• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.109-126
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• 2011

The inelastic earthquake response of non-symmetric, braced steel buildings, designed according to the EC3 (steel structures) and EC8 (earthquake resistant design) codes, is investigated using 1, 3 and 5-story models, subjected to a set of 10, two-component, semi-artificial motions, generated to match the design spectrum. It is found that in these buildings, the so-called "flexible" edge frames exhibit higher ductility demands and interstory drifts than the "stiff" edge frames. We note that the same results were reported in an earlier study for reinforced concrete buildings and are the opposite of what was predicted in several other studies based on the over simplified, hence very popular, one-story, shear-beam type models. The substantial differences in such demands between the two sides suggest a need for reassessment of the pertinent code provisions. In a follow up paper, a design modification will be introduced that can lead to a more uniform distribution of ductility demands in the elements of all building edges. This investigation is another step towards more rational design of non-symmetric steel buildings.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.127-147
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• 2011

In a companion paper as well as in earlier publications, it has been shown that in asymmetric frame buildings, designed in accordance with modern codes and subjected to strong earthquake excitations, the ductility demands at the so called "flexible" edges are consistently and substantially higher than the ductility demands at the "stiff" edges of the building. In some cases the differences in the computed ductility factors between elements at the two opposite building edges exceeded 100%. Similar findings have also been reported for code designed reinforced concrete buildings. This is an undesirable behavior as it indicates no good use of material and the possibility for overload of the "flexible" edge members with a consequent potential for premature failure. In the present paper, a design modification will be introduced that can alleviate the problem and lead to a more uniform distribution of ductility demands in the elements of all building edges. The presented results are based on the steel frames detailed in the companion paper. This investigation is another step towards more rational design of non-symmetric steel buildings.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.76 no.1
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• pp.57-65
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• 2020

It is very important to allocate valuable resources efficiently when reconstructing buildings after earthquake damage. This paper proposes the use of a simple seismic retrofitting system to make buildings more resilient than the stiffer systems such as the shear walls implemented in Chile after the earthquake in 2010. The proposal is based on the use of steel chevron-type braces in RC buildings as a dual system to improve the seismic performance of multistory buildings. A case study was carried out to compare the proposal with the shear wall solution for the typical seismic Chilean RC building from the structural and economic perspectives. The results show that it is more resilient than other stiffer seismic solutions, such as shear walls, reduces the demand, minimizes seismic damage, gives reliable earthquake protection and facilitates future upgrades and repairs while achieving the level of immediate occupancy without the costs of the shear walls system.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.463-484
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• 2015

Modern codes for earthquake resistant building design require consideration of the so-called accidental design eccentricity, to account for torsional response caused by several factors not explicitly considered in design. This provision requires that the mass centres in the building floor be moved a certain percentage of the building's dimension (usually 5%) along both the x and y axes and in both positive and negative directions. If one considers also the spatial combinations of the two component motion in a dynamic analysis of the building, the number of required analyses and combinations increases substantially, causing a corresponding work load increase for practicing structural engineers. Another shortcoming of this code provision is that its introduction has been based primarily on elastic results from investigations of oversimplified, hence questionable, one story building models. This problem is addressed in the present paper using four groups of eccentric braced steel buildings, designed in accordance with Eurocodes 3 (steel) and 8 (earthquake design), with and without accidental eccentricities considered. The results indicate that although accidental design eccentricities can lead to somewhat reduced inelastic response demands, the benefit is not significant from a practical point of view. This leads to suggestions that accidental design eccentricities should probably be abolished or perhaps replaced by a simpler and more effective design provision, at least for torsionally stiff buildings that constitute the vast majority of buildings encountered in practice.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.255-262
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• 2002

In this paper, an improved multi-objective optimmum design method is proposed. And it is applied to steel frames under seismic loads. The multi-objective optimization problem is formulated with three optimality criteria, namely, minimum structural weight and maximum strain energy and stability. The Pareto curve can be obtained by performing the multi-objective optimization for multistory shear buildings. In order to efficiently solve the multi-objective optimization problem the decomposition method that separates both system-level and element-level is used. In addition, various techniques such as effective reanalysis technique with respect to intermediate variables and sensitivity analysis using an automatic differentiation (AD) we incorporated. Moreover, the relationship function among section properties induced from the profile is used in order to link system-level and element level. From the results of numerical investigation, it may be stated that the proposed method will lead to the more rational design compared with the conventional one.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.95-106
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• 2020

Castellated beams fabricated from standard I-sections are being used for several structural applications such as commercial and industrial buildings, multistory buildings, warehouses and portal frames in view of numerous advantages. The advantages include enhanced moment of inertia, stiffness, flexural resistance, reduction in weight of structure, by passing the used plate girders, the passage of service through the web openings etc. In the present study, experimental and numerical investigations were carried out on concrete encased steel castellated beams with hexagonal openings under flexural loading. Various positions of openings such as along the neutral axis, above the neutral axis and below the neutral axis were considered for the study. From the experimental findings, it has been observed that the load-carrying capacity of the castellated beam with web opening above neutral axis is found to be higher compared to other configurations. Nonlinear finite element analysis was performed by using general purpose finite element software ABAQUS considering the material nonlinearities. Concrete damage plasticity model was employed to model the nonlinearity of concrete and elasto-plastic model for steel. It has been observed that FE model could able to capture the behaviour of concrete encased steel castellated beams and the predicted values are in good agreement with the corresponding experimental values.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.81-94
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• 1994

It is well recognized that structures designed to resist strong ground motions should be able to withstand substantial inelastic deformations. A simple procedure has been developed in this paper to monitor the dynamic earthquake response (time-history analysis) of both steel and concrete multistorey buildings in the inelastic range. The building is treated as a shear beam model with three degrees of freedom per floor. The entire analysis has been programmed to run on a microcomputer and can output time histories of displacements, velocities, accelerations and member internal forces at any desired location. A record of plastic hinge formation and restoration to elastic state is also provided. Such information can be used in aseismic analysis and design of multistorey buildings so as to control the damage and optimize their performance.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.18 no.1 s.91
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• pp.135-145
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• 2006

In high multistory reinforced concrete buildings, coupled shear walls can provide an efficient structural system to resist horizontal force due to wind and seismic effects. Coupled shear walls are usually built over the whole height of the building and re laid out either as a series of walls coupled by beams and/or slabs or a central core structure with openings to accommodate doors, elevators walls, windows and corridors. A number of recent studies have focused on examining the seismic response of concrete, steel, and composite coupling beams. However, since no specific equations are available for computing the bearing strength of steel coupling beam-wall connections, it is necessary to develop such strength equations. There were carried out analytical and experimental studies to develop the strength equations of steel coupling beam-connections. Experiments were conducted to determine the factors influencing the bearing strength of the steel coupling beam-wall connection. The results of the proposed equations were in good agreement with both test results and other test data from the literature. Finally, this paper provides background for design guidelines that include a design model to calculate the bearing strength of steel coupling beam-wall connections.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.17 no.6 s.90
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• pp.1001-1009
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• 2005

The usefulness of walls in the structural planning of multistory buildings has long been recognized. When walls are situated in advantageous positions in a buildings, they can be very efficient in resisting lateral load. Specially coupled shear wall system is the primary lateral load resisting system of buildings. It is customary to refer to such walls as being 'coupled' by coupling beams. The coupling beams must exhibit excellent strength, stiffness ductility and energy dissipation capacity. To achieve these demands for steel coupling beam, steel coupling beam with Face Bearing Plate(FBP) embedded in the reinforced concrete walls is proposed. A comprehensive experimental test involving 2 steel coupling beam with and without FBP has been performed. Through experimental study, the evaluation of the advantage of that was establish and proposed the failure mode.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.1273-1290
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• 2015

JK wall is a shear wall made of lightweight EPS mortar and reinforced with a 3-D galvanized steel mesh, called JK panel, and truss-like stiffeners, called JK stiffeners. Earlier studies have shown that low strength lightweight concrete has the potential to be used in structural elements. In this study, seismic contribution of the JK infill walls surrounded by steel frames is numerically investigated. Adopting a hybrid numerical model, behavior envelop of the wall is derived from the general purpose finite element software, Abaqus. Obtained backbone would be implemented in the professional analytical software, SAP2000, in which through calibrated hysteretic parameters, cyclic behavior of the JK infill can be simulated. Through comparison with earlier experimental results, it turned out that the proposed hybrid modeling can simulate monotonic and cyclic behavior of JK walls with good accuracy. JK infills have a panel-type configuration which their dominant failure mode would be ductile in flexure. Finally technical and economical advantages of the proposed JK infills are assessed for two representative multistory buildings. It is revealed that JK infills can reduce maximum inter-story drifts as well as residual drifts at the expense of minor increase in the developed base shear.