• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.1581-1598
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• 2015

A concentric braced steel frame is a very efficient structural system because it requires relatively smaller amount of materials to resist lateral forces. However, primarily developed as a structural system to resist wind loads based on an assumption that the structure behaves elastically, a concentric braced frame possibly experiences the deterioration in energy dissipation after brace buckling and the brittle failure of braces and connections when earthquake loads cause inelastic behavior. Consequently, plastic deformation is concentrated in the floor where brace buckling occurs first, which can lead to the rupture of the structure. This study suggests reinforcing H-shaped braces with non-welded cold-formed stiffeners to restrain flexure and buckling and resist tensile force and compressive force equally. Weak-axis reinforcing members (2 pieces) developed from those suggested in previous studies (4 pieces) were used to reinforce the H-shaped braces in an inverted V-type braced frame. Monotonic loading tests, finite element analysis and cyclic loading tests were carried out to evaluate the structural performance of the reinforced braces and frames. The reinforced braces satisfied the AISC requirement. The reinforcement suggested in this study is expected to prevent the rupture of beams caused by the unbalanced resistance of the braces.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.338-345
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• 2002

This paper presents a hybrid control strategy for seismic protection of a benchmark cable-stayed bridge, which is provided as a testbed structure for the development of strategies for the control of cable-stayed bridges. In this study, a hybrid control system is composed of a passive control system to reduce the earthquake-induced forces in the structure and an active control system to further reduce the bridge responses, especially deck displacements. Lead rubber bearings and ideal hydraulic actuators are used fur the passive and active control systems. Bouc-Wen model is used to simulate the nonlinear behavior of lead rubber bearings and an H₂/LQG control algorithm is adopted as an active control algorithm. Numerical simulation results show that the performance of the proposed hybrid control strategy is superior to that of the passive control strategy and slightly better than that of the active control strategy. The proposed control method is also more reliable than the fully active control method due to the passive control part. Therefore, the proposed hybrid control strategy can effectively be used to seismically excited cable-stayed bridges.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.15-26
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• 1991

The lateral forces such as the earthquake and wind my cause the torsion to be coupled with the lateral bending in the gider, the cross-section of wich has only one axis of symmetry. This induces additional stresses especially in cables arranged in double-planes. Since this effect cannot be considered by using the conventional frame elements, the stiffness and the mass matrices of the geometrically nonlinear thin-walled frame element are developed in this study to model the girder. The equivalent modulus of elasticity proposed by Ernst is used for the cable elements. Verification of the present theory is made through a numerical example. Then, the free vibration of a three dimensional cable-stayed bridge is analyzed to study the coupled flexural-torsional behavior.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.21-29
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• 1987

In this paper the liquid sloshing effects in vertical storage tanks under earthquake loadings are studied. The study focuses on the investigation of the effect of the flexibility of the tank wall on the hydrodynamic forces exerted on it. The tank structure is modelled using finite elements. The motion of the liquid is expressed by the Laplace equation. The equation of motion of the fluid shell system is formulated including the coupling effect between the shell motion and the sloshing motion. A procedure is developed to obtain the natural frequencies and the mode shapes of the sloshing motion as well as the shell vibration. Dynamic analyses have been carried out for several tanks with different dynamic characteristics utilizing the time history method as well as the response spectra method.

• Computational Structural Engineering
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.145-150
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• 1994

Seismic isolation in ordinary buildings has been successively adapted to provide flexibility for the reduction of base shear forces and its concept is accepting wide agreement in lengthening the natural, period to lessen the spectral acceleration transmitted into the structure. However, one of difficulties in implementing the innovative concept to nuclear structures is due to more severe requirements in both understanding and predicting the characteristics of isolators and the behavior of cushioned structures, Stochastic analysis has been carried out to investigate the response of base isolated nuclear containers to the random earthquake ground motion.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.1029-1044
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• 2015

To investigate the seismic pounding response of long-span bridges with high-piers under strong ground motions, shaking table tests were performed on a 1/10-scaled bridge model consisting of three continuous spans with rigid frames and one simply-supported span. The seismic pounding responses of this bridge model under different earthquake excitations including the uniform excitation and the traveling wave excitations were experimentally studied. The influence of dampers to the seismic pounding effects at the expansion joints was analyzed through nonlinear dynamic analyses in this research. The seismic pounding effects obtained from numerical analyses of the bridge model are in favorable agreement with the experimental results. Seismic pounding effect of bridge superstructures is dependent on the structural dynamic properties of the adjacent spans and characteristics of ground motions. Moreover, supplemental damping can effectively mitigate pounding effects of the bridge superstructures, and reduce the base shear forces of the bridge piers.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.249-259
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• 2011

Band windows are commonly used in reinforced concrete structures for the purpose of ventilation and lighting. These applications shorten the lengths of the columns and, consequently, they are subject to higher shear forces as compared with those of hollow frames. Such short columns may cause some damages during earthquakes. Hence, these effects of short columns should be minimized by choosing the dimensions of the band windows properly in order to prevent serious damages in the structure. This can be achieved by taking into account the parameters that are crucial in causing short column effect. Hence, in this study, the effects of those parameters such as the widths and heights of the band windows, the number of bays and storeys within the frame, and the heights of storeys are examined. The effects of the parameters are analyzed using time history analysis. One of the important results of these analyses, is that, the widths of the band windows should be less than 60% of the clear span between the columns, whereas, their heights should be greater than 35% of the clear storey height in order to decrease the short column effects substantially during the design of the reinforced concrete structures.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.273-290
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• 2011

In current ductility-based earthquake-resistant design, the estimation of design forces continues to be carried out with the application of response modification factors on elastic design spectra. It is well-known that the response modification factor (R) takes into account the force reduction, strength, redundancy, and damping of structural systems. The key components of the response modification factor (R) are force reduction ($R_{\mu}$) and strength ($R_S$) factors. However, the response modification and strength factors for structural systems presented in design codes were based on professional judgment and experiences. A numerical study has been accomplished to evaluate force reduction, strength, and response modification factors for special steel moment resisting frames. A total of 72 prototype steel frames were designed based on the recommendations given in the AISC Seismic Provisions and UBC Codes. Number of stories, soil profiles, seismic zone factors, framing systems, and failure mechanisms were considered as the design parameters that influence the response. The effects of the design parameters on force reduction ($R_{\mu}$), strength ($R_S$), and response modification (R) factors were studied. Based on the analysis results, these factors for special steel moment resisting frames are evaluated.

• Coupled systems mechanics
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.195-211
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• 2014

When strong seismic forces act on reinforced concrete structures, their beam-column connections are very susceptible to damage during the earthquake event. The aim of this numerical work is to evaluate the influence of the internal steel reinforcement array on the nonlinear response of a RC beam-column connection when it is subjected to strong cyclic loading -as a seismic load. For this, two specimens (extracted from an experimental test of 12 RC beam-column connections reported in literature) were modeled in the Finite Element code FEAP considering different stirrup's arrays. In order to evaluate the nonlinear response of the RC beam-column connection, the 2D model takes into account the nonlinear thermodynamic behavior of each component: for concrete, a damage model is used; for steel reinforcement, it is adopted a classical plasticity model; in the case of the steel-concrete bonding, this one is considered perfect without degradation. At the end, we show a comparison between the experimental test's responses and the numerical results, which includes the distribution of shear stresses and damage inside the concrete core of the beam-column connection; in the other hand, the effects on the connection of a low and high state of confinement are analyzed for all cases.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.137-155
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• 2013

Brittle fracture of structures excited by earthquakes can be prevented by adding a tuned mass damper (TMD). This TMD must be optimum and suitable to the physical conditions of the structure. Compressive strength of concrete is an important factor for brittle fracture. The application of a TMD to structures with low compressive strength of concrete may not be possible if the weight of the TMD is too much. A heavy TMD is dangerous for these structures because of insufficient axial force capacity of structure. For the preventing brittle fracture, the damping ratio of the TMD must be sufficient to reduce maximum shear forces below the values proposed in design regulations. Using the formulas for frequency and damping ratio related to a preselected mass, this objective can be only achieved by increasing the mass of the TMD. By using a metaheuristic method, the optimum parameters can be searched in a specific limit. In this study, Harmony Search (HS) is employed to find optimum TMD parameters for preventing brittle fracture by reducing shear force in additional to other time and frequency responses. The proposed method is feasible for the retrofit of weak structures with insufficient compressive strength of concrete.