• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.68 no.2
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• pp.159-170
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• 2018

This paper aims to develop response modification factors for stiffness degrading structures by incorporating soil-structure interaction effects. A comprehensive parametric study is conducted to investigate the effects of key SSI parameters, natural period of vibration, ductility demand and hysteretic behavior on the response modification factor of soil-structure systems. The nonlinear dynamic response of 6300 soil-structure systems are studied under two ensembles of accelograms including 20 recorded and 7 synthetic ground motions. It is concluded that neglecting the stiffness degradation of structures can results in up to 22% underestimation of inelastic strength demands in soil-structure systems, leading to an unexpected high level of ductility demand in the structures located on soft soil. Nonlinear regression analyses are then performed to derive a simplified expression for estimating ductility-dependent response modification factors for stiffness degrading soil-structure systems. The adequacy of the proposed expression is investigated through sensitivity analyses on nonlinear soil-structure systems under seven synthetic spectrum compatible earthquake ground motions. A good agreement is observed between the results of the predicted and the target ductility demands, demonstrating the adequacy of the expression proposed in this study to estimate the inelastic demands of SSI systems with stiffness degrading structures. It is observed that the maximum differences between the target and average target ductility demands was 15%, which is considered acceptable for practical design purposes.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2005.03a
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• pp.294-301
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• 2005

Ground response analysis is one of the most important and most commonly encountered problems in geotechnical earthquake engineering. It is a prerequisite step for liquefaction assessment of saturated soil or the pseudo-static and dynamic analysis of geotechnical structures. A number of techniques have been developed for ground response analysis. In this study, ground response analyses were performed using the computer programs that are currently being used domestically. From these analyses, the analysis techniques applied to the programs were compared and analyzed. The results of ground response analyses were compared as follows: 1) 1-dimensional analysis vs. 2-dimensional analysis; 2) equivalent linear analysis vs. nonlinear analysis.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.1-18
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• 2012

The spatial variation of ground motion in Kolkata Metropolitan District (KMD) has been estimated by generating synthetic ground motion considering the point source model coupled with site response analysis. The most vulnerable source was identified from regional seismotectonic map for an area of about 350 km radius around Kolkata. The rock level acceleration time histories at 121 borehole locations in Kolkata for the vulnerable source, Eocene Hinge Zone, due to maximum credible earthquake (MCE) moment magnitude 6.2 were generated by synthetic ground motion model. Soil investigation data of 121 boreholes were collected from the report of Soil Data Bank Project, Jadavpur University, Kolkata. Surface level ground motion parameters were determined using SHAKE2000 software. The results are presented in the form of peak ground acceleration (PGA) at rock level and ground surface, amplification factor, and the response spectra at the ground surface for frequency 1.5 Hz, 3 Hz, 5 Hz and 10 Hz and 5% damping ratio. Site response study shows higher PGA in comparison with rock level acceleration. Maximum amplification in some portion in KMD area is found to be as high as 3.0 times compared to rock level.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.381-394
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• 2003

While constructing multistorey buildings with reinforced concrete framed structures it is a common practice to provide parking space for vehicles at the ground floor level. This floor will generally consist of open frames without any infilled walls and is called an open-storey. From a post disaster damage survey carried out, it was noticed that during the January 26, 2001 Bhuj (Gujarat, India) earthquake, a large number of reinforced concrete framed buildings with open-storey at ground floor level, suffered extensive damage and in some cases catastrophic collapse. This has brought into sharp focus the need to carry out systematic studies on the seismic vulnerability of such buildings. Determination of vulnerability requires realistic structural response estimations taking into account the stochasticity in the loading and the system parameters. The stochastic finite element method can be effectively used to model the random fields while carrying out such studies. This paper presents the details of stochastic finite element analysis of a five-storey three-bay reinforced concrete framed structure with open-storey subjected to standard seismic excitation. In the present study, only the stochasticity in the system parameters is considered. The stochastic finite element method used for carrying out the analysis is based on perturbation technique. Each random field representing the stochastic geometry/material property is discretised into correlated random variables using spatial averaging technique. The uncertainties in geometry and material properties are modelled using the first two moments of the corresponding parameters. In evaluating the stochastic response, the cross-sectional area and Young' modulus are considered as independent random fields. To study the influence of correlation length of random fields, different correlation lengths are considered for random field discretisation. The spatial expectations and covariances for displacement response at any time instant are obtained as the output. The effect of open-storey is modelled by suitably considering the stiffness of infilled walls in the upper storey using cross bracing. In order to account for changes in soil conditions during strong motion earthquakes, both fixed and hinged supports are considered. The results of the stochastic finite element based seismic analysis of reinforced concrete framed structures reported in this paper demonstrate the importance of considering the effect of open-storey with appropriate support conditions to estimate the realistic response of buildings subjected to earthquakes.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.193-199
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• 2020

This study examines a method for identifying stiffness reductions in structures subjected to seismic loads and retrofitting effects using a combination of the finite element method and an advanced genetic algorithm. The novelty of this study is the application of seismic loading and its response to anomalies in the tested structure. The technique described in this study may enable not only detection of damaged elements but also the identification of their locations and the extent of damage due to seismic loading. To demonstrate the feasibility of the method, the advanced genetic algorithm is applied to frame and truss bridge structures subjected to El Centro and Pohang seismic loads. The results reveal the excellent computational efficiency of the method and its ability to prevent severe damage from earthquakes.

• Computational Structural Engineering
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.281-290
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• 1997

Current seismic design code is based on the assumption that the designed structures would be behaved inelastically during a severe earthquake ground motion. For this reason, seismic design forces calculated by seismic codes are much lower than the forces generated by design earthquakes which makes structures responding elastically. Present procedures for calculating seismic design forces are based on the use of elastic spectra reduced by a strength reduction factors known as "response modificaion factor". Because these factors were determined empirically, it is difficult to know how much inelastic behaviors of the structures exhibit. In this study, lateral strength required to maintain target ductility ratio was first calculated from nonlinear dynamic analysis of the single degree of freedom system. At the following step, base shear foeces specified in seismic design code compare with above results. If the base shear force required to maintain target ductility ratio was higher than the code specified one, the lack of required strength should be filled by overstrength and/or redundancy. Therefore, overstrength of moment resisting frame structure will be estimated from the results of push-over analysis.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.6 no.5
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• pp.495-514
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• 2014

The performance of passive control system for the seismic protection of a multi-tower cable-stayed bridge with the application of partially longitudinal constraint system is investigated. The seismic responses of the Jiashao Bridge, a six-tower cable-stayed bridge using the partially longitudinal constraint system are studied under real earthquake ground motions. The effects of the passive control devices including the viscous fluid dampers and elastic cables on the seismic responses of the bridge are examined by taking different values of parameters of the devices. Further, the optimization design principle of passive control system using viscous fluid dampers is presented to determine the optimized parameters of the viscous fluid dampers. The results of the investigations show that the control objective of the multi-tower cable-stayed bridge with the partially longitudinal constraint system is to reduce the base shears and moments of bridge towers longitudinally restricted with the bridge deck. The viscous fluid dampers are found to be more effective than elastic cables in controlling the seismic responses. The optimized parameters for the viscous fluid dampers are determined following the principle that the peak displacement at the end of bridge deck reaches to the maximum value, which can yield maximum reductions in the base shears and moments of bridge towers longitudinally restricted with the bridge deck, with slight increases in the base shears and moments of bridge towers longitudinally unrestricted with the bridge deck.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.4 no.6
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• pp.727-740
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• 2008

A down hole vertical seismic array is a sequence of instruments installed at various depths in the earth to record the ground motion at multiple points during an earthquake. Numerous studies demonstrate the unique utility of vertical seismic arrays for studying in situ site response and soil behavior. Examples are given of analyses made at two sites to show the value of data from vertical seismic arrays. The sites examined are the Lotung, Taiwan SMART1 array and a new site installed at Jingliao, Taiwan. Details of the installation of the Jingliao array are given. ARX models are theoretically the correct process models for vertical wave propagation in the layered earth, and are used to linearly map deeper sensor input signals to shallower sensor output signals. An example of Event 16 at the Lotung array is given. This same data, when examined in detail with a Bayesian inference model, can also be explained by nonlinear filters yielding commonly accepted soil degradation curves. Results from applying an ARMAX model to data from the Jingliao vertical seismic array are presented. Estimates of inter-transducer soil increment resonant frequency, shear modulus, and damping ratio are presented. The shear modulus varied from 50 to 150 MPa, and damping ratio between 8% and 15%. A new hardware monitoring system - TerraScope - is an affordable 4-D down-hole seismic monitoring system based on independent, microprocessor-controlled sensor Pods. The Pods are nominally 50 mm in diameter, and about 120 mm long. An internal 16-bit micro-controller oversees all aspects of instrumentation, eight programmable gain amplifiers, and local signal storage.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.639-654
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• 2018

Rocking motion have been used for achieving the 'resilient buildings' against earthquakes in recent studies. Low-rise buildings, unlike the tall ones, because of their small aspect ratio tend to slide rather than move in rocking mode. However, since rocking is more effective in seismic response reduction than sliding, it is desired to create rocking motion in low-rise buildings too. One way for this purpose is making the building's structure rock on its internal bay(s) by reducing the number of bays at the lower part of the building's skeleton, giving it a mushroom form. In this study 'mushroom skeleton' has been used for creating multi-story rocking regular steel buildings with square plan to rock on its one-by-one bay central lowest story. To show if this idea is effective, a set of mushroom buildings have been considered, and their seismic responses have been compared with those of their conventional counterparts, designed based on a conventional code. Also, a set of similar buildings with skeleton stronger than code requirement, to have immediate occupancy (IO) performance level, have been considered for comparison. Seismic responses, obtained by nonlinear time history analyses, using scaled three-dimensional accelerograms of selected earthquakes, show that by using appropriate 'mushroom skeleton' the seismic performance of buildings is upgraded to mostly IO level, while all of the conventional buildings experience collapse prevention (CP) level or beyond. The strong-skeleton buildings mostly present IO performance level as well, however, their base shear and absolute acceleration responses are much higher than the mushroom buildings.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.273-286
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• 2001

Viscoelastic (VE) dampers have shown to be capable of providing structures with considerable additional damping to reduce the dynamic response of structures. However, the VE material appears to be sensitive to the variations in ambient temperature and vibration frequency. To minimize these effects, a new VE material has been developed. This new material shows less sensitivity to variations in vibration frequency and temperature. However, it is highly dependent on the shear strain. Experimental studies on the seismic behavior of a 2/5 scale five-story steel frame with these new VE dampers have been carried out. Test results show that the structural response can be effectively reduced due to the added stiffness and damping provided by the new type of VE dampers under both mild and strong earthquake ground motions. In addition, analytical studies have been carried out to describe the strain-dependent behavior of the VE damper. The dynamic properties and hysteresis behavior of the dampers can be simulated by a simple bilinear model based on the equivalent dissipated energy principle proposed in this study.