• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.53 no.4
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• pp.791-818
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• 2015

RC buildings constitute the prevailing type of construction in earthquake-prone region like Kathmandu Valley. Most of these building constructions were based on conventional methods. In this context, the present paper studied the seismic behaviour of existing RC buildings in Kathmandu Valley. For this, four representative building structures with different design and construction, namely a building: (a) representing the non-engineered construction (RC1 and RC2) and (b) engineered construction (RC3 and RC4) has been selected for analysis. The dynamic properties of the case study building models are analyzed and the corresponding interaction with seismic action is studied by means of non-linear analyses. The structural response measures such as capacity curve, inter-storey drift and the effect of geometric non-linearities are evaluated for the two orthogonal directions. The effect of plan and vertical irregularity on the performance of the structures was studied by comparing the results of two engineered buildings. This was achieved through non-linear dynamic analysis with a synthetic earthquake subjected to X, Y and $45^{\circ}$ loading directions. The nature of the capacity curve represents the strong impact of the P-delta effect, leading to a reduction of the global lateral stiffness and reducing the strength of the structure. The non-engineered structures experience inter-storey drift demands higher than the engineered building models. Moreover, these buildings have very low lateral resistant, lesser the stiffness and limited ductility. Finally, a seismic safety assessment is performed based on the proposed drift limits. Result indicates that most of the existing buildings in Nepal exhibit inadequate seismic performance.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.951-972
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• 2015

The focus of the present study is to investigate both local and global behaviour of a precast concrete sandwich panel. The selected prototype consists of two reinforced concrete layers coupled by a system of cold-drawn steel profiles and one intermediate layer of insulating material. High-definition nonlinear finite element (FE) models, based on 3D brick and 2D interface elements, are used to assess the capacity of this technology under shear, tension and compression. Geometrical nonlinearities are accounted via large displacement-large strain formulation, whilst material nonlinearities are included, in the series of simulations, by means of Von Mises yielding criterion for steel elements and a classical total strain crack model for concrete; a bond-slip constitutive law is additionally adopted to reproduce steel profile-concrete layer interaction. First, constitutive models are calibrated on the basis of preliminary pull and pull-out tests for steel and concrete, respectively. Geometrically and materially nonlinear FE simulations are performed, in compliance with experimental tests, to validate the proposed modeling approach and characterize shear, compressive and tensile response of this system, in terms of global capacity curves and local stress/strain distributions. Based on these experimental and numerical data, the structural performance is then quantified under various loading conditions, aimed to reproduce the behaviour of this solution during production, transport, construction and service conditions.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.77-85
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• 1988

A stochchastic analysis procedure of generating floor response spectra for proportionally damped linear systems subject to earthquake loading is presented. Theories of random vibration and mode acceleration method are used in the formulation of governing equations. The structure-oscillator interaction is not considered. It is assumed that the input motions and oscillator responses are stationary Gaussian processes with mean zero. The nonstationary characteristics of earthquake motion are incorporated in the peak factor which is based on Vanmarcke's theory. Floor response spectra for both resonance and non-resonance cases are calculated under the assumption that the peak factors for structure and oscillator are equal to that for ground response spectrum. The validity of this method is demonstrated by comparing the results obtained by proposed method with those by time history analyses. The results obtained by this method are conservative and accurate with tolerable precision. This method saves much computing time compared with time history analysis method.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.45-55
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• 1998

Although a number of methods have been proposed to predict the liquefaction potential, few methods have been developed by using the characteristic of material's microstructure. In this research, fundamental procedure is proposed for the assessment of liquefaction potential in saturated soils based on the Disturbed Sate Concept(DSC) model which can provide a unified constitutive model for the characterization of entire stress-strain behavior under cyclic loading. From this concept, the value of disturbance at threshold state (Critical Disturbance, $D_C$) in the deforming microstructure provides the basis for initial liquefaction. This method is verified with respect to data from Cyclic Truly Triaxial test for saturated Ottawa sand. Also, the relationship between liquefaction and initial confinig stress is defined using definition of $D_C$. It is believed that the new procedure for identifying liquefaction based on the DSC model can capture the behavior of liquefation, and as a result, it is shown to be on improvement over the available empirical procedures.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.87-94
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• 1998

Behavioral characteristics of shallow circular arches with dynamic loading and different end conditions are analysed. Geometric nonlinearity is modelled using Lagrangian description of the motion. The finite element analysis procedure is used to solve the dynamic equation of motion, and the Newmark method is adopted in the approximation of time integration. The behavior of arches is analysed using the buckling criterion and non-dimensional time, load and shape parameters which Humphreys suggested. But a new deflection-ratio formula including the effect of horizontal displacement plus vertical displacement is presented to apply for the non-symmetric buckling problems. Through the model analysis, it's confirmed that fix-ended arches have higher buckling stability than hinge-ended arches, and arches with the same shape parameter have the same deflection ratio at the same time parameter when loaded with the same parametric load.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.57-65
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• 2010

To determine the static buckling loads and evaluate the structural performance of slender steel pipe-arches such as for greenhouse structures, a series of modal tests using a fixed hammer and roving sensors was carried out, by providing no load, then a range of vertical loads, on an arch rib in several steps. More attention was given to an internal arch where vertical and horizontal auxiliary members are not placed, unlike an end arch. Modal parameters such as natural frequencies, mode shapes and damping ratios were extracted using more advanced system identification methods such as PolyMAX (Polyreference Least-Squares Complex Frequency Domain), and compared with those predicted by commercial FEA (Finite Element Analysis) software ANSYS for various conditions. A good correlation between them was achieved in an overall sense, however the reduction of natural frequencies due to the existence of preaxial loads was not apparent when the vertical load level was about up to 38% of its resistance. Some difficulties related to the field testing and parameter extraction for a very slender arch, as might arise from the influences of neighboring members, are carefully discussed.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.741-751
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• 2010

An experimental study was performed to investigate the earthquake resistance of the beam-column connections as a part of a precast concrete moment-resisting frame that uses precast concrete U-shaped shells for the beams. Five full-scale precast concrete specimens and one conventional monolithic concrete specimen were tested under cyclic loading. The parameters for this test were the reinforcement ratio, stirrup spacing, and end-strengthening details of the precast beam shell. The test results showed that regardless of the test parameters, the precast concrete beam-column connections showed good load-carrying capacity and deformation capacity, which were comparable to those of conventional monolithic concrete specimen. However, at large deformations, the beam-column connections of the precast concrete specimens were subjected to severe strength degradation due to diagonal shear cracks and the bond-slip of re-bars at the joint region. For this reason, the energy dissipation capacity and stiffness of the precast concrete specimens were significantly less than those of the cast-in-place specimen.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.45-48
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• 2008

Under earthquake loads, the columns on the lower stories carry large axial forces and horizontal forces as the earthquake loads are acting horizontally and vertically on the building. To distribute the energy entered into the building under earthquakes according to the plastic deformation of the members, it is safer and more economic to persuade plastic hinge to occur in the beams rather than on the columns. However, it is unavoidable to have plastic hinge occurring on the columns when it is applied on both of the main axes of the building, which results in high shear force on the column end, and reinforced concrete column may result in sudden brittle failure due to bending moment and shear force. To increase restriction of the reinforced concrete column on the horizontal forces, this study uses repetitive loading experiments with different amount of shear reinforcement, and analyzes and compares the structural safety and behaviour of the reinforced test materials.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.39-49
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• 2002

This paper describes a numerical method for pile foundation subjected to earthquake loading using dynamic Winkler foundation model. To verify the numerical method, shaking table tests were carried out. In shaking table tests, accelerations and pile bending moments were measured for single pile and pile groups with a spacing-to-diameter ratio of 2.5 under fixed input base acceleration. In numerical analysis, the input base and free field accelerations measured from shaking table tests were used as input base motions. Based on the results obtained, free field acceleration was magnified relative to input base acceleration, whereas pile head accelerations reduced relatively to free field acceleration for soil-pile interaction. Measured and predicted bending moments for both cases have maximum value within the distance 10cm(4d) from the pile top. However, there are some differences between the results of numerical analysis and shake table test below 10cm(4d) from the pile top.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2005.03a
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• pp.1118-1125
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• 2005

In this study, seismic safety of CFRD(Concrete-Face Rockfill Dam) type "D" dam in operation is evaluated from the results of 1-g shaking table test using similitude laws. Model dam is made by similitude law considering the grain size of prototype dam component. After the model dam is impounded to the normal water level(N.W.L), it is excited by artificial earthquake wave corresponding to standard design respond spectrum of the "D" dam site. Displacement response behavior of the dam is examined through the measurement of vertical and horizontal displacement of dam crest. Also, amplification characteristics of acceleration with dam height is examined through the measurement of acceleration with dam height. Finally, the purpose of this study is to evaluate seismic safety of "D" dam in operation. From the results of acceleration measurement, it was found that acceleration of dam crest was amplified about 1.52 times compared to the acceleration of dam bottom and amplification phenomenon is outstanding at three quarters of dam height from the bottom of dam. From the analysis of displacement behavior, it was estimated that vertical displacement of prototype dam is 6.8cm (0.1% of dam height) and horizontal displacement 12.3cm(0.2% of dam height). These percentages is much lower than 1% of dam height(general stability criteria). Therefore, it was concluded that seismic stability of "D" dam against an estimated earthquake is guaranteed.