• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.389-402
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• 2019

Reinforced concrete walls and buckling restrained braces are effective structural elements that are used to resist seismic loads. In this paper, the behavior of the reinforced concrete walls coupled with buckling restrained braces is investigated. In such a system, there is not any conventional reinforced concrete coupling beam. The coupling action is provided only by buckling restrained braces that dissipate energy and also cause coupling forces in the wall piers. The studied structures are 10-, 20- and 30-story ones designed according to the ASCE, ACI-318 and AISC codes. Wall nonlinear model is then prepared using the fiber elements in PERFORM-3D software. The responses of the systems subjected to the forward directivity near-fault (NF) and ordinary far-fault (FF) ground motions at maximum considered earthquake (MCE) level are studied. The seismic responses of the structures corresponding to the inter-story drift demand, curvature ductility of wall piers, and coupling ratio of the walls are compared. On average, the results show that the inter-story drift ratio for the examined systems subjected to the far-fault events at MCE level is less than allowable value of 3%. Besides, incremental dynamic analysis is used to examine the considered systems. Results of studied systems show that, the taller the structures, the higher the probability of their collapse. Also, for a certain peak ground acceleration of 1 g, the probability of collapse under NF records is more than twice this probability under FF records.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.203-214
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• 2018

Deflection control in tall buildings is a challenging issue. Connecting of the towers is an interesting idea for architects as well as structural engineers. In this paper, two reinforced concrete core-wall towers are connected by a truss bridge with buckling restrained braces. The buildings are 40 and 60-story. The effect of the location of the bridge is investigated. Response spectrum analysis of the linear models is used to obtain the design demands and the systems are designed according to the reliable codes. Then, nonlinear time history analysis at maximum considered earthquake is performed to assess the seismic responses of the systems subjected to far-field and near-field record sets. Fiber elements are used for the reinforced concrete walls. On average, the inter-story drift ratio demand will be minimized when the bridge is approximately located at a height equal to 0.825 times the total height of the building. Besides, because of whipping effects, maximum roof acceleration demand is approximately two times the peak ground acceleration. Plasticity extends near the base and also in major areas of the walls subjected to the seismic loads.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.19-33
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• 2015

Open ground storey (OGS) buildings are characterized by the sudden reduction of stiffness in the ground storey with respect to the upper infilled storeys. During earthquakes, this vertical irregularity may result in accumulated damage in the ground storey members of OGS buildings without much damage in the upper storeys. Hence, the structural design of OGS buildings needs special attention. The present study suggests a modification of existing displacement-based design (DBD) procedure by proposing a new lateral load distribution. The increased demands of ground storey members of OGS buildings are estimated based on non-linear time history analysis results of four sets of bare and OGS frames having four to ten storey heights. The relationship between the increased demand and the relative stiffness of ground storey (with respect to upper storeys) is taken as the criterion for developing the expression for the design lateral load. It is also observed that under far-field earthquakes, there is a decrease in the ground storey drift of OGS frames as the height of the frame increases, whereas there is no such reduction when these frames are subjected to near-field earthquakes.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.61-74
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• 2017

One of the most reliable and simplest tools for structural vibration control in civil engineering is Tuned Mass Damper, TMD. Provided that the frequency and damping parameters of these dampers are tuned appropriately, they can reduce the vibrations of the structure through their generated inertia forces, as they vibrate continuously. To achieve the optimal parameters of TMD, many different methods have been provided so far. In old approaches, some formulas have been offered based on simplifying models and their applied loadings while novel procedures need to model structures completely in order to obtain TMD parameters. In this paper, with regard to the nonlinear decision-making of fuzzy systems and their enough ability to cope with different unreliability, a method is proposed. Furthermore, by taking advantage of both old and new methods a fuzzy system is designed to be operational and reduce uncertainties related to models and applied loads. To design fuzzy system, it is required to gain data on structures and optimum parameters of TMDs corresponding to these structures. This information is obtained through modeling MDOF systems with various numbers of stories subjected to far and near field earthquakes. The design of the fuzzy systems is performed by three methods: look-up table, the data space grid-partitioning, and clustering. After that, rule weights of Mamdani fuzzy system using the look-up table are optimized through genetic algorithm and rule weights of Sugeno fuzzy system designed based on grid-partitioning methods and clustering data are optimized through ANFIS (Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System). By comparing these methods, it is observed that the fuzzy system technique based on data clustering has an efficient function to predict the optimal parameters of TMDs. In this method, average of errors in estimating frequency and damping ratio is close to zero. Also, standard deviation of frequency errors and damping ratio errors decrease by 78% and 4.1% respectively in comparison with the look-up table method. While, this reductions compared to the grid partitioning method are 2.2% and 1.8% respectively. In this research, TMD parameters are estimated for a 15-degree of freedom structure based on designed fuzzy system and are compared to parameters obtained from the genetic algorithm and empirical relations. The progress up to 1.9% and 2% under far-field earthquakes and 0.4% and 2.2% under near-field earthquakes is obtained in decreasing respectively roof maximum displacement and its RMS ratio through fuzzy system method compared to those obtained by empirical relations.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.449-466
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• 2019

Cable-stayed bridges are attractive due to their beauty, reducing material consumption, less harm to the environment and so on, in comparison with other kinds of bridges. As a massive structure with long period and low damping (0.3 to 2%) under many dynamic loads, these bridges are susceptible to fatigue, serviceability disorder, damage or even collapse. Tuned Mass Damper (TMD) is a suitable controlling system to reduce the vibrations and prevent the threats in such bridges. In this paper, Multi Tuned Mass Damper (MTMD) system is added to the Ahvaz cable stayed Bridge in Iran, to reduce its seismic vibrations. First, the bridge is modeled in SAP2000 followed with result verification. Dead and live loads and the moving loads have been assigned to the bridge. Then the finite element model is developed in OpenSees, with the goal of running a nonlinear time-history analysis. Three far-field and three near-field earthquake records are imposed to the model after scaling to the PGA of 0.25 g, 0.4 g, 0.55 g and 0.7 g. Two MTMD systems, passive and active, with the number of TMDs from 1 to 8, are placed in specific points of the main span of bridge, adding a total mass ratio of 1 to 10% to the bridge. The parameters of the TMDs are optimized using Genetic Algorithm (GA). Also, the optimum force for active control is achieved by Fuzzy Logic Control (FLC). The results showed that the maximum displacement of the center of the bridge main span reduced 33% and 48% respectively by adding passive and active MTMD systems. The RMS of displacement reduced 37% and 47%, the velocity 36% and 42% and also the base shear in pylons, 27% and 47%, respectively by adding passive and active systems, in the best cases.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.427-444
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• 2020

The performance of an isolated horizontally curved continuous bridge with High Damping Rubber (HDR) Bearings has been investigated under seismic loading conditions. The effectiveness of response controls of the bridge by HDR bearings for various aspects viz. variation in ground motion characteristics, multi-directional effect, level of earthquake shaking, varying incidence angle, have been determined. Three recorded ground motions, representative of historical earthquakes along with near-field, far-field and forward directivity effects, have been considered in the study. The efficacy of the bearings with bidirectional effect considering interaction behavior of bearing and pier has also been investigated. Modeling and analysis of the bridge have been done by finite element approach. Sensitivity studies of the bridge response with respect to design parameters of the bearings for the considered ground motions have been performed. The importance of the nonlinearity of HDR bearings along with crucial design parameters has been identified. It has been observed that the HDR bearings performed well in different variations of ground motions, especially for controlling torsional moment. However, the deck displacement has been found to be increased significantly in case of Turkey ground motions, considering forward directivity effect, which needs to be paid more attention from designer point of view.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.69-82
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• 2019

As the residual displacement and/or drift demands are commonly used for seismic assessment of buildings, the estimation of these values play a very critical role through earthquake design philosophy. The residual displacement estimation of fixed base structures has been the topic of numerous researches up to now, but the effect of soil flexibility is almost always omitted. In this study, residual displacement demands are investigated for SDOF systems with period range of 0.1-3.0 s for near-field and far-field ground motions for both fixed and interacting cases. The elastoplastic model is used to represent non-degrading structures. Based on time history analyses, a new simple yet effective equation is proposed for residual displacement demand of any system whether fixed base or interacting as a function of structural period, lateral strength ratio and spectral displacement.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.1-10
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• 1998

The magnitudes of historical earthquake records related with house collapses are estimated considering the magnitude, epicentral distance, soil condition and aging of a house. Eighteen artificial time histories for magnitudes 6-8, epicentral distances 5 km-350 km and hard and soft soil condition were generated. Nonlinear dynamic analyses were performed for a traditional three-bay-straw-roof house. The aging effect of the house was modeled as such that the lateral loading capacity of wooden frames represented by hysteretic stiffness was decreased linearly with time. The house was idealized by one degree-of-freedom lumped mass model and the nonlinear characteristics of wooden frames were modeled by the Modified Double-Target mode. For far field earthquakes, minor damages were identified regardless of magnitude, soil condition and aging of the house. For intermediate field earthquake, earthquake magnitude greater than 6.5 caused severe damages in soil sites. For near field earthquake, severe damages occurred for magnitude greater than 6.5 regardless of soil condition and aging of the house. It is estimated that the magnitude of historical earthquakes is about 6.2. An empirical equation of magnitude-intensity relationship suitable to Korea is suggested.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.523-532
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• 2019

Different types of gas reservoir such as Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) are among the strategic infrastructures, and have great importance for any government or their private owners. To keep the tank and its contents safe during earthquakes especially if the contents are of hazardous or flammable materials; using seismic protection systems such as base isolator can be considered as an effective solution. However, the major deficiency of this system can be the large deformation in the isolation level which may lead to the failure of bearing system. In this paper, as a solution, the efficacy of an optimally designed combined vibration control system, the combined laminated rubber isolator and rotational friction damper, is investigated to evaluate the enhancement of an existing metal tank response under both far- and near-field earthquakes. Responses like impulsive and convective accelerations, base shear, and sloshing height are studied herein. The probabilistic framework is used to consider the uncertainties in the structural modeling, as well as record-to-record variability. Due to the high calculation cost of probabilistic methods, a simplified structural model is used. By using the Mont-Carlo simulation approach, it is revealed that this combined isolation system is a highly reliable system which provides considerable enhancement in the performance of reservoir, not only leads to the reduction of probability of catastrophic failure of the tank but also decrease the reservoir damage during the earthquake. Moreover, the relative displacement of the isolation level is controlled very well by this combined system.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.87-96
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• 2021

Ground motions recorded in near-fault sites, where the rupture propagates toward the site, are significantly different from those observed in far-fault regions. In this research, finite element modeling is used to investigate the effect of pile cap stiffness on the seismic response of soil-pile-structure systems under near-fault ground motions. The Von Wolffersdorff hypoplastic model with the intergranular strain concept is applied for modeling of granular soil (sand) and the behavior of structure is considered to be non-linear. Eight fault-normal near-field ground motion records, recorded on rock, are applied to the model. The numerical method developed is verified by comparing the results with an experimental test (shaking table test) for a soil-pile-structure system. The results, obtained from finite element modeling under near-fault ground motions, show that when the value of cap stiffness increases, the drift ratio of the structure decreases, whereas the pile relative displacement increases. Also, the residual deformations in the piles are due to the non-linear behavior of soil around the piles.