• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.68 no.5
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• pp.621-632
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• 2018

Soft-story buildings have bottom stories much less rigid than the top stories and are susceptible to earthquake damage. Therefore, the seismic design specifications need strict design considerations in such cases. In this paper, a four-story building was investigated as a case study and the effects of X-braces elimination in its lower stories studied. In addition, the possibility of replacement of the X-braces in soft-stories with equivalent moment resisting frame inspected in two different phases. In first phase, the stiffness of X-braces and equivalent moment-resisting frames evaluated using classic equations. In final phase, diagonals removed from the lowest story to develop a soft-story and replaced with moment resisting frames. Then, the seismic stiffness variation of moment-resisting frame evaluated using nonlinear static and dynamic analyses. The results show that substitution of braced frames with an equivalent moment-resisting frame of the same stiffness increases story drift and reduces energy absorption capacity. However, it is enough to consider the needs of building codes, even using equivalent moment resisting frame instead of X-Braces, to avoid soft-story stiffness irregularity in seismic design of buildings. Besides, soft-story development in the second story may be more critical under strong ground excitations, because of interaction of adjacent stories.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.497-507
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• 2019

Exposed column base connections are used in low- to mid-rise steel moment resisting frames. This paper is to investigate the effect of the base plate thickness on the exposed column base connection strength, stiffness, and energy dissipation. Five specimens with different base plate thickness were numerically modelled using ABAQUS software. The numerical model is able to reproduce the key characteristics of the experimental response. Based on the numerical analysis, the critical base plate thickness to identify the base plate and anchor rod yield mechanism is proposed. For the connection with base plate yield mechanism, the resisting moment is carried by the flexural bending of the base plate. Yield lines in the base plate on the tension side and compression side are illustrated, respectively. This type of connection exhibits a relatively large energy dissipation. For the connection with anchor rod yield mechanism, the moment is resisted through a combination of bearing stresses of concrete foundation on the compression side and tensile forces in the anchor rods on the tension side. This type of connection exhibits self-centering behavior and shows higher initial stiffness and bending strength. In addition, the methods to predict the moment resistance of the connection with different yield mechanisms are presented. And the evaluated moment resistances agree well with the values obtained from the FEM model.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.41-54
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• 2019

Reinforced Concrete (RC) shear walls are widely used in Nuclear power plants as effective lateral force resisting elements of the structure and these may experience nonlinear behavior for higher earthquake demand. Short shear walls of aspect ratio less than 1.5 generally experience combined shear flexure interaction. This paper presents the results of the displacement-controlled experiments performed on six RC short shear walls with varying aspect ratios (1, 1.25 and 1.5) for monotonic and reversed quasi-static cyclic loading. Simulation of the shear walls is then carried out by Finite element modeling and also by macro modeling considering the coupled shear and flexure behaviour. The shear response is estimated by softened truss theory using the concrete model given by Vecchio and Collins (1994) with a modification in softening part of the model and flexure response is estimated using moment curvature relationship. The accuracy of modeling is validated by comparing the simulated response with experimental one. Moreover, based on the experimental work a multi-linear hysteretic model is proposed for short shear walls. Finally ultimate load, drift, ductility, stiffness reduction and failure pattern of the shear walls are studied in details and hysteretic energy dissipation along with damage index are evaluated.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.439-452
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• 2021

The concept of Performance objective assessment is extended to wind engineering. This approach applies using the Database-Assisted Design technique, relying on the aerodynamic database provided by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). A structural model of a low-rise building is analyzed to obtain influence coefficients for internal forces and displacements. Combining these coefficients with time histories of pressure coefficients on the envelope produces time histories of load effects on the structure, for example knee and ridge bending moments, and eave lateral drift. The peak values of such effects are represented by an extreme-value Type I Distribution, which allows the estimation of the gust wind speed leading to the mean hourly extreme loading that cause specific performance objective compromises. Firstly a fully correlated wind field over large tributary areas is assumed and then relaxed to utilize the denser pressure tap data available but with considerably more computational effort. The performance objectives are determined in accordance with the limit state load combinations given in the ASCE 7-16 provisions, particularly the Load and Resistance Factor Design (LRFD) method. The procedure is then repeated for several wind directions and different dominant opening scenarios to determine the cases that produce performance objective criteria. Comparisons with two approaches in ASCE 7 are made.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.483-500
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• 2022

Cold-formed steel wall panels sheathed with gypsum plasterboard have shown superior thermal and structural performance in fire. Recent damage caused by fire events in Australia has increased the need for accurate fire resistance ratings of wall systems used in low- and mid-rise construction. Past fire research has mostly focused on light gauge steel framed (LSF) walls under uniform axial compression and LSF floors under pure bending. However, in reality, LSF wall studs may be subject to both compression and bending actions due to eccentric loading at the wall to-roof or wall-to-floor connections. In order to investigate the fire resistance of LSF walls under the effects of these loading eccentricities, four full-scale standard fire tests were conducted on 3 m × 3 m LSF wall specimens lined with two 16 mm gypsum plasterboards under different combinations of axial compression and lateral load ratios. The findings show that the loading eccentricity can adversely affect the fire resistance level of the LSF wall depending on the magnitude of the eccentricity, the resultant compressive stresses in the hot and cold flanges of the wall studs caused by combined loading and the temperatures of the hot and cold flanges of the studs. Structural fire designers should consider the effects of loading eccentricity in the design of LSF walls to eliminate their potential failures in fire.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.55-66
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• 2022

To develop high-efficiency lateral force resistance components for high-rise buildings, a novel energy dissipation shear wall with concrete-filled steel tubular (CFST) column elements was proposed. An energy dissipation shear wall specimen with CFST column elements (GZSW) and an ordinary reinforced concrete shear wall (SW) were constructed, and experimented by low-cycle reversed loading. The mechanical characteristics of these two specimens, including the bearing capacity, ductility, energy dissipation, and stiffness degradation process, were analyzed. The finite-element model of the GZSW was established by ABAQUS. Based on this finite-element model, the effect of the placement of steel-plate energy dissipation connectors on the seismic performance of the shear wall was analyzed, and optimization was performed. The experiment results prove that, the GZSW exhibited a superior seismic performance in terms of bearing capacity, ductility, energy dissipation, and stiffness degradation, in comparison with the SW. The results calculated by the ABAQUS finite-elements model of GZSW corresponded well with the results of experiment, and it proved the rationality of the established finite-elements model. In addition, the optimal placement of the steel-plate energy dissipation connectors was obtained by ABAQUS.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.243-254
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• 2022

Reinforced concrete (RC) deep beams are critical structural elements used in offshore pile caps, rectangular cross-section water tanks, silo structures, transfer beams in high-rise buildings, and bent caps. As a result of the low shear span ratio to effective depth (a/d) in deep beams, arch action occurs, which leads to shear failure. Several studies have been carried out to improve the shear resistance of RC deep beams and avoid brittle fracture behavior in recent years. This study was performed to investigate the behavior of RC deep beams numerically and experimentally with different reinforcement arrangements. Deep beams with four different reinforcement arrangements were produced and tested under monotonic static loading in the study's scope. The horizontal and vertical shear reinforcement members were changed in the test specimens to obtain the effects of different reinforcement arrangements. However, the rebars used for tension and the vertical shear reinforcement ratio were constant. In addition, the behavior of each deep beam was obtained numerically with commercial finite element analysis (FEA) software ABAQUS, and the findings were compared with the experimental results. The results showed that the reinforcements placed diagonally significantly increased the load-carrying and energy absorption capacities of RC deep beams. Moreover, an apparent plastic plateau was seen in the load-displacement curves of these test specimens in question (DE-2 and DE-3). This finding also indicated that diagonally located reinforcements improve displacement ductility. Also, the numerical results showed that the FEM method could be used to accurately predict RC deep beams'behavior with different reinforcement arrangements.

• International conference on construction engineering and project management
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• 2022.06a
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• pp.436-442
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• 2022

Hurricanes and tornadoes are the most destructive natural disasters in some central and southern states. Thus, storm shelters, which can provide emergency protections for low-rise building residents, are becoming popular nowadays. Both FEMA and ICC have published a series of manuals on storm shelter design. However, the authors found that the materials for related products in the market are heavyweight and hard to deliver and install; renovations are necessary. The authors' previous studies found that lightweight and high-performance composite materials can withstand extreme wind pressure, but some building codes are designated in wind-borne debris areas. In these areas, wind debris can reach greater than 100 mph speed. In addition, the impact damage on the composite materials is an increasing safety issue in many engineering fields; some can cause catastrophic results. Therefore, studying composite structures subjected to wind debris impact is essential. The finite element models are set up using the software Abaqus 2.0 to conduct the simulations to observe the impact resistance behavior of the carbon fiber composite sandwich panels. The selected wood debris models meet the FEMA requirements. The outcome of this study is then employed in future lab tests and compared with other material models.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.433-447
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• 2024

During earthquakes, regular buildings perform better than irregular buildings. In general, seismic design codes define a regular building using estimates of Storey Stiffness and Storey Strength. At present, seismic design codes do not recommend a specific method to estimate these parameters. Consequently, any method described in the literature can be applied to estimate the aforementioned parameters. Nevertheless, research has demonstrated that storey stiffness and storey strength vary depending on the estimation method employed. As a result, the same building can be regular or irregular, depending on the method employed to estimate storey stiffness and storey strength. Hence, there is a need to identify the best method to estimate storey stiffness and storey strength. For this purpose, the study presents a qualitative and quantitative evaluation of nine approaches used to determine storey stiffness. Similarly, the study compares six approaches for estimating storey strength. Subsequently, the study identifies the best method to estimate storey stiffness and storey strength using results of 350 linear time history analyses and 245 nonlinear time history analyses, respectively. Based on the comparison, it is concluded that the Fundamental Lateral Translational Mode Shape Method and Isolated Storey Method - A Particular Case are the best methods to estimate storey stiffness and storey strength of low-to-mid rise buildings, respectively.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.171-181
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• 2024

For low-rise piloti-type buildings that suffered significant damage in the Pohang earthquake, the seismic performance of those designed by codes issued before and after the earthquake has been recently revised. This study started with the expectation that many of the requirements presented in the current codes may be excessive, and among them, the spacing of column stirrup could be relaxed. In particular, the recently revised design code of concrete structures for buildings, KDS 41 20 00, suggests that the column stirrup spacing is 1/2 of the minimum cross-sectional size or 200 mm, which is strengthened compared to KBC 2016, but relaxed than the current KDS, 41 17 00, which is 1/4 of the minimum size or 150 mm. As a result of the study, it was found that the target performance level was sufficiently satisfied by following the current standards and that it could be satisfied even if the relaxed spacing was followed. Therefore, the strict column stirrup spacing of KDS 41 17 00 could be relaxed if a wall other than core walls is recommended in the current guideline for the structural design of piloti-type buildings.