• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.263-275
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• 2022

Structural collapses can occur as a result of a dynamic amplification of either, the building's seismic response or the ground shaking by local site effects; one of the reasons is a resonance effect due to the proximity of the structural elastic fundamental period TE and the soil fundamental period TS. We evaluate the vulnerability to resonance effects in Guadalajara, México, in a three-step schema: 1) we define structural systems in the building environment of western Guadalajara, in terms of their construction materials and structural components; 2) we estimate TE with different equations, to obtain a representative value in elastic conditions for each structural system; and, 3) we evaluate the resonance vulnerability by the analysis of the ratio between TE and TS. We observe that the larger the soil fundamental period, the higher the resonance vulnerability for buildings with height between 17 and 39 m. For the sites with a low TS, the most vulnerable buildings will be those with a height between 2 and 9 m. These results can be a helpful tool for disaster prevention, by avoiding the construction of buildings with certain heights and structural characteristics that would result in a dangerous proximity between TE and TS.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.557-569
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• 2017

Moment-thrust-curvatures ($M-P-{\Phi}$ curves) are fundamental quantities for detailed descriptions of basic properties such as stiffness and strength of a section under axial loads required for accurate computation of the deformations of reinforced concrete or composite columns. Currently, the finite-element-based methods adopting small fibers for analyzing a section are commonly used for generating the $M-P-{\Phi}$ curves and they require large amounts of computational time and effort. Further, the conventional numerical procedure using the force-control method might encounter divergence problems under high compression or tension. Therefore, this paper proposes a divergence-free approach, combining the use of the displacement-control and the Quasi-Newton scheme in the incremental-iterative procedure, for generating the $M-P-{\Phi}$ curves of arbitrary sections. An efficient method for computing the strength from concrete components is employed, where the stress integration is executed by layer-based algorithms. For easy modeling of residual stress, cross sections of structural steel components are meshed into fibers for strength resultants. The numerical procedure is elaborated in detail with flowcharts. Finally, extensive validating examples from previously published research are given for verifying the accuracy of the proposed method.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.71 no.3
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• pp.233-244
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• 2019

Steel jacketing technique is a retrofitting method often employed for static and seismic strengthening of existing reinforced concrete columns. When no continuity is given to angle chords as they cross the floor, the jacket is considered "indirectly loaded", which means that the load acting on the column is transferred partially to the external jacket through interface shear stresses. The evaluation of load transfer mechanism between core and jacket is not straightforward to be modeled, due to the absence of knowledge of a proper constitutive law of the concrete-to-steel interface and to the difficulties in taking into account the mechanical nonlinearities of materials. This paper presents an incremental analytical/numerical approach for evaluating the compressive response of RC columns strengthened with indirectly loaded jackets. The approach allows calculating shear stresses at the interface between core and jacket and predicting the axial capacity of retrofitted columns. A proper constitutive law is proposed for modelling the interaction between the steel and the concrete. Based on plasticity rules and the non-linear behaviour of materials, the column is divided into portions. After a detailed parametric analysis, comparisons are finally made by theoretical predictions and experimental results available in the literature, showing a good agreement.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.243-262
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• 2012

Nonlinear static analysis as an essential part of performance based design is now widely used especially at design offices because of its simplicity and ability to predict seismic demands on inelastic response of buildings. Since the accuracy of nonlinear static procedures (NSP) to predict seismic demands of buildings affects directly on the entire performance based design procedure, therefore lots of research has been performed on the area of evaluation of these procedures. In this paper, one of the popular NSP, FEMA356, is evaluated and compared with modal pushover analysis. The ability of these procedures to simulate seismic demands in a set of reinforced concrete (RC) buildings is explored with two level of base acceleration through a comparison with benchmark results determined from a set of nonlinear time history analyses. According to the results of this study, the modal pushover analysis procedure estimates seismic demands of buildings like inter story drifts and hinges plastic rotations more accurate than FEMA356 procedure.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.13-21
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• 2017

Recent seismic events occurred in Italy (Emilia-Romagna 2012, Abruzzo 2009) and worldwide (New Zealand 2010 and 2011) highlighted some of the weaknesses of precast concrete industrial buildings, especially those related to the connecting systems traditionally employed to fasten the cladding panels to the internal framing. In fact, one of the most commons fails it is possible to observe in such structural typologies is related to the out-of-plane collapse of the external walls due to the unsatisfactory behaviour of the connectors used to join the panels to the perimeter beams. In this work, the strengthening of a traditional industrial building, assumed as a case study, made by precast reinforced concrete is proposed by the adoption of a dual system allowing the reinforcement of the structure by acting both internally; by pendular columns and, externally, on the walls. In particular, traditional connections at the top of the walls are substituted by devices able to work as a slider with vertical axis while, the bottom of the walls is equipped with two or more hysteretic dampers working on the uplift of the cladding panels occurring under seismic actions. By means of this approach, the structure is stiffened; obtaining a reduction of the lateral drifts under serviceability limit states. In addition, its seismic behaviour is improved due to the additional source of energy dissipation represented by the dampers located at the base of the walls. The effectiveness of the suggested retrofitting approach has been checked by comparing the performance of the retrofitted structure with those of the structure unreinforced by means of both pushover and Incremental Dynamic Analyses (IDA) in terms of behaviour factor, assumed as a measure of the ductility capacity of the structure.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.5 no.5
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• pp.507-521
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• 1997

The ultimate behavior of a reinforced concrete hyperbolic paraboloid saddle shell under uniformly distributed vertical load is investigated using an inelastic, large displacement finite-element program originally developed at North Carolina State University. Unlike with the author's previous study which shows that the saddle shell possesses a tremendous capacity to redistribute the stresses, introducing tension stiffening in the model the cracks developed are no longer through cracks and formed as primarily bending cracks. Even though with small tension stiffening effect, the behavior of the shell is changed markedly from the one without tension stiffening effect. The load-deflection curves are straight and the slope of the curves is quite steep and remains unchanged with varying the tension stiffening parameters. The failure of the shell took place quite suddenly in a cantilever mode initiated by a formation of yield lines in a direction parallel to the support-to-support diagonal. The higher the tension stiffening parameters the higher is the ultimate load. The present study shows that the ultimate behavior of the shell primarily depends on the concrete tensile characteristics, such as tensile strength (before cracking) and the effective tension stiffening (after cracking). As the concrete characteristics would vary over the life of the shell, a degree of uncertainty is involved in deciding a specified ultimate strength of the saddle shell studied. By the present study, however, the overload factors based on ACI 318-95 are larger than unity for all the cases studied except that the tension stiffening parameter is weak by 3 with and without the large displacement effect, which shows that the Lin-Scordelis saddle shell studied here is at least safe.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.579-588
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• 2017

Creep and shrinkage are the main types of volume change with time in concrete. These changes cause deflection, cracking and stresses that affect durability, serviceability, long-term reliability and structural integrity of civil engineering infrastructure. Although laboratory test may be undertaken to determine the deformation properties of concrete, these are time-consuming, often expensive and generally not a practical option. Therefore, relatively simple empirically design code models are relied to predict the creep strain. This paper reviews the accuracy of creep and shrinkage predictions of reinforced concrete (RC) shear walls structures strengthened with carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) plates, which is characterized by a widthwise varying fibre volume fraction. This review is yielded by three commonly used international "code type" models. The assessed are the: CEB-FIP MC 90 model, ACI 209 model and Bazant & Baweja (B3) model. The time-dependent behavior was investigated to analyze their seismic behavior. In the numerical formulation, the adherents and the adhesives are all modelled as shear wall elements, using the mixed finite element method. Several tests were used to demonstrate the accuracy and effectiveness of the proposed method. Numerical results from the present analysis are presented to illustrate the significance of the time-dependency of the lateral displacements and eigenfrequencies modes.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.77 no.2
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• pp.179-196
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• 2021

Experimental investigations on the seismic behaviors of the PVC-FRP Confined Reinforced Concrete (PFCRC) columns under low cyclic loading are carried out and two variable parameters including CFRP strips spacing and axial compression ratio are considered. The PFCRC column finally fails by bending and is characterized by the crushing of concrete and yielding of the longitudinal reinforcement, and the column with a high axial compression ratio is also accompanied by the cracking of the PVC tube and the fracture of CFRP strips. The hysteretic curves and skeleton curves of the columns are obtained from the experimental data. With the increase of axial compression ratio, the stiffness degradation rate accelerates and the ductility decreases. With the decrease of CFRP strips spacing, the unloading sections of the skeleton curves become steep and the ductility reduces significantly. On the basis of fiber model method, a numerical analysis approach for predicting the skeleton curves of the PFCRC columns is developed. Additionally, a simplified skeleton curve including the elastic stage, strengthening stage and unloading stage is suggested depending on the geometric drawing method. Moreover, the loading and unloading rules of the PFCRC columns are revealed by analyzing the features of the skeleton curves. The quantitative expressions that are used to predict the unloading stiffness of the specimens in each stage are proposed. Eventually, an analytical model for the PFCRC columns under low cyclic loading is established and it agrees well with test data.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.199-207
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• 2018

Experimental programs were performed to evaluate the flexural performance of fiber reinforced concrete(FRC) beams using a hybrid double-layer arrangement of steel bars and fiber reinforced polymer(FRP) bars or using FRP bars only. A total of seven beam specimens were produced with type of tensile reinforcing bar(CFRP bar, GFRP bar, steel bar) and the poly vinyl alcohol(PVA) fiber mixing ratio(0.5%, 0%) as variable. An analysis method for predicting the flexural behaviors of FRC beams with hybrid arrangement of heterogeneous reinforcing bars through finite element analysis was proposed and verified. In case of the specimens with the double-layer reinforcing bars, the test results showed that the first cracking load of specimen with a double-layer arrangement of steel bars was greater by 26-34% than specimens with a hybrid double-layer arrangement of steel and FRP bars. In maximum flexural strengths, the specimen that used CFRP bars as bottom tensile reinforcing bar showed the greatest strength among the specimens with the double-layer reinforcing bars. When the maximum moment value obtained through experiments was compared with that obtained through analysis, the ratio was 1.2 on average, the standard deviation was 0.085, and the maximum error rate was 22% or less. Based on these results, the finite element analysis model proposed in this study can effectively simulate the actual behavior of the beams with hybrid double-layer reinforcing bars.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.47-53
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• 2022

As the limit state design method is applied as a method of designing concrete structures, the ultimate state is considered in the analysis or design. In fact, when the reinforced concrete member bears tensile force, the force is transmitted from the rebar to the concrete, and the structure bears the tensile force to the ultimate state even after yield. Therefore, the accurate evaluation of behavior after yield, it is necessary to study the tension stiffening effect after yield of the flexural member. In this study, a 4-point bending test was conducted on the RC simple beam having a rectangular cross section of the double reinforcement, and the behavior of the member was analyzed in detail using the image analysis method. Using the analysis results, the estimation formula for the tension stiffening effect after yield was proposed, and the applicability of this was verified through the experimental results of existing study. The difference between the ultimate strain and the yield strain representing the ductile behavior of the member is similar to the experimental results. The prediction of the proposed formula is relatively accurate.