• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.4 no.5
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• pp.451-470
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• 2013

It generally accepted that most building structures shall exhibit a nonlinear response when subjected to medium-high intensity earthquakes. It is currently known, however, that this phenomenon is not properly modelled in the majority of cases, especially at the design stage, where only simple linear methods have effectively been used. Recently, as a result of the exponential progress of computational tools, nonlinear modelling and analysis have gradually been brought to a more promising level. A wide range of modelling alternatives developed over the years is hence at the designer's disposal for the seismic design and assessment of engineering structures. The objective of the study presented herein is to test some of these models in an existing structure, and observe their performance in nonlinear static and dynamic analyses. This evaluation is done by the use of two of a known range of advanced computer programs: SAP2000 and SeismoStruct. The different models will focus on the element flexural mechanism with both lumped and distributed plasticity element models. In order to appraise the reliability and feasibility of each alternative, the programs capabilities and the amount of labour and time required for modelling and performing the analyses are also discussed. The results obtained show the difficulties that may be met, not only in performing nonlinear analyses, but also on their dependency on both the chosen nonlinear structural models and the adopted computer programs. It is then suggested that these procedures should only be used by experienced designers, provided that they are aware of these difficulties and with a critical stance towards the result of the analyses.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.211-217
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• 2022

New buildings have been designed using different seismic design standards that have been revised. However, the seismic performance of existing buildings is evaluated through the same performance evaluation guidelines. Existing buildings may not satisfy the performance targets suggested in the current guidelines, but there are practical limitations to discriminating the existing buildings with poor seismic performance through a full investigation. In this regard, to classify buildings with poor seismic performance according to the applied standard, this study aimed to evaluate performance-based investigation of the seismic design proposals of buildings with different design standards. The target buildings were set as RC ordinary moment frames for office occupancy. Changes in seismic design criteria by period were analyzed, and the design spectrum changes of reinforced concrete ordinary moment resisting frames were compared to analyze the seismic load acting on the building during design. The seismic design plan was derived through structural analysis of the target model, compared the member force and cross-sectional performance, and a preliminary evaluation of the seismic performance was performed to analyze the performance level through DCR. As a result of the seismic performance analysis through the derived design, the reinforced concrete ordinary moment frame design based on AIK 2000 has an insufficient seismic performance level, so buildings built before 2005 are likely to need seismic reinforcement.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.74 no.1
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• pp.1-18
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• 2020

For the large deformation of shear walls under vertical and horizontal loads, there are difficulties in obtaining accurate simulation results using the response analysis method, even with fine mesh elements. Furthermore, concrete material nonlinearity, stiffness degradation, concrete cracking and crushing, and steel bar damage may occur during the large deformation of reinforced concrete (RC) shear walls. Matrix operations that are involved in nonlinear analysis using the traditional finite-element method (FEM) may also result in flaws, and may thus lead to serious errors. To solve these problems, a planar four-node element was developed based on vector mechanics. Owing to particle-based formulation along the path element, the method does not require repeated constructions of a global stiffness matrix for the nonlinear behavior of the structure. The nonlinear concrete constitutive model and bilinear steel material model are integrated with the developed element, to ensure that large deformation and damage behavior can be addressed. For verification, simulation analyses were performed to obtain experimental results on an RC shear wall subjected to a monotonically increasing lateral load with a constant vertical load. To appropriately evaluate the parameters, investigations were conducted on the loading speed, meshing dimension, and the damping factor, because vector mechanics is based on the equation of motion. The static problem was then verified to obtain a stable solution by employing a balanced equation of motion. Using the parameters obtained, the simulated pushover response, including the bearing capacity, deformation ability, curvature development, and energy dissipation, were found to be in accordance with the experimental observation. This study demonstrated the potential of the developed planar element for simulating the entire process of large deformation and damage behavior in RC shear walls.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.100-107
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• 2018

The objective of this study is to assess the strengthening effects of fiber reinforced polymer(FRP) sheets such as Carbon fiber, Glass fiber, and PET(polyethylene terephthalate) on reinforced concrete flexural members. Variables of theoretical analysis are types of strengthening materials, material properties and amount of strengthening materials. A virtual flexural member without FRP sheets was created as a control specimen to understand the structural behavior of the non-strengthened specimen in terms of elastic and ultimate cross section. In total, 11 specimens including one non-strengthened and ten strengthened specimens were investigated. Various variables such as types of strengthening, strengthening properties, and amount of strengthening were studied to compare the behavior of the control specimen with those of strengthened specimens with regard to moment-curvature relationship. Results of theoretical analysis showed that the moment capacity of strengthened specimens was superior to that of the control specimen. However, the control specimen indicated the best ductility among all the specimens. As the amount of strengthening increased, flexural performance was improved. Furthermore, the results indicated that the ductile effect of members was affected by the ultimate strain of FRP sheets. The strengthening effect on the damaged member was similar to that on the non-damaged one since there was less than 10% difference in terms of flexural strength and ductility. Therefore, even if a damaged member is treated as non-damaged for analysis there is probably no noticeable difference.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.759-783
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• 2010

In this paper, compressive strength of carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) confined concrete cylinders is formulated using a hybrid method coupling genetic programming (GP) and simulated annealing (SA), called GP/SA, and a robust variant of GP, namely multi expression programming (MEP). Straightforward GP/SA and MEP-based prediction equations are derived for the compressive strength of CFRP-wrapped concrete cylinders. The models are constructed using two sets of predictor variables. The first set comprises diameter of concrete cylinder, unconfined concrete strength, tensile strength of CFRP laminate, and total thickness of CFRP layer. The most widely used parameters of unconfined concrete strength and ultimate confinement pressure are included in the second set. The models are developed based on the experimental results obtained from the literature. To verify the applicability of the proposed models, they are employed to estimate the compressive strength of parts of test results that were not included in the modeling process. A sensitivity analysis is carried out to determine the contributions of the parameters affecting the compressive strength. For more verification, a parametric study is carried out and the trends of the results are confirmed via some previous studies. The GP/SA and MEP models are able to predict the ultimate compressive strength with an acceptable level of accuracy. The proposed models perform superior than several CFRP confinement models found in the literature. The derived models are particularly valuable for pre-design purposes.

• Computational Structural Engineering
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.117-124
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• 1994

Multi-level Multi-objective optimization(MLMO) for reinforced concrete framed structure is performed, and compared with the results of single-level single-objective optimization. MLMO method allows flexibility to meet the design needs such as deflection and cost of structures using weighting factors. Using Multi-level formulation, the numbers of constraints and variables are reduced at each levels, and the optimization formulation becomes simplified. The force approximation method is used to reflect the variation in design variables between the substructures, and thus coupling is maintained. And the linear approximated constraints and objective function are used to reduce the number of structural analysis in optimization process. It is shown that the developed algorithm with move limit can converge effectively to optimal solution.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.371-390
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• 2003

The concept of the seismic slit shear wall was proposed in the early 1990's. A series of experimental and theoretic studies on the wall with reinforced concrete short connecting beams cast in the slit were carried out. In this paper another type of slit shear wall is studied. It is one with vertical slit purposely cast within the wall, and the rubber belt penetrated by a part of web shear reinforcement as seismic energy-dissipation device is filled in the slit. Firstly, an experiment under cyclic loading was carried out on two shear wall models, one slit and the other solid. The failure mechanism and energy-dissipation capacity are compared between the two different models, which testifies the seismic performance of the slit wall improved significantly. Secondly, for engineering practice purpose, a macroscopic analytical model is developed to predict the nonlinear behavior of the slit shear wall under cyclic loading. The mechanical properties of each constituent elements of this model are based on the actual behavior of the materials. Furthermore, the effects of both the axial force and bending moment on the shear behavior are taken into account with the aid of the modified compression-field theory. The numerical results are verified to be in close agreement with the experimental measurements.

• Coupled systems mechanics
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• v.7 no.6
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• pp.731-753
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• 2018

The recent seismic events have led to concerns on safety and vulnerability of Reinforced Concrete Moment Resisting Frame "RC-MRF" buildings. The seismic design demands are greatly dependent on the computational tools, the inherent assumptions and approximations introduced in the modeling process. Thus, it is essential to assess the relative importance of implementing different modeling approaches and investigate the computed response sensitivity to the corresponding modeling assumptions. Many parameters and assumptions are to be justified for generation effective and accurate structural models of RC-MRF buildings to simulate the lateral response and evaluate seismic design demands. So, the present study aims to develop reliable finite element model through many refinements in modeling the various structural components. The effect of finite element modeling assumptions, analysis methods and code provisions on seismic response demands for the structural design of RC-MRF buildings are investigated. where, a series of three-dimensional finite element models were created to study various approaches to quantitatively improve the accuracy of FE models of symmetric buildings located in active seismic zones. It is shown from results of the comparative analyses that the use of a calibrated frame model which was made up of line elements featuring rigid offsets manages to provide estimates that match best with estimates obtained from a much more rigorous modeling approach involving the use of shell elements.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.283-294
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• 2020

In this paper, an adaptive MEMD based modal identification technique for linear time-invariant systems is proposed employing multiple vibration measurements. Traditional empirical mode decomposition (EMD) suffers from mode-mixing during sifting operations to identify intrinsic mode functions (IMF). MEMD performs better in this context as it considers multi-channel data and projects them into a n-dimensional hypercube to evaluate the IMFs. Using this technique, modal parameters of the structural system are identified. It is observed that MEMD has superior performance compared to its traditional counterpart. However, it still suffers from mild mode-mixing in higher modes where the energy contents are low. To avoid this problem, an adaptive filtering scheme is proposed to decompose the interfering modes. The Proposed modified scheme is then applied to vibrations of a reinforced concrete road bridge. Results presented in this study show that the proposed MEMD based approach coupled with the filtering technique can effectively identify the parameters of the dominant modes present in the structural response with a significant level of accuracy.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.209-226
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• 2024

The susceptibility of Reinforced Concrete (RC) buildings to earthquake-induced damage is a critical concern, primarily attributed to their inadequate seismic performance. The existing earthquake-resistant design code of India prescribes guidelines to minimize seismic damage but does not provide any means for evaluating the actual seismic performance and damage. To ascertain the seismic performance of the structures quantitatively, it is crucial to classify damage into measurable damage states. Damage Index (DI) acts as an important tool for this purpose. Among various procedures for computation of DI, the modified Park and Ang Damage Index appears to be highly accurate. However, the major drawback of this method is that it is lengthy and time-consuming. On the other hand, structural performances can be evaluated using various performance parameters such as interstory drift ratio (IDR), inelastic deformation, etc., as described in FEMA-356 and ASCE-41 17. The present study explores the correlation between seismic DI and structural performance in RC frame buildings designed according to IS code. Sixteen building models, incorporating diverse configurations, are examined using nonlinear static and time history analyses. A simplified equation is developed by regression analysis to predict DI based on IDR, offering a computationally efficient alternative. Validation tests are done to confirm the equation's accuracy. Furthermore, a unified damage scale integrating DI and seismic performance is also proposed for seismic damage evaluation of buildings designed by IS code.