• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.679-694
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• 2017

The complexity, enlargement and irregularity of structures and multi-directional dynamic loads acting on the structures can lead to unexpected structural behavior, such as torsion. Continuous torsion of the structure causes unexpected changes in the structure's stress distribution, reduces the performance of the structural members, and shortens the structure's lifespan. Therefore, a method of monitoring the torsional behavior is required to ensure structural safety. Structural torsion typically occurs accompanied by displacement, but no model has yet been developed to measure this type of structural response. This research proposes a model for measuring dynamic torsional response of structure accompanied by displacement and for identifying the torsional modal parameter using vision-based displacement measurement equipment, a motion capture system (MCS). In the present model, dynamic torsional responses including pure rotation and translation displacements are measured and used to calculate the torsional angle and displacements. To apply the proposed model, vibration tests for a shear-type structure were performed. The torsional responses were obtained from measured dynamic displacements. The torsional angle and displacements obtained by the proposed model using MCS were compared with the torsional response measured using laser displacement sensors (LDSs), which have been widely used for displacement measurement. In addition, torsional modal parameters were obtained using the dynamic torsional angle and displacements obtained from the tests.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2003.05a
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• pp.145-150
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• 2003

The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of torsional eccentricity on the seismic response of high-rise RC bearing-wall structures with vertical irregularity. For this purpose, two 1:12 scale 17-story RC model structures, the one has concentric shear wall and the other has eccentric shear wall, were constructed and then subjected to a series of earthquake excitations. The test result shows the followings: 1) the layout of shear wall has the negligible effect on the natural period and the base shear coefficient, 2) the eccentric model behaves in the first and second mode while the concentric model has the first mode predominantly, 3) the stiff frame in the eccentric model resists most of overturning moment in the severe earthquake though both frames (the stiff and flexible frames) resist almost equally in the design earthquake.

• Journal of the Architectural Institute of Korea Structure & Construction
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.121-128
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• 2020

In this paper, the ASCE 7 equivalent static approach for seismic design of non-structural elements is critically evaluated based on the measured floor acceleration data, theory of structural dynamics, and linear/nonlinear dynamic analysis of three-dimensional building models. The analysis of this study on the up-to-date database of the instrumented buildings in California clearly reveals that the measured database does not well corroborate the magnitude and the profile of the floor acceleration as proposed by ASCE 7. The basic flaws in the equivalent static approach are illustrated using elementary structural dynamics. Based on the linear and nonlinear dynamic analyses of three-dimensional case study buildings, it is shown that the magnitude and distribution of the PFA (peak floor acceleration) can significantly be affected by the supporting structural characteristics such as fundamental period, higher modes, structural nonlinearity, and torsional irregularity. In general, the equivalent static approach yields more conservative acceleration demand as building period becomes longer, and the PFA distribution in long-period buildings tend to become constant along the building height due to the higher mode effect. Structural nonlinearity was generally shown to reduce floor acceleration because of its period-lengthening effect. Torsional floor amplification as high as 250% was observed in the building model of significant torsional irregularity, indicating the need for inclusion of the torsional amplification to the equivalent static approach when building torsion is severe. All these results lead to the conclusion that, if permitted, dynamic methods which can account for supporting structural characteristics, should be preferred for rational seismic design of non-structural elements.

• Journal of Korean Association for Spatial Structures
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.37-44
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• 2023

In the case of a school building, even though it is a regular structure in terms of plan shape, if the masonry infill wall acts as a lateral load resisting element, it can be determined as a torsionally irregular building. As a result, the strength and ductility of the structure are reduced, which may cause additional earthquake damage to the structure. Therefore, in this study, a structure similar to a school building with torsional irregularity was selected as an example structure and the damping performance of the PC-BRB was analyzed by adjusting the eccentricity according to the amount of masonry infilled wall. As a result of nonlinear dynamic analysis after seismic reinforcement, the torsional irregularity of each floor was reduced compared to before reinforcement, and the beams and column members of the collapse level satisfied the performance level due to the reduction of shear force and the reinforcement of stiffness. The energy dissipation of PC-BRB was similar in the REC-10 ~ REC-20 analytical models with an eccentricity of 20% or less. REC-25 with an eccentricity of 25% was the largest, and it is judged that it is effective to combine and apply PC-BRB when it has an eccentricity of 25% or more to control the torsional behavior.

• Journal of the Architectural Institute of Korea Structure & Construction
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• v.35 no.12
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• pp.137-148
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• 2019

Korean piloti-type buildings are comprised of pilotis in the first story and shear walls in the upper stories. This vertical irregularity causes excessive lateral plastic deformation on the first story while the upper stories stay elastic. Meanwhile, asymmetric position of structural components such as core walls and columns of RC piloti-type buildings tends to produce torsional irregularities of the structures. Korean Building Code(KBC2016) requires the special seismic load and torsional amplification factor to apply to the piloti-type buildings lower than six-story or 20m if it has vertical and torsional irregularities when the building corresponds to seismic design category C or D. Many Korean low-rised RC buildings fall into the class. Therefore, the special earthquake load and torsional amplification factor are often applied to a building simultaneously. However, it has not been studied enough how much influence each parameter has on buildings with vertical and torsional irregularities at the same time. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of factor special seismic load and torsional amplification on seismic performance of irregular buildings. In this study, a damaged 4^th story piloti-type building by the Pohang earthquake was selected and the earthquake response analysis was carried out with various seismic design methods by the KBC 2016. The effect of the design parameters on seismic performance was analyzed by the dynamic analysis of models with special seismic load and torsional amplification factor based on the selected building. It was concluded that the application of the torsional amplification factor to the reference model to which special seismic design was applied, does not significantly affect the seismic performance.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.379-399
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• 2015

Existing building structures can easily present material mechanical properties which can largely vary even within a single structure. The current European Technical Code, Eurocode 8, does not provide specific instructions to account for high variability in mechanical properties. As a consequence of the high strength variability, at the occurrence of seismic events, the structure may evidence unexpected phenomena, like torsional effects, with larger experienced deformations and, in turn, with reduced seismic performance. This work is focused on the torsional effects related to the irregular stiffness and strength distribution due to the concrete strength variability. The analysis has been performed on a case-study, i.e., a 3D RC framed 4 storey building. A Normal distribution, compatible to a large available database, has been taken to represent the concrete strength domain. Different plan layouts, representative of realistic stiffness distributions, have been considered, and a statistical analysis has been performed on the induced torsional effects. The obtained results have been compared to the standard analysis as provided by Eurocode 8 for existing buildings, showing that the Eurocode 8 provisions, despite not allowing explicitly for material strength variability, are conservative as regards the estimation of structural demand.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.103-111
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• 2018

This study examines the seismic failure of RC low-rise building structures having irregularities at the ground story during the 15 November 2017 Pohang, Korea, earthquake, $M_w=5.4$, which is the second strongest since the government began monitoring them in 1978 in South Korea. Some 2,000 private houses were damaged or destroyed in this earthquake. Particularly, serious damage to the piloti story of RC low-rise residential building structures of fewer than five stories was observed within 3 km of the epicenter with brittle shear failure of columns and walls due to severe torsional behavior. Buildings below six stories constructed before 2005 did not have to comply with seismic design requirements, so confinement detailing of columns and walls also led to inadequate performance. However, some buildings constructed after 2005 were damaged at the flexible side of the piloti story due to the high torsional irregularity. Based on these results, this study focuses on the problems of the seismic torsion design approach in current building codes.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.74-81
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• 2009

In this study, the seismic performance of RC school buildings which were not designed according to earthquake-resistance design code were evaluated by using response spectrum and push-over analyses. The torsional amplification effect due to plan irregularity is considered and then the efficiency of seismic retrofitting methods such as RC shear wall, steel frame, RC frame and PC wing wall was investigated. The analysis result indicate that the inter-story drift concentrated in the first floor and most plastic hinge forms at the column of the first story. Among the retrofitting methods, the PC wing wall has the highest seismic performance in strength and story drift aspect. Especially, it can make building ductile behavior due to the concentrated inter-story drift at the first column hinge is distributed overall stories. The axial force, shear force and moment magnitude of existing elements significantly decreased after retrofitting. However, the axial and shear force of the elements connected to the additional retrofitting elements increased, and especially the boundary columns at the end of the retrofitting shear wall should be reinforced for assuring the enhancement of seismic performance.

• Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
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• 2005.03a
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• pp.161-168
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• 2005

Torsional behavior of eccentric structure under seismic loading may cause the stress and/or deformation concentration. Hence it is hard to estimate the seismic behavior of the structure with plan irregularity. This study suggests the method to setup the seismic fragility curve of the torsionally irregular structures. The suggested fragility curve may be acquired from the fragility surface defined on the D-R plan according to the estimated torsional behavior. The torsional behavior is predicted considering the inelastic region by adapting the inelastic stiffness of each wall. Finally the system displacement is converted to the spectral acceleration and the fragility curve for the seismic excitation level is presented. In addition, the fragility curve considering the excitation direction is proposed.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.321-334
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• 2022

Irregularity in plan shape is very common for any type of building as it enhances better air ventilation for the inhabitants. Systematic opening at the middle of the facades makes the appearance of the building plan as a butterfly one. The primary focus of this study is to forecast the force, moment and torsional coefficient of a butterfly plan shaped tall building. Initially, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) study is done on the building model based on Reynolds averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) k-epsilon turbulence model. Fifty random cases of irregularity and angle of attack (AOA) are selected, and the results from these cases are utilised for developing the surrogate models. Parametric equations are predicted for all these aerodynamic coefficients, and the training of these outcomes are also done for developing Artificial Neural Networks (ANN). After achieving the target acceptance criteria, the observed results are compared with the primary CFD data. Both parametric equations and ANN matched very well with the obtained data. The results are further utilised for discussing the effects of irregularity on the most critical wind condition.