• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.31 no.3A
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• pp.181-187
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• 2011

This paper deals with free vibrations of the Timoshenko beam supported by two elastomeric bearings at two far ends. The ordinary differential equation governing free vibrations of such beam is derived, in which both effects of rotatory inertia and shear deformation are included as the Timoshenko beam theory. Also, boundary conditions of the free end are derived based on the Timoshenko beam theory. The ordinary differential equation is solved by the numerical methods for calculating natural frequencies and mode shapes. Both effects of the rotatory inertia and shear deformation on natural frequencies are extensively discussed. Also, relationships between natural frequencies and slenderness ratio, foundation modulus and bearing length are presented. Typical mode shapes of bending moment and shear force as well as deflection are given in figures which show the positions of maximum amplitudes and nodal points.

• Journal of Korean Association for Spatial Structures
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• v.4 no.1 s.11
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• pp.49-59
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• 2004

A previous study evaluated the seismic response of typical multi-span simply supported (MSSS) and multi-span continuous (MSC) steel-girder bridges in the central and southeastern United States. The results showed that the bridges were vulnerable to damage resulting from impact between decks, and large ductility demands on nonductile columns. Furthermore, fixed and expansion bearings were likely to fail during strong ground motion. In this paper, several retrofit measures to improve the seismic performance of typical multi-span simply supported and multi-span continuous steel girder bridges are evaluated, including the use of elastomeric bearings, lead-rubber bearings, and restrainer cables. It is determined that iead-rubber bearings are the most effective retrofit measure for reducing the seismic vulnerability of typical bridges. While isolation provided by elastomeric bearings limits the forces into the columns, the added flexibility results in pounding between decks in the MSSS steel-girder bridge. Restrainer cables, which are becoming a common retrofit measure, are only moderately effective in reducing the seismic vulnerability of MSSS and MSC steel girder bridges.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.103-110
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• 2021

Elastomeric bearings composed of flexible rubber materials and steel reinforcement plates are widely used for seismic retrofit of bridges due to their excellent vertical stiffness and flexible lateral stiffness. Especially, it has the advantages of simple construction and low cost. Chloroprene rubber, a type of rubber material, has greater resistance to aging than natural rubber, but its performance is also degraded due to various deterioration factors. Although these aging characteristics are not reflected in the seismic design standards and seismic performance evaluation guidelines, it is reasonable to reflect this when related studies are accumulated. For chloroprene rubber, accelerated heat aging test was performed with variables of heating temperatures and exposure time to analyze shear characteristics. As aging progresses the maximum shear stress and shear strain decrease. Also, the shear stiffness is greatly increased at the same shear strain.

• Proceedings of the KSR Conference
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• 2011.10a
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• pp.800-806
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• 2011

Thermal expansion which occurs at the high speed rail joint is proportional to the free length from the point of fixity. This thermal expansion behaves similar to free expansion because the girder longitudinal stiffness is much larger than longitudinal resistance of rail pads. But the longitudinal displacement in the long rail is nominal because the longitudinal support condition of the girder is normally MFM(movable-fix-movable) system. Due to these girder expansion characteristics, there is longitudinal relative displacement at the rail pad and rail fastener spring which connects rail and girder. If the relative displacement between rail and girder is beyond the elastic limit for the rail pad, rail fastener system shall be applied using sliding fastener to prevent rail pad damage and fastener separation resulting from slip. On the other hand, train vertical vibration and tilting can occur due to the lack of fastener vertical force if the sliding fastener is applied at the girder joint. In the high speed rail bridge, vibration can occur due to the spring stiffness of the elastomeric bearing, also both vertical downward and upward displacement can occur. The elastomeric bearing vertical movement can cause rail displacement and finally the stability of the ballast is reduced because the gravel movement is induced.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.303-309
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• 2017

Structural control through seismic isolation using elastomeric rubber bearing, which is also known as High Damping Rubber Bearing (HDRB), has seen an increase in use to provide protective from earthquake, especially for new buildings in earthquake zones. Besides, HDRB has also been used in structural rehabilitation of older yet significant buildings, such as museums and palaces. However, the present design approach applied in normal practice has often resulted in dissimilar HDRB dimension requirement between structural designers and bearing manufacturers mainly due to ineffective communication. Therefore, in order to ease the design process, most HDRB manufacturers have come up with catalogs that list all necessary and relevant product lines specifically for structural engineers to choose from. In fact, these catalogs contain physical dimension, compression property, shear characteristic, and most importantly, the total rubber thickness. Nonetheless, other complicated issues, such as the relationship between target isolation period and displacement demand (which determines the total rubber thickness), are omitted due to cul-de-sac fixing of these values in the catalogs. As such, this paper presents a formula, which is derived and extended from the present design approach, in order to offer a simple guideline for engineers to estimate the required HDRB size. This improved design formula successfully minimizes the discrepancies stumbled upon among structural designers, builders, and rubber bearing manufacturers in terms of variation order issue at the designing stage because manufacturer of isolator is always the last to be appointed in most projects.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.137-144
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• 2000

Judging from the occasional occurrences of minor and major earthquakes in Korean peninsula, it is generally considered that Korean peninsula is not located in safe zone from earthquake any more. The worldwide damages from earthquake in public buildings such as bridges are also urging the necessity for an appropriate earthquake proof action. The elastomeric bearings have been used in seismic isolation design of bridges. and elastomeric bearings are quite ideal ones which allow movement and rotation in all directions without restraining superstruture. Within the limits of this study on dynamic behavior of the LBR for seismic isolation design, the reaearch results revealed that the Laminated Rubber Bearing(LRB) is useful in bridges for seismic isolation design. In addition, the relationship between the shape factor and compressive strength is linear. It was also found that the compressive strength gets higher as the shape factor increases.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.381-399
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• 2005

Base isolation technologies have been proven to be very efficient in protecting structures from seismic hazards during experimental and theoretical studies. In recent years, there have been more and more engineering applications using base isolators to upgrade the seismic resistibility of structures. Optimum design of the base isolator can lessen the undesirable seismic hazard with the most efficiency. Hence, tracing the nonlinear behavior of the base isolator with good accuracy is important in the engineering profession. In order to predict the nonlinear behavior of base isolated structures precisely, hundreds even thousands of degrees-of-freedom and iterative algorithm are required for nonlinear time history analysis. In view of this, a simple and feasible exact formulation without any iteration has been proposed in this study to calculate the seismic responses of structures with base isolators. Comparison between the experimental results from shaking table tests conducted at National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering in Taiwan and the analytical results show that the proposed method can accurately simulate the seismic behavior of base isolated structures with elastomeric bearings. Furthermore, it is also shown that the proposed method can predict the nonlinear behavior of the VCFPS isolated structure with accuracy as compared to that from the nonlinear finite element program. Therefore, the proposed concept can be used as a simple and practical tool for engineering professions for designing the elastomeric bearing as well as sliding bearing.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.12
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• pp.106-111
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• 2017

In this study, the stiffness of an LMU (Leg Mating Unit), which is a device required for installing the top side part of an offshore structure, was examined through structural analysis. This unit is mounted on the supporting point of the structure and is used to absorb the shock at installation. It is a cylindrical structure with an empty center. To support the vertical load, elastomeric bearings (EBs) and iron plates are laminated in layers. The stiffness of the EBs is basically influenced by the size of the bearings, but it varies with the number of laminated sheets inside the same sized structure. The relationship between the stiffener and the compressive stiffness is investigated, and its design is suggested. The stiffness of the EBs is analyzed by calculating the reaction force, while controlling the displacement. First, the relationship between the size of the reinforcing plate and the compressive stiffness is considered. Next, the relationship between the number of stacked reinforcing plates and the compression stiffness is considered. Different loads are required for each installed point. The goal is to design the compression stiffness in such a way that the same deformation occurs at each point in the analysis. In this study, ANSYS is used to perform the FE analysis.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.4A
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• pp.475-485
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• 2008

This paper intends to enhance the reliability and performance of domestic elastomeric bearings through the proposal of directions for the improvement of their stiffness regard to the Korean industrial standard KS F 4420 relative to the evaluation of design/fabrication/quality. Therefore, comparative analysis of the compressive elastic modulus, stiffness measurement method and performance evaluation method of KS F 4420 with those of Eurocode, Japanese bearing manual, and ISO code was performed, and measurement tests on the compressive stiffness and shear stiffness of common elastomeric bearings produced in Korea were conducted. The experimental results reveal that differences of about 20% and 13% occurred respectively for the compressive stiffness and shear stiffness according to the definition adopted for the stiffness. The measured values for the stiffness of the domestic elastomeric bearings were also verified to exhibit large deviation from the formula proposed by KS F 4420. Elastomeric bearings that does not have appropriate compressive stiffness required at the design can result in uneven deflection at supports of bridges and excessive stress in girders. Accordingly, the establishment of compressive elastic modulus formula and performance evaluation criteria fitted to the domestic circumstances through the execution of performance evaluation of bearings presenting diversified shapes and shape factors appears to be necessary for the domestic bearings to meet the performance required in design.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2009.04a
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• pp.172-173
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• 2009