• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.169-188
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• 2015

This study presents the effects of the spatial variation of ground motions in a hard rock site on the seismic responses of a base-isolated nuclear power plant (BI-NPP). Three structural models were studied for the BI-NPP supported by different number of lead rubber bearing (LRB) base isolators with different base mat dimensions. The seismic responses of the BI-NPP were analyzed and investigated under the uniform and spatial varying excitation of El Centro ground motion. In addition, the rotational degrees of freedom (DOFs) of the base mat nodes were taken to consider the flexural behavior of the base mat on the seismic responses under both uniform and spatial varying excitation. Finally, the seismic response results for all the analysis cases of the BI-NPP were investigated in terms of the vibration periods and mode shapes, lateral displacements, and base shear forces. The analysis results indicate that: (1) considering the flexural behavior of the base mat has a negligible effect on the lateral displacements of base isolators regardless of the number of the isolators or the type of excitation used; (2) considering the spatial variation of ground motions has a substantial influence on the lateral displacements of base isolators and the NPP stick model; (3) the ground motion spatial variation effect is more prominent on lateral displacements than base shear forces, particularly with increasing numbers of base isolators and neglecting flexural behavior of the base mat.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.17 no.6 s.90
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• pp.975-982
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• 2005

Scientific community agrees about the fact that base Isolation provides interesting solutions to minimize the seismic risk. Reliability of such a technique is nowadays proofed by a large number of applications like public buildings, nuclear plants, bridges, etc. This paper reports the results of performance verification tests of the base isolated RC building with the laminated rubber bearings which is manufactured by enterprise in Korea. The shaking table tests were performed using a three story model scaled to 1/3 of the prototype RC apartment building. Several major earthquake records were scaled to different peak ground accelerations and used as input base excitations. Especially in this study, effect of earthquake characteristics on response reduction and effect of the intensity of excitations are studied. Through the verification tests, the validity of the applied base isolaion device and the response reduction effect against earthquakes are confirmed.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.1 no.4
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• pp.45-58
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• 1997

This paper describes a series of shaking table and pseudodynamic tests for evaluation of seismic performance of base-isolated structures subjected to various seismic earthquake inputs. The main objectives of this study are : (1) evaluation of the effectiveness of base-isolation systems for low-rise structures against severe seismic loads through shaking table tests, (2) verification of the substructuring pseudodynamic test method for the base-isolated structures in comparison with the shaking table test results. In the shaking table test, a quarter scaled three-story structure base-isolated by laminated rubber bearings is tested. In the pseudodynamic test, only the laminated rubber bearing s are tested using the substructuring technique, while the concurrent seismic responses of the superstructure are computed using on-line numerical integration. Comparison with the shaking table test results indicates that the substructuring pseudodynamic test method is very effective for determining the dynamic responses of the base-isolated structure.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.23-30
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• 2003

The seismic base isolation design approach has been reviewed and modified to fit the nonlinear static analysis procedure for determination of the performance point of structures in a simpler way, such an adaptation may be possible for the fact that a structural system under development of damage due to earthquake loading keeps softening to result in period shifting toward longer side. The superiority of the proposed method to the state-of-the-practice approach is that the reasonably accurate performance point can be obtained without constructing the so-called acceleration displacement response spectrum required in application of capacity spectrum method. The validity of the proposed approach was verified by comparing the predicted values to the exact ones presented in the literature.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.149-157
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• 2019

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of the significant duration of ground motions on responses of base-isolated nuclear power plants (NPPs). Two sets of ground motion records with short duration (SD) and long duration (LD) motions, scaled to match the target response spectrum, are used to perform time-history analyses. The reactor containment building in the Advanced Power Reactor 1400 (APR1400) NPP is numerically modeled using lumped-mass stick elements in SAP2000. Seismic responses of the base-isolated NPP are monitored in forms of lateral displacements, shear forces, floor response spectra of the containment building, and hysteretic energy of the lead rubber bearing (LRB). Fragility curves for different limit states, which are defined based on the shear deformation of the base isolator, are developed. The numerical results reveal that the average seismic responses of base-isolated NPP under SD and LD motion sets were shown to be mostly identical. For PGA larger than 0.4g, the mean deformation of LRB for LD motions was bigger than that for SD ones due to a higher hysteretic energy of LRB produced in LD shakings. Under LD motions, median parameters of fragility functions for three limit states were reduced by 12% to 15% compared to that due to SD motions. This clearly indicates that it is important to select ground motions with both SD and LD proportionally in the seismic evaluation of NPP structures.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.361-374
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• 2016

The material property of the rubber has been studied in order to improve the reliability of the finite element model of a lead rubber bearing (LRB) which is a typical base isolator. Rubber exhibits elastic behaviour even within the large strain range, unlike the general structural material, and has a hyper-elastic characteristics that shows non-linear relationship between load and deformation. This study represents the mechanical characteristics of the rubber by strain energy function in order to develop a finite element (FE) model of LRB. For the study, several strain energy functions were selected and mechanical properties of the rubber were estimated with the energy functions. A finite element model of LRB has been developed by using material properties of rubber and lead which were identified by stress tests. This study estimated the horizontal and vertical force-displacement relationship with the FE model. The adequacy of the FE model was validated by comparing the analytical results with the experimental data.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.511-525
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• 2014

The main object of this study is to determine and compare the structural behavior of base isolated long span highway bridge, $G\ddot{u}lburnu$ Highway Bridge, using single concave friction pendulum (SCFP) and triple concave friction pendulum (TCFP). The bridge is seismically isolated in the design phase to increase the main period and reduce the horizontal forces with moments using SCFP bearings. In the content of the paper, firstly three dimensional finite element model (FEM) of the bridge is constituted using project drawings by SAP2000 software. The dynamic characteristics such as natural frequencies and periods, and the structural response such as displacements, axial forces, shear forces and torsional moments are attained from the modal and dynamic analyses. After, FEM of the bridge is updated using TCFP and the analyses are performed. At the end of the study, the dynamic characteristics and internal forces are compared with each other to extract the TCFP effect. To emphasize the base isolation effect, the non-isolated structural analysis results are added to graphics. The predominant frequencies of bridge non-isolated, isolated with SCFP and isolated with TCFP conditions decreased from 0.849Hz to 0.497Hz and 0.338Hz, respectively. The maximum vertical displacements are obtained as 57cm, 54cm and 44cm for non-isolated, isolated with SCFP and isolated with TCFP conditions, respectively. The maximum vertical displacement reduction between isolated with TCFP bearing and isolated with SCFP bearing bridge is %23. Maximum axial forces are obtained as 60619kN, 18728kN and 7382kN, maximum shear forces are obtained as 23408kN, 17913kN and 16249kN and maximum torsional moments are obtained as 24020kNm, 7619kNm and 3840kNm for non-isolated, isolated with SCFP and isolated with TCFP conditions, respectively.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.625-635
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• 2022

High-rise buildings (HRBs) are considered one of the most common structures nowadays due to the population growth, especially in crowded towns. The lack of land in crowded cities has led to the convergence of the HRBs and the absence of any gaps between them, especially in lands with weak soil (e.g., liquefaction-prone soil), but then during earthquakes, these structures may be exposed to the risk of collision between them due to the large increase in the horizontal displacements, which may be destructive in some cases to the one or both of these adjacent buildings. To evaluate methods of reducing the risk of collision between adjacent twin HRBs, this research investigates three vibration control methods to reduce the risk of collision due to five different earthquakes for the case of two adjacent reinforced concrete (RC) twin high-rise buildings of 15 floors height without gap distance between them, founded on raft foundation supported on piles inside a liquefaction-prone soil. Contact pounding elements between the two buildings (distributed at all floor levels and at the raft foundation level) are used to make the impact strength between the two buildings realistic. The mitigation methods investigated are the base isolation, the tuned mass damper (TMD) method (using traditional TMDs), and the pounding tuned mass damper (PTMD) method (using PTMDs connected between the two buildings). The results show that the PTMD method between the two adjacent RC twin high-rise buildings is more efficient than the other two methods in mitigating the earthquake-induced pounding risk.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.67 no.1
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• pp.69-78
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• 2018

The study presented herein focused on the change in hysteretic force-deformation behavior of lead rubber bearings (LRBs). The material model used to idealize response of LRBs under cyclic motion is capable of representing the gradual attrition in strength of isolator unit on account of lead core heating. To identify the effect of loading history on the hysteretic response of LRBs, a typical isolator unit is subjected to cyclic motions with different velocity, amplitude and number of cycles. Furthermore, performance of an LRB isolated single degree of freedom system is studied under different seismic input levels. Finally, the significance of lead core heating effect on LRBs is discussed by considering the current design approach for base isolated structures. Results of this study show that the response of an LRB is governed strongly by the amplitude and number of cycles of the motion and the considered seismicity level.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2013.04a
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• pp.816-821
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• 2013

This case study presents a practical method to reduce resonant vibration of generator-motor set. The generator is driven at 1800rpm by induction integral motor. The vibration is below alarm limits, but the dominant frequency of vibration is sub-synchronous and close to that of bearing fault signal in spite of new bearings. To find an mechanism of abnormal vibration, ODS and Modal analysis is carried out. The measured modal characteristics were compared with those of FE Analysis. The ODS mode at rated speed is consistent with system natural frequency mode that is excited by bearings. To reduce vibration level, the isolation mount at system base is changed with new rubber mount for lower natural frequency.