• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.13-18
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• 1993

The purpose of this study is to analyze the seismic effects of Lead Rubber Bearing base isolators on bridges. Base isolation is the tool to minimize the effect of earthquake before the seismic force is transfered to the structure. Currently, many structures including the buildings, power plants, and bridges, were built and planned with base isolation method. The simple model is developed for bridges with Lead Rubber Bearings. Equations of motion are solved by Newmark ${\beta}$ method. Springs representing the base isolators are assumed as bilinear springs and piers are modeled as nonlinear springs implementing Q-HYST model. Analysis is performed for the selected bridge. El Centro (N-S) earthquake(1940) is used. Deck displacement, pier ductility and pier shear force are calculated for the various Lead Rubber Bearings.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.743-755
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• 2019

In this paper, a new system of seismic isolation for buildings - called suspended columns - is introduced. In this method, the building columns are placed on the hinged cradle seats instead of direct connection to the foundation. In this system, each of the columns is put on a seat hung from its surrounding area by a number of cables, for which cavities are created inside the foundation around the columns. Inside these cavities, the tensile cables are hung. Because of the flexibility of the cables, the suspended seats vibrate during an earthquake and as a result, there is less acceleration in the structure than the foundation. A Matlab code was written to analyze and investigate the response of the system against the earthquake excitations. The findings showed that if this system is used in a building, it results in a significant reduction in the acceleration applied to the structure. A shear key system was used to control the structure for service and lateral weak loads. Moreover, the effect of vertical acceleration on the seismic behavior of the system was also investigated. Effect of the earthquake characteristic period on the system performance was studied and the optimum length of the suspension cables for a variety of the period ranges was suggested. In addition, measures have been taken for long-term functioning of the system and some practical feasibility features were also discussed. Finally, the advantages and limitations of the system were discussed and compared with the other common methods of seismic isolation.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.379-389
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• 2016

This study intends to evaluate the conservativeness of the fixed-base analysis as compared to the soil-structure interaction (SSI) analysis for the seismically isolated model of a nuclear power plant in Korea. To that goal, the boundary reaction method (BRM), combining frequency-domain and time-domain analyses in a twofold process, is adopted for the SSI analysis considering the nonlinearity of the seismic base isolation. The program KIESSI-3D is used for computing the reaction forces in the frequency domain and the program MIDAS/Civil is applied for the nonlinear time-domain analysis. The BRM numerical model is verified by comparing the results of the frequency-domain analysis and time-domain analysis for the soil-structure system with an equivalent linear base isolation model. Moreover, the displacement response of the base isolation and the horizontal response at the top of the structure obtained by the nonlinear SSI analysis using BRM are compared with those obtained by the fixed-base analysis. The comparison reveals that the fixed-base analysis provides conservative peak deformation for the base isolation but is not particularly conservative in term of the floor response spectrum of the superstructure.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.657-671
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• 2015

The level of ductility is determined by depending on the intended use of the building, the region's seismic characteristics and the type of structural system when buildings are planned by engineers. Major portion of seismic energy is intended to be consumed in the plastic zone in structural systems of high ductility, so the occurrence of damages in load bearing and non-load bearing structural elements is accepted in planning stage under severe earthquakes. However, these damages must be limited among specific values in order not to endanger buildings in terms of the bearing capacity. Isolators placed between the basement and upper structure make buildings behave elastically by reducing the effects of seismic loads and improving seismic performance of building significantly. Thus, damages can be limited among desired values. In this study, the effectiveness of seismic isolation is investigated on both fixed based and seismic isolated models of a hospital building with high ductility level with regard to lateral displacements, internal forces, structural periods and cost of the building. Layered rubber bearings are interposed between the base of the structure and foundation. Earthquake analysis of the building are performed using earthquake records in time domain (Kocaeli, Loma Prieta and Landers). Results obtained from three-dimensional finite element models are presented by graphs and tables in detail. That seismic isolation reduces significantly the destructive effects of earthquakes on structures is seen from the results obtained by seismic analysis.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 1996.04a
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• pp.194-202
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• 1996

An approach to increase the seismic resistance of large structures is to reduce the seismic forces, to which structures are subjected by base isolation systems. The anti-seismic performance of base-isolated beatings has been verified experimentally by shaking table tests. However, it may be difficult to perform the tests for the full-scale beatings of base-isolated structures. Therefore, the test program was designed to evaluate the reliability and properties of the beatings under a range of loading conditions including axial stress, loading frequency and direction, and temperature. The effects of scale were also evaluated by comparing the results of the 1/4-scale beatings with those from the full-scale bearings, and the ultimate behavior of both types of bearings with evaluated through a series of roll-out tests. This report draws comparisons among the different tests and bearings to determine the importance of various factors including load history, axial stress, and frequency. Comparisons between the 1/4-scale bearings were difficult because of the scaling effects in manufacturing and thermal radiation, but qualitative results from the 1/4-scale bearings can certainly be extrapolated the full-scale bearings.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.29-48
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• 2015

The main purpose of this work is to compare different criteria for the seismic strengthening of RC framed buildings in order to find the optimal combinations of these retrofitting techniques. To this end, a numerical investigation is carried out with reference to the town hall of Spilinga (Italy), an RC framed structure with an L-shaped plan built at the beginning of the 1960s. Five structures are considered, derived from the first by incorporating: carbon fibre reinforced polymer (FRP)-wrapping of all columns; base-isolation, with high-damping-laminated-rubber bearings (HDLRBs); added damping, with hysteretic damped braces (HYDBs); FRP-wrapping of the first storey columns combined with base-isolation or added damping. A three-dimensional fibre model of the primary and retrofitted structures is considered; bilinear and trilinear laws idealize, respectively, the behaviour of the HYDB, providing that the buckling be prevented, and the FRP-wrapping, without resistance in compression, while the response of the HDLRB is simulated by using a viscoelastic linear model. The effectiveness of the retrofitting solutions is tested with nonlinear dynamic analyses based on biaxial accelerograms, whose response spectra match those in the Italian seismic code.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.471-484
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• 2020

Previous earthquakes show that, structural safety evaluations should include the evaluation of nonstructural components. Failure of nonstructural components can affect the operational capacity of critical facilities, such as hospitals and fire stations, which can cause an increase in number of deaths. Additionally, failure of nonstructural components may result in economic, architectural, and historical losses of community. Accelerations and random vibrations must be under the predefined limitations in structures with high technological equipment, data centers in this case. Failure of server equipment and anchored server racks are investigated in this study. A probabilistic study is completed for a low-rise rigid sample structure. The structure is investigated in two versions, (i) conventional fixed-based structure and (ii) with a base isolation system. Seismic hazard assessment is completed for the selected site. Monte Carlo simulations are generated with selected parameters. Uncertainties in both structural parameters and mechanical properties of isolation system are included in simulations. Anchorage failure and vibration failures are investigated. Different methods to generate fragility curves are used. The site-specific annual hazard curve is used to generate risk curves for two different structures. A risk matrix is proposed for the design of data centers. Results show that base isolation systems reduce the failure probability significantly in higher floors. It was also understood that, base isolation systems are highly sensitive to earthquake characteristics rather than variability in structural and mechanical properties, in terms of accelerations. Another outcome is that code-provided anchorage failure limitations are more vulnerable than the random vibration failure limitations of server equipment.

• Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
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• 2002.09a
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• pp.341-348
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• 2002

In these days, The base isolation system is often used to improve the seismic capacity of the structures instead of conventional techniques of strengthening the structural members. The purpose of this study is to evaluate dynamic property evaluation of control equipment using lead Lead Rubber Bearing. In this study, a base isolation test of seismic monitoring control cabinet with LRB(lead rubber bearing) was performed. The cabinet will be installed on access floor in MCR(main control room) of nuclear power plant. Details and dynamic characteristics of the access floor were considered in the construction of testing specimen. N-S component of El Centre earthquake was used as seismic input motion. Acceleration response spectrums in the top of cabinets showed that the first mode frequency of cabinet with LRB(lead rubber bearing) was shifted to 7.5 Hz in compared with 18Hz of cabinet without LRB and the maximum peak acceleration was reduced in a degree of22 percent from 2.35 g to 1.84 g

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.17-28
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• 2020

In this paper, a modified and improved seismic isolation system called suspension columns for seismic isolation was investigated. An experimental study of the proposed isolation method, together with theoretical and numerical analyses, has thoroughly been conducted. In the proposed method, during the construction of the foundation, some cavities are created at the position of the columns inside the foundation and the columns are placed inside the cavities and hanged from the foundation by flexible cables rather being directly connected to the foundation. Since the columns are suspended and due to the gap between the columns and walls of the cavities, the structure is able to move freely to each side thus, the transmitted seismic actions are reduced. The main parameter of this isolation technique is the length of the suspension cable. As the cable length is changed, the natural frequency of the structure is also changed, thus, the desired frequency can be achieved by means of an appropriate cable length. As the experimental phase of the study, a steel frame structure with two floors was constructed and subjected to the acceleration of three earthquakes using a shaking table with different hanging cable lengths. The structural responses were recorded in terms of acceleration and relative displacement. The experimental results were compared to the theoretical and numerical ones, obtained from the MATLAB programming and the finite element software ABAQUS, showing a suitable agreement between them. The results confirm the effectiveness of the proposed isolation method in reducing the seismic effects on the structure.

• Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
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• 2001.09a
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• pp.331-338
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• 2001

Seismic performances of the base isolated model of Five Story Stone Pagoda were studied through shaking table tests. Friction pendulum system (FPS), Pure-friction system with laminated rubber bearing (LRB) and Ball with rubber bearing were selected fur the comparison of performances. Performances of specially designed isolation systems were tested dynamically using shaking table. The test results of isolated model are compared with those of fixed base model. Compared with fixed base model, the isolated model showed that it could withstand much higer intensity of earthquake motion. The Effective Peak Ground Acceleration (EPGA) value of isolated model when the top component tipped over was above twice of that value in case of fixed base model. According to the additional test results, the lower value of coefficient of friction than that of common frictional base isolation systems is more effective to protect the piled multi-block system of Pagoda against moderate intesity of ground motion.