• Journal of Korean Association for Spatial Structures
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.71-80
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• 2012

Because a smart isolation system cannot be used as a base isolation system for tall buildings, top-story or mid-story isolation systems are required. In this study, adaptability of a smart top-story isolation system for reduction of seismic responses of tall buildings in regions of low-to-moderate seismicity has been investigated. To this end, 20-story example building structure was selected and an MR damper and low damping elastomeric bearings were used to compose a smart base isolation system. Artificial earthquakes generated based on design spectrum of low-to-moderate seismicity regions are used for structural analyses. Based on numerical simulation results, it has been shown that a smart top-story isolation system can effectively reduce both structural responses and isolation story drifts of the building structure in low-to-moderate seismicity regions in comparison with a passive top-story isolation system.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.625-641
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• 2020

The realistic modeling of the beam-column semi-rigid connection in steel frames attracted the attention of many researchers in the past for the seismic analysis of semi-rigid frames. Comparatively less studies have been made to investigate the behavior of steel frames with semi-rigid connections under different types of earthquake. Herein, the seismic behavior of semi-rigid steel frames is investigated under both far and near-field earthquakes. The semi-rigid connection is modeled by the multilinear plastic link element consisting of rotational springs. The kinematic hysteresis model is used to define the dynamic behavior of the rotational spring, describing the nonlinearity of the semi-rigid connection as defined in SAP2000. The nonlinear time history analysis (NTHA) is performed to obtain response time histories of the frame under scaled earthquakes at three PGA levels denoting the low, medium and high-level earthquakes. The other important parameters varied are the stiffness and strength parameters of the connections, defining the degree of semi-rigidity. For studying the behavior of the semi-rigid frame, a large number of seismic demand parameters are considered. The benchmark for comparison is taken as those of the corresponding rigid frame. Two different frames, namely, a five-story frame and a ten-story frame are considered as the numerical examples. It is shown that semi-rigid frames prove to be effective and beneficial in resisting the seismic forces for near-field earthquakes (PGA ≈ 0.2g), especially in reducing the base shear to a considerable extent for the moderate level of earthquake. Further, the semi-rigid frame with a relatively weaker beam and less connection stiffness may withstand a moderately strong earthquake without having much damage in the beams.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.617-627
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• 2018

After earthquakes FRP sheets are often used for the rehabilitation of damaged Reinforced Concrete (RC) beamcolumn connections. Connections with minor to moderate damage are often dealt with by applying FRP sheets after a superficial repair of the cracks using resin paste or high strength mortar but without infusion of thin resin solution under pressure into the cracking system. This technique is usually adopted in these cases due to the fast and easy-to-apply procedure. The experimental investigation reported herein aims at evaluating the effectiveness of repairing the damaged beam-column connections using FRP sheets after a meticulous but superficial repair of their cracking system using resin paste. The investigation comprises experimental results of 10 full scale beam-column joint specimens; five original joints and the corresponding retrofitted ones. The repair technique has been applied to RC joints with different joint reinforcement arrangements with minor to severe damage brought about by cyclic loading for the purposes of this work. Aiming at quantitative concluding remarks about the effectiveness of the repair technique, data concerning response loads, loading stiffness and energy absorption values have been acquired and commented upon. Furthermore, comparisons of damage index values and values of equivalent viscous damping, as obtained during the test of the original specimens, with the corresponding ones observed in the loading of the repaired ones have also been evaluated and commented. Based on these comparisons, it is deduced that the technique under investigation can be considered to be a rather satisfactory repair technique for joints with minor to moderate damage taking into account the rapid, convenient and easy-to-apply character of its application.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.789-810
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• 2016

Reinforced concrete (RC) bridges with both skew and curvature are pretty common in areas with complex terrains. Existing studies have shown skewed and/or curved bridges exhibit more complicated seismic performance than straight bridges, and yet related seismic risk studies are still rare. These bridges deserve more studies in low-to-moderate seismic regions than those in seismic-prone areas. This is because for bridges with irregular and complex geometric designs, comprehensive seismic analysis is not always required and little knowledge about actual seismic risks for these bridges in low-to-moderate regions is available. To provide more insightful understanding of the seismic risks and the impact from the geometric configurations, analytical fragility studies are carried out on four typical bridge designs with different geometric configurations (i.e., straight, curved, skewed, skewed and curved) in the mountain west region of the United States. The results show the curved and skewed geometries can considerably affect the bridge seismic fragility in a complex manner, underscoring the importance of conducting detailed seismic risk assessment of skewed and curved bridges in low-to-moderate seismic regions.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.4 no.6
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• pp.629-647
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• 2013

Loading protocols have been developed for quasi-static cyclic testing of structures and components. However, it is uncertain if protocols developed for conditions of intense ground shaking in regions of high seismicity would also be applicable to regions of low-moderate seismicity that are remote from the tectonic plate boundaries. This study presents a methodology for developing a quasi-static cyclic displacement loading protocol for experimental bracing evaluation of cold-formed steel stud shear walls. Simulations presented in the paper were based on conditions of moderate ground shaking (in Australia). The methodologies presented are generic in nature and can be applied to other regions of similar seismicity conditions (which include many parts of China, Korea, India and Malaysia). Numerous response time histories including both linear and nonlinear analyses have been generated for selected earthquake scenarios and site classes. Rain-flow cycle counting method has been used for determining the number of cycles at various ranges of normalized displacement amplitude. It is found that the number of displacement cycles of the loading protocol increases with increasing intensity of ground shaking (associated with a longer return period).

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.211-226
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• 2004

A relatively simple multiple-vertical-line-element macro model has been incorporated into a standard computer code DRAIN-2D. It was used in blind predictions of seismic response of cantilever RC walls subjected to a series of consequent earthquakes on a shaking table. The model was able to predict predominantly flexural response with relative success. It was able to predict the stiffness and the strength of the pre-cracked specimen and time-history response of the highly nonlinear wall as well as to simulate the shift of the neutral axis and corresponding varying axial force in the cantilever wall. However, failing to identify the rupture of some brittle reinforcement in the third test, the model was not able to predict post-critical, near collapse behaviour during the subsequent response to two stronger earthquakes. The analysed macro model seems to be appropriate for global analyses of complex building structures with RC structural walls subjected to moderate/strong earthquakes. However, it cannot, by definition, be used in refined research analyses monitoring local behaviour in the post critical region.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.73 no.4
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• pp.447-454
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• 2020

Seismic isolation technology has a wide application to protect bridges from earthquake damage, a new designed bridge pier with seismic isolation are provided for railways in seismic regions of China. The pier with rocking isolation is a self-centering system under small and moderate earthquakes, and the unbonded prestressed tendons are used to prevent overturning under strong earthquakes. A numerical model based on pseudo-static testing results is presented to evaluate the seismic performance of isolation bridge piers, and is validated by the shaking table test. It is found that the rocking response and the loss of prestressing for the bridge pier increase with the increase of earthquake intensity. Besides, the intensity and spectral characteristics of input ground motion have great influence on displacement of the top and bottom of the bridge pier, while have less influence on the bending moment of the pier bottom. Experimental and numerical results show that the rocking-isolated piers presented in this study have good seismic performance, and it provides an alternative way for the railway bridge in the regions with high occurrence of earthquakes. Therefore, we provide the detailed procedures for seismic design of the rocking-isolated bridge pier, and a case study of the seismic isolation design with rocking piers is carried out to popularize the seismic isolation methods.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 1998.10a
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• pp.553-558
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• 1998

Since the mid of the 20th century in the world, it has been observed that the number of minor or moderate earthquake motions tend to be increased year by year. Owing to the topographical condition, moreover, large numbers of skew bridges have been constructed for the requirements of more than DB18 ton bridge in Korea. It has been also observed from foreign countries that lots of superstructures collapse in bridge were occurred in previous earthquakes, inclusive of 1995 Kobe earthquake. This is caused by a relative displacement between the upper and lower structure of bridge by the earthquake and the rotation with respect to the vertical axis of skew bridges, which were subjected to and earthquake motion. In this study, the probabilistic analysis of unseating failure of skew bridges under scenario earthquake has been carried out by evaluating the longitudinal displacement of skew bridges.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.61 no.8
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• pp.1179-1185
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• 2012

This paper presents a new approach for the detection of seismic events using accumulated changes on time-frequency domain and variable threshold. To detect seismic P-wave arrivals with rapidness and accuracy, it is that the changes on the time and the frequency domains are simultaneously used. Their changes are parameters appropriated to reflect characteristics of earthquakes over moderate magnitude(${\geq}$ magnitude 4.0) and microearthquakes. In addition, adaptively controlled threshold values can prevent false P-wave detections due to low SNR. We tested our method on real earthquakes those have various magnitudes. The proposed algorithm gives a good detection performance and it is also comparable to STA/LTA algorithm in computational complexity. Computer simulation results shows that the proposed algorithm is superior to the conventional popular algorithm (STA/LTA) in the seismic P-wave detection.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.463-472
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• 2022

Reinforced concrete (RC) beam column joints (BCJ) have mostly exhibited poor seismic performance during several past earthquakes, typically due to the poor-quality concrete or lack of reinforcement detailing typical of pre-code design practice. The present study is motivated towards numerical simulation and seismic fragility assessment of one such RC-BCJ. The BCJ is loaded to failure and strengthened using Ultra High Performance-Hybrid Fiber Reinforced Concrete (UHP-HFRC) jacketing. The strengthening is performed for four different BCJ specimens, each representing an intermediate damage state before collapse. viz., slight, moderate, severe, and collapse. From the numerical simulation of all the BCJ specimens, an attempt is made to correlate different modelling and design parameters of the BC joint with respect to the damage states. In addition, seismic fragility analysis of the original as well as the retrofitted damaged BCJ specimens show the relative enhancement achieved in each case.