• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.82 no.4
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• pp.417-434
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• 2022

In this work, a review of mechanical metamaterials and seismic protection systems that use them is carried out, focusing on passive protection systems. During the last years, a wide variety of classical systems of seismic protection have demonstrated to be an effective and practical way of reducing the seismic vulnerability of buildings, maintaining their health and structural integrity. However, with the emergence of metamaterials, which allow obtaining uncommon mechanical properties, new procedures and devices with high performance have been developed, reducing the seismic risk through novel approaches such as: seismic shields and the redirection of seismic waves; the use of stop band gaps and the construction of buried mass resonators; the design of pentamodal base isolators. These ideas are impacting traditional areas of structural engineering such as the design and building of highly efficient base isolation systems. In this work, recent advances in new seismic protection technologies and researches that integrate mechanical metamaterials are presented. A complete bibliometric analysis was carried out to identify and classify relevant authors and works related with passive seismic protection system based on mechanical metamaterial (pSPSmMMs). Finally, possible future scenarios for study and development of seismic isolators based on mechanical metamaterials are shown, identifying the relevant topics that have not yet been explored, as well as those with the greatest potential for future application.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 1992.10a
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• pp.148-155
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• 1992

A method to verify seismic qualification of the plant protection system cabinet for a nuclear power plant is presented. A finite element model of the cabinet is developed and correlated to the dynamic properties observed during in-situ vibration test of the actual structure. The results of the modal analysis provide insight into the fundamental dynamic properties of the structure. Techniques for verifying structural integrity and operability are exemplified by summarizing response spectrum and time history analyses of the structure.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.633-656
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• 2001

In this paper, modal control with direct output feedback is formulated in a systematic manner for easy implementation. Its application to the seismic protection of structural systems is verified by a shaking table test, which involves a full-scale building model and an active bracing system as the control device. Two modal control cases, namely, one full-state feedback and one direct output feedback control were tested and compared. The experimental result shows that in mitigating the seismic response of building structures, modal control with direct output feedback can be as effective and efficient as that with full-state feedback control. For practical concerns, the control performance of the proposed method in the presence of sensor noise and stiffness modeling error was also investigated. The numerical result shows that although the control force may be increased, the maximum floor displacements of the controlled structure are very insensitive to sensor noise and modeling error.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2004.11a
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• pp.591-594
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• 2004

Recently, a tendency for development of seismic approach of foreign countries is capacity design development. Capacity design is rational seismic design concept of capacity protection considering not only earthquake magnitude, but also behavior of structure. For that reason, the most bridge seismic design specifications contain capacity protection provisions explicitly or implicitly. The capacity protection is normally related with slenderness effect of the columns, force transfer in connections between columns and adjacent elements, and shear design of columns. It intends to prevent brittle failure of the structural components of bridges, so that the whole bridge system may show ductile behavior and failure during earthquake events. The objectives of this paper are to deduce needed provisions for the moderate seismicity regions such as Korea after studying current seismic design codes and to establish rational criteria provisions of seismic design for future revision of seismic design specifications.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.21-37
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• 2007

In this study a stochastic approach for linear viscous dampers design adopted for seismic protection of buildings is developed. Devices optimal placement into the main structure and their mechanical parameters are attained by means of a reliability-based optimum design criterion, in which an objective function (O.F.) is minimized, subject to a stochastic constraint. The seismic input is modelled by a non stationary modulated Kanai Tajimi filtered stochastic process. Building is represented by means of a plane shear type frame model. The selected criterion for the optimization searches the minimum of the O.F., here assumed to be the cost of the seismic protection, i.e., assumed proportional to the sum of added dampings of each device. The stochastic constraint limits a suitable approximated measure of the structure failure probability, here associated to the maximum interstorey drift crossing over a given threshold limit, related, according with modern Technical Codes, to the required damage control.

• Computational Structural Engineering
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.79-86
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• 1993

A method to verify seismic qualification of the plant protection system cabinet for a nuclear power plant is presented. A finite element model of the cabinet is developed and the dynamic characteristics are obtained. The results of the modal analysis provide insight into the fundamental dynamic properties of the structure, which correspond to the frequency of the peak values of the input seismic spectrum. It necessitates the design modification of the reference cabinet. Techniques for verifying structural integrity and operability are exemplified by summarizing response spectrum and time history analyses of the structure.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.85-108
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• 2013

The research presented in this paper deals with the seismic protection of existing frame structures by means of passive energy dissipation. A displacement-based procedure to design dissipative bracings for the seismic protection of frame structures is proposed and some applications are discussed. The procedure is based on the displacement based design using the capacity spectrum method, no dynamic non linear analyses are needed. Two performance objective have been considered developing the procedure: protect the structure against structural damage or collapse and avoid non-structural damage as well as excessive base shear. The compliance is obtained dimensioning dissipative braces to limit global displacements and interstorey drifts. Reference is made to BRB braces, but the procedure can easily be extended to any typology of dissipative brace. The procedure has been validated through a comparison with nonlinear dynamic response of two 2D r.c. frames, one bare and one infilled. Finally a real application, on an existing 3D building where dissipative braces available on market are used, is discussed.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.115-132
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• 2015

This paper presents a new method for seismic vulnerability assessment of buildings with reference to their operational limit state. The importance of this kind of evaluation arises from the civil protection necessity that some buildings, considered strategic for seismic emergency management, should retain their functionality also after a destructive earthquake. The method is based on the identification of experimental modal parameters from ambient vibrations measurements. The knowledge of the experimental modes allows to perform a linear spectral analysis computing the maximum structural drifts of the building caused by an assigned earthquake. Operational condition is then evaluated by comparing the maximum building drifts with the reference value assigned by the Italian Technical Code for the operational limit state. The uncertainty about the actual building seismic frequencies, typically significantly lower than the ambient ones, is explicitly taken into account through a probabilistic approach that allows to define for the building the Operational Index together with the Operational Probability Curve. The method is validated with experimental seismic data from a permanently monitored public building: by comparing the probabilistic prediction and the building experimental drifts, resulting from three weak earthquakes, the reliability of the method is confirmed. Finally an application of the method to a strategic building in Italy is presented: all the procedure, from ambient vibrations measurement, to seismic input definition, up to the computation of the Operational Probability Curve is illustrated.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.76 no.1
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• pp.57-65
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• 2020

It is very important to allocate valuable resources efficiently when reconstructing buildings after earthquake damage. This paper proposes the use of a simple seismic retrofitting system to make buildings more resilient than the stiffer systems such as the shear walls implemented in Chile after the earthquake in 2010. The proposal is based on the use of steel chevron-type braces in RC buildings as a dual system to improve the seismic performance of multistory buildings. A case study was carried out to compare the proposal with the shear wall solution for the typical seismic Chilean RC building from the structural and economic perspectives. The results show that it is more resilient than other stiffer seismic solutions, such as shear walls, reduces the demand, minimizes seismic damage, gives reliable earthquake protection and facilitates future upgrades and repairs while achieving the level of immediate occupancy without the costs of the shear walls system.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.233-245
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• 2008

For historical masonry structures existing in the Mediterranean area, structural strengthening is of primary importance due to the continuous earthquake threat that is posed on them. Proper retrofitting of historical structures involves a thorough understanding of their structural pathology, before proceeding with any intervention measures. In this paper, a methodology is presented for the evaluation of the actual state of historical masonry structures, which can provide a useful tool for the seismic response assessment before and after the retrofitting. The methodology is mainly focused on the failure and vulnerability analysis of masonry structures using the finite element method. Using this methodology the retrofitting of historical structures with innovative techniques is investigated. The innovative technique presented here involves the exploitation of Shape Memory Alloy prestressed bars. This type of intervention is proposed because it ensures increased reversibility and minimization of interventions, in comparison with conventional retrofitting methods. In this paper, a case study is investigated for the demonstration of the proposed methodologies and techniques, which comprises a masonry Byzantine church and a masonry Cistern. Prestressed SMA alloy bars are placed into the load-bearing system of the structure. The seismic response of the non-retrofitted and the retrofitted finite element models are compared in terms of seismic energy dissipation and displacements diminution.