• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.97-111
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• 2020

Cylindrical steel tanks are important components of industrial facilities. Their safety becomes a crucial issue since any failure may cause catastrophic consequences. The aim of the paper is to show the results of comprehensive FEM numerical investigation focused on the response of cylindrical steel tanks under mining tremors and moderate earthquakes. The effects of different levels of liquid filling, the influence of non-uniform seismic excitation as well as the aspects of diagnosis of structural damage have been investigated. The results of the modal analysis indicate that the level of liquid filling is really essential in the structural analysis leading to considerable changes in the shapes of vibration modes with a substantial reduction in the natural frequencies when the level of liquid increases. The results of seismic and paraseismic analysis indicate that the filling the tank with liquid leads to the substantial increase in the structural response underground motions. It has also been observed that the peak structural response values under mining tremors and moderate earthquakes can be comparable to each other. Moreover, the consideration of spatial effects related to seismic wave propagation leads to a considerable decrease in the structural response under non-uniform seismic excitation. Finally, the analysis of damage diagnosis in steel tanks shows that different types of damage may induce changes in the free vibration modes and values of natural frequencies.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.355-363
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• 2019

Masonry structures in the rural areas of Turkey often damaged due to moderate and big earthquakes. After every earthquake many scientists made field investigations on the earthquake performance of these structures and gave many useful information on construction techniques. However, the newly constructed masonry buildings are still not suitable for the suggested techniques, and they are still in danger against future earthquakes. Five moderate earthquakes of moment magnitude Mw 5.3, 5.3, 5.2, 5.0, and 5.3 struck the Ayvacik-Çanakkale District of Turkey between 6 and 12 February, 2017. More than a thousand of aftershocks were occurred and most of the masonry buildings in the villages nearby main shock epicenter were affected. The author went to the earthquake field and investigated the earthquake performances of masonry structures. This paper presents the recorded acceleration data, acceleration response spectra, and the seismological aspects of these earthquakes. Besides, case studies of damaged stone masonry buildings, and failure mechanisms are discussed with illustrated photos which were taken during the field investigations. It is concluded that the damaged masonry buildings were not designed and constructed properly in accordance with the Turkish building codes or similar specifications.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.175-189
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• 2019

The aim of the study is to show the results of complex shaking table experimental investigation focused on the response of two models of cylindrical steel tanks under mining tremors and moderate earthquakes, including the aspects of diagnosis of structural damage. Firstly, the impact and the sweep-sine tests have been carried out, so as to determine the dynamic properties of models filled with different levels of liquid. Then, the models have been subjected to seismic and paraseismic excitations. Finally, one fully filled structure has been tested after introducing two different types of damages, so as to verify the method of damage diagnosis. The results of the impact and the sweep-sine tests show that filling the models with liquid leads to substantial reduction in natural frequencies, due to gradually increasing overall mass. Moreover, the results of sweep-sine tests clearly indicate that the increase in the liquid level results in significant increase in the damping structural ratio, which is the effect of damping properties of liquid due to its sloshing. The results of seismic and paraseismic tests indicate that filling the tank with liquid leads initially to considerable reduction in values of acceleration (damping effect of liquid sloshing); however, beyond a certain level of water filling, this regularity is inverted and acceleration values increase (effect of increasing total mass of the structure). Moreover, comparison of the responses under mining tremors and moderate earthquakes indicate that the power amplification factor of the mining tremors may be larger than the seismic power amplification factor. Finally, the results of damage diagnosis of fully filled steel tank model indicate that the forms of the Fourier spectra, together with the frequency and power spectral density values, can be directly related to the specific type of structural damage. They show a decrease in the natural frequencies for the model with unscrewed support bolts (global type of damage), while cutting the welds (local type of damage) has resulted in significant increase in values of the power spectral density for higher vibration modes.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.61-68
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• 2020

Recent studies have suggested that detectable ionospheric disturbances precede earthquakes. In the present study, variations in the vertical total electron content (TEC) for eight earthquakes with magnitudes of M ≥ 5.5 in the western United States were investigated during the solar maximum of 2013-2015 using United States total electron content (US-TEC) data provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Analyses of 12 earthquakes with magnitudes of 5.0 ≤ M < 5.5 in the same region were also performed. The TEC variations were examined for 40 days, including the times when the earthquakes occurred. The results indicated a correlation between earthquakes with magnitudes of M ≥ 5.0 and ionospheric TEC anomalies. TEC anomalies occurred before 60% of the earthquakes. Additionally, they were more frequently observed for large earthquakes (75%, M ≥ 5.5) than for small earthquakes (50%, 5.5 > M ≥ 5.0). Anomalous increases in the TEC occurred 2-18 days before the earthquakes as an ionospheric precursor, whereas solar and geomagnetic activities were low or moderate.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.429-446
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• 2006

Experimental investigation was conducted to evaluate the seismic ductility of earthquake-experienced concrete columns with an aspect ratio of 2.5. Eight circular concrete columns with a diameter of 600 mm were constructed with three test parameters: confinement ratio, lap-splice of longitudinal bars, and retrofitting with Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) materials. The objective of this research is to examine the seismic performance of RC bridge piers subjected to a Quasi static test (QST), which were preliminary tested under a series of artificial earthquake motions referred to as a Pseudo dynamic test (PDT). The seismic enhancement effect of FRP wrap was also investigated on these RC bridge piers. Six specimens were loaded to induce probable damage by four series of artificial earthquakes, which were developed to be compatible with earthquakes in the Korean peninsula by the Korea Highway Corporation (KHC). Directly after the PDT, six earthquake-experienced columns were subjected to inelastic cyclic loading under a constant axial load of $0.1{f_c}^{\prime}A_g$. Two other reference specimens without the PDT were also subjected to similar quasi-static loads. Test results showed that specimens pre-damaged by moderate artificial earthquakes generally demonstrated good residual seismic performance, which was similar to the corresponding reference specimen. Moreover, RC bridge specimens retrofitted with wrapping fiber composites in the potential plastic hinge region exhibited enhanced flexural ductility.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.114-120
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• 2009

Rupture directivity is the important parameter in estimating damage due to earthquakes. However, the traditional moment tensor inversion technique cannot resolve the real fault plane or the rupture directivity. To overcome these limitations, we have developed a new inversion algorithm to determine the moment tensor solution and the rupture directivity for moderate earthquakes, using the waveform inversion technique in the frequency domain. Numerical experiments for unilateral and bilateral rupture models with various rupture velocities confirm that the method can resolve the ambiguity of the fault planes and the rupture directivity successfully. To verify the feasibility of the technique, we tested the sensitivity to velocity models, which must be the most critical factor in practice. The results of the sensitivity tests show that the method can be applied even though the velocity model is not perfect. If this method is applied in regions where the velocity model is well verified, we can estimate the rupture directivity of a moderate earthquake. This method makes a significant contribution to understanding the characteristics of earthquakes in those regions.

• Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
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• 1999.10a
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• pp.359-366
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• 1999

This paper is a study on the seismic design and test of viscoelastic dampers in regions of moderate seismicity. First moderate seismic waves are generated with measured strong seismic data based on the theory of effective peak acceleration. Then their response spectrums are compared each other to estimate the required damping to attenuate the vibration. As relatively smaller damping is required in the regions of moderate seismicity than in the regions of strong seismicity proper viscoelastic dampers can be designed according to the estimated damping. Finally a test building model is designed and the viscoelastic dampers are installed for the experimental study under moderate and strong earthquakes, It is found that viscoelastic dampers with low damping capacity developed in this study are enough to reduce the building response in regions of moderate seismicity.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2001.05a
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• pp.871-876
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• 2001

Recent earthquakes in California and Japan caused extensive damage to highway bridge structures. It is also thought that during probable earthquakes bridge structures in Korea could be failed due to the structural deficiencies, which were nonseismically designed and constructed before 1992. In these regards, innovative strengthening methods have been developed to repair reinforced concrete bridge columns, especially by glassfiber sheet bonding methods which are widely used today. The primary objective of this research is to investigate the seismic behavior of RC bridge columns retrofitted with composite straps and to propose pertinent guidelines of repair and rehabilitation method for earthquake resistant design procedure of RC bridges which are located in low or moderate seismicity regions. Six scaled-down concrete test specimens were made with test variables such as lap splice ratio, axial force ratio, confinement ratio, composite straps in the plastic hinge region. Pertinent design guidelines could be developed for the earthquake resistant design of RC bridge piers retrofitted with glassfibers in low or moderate seismic region.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.1391-1404
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• 2016

Peninsular Malaysia lying on the stable Sunda Plate has traditionally been considered safe with low to moderate seismicity. However, far field Sumatran mega-earthquakes have been shown to be capable of triggering ground motions felt in high rise structures in the major Malaysian cities while seismic impact from local earthquakes of moment magnitude 3.8 have reportedly induced nominal structural damages to nearby buildings. This paper presents an overview of the recent seismic activities in and around Peninsular Malaysia with reference to prominent earthquakes generated by far field interplate and local intraplate sources. Records of ground motion data and seismic hazard assessment (SHA) results available in the literature have been analyzed and discussed. The peak ground acceleration (PGA) values from historical records for few local intraplate events were observed to be higher than those for the events from Sumatran Subduction Zone. This clearly points to the need for a detailed and comprehensive SHA incorporating both far field and local sources. Such an analysis would contribute the knowledge required for secure and reliable infrastructure design and safeguard the Malaysian people and economy.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.57-76
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• 2015

The Performance-based Earthquake Engineering (PBEE) concept implies the definition of multiple target performance levels of damage which are expected to be achieved (or not exceeded), when the structure is subjected to earthquake ground motion of specified intensity. These levels are associates to different return period (RP) of earthquakes and structural behaviors quantified with adopted factors or indexes of control. In this work an 8-level PBEE study is carried out, finding different curves for control index or Engineering Demand Parameters (EDP) of levels that assess the structural behavior. The results and the curves for each index of control allow to deduce the structural behavior at an a priori unspecified RP. A general methodology is proposed that takes into account a possible optimization process in the PBEE field. Finally, an application to 8-level seismic performance assessment to structure in a Spanish seismic zone permits deducing that its behavior is deficient for high seismic levels (RP > 475 years). The application of the methodology to a low-to-moderate seismic zone case proves to be a good tool of structural seismic design, applying a more sophisticated although simple PBEE formulation.