• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.31-40
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• 2023

We installed temporary strong motion seismometers at the ground surface, 1 m, 2 m, and 9 m at an existing seismic station that houses permanent seismometers installed at 20 m and 100 m, to investigate the influence of installation depth on the recorded ambient and anthropogenic noise level and the characteristics of earthquake signals. Analysis of the ambient noise shows that anthropogenic noise dominates where vibration period T < 1 s at the studied site, whereas wind speed appears to be strongly correlated with the noise level at T > 1 s. Frequency-wavenumber analysis of 2D seismometer array suggests that ambient noise in short periods are predominantly body waves, rather than surface waves. The level of ambient noise was low at 9 m and 20 m, but strong amplification of noise level at T < 0.1 s was observed at the shallow seismometers. Both the active-source test result and the recorded earthquake data demonstrated that the signal level is decreased with the increase of depth. Our result also shows that recorded motions at the ground and 1 m are strongly amplified at 20 Hz (T = 0.05 s), likely due to the resonance of the 3 m thick soil layer. This study demonstrates that analysis of ambient and active-source vibration may help find optimal installation depth of strong motion seismometers. We expect that further research considering various noise environments and geological conditions will be helpful in establishing a guideline for optimal installation of strong motion seismometers.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.715-722
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• 2013

Gas insulated switchgear is large-sized electric equipment for providing a reliable supply of electric power. Recently, seismic tests of electric equipment using a shaking table have been mandated because seismic performance has become an increasingly important issue. However, basic analysis methods continue to be used because some electric equipment is too large for shaking table facilities. Thus, a reliable analysis method should be developed for large-scale electric equipment. This study aims to evaluate the seismic qualification of a 245kV GIS in accordance with IEEE-693 and to validate the analysis method by comparing it with test results. Both the test and the analysis showed that the 245kV GIS has proper seismic safety. Furthermore, the differences between the analysis and the test results are less than 10% for an accurately given mass, stiffness, and input acceleration. It is expected that this study can be used for the seismic qualification of large-scale electrical structures.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2020

In 2016, an earthquake occurred at Gyeongju, Korea. At the Wolsong site, the observed peak ground acceleration was lower than the operating basis earthquake (OBE) level of Wolsong nuclear power plant. However, the measured spectral acceleration value exceeded the spectral acceleration of the operating-basis earthquake (OBE) level in some sections of the response spectrum, resulting in a manual shutdown of the nuclear power plant. Analysis of the response spectra shape of the Gyeongju earthquake motion showed that the high-frequency components are stronger than the response spectra shape used in nuclear power plant design. Therefore, the seismic performance evaluation of structures and equipment of nuclear power plants should be made to reflect the characteristics of site-specific earthquakes. In general, the floor response spectrum shape at the installation site or the generalized response spectrum shape is used for the seismic performance evaluation of structures and equipment. In this study, a generalized response spectrum shape is proposed for seismic performance evaluation of structures and equipment for nuclear power plants. The proposed response spectrum shape reflects the characteristics of earthquake motion in Korea through earthquake hazard analysis, and it can be applied to structures and equipment at various locations.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.35 no.10
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• pp.1265-1271
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• 2011

In this study, the safety of a rack structure was evaluated through seismic analysis considering fluid-structure interactions using a finite-element model. The rack structure was immersed under water, so it was influenced by the water. The fluid-structure interaction can be specified in terms of the hydrodynamic effect, which is defined as the added mass per unit length. Modal analysis and seismic analysis using the Floor Response Spectrum (FRS) were carried out under Operating Basis Earthquake (OBE) and Safe Shutdown Earthquake (SSE) conditions. The analytical maximum displacements of the rack structure were 0.29 and 0.36 mm under OBE and SSE conditions, respectively. The maximum stresses were 17.9 MPa under OBE conditions and 19.6 MPa under SSE conditions; these results corresponded to 23 % and 14% of the yield strength of the applied material, respectively.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.25-35
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• 2018

Geocentrifuge tests are performed to investigate the structure-soil-structure interaction of shallow foundations that have various sizes. The soil specimen is prepared by using the air-pluviation, and the dynamic responses of the foundation are monitored with separation distances between the two foundations and the embedment. During the centrifugal test, the measured ground acceleration shows a tendency to increase with the increase of the input seismic amplitude, and maximum acceleration is measured at the surface due to the ground amplification. As the separation distance between the two foundations decreases, the ratio of the response spectral acceleration (RRS) increases and the period at the peak RRS decreases due to the structure-soil-structure interaction (SSSI). The RRS of the two foundations tends to decrease when the foundations are buried in the ground at the same separation distance.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.121-136
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• 1991

The focal mechanism of the Hongsung Earthquake (1978. Oct. 7, M$_L$=5.0, Latitude 36.62N, Longitude 1 26.67E) was evaulated using the polarity distribution of the P-Waveforms. Through the non-linear computer process, the compatibility of polarity distributions of the 9 P-Waveforms observed at teleseismic distances from the Hongsung Earthquake epicenter was investigated to those of the focal mechanism determined from the varying strike, dip and rake angles. The resultant values for the strike and dip angle of the principal fault plane, which apparently matches very well the sunface lineament of the Hongsung region, are determined to be about 247 degree and 78 degree with uncertainties, respectively. However, the rake angle of the focal mechanism has wide range of 40 degree to 160 degree, which is mainly due to the poor coverage of the azimuthal angle of the observed seismic stations. Due to the consistency of principal stress axes, the resultant focal mechanism could support the current stress regime of that region, which may be caused by subduction of the Pacific Plate under the Eurasia Plate along the Japan Trench. It also provides information of seismic source characteristics of the part of the Korean Peninsula for aseismic design criteria such as Site Specific Response Spectrum and Strong Ground Motion Time History for the nuclear power plants and related nuclear waste disposal facility sites.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.65-71
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• 2001

The nuclear power plant(NPP) should be shut down for inspection and tests prior to a return to power if the earthquake exceeds the operating basis earthquake(OBE). The OBE at the plant is considered to have been exceeded if the computed cumulative absolute velocity(CAV) from the earthquake record is greater than 0.16g-sec. However, the CAV criterion should be determined considering the seismic and structural characteristics of the plant. An experimental study using shaking table is conducted in this study to evaluate intensity of CAV criterion. Appropriate level of CAV is evaluated based on the test results using the developed seismic damage indicator(SDI) model. The model consists of stacked acrylic cylinders and is developed to behave consistently for each directional seismic load. The result of the experimental study in dicates that the CAV criterion of 0.16g-sec is conservative enough to be applied to Korean NPPs since the CAV value of the seismic input motion of the Korean standard NPPs ranges from 0.3 to 0.5 g-sec. The developed SDI is expected to be useful not only in easily determining OBE exceedance but also in evaluating earthquake damage quantitatively to provide guidelines for better post-shutdown inspection and test.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.207-214
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• 2017

High voltage electric power transmitter GIS(Gas Insulated Switchgear) above 72.5kV needs to satisfy domestic Korean peninsular standard(ES-6110-0002) in KEPCO with respect to normal and special operation conditions which include internal gas pressure, dead weight, wind and seismic load. Some other requirements not described in Korean standard can be applied from other international standards such as IEC(International Electronical Committee) 62271-203 and 62271-207. The GIS is a kind of pressure vessel structure made of aluminum and filled with SF6 gas of internal pressure 0.4~0.5MPa. Finite element analysis of GIS is performed with such operational loads including seismic loading and the stability and reliability is determined according to ASME BPVC(Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code) SEC. VIII standard where the allowable stress level of the pressure vessel is suggested. The result shows that the stress of GIS is satisfied the allowable stress level and the safety factor is about 2.3 for Korean peninsular standard.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.41 no.5
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• pp.513-522
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• 2021

A smartphone (SMP) includes a MEMS sensor that can record 3-components motions and has a wireless network device to transmit data in live. These features and relatively low maintenance costs are the advantage of using SMPs as an auxiliary seismic observation network. Currently, 279 SMPs are monitoring seismic motions. In this study, we compare the SMP records with the seismic station (SS) records to validate SMP records. The data used for comparison are records for five earthquakes that occurred in 2019, which are 321 SS data recorded by the Korea Meteorological Administration and the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources and 145 recorded by SMPs. The analysis shows that the event-term corrected average residual of the SMP MEMS sensor records is 0.59 which indicating that the peak horizontal acceleration by SMP is 1.8 factor bigger than the peak ground acceleration by SS. In addition, the residuals tend to decrease as the installation floor of the smartphone MEMS sensor increases, which is the similar trend with response spectra from SS.