• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2003.04a
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• pp.487-495
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• 2003

Bearings at the obtuse corner are subjected to much larger vertical reactions than other bearings because of the geometric shape of skew bridges. The current relevant specifications require that additional bars should be disposed at the bottom of concrete deck slabs to deal with the large vertical reaction on bearings at the obtuse corner. In this study, new methods of reducing the magnitude of the vertical reaction on bearings at the obtuse corner by the stiffness adjustment of bearings were proposed. The basic concept of proposed methods was to redistribute support reactions by reducing the vertical stiffness of bearings at the obtuse corner showing a relatively large vertical reaction. For 45 simply supported skew bridges designed according to the current relevant specifications, the redistribution effect of vertical reactions by the stiffness adjustment of bearings was investigated. Parameters such as skew angle, girder spacing, and deck aspect ratio that affect the distribution of support reactions were considered. The results of the analyses show that the magnitude of the vertical reaction on bearings at the obtuse corner can be reduced to the levels of straight bridges by replacing the existing bearings at the obtuse corner with new ones having the value of 1/10 or 1/20 of the vertical stiffness of the existing bearings. The reduction effect of the vertical reaction on bearings at the obtuse corner increases as the girder spacing decreases and it is more pronounced when the deck aspect ratio is 2.0.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.135-144
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• 2017

Near-fault ground motions are characterized by high values of the ratio between the peak of vertical and horizontal ground accelerations, which can significantly affect the nonlinear response of a base-isolated structure. To check the effectiveness of different base-isolation systems for retrofitting a r.c. framed structure located in a near-fault area, a numerical investigation is carried out analyzing the nonlinear dynamic response of the fixed-base and isolated structures. For this purpose, a six-storey r.c. framed building is supposed to be retrofitted by insertion of an isolation system at the base for attaining performance levels imposed by current Italian code in a high-risk seismic zone. In particular, elastomeric (e.g., high-damping-laminated-rubber bearings, HDLRBs) and friction (e.g., steel-PTFE sliding bearings, SBs, or friction pendulum bearings, FPBs) isolators are considered, with reference to three cases of base isolation: HDLRBs acting alone (i.e., EBI structures); in-parallel combination of HDLRBs and SBs (i.e., EFBI structures); FPBs acting alone (i.e., FPBI structures). Different values of the stiffness ratio, defined as the ratio between the vertical and horizontal stiffnesses of the HDLRBs, sliding ratio, defined as the global sliding force divided by the maximum sliding force of the SBs, and in-plan distribution of friction coefficient for the FPs are investigated. The EBI, EFBI and FPBI base-isolation systems are designed assuming the same values of the fundamental vibration period and equivalent viscous damping ratio. The nonlinear dynamic analysis is carried out with reference to near-fault earthquakes, selected and scaled on the design hypotheses adopted for the test structures.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.1-8
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• 1999

The bridges for Korea High-Speed Railway(KHSR) under construction are supported with pot bearings on the middle pier and with pad bearings on the side piers, respectively. The dynamic analysis on these bridges due to trains with high speed, however, has been performed neglecting the effects of bearings. The objective of this study is investigation on the dynamic behavior of bridge supported by pad bearings. The effects of pad bearings with various flexibilities on the dynamic responses of bridges are studied. From the results of this study, the effects of elastomeric bearing on the dynamic responses of bridge(especially vertical accelerations) may cause undesirable behaviors.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.761-783
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• 2006

The enlargement of interest in base isolators as an earthquake-proof design strategy has dramatically accelerated experimental studies of elastomeric bearings worldwide. In this paper, a new base isolator concept that is a hybrid system of rubber bearings is proposed. Uniaxial, biaxial, and triaxial shaking table tests are also performed to study the seismic behavior of a 0.4-scale three-story isolated steel structure in the National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering in Taiwan. Experimental results demonstrate that structures with a hybrid system of rubber bearings composed of stirruped rubber bearings and laminated rubber bearings can actually decrease the seismic responses of the superstructure. It has been proved through the shaking table tests that the proposed hybrid system of rubber bearings is a very promising tool to enhance the seismic resistance of structures. Moreover, it is demonstrated that the proposed analytical model in this paper can predict the mechanical behavior of the hybrid system of rubber bearings and seismic responses of the base-isolated structures.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 1999.04a
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• pp.187-194
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• 1999

Laminated rubber bearings are widely used as a key component in seismic isolation of structural systems subjected to earthquake loadings. The combination of rubber layers and reinforcing steel shims makes the bearings conditionally unstable similar to buckling of ordinary columns. The shear flexibility of these short columns can lead to relatively low buckling Toads which may be further reduced when high shear strains are simultaneously imposed As an analytical approach, the area reduction formula has been proposed to account for the reduction in buckling load due to shear, but the degree of conservatism is unknown. In order to complement analytical approaches, a non-linear finite element analysis can be used. In this paper, a numerical study which aims at determining the effect of high shear strain on the critical load of elastomeric bearings is presented. From the load-displacement curve at each specified shear displacement, the buckling load can be obtained using the Southwell procedures. The results obtained are then compared against the theoretical predictions in order to examine the validity and the conservatism of the theoretical formulas.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 1998.10a
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• pp.423-430
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• 1998

Elastomeric bearings are frequently used as a means to isolate structural systems from earthquake loadings. The combination of rubber layers and reinforcing steel shims makes the bearings stiff axially but soft laterally The shear flexibility of these short columns can lead to relatively low buckling loads which may be further reduced when high shear strains are simultaneously imposed. The area reduction formula has been proposed to account for the reduction in buckling load due to shear. The result obtained from the formula is presumed to be conservative but the degree of conservatism is unknown. This paper describes a numerical study which aims at determining the effect of high shear strain on the critical load of rubber bearings. The results from the finite element analysis which accounts for both the material and geometric non-linearities are compared against the theoretical results in order to examine the validity of the theoretical formulas.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.16 no.1 s.68
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• pp.145-153
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• 2004

Conventional lead-rubber bearings may be unstable in case of strong ground motions. To address this problem, this paper proposed a new concept of isolation device wherein shape memory alloy wires were incorporated in an elastomeric bearing. A three-span continuous steel bridge was used for seismic analyses to compare the performance of lead-rubber and proposed bearings. The proposed bearings showed almost the same performance as the lead-rubber bearings. In particular, the proposed bearings limited relative displacement effectively with strong ground motions and recovered its original undeformed shape.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.361-384
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• 2011

Earlier studies on hollow-circular rubber bearings, all of which are conducted for steel-reinforced bearings, indicate that the hole presence not only decreases the compression modulus of the bearing but also increases the maximum shear strain developing in the bearing due to compression, both of which are basic design parameters also for fiber-reinforced rubber bearings. This paper presents analytical solutions to the compression problem of hollow-circular fiber-reinforced rubber bearings. The problem is handled using the most-recent formulation of the "pressure method". The analytical solutions are, then, used to investigate the effects of reinforcement flexibility and hole presence on bearing's compression modulus and maximum shear strain in the bearing in view of four key parameters: (i) reinforcement extensibility, (ii) hole size, (iii) bearing's shape factor and (iv) rubber compressibility. It is shown that the compression stiffness of a hollow-circular fiber-reinforced bearing may decrease considerably as reinforcement flexibility and/or hole size increases particularly if the shape factor of the bearing is high and rubber compressibility is not negligible. Numerical studies also show that the existence of even a very small hole can increase the maximum shear strain in the bearing significantly, which has to be considered in the design of such annular bearings.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.12
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• pp.106-111
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• 2017

In this study, the stiffness of an LMU (Leg Mating Unit), which is a device required for installing the top side part of an offshore structure, was examined through structural analysis. This unit is mounted on the supporting point of the structure and is used to absorb the shock at installation. It is a cylindrical structure with an empty center. To support the vertical load, elastomeric bearings (EBs) and iron plates are laminated in layers. The stiffness of the EBs is basically influenced by the size of the bearings, but it varies with the number of laminated sheets inside the same sized structure. The relationship between the stiffener and the compressive stiffness is investigated, and its design is suggested. The stiffness of the EBs is analyzed by calculating the reaction force, while controlling the displacement. First, the relationship between the size of the reinforcing plate and the compressive stiffness is considered. Next, the relationship between the number of stacked reinforcing plates and the compression stiffness is considered. Different loads are required for each installed point. The goal is to design the compression stiffness in such a way that the same deformation occurs at each point in the analysis. In this study, ANSYS is used to perform the FE analysis.

• Proceedings of the KSR Conference
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• 2007.05a
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• pp.477-485
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• 2007

When Korean High Speed Train (KTX) runs over a high-speed railway bridge, the high-speed railway bridge gives quite large acceleration response. Local vibration at the large cross section, the impact from equally spaced sleepers, the vibration due to elastomeric bearings, and the vibration from the train itself are the causes of this acceleration response. Maximum peaks of the accelerations measured at the bridges are sometimes going over the limit value. Although it is smaller than 0.35G, the limit from the Korean Bridge Design Manual(BRDM), this acceleration response should be reduced for the safety of running trains with high speed. In this paper, to reduce the acceleration response by controlling excessive local vibration at the large cross section, vibration reduction method is studied. The result shows that the effect of elastomeric bearings on the vibration of the bridge is very large and that the vibration reduction device is effective against wing mode local vibration PSC box girder bridge for the high-speed railway, which usually has very large cross section, although it has little effect on global vibration modes such as flexural and twisting modes. The test of the vibration reduction device on the bridge in service has been performed in this study.