• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.449-472
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• 2016

This paper studies the seismic behavior of reinforced concrete (RC) walls with encased cold-formed and thin-walled (CFTW) steel truss, which can be used as an alternative to the conventional RC walls or steel reinforced concrete (SRC) composite walls for high-rise buildings in high seismic regions. Seven one-fourth scaled RC wall specimens with encased CFTW steel truss were designed, manufactured and tested to failure under reversed cyclic lateral load and constant axial load. The test parameters were the axial load ratio, configuration and volumetric steel ratio of encased web brace. The behaviors of the test specimens, including damage formation, failure mode, hysteretic curves, stiffness degradation, ductility and energy dissipation, were examined. Test results indicate that the encased web braces can effectively improve the ductility and energy dissipation capacity of RC walls. The steel angles are more suitable to be used as the web brace than the latticed batten plates in enhancing the ductility and energy dissipation. Higher axial load ratio is beneficial to lateral load capacity, but can result in reduced ductility and energy dissipation capacity. A volumetric ratio about 0.25% of encased web brace is believed cost-effective in ensuring satisfactory seismic performance of RC walls. The axial load ratio should not exceed the maximum level, about 0.20 for the nominal value or about 0.50 for the design value. Numerical analyses were performed to predict the backbone curves of the specimens and calculation formula from the Chinese Code for Design of Composite Structures was used to predict the maximum lateral load capacity. The comparison shows good agreement between the test and predicted results.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.205-229
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• 2018

Energy induced by minor earthquake and micro vibration cannot be dissipated by traditional buckling-restrained braces (BRBs). To solve this problem, a new type of hybrid passive control device, named as VE-BRB, which is configured by a BRB with high-damping viscoelastic (VE) layers, is developed and studied. Theoretical analysis, performance tests, numerical simulation and case analysis are conducted to study the seismic behavior of VE-BRBs. The results indicate that the combination of hysteretic and damping devices lead to a multi-phased nature and good performance. VE-BRB's working state can be divided into three phases: before yielding of the steel core, VE layers provide sufficient damping ratio to mitigate minor vibrations; after yielding of the steel core, the steel's hysteretic deformations provide supplemental dissipative capacity for structures; after rupture of the steel core, VE layers are still able to work normally and provide multiple security assurance for structures. The simulation results agreed well with the experimental results, validating the finite element analysis method, constitutive models and the identified parameters. The comparison of the time history analysis on a 6-story frame with VE-BRBs and BRBs verified the advantages of VE-BRB for seismic protection of structures compared with traditional BRB. In general, VE-BRB had the potential to provide better control effect on structural displacement and shear in all stages than BRB as expected.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.12 no.1 s.44
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• pp.1-8
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• 2000

In this study, the effect of semi-rigid connections on the structural behavior of 20-story braced steel structure has been investigated utilizing the second-order elastic structural analysis program in which nonlinear behavior of beam-column connections and geometric nonlinearity have been considered. Global effects such as P-delta effect and sway at the top have been studied, as well as distribution of member force and combined stress in structural members as local effects. When the structure subjected to horizontal load and vertical load is equipped with lateral-load resisting system such as braces, replacement of shear connection with semi-rigid connection has not caused any problem in P-delta effect and top lateral displacement. Distribution of member forces resulted in reduction in member size for economic structural design.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.15 no.4 s.65
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• pp.379-388
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• 2003

The response of single story buildings and other case studies were investigated to observe trends and develop a better understanding of the impact of some design parameters on the seismic response of Concentrically Braced Frames (CBF). While many parameters are known to influence the behavior of braced frames, the focus of this study was mostly on quantifying energy dissipation in compression and its effectiveness on seismic performance. Based on dynamic analyses of single story braced frame and case studies, a bracing member designed with bigger R and larger KL/r was found to result in lower normalized cumulative energy ratio in both cases.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.15 no.4 s.65
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• pp.359-368
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• 2003

Design and detailing requirements of seismic provisions for Concentrically Braced Frames (CBF) were specified based on the premise that bracing members with large KL/r and low b/t have superior seismic performance. However, relatively few tests have been done to investigate the cyclic behavior of CBF. Therefore, the question lies on whether the compression member of CBF plays as significant a role as what has been typically assumed by design providers. In this paper, existing experimental data were reviewed to quantify the extent of hysteretic energy achieved by bracing members in past compression tests as well as the extent of degradation of the compression force given repeated cycling loading.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.119-129
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• 2015

Due to reduced self weight and alleviated wind effect, the multi-column wind towers that consist of a number of circular tubes as vertical members interconnected with horizontal brace members can be a substitute for the large-scale single cylinder wind towers. It is critical to guarantee strengths of tubular joints where vertical and horizontal members are structurally connected in order to make the whole multi-column system behave as a single tower structure. In this study, strength evaluation has been conducted for T-type tubular joints that are applicable in multi-column towers. Four of available design codes, i.e., AISC, Eurocode3, ISO 19902, CIDECT have been investigated and predictor equations in the considered design codes were validated and discussed through parametric numerical study on slenderness ratios of chords and braces at joints.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.396-400
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• 2012

Background: Surgery has been the classical treatment of pectus carinatum (PC), though compressive orthotic braces have shown successful results in recent years. We propose a non-operative approach using a lightweight, patient-controlled dynamic chest-bracing device. Materials and Methods: Eighteen patients with PC were treated between July 2008 and June 2009. The treatment involved fitting of the brace, which was worn for at least 20 hours per day for 6 months. Their degree of satisfaction (1, no correction; 4, remarkable correction) was measured at 12 months after the initiation of the treatment. Results: Thirteen (72.2%) patients completed the treatment (mean time, $4.9{\pm}1.4$ months). In patients who completed the treatment, the mean overall satisfaction score was $3.73{\pm}0.39$. The mean satisfaction score was 4, and there was no recurrence of pectus carinatum in patients who underwent the treatment for at least 6 months. Minimal recurrence of pectus carinatum after removal of the compressive brace occurred in 5 (38.5%) patients who stopped wearing the compressive brace at 4 months. Conclusion: Compressive bracing results in a significant improvement in PC appearance in patients with an immature skeleton. However, patient compliance and diligent follow-up appear to be paramount for the success of this method of treatment. We currently offer this approach as a first-line treatment for PC.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.10 no.2 s.48
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• pp.11-19
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• 2006

In this paper the seismic performances of 4, 10, and 30-story staggered truss systems (STS) were evaluated by observing the force-displacement relationship up io failure. The results were compared with the seismic performance of conventional moment resisting frames and braced frames. According to the analysis results, the STS showed relatively satisfactory lateral load resisting capability. However, in the mid- to high-rise STS, plastic hinges formed first at the chords were transferred to vertical members of the vierendeel panels, which formed a week link and subsequently leaded to brittle collapse of the structure. Therefore to enhance the ductility of STS it would be necessary to reinforce the vertical bracing members of the virendeel panels so that the plastic hinges, once toned in cord members of a virendeel panel, spread out to virendeel panels of neighboring stories.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.415-425
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• 2016

Load-bearing steel stud wall system is widely used for the middle-to-high rise modular buildings worldwide. Seismic performance is a key issue to apply load-bearing steel stud wall system to modular buildings in Korea. This study proposes a new strap braced steel stud wall system with enhanced seismic performance and design equations considering the flexural behaviour of the vertical outer studs. For the verification, two specimens with different strap braces and vertical outer stud were designed and tested. The test results showed that the total strengths were evaluated to be 1.11 to 1.18 times higher than the predicted values. Usually strap braced walls are considered to have low energy dissipation capacities. The proposed system showed enhanced seismic performance with equivalent damping of 9.42% due to the reduced pinching effects.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.3 no.6
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• pp.821-838
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• 2012

This paper proposes a new three-layer pillar-type hysteretic damper system for residential houses. The proposed vibration control system has braces, upper and lower frames and a damper unit including hysteretic dampers. The proposed vibration control system supplements the weaknesses of the previously proposed post-tensioning vibration control system in the damping efficiency and cumbersomeness of introducing a post-tension. The structural variables employed in the damper design are the stiffness ratio ${\kappa}$, the ductility ratio ${\mu}_a$, and the ratio ${\beta}$ of the damper's shear force to the maximum resistance. The hysteretic dampers are designed so that they exhibit the targeted damping capacity at a specified response amplitude. Element tests of hysteretic dampers are carried out to examine the mechanical property and to compare its restoring-force characteristic with that of the analytical model. Analytical studies using an equivalent linearization method and time-history response analysis are performed to investigate the damping performance of the proposed vibration control system. Free vibration tests using a full-scale model are conducted in order to verify the damping capacity and reliability of the proposed vibration control system. In this paper, the damping capacity of the proposed system is estimated by the logarithmic decrement method for the response amplitudes. The accuracy of the analytical models is evaluated through the comparison of the test results with those of analytical studies.