• Architectural research
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.99-108
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• 2012

An innovative multi-story Semi-Active Tuned Mass Damper (SATMD) building system is proposed to control seismic response of existing structures. The application of adding new stories as large tuned mass and semi-active (SA) resettable actuators as central features of the control scheme is derived. For the effective control of the structures, the optimal tuning parameters are considered for the large mass ratio, for which a previously proposed equation is used and the practical optimal stiffness is allocated to the actuator stiffness and rubber bearing stiffness. A two-degree-of freedom (2-DOF) model is adopted to verify the principal efficiency of the suggested structural control concept. The simulations for this study utilizes the three ground motions, from SAC project, having probability of exceedance of 50% in 50 years, 10% in 50 years, and 2% in 50 years for the Los Angeles region. 12-story moment resisting frames, which are modified as '12+2' and '12+4' story structures, are investigated to assess the viability and effectiveness of the system that aims to reduce the response of the buildings to earthquakes. The control ability of the SATMD scheme is compared to that of an uncontrolled and an ideal Passive Tuned Mass Damper (PTMD) building system. From the performance results of suggested '12+2' and '12+4' story retrofitting case studies, SATMD systems shows significant promise for application of structural control where extra stories might be added.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.295-305
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• 2017

This paper reviews current status of the unified approach known as integrated safety assessment (ISA), as well as the associated SCAIS (simulation codes system for ISA) computer platform. These constitute a proposal, which is the result of collaborative action among the Nuclear Safety Council (CSN), University of Madrid (UPM), and NFQ Solutions S.L, aiming to allow independent regulatory verification of industry quantitative risk assessments. The content elaborates on discussions of the classical treatment of time in conventional probabilistic safety assessment (PSA) sequences and states important conclusions that can be used to avoid systematic and unacceptable underestimation of the failure exceedance frequencies. The unified ISA method meets this challenge by coupling deterministic and probabilistic mutual influences. The feasibility of the approach is illustrated with some examples of its application to a real size plant.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.504-509
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• 2014

Twenty-five stations of the urban monitoring network in Seoul were assessed with a focus on surveillance function of the exceedances of 8-hour ozone and 24-hour $PM_{10}$ standards. The two standards were selected because their attainment rates were particularly low. Two hierarchical cluster analyses were performed to group stations with similar atmospheric environments-one using daily highest 8-hour [$O_3+NO_2$], 8-hour $O_3$ concentrations plus corresponding 8-hour $NO_2$ concentrations considering the interconversion of $O_3$ and $NO_2$, and the other using 24-hour $PM_{10}$ concentrations. An index to measure higher concentration and exceedances of the standards was introduced. Within a cluster, sufficiently high score was assigned to the trends station or the station with higher index. Scores for $O_3+NO_2$ and $PM_{10}$ of a given station were added and ranked in the descending order to determine the relative importance.

• Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
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• 1997.10a
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• pp.11-26
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• 1997

It has knows that the seismicity of the Korean Peninsula is relatively inactive than those of adjacent northern China and southwestern Japan. Recently the review of long term historical records and recent seismicity. In addition, it is considered that the modern society is more vulnerable to seismic hazard because of high urbanization and industrialization. From this viewpoint, the improvement and modification of the present regulation for aseismic design is strongly proposed. The purpose of the present study is to prepare seismic hazard maps for Korea to be used in improving the present regulation. The present study was performed as a cooperative project of eight Korean seismologists. Each seismologist calculated independently seismic hazard value at the given grid points based on his own judgement about methodology and seismicity. Then the values are unified with equal weight to produce a seismic hazard map. Seven seismic hazard maps for peak acceleration with 10 percentile probability of exceedance in 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 250, 500 years are presented. This probability of exceedancd in such years corresponds to return period of 48, 95, 190, 475, 950, 2373, 4747 years, respectively. It is recommended to use a hazard map to be selected on the basis of the importance and the design level of structures.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.1349-1362
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• 2015

This paper presents an analytical study aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of using buckling-restrained braces (BRBs) in mitigating the seismic response of a case study 6 storey reinforced concrete (RC) building. In the design of the BRBs with non-prismatic cross-sections, twelve combinations of ${\alpha}$ and ${\beta}$ design parameters that influence the strength and stiffness of the BRBs, respectively, were considered. The response of the structure with and without BRBs under earthquake ground accelerations were evaluated through nonlinear dynamic analysis. Two sets of ground motions representative of the design earthquake with 10% and 50% exceedance probability in fifty years were taken into account. By comparing the structural performance of the original and buckling restrained braced structures, it was observed that the use of the BRBs were very effective in mitigating the seismic response as a retrofit scheme. However, the selection of the strength and stiffness parameters of the BRBs had considerable effect on the response characteristics of RC structures. For instance, by increasing the value of ${\alpha}$ and by decreasing the value of ${\beta}$ of the buckling-restrained braces, the maximum deformation demand of the structures increased.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.586-595
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• 2002

The Seismic probabilistic risk assessment (SPRA) or seismic margin assessment (SMA) have been used for the seismic safety evaluation of nuclear power plant structures and equipments. For the SPRA or SMA, the reference response spectrum should be defined. The site-specific median spectrum has been generally used for the seismic fragility analysis of structures and equipments in a Korean nuclear power plant Since the site-specific spectrum has been developed based on the peak ground motion parameter, the site-specific response spectrum does not represent the same probability of exceedance over the entire frequency range of interest. The uniform hazard spectrum is more appropriate to be used in seismic probabilistic risk assessment than the site- specific spectrum. A method for modifying the seismic fragility parameters that are calculated based on the site-specific median spectrum is described. This simple method was developed to incorporate the effects of the uniform hazard spectrum. The seismic fragility parameters of typical NPP components are modified using the uniform hazard spectrum. The modification factor is used to modify the original fragility parameters. An example uniform hazard spectrum is developed using the available seismic hazard data for the Korean nuclear power plant (NPP) site. This uniform hazard spectrum is used for the modification of fragility parameters.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.46 no.5
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• pp.699-706
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• 2014

The probabilistic seismic performance of a standard Korean nuclear power plant (NPP) with an idealized isolation is investigated in the present work. A probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA) of the Wolsong site on the Korean peninsula is performed by considering peak ground acceleration (PGA) as an earthquake intensity measure. A procedure is reported on the categorization and selection of two sets of ground motions of the Tohoku earthquake, i.e. long-period and common as Set A and Set B respectively, for the nonlinear time history response analysis of the base-isolated NPP. Limit state values as multiples of the displacement responses of the NPP base isolation are considered for the fragility estimation. The seismic risk of the NPP is further assessed by incorporation of the rate of frequency exceedance and conditional failure probability curves. Furthermore, this framework attempts to show the unacceptable performance of the isolated NPP in terms of the probabilistic distribution and annual probability of limit states. The comparative results for long and common ground motions are discussed to contribute to the future safety of nuclear facilities against drastic events like Tohoku.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.59-65
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• 2015

Background: After the Fukushima accident, the importance of hazard analysis for extreme external events was raised. Methods: To analyze typhoon-induced hazards, which are one of the significant disasters of East Asian countries, a statistical analysis using the extreme value theory, which is a method for estimating the annual exceedance frequency of a rare event, was conducted for an estimation of the occurrence intervals or hazard levels. For the four meteorological variables, maximum wind speed, instantaneous wind speed, hourly precipitation, and daily precipitation, the parameters of the predictive extreme value theory models were estimated. Results: The 100-year return levels for each variable were predicted using the developed models and compared with previously reported values. It was also found that there exist significant long-term climate changes of wind speed and precipitation. Conclusion: A fragility analysis should be conducted to ensure the safety levels of a nuclear power plant for high levels of wind speed and precipitation, which exceed the results of a previous analysis.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.367-378
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• 2007

A sediment quality index (SQI) and a mean sediment quality guideline quotient (M-SQGQ) were applied for the assessment of sediment quality in Masan Bay, Korea where metals and organic pollutants are of concern. The SQI was calculated by two functions, 'scope' (the number of variables that do not meet guideline objective) and 'amplitude' (the magnitude by which variables exceed guideline objective), with six different sediment quality guideline values from Canada, USA and Australia/New Zealand. Categorization of sediment quality was on the basis of SQI scores. The SQI values were compared with six guideline values applied as well as with the M-SQGQs. The SQI values were severely influenced by a few variables of high exceedance in the degree of non-compliance. The SQI values were very dependent on both the numbers and values of guideline variables used in index caluculation. Nevertheless, the SQI could provide integrated and simplified information from a large number of chemical data set. It is required to further evaluate protocols and guideline applied for deriving SQI and to compare it with field based sediment toxicity test and ecosystem integrity.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.20 no.7_spc
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• pp.461-472
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• 2016

Damage potential has been investigated for a domestic metropolitan railway bridge subjected to 2016 Gyeongju earthquake which has been reported as the strongest earthquake in Korea. For this purpose, nonlinear static pushover analyses for the bridge piers have been carried out to evaluate ductility capacities. Then, the capacities have been compared with those suggested by Railway Design Standards of Korea. This comparison shows that all piers possess enough safety margins. Nonlinear dynamic time-history analysis has also been conducted to estimate both displacement and shear force demands for the bridge subjected to ground motions recorded at stations in near of Gyeongju. Maximum demands reveal that response under the ground motions remains essentially in elastic. In addition, for a further assessment of the bridge under the Gyeongju earthquake, fragility analyses have been performed using those ground motions. The fragility results indicate that the recorded earthquakes do not significantly affect the damage exceedance probability of the bridge piers.