• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.76 no.1
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• pp.57-65
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• 2020

It is very important to allocate valuable resources efficiently when reconstructing buildings after earthquake damage. This paper proposes the use of a simple seismic retrofitting system to make buildings more resilient than the stiffer systems such as the shear walls implemented in Chile after the earthquake in 2010. The proposal is based on the use of steel chevron-type braces in RC buildings as a dual system to improve the seismic performance of multistory buildings. A case study was carried out to compare the proposal with the shear wall solution for the typical seismic Chilean RC building from the structural and economic perspectives. The results show that it is more resilient than other stiffer seismic solutions, such as shear walls, reduces the demand, minimizes seismic damage, gives reliable earthquake protection and facilitates future upgrades and repairs while achieving the level of immediate occupancy without the costs of the shear walls system.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.52 no.3
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• pp.357-376
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• 2024

In this paper, weakly bonded ultra-high-strength steel bars (UHSS) were used as longitudinal reinforcement in recycled aggregate concrete shear walls to achieve resilient performance. The study evaluated the repairability and hysteresis performance of shear walls before and after retrofitting. Quasi-static tests were performed on recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) and steel fiber reinforced recycled aggregate concrete (FRAC) shear walls to investigate the reparability of resilient shear walls when loaded to 1% drift ratio. Results showed that shear walls exhibited drift-hardening properties. The maximum residual drift ratio and residual crack width at 1% drift ratio were 0.107% and 0.01mm, respectively, which were within the repairable limits. Subsequently, shear walls were retrofitted with bonded X-shaped CFRP strips and steel plates wrapped at the bottom and retested. Except for a slight reduction in initial stiffness, earthquake-damaged resilient shear walls retrofitted with a composite method still had satisfactory hysteresis performance. A revised damage assessment index D, has been proposed to assess of damage degree. Moreover, finite-element analysis for the shear wall before and after retrofit retrofitting was established in OpenSees and verified with experimental results. The finite element results and test results were in good agreement. Finally, parametric analysis was performed.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.53 no.4
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• pp.443-460
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• 2024

This study develops Titanium (Ti) and Magnesium (Mg)-based nano-alloys to enhance the earthquake resilience of steel structures using machine learning (SVM) and sensor technology. Embedding Ti and Mg into steel at the nanoscale creates a lightweight, durable, and flexible material capable of withstanding seismic forces. Ti enhances tensile strength and flexibility, while Mg reduces weight, lowering seismic loads on buildings. The performance of these nano-alloys was assessed through shake table tests, cyclic load testing, and dynamic response testing, showing that nano-alloy-enhanced steel structures experienced 60% less displacement and 40% lower acceleration than traditional steel, demonstrating superior energy absorption and stress distribution. Fatigue tests revealed that the nano-alloy could endure 20,000 loading cycles, outperforming the 8,000 cycles of conventional steel. Integrated sensor technology, including strain gauges and accelerometers, provided real-time stress and deformation data, confirming the material's effectiveness in stress distribution and vibration damping. The SVM model optimized alloy composition, achieving 94% prediction accuracy in assessing seismic performance, highlighting the nano-alloys' durability and resilience. This study suggests that Ti and Mg nano-alloys could greatly improve earthquake-resistant construction.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.52 no.6
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• pp.647-656
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• 2024

This paper discusses the study of concrete composite walls of algorithmic modeling, in which steel tubes are embedded. The load-bearing capacity of STHC composite walls increases with the increase of axial load coefficient, but its ductility decreases. The load-bearing capacity can be improved by increasing the strength of the steel pipes; however, the elasticity of STHC composite walls was found to be slightly reduced. As the shear stress coefficient increases, the load-bearing capacity of STHC composite walls decreases significantly, while the deformation resistance increases. By analyzing actual cases, we demonstrate the effectiveness of the research results in real situations and enhance the persuasiveness of the conclusions. The research results can provide a basis for future research, inspire more explorations on seismic design and construction, and further advance the development of this field. Emphasize the importance of research results, promote interdisciplinary cooperation in the fields of structural engineering, earthquake engineering, and materials science, and improve overall seismic resistance. The emphasis on these aspects will help highlight the practical impact of the research results, further strengthen the conclusions, and promote progress in the design and construction of earthquake-resistant structures. The goals of this work are access to adequate, safe and affordable housing and basic services, promotion of inclusive and sustainable urbanization and participation, implementation of sustainable and disaster-resilient architecture, sustainable planning and management of human settlements. Simulation results of linear and nonlinear structures show that this method can detect structural parameters and their changes due to damage and unknown disturbances. Therefore, it is believed that with the further development of fuzzy neural network artificial intelligence theory, this goal will be achieved in the near future.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.315-337
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• 2023

The steel structure is an assembly of individual structural members joined together by connections. The connections are the focal point to transfer the forces which is susceptible to damage easily. It is challenging to replace the affected connection parts after an earthquake. Hence, steel plates are utilised as a structural fuse that absorbs connection forces and fails first. The objective of the present research is to develop a beam-column end plate connection with single and dual fuse and study the effect of single fuse, dual fuse and combined action of fuse and damper. In this research, seismic resilient beam-column end plate connection is developed in the form of structural fuse. The novel connection consists of one main fuse was placed horizontally and secondary fuse was placed vertically over main fuse. The specimens are fabricated with the variation in number of fuse (single and dual) and position of fuse (beam flange top and bottom). From the fabricated ten specimens five specimens were loaded monotonically and five cyclically. The experimental results are compared with Finite Element Analysis results of Arunkumar and Umamaheswari (2022). The results are critically assessed in the aspect of moment-rotation behaviour, strain in connection components, connection stiffness, energy dissipation characteristics and ductility. While comparing the performance of total five specimens, the connection with fuse exhibited superior performance than the conventional connection. An equation is proposed for the moment of resistance of end-plate connection without and with structural fuse.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.53 no.1
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• pp.103-114
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• 2024

This study proposes a new hybrid approach that utilizes post-earthquake survey data and numerical analysis results from an evolving finite element routing model to capture vulnerability processes. In order to achieve cost-effective evaluation and optimization, this study introduced an online data evolution data platform. The proposed method consists of four stages: 1) development of diagnostic sensitivity curve; 2) determination of probability distribution parameters of throughput threshold through optimization; 3) update of distribution parameters using smart evolution method; 4) derivation of updated diffusion parameters. Produce a blending curve. The analytical curves were initially obtained based on a finite element model used to represent a similar RC building with an estimated (previous) capacity height in the damaged area. The previous data are updated based on the estimated empirical failure probabilities from the post-earthquake survey data, and the mixed sensitivity curve is constructed using the update (subsequent) that best describes the empirical failure probabilities. The results show that the earthquake rupture estimate is close to the empirical rupture probability and corresponds very accurately to the real engineering online practical analysis. The objectives of this paper are to obtain adequate, safe and affordable housing and basic services, promote inclusive and sustainable urbanization and participation, implement sustainable and disaster-resilient buildings, sustainable human settlement planning and management. Therefore, with the continuous development of artificial intelligence and management strategy, this goal is expected to be achieved in the near future.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.407-417
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• 2023

After a disaster like the catastrophic earthquake, the government have to use rapid assessment of the condition (or damage) of bridges, buildings and other infrastructures is mandatory for rapid feedbacks, rescue and post-event management. Many domain schemes based on the measured vibration computations, including least squares estimation and neural fuzzy logic control, have been studied and found to be effective for online/offline monitoring of structural damage. Traditional strategies require all external stimulus data (input data) which have been measured available, but this may not be the generalized for all structures. In this article, a new method with unknown inputs (excitations) is provided to identify structural matrix such as stiffness, mass, damping and other nonlinear parts, unknown disturbances for example. An analytical solution is thus constructed and presented because the solution in the existing literature has not been available. The goals of this paper are towards access to adequate, safe and affordable housing and basic services, promotion of inclusive and sustainable urbanization and participation, implementation of sustainable and disaster-resilient buildings, sustainable human settlement planning and manage. Simulation results of linear and nonlinear structures show that the proposed method is able to identify structural parameters and their changes due to damage and unknown excitations. Therefore, the goal is believed to achieved in the near future by the ongoing development of AI and control theory.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.52 no.5
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• pp.571-581
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• 2024

After a disaster like the catastrophic earthquake, the government have to use rapid assessment of the condition (or damage) of bridges, buildings and other infrastructures is mandatory for rapid feedbacks, rescue and post-event management. This work studies the tracking control problem of a class of strict-feedback nonlinear systems with input saturation nonlinearity. Under the framework of dynamic surface control design, RBF neural networks are introduced to approximate the unknown nonlinear dynamics. In order to address the impact of input saturation nonlinearity in the system, an auxiliary control system is constructed, and by introducing a class of first-order low-pass filters, the problems of large computation and computational explosion caused by repeated differentiation are effectively solved. In response to unknown parameters, corresponding adaptive updating control laws are designed. The goals of this paper are towards access to adequate, safe and affordable housing and basic services, promotion of inclusive and sustainable urbanization and participation, implementation of sustainable and disaster-resilient buildings, sustainable human settlement planning and manage. Simulation results of linear and nonlinear structures show that the proposed method is able to identify structural parameters and their changes due to damage and unknown excitations. Therefore, the goal is believed to achieved in the near future by the ongoing development of AI and control theory.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.639-654
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• 2018

Rocking motion have been used for achieving the 'resilient buildings' against earthquakes in recent studies. Low-rise buildings, unlike the tall ones, because of their small aspect ratio tend to slide rather than move in rocking mode. However, since rocking is more effective in seismic response reduction than sliding, it is desired to create rocking motion in low-rise buildings too. One way for this purpose is making the building's structure rock on its internal bay(s) by reducing the number of bays at the lower part of the building's skeleton, giving it a mushroom form. In this study 'mushroom skeleton' has been used for creating multi-story rocking regular steel buildings with square plan to rock on its one-by-one bay central lowest story. To show if this idea is effective, a set of mushroom buildings have been considered, and their seismic responses have been compared with those of their conventional counterparts, designed based on a conventional code. Also, a set of similar buildings with skeleton stronger than code requirement, to have immediate occupancy (IO) performance level, have been considered for comparison. Seismic responses, obtained by nonlinear time history analyses, using scaled three-dimensional accelerograms of selected earthquakes, show that by using appropriate 'mushroom skeleton' the seismic performance of buildings is upgraded to mostly IO level, while all of the conventional buildings experience collapse prevention (CP) level or beyond. The strong-skeleton buildings mostly present IO performance level as well, however, their base shear and absolute acceleration responses are much higher than the mushroom buildings.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.375-388
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• 2022

Nibellen structural system is a novel resilient bracing system based on the application of Bellville disks and Nitinol rods. The cyclic behavior of Nibellen assembly was obtained, and the design equations were developed based on the available literature. Seismic performance of the system was then studied analytically. Two groups of buildings with different lateral force resisting systems were designed and studied: one group with the Nibellen system, and the other with the special concentrically braced frame system. Each building group consisted of 5-, 10-, and 15-story buildings. The Design-Base-Event (DBE) and Maximum Considered Event (MCE) were considered as the seismic hazard, and a suite of seven ground motions were scaled accordingly for response history analyses. Finally, the resiliency of the buildings was studied by obtaining the functionality curve of the buildings before and after the seismic event. The construction cost of the 5-story building with Nibellen bracing system increased but the post-earthquake cost decreased significantly. The application of Nibellen system in the 10- and 15-story buildings reduced both the construction and repair costs, considerably. Resiliency of all the buildings was improved when Nibellen system was used as the lateral force resisting system.