• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.83 no.5
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• pp.655-669
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• 2022

Passive vibration control devices like tuned liquid column dampers (TLCD) not only significantly reduce buildings' vibrations but also can serve as a water storage facility. The recently introduced modified form of TLCD known as tuned liquid column ball damper (TLCBD) suppressed external vibration efficiently compared to traditional TLCD. For excellent performance, the mass ratio of TLCBD should be in the range of 5% to 7%, which does not include the mass of the ball. This additional mass of the ball increases the overall structure mass. Therefore, in this paper, an effort is made to reduce the mass of TLCBD. For this purpose, a new modified version of TLCBD known as tuned liquid column hollow ball damper (TLCHBD) is proposed. The existing mathematical modeling of TLCBD is used for this new damper by updating the numerical values of the mass and mass moment of the ball. Analytically the optimal design parameters are obtained. Numerically the TLCHBD is investigated with a single degree of freedom structure under harmonic and seismic loadings. It is found that TLCHBD performance is similar to TLCBD in both loadings' cases. To validate the numerical results, an experimental study is conducted. The mass of the ball of TLCHBD is reduced by 50% compared to the ball of TLCBD. Both the arrangements are studied with a multi-degree of freedom structure under harmonic and seismic loadings using a shake table. The results of the experimental study confirm the numerical findings. It is found that the performance behavior of both the dampers is almost similar under harmonic and seismic loadings. In short, the TLCHBD is lighter in weight than TLCBD but has a similar vibration suppression ability.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.281-295
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• 2016

This paper presents a study on a non-seismically designed reinforced concrete (RC) frame structure. The structure was a existing three-story office building constructed according to the 1990s practice in Vietnam. The 1/3 scaled down versions of structure was tested on a shake table to investigate the seismic performance of this type of construction. It was found that the inter-story drift and the overall behavior of structure meet the requirements of the actual seismic design codes. Then, nonlinear time history analyses are carried out using the fiber beam- column elements. The comparison between the experimental and simulation results shows the performance of the time history analysis models.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.103-117
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• 2020

The effect of the foundation size on the efficiency of seismic base isolation using a layer of stone pebbles is experimentally investigated. Four scaled models of buildings with different stiffnesses (from very stiff to soft) were tested, each with the so-called small and large foundation, and exposed to four different accelerograms (different predominant periods and durations). Tests were conducted so that the strains in the model remained elastic and afterwards the models were tested until collapse. Each model was tested for the case of the foundation being supported on a rigid base and on an aseismic layer. Compared to the smaller foundation, the larger foundation results in a reduced rocking effect, higher earthquake forces and lower bearing capacity of the tested models, with respectable efficiency (reduced strain/stress, displacement and increase of the ultimate bearing capacity of the model) for the considered seismic base isolation compared to the foundation on a rigid base.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.103-110
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• 2021

A shake table test is conducted for the three-story reinforced concrete building structure using 0.28 g, 0.5 g, 0.75 g, and 1.0 g of seismic input motions based on the Gyeongju earthquake. Computational efforts are made in parallel to explore the mechanical details in the structure. For engineering practice, the elastic modulus of concrete and rebar in the dynamic analysis is reduced to 38% and 50%, respectively, to calibrate the structure's natural frequencies. The engineering approach to the reduced modulus of elasticity is believed to be due to the inability to specify the flexibility of the actual boundary conditions. This aspect may lead to disadvantages of nonlinear dynamic analysis that can distort local stress and strain relationships. The initial elastic modulus can be applied directly without the so-called engineering adjustment with infinite element models with spring and spring-dashpot boundary conditions. This has the advantage of imposing the system flexibility of the structure on the sub-boundary conditions of springs and damping devices to control its sensitivity in a serial arrangement. This can reflect the flexibility of realistic boundary conditions and the effects of system damping (such as the gap between a concrete footing and shake table, loosening of steel anchors, etc.) in scalar quantities. However, these spring and dashpot coefficients can only be coordinated based on experimental results, making it challenging to select the coefficients in-prior to perform an experimental test.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.1363-1373
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• 2022

The recent seismic events that occurred in South Korea have increased the interest in the re-evaluation of the seismic capacity of nuclear power plant (NPP) equipment, which is often conservatively estimated. To date, various approaches-including the Bayesian method proposed by the United States (US) Electric Power Research Institute -have been developed to quantify the seismic capacity of NPP equipment. Among these, the Bayesian approach has advantages in accounting for both prior knowledge and new information to update the probabilistic distribution of seismic capacity. However, data availability and region-specific issues exist in applying this Bayesian approach to Korean NPP equipment. Therefore, this paper proposes to construct an earthquake experience database by combining available earthquake records at Korean NPP sites and the general location of equipment within NPPs. Also, for the better representation of the seismic demand of Korean earthquake datasets, which have distinct seismic characteristics from those of the US at a high-frequency range, a broadband frequency range optimization is suggested. The proposed data construction and seismic demand optimization method for seismic capacity re-evaluation are demonstrated and tested on a 480 V motor control center of a South Korea NPP.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.629-641
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• 2017

Foundation plays a significant role in safe and efficient turbo machinery operation. Turbo machineries generate harmonic load on the foundation due to their high speed rotating motion which causes vibration in the machinery, foundation and soil beneath the foundation. The problems caused by vibration get multiplied if the soil is poor. An improperly designed machine foundation increases the vibration and reduces machinery health leading to frequent maintenance. Hence it is very important to study the soil structure interaction and effect of machine vibration on the foundation during turbo machinery operation in the design stage itself. The present work studies the effect of harmonic load due to machine operation along with earthquake loading on the frame foundation for poor soil conditions. Various alternative foundations like rafts, barrette, batter pile and combinations of barrettes with batter pile are analyzed to study the improvements in the vibration patterns. Detailed computational analysis was carried out in SAP 2000 software; the numerical model was analyzed and compared with the shaking table experiment results. The numerical results are found to be closely matching with the experimental data which confirms the accuracy of the numerical model predictions. Both shake table and SAP 2000 results reveal that combination of barrette and batter piles with raft are best suitable for poor soil conditions because it reduces the displacement at top deck, bending moment and horizontal displacement of pile and thereby making the foundation more stable under seismic loading.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.1-22
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• 2013

Soft storey failure mechanism is a common collapse mode for masonry-infilled (MI) reinforced concrete (RC) buildings subjected to severe earthquakes. Simple analytical equations correlating global with local ductility demands are derived from pushover (PO) analyses for seismic assessments of regular MI RC frames, considering the critical interstorey drift ratio, number of storeys and lateral loading configurations. The reliability of the equations is investigated using incremental dynamic analyses for MI RC frames of up to 7 storeys. Using the analytical ductility relationship and a coefficient-based method (CBM), the response spectral accelerations and period shift factors of low-rise MI RC frames are computed. The results are verified through published shake table test results. In general applications, the analytical ductility relationships thus derived can be used to bypass the onerous PO analysis while accurately predicting the local ductility demands for seismic assessment of regular MI RC frames.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.59-77
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• 2020

The code static eccentricity model for elastic torsional design of structures has two critical shortcomings: (1) the negation of the inertial torsional moment at the center of mass (CM), particularly for torsionally-unbalanced (TU) building structures, and (2) the confusion caused by the discrepancy in the definition of the design eccentricity in codes and the resistance eccentricity commonly used by engineers such as in FEMA454. To overcome these shortcomings, using the resistance eccentricity model that can accommodate the inertial torsional moment at the CM, interactive relations between shear and torsion are proposed as follows: (1) elastic responses of structures at instants of peak edge-frame drifts are given as functions of resistance eccentricity, and (2) elastic hysteretic relationships between shear and torsion in forces and deformations are bounded by ellipsoids constructed using two adjacent dominant modes. Comparison of demands estimated using these two interactive relations with those from shake-table tests of two TU building structures (a 1:5-scale five-story reinforced concrete (RC) building model and a 1:12-scale 17-story RC building model) under the service level earthquake (SLE) show that these relations match experimental results of models reasonably well. Concepts proposed in this study enable engineers to not only visualize the overall picture of torsional behavior including the relationship between shear and torsion with the range of forces and deformations, but also pinpoint easily the information about critical responses of structures such as the maximum edge-frame drifts and the corresponding shear force and torsion moment with the eccentricity.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.279-288
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• 2019

Safety-related cabinets and their electrical parts, such as relays and switches in nuclear power plants, should maintain continuous functioning, as well as structural safety according to the nuclear regulatory guidelines. Generally, an electrical part is qualified if its functioning is maintained without abnormality during excitement by motion compatible with the test response spectrum, which is larger than its in-cabinet response spectrum (ICRS). ICRS can be determined by shake-table test or dynamic analysis. Since existing cabinets in use can hardly be stopped and moved, dynamic analysis is preferred over shake-table test in determining ICRS. The simple method, suggested by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) to determine ICRS, yields conservative or non-conservative results from time to time. In order to determine that the ICRS is better than EPRI method in a simple way, Ritz method considering global and local plate behaviors was suggested by Gupta et al. In this paper, the Ritz method is modified in order to consider the rocking and frame behaviors simultaneously, and it is applied to a simple numerical example for verification. ICRS is determined by Ritz method and compared with the results by finite element method (FEM). Based on this numerical example, recommendations for using Ritz method are suggested.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.73-84
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• 2020

In the seismic design of bridges, formation of plastic hinges plays an important role in the dissipation of seismic energy. In the case of conventional fixed-base bridges, the plastic hinges are allowed to form in the superstructure alone. During seismic event, such bridges may be safe from collapse but the superstructure undergoes significant plastic deformations. As an alternative design approach, the plastic hinges are guided to form in the soil thereby utilizing the inevitable yielding of the soil. Rocking foundations work on this concept. The formation of plastic hinges in the soil reduces the load and displacement demands on the superstructure. This study aims at evaluating the seismic response of bridge pier supported on rocking shallow foundation. For this purpose, a BNWF model is implemented in OpenSees platform. The capability of the BNWF model to capture the SSI effects, nonlinear behavior and dynamic loading response are validated using the centrifuge and shake table test results. A comparative study is performed between the seismic response of the bridge pier supported on the rocking shallow foundation and conventional fixed-base foundation. Results of the study have established the beneficial effects of using the rocking shallow foundation for the seismic response analysis of the bridge piers.