• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.361-377
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• 2018

In this paper, an alternative reliability-based methodology is developed and implemented on the safety evaluation of structures subjected to seismic loading. To effectively elaborate the approach, structures are represented by finite elements and seismic loading is applied in time domain. The accuracy of the proposed reliability-based methodology is verified using Monte Carlo Simulation. It is confirmed that the presented approach provides adequate accuracy in calculating structural reliability. The efficiency and robustness in problems related to performance-based seismic design are verified. A structure designed by experts satisfying all post-Northridge seismic design requirements is studied. Rigidities related to beam-to-column connections are incorporated. The structure is excited by three suites of ground motions representing three performance levels: immediate occupancy, life safety, and collapse prevention. Using this methodology, it is demonstrated that only hundreds of deterministic finite element analyses are required for extracting reliability information. Several advantages are documented with respect to Monte Carlo Simulation. To showcase an applicability extension of the proposed reliability-based methodology, structural risk is calculated using simulated ground motions generated via the broadband platform developed by the Southern California Earthquake Center. It is validated the accuracy of the broadband platform in terms of structural reliability. Based on the results documented in this paper, a very solid, sound, and precise reliability-based methodology is proved to be acceptable for safety evaluation of structures excited by seismic loading.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.527-542
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• 2020

In traditional eccentrically braced steel frames, damages and plastic deformations are limited to the links and the main structure members are required tremendous sizes to ensure elasticity with no damage based on the force-based seismic design method, this limits the practical application of the structure. The high strength steel frames with eccentric braces refer to Q345 (the nominal yield strength is 345 MPa) steel used for links, and Q460 steel utilized for columns and beams in the eccentrically brace steel frames, the application of high strength steels not only brings out better economy and higher strength, but also wider application prospects in seismic fortification zone. Here, the structures with four type eccentric braces are chosen, including K-type, Y-type, D-type and V-type. These four types EBFs have various performances, such as stiffness, bearing capacity, ductility and failure mode. To evaluate the seismic behavior of the high strength steel frames with variable eccentric braces within the similar performance objectives, four types EBFs with 4-storey, 8-storey, 12-storey and 16-storey were designed by performance-based seismic design method. The nonlinear static behavior by pushover analysis and dynamic performance by time history analysis in the SAP2000 software was applied. A total of 11 ground motion records are adopted in the time history analysis. Ground motions representing three seismic hazards: first, elastic behavior in low earthquake hazard level for immediate occupancy, second, inelastic behavior of links in moderate earthquake hazard level for rapid repair, and third, inelastic behavior of the whole structure in very high earthquake hazard level for collapse prevention. The analyses results indicated that all structures have similar failure mode and seismic performance.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.553-562
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• 2006

Lateral loading due to wind or earthquake is a major factor that affects the design of high-rise buildings. This paper highlights the problems associated with the seismic design of high-rise buildings in regions of strong wind and moderate seismicity. Seismic response analysis and performance evaluation were conducted for wind-designed concentrically braced steel high-rise buildings in order to check the feasibility of designing them per elastic seismic design criterion (or strength and stiffness solution) in such regions. Review of wind design and pushover analysis results indicated that wind-designed high-rise buildings possess significantly increased elastic seismic capacity due to the overstrength resulting from the wind serviceability criterion. The strength demand-to-capacity study showed that, due to the wind design overstrength, high-rise buildings with a slenderness ratio of larger than four or five can elastically withstand even the maximum considered earthquake (MCE) with the seismic performance level of immediate occupancy under the limited conditions of this study. A step-by-step seismic design procedure per the elastic criterion that is directly usable for practicing design engineers is also recommended.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.55-63
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• 2013

In this study, seismic performance was evaluated considering the deterioration level for the low-rise and moderate buildings with non-seismic details which are most common in Korea. Evaluation results showed that the deterioration condition is relatively good even after 24 years of construction but the seismic performance did not satisfy the protection index in the first and second evaluation. In case of the third evaluation, the goal performance was satisfied based on the interstory drift ratio but reinforcement is found to be necessary. Seismic performance was evaluated after the target buildings were reinforced in the walls, bracing, and damper. Results showed the interstory drift ratio drastically reduced regardless of reinforcement methods and satisfied the level of immediate occupancy. In case of wall reinforcement, however, base shear increased more than double which requires review on the existing foundation.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.151-164
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• 2017

This article aims to investigate the possible retrofitting of a deficient building with soft story failure mode by connecting it to an adjacent building which is designed based on current code with friction dampers at all floors. Low cost and high performance reliability along with significant energy dissipation pertaining to stable hysteretic loops may be considered in order to choose the proper damper for connecting adjacent buildings. After connecting two neighbouring floors by friction dampers, the sliding forces of dampers at various stories are set in two arrangements: uniform sliding force and then variable sliding force. In order to account for the stochastic nature of the seismic events, incremental dynamic analyses are employed prior and after the installation of the friction dampers at the various floors. Based on these results, fragility curves and mean annual rate of exceedance of serviceability and ultimate limit states are obtained. The results of this study show that the collapse mode of the deficient building can affect the optimum arrangement of sliding forces of friction dampers at Collapse Prevention (CP) performance level. In particular, the Immediate Occupancy (IO) performance level is not tangible to the sliding force arrangement and it depends solely on sliding force value. Generally it can be claimed that this rehabilitation scheme can turn the challenge of pounding two adjacent buildings into the opportunity of dissipating a large amount of the seismic input energy by the friction dampers, thus improving significantly the poor seismic performance of the deficient structure.

• 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.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.561-570
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• 2022

It is of great importance to be able to evaluate different structural systems not only based on their seismic performance but also considering their lifetime service costs. Many structural systems exist that can meet the engineering requirements for different performance levels; therefore, these systems shall be selected based on their economic costs over time. In this paper, two structural systems, including special steel moment-resisting and the ordinary concentric braced frames, are considered, which are designed to meet the three performance levels: Immediate Occupancy (IO), Life Safety (LS), Collapse Prevention (CP). The seismic behavior of these two systems is studied under three strong ground motions (i.e., Tabas, Bam, Kajour earthquake records) using the Perform3D package, and the incurred damages to the studied systems are examined at two hazard levels. Economic analyses were performed to determine the most economical structural system to meet the specified performance level requirements, considering the initial cost and costs associated with damages of an earthquake that occurred during their lifetime. In essence, the economic lifetime study results show that the special moment-resisting frames at IO and LS performance levels are at least 20% more economical than braced frames. The result of the study for these building systems with different heights designed for different performance levels also shows it is more economical from the perspective of long-term ownership of the property to design for higher performance levels even though the initial construction cost is higher.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.85 no.3
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• pp.381-391
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• 2023

The seismic performance of the tall building equipped with a tuned mass damper (TMD) considering soil-structure interaction (SSI) effects is well studied in the literature. However, these studies are performed on the nominal model of the seismic-excited structural system with SSI. Hence, the outcomes of the studies may not valid for the actual structural system. To address the study gap, the reliability theory as a useful and powerful method is utilized in the paper. The present study aims to carry out reliability analyses on tall buildings equipped with TMD under near-field pulse-like (NFPL) ground motions considering SSI effects using a subset simulation (SS) method. In the presence of uncertainties of the structural model, TMD device, foundation, soil, and near-field pulse-like ground motions, the numerical studies are performed on a benchmark 40-story building and the failure probabilities of the structures with and without TMD are evaluated. Three types of soils (dense, medium, and soft soils), different earthquake magnitudes (M_w = 7,0. 7,25. 7,5 ), different nearest fault distances (r = 5. 10 and 15 km), and three seismic performance levels of immediate occupancy (IO), life safety (LS), and collapse prevention (CP) are considered in this study. The results show that tall buildings built near faults and on soft soils are more affected by uncertainties of the structural and ground motion models. Hence, ignoring these uncertainties may result in an inaccurate estimation of the maximum seismic responses. Also, it is found the TMD is not able to reduce the failure probabilities of the structure in the IO seismic performance level, especially for high earthquake magnitudes and structures built near the fault. However, TMD is significantly effective in the reduction of failure probability for the LS and CP performance levels. For weak earthquakes and long fault distances, the failure probabilities of both structures with and without TMD are near zero, and the efficiency of the TMD in the reduction of failure probabilities is reduced by increasing earthquake magnitudes and the reduction of fault distance. As soil softness increases, the failure probability of structures both with and without TMD often increases, especially for severe near-fault earthquake motion.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.531-549
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• 2021

Analytical models were developed and seismic behaviors were analyzed for a three-story stone pagoda at the Cheollyongsa temple site, which was damaged by the Gyeongju earthquake of 2016. Both finite and discrete element modeling were used and the analysis results were compared to the actual earthquake damage. Vulnerable parts of stone pagoda structure were identified and their seismic behaviors via sliding, rocking, and risk analyses were verified. In finite and discrete element analyses, the 3F main body stone was displaced uniaxially by 60 and 80 mm, respectively, similar to the actual displacement of 90 mm resulting from the earthquake. Considering various input conditions such as uniaxial excitation and soil-structure interaction, as well as seismic components and the distance from the epicenter, both models yielded reasonable and applicable results. The Gyeongju earthquake exhibited extreme short-period characteristics; thus, short-period structures such as stone pagodas were seriously damaged. In addition, we found that sliding occurred in the upper parts because the vertical load was low, but rocking predominated in the lower parts because most structural members were slender. The third-floor main body and roof stones were particularly vulnerable because some damage occurred when the sliding and rocking limits were exceeded. Risk analysis revealed that the probability of collapse was minimal at 0.1 g, but exceeded 80% at above 0.3 g. The collapse risks at an earthquake peak ground acceleration of 0.154 g at the immediate occupancy, life safety, and collapse prevention levels were 90%, 52%, and 6% respectively. When the actual damage was compared with the risk analysis, the stone pagoda retained earthquake-resistant performance at the life safety level.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.439-453
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• 2023

Older brick masonry structures generally suffer from low strength defects. Using a cement mortar layer (CML) or steel-meshed cement mortar layer (S-CML) to reinforce existing low-strength brick masonry structures (LBMs) is still an effective means of increasing seismic performance. However, performance indices such as lateral displacement ratios and skeleton curves for LBMs reinforced with CML or S-CML need to be clarified in performance-based seismic design and evaluation. Therefore, research into the failure mechanisms and seismic performance of LBMs reinforced with CML or S-CML is imperative. In this study, thirty low-strength brick walls (LBWs) with different cross-sectional areas, bonding mortar types, vertical loads, and CML/S-CML thicknesses were constructed. The failure modes, load-carrying capacities, energy dissipation capacity and lateral drift ratio limits in different limits states were acquired via quasi-static tests. The results show that 1) the primary failure modes of UBWs and RBWs are "diagonal shear failure" and "sliding failure through joints." 2) The acceptable drift ratios of Immediate Occupancy (IO), Life Safety (LS), and Collapse Prevention (CP) for UBWs can be 0.04%, 0.08%, and 0.3%, respectively. For 20-RBWs, the acceptable drift ratios of IO, LS, and CP for 20-RBWs can be 0.037%, 0.09%, and 0.41%, respectively. Moreover, the acceptable drift ratios of IO, LS, and CP for 40-RBWs can be 0.048%, 0.09%, and 0.53%, respectively. 3) Reinforcing low-strength brick walls with CML/S-CML can improve brick walls' bearing capacity, deformation, and energy dissipation capacity. Using CML/S-CML reinforcement to improve the seismic performance of old masonry houses is a feasible and practical choice.