• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.691-707
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• 2020

One of the most important issues in structural systems is evaluation of the margin of safety in low and mid-rise buildings against the progressive collapse mechanism due to the earthquake loads. In this paper, modeling of collapse propagation in structural elements of RC frame buildings is evaluated by tracing down the collapse points in beam and column structural elements, one after another, under earthquake loads and the influence of column removal is investigated on how the collapse expansion in beam and column structural members. For this reason, progressive collapse phenomenon is studied in 3-story and 5-story intermediate moment resisting frame buildings due to the corner and edge column removal in presence of the earthquake loads. In this way, distribution and propagation of the collapse in progressive collapse mechanism is studied, from the first element of the structure to the collapse of a large part of the building with investigating and comparing the results of nonlinear time history analyses (NLTHA) in presence of two-component accelograms proposed by FEMA_P695. Evaluation of the results, including the statistical survey of the number and sequence of the collapsed points in process of the collapse distribution in structural system, show that the progressive collapse distribution are special and similar in low-rise and mid-rise RC buildings due to the simultaneous effects of the column removal and the earthquake loads and various patterns of the progressive collapse distribution are proposed and presented to predict the collapse propagation in structural elements of similar buildings. So, the results of collapse distribution patterns and comparing the values of collapse can be utilized to provide practical methods in codes and guidelines to enhance the structural resistance against the progressive collapse mechanism and eventually, the value of damage can be controlled and minimized in similar buildings.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.863-882
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• 2016

This study aims to introduce a new bracing system by which even super-wide frames with large openings can be braced. The proposed system, hereafter called Cable-Pulley Brace (CPB), is a tension-only bracing system with a rectilinear configuration. In CPB, a wire rope passes through a rectilinear path around the opening(s) and connects the lower corner of the frame to its opposite upper one. CPB is a secondary load resisting system with a nonlinear-elastic hysteretic behavior due to its initial pre-tension load. As a result, the required energy dissipation would be provided by the MRF itself, and the main intention of using CPB is to contribute to the initial and post-yield stiffness of the whole system. Using a stiffness calibration technique, optimum placement of the CPBs is discussed to yield a uniform displacement demand along the height of the structure. A displacement-based design procedure is proposed by which the MRF with CPB can be designed to achieve a uniform distribution of inter-story drifts with predefined values. Obtained results indicated that CPB leads to significant reductions in maximum and residual deformations of the MRF at the expense of minor increase in the maximum base shear and developed axial force demands in the columns. In the case of a typical 5-story residential building, compared to SMRF system, CPB system reduces maximum amounts of inter-story and residual drifts by 35% and 70%, respectively. Moreover, openings of the frame are not interrupted by the CPB. This is the most appealing feature of the proposed bracing system from architectural point of view.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.94-101
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• 2015

When a severe disaster such as a building collapse occurs, a first priority for rapid rescue is to find a location where people are highly expected to be buried but alive. It is, however, very difficult to correctly designate the location of such cavities by conventional geophysical survey due to a pile of debris of building members. In this study, location of possible lifeguard cavities were evaluated through a series of simulations of building collapse by explosion depending on the height of the building, a structure of basement floor and a location of explosion. Three types of building structure: five-story, ten-story and fifteen-story were prepared as a model for the simulation. As a results, in the case of low building, only basement floor partially collapsed. On the other hand, in the case of high building, a collapsed range on the inside of the building increased and lifeguard spaces were formed only in the lateral side or corner of the building. In addition, when a wall exists in the basement floor, the possibility that cavities could be formed increased compared to the cases without wall. However, for the fifteen-story building case, no possible lifeguard cavity was found. It is noted that for a high rise building, the height of building more affect forming of safeguard cavity than the structure of the basement floor.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.343-353
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• 2021

In this study, in order to improve the seismic performance of existing reinforced concrete (RC) framed structures, various external attachment of corner steel frame configurations was considered as a user-friendly retrofitting method. The external steel frame is designed to contribute to the lateral stiffness and load carrying capacity of the existing RC structure. A six-story building was taken into account. Four different external corner steel frame configurations were suggested in order to strengthen the building. The 3D models of the building with suggested retrofitting steel frames were developed within ABAQUS environment using solid finite elements and analyzed under horizontal loadings nonlinearly. Horizontal top displacement vs loading curves were obtained to determine the overall performance of the building. Contributions of steel and RC frames to the carried loads were computed individually. Load/capacity ratios for the ground floor columns were presented. In the study, 3D rendered images of the building with the suggested retrofits are created to better visualize the real effect of the retrofit on the final appearance of the façade of the building. The analysis results have shown that the proposed external steel frame retrofit configurations increased the lateral load carrying capacity and lateral stiffness and can be used to improve the seismic performance of RC framed buildings.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.571-587
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• 2020

In this article the seismic demand and performance of two recent braced steel frames named steel moment frames with the elliptic bracing (ELBRFs) are assessed through a laboratory program and numerical analyses of FEM. Here, one of the specimens is without connecting bracket from the corner of the frame to the elliptic brace (ELBRF-E), while the other is with the connecting brackets (ELBRF-B). In both the elliptic braced moment resisting frames (ELBRFs), in addition to not having any opening space problem in the bracing systems when installed in the surrounding frames, they improve structure's behavior. The experimental test is run on ½ scale single-story single-bay ELBRF specimens under cyclic quasi-static loading and compared with X-bracing and SMRF systems in one story base model. This system is of appropriate stiffness and a high ductility, with an increased response modification factor. Moreover, its energy dissipation is high. In the ELBRF bracing systems, there exists a great interval between relative deformation at the yield point and maximum relative deformation after entering the plastic region. In other words, the distance from the first plastic hinge to the collapse of the structure is fairly large. The experimental outcomes here, are in good agreement with the theoretical predictions.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.179-186
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• 2013

Steel braced frames are commonly used because braced frames are one of the most economical and efficient seismic resisting systems. However, research into the behavior of multi-story X-braced frame systems with mid-span gusset plates, as used in practice, is limited. As a result, their seismic performance and the influence of connection design on this performance are not well understood. Detailed nonlinear computer analyses of the frame were performed prior to building the test specimens and were used to aid the design and to predict the system performance. These analyses suggested significantly different behavior for the midspan gusset plate than that noted for the corner gusset plate connections. This paper summarizes the results of a full scale, 2-story braced frame analysis and test on concentrically braced frames.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.165-172
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• 2019

Progressive collapse is one of the factors which if not predicted at the time of structure plan; its occurrence will lead to catastrophic damages. Through having a glance over important structures chronicles in the world, we will notice that the reason of their collapse is a minor damage in structure caused by an accident like a terrorist attack, smashing a vehicle, fire, gas explosion, construction flaws and its expanding. Progressive collapse includes expanding rudimentary rupture from one part to another which leads to total collapse of a structure or a major part it. This study examines the progressive collapse of a 5-story concrete building with three column eliminating scenarios, including the removal of the corner, side and middle columns with the ABAQUS software. Then the beams and the bottom of the concrete slab were reinforced by (reinforcement of carbon fiber reinforced polymer) FRP and then the structure was re-analyzed. The results of the analysis show that the reinforcement of carbon fiber reinforced polymer sheets is one of the effective ways to rehabilitate and reduce the progressive collapse in concrete structures.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.50 no.3
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• pp.337-345
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• 2024

This research proposed a particle swarm optimization (PSO) based seismic retrofit design of moment frame structures using a steel frame assembly. Two full scale specimens of the steel frame assembly with different corner details were attached to one-story RC frames for seismic retrofit, and the lateral load resisting capacities of the retrofitted frames subjected to cyclic loads were compared with those of a bare RC frame. The open source software framework Opensees was used to develop an analytical model for validating the experimental results. The developed analytical model and the optimization scheme were applied to a case study structure for economic seismic retrofit design, and its seismic performance was assessed before and after the retrofit. The results show that the developed steel frame assembly was effective in increasing seismic load resisting capability of the structure, and the PSO algorithm could be applied as convenient optimization tool for seismic retrofit design of structures.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Electromagnetic Engineering and Science
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• v.17 no.5 s.108
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• pp.430-439
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• 2006

This paper presents the a measured path-loss characteristics for mobile communications beyond 3G in microcellular residential area and street microcell at 3.4, 5.3, and 6.4 GHz band signals. The residential area is divided into two sections, one of which is composed of fifteen-story appartment buildings. The other section comprises four-story houses. The street microcell is classified line-of-sight(LOS) and nonline-of-sight(NLOS) areas. Both residential areas have standard deviations independent of the residential area classification, whereas the path loss exponents in the apartments is higher than those in area for same frequencies. A two-ray model is applied to analyse the path-loss charateristics in LOS areas. In LOS areas, an empirical breakpoint, whose distance is 6 percent shorter than a theorical breakpoint, is founded. Further, a sudden power level drop occurs at a transition point from LOS region to NLOS area. Path loss exponent is found to be significantly higher for non-LOS region than for LOS region. The power level drop due to corner loss and path-loss exponents both increase as the distance between the transmitter and the corner increases.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.393-400
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• 2014

Structures are often subject to vehicle collision which can be accidental or terrorist attack. Previous research shows that the damage in major columns may result in progressive collapse of a whole building. This study investigates the performance of a steel column standing on a reinforced concrete footing subjected to a vehicle collision. The size and the axial load of the steel column are determined based on the assumption that it is the first story corner column in a typical three-story building with six meter span length. The finite element model of a eight-ton single unit truck provided by the NCAC (National Crash Analysis Center) is used in the numerical analysis. The finite element analysis is performed using the LS-DYNA, and the results show that the behavior of the column subjected to car impact depends largely on the column-foundation connection detail.