• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.59-67
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• 2006

The aim of this study is to evaluate the design table for envelope curve analysis of base isolated buildings, which represent the period of base isolated buildings and the lateral displacement of base isolation devices. For the construction of design table, $V_E$ spectrum, which represents the energy, is developed instead of acceleration of seismic hazard. Based on the seismic coefficient of UBC 97, boundary period $T_G$ and maximum velocity response $V_0$ are proposed considering Korea seismic hazard. Using $T_G$ and $V_0$, finally, $V_E$ spectrum is developed for the four types of soil conditions. Base on the $V_E$ spectrum, design table for envelope curve analysis is also developed for soil types.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.35-43
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• 2012

Following the companion paper (I. Comparisons with Well-known Seismic Code and Site Response Characteristics), several acceleration data recorded during recent earthquake events in Korea were analyzed to verify the suitability of the proposed two-parameters site classification system and the corresponding site coefficients. For all of rock-soil site pairs less than 30 km distant, response spectrums and corresponding site coefficients, $F_a$ and $F_v$, were determined. Unfortunately, some of data have an eccentric error, where the spectral acceleration of rock site is more amplified than that of soil site. The $F_a$ and $F_v$ for all of pairs except the pairs of error were compared with those in the current code and the proposed system. The $F_a$ and $F_v$ from the recorded motions show definitely different trend from that of the current code. In addition, the site coefficients from recorded motions at four 765 kV substation sites, which are several hundred meters distant, have a remarkably similar trend and absolute values to those in proposed two-parameters site classification system. Based on earthquake motions recorded in domestic areas including data from the four 765 kV substation sites, the two-parameters site classification and site coefficients are superior to the results obtained from the current Korean seismic code.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.17-35
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• 2016

Earthquake-induced disasters are often more severe in locations with soft soils than firm soils or rocks due to differences in ground motion amplification. On a regional scale, such differences can be estimated by spatially predicting subsurface soil thickness over the entire target area. In general, soil deposits are generally deeper in coastal or riverside areas than in inland regions. In this study, a coastal metropolitan area, Incheon, was selected to assess site effects and provide information on seismic hazards. Spatial prediction of geotechnical layers was performed for the entire study area within the GIS framework. Approximately 7,000 existing borehole drilling data in the Incheon area were gathered and archived into the GIS Database (DB). In addition, surface geotechnical data were acquired from a walkover survey. Based on the built geotechnical DB, spatial zoning maps of site-specific seismic response parameters were created and presented for use in a regional seismic strategy. Site response parameters were performed to determine site coefficients for seismic design over the entire target area and compared with each other. Site classifications and subsequent seismic zoning were assigned based on site coefficients. From this seismic zonation case study in Incheon, we verified that geotechnical GIS-DB can create spatial zoning maps of site-specific seismic response parameters that are useful for seismic hazard mitigation particularly in coastal metropolitan areas.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.31-38
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• 2018

Earthquake disasters that exceed the design criteria can pose significant threats to nuclear facilities. Seismic probabilistic safety assessment(PSA) is a probabilistic way to quantify such risks. Accordingly, seismic PSA has been applied to domestic and overseas nuclear power plants, and the safety of nuclear power plants was evaluated and prepared against earthquake hazards. However, there were few examples where seismic PSA was applied in case of a research reactor with a relatively small size compared to nuclear power plants. Therefore, in this study, seismic PSA technique was applied to actually completed research reactor to analyze its safety. Also, based on these results, the optimization study on the seismic capacity of the system constituting the research reactor was carried out. As a result, the possibility of damage to the core caused by the earthquake hazard was quantified in the research reactor and its safety was confirmed. The optimization study showed that the optimal seismic capacity distribution was obtained to ensure maximum safety at a low cost compared with the current design. These results, in the future, can expect to be used as a quantitative indicator to effectively improve the safety of the research reactor with respect to earthquakes.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.1-10
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• 2008

The seismic performance of a structure designed without consideration of seismic loading can be effectively enhanced through seismic rehabilitation. The appropriate level of rehabilitation should be determined based on the decision criteria that minimize the anticipated earthquake-related losses. To estimate the anticipated losses, seismic risk analysis should be performed considering the probabilistic characteristics of the hazard and the structural damage. This study presents the decision procedure in which the probabilistic seismic demand model is utilized for the effective estimation and minimization of the total seismic losses through seismic rehabilitation. The probability density function and the cumulative distribution function of the structural damage for a specified time period are established in a closed form, and are combined with the loss functions to derive the expected seismic loss. The procedure presented in this study could be effectively used for making decisions on the seismic rehabilitation of structural systems.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.1-13
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• 2009

Liquefaction is a significant threat to structures on loose saturated sandy soil deposits in the event of an earthquake, and can often cause catastrophic damage, economic loss, and loss of life. Nevertheless, the Korean peninsula has for a long time been recognized as a safe region with respect to the hazard of liquefaction, as the peninsula is located in a moderate seismicity region, and there have been no reports of liquefaction, with the exception of references in some historical documents. However, some earthquakes that have recently occurred in different parts of the world have led to liquefaction in non-plastic silty soils, a soil type that can be found in many of the western coastal areas of Korea. In this study, we first present procedures for evaluating the liquefaction potential, and calculate the liquefaction potential index (LPI) distribution at two western coastal sites using both piezocone penetration test (CPTu) data and standard penetration test (SPT) data. The LPI is computed by integrating liquefaction potential over a depth of 20m, and provides an estimate of liquefaction-related surface damage. In addition, we compared the LPI values obtained from CPTu and SPT, respectively. Our research found that the CRR values from CPTu were lower than those from the SPT, particularly in the range between 40 and 120 for the corrected tip resistance, (qc1N)CS, from the CPTu, or in the range of CRR less than 0.23, resulting in relatively high LPI values. Moreover, it was observed that the differences in the CRR between the two methods were relatively higher for soils with high fine contents.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.11-20
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• 2008

In probabilistic seismic analysis of nonlinear structural system, dynamic analysis is performed to obtain the distribution of the response estimate using input ground motion time histories which correspond to a given seismic hazard level. This study investigates the differences in the distribution of the responses and the failure probability according to input ground motion models. Two types of input ground motion models are considered: real earthquake records scaled to specified intensity level and artificial input ground motion fitted to design response spectrum. Simulation results fir a nonlinear SDOF system demonstrate that the spectrum matched input ground motion produces larger failure probability than those of scaled input ground motion due to biased responses. Such tendency is more remarkable in the site of soft soil conditions. Analysis results show that such difference of failure probability is due to the conservative estimation of design response spectrum in the range of long period of ground motion.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.272-282
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• 2019

Although the knowledge of current seismicity is a critical information for making and implementing effective earthquake-related policy, the detailed seismicity information of the metropolitan areas with high-population density has been largely underestimated due to the high-level of cultural noise and small earthquake magnitude. This study presents 12 earthquakes including 2 earthquakes previously known and 10 additional earthquakes occurred from 2010 to 2017 in Busan, but they were unreported by the Korea Meteorological Administration. Matched filter technique is used to detect micro-earthquakes. Although the epicenters of micro-earthquakes though present a distinguished linearity, a correlation with faults in the area is unknown. A repeated micro-seismicity suggests that there are subsurface structures responsible for observed events. If large earthquakes occur along the fault in Busan, they may cause catastrophic natural disasters. Given the fact that the recent earthquakes did not accompany any surface signatures, it is highly recommended that the current micro-seismicity be investigated, and updated seismicity information be incorporated into establishing active fault maps in Korea.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.215-225
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• 1996

All the radionuclides in high-level nuclear waste will decay to harmless levels eventually but for some radionuclides decay is so slow that their radiation remains dangerous for times on the order of tens or hundreds of thousands of years. At the present time, the most favorite disposal plan for high-level radioactive waste is a mined geological disposal in which canister enclosing stable solid form of radioactive waste is placed in mined cavities locating hundred meters below the surface. The chief hazard in such disposal is dissolution of radionuclides from the waste in the groundwater that will eventually carry the dissolved radionuclides to surface environments. The hazard from possible escape of the radionuclides through groundwater can be delayed by engineered and geologic barriers. The engineered barriers can become useless by unexpected geologic catastrophe such as volcanism, earthquake, and tectonic movement and by fraudulent work such as careless construction, improperly welded canisters within the first few decades or centuries. As a result, dangerously radioactive waste which is still intensively radioactive is directly exposed to attack by moving groundwater. All the more, it is almost impossible to control repositories for times more than 10,000 years. Therefore, naturally controlled geologic, barriers whose properties will not be changed within 10,000 years are important to guarantee the safety of repositories of high-level radioactive waste. In Sweden and France, the suitability of granite for the mined geological disposal of high-level waste has been studied intensively. According to the research in Sweden and France, granites has the following physio-chemical characteristics which can delay the transportation of radionuclide by groundwater. First, the permeabilities of granites decreases as the depth increases and is $10^{-8}{\sim}10^{-12}m/s$ at depth below 300 m. Second, groundwater at depth below 300 m has pH=7-9 and reducing condition (Eh=-0.1~0.4). This geochemical condition is desirable to prevent both canister and solid waste from corrosion. Third most radionuclides are not transported by low solubilities and some radionuclide with high solubility such as Cs and Sr are retarded by absorption of geologic media through which ground water flows. Therefore, if high-level waste is disposed at depth below 300 m in the granite body which has a low permeability and is geologically stable more than 10,000 years, the safety of repositories from the hazard due to radionuclide escape can guaranteed for more than 10,000 years.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.517-524
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• 2014

The ultimate goal of seismic design is to reduce the probable losses or damages occurred during an expected earthquake event. To achieve this goal, this study represents a procedure that can estimate annual loss probability of a structure damaged by strong ground motion. First of all, probabilistic seismic performance assessment should be performed using seismic fragility analyses that are presented by a cumulative distribution function of the probability in each exceedance structural damage state. A seismic hazard curve is then derived from an annual frequency of exccedance per each ground motion intensity. An annual loss probability function is combined with seismic fragility analysis results and seismic hazard curves. In this paper, annual loss probabilities are estimated by the structural fragility curve of steel moment-resisting frames(SMRFs) in San Francisco Bay, USA, and are compared with loss estimation results obtained from the HAZUS methodology. It is investigated from the comparison that seismic losses of the SMRFs calculated from the HAZUS method are conservatively estimated. The procedure presented in this study could be effectively used for future studies related with structural seismic performance assessment and annual loss probability estimation.