• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
• /
• v.10 no.5 s.51
• /
• pp.11-23
• /
• 2006

This paper evaluates the seismic response of multi-span prestressed concrete girder bridges typically found in the New Madrid Seismic Zone region of the central United States. Using detailed nonlinear analytical models and synthetic ground motion records for Memphis, TN, nonlinear response history analyses are performed for two levels of ground motion: 10% probability of exceedance (PE) in 50 years, and 2% probability of exceedance (PE) in 50 years. The results show that the bridge performance is very good fur the 10% PE in 50 years ground motion level. However, the performance for the 2% PE in 50 years ground motion is not so good because it results in highly inelastic behavior of the bridge. Impact between decks results in large ductility demands on the columns, and failure of the bearings that support the girders. It is found that making the superstructure continuous, which is commonly performed for reducing dead load moments and maintenance requirements, results in significant improvement in the seismic response of prestressed concrete girder bridges.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
• /
• v.9 no.3 s.43
• /
• pp.77-85
• /
• 2005

After the collapse of the World Trade Center in september 11, 2001 and due to the frequent fire-caused damages of buildings during earthquake attacks, social concerns have been increased for the fire proof of the structural members of buildings. Recently, researches have been conducted to improve the fire resistance for building members not by the traditional ways but by utilizing the fire-resisting characteristics of reinforced concrete and structural characteristics of H-steel. In this paper, laboratory tests were conducted in room temperature to investigate the structural performance of the composite beams, which were developed to improve the fire resistance, comprising with concrete incasement between upper and lower flanges of H steel. From the experimental results, the displacement ductility factors of $6\~8$ were obtained. The difference of flexural behavior ol H steel-partial concrete incased composite beams with various composite details seems to be minor. The amount of longitudinal rebars is the most influential factor for the flexural strength of the composite beams. Therefore, if this type of composite beams are selected for designing a building located in moderate seismic lone, identical beam size could be used in several stories of the building.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
• /
• v.9 no.4 s.44
• /
• pp.43-54
• /
• 2005

This paper presents cost-effectiveness evaluation of semi-active control system for cable-stayed bridge under earthquake excitations with various magnitudes and frequency contents. Semi-active control system, which is operated by using Bi-stale control method on the basis of linear quadratic Gaussian (LQG) optimal controller, is designed for the benchmark control problem proposed by Dyke et at. The cost-effectiveness of the proposed control system is defined by the ratio of life-cycle costs between a bridge structure with shock transmission units and a bridge structure with the semi-active control devices. The simulated results show that the damper cost has little influence on the cost-effectiveness of the semi-active control system while the cost-effectiveness is quite sensitive to the damage cost induced by the bridge failure. It is also found that the semi-active control system guarantees relatively high cost-effectiveness for the cable-stayed bridge subject to the ground motions in the regions of moderate seismicity with soft soil condition and strong seismicity with stiff soil condition.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
• /
• v.3 no.3
• /
• pp.75-86
• /
• 1999

An analysis model is developed to evaluate the dynamic responses of a bridge system under seismic excitations, in which pounding actions between girders are considered in addition to other phenomena such as nonlinear pier motion, rotational and translational motions of foundations. The model also considers the abutment and restrainers connecting adjacent girders to prevent the unseating failures. Using the developed model, the longitudinal dynamic behaviors of a bridge system are examined for various peak ground accelerations, and the effects of the applied restrainers are investigated. It is found that the restrainers reduce the relative displacement with the shorter clearance length as well as the higher stiffness of the restrainers for moderate excitations. However, in the region with strong excitations the restrainers may yield due to the large relative displacement. Therefore, the extension of support length in addition to restrainers may need to prevent the unseating failure more effectively.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
• /
• v.24 no.8
• /
• pp.137-148
• /
• 2008

In this study, 28 earthquake records with magnitudes from 5.3 to 7.9 are selected for dynamic analysis in order to assess applicability of the earthquakes for domestic seismic design. The assessment is performed using the seismic spectrum analysis of energy and acceleration. Based on results of the analysis, four acceleration time histories, which satisfy the Korean design standard response spectrum, are proposed. From the dynamic analysis using earthquake magnitudes from 6.4 to 7.9, it is found that horizontal displacements corresponding to earthquake magnitudes greater than 7 are two times larger than those with magnitude 6.5. Therefore, it can be stated that use of strong earthquakes, such as Miyagiken-ken-oki earthquake (Ofunato, $M_{JMA}=7.4$) and Tokachi-oki earthquake (Hachinohe, $M_{JMA}=7.9$), for the seismic design in Korea is not applicable, and may prove to be excessively conservative due to overestimated seismic force. From the dynamic analyses using the proposed acceleration time histories, effects of caisson quay wall dimension and the subsoil condition are investigated as well. The simplified design charts to evaluate horizontal displacements of caisson quay wall are also proposed based on earthquake magnitude 6.5 that is appropriate in Korea.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
• /
• v.28 no.3C
• /
• pp.187-196
• /
• 2008

An earthquake of magnitude 5.0 occurred at Ssang-gye-sa, a Buddhist temple in Jirisan, located near the southern border of the Korean peninsula on 4 July 1936. It resulted in severe damage of several buildings and structures in Ssang-gye-sa. Particularly, the top component of a five-story stone pagoda in the temple was tipped over and fell down during the earthquake. This earthquake damage case would be usefully applied to estimating the intensity of ground motion in the Korean peninsula, a moderate seismicity region, where strong motion has never been recorded with the exception of historic seismic events. In order to estimate the local site effects and the corresponding ground motion at Ssang-gye-sa site, intensive site investigations including borehole drilling and in-situ seismic tests such as crosshole and SASW tests were performed in the temple area. Based on the site characteristics, site-specific seismic response analyses using various input motions were conducted for a representative Ssang-gye-sa site by means of both one-dimensional equivalent-linear and nonlinear methods with six input rock outcrop acceleration levels ranging from 0.044g to 0.220g. The resultant site-specific seismic responses indicated the amplified ground motions in the short-period range near the site period of Ssang-gye-sa. Furthermore, the intensity on rock outcrop of the 1936 Jirisan earthquake was estimated by making a comparison between the site responses analysis results in this study and the full-scaled seismic test of pagoda model in the prior study.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
• /
• v.34 no.1
• /
• pp.28-53
• /
• 2024

In general, high-level radioactive waste (HLW) generated as a result of nuclear power generation should be disposed within the country. Determination of the disposal site and host rock for HLW deep geological repository is an important issue not only scientifically but also politically, economically, and socially. Considered host rock types worldwide for geological disposal include crystalline rocks, sedimentary rocks, volcanic rocks, and salt dome. However, South Korea consists of various rock types except salt dome. This paper not only analyzed the geological and rock mechanical characteristics on a nationwide scale with the preliminary results on various rock type studies for the disposal host rock, but also reviewed the characteristics and possibility of various rock types as a host rock through deep drilling surveys. Based on the nationwide screening for host rock types resulted from literature review, rock distributions, and detailed case studies, Jurassic granites and Cretaceous sedimentary rocks (Jinju and Jindong formations) were derived as a possible candidate host rock types for the geological disposal. However, since the analyzed data for candidate rock types from this study is not enough, it is suggested that the disposal rock type should be carefully determined from additional and detailed analysis on disposal depth, regional characteristics, multidisciplinary investigations, etc.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
• /
• v.28 no.3
• /
• pp.249-256
• /
• 2006

Catalytic combustion of toluene was investigated on the Cu-Mn oxide catalysts prepared by the impregnation(Imp) and the deposition-precipitation(DP) methods. The mixing of copper and manganese has been found to enhance the activity of catalysts. It is then found that catalytic efficiency of the Cu-Mn oxide catalyst prepared by the DP method on combustion of toluene is much higher than that of the Cu-Mn oxide catalyst prepared by Imp method with the same chemical composition. The catalyst prepared by the deposition-precipitation method observed no change of toluene conversion at time on stream during 10 days and at the addition of water vapor. On the basis of catalyst characterization data, it has been suggested that the catalysts prepared by the DP method showed uniform distribution and smaller particle size on the surface of catalyst and then enhanced reduction capability of catalysts. Therefore, we think that the DP method leads on progressive capacity of catalyst and promotes stability of catalyst. It was also presumed that catalytic conversion of toluene on the Cu-Mn oxide catalyst depends on redox reaction and $Cu_{1.5}Mn_{1.5}O_4$ spinel phase acts as the major active sites of catalyst.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
• /
• v.10 no.3 s.49
• /
• pp.57-64
• /
• 2006

Seismic design codes are mainly based on the research results for the inelastic response of structures in high seismicity regions. Since wind loads and gravity loads may govern the design in low seismicity regions in many cases, structures subjected to design seismic loads will have larger overstrength compared to those of high seismicity regions. Therefore, it is necessary to verify if the response modification factor based on high seismicity would be adequate for the design of structures in low seismicity regions. In this study, the adequacy of the response modification factor was verified based on the ductility and overstrength of building structures estimated from the result of nonlinear static analysis. Framed structures are designed for the seismic zones 1, 2A, 4 in UBC-97 representing the low, moderated and high seismicity regions and the overstrength factors and ductility demands of the example structures are investigated. When the same response modification factor was used in the design, inelastic response of structures in low seismicity regions turned out to be much smaller than that in high seismicity regions because of the larger overstrength of structures in low seismicity regions. Demands of plastic rotation in connections and ductility in members were much lower in the low seismicity regions compared to those of the high seismicity regions when the structures are designed with the same response modification factor.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
• /
• v.13 no.4
• /
• pp.1-13
• /
• 2009

Liquefaction is a significant threat to structures on loose saturated sandy soil deposits in the event of an earthquake, and can often cause catastrophic damage, economic loss, and loss of life. Nevertheless, the Korean peninsula has for a long time been recognized as a safe region with respect to the hazard of liquefaction, as the peninsula is located in a moderate seismicity region, and there have been no reports of liquefaction, with the exception of references in some historical documents. However, some earthquakes that have recently occurred in different parts of the world have led to liquefaction in non-plastic silty soils, a soil type that can be found in many of the western coastal areas of Korea. In this study, we first present procedures for evaluating the liquefaction potential, and calculate the liquefaction potential index (LPI) distribution at two western coastal sites using both piezocone penetration test (CPTu) data and standard penetration test (SPT) data. The LPI is computed by integrating liquefaction potential over a depth of 20m, and provides an estimate of liquefaction-related surface damage. In addition, we compared the LPI values obtained from CPTu and SPT, respectively. Our research found that the CRR values from CPTu were lower than those from the SPT, particularly in the range between 40 and 120 for the corrected tip resistance, (qc1N)CS, from the CPTu, or in the range of CRR less than 0.23, resulting in relatively high LPI values. Moreover, it was observed that the differences in the CRR between the two methods were relatively higher for soils with high fine contents.