• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.335-350
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• 2010

Out of plane behaviors of walls and infills are investigated in this paper, using rigid block concepts. Walls and infills are sometimes separated from top beams because of in plane movement of the walls and crumbling mortar layers under the top beams. Therefore, sufficient strength should be supplied to hold them against out of plane forces. Such walls are studied here under some real and scaled earthquakes, regarding their out of plane behavior. Influences of some reinforcements, connecting the walls to frames or perpendicular walls, are also studied. It is shown that unreinforced walls of regular sizes (3 m high and 4.5 m long) are normally unstable in the earthquakes. However, performing some reinforced bars that connect them to adjacent elements- frames or perpendicular walls - stabilizes them. Eventually, it is concluded that supplying 3 reinforced bars at 1/4, 2/4 and 3/4 of the panel's height stabilizes the walls in the assumed earthquakes. In this regard, for 20 cm and 35 cm thick walls ${\Phi}$18mm and ${\Phi}$20mm bars are to be used, respectively. For walls with other configurations, the forces and required areas of the reinforcements can be determined by the developed method of this paper.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2004.04a
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• pp.185-192
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• 2004

The goal of this paper is to determine the accurate effective length factor(K factor) for buckling design of plane frames and to point out the practical limitations of the alignment chart which provides the approximate effective length factor. At present, the most general method to obtain K factors is to use the alignment chart which is given in the form of nomograph in LRFD-AISC specification commentaries. However it should be realized that various simplifications and assumptions were used in obtaining the alignment chart. Therefore, a simple but effective method to obtain accurate K-factors through the stability analysis of plane frames is developed in this study. To demonstrate the accuracy and effectiveness of the present scheme, K-factors by system buckling analysis of frames are calculated and compared with those calculated by the alignment chart.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 1995.10a
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• pp.17-24
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• 1995

This work proposes an optimality criteria applicable to the optimum design of plane frames. Stress constraints as well as displacement constraints are treated as behavioural constraints and thus the first order approximation of stress constraints is adopted. The design space of practical reinforced concrete frames with discrete design variables has been found to have many local minima, and thus it is desirable to find in advance the mathematical minimum, hopefully global, prior to starting to search a practical optimum design. By using the mathematical minimum as a trial design of any search algorithm, we may not full into a local minimum but apparently costly design. Therefore this work aims at establishing a mathematically rigorous method ⑴ by adopting first-order approximation of constraints, ⑵ by reducing the design space whenever minimum size restrictions become "active" and ⑶ by the of Newton-Raphson Method.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.465-478
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• 2002

This study lays emphasis on the development of efficient analytical models for a multistory structure with wings, including the in-plane deformation of floor slabs. For this purpose, a multistory structure with wings is regarded as the combination of multistory structures with rectangular plan and their junctions. In addition, a multistory structure with a rectangular plan is considered to be an assemblage of two-dimensional frames and floor slabs connecting two adjacent frames at each floor level. This modeling, concept can be easily applied to multistory structures with plans in the shape of L, T, Y, U, H, etc. To represent the in-plane deformation of floor slabs efficiently, a two-dimensional frame and the floor slab connecting two adjacent frames at each floor level are modeled as a stick model with two degrees of freedom per floor and a stiff beam with shear deformations, respectively. Three models are used to investigate the effect of in-plane deformation of the floor slab at the junction of wings on the seismic behavior of structures. Based on the comparison of dynamic analysis results obtained using the proposed models and three-dimensional finite element models, it could be concluded that the proposed models can be used as an efficient tool for an approximate analysis of a multistory structure with wings.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.373-385
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• 2019

This paper presents a useful in-plane structural analysis of low-rise blind-bolted composite frames with semi-rigid joints. Analytical models were used to predict the moment-rotation relationship of the composite beam-to-column flush endplate joints that produced accurate and reliable results. The comparisons of the analytical model with test results in terms of the moment-rotation response verified the robustness and reliability of the model. Abaqus software was adopted to conduct frame analysis considering the material and geometrical non-linearities. The flexural behaviour of the composite frames was studied by applying the lateral loads incorporating wind and earthquake actions according to the Australian standards. A wide variety of frames with a varied number of bays and storeys was analysed to determine the bending moment envelopes under different load combinations. The design models were finalized that met the strength and serviceability limit state criteria. The results from the frame analysis suggest that among lateral loads, wind loads are more critical in Australia as compared to the earthquake loads. However, gravity loads alone govern the design as maximum sagging and hogging moments in the frames are produced as a result of the load combination with dead and live loads alone. This study provides a preliminary analysis and general understanding of the behaviour of low rise, semi-continuous frames subjected to lateral load characteristics of wind and earthquake conditions in Australia that can be applied in engineering practice.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.111-127
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• 2013

This paper describes effects of infill walls on behavior of RC frame with low strength, including numerical modeling, modal testing and finite-element model updating. For this purpose full scaled, one bay and one story RC frame is produced and tested for plane and brick in-filled conditions. Ambient-vibration testis applied to identify dynamic characteristics under natural excitations. Enhanced Frequency Domain Decomposition and Stochastic Subspace Identification methods are used to obtain experimental dynamic characteristics. A numerical modal analysis is performed on the developed two-dimensional finite element model of the frames using SAP2000 software to provide numerical frequencies and mode shapes. Dynamic characteristics obtained by numerical and experimental are compared with each other and finite element model of the frames are updated by changing some uncertain modeling parameters such as material properties and boundary conditions to reduce the differences between the results. At the end of the study, maximum differences in the natural frequencies are reduced on average from 34% to 9% and a good agreement is found between numerical and experimental dynamic characteristics after finite-element model updating. In addition, it is seen material properties are more effective parameters in the finite element model updating of plane frame. However, for brick in-filled frame changes in boundary conditions determine the model updating process.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.1035-1053
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• 2015

A genetic algorithm-based minimum weight design method is presented for steel frames containing composite beams, semi-rigid connections and column bases. Genetic Algorithms carry out optimum steel frames by selecting suitable profile sections from a specified list including 128 W sections taken from American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC). The displacement and stress constraints obeying AISC Allowable Stress Design (ASD) specification and geometric (size) constraints are incorporated in the optimization process. Optimum designs of three different plane frames with semi-rigid beam-to-column and column-to-base plate connections are carried out first without considering concrete slab effects on floor beams in finite element analyses. The same optimization procedures are then repeated for the case of frames with composite beams. A program is coded in MATLAB for all optimization procedures. Results obtained from the examples show the applicability and robustness of the method. Moreover, it is proved that consideration of the contribution of concrete on the behavior of the floor beams enables a lighter and more economical design for steel frames with semi-rigid connections and column bases.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.27-44
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• 2020

This work presents a comparison of three performance-based seismic design methods (PBSD) as applied to plane steel frames having eccentric braces (EBFs) and buckling restrained braces (BRBFs). The first method uses equivalent modal damping ratios (ξ_k), referring to an equivalent multi-degree-of-freedom (MDOF) linear system, which retains the mass, the elastic stiffness and responds in the same way as the original non-linear MDOF system. The second method employs modal strength reduction factors (${\bar{q}}_k$) resulting from the corresponding modal damping ratios. Contrary to the behavior factors of code based design methods, both ξ_k and ${\bar{q}}_k$ account for the first few modes of significance and incorporate target deformation metrics like inter-storey drift ratio (IDR) and local ductility as well as structural characteristics like structural natural period, and soil types. Explicit empirical expressions of ξ_k and ${\bar{q}}_k$, recently presented by the present authors elsewhere, are also provided here for reasons of completeness and easy reference. The third method, developed here by the authors, is based on a hybrid force/displacement (HFD) seismic design scheme, since it combines the force-base design (FBD) method with the displacement-based design (DBD) method. According to this method, seismic design is accomplished by using a behavior factor (q_h), empirically expressed in terms of the global ductility of the frame, which takes into account both non-structural and structural deformation metrics. These expressions for q_h are obtained through extensive parametric studies involving non-linear dynamic analysis (NLDA) of 98 frames, subjected to 100 far-fault ground motions that correspond to four soil types of Eurocode 8. Furthermore, these factors can be used in conjunction with an elastic acceleration design spectrum for seismic design purposes. Finally, a comparison among the above three seismic design methods and the Eurocode 8 method is conducted with the aid of non-linear dynamic analyses via representative numerical examples, involving plane steel EBFs and BRBFs.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.137-147
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• 2022

This study investigated the seismic performance of reinforced concrete (RC) wall-slab frames with masonry infills. Four RC wall-slab frames with or without masonry infill were tested under cyclic loading. The RC frames were composed of in-plane and out-of-plane walls and top and bottom slabs. For masonry infill walls, cement bricks were stacked applying mortar paste only at the bed joints, and, at the top, a gap of 50 mm was intentionally left between the masonry wall and top RC slab. Both sides of the masonry walls were finished by applying ordinary or fiber-reinforced mortars. The tests showed that despite the gap on top of the masonry walls, the strength and stiffness of the infilled frames were significantly increased and were different depending on the direction of loading and the finishing mortars. During repeated loading, the masonry walls underwent horizontal and diagonal cracking and corner crushing/spalling, showing a rocking mode inside the RC wall-slab frame. Interestingly, this rocking mode delayed loss of strength, and as a result, the ductility of the infilled frames increased to the same level as the bare frame. The interaction of masonry infill and adjacent RC walls, depending on the direction of loading, was further investigated based on test observations.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.201-217
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• 2007

Two combinatorial optimization algorithms, tabu search and simulated annealing, are presented for the minimum-weight design of geometrically non-linear steel plane frames. The design algorithms obtain minimum weight frames by selecting suitable sections from a standard set of steel sections such as American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) wide-flange (W) shapes. Stress constraints of AISC Load and Resistance Factor Design (LRFD) specification, maximum and interstorey drift constraints and size constraints for columns were imposed on frames. The stress constraints of AISC Allowable Stress Design (ASD) were also mounted in the two algorithms. The comparisons between AISC-LRFD and AISC-ASD specifications were also made while tabu search and simulated annealing were used separately. The algorithms were applied to the optimum design of three frame structures. The designs obtained using tabu search were compared to those where simulated annealing was considered. The comparisons showed that the tabu search algorithm yielded better designs with AISC-LRFD code specification.