• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.1-23
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• 2016

Steel plate shear walls (SPSWs) have been shown to be efficient lateral force-resisting systems, which are increasingly used in new and retrofit construction. These structural systems are designed with either stiffened and stocky or unstiffened and slender web plates based on disparate structural and economical considerations. Based on some limited reported studies, on the other hand, employment of low yield point (LYP) steel infill plates with extremely low yield strength, and high ductility as well as elongation properties is found to facilitate the design and improve the structural behavior and seismic performance of the SPSW systems. On this basis, this paper reports system-level investigations on the seismic response assessment of multi-story SPSW frames under the action of earthquake ground motions. The effectiveness of the strip model in representing the behaviors of SPSWs with different buckling and yielding properties is primarily verified. Subsequently, the structural and seismic performances of several code-designed and retrofitted SPSW frames with conventional and LYP steel infill plates are investigated through detailed modal and nonlinear time-history analyses. Evaluation of various seismic response parameters including drift, acceleration, base shear and moment, column axial load, and web-plate ductility demands, demonstrates the capabilities of SPSW systems in improving the seismic performance of structures and reveals various advantages of use of LYP steel material in seismic design and retrofit of SPSW systems, in particular, application of LYP steel infill plates of double thickness in seismic retrofit of conventional steel and code-designed SPSW frames.

• Ocean Systems Engineering
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.21-42
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• 2019

In this paper, the Finite-Analytic Navier-Stokes (FANS) code is coupled with an in-house finite-element code to study the dynamic interaction between a floating buoy and its mooring system. Hydrodynamic loads on the buoy are predicted with the FANS module, in which Large Eddy Simulation (LES) is used as the turbulence model. The mooring lines are modeled based on a slender body theory. Their dynamic responses are simulated with a nonlinear finite element module, MOORING3D. The two modules are coupled by transferring the forces and displacements of the buoy and its mooring system at their connections through an interface module. A free-decay model test was used to calibrate the coupled method. In addition, to investigate the capability of the present coupled method, numerical simulations of two degree-of-freedom vortex-induced motion of a CALM buoy in uniform currents were performed. With the study it can be verified that accurate predictions of the motion responses and tension responses of the CALM buoy system can be made with the coupling CFD-FEM method.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.561-573
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• 2020

The creep and consolidation behaviors of clays subjected to thermal cycles are of fundamental importance in the application of energy geostructures. This study aims to numerically investigate the physical mechanisms for the temperature-triggered volume change of saturated clays. A recently developed thermodynamic framework is used to derive the thermo-mechanical constitutive model for clays. Based on the model, a fully coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical (THM) finite element (FE) code is developed. Comparison with experimental observations shows that the proposed FE code can well reproduce the irreversible thermal contraction of normally consolidated and lightly overconsolidated clays, as well as the thermal expansion of heavily overconsolidated clays under drained heating. Simulations reveal that excess pore pressure may accumulate in clay samples under triaxial drained conditions due to low permeability and high heating rate, resulting in thermally induced primary consolidation. Results show that four major mechanisms contribute to the thermal volume change of clays: (i) the principle of thermal expansion, (ii) the decrease of effective stress due to the accumulation of excess pore pressure, (iii) the thermal creep, and (iv) the thermally induced primary consolidation. The former two mechanisms mainly contribute to the thermal expansion of heavily overconsolidated clays, whereas the latter two contribute to the noticeable thermal contraction of normally consolidated and lightly overconsolidated clays. Consideration of the four physical mechanisms is important for the settlement prediction of energy geostructures, especially in soft soils.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.279-293
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• 2021

Most of the existing seismic codes for RC buildings consider only a scenario earthquake for analysis, often characterized by the response spectrum at the specified location. However, any real earthquake event often involves occurrences of multiple earthquakes within a few hours or days, possessing similar or even higher energy than the first earthquake. This critically impairs the rehabilitation measures thereby resulting in the accumulation of structural damages for subsequent earthquakes after the first earthquake. Also, the existing seismic provisions account for the non-linear response of an RC building frame implicitly by specifying a constant response modification factor (R) in a linear elastic design. However, the 'R' specified does not address the changes in structural configurations of RC moment-resisting frames (RC MRFs) viz., building height, number of bays present, bay width, irregularities arising out of mass and stiffness changes, etc. resulting in changed dynamic characteristics of the structural system. Hence, there is an imperative need to assess the seismic performance under sequential earthquake ground motions, considering the adequacy of code-specified 'R' in the representation of dynamic characteristics of RC buildings. Therefore, the present research is focused on the evaluation of the non-linear response of medium-rise 3D RC MRFs with and without vertical irregularities under bi-directional sequential earthquake ground motions using non-linear dynamic analysis. It is evident from the results that collapse probability increases, and 'R' reduces significantly for various RC MRFs subjected to sequential earthquakes, pronouncing the vulnerability and inadequacy of estimation of design base shear by code-specified 'R' under sequential earthquakes.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.83 no.6
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• pp.811-824
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• 2022

Despite its disadvantages, soft story can reduce the damage to the upper floors by concentrating drift in that specific story provided that large drifts are avoided. Gapped-Inclined Brace (GIB) with reduced P-delta effects and the control of soft story stiffness makes it possible to take advantage of the soft story in buildings and increase their capacity for energy dissipation. OpenSees software is used in this study to validate and modify the GIB model's shortcomings. Also, the analysis method for this element is changed for design. The modified element is evaluated in 3D analysis. Finally, to retrofit an existing building, this element is used. Based on the Iranian seismic code, a six-story reinforced concrete building is modelled and studied with 3D analysis. In this building, the construction shortcomings and elimination of infills on the ground floor cause the formation of a soft story. Results of nonlinear static analysis, nonlinear dynamic, and incremental dynamic analysis using both components of seismic acceleration applied to the structure at different angles and the fragility curves indicate the improvement of the retrofitted structure's performance using the modified element to reach the required performance level following the retrofit code.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.83 no.1
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• pp.45-51
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• 2022

The need to account for accidental torsion in seismic design is no longer debatable, however, the seismic codes' requirement for accidental eccentricity has recently faced criticism. In order to get as close to real conditions as possible, this study investigated the impact of accidental torsion in symmetric RC multistory buildings caused by one of its many sources, the torsional earthquake component, and compared the results to those obtained by using the accidental eccentricity recommended by the codes (shifting the center of mass). To cover a wide range of frequencies and site conditions, two types of torsion seismic components were used: a recorded torsion accelerogram and five others generated using translation accelerograms. The main parameters that govern seismic responses, such as the number of stories (to account for the influence of all modes of vibration) and the frequency ratio (Ω) variation, were studied in terms of inter-story drift and displacement responses, as well as torsional moment. The results show that the eccentricity ratio of 5% required by most codes for accidental torsion should be reexamined and that it is prudent for computer analysis to use the static moment approach to implement the accidental eccentricity while waiting for new seismic code recommendations on the subject.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.90 no.1
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• pp.51-70
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• 2024

Poorly designed reinforced concrete (RC) columns of actual moment-resisting frame (MRF) buildings can undergo Axial Compression Ratios (ACR) so high as their demand exceeds their capacity, even for serviceability gravity load combinations, this lack commonly leads to insufficient seismic strength. Nonetheless, many seismic design codes do not specify limits for ACR. The main contribution of this research is to investigate the need to limit the ACR in seismic design. For this purpose, three prototype 6 and 11-story RC MRF buildings are analyzed in this paper, these buildings have columns undergoing excessive ACR, according to the limits prescribed by standards. To better that situation, three types of alterations are performed: retrofitting the abovementioned overloaded columns by steel jacketing, increasing the concrete strength, and reducing the number of stories. Several finite element analyses are conducted using the well-known software SAP2000 and the results are used for further calculations. Code-type and pushover analyses are performed on the original and retrofitted buildings, the suitability of the other modified buildings is checked by code-type analyses only. The obtained results suggest that ACR is a rather reliable indicator of the final building strength, hence, apparently, limiting the ACR in the standards (for early stages of design) might avoid unnecessary verifications.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.119-132
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• 2014

In this paper, a series of numerical analyses were performed to evaluate the flexural resistance of steel plate girder with longitudinally stiffened and slender web. The SM490 steel was adopted for the study and the flexural resistances evaluated from the numerical analysis were compared with those suggested by the AASHTO LRFD and the Eurocode 3 codes, respectively. It was found that the AASHTO LRFD code could considerably underestimate the flexural resistance as the web slenderness becomes smaller. This comes from the fact that current AASHTO LRFD code does not consider a possible increase of slenderness limits for compact and noncompct web, and also an additional effect of web restraint on the rotation of compression flange in longitudinally stiffened web. Therefore, the slenderness limits of web and flange have been newly proposed for the plate girders with longitudinally stiffened web and it is analytically verified that the flexural resistance can be appropriately estimated by applying the proposed slenderness limits to the AASHTO LRFD code.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.17 no.4 s.88
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• pp.603-611
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• 2005

For the establishment of rational seismic design code for RC (reinforced concrete) bridge pier, this paper has analyzed the seismic code of RC bridge pier specified in )veil-known codes such as KHBDS (Korea Highway Bridge Design Specification), AASHTO Standard, ATC-32, Eurocode 8, NZS 3101, etc. So as to secure aseismic ductility of RC pier, transverse confinement steel ratios of those codes have been examined together with other design parameters such as strength of concrete and reinforcing steel, axial force ratio, aspect ratio, longitudinal steel ratio, etc. However, there has been arisen a doubt for the validity of those parameters. Thus, the objective of this study is to quantitatively evaluate the validity of design parameter of each code on the experimental seismic ductility for about 80 test specimens. It was concluded from this study that the axial force ratio is a dominant factor for the seismic displacement ductility. Therefore, it Is desirable that the axial force ratio be further taken into account in the corresponding seismic design formula of RC bridge pier in current KHBDS.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.369-381
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• 1994

This paper is concerned with the elastic buckling of cylindrical shells with internal rigid ring supports. The internal supports impose a zero lateral deflection constraint on the buckling modes at their locations. An automated Rayleigh-Ritz method is presented for solving this buckling problem. The method can handle any combination of end conditions and any number of internal supports. Moreover, it is simple to code and can yield very accurate solutions. New buckling results for cylindrical shells with a single internal ring support, and under lateral pressure and hydrostatic pressure, are given in the form of design charts. These results should be valuable to engineering designers.