced the strength and ductility of the bare structure. Finite element analysis was carried out to validate the test results, and it was observed that there was good agreement between the two results. An analytical model was developed in order to apply the retrofit system to an example structure subjected to seven mainshock-aftershock sequential earthquake records. It was observed that the model structure was severely damaged due to the mainshock earthquakes, and the seismic response of the model structure increased significantly due to the subsequent aftershock earthquakes. The seismic retrofit of the model structure using the proposed steel frame turned out to be effective in decreasing the seismic response below the given limit state.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.50 no.5
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• pp.583-594
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• 2024

In this paper, a Guided Simulated Annealing (GSA) algorithm is presented to optimize 2D and 3D steel frames against Progressive Collapse. Considering the nature of structural optimization problems, a number of restrictions and improvements have been applied to the decision mechanisms of the algorithm without harming the randomness. With these improvements, the algorithm aims to focus relatively on the flawed variables of the analyzed frame. Besides that, it is intended to be more rational by instituting structural constraints on the sections to be selected as variables. In addition to the LRFD restrictions, the alternate path method with nonlinear dynamic procedure is used to assess the risk of progressive collapse, as specified in the US Department of Defense United Facilities Criteria (UFC) Design of Buildings to Resist Progressive Collapse. The entire optimization procedure was carried out on a C# software that supports parallel processing developed by the authors, and the frames were analyzed in SAP2000 using OAPI. Time history analyses of the removal scenarios are distributed to the processor cores in order to reduce computational time. The GSA produced 3% lighter structure weights than the SA (Simulated Annealing) and 4% lighter structure weights than the GA (Genetic Algorithm) for the 2D steel frame. For the 3D model, the GSA obtained 3% lighter results than the SA. Furthermore, it is clear that the UFC and LRFD requirements differ when the acceptance criteria are examined. It has been observed that the moment capacity of the entire frame is critical when designing according to UFC.