• Wind and Structures
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.381-392
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• 2020

Despite that the failure of sign structure may not have disastrous consequence, its sheer number still ensures the need for rigorous safety standard to regulate their maintenance and construction. During its service life, a sign structure is subject to extensive wind load, sometimes well over its permissible design load. A fragility analysis of a sign structure offers a tool for rational decision making and safety evaluation by using a probabilistic framework to consider the various sources of uncertainty that affect its performance. Wind fragility analysis was used to determine the performance of sign structure based on the performance of its connection components. In this study, basic wind fragility concepts and data required to support the fragility analysis of the sign structure such as sign panel's parameters, connection component's parameters, as well as wind load parameters were presented. Fragility and compound fragility analysis showed disparity between connection component. Additionally, reinforcement of the connection system was introduced as an example of the utilization of wind fragility results in the retrofit decision making.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.29-44
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• 2020

The effectiveness and the sensitivity of a Wireless impedance/Admittance Monitoring System (WiAMS) for the prompt damage diagnosis of two single-storey single-span Reinforced Concrete (RC) frames under cyclic loading is experimentally investigated. The geometrical and the reinforcement characteristics of the RC structural members of the frames represent typical old RC frame structure without consideration of seismic design criteria. The columns of the frames are vulnerable to shear failure under lateral load due to their low height-to-depth ratio and insufficient transverse reinforcement. The proposed Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) system comprises of specially manufactured autonomous portable devices that acquire the in-situ voltage frequency responses of a network of twenty piezoelectric transducers mounted to the RC frames. Measurements of external and internal small-sized piezoelectric patches are utilized for damage localization and assessment at various and increased damage levels as the magnitude of the imposed lateral cycle deformations increases. A bare RC frame and a strengthened one using a pair of steel crossed tension-ties (X-bracing) have been tested in order to check the sensitivity of the developed WiAMS in different structural conditions since crack propagation, damage locations and failure mode of the examined frames vary. Indeed, the imposed loading caused brittle shear failure to the column of the bare frame and the formation of plastic hinges at the beam ends of the X-braced frame. Test results highlighted the ability of the proposed SHM to identify incipient damages due to concrete cracking and steel yielding since promising early indication of the forthcoming critical failures before any visible sign has been obtained.