• Earthquakes and Structures
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• 제20권4호
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• pp.389-403
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• 2021

Skewed bridges, being irregular structures with complicated dynamic behavior, are more susceptible to earthquake damage. Reliable seismic-resistant design of skewed bridges can be achieved by accurate determination of nonlinear seismic demands. However, the effect of geometric characteristics on the response modification factor (R-factor) is not accounted for in bridge design practices. This study attempts to investigate the effects of changes in the number of spans, skew angle and bearing stiffness on R-factor values and to assess the seismic fragility of skewed bridges. Results indicated that changes in the skew angle had no significant effect on R-factor values which were in consonance with code-prescribed R values. Also, unlike the increase in the number of spans that resulted in a decrease in the R-factor, the increase in bearing stiffness led to higher R-factor values. Findings of the fragility analysis implied that although the increase in the number of spans, as well as the increase in the skew angle, led to a higher failure probability, greater values of bearing stiffness reduced the collapse probability. For practicing design engineers, it is recommended that maximum demands on substructure elements to be calculated when the excitation angle is applied along the principal axes of skewed bridges.

• International journal of steel structures
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• 제18권4호
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• pp.1325-1335
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• 2018

This study dealt with investigating the seismic performance of the smart and shape memory alloy (SMA) and magnets plus rubber-spring (MRS) dampers and their effects on the seismic resistance of multiple-span simply supported bridges. The rubber springs in the MRS dampers were pre-compressed. For this aim, a set of experimental works was performed together with developing nonlinear analytical models to investigate dynamic responses of the bridges subjected to earthquakes. Fragility analysis and probabilistic assessment were conducted to assess the seismic performance for the overall bridge system. Fragility curves were then generated for each model and were compared with those of as-built. Results showed dampers could increase the seismic capacity of bridges. Furthermore, from system fragility curves, use of damper models reduced the seismic vulnerability in comparison to the as-built bridge model. Although the SMA damper showed the best seismic performance, the MRS damper was the most appropriate one for the bridge in that the combination of magnetic friction and pre-compressed rubber springs was cheaper than the shape memory alloy, and had the similar capability of the damper.

• Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
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• 제18권4호
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• pp.899-907
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• 2022

Purpose: Although many studies on seismic fragility analysis of general bridges have been conducted using machine learning methods, studies on curved bridge structures are insignificant. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to analyze the seismic fragility of bridges with I-shaped curved girders based on the machine learning method considering the material property and geometric uncertainties. Method: Material properties and pier height were considered as uncertainty parameters. Parameters were sampled using the Latin hypercube technique and time history analysis was performed considering the seismic uncertainty. Machine learning data was created by applying artificial neural network and response surface analysis method to the original data. Finally, earthquake fragility analysis was performed using original data and learning data. Result: Parameters were sampled using the Latin hypercube technique, and a total of 160 time history analyzes were performed considering the uncertainty of the earthquake. The analysis result and the predicted value obtained through machine learning were compared, and the coefficient of determination was compared to compare the similarity between the two values. The coefficient of determination of the response surface method was 0.737, which was relatively similar to the observed value. The seismic fragility curve also showed that the predicted value through the response surface method was similar to the observed value. Conclusion: In this study, when the observed value through the finite element analysis and the predicted value through the machine learning method were compared, it was found that the response surface method predicted a result similar to the observed value. However, both machine learning methods were found to underestimate the observed values.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Hazard Mitigation
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• 제6권2호
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• pp.25-35
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• 2006

Recently seismic fragility analysis method has been widely used for the seismic probabilistic risk assessment of infrastructures such as nuclear power plants, buildings and bridges because of its probabilistic characteristics. Furthermore, this technique has been applied to large-scale social systems consisted of each infrastructures by combing GIS. In this paper, the applicability of this technique to domestic infrastructural systems was studied. The transportation network was selected as one of these domestic infrastructural systems. Example studies were peformed about Changwon city. Nonlinear time history analysis, with a maximal likelihood approach were conducted to establish the fragility curves of each infrastrucures (bridges). GIS analysis was also applied to the analysis of whole infrastructural systems. The results show that it is very useful to predict seismic probabilistic risk assessment of this domestic transportation network. However, it also shows that further studies such as more suitable damage criterion to domestic structure and precise nonlinear analysis techniques should be developed to predict more precise results.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• 제19권1호
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• pp.91-102
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• 2007

Through lessons in recent earthquakes, the bridge engineering community recognizes the need for new seismic design methodologies based on the inelastic structural performance of RC bridge structures. This study represents results of performance-based fragility analysis of reinforced concrete (RC) bridge. Monte carlo simulation is performed to study nonlinear dynamic responses of RC bridge. Two-parameter log-normal distribution function is used to represent the fragility curves. These two-parameters, referred to as fragility parameters, are estimated by the traditional maximum likelihood procedure, which is treated each event of RC bridge pier damage as a realization of Bernoulli experiment. In order to formulate the fragility curves, five different damage states are described by two practical factors: the displacement and curvature ductility, which are mostly influencing on the seismic behavior of RC bridge piers. Five damage states are quantitatively assessed in terms of these seismic ductilities on the basis of numerous experimental results of RC bridge piers. Thereby, the performance-based fragility curves of RC bridge pier are provided in this paper. This approach can be used in constructing the fragility curves of various bridge structures and be applied to construct the seismic hazard map.

• Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
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• 한국지진공학회 2002년도 춘계 학술발표회 논문집
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• pp.135-142
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• 2002

This paper introduces the technologies related to seismic resistance assessment of nuclear power plant structures by seismic fragility analysis(SFA). The inelastic energy absorption factor is considered in SFA to represent the effects due to the nonlinear behavior of structures and has a significant effect on the seismic fragility that is a probability of failure of structures by earthquake. Several practical methods to evaluate the inelastic energy absorption capacity of structures are investigated. The capacities determined by those methods are compared with each other. And an improved method that uses the inelastic demand capacity diagram is presented. Conclusively, some comments on each method for practical application are made.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• 제4권5호
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• pp.527-555
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• 2013

This paper proposes probabilistic models for estimating the seismic demands on reinforced concrete (RC) bridges with base isolation. The models consider the shear and deformation demands on the bridge columns and the deformation demand on the isolation devices. An experimental design is used to generate a population of bridges based on the AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications (AASHTO 2007) and the Caltrans' Seismic Design Criteria (Caltrans 1999). Ground motion records are used for time history analysis of each bridge to develop probabilistic models that are practical and are able to account for the uncertainties and biases in the current, common deterministic model. As application of the developed probabilistic models, a simple method is provided to determine the fragility of bridges. This work facilitates the reliability-based design for this type of bridges and contributes to the transition from limit state design to performance-based design.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• 제22권1호
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• pp.13-20
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• 2010

Seismic risk assessment of railway bridges is an important issue for a transportation network, because loss of functionality of railway bridges could result in severe disruption of the railway line, as no redundant routing systems generally exist. Although many studies have been conducted by numerous researchers regarding fragility analyses of bridge structure, little or no studies have been done for fragility analyses of a class of bridge structures considering their geometric variability. This study performs a fragility analysis for Track-on Steel-Plate-Girder (TOSPG) railway bridges in Korea considering their span variability. Seismic fragility curves are developed for a series of bridges with different spans varying from 2 to 15. At last, the fragility curves for the whole TOSPG bridges in Korea are also developed using the total probability theorem. This study is expected to effectively contribute to the seismic risk assessment of railway lines, where a number of bridges are present.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• 제24권6호
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• pp.34-41
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• 2020

In recent years, magnitude and frequency of earthquakes have increased in Korea. Damage to a bridge, which is one of the main infrastructures, can directly lead to considerable loss of human lives. Therefore, engineers need to evaluate the seismic fragility of the structure and prepare for the possible seismic damage. In particular, the number of aging bridges over 30 years of service increases, and thus the seismic analysis and fragility requires accounting for the aging and retrofit effects on the bridge. In this study, the nonlinear static and dynamic analyses were performed to evaluate the effects of the aging and FRP retrofit on a PSC bridge. The aging and FRP retrofit were applied to piers that dominate the response of the bridge during earthquakes. The maximum displacement of the bridge increased due to the aging of the pier but decreased when FRP retrofit applied to the aged pier. In addition, seismic fragility analysis was performed to evaluate the seismic behavior of the bridge combined with the seismic performance of the pier. Compared with the aged bridge, the FRP retrofit bridge showed a decrease in the seismic fragility in all levels of damage. The reduction of the seismic fragility in the FRP bridge was prominent as the value of PGA and level of damage increased.

• Wind and Structures
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• 제21권5호
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• pp.461-487
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• 2015

In recent years, the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) has become a competitive computing technology in comparison with the standard Central Processing Unit (CPU) technology due to reduced unit cost, energy and computing time. This paper describes the derivation and implementation of GPU-based algorithms for the analysis of wind loading uncertainty on high-rise systems, in line with the research field of probability-based wind engineering. The study begins by presenting an application of the GPU technology to basic linear algebra problems to demonstrate advantages and limitations. Subsequently, Monte-Carlo integration and synthetic generation of wind turbulence are examined. Finally, the GPU architecture is used for the dynamic analysis of three high-rise structural systems under uncertain wind loads. In the first example the fragility analysis of a single degree-of-freedom structure is illustrated. Since fragility analysis employs sampling-based Monte Carlo simulation, it is feasible to distribute the evaluation of different random parameters among different GPU threads and to compute the results in parallel. In the second case the fragility analysis is carried out on a continuum structure, i.e., a tall building, in which double integration is required to evaluate the generalized turbulent wind load and the dynamic response in the frequency domain. The third example examines the computation of the generalized coupled wind load and response on a tall building in both along-wind and cross-wind directions. It is concluded that the GPU can perform computational tasks on average 10 times faster than the CPU.