• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.583-607
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• 2016

One of the main applications of seismic risk assessment is that an specific design could be selected for a bridge from different alternatives by considering damage losses alongside primary construction costs. Therefore, in this paper, the focus is on selecting the shape of pylon, which is a changeable component in the design of a cable-stayed bridge, as a double criterion decision-making problem. Different shapes of pylons include H, A, Y, and diamond shape, and the two criterion are construction costs and probable earthquake losses. In this research, decision-making is performed by using developed seismic risk assessment process as a powerful method. Considering the existing uncertainties in seismic risk assessment process, the combined incremental dynamic analysis (IDA) and uniform design (UD) based fragility assessment method is proposed, in which the UD method is utilized to provide the logical capacity models of the structure, and the IDA method is employed to give the probabilistic seismic demand model of structure. Using the aforementioned models and by defining damage states, the fragility curves of the bridge system are obtained for the different pylon shapes usage. Finally, by combining the fragility curves with damage losses and implementing the proposed cost-loss-benefit (CLB) method, the seismic risk assessment process is developed with financial-comparative approach. Thus, the optimal shape of the pylon can be determined using double criterion decision-making. The final results of decision-making study indicate that the optimal pylon shapes for the studied span of cable-stayed bridge are, respectively, H shape, diamond shape, Y shape, and A shape.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.495-505
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• 2009

Bridges form crucial links in the transportation network especially in high seismic risk regions. This research aims to provide a quantitative methodology for post-earthquake performance evaluation of the bridges. The experimental portion of the research involved shake table tests of a 4-span bridge which was subjected to progressively increasing amplitudes of seismic motions recorded from the Northridge earthquake. As part of this project, a high resolution long gauge fiber optic displacement sensor was developed for post-seismic evaluation of damage in the columns of the bridge. The nonlinear finite element model was developed using Opensees program to simulate the response of the bridge and the abutments to the seismic loads. The model was modified to predict the bent displacements of the bridge commensurate with the measured bent displacements obtained from experimental analysis results. Following seismic events, the tangential stiffness matrix of the whole structure is reduced due to reduction in structural strength. The nonlinear static push over analysis using current damaged stiffness matrix provides the longitudinal and transverse ultimate capacities of the bridge. Capacity loss in the transverse and longitudinal directions following the seismic events was correlated to the maximum displacements of the deck recorded during the events.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2011

It is a significant issue for several country including Korea, where the natural and the weather conditions are severe, to keep the safety against disasters which occur frequently every year, especially in urban region crowded with population. In order to implement suitable and effective measures against various disasters in such area, development of method for evaluation of disaster prevention performance based on various disaster risks and effective disaster damage mitigation technologies is independable. In this paper, methods for hazard evaluation, vulnerability evaluation and loss evaluation, and damage technologies are proposed targetting man-made disaster and natural one like flood, earthquake and tsunami and so on. The method proposed in this paper is based on the research of USA and Japan for man-made disaster and natural disaster. The proposed method will be developed in detail in four years during research period funded by government.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.925-942
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• 2016

With ongoing development of earthquake engineering research and the lessons learnt from a series of strong earthquakes, the seismic design concept of "resilience" has received much attention. Resilience describes the capability of a structure or a city to recover rapidly after earthquakes or other disasters. As one of the main features of urban constructions, tall buildings have greater impact on the sustainability and resilience of major cities. Therefore, it is important and timely to quantify their seismic resilience. In this work, a quantitative comparison of the seismic resilience of two tall buildings designed according to the Chinese and US seismic design codes was conducted. The prototype building, originally designed according to the US code as part of the Tall Building Initiative (TBI) Project, was redesigned in this work according to the Chinese codes under the same design conditions. Two refined nonlinear finite element (FE) models were established for both cases and their seismic responses were evaluated at different earthquake intensities, including the service level earthquake (SLE), the design-based earthquake (DBE) and the maximum considered earthquake (MCE). In addition, the collapse fragility functions of these two building models were established through incremental dynamic analysis (IDA). Based on the numerical results, the seismic resilience of both models was quantified and compared using the new-generation seismic performance assessment method proposed by FEMA P-58. The outcomes of this study indicate that the seismic resilience of the building according to the Chinese design is slightly better than that according to the US design. The conclusions drawn from this research are expected to guide further in-depth studies on improving the seismic resilience of tall buildings.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.53-58
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• 2021

Nuclear power plant's safety against seismic events is evaluated as risk values by probabilistic seismic safety assessment. The risk values vary by the seismic failure correlation between the structures, systems, and components (SSCs). However, most probabilistic seismic safety assessments idealized the seismic failure correlation between the SSCs as entirely dependent or independent. Such a consideration results in an inaccurate assessment result not reflecting real physical phenomenon. A nuclear power plant's seismic risk should be calculated with the appropriate seismic failure correlation coefficient between the SSCs for a reasonable outcome. An accident scenario that has an enormous impact on a nuclear power plant's seismic risk was selected. Moreover, the probabilistic seismic response analyses of a nuclear power plant were performed to derive appropriate seismic failure correlations between SSCs. Based on the analysis results, the seismic failure correlation coefficient between SSCs was derived, and the seismic fragility curve and core damage frequency of the loss of essential power event were calculated. Results were compared with the seismic fragility and core damage frequency of assuming the seismic failure correlations between SSCs were independent and entirely dependent.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.517-524
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• 2014

The ultimate goal of seismic design is to reduce the probable losses or damages occurred during an expected earthquake event. To achieve this goal, this study represents a procedure that can estimate annual loss probability of a structure damaged by strong ground motion. First of all, probabilistic seismic performance assessment should be performed using seismic fragility analyses that are presented by a cumulative distribution function of the probability in each exceedance structural damage state. A seismic hazard curve is then derived from an annual frequency of exccedance per each ground motion intensity. An annual loss probability function is combined with seismic fragility analysis results and seismic hazard curves. In this paper, annual loss probabilities are estimated by the structural fragility curve of steel moment-resisting frames(SMRFs) in San Francisco Bay, USA, and are compared with loss estimation results obtained from the HAZUS methodology. It is investigated from the comparison that seismic losses of the SMRFs calculated from the HAZUS method are conservatively estimated. The procedure presented in this study could be effectively used for future studies related with structural seismic performance assessment and annual loss probability estimation.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.157-179
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• 2013

Vulnerability studies on the existing building stock require that a large number of buildings is analyzed to obtain statistically significant evaluations of the seismic performance. Therefore, analytical evaluation methods need to be based on simplified methodologies of analysis which can afford the treatment of a large building population with a reasonable computational effort. Simplified Pushover-Based Earthquake Loss Assessment approach (SP-BELA), where a simplified methodology to identify the structural capacity of the building through the definition of a pushover curve is adopted, was developed on these bases. Main objective of the research work presented in this paper is to validate the simplified methodology implemented in SP-BELA against the results of more sophisticated nonlinear dynamic analyses (NLDAs). The comparison is performed for RC buildings designed only to vertical loads, representative of the "as built" in Italy and in Mediterranean countries with a building stock very similar to the Italian one. In NLDAs the non linear and degrading behaviour, typical of the structures under consideration when subjected to high seismic loads, is evaluated using models able to capture, with adequate accuracy, the non linear behaviour of RC structural elements taking into account stiffness degradation, strength deterioration, and pinching effect. Results show when simplified analyses are in good agreement with NLDAs. As a consequence, unsatisfactory results from simplified analysis are pointed out to address their current applicability limits.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.203-211
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• 2020

Turkey is located in one of the most seismically active regions of in Europe. The majority of the population living in big cities are at high seismic risk due to insufficient structural resistance of the existing buildings. Such a seismic risk brings the need for a comprehensive seismic evaluation based on the risk analysis in Turkey. Determining the seismic resistance level of existing building stock against the earthquakes is the first step to reduce the damages in a possible earthquake. Recently in January 2020, the Elazig earthquake brought the importance of the issue again in the public. However, the excessive amount of building stock, labor, and resource problems made the implementation phase almost impossible and revealed the necessity to carry out alternative studies on this issue. This study aims for a detailed investigation of residential buildings in Antalya, Turkey. The approach proposed here can be considered an improved state of building survey methods previously identified in Turkey's Design Code. Antalya, Turkey's fifth most populous city, with a population over 2.5 Million, was investigated as divided into sub-regions to understand the vulnerability, and a threshold value found for the study area. In this study, 26,610 reinforced concrete buildings between 1 to 7 stories in Antalya were examined by using the rapid visual assessment method. A specific threshold value for the city of Antalya was determined with the second level examination and statistical methods carried out in the determined sub-region. With the micro zonation process, regions below the threshold value are defined as the priority areas that need to be examined in detail. The developed methodology can be easily calibrated for application in other cities and can be used to determine new threshold values for those cities.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.74 no.6
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• pp.789-807
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• 2020

Multiple earthquakes that occur during short seismic intervals affect the inelastic behavior of the structures. Sequential ground motions against the single earthquake event cause the building structure to face loss in stiffness and its strength. Although, numerous research studies had been conducted in this research area but still significant limitations exist such as: 1) use of traditional design procedure which usually considers single seismic excitation; 2) selecting a seismic excitation data based on earthquake events occurred at another place and time. Therefore, it is important to study the effects of successive ground motions on the framed structures. The objective of this study is to overcome the aforementioned limitations through testing a two storey RC building structural model scaled down to 1/10 ratio through a similitude relation. The scaled model is examined using a shaking table. Thereafter, the experimental model results are validated with simulated results using ETABS software. The test framed specimen is subjected to sequential five artificial and four real-time earthquake motions. Dynamic response history analysis has been conducted to investigate the i) observed response and crack pattern; ii) maximum displacement; iii) residual displacement; iv) Interstorey drift ratio and damage limitation. The results of the study conclude that the low-rise building model has ability to resist successive artificial ground motion from its strength. Sequential artificial ground motions cause the framed structure to displace each storey twice in correlation with vary first artificial seismic vibration. The displacement parameters showed that real-time successive ground motions have a limited impact on the low-rise reinforced concrete model. The finding shows that traditional seismic design EC8 requires to reconsider the traditional design procedure.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.88 no.2
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• pp.117-128
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• 2023

On February 6, 2023, Türkiye woke up with a strong ground motion felt in a wide geography. As a result of the Kahramanmaraş, Pazarcık and Elbistan earthquakes, which took place 9 hours apart, there was great destruction and loss of life. The 2023 Kahramanmaraş earthquakes occurred on active faults known to pose a high seismic hazard, but their effects were devastating. Seismic code spectra were investigated in Hatay, Adıyaman and Kahramanmaraş where destruction is high. The study mainly focuses on the investigation of ground motion parameters of 6 February Kahramanmaraş earthquakes and the correlation between ground motion parameters. In addition, earthquakes greater than Mw 5.0 that occurred in Türkiye were compared with certain seismic parameters. As in the strong ground motion studies, seismic energy parameters such as Arias intensity, characteristic intensity, cumulative absolute velocity and specific energy density were determined, especially considering the duration content of the earthquake. Based on the study, it was concluded that the structures were overloaded far beyond their normal design levels. This, coupled with significant vertical seismic components, is a contributing factor to the collapse of many buildings in the area. In the evaluation made on Arias intensity, much more energy (approximately ten times) emerged in Kahramanmaraş earthquakes compared to other Türkiye earthquakes. No good correlation was found between moment magnitude and peak ground accelerations, peak ground velocities, Arias intensities and ground motion durations in Türkiye earthquakes. Both high seismic components and long ground motion durations caused intense energy to be transferred to the structures. No strong correlation was found between ground motion durations and other seismic parameters. There is a strong positive correlation between PGA and seismic energy parameter AI. Kahramanmaraş earthquakes revealed that changes should be made in the Turkish seismic code to predict higher spectral acceleration values, especially in earthquake-prone regions in Türkiye.