• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.271-287
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• 2005

The seismic behavior of two steel moment-resisting frames, which satisfy all the current seismic design requirements, are evaluated and compared in the presence of pre-Northridge connections denoted as BWWF and an improved post-Northridge connections denoted as BWWF-AD. Pre-Northridge connections are modeled first as fully restrained (FR) type. Then they are considered to be partially restrained (PR) to model their behavior more realistically. The improved post-Northridge connections are modeled as PR type, as proposed by the authors. A sophisticated nonlinear time-domain finite element program developed by the authors is used for the response evaluation of the frames in terms of the overall rotation of the connections and the maximum drift. The frames are excited by ten recorded earthquake time histories. These time histories are then scaled up to produce some relevant response characteristics. The behaviors of the frames are studied comprehensively with the help of 120 analyses. Following important observations are made. The frames produced essentially similar rotation and drift for the connections modeled as FR type and PR type represented by BWWF-AD indicating that the presence of slots in the web of beams in BWWF-AD is not detrimental to the overall response behavior. When the lateral displacements of the frames are significantly large, the responses are improved if BWWF-AD type connections are used in the frames. This study analytically confirms many desirable features of BWWF-AD connections. PR frames have longer periods of vibration in comparison to FR frames and may attract lower inertia forces. However, calculated periods of the frames of this study using FEMA 350 empirical equation is longer than those calculated using dynamic characteristics of the frames. This may result in even lower design forces and may adversely influence the design.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.5 no.6
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• pp.679-702
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• 2013

During an earthquake, soils filter and send out the shaking to the building and simultaneously it has the role of bearing the building vibrations and transmitting them back to the ground. In other words, the ground and the building interact with each other. Hence, soil-structure interaction (SSI) is a key parameter that affects the performance of buildings during the earthquakes and is worth to be taken into consideration. Columns are one of the most crucial elements in RC buildings that play an important role in stability of the building and must be able to dissipate energy under seismic loads. Recent earthquakes showed that formation of plastic hinges in columns is still possible as a result of strong ground motion, despite the application of strong column-weak beam concept, as recommended by various design codes. Energy is dissipated through the plastic deformation of specific zones at the end of a member without affecting the rest of the structure. The formation of a plastic hinge in an RC column in regions that experience inelastic actions depends on the column details as well as soil-structure interaction (SSI). In this paper, 854 different scenarios have been analyzed by inelastic time-history analyses to predict the nonlinear behavior of RC columns considering soil-structure interaction (SSI). The effects of axial load, height over depth ratio, main period of soil and structure as well as different characteristics of earthquakes, are evaluated analytically by finite element methods and the results are compared with corresponding experimental data. Findings from this study provide a simple expression to estimate plastic hinge length of RC columns including soil-structure interaction.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.623-632
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• 2018

Performance-Based Plastic Design (PBPD) method has been recently developed to evaluate the behavior of structures in different performance levels. The PBPD method utilizes a base shear force and a lateral load pattern that are estimated based on energy and yielding mechanism concepts. Using of current lateral force pattern results in weak structural members in upper stories of a structure so that the values of the story drift in these stories are larger than the target drift, particularly in high-rise buildings. Therefore, such distribution requires modifications to overcome this drawback. This paper proposes a modified lateral load pattern for steel Eccentrically Braced Frames (EBFs) based on parametric study. In order to achieve the modified load pattern, a group of 26 EBFs has been analyzed under a set of 20 earthquake ground motions. Additionally, results of nonlinear dynamic analyses of EBFs have been post-processed by nonlinear regression analysis in order to derive the new load pattern. To prove the efficiency of present study, three EBFs as examples were designed by modified pattern and current PBPD distribution. Inelastic dynamic analyses results showed that the story drifts using modified lateral load pattern were well within the target values in comparison with current pattern in PBPD, particularly where the effect of the height is significant. The modified load pattern reduces the possibility of underdesigning in upper levels and overdesigning in lower levels of the frames.

• Multiscale and Multiphysics Mechanics
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.143-156
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• 2016

Reinforced concrete (RC) structures require advanced analysis techniques for better estimation of their seismic responses, especially in the case of exhibiting complex three-dimensional coupling of torsional and flexural behaviors. This study focuses on validating a numerical approach for evaluating the seismic response of a three-dimensional unsymmetrical RC structure through the participation in the SMART 2013 international benchmark program. The benchmark program provides material properties, detailed drawings of the RC structure, and input ground motions for the seismic response evaluation. In this study, nonlinear constitutive models of concrete and rebar were formed and local tests were conducted to verify the constitutive models in finite element analysis. Elastic calibration of the finite element model of the SMART 2013 RC structure was performed by comparing numerical and experimental results in modal and linear time history analyses. Using the calibrated model, nonlinear earthquake analysis and seismic fragility analysis were performed to estimate the behavior and vulnerability of the RC structure with various ground motions.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.245-255
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• 2012

The damping effect of a Concrete-filled Rectangular Steel Tube (CRST) frame structure is studied in this paper. Viscous dampers are employed to insure the function of the building especially subjected to earthquakes, for some of the main vertical elements of the building are not continuous. The shaking table test of a 1:15 scale model was conducted under different earthquake excitations to recognize the seismic behavior of this building. And the vibration damping effect was also investigated by the shaking table test and the simulation analysis. The nonlinear time-history analysis of the shaking table test model was carried out by the finite element analysis program CANNY. The simulation model was constructed in accordance with the tested one and was analyzed under the same loading condition and the simulation effect was then validated by the tested results. Further more, the simulation analysis of the prototype structure was carried out by the same procedure. Both the simulated and tested results indicate that there are no obvious weak stories on the damping equipped structure, and the dampers can provide the probability of an irregular CRST frame structure to meet the requirements of the design code on energy dissipation and deformation limitation.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.1-23
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• 2016

Steel plate shear walls (SPSWs) have been shown to be efficient lateral force-resisting systems, which are increasingly used in new and retrofit construction. These structural systems are designed with either stiffened and stocky or unstiffened and slender web plates based on disparate structural and economical considerations. Based on some limited reported studies, on the other hand, employment of low yield point (LYP) steel infill plates with extremely low yield strength, and high ductility as well as elongation properties is found to facilitate the design and improve the structural behavior and seismic performance of the SPSW systems. On this basis, this paper reports system-level investigations on the seismic response assessment of multi-story SPSW frames under the action of earthquake ground motions. The effectiveness of the strip model in representing the behaviors of SPSWs with different buckling and yielding properties is primarily verified. Subsequently, the structural and seismic performances of several code-designed and retrofitted SPSW frames with conventional and LYP steel infill plates are investigated through detailed modal and nonlinear time-history analyses. Evaluation of various seismic response parameters including drift, acceleration, base shear and moment, column axial load, and web-plate ductility demands, demonstrates the capabilities of SPSW systems in improving the seismic performance of structures and reveals various advantages of use of LYP steel material in seismic design and retrofit of SPSW systems, in particular, application of LYP steel infill plates of double thickness in seismic retrofit of conventional steel and code-designed SPSW frames.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.60 no.6
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• pp.953-977
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• 2016

Modern performance-based design methods require ways to determine the factual behavior of structures subjected to earthquakes. Drift ratio demands are important measures of structural and/or nonstructural damage of the structures in performance-based design. In this study, global drift ratio and interstory drift ratio demands, obtained by nonlinear time history analysis of three generic RC frames using code-compatible ground motion record sets, are statistically evaluated. Several ground motion record sets compatible with elastic design spectra defined for the local soil classes in Turkish Earthquake Code are used for the analyses. Variation of the drift ratio demands obtained from ground motion records in the sets and difference between the mean of drift ratio demands calculated for ground motion sets are evaluated. The results of the study indicate that i) variation of maximum drift ratio demands in the sets were high; ii) different drift ratio demands are calculated using different ground motion record sets although they are compatible with the same design spectra; iii) the effect of variability due to random causes on the total variability of drift ratio demands is much larger than the effect of variability due to differences between the mean of ground motion record sets; iv) global and interstory drift ratio demands obtained for different ground motion record sets can be accepted as simply random samples of the same population at %95 confidence level. The results are valid for all the generic frames and local soil classes considered in this study.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.82 no.1
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• pp.55-67
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• 2022

The precast reinforced concrete frame system is a method for industrialization of construction. However, the seismic performance factor of this structural system is not explicitly clarified in some existing building codes. In this paper, the seismic performance factor for the existing precast concrete building frame systems with cast-in-situ reinforced shear walls were evaluated. Nonlinear behavior of the precast beam-column joints and cast-in-situ reinforced shear walls were considered in the modeling of the structures. The ATC-19's coefficient method was used for calculating the seismic performance factor and the FEMA P-695's approach was adopted for evaluating the accuracy of the computed seismic performance factor. The results showed that the over-strength factor varies from 2 to 2.63 and the seismic performance factor (R factor) varies from 5.1 to 8.95 concerning the height of the structure. Also, it was proved that all of the examined buildings have adequate safety against the collapse at the MCE level of earthquake, so the validity of R factors was confirmed. The obtained incremental dynamic analysis (IDA) results indicated that the minimum adjusted collapse margin ratio (ACMR) of the precast buildings representing the seismic vulnerability of the structures approximately equaled to 2.7, and pass the requirements of FEMA P-695.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.65-82
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• 2022

This paper presents a structural performance assessment of a historical masonry clock tower both using numerical and experimental process. The numerical assessment includes developing of finite element model with considering different types of soil-structure interaction systems, identifying the numerical dynamic characteristics, finite element model updating procedure, nonlinear time-history analysis and evaluation of seismic performance level. The experimental study involves determining experimental dynamic characteristics using operational modal analysis test method. Through the numerical and experimental processes, the current structural behavior of the masonry clock tower was evaluated. The first five experimental natural frequencies were obtained within 1.479-9.991 Hz. Maximum difference between numerical and experimental natural frequencies, obtained as 20.26%, was reduced to 4.90% by means of the use of updating procedure. According to the results of the nonlinear time-history analysis, maximum displacement was calculated as 0.213 m. The maximum and minimum principal stresses were calculated as 0.20 MPa and 1.40 MPa. In terms of displacement control, the clock tower showed only controlled damage level during the applied earthquake record.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.467-488
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• 2023

Seismic retrofit of an existing steel-reinforced concrete hospital building that features innovative use of a continuous energy-dissipative steel column (CEDC) system is presented in this paper. The special system has been adopted to provide an efficient solution taking into account the difficulties of applying traditional intervention techniques to minimize the impact on architectural functionality and avoid the loss of building function and evacuation during the retrofit implementation. The lateral stiffness and strength of the CEDC system were defined based on the geometric and mechanical properties of the steel strip dampers. The hysteretic behavior under cyclic loadings was defined using a simplified numerical model. Its effectiveness was validated by comparing the results of full-scale experimental data available from the literature. All the main design considerations of the retrofitting plan are described in detail. The effectiveness of the proposed retrofitting system was demonstrated by nonlinear time-history analyses under different sets of earthquake-strong ground motions. The analysis results show that the CEDC system is effective in controlling the deformation pattern and significantly reducing damage to the existing structure during major earthquakes.