• Earthquakes and Structures
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• 제10권5호
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• pp.1213-1232
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• 2016

This paper investigates the response of nonstructural components in the presence of nonlinear behavior of the primary structure considering the near-fault pulse-like ground motions. A database of 81 near-fault pulse-like ground motions is used to examine the effect of these ground motions on the response of nonstructural components. For comparison, a database of 573 non-pulse-like ground motions selected from the PEER database is also employed. The effects of peak ground velocity (PGV), maximum incremental velocity (MIV), primary structural degrading behavior and damping of nonstructural components are evaluated and discussed statistically. Results are presented in terms of amplification factor which quantifies the effect of inelastic deformations of the primary structure on subsystem responses. The results indicate that the near-fault pulse-like ground motions can significantly increase the amplification factors of nonstructural components with primary structural period and the magnitude of increase can reach 17%. The effect of PGV and MIV on amplification factors tends to increase with the increase of primary structural ductility. The near-fault pulse-like ground motions are more dangerous to components supported by structures with strength and stiffness degrading behavior than ordinary ground motions. A new simplified formulation is proposed for the application of amplification factors for design of nonstructural components for near-fault pulse-like ground motions.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제87권5호
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• pp.431-450
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• 2023

In this study, it is intended to perform nonlinear time-history analyses of nuclear power plant structures (NPP) under near-fault earthquakes showing directivity pulse and fling-step characteristics. Simulation procedures based on cycloidal pulse and far-fault ground motions are also used to simulate near-fault motions showing forward-directivity and fling-step characteristics and the structural responses are compared with those of the recorded near-fault ground motions. Because it is aimed to determine specifically the pulse type characteristics of near-fault ground motions on NPPs, all the ground motions are normalized to have a PGA of 0.3 g. Depending on the obtained results it can be underlined that although near-fault ground motion has the potential to cause damage mostly on structural systems having larger periods, it may also have noticeable effects on the responses of rigid structures, like NPP containment buildings. On the other hand, simulated near-fault motions can help us to get an insight into the near-fault mechanism as well as an approximate visualization of the structural responses under near-fault earthquakes.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• 제9권3호
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• pp.673-698
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• 2015

This paper investigates inelastic seismic demands of the normal component of near-fault pulse-like ground motions, which differ considerably from those of far-fault ground motions and also parallel component of near-fault ones. The results are utilized to improve the nonlinear static procedure (NSP) called Displacement Coefficient Method (DCM). 96 near-fault and 20 far-fault ground motions and the responses of various single degree of freedom (SDOF) systems constitute the dataset. Nonlinear Dynamic Analysis (NDA) is utilized as the benchmark for comparison with nonlinear static analysis results. Considerable influences of different faulting mechanisms are observed on inelastic seismic demands. The demands are functions of the strength ratio and also the pulse period to structural period ratio. Simple mathematical expressions are developed to consider the effects of near-fault motion and fault type on nonlinear responses. Modifications are presented for the DCM by introducing a near-fault modification factor, $C_N$. In locations, where the fault type is known, the modifications proposed in this paper help to obtain a more precise estimate of seismic demands in structures.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• 제29권2호
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• pp.133-143
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• 2022

The catastrophic earthquake-induced failure of slopes concentrically distributed at near-fault area, which indicated the special features of near-fault ground motions, i.e. horizontal pulse-like motion and large vertical component, should have great effect on these geo-disasters. We performed shaking table tests to investigate the effect of both horizontal pulse-like motion and vertical component on dynamic response of slope. Both unidirectional (i.e., horizontal or vertical motions) and bidirectional (i.e., horizontal and vertical components) motions are applied to soft rock slope model, and acceleration at different locations is reordered. The results show that the horizontal acceleration amplification factor (AAF) increases with height. Moreover, the horizontal AAF under unidirectional horizontal pulse-like excitations is larger than that subject to ordinary motion. The vertical AAF does not show an elevation amplification effect. The seismic response of slope under different bidirectional excitations is also different: (1) The horizontal AAF is roughly constant under horizontal pulse-like excitations with and without vertical waves, but (2) the horizontal AAF under ordinary bidirectional ground motions is larger than that under unidirectional ordinary motion. Above phenomena indicate that vertical component has limited effect on seismic response when the horizontal component is pulse-like ground motion, but it can greatly enhance seismic response of slope under ordinary horizontal motion. Moreover, the vertical AAF is enhanced by horizontal motion in both horizontal pulse-like and ordinary motion. Thence, we should pay enough attention to vertical ground motion, especially its horizontal component is ordinary ground motion.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• 제16권4호
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• pp.415-423
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• 2019

Near-fault ground motions can impose particularly high seismic demands on structures due to the pulses that are typically observed in the velocity time-histories. In this study it is empirically found that the critical response can be estimated from the directions corresponding to the maximum (max) or minimum (min) pulse-energy. Determination of the pulse-energy requires removing of the high-frequency content. For achieving this, the wavelet analysis and the least-square-fitting (LSF) algorithm are adopted. Results obtained by the two strategies are compared and differences between them are analyzed. Finally, the relationship between the critical response and the response derived from directions having the max or min pulse-energy confirms that using the pulse-energy for deriving the critical response of the building structures is reasonable.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제34권6호
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• pp.755-778
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• 2010

Near-fault ground motion with directivity or fling effects is significantly influenced by the rupture mechanism and substantially different from ordinary records. This class of ground motion has large amplitude and long period, exhibits unusual response spectra shapes, possesses high PGV/PGA and PGD/PGA ratios and is best characterized in the velocity and the displacement time-histories. Such ground motion is also characterized by its energy being contained in a single or very few pulses, thus capable of causing severe damage to the structures. This paper investigates the characteristics of near-fault pulse-like ground motions and their implications on the structural responses using new proposed measures, such as, the effective frequency range, the energy rate (in time and frequency domains) and the damage indices. The paper develops also simple mathematical expressions for modeling this class of ground motion and the associated structural responses, thus eliminating numerical integration of the equations of motion. An optimization technique is also developed by using energy concepts and damage indices for modeling this class of ground motion for inelastic structures at sites having limited earthquake data.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• 제8권3호
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• pp.573-589
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• 2015

In order to investigate the seismic behavior of highway bridges under near-fault earthquakes, a parametric study was conducted for different regular and irregular bridges. To this end, an existing regular viaduct Highway Bridge was used as a reference model and five irregular samples were generated by varying span length and pier height. The seismic response of the six highway bridges was evaluated by three dimensional non-linear response history analysis using an ensemble of far-fault and scenario-based near-fault records. In this regard, drift ratio, input and dissipated energy as well as damage index of bridges were compared under far- and near-fault motions. The results indicate that the drift ratio under near-fault motions, on the average, is 100% and 30% more than far-fault motions at DBE and MCE levels, respectively. The energy and damage index results demonstrate a dissipation of lower energy in piers and a significant increase of collapse risk, especially for irregular highway bridges, under near-fault ground motions.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제85권3호
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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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• 제15권5호
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• pp.487-498
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• 2018

Buckling-restrained braces are passive control devices with high level of energy dissipation ability. However, they suffer from low post-yield stiffness which makes them vulnerable to severe ground motions, especially near-field earthquakes. Among the several methods proposed to improve resistance of BRB frames, mega-brace configuration can be a solution to increase frame lateral strength and stiffness and improve distribution of forces to prevent large displacement in braces. Due to the limited number of research regarding the performance of such systems, the current paper aims to assess seismic performance of BRB frames with mega-bracing arrangement under near-field earthquakes via a detailed probabilistic framework. For this purpose, a group of multi-story mega-BRB frames were modelled by OpenSEES software platform. In the first part of the paper, simplified procedures including nonlinear pushover and Incremental Dynamic Analysis were conducted for performance evaluation. Two groups of near-fault seismic ground motions (Non-pulse and Pulse-like records) were considered for analyses to take into account the effects of record-to-record uncertainties, as well as forward directivity on the results. In the second part, seismic reliability analyses are conducted in the context of performance based earthquake engineering. Two widely-known EDP-based and IM-based probabilistic frameworks are employed to estimate collapse potential of the structures. Results show that all the structures can successfully tolerate near-field earthquakes with a high level of confidence level. Therefore, mega-bracing configuration can be an effective alternative to conventional BRB bracing to withstand near-field earthquakes.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• 제10권1호
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• pp.239-260
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• 2016

Tuned mass dampers (TMDs) have been frequently proposed to mitigate the detrimental effects of dynamic loadings in structural systems. The effectiveness of this protection strategy has been demonstrated for wind-induced vibrations and, to some extent, for seismic loadings. Within this framework, recent numerical studies have shown that beneficial effects can be achieved by placing a linear TMD on the roof of linear elastic structural systems subjected to pulse-like ground motions. Motivated by these positive outcomes, closed-form design formulations have been also proposed to optimize the device's parameters. For structural systems that undergo a near-fault pulse-like ground motion, however, it is unlikely that their dynamic response be linear elastic. Hence, it is very important to understand whether such strategy is effective for inelastic structural systems. In order to provide new useful insights about this issue, the paper presents statistical results obtained from a numerical study conducted for three shear-type hysteretic (softening-type) systems having 4, 8 and 16 stories equipped with a linear elastic TMD. The effectiveness of two design procedures is discussed by examining the performances of the protected systems subjected to 124 natural pulse-like earthquakes.