• Computers and Concrete
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.99-123
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• 2015

In this study, structural vulnerability of reinforced concrete moment resisting frames (RC-MRFs) by considering the Iran-specific characteristics is investigated to manage the earthquake risk in terms of multicomponent seismic excitations. Low and medium rise RC-MRFs, which constitute approximately 80-90% of the total buildings stock in Iran, are focused in this fragility-based assessment. The seismic design of 3-12 story RC-MRFs are carried out according to the Iranian Code of Practice for Seismic Resistant Design of Buildings (Standard No. 2800), and the analytical models are formed accordingly in open source nonlinear platforms. Frame structures are categorized in three subclasses according to the specific characteristics of construction practice and the observed seismic performance after major earthquakes in Iran. Both far and near fields' ground motions have been considered in the fragility estimation. An optimal intensity measure (IM) called Sa, avg and beta probability distribution were used to obtain reliable fragility-based database for earthquake damage and loss estimation of RC buildings stock in urban areas of Iran. Nonlinear incremental dynamic analyses by means of lumped-parameter based structural models have been simulated and performed to extract the fragility curves. Approximate confidence bounds are developed to represent the epistemic uncertainties inherent in the fragility estimations. Consequently, it's shown that including vertical ground motion in the analysis is highly recommended for reliable seismic assessment of RC buildings.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.6 no.6
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• pp.689-713
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• 2014

The seismic vulnerability of stone masonry buildings is studied on the basis of their fragility curves. In order to account for out-of-plane failure modes, normally disregarded in past studies, linear static Finite Element analysis in 3D of prototype regular buildings is performed using a nonlinear biaxial failure criterion for masonry. More than 1100 analyses are carried out, so as to cover the practical range of the most important parameters, namely the number of storeys, percentage of side length in exterior walls taken up by openings, wall thickness, plan dimensions and number of interior walls, type of floor and pier height-to-length ratio. Results are presented in the form of damage and fragility curves. The fragility curves correspond well to the damage observed in masonry buildings after strong earthquakes and are in good agreement with other fragility curves in the literature. They confirm what is already known, namely that buildings with stiff floors or higher percentage of load-bearing walls are less vulnerable, and that large openings, taller storeys, larger number of storeys, higher wall slenderness and higher ratio of clear height to horizontal length of walls increase the vulnerability, but show also by how much.

• Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
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• 2003.09a
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• pp.319-325
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• 2003

The fragility curves of seismic retrofitted bridges by steel jacketing of bridge columns and restrainers at expansion joints after the 1994 Northridge earthquake are developed. Fragility curves are represented by lognormal distribution functions with two parameters(fragility parameters consisting of median and log-standard deviation) and developed as a function of peak ground acceleration (PGA). Two parameters in the lognormal distribution are estimated by the maximum likelihood method. The sixty ground acceleration time histories for Los Angeles area developed for FEMA SAC project are used for the dynamic analysis of the bridges and a computer code is developed to calculate hysterestic parameters of bridge columns before and after steel jacketing. The effect of retrofit is expressed in terms of the increase of the median value of the fragility curve for the retrofitted bridge from that of the bridge before retrofit. The comparison of fragility curves of the bridges before and after column retrofit demonstrates that the improvement of the bridges with steel jacketing on the seismic performance is excellent for the damage states defined in this study. The comparison of fragility curves of the bridges before and after restrainers at expansion joints also shows the improvement in the seismic performance of restrained bridges for the severe damage states.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.77 no.1
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• pp.19-35
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• 2021

Existing methods to estimate the probability of seismic pounding occurrence of adjacent buildings do not account for nonlinear behavior or only apply to simple lumped mass systems. The present study proposes an efficient method based on subset simulation for fragility and risk assessment of seismic pounding occurrence between nonlinear adjacent buildings neglecting pounding effects with application to finite element models. The proposed method is first applied to adjacent buildings modeled as elastoplastic systems with substantially different dynamic properties for different structural parameters. Seismic pounding fragility and risk of adjacent frame structures with different floor levels is then assessed, paying special attention to modeling the non-linear material behavior in finite element models. Difference in natural periods and impact location are identified to affect the pounding fragility simultaneously. The reliability levels of the minimum code-specified separation distances are also determined. In addition, the incremental dynamic analysis method is extended to assess seismic pounding fragility of the adjacent frame structures, resulting in higher fragility estimates for separation distances larger than the minimum code-specified ones in comparison with the proposed method.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.93-107
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• 2016

Seismic fragility analysis is a probabilistic decision-making framework which is widely implemented for evaluating vulnerability of a building under earthquake loading. It requires ingredient named probabilistic model and commonly developed using statistics requiring collecting data in large quantities. Preparation of such a data-base is often costly and time-consuming. Therefore, in this paper, by developing generic seismic drift demand model for regular-multi-story steel moment resisting frames is tried to present a novel application of the probabilistic decision-making analysis to practical purposes. To this end, a demand model which is a linear function of intensity measure in logarithmic space is developed to predict overall maximum inter-story drift. Next, the model is coupled with a set of regression-based equations which are capable of directly estimating unknown statistical characteristics of the model parameters.To explicitly address uncertainties arise from randomness and lack of knowledge, the Bayesian regression inference is employed, when these relations are developed. The developed demand model is then employed in a Seismic Fragility Analysis (SFA) for two designed building. The accuracy of the results is also assessed by comparison with the results directly obtained from Incremental Dynamic analysis.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.26-37
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• 2020

This study intends to present a fragility analysis method suitable for concrete cable-stayed bridges by performing an analysis reflecting design criteria and material characteristics from the results of inelastic time-history analysis. In order to obtain the fragility curve of the cable-stayed bridge, the limit state of the main component of the cable-stayed bridge is determined, and the damage state is classified by comparing it with the response value based on inelastic time history analysis. The seismic fragility curve of the cable-stayed bridge was made by obtaining the probability of damage to PGA that the dynamic response of the vulnerable parts to input ground motion would exceed the limit state of each structural member. According to the pylon's fragility curve, the probability of moderate damage at 0.5g is 32% for the longitudinal direction, while 7% for the transversal direction, indicating that the probability of damage in the longitudinal direction is higher in the same PGA than in the transversal direction. The seismic fragility curve of the connections showed a very high probability of damage, meaning that damage to the connections caused by earthquakes is very sensitive compared to damage to the pylon and cables. The cable's seismic fragility curve also showed that the probability of complete damage state after moderate damage state gradually decreased, resulting in less than 30% probability of complete damage at 2.0g.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.718-725
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• 2017

A liquid storage tank is one of the most important structures in industrial complexes dealing with chemicals, and its structural damage due to an earthquake may cause a disastrous event such as the leakage of hazardous materials, fire, and explosion. It is thus essential to assess the seismic fragility of liquid storage tanks and prepare for seismic events in advance. When a liquid storage tank is oscillated by a seismic load, the hydrodynamic pressure caused by the liquid-structure interaction increases the stress and causes structural damage to the tank. Meanwhile, the seismic fragility of the structure can be estimated by considering the various sources of uncertainty and calculating the failure probabilities in a given limiting state. To accurately evaluate the seismic fragility of liquid storage tanks, a sophisticated finite element analysis is required during their reliability analysis. Therefore, in this study, FERUM-ABAQUS, a recently-developed computational platform integrated with commercial finite element and reliability analysis software packages, is introduced to perform the finite element reliability analysis and calculate the failure probability of a liquid storage tank subjected to a seismic load. FERUM-ABAUS allows for automatic data exchange between these two software packages and for the efficient seismic fragility assessment of a structure. Using this computational platform, the seismic fragility curve of a liquid storage tank is successfully obtained.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.653-663
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• 2017

A seismic margin assessment evaluates how much margin exists for the system under beyond design basis earthquake events. Specifically, the seismic margin for the entire system is evaluated by utilizing a systems analysis based on the sub-system and component seismic fragility data. Each seismic fragility curve is obtained by using empirical, experimental, and/or numerical simulation data. The systems analysis is generally performed by employing a fault tree analysis. However, the current practice has clear limitations in that it cannot deal with the uncertainties of basic components and accommodate the newly observed data. Therefore, in this paper, we present a Bayesian-based seismic margin assessment that is conducted using seismic fragility data and fault tree analysis including Bayesian inference. This proposed approach is first applied to the pooltype nuclear research reactor system for the quantitative evaluation of the seismic margin. The results show that the applied approach can allow updating by considering the newly available data/information at any level of the fault tree, and can identify critical scenarios modified due to new information. Also, given the seismic hazard information, this approach is further extended to the real-time risk evaluation. Thus, the proposed approach can finally be expected to solve the fundamental restrictions of the current method.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.79-89
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• 2016

If scour is occurred at shallow foundation of bridge, seismic performance of the bridge will be reduced. In order to evaluate accurate seismic response of bridge according to scour depths, modeling of foundation reflecting scour effect is important. In this study, taking into account the effect of the reduction in embedment depth of the shallow foundation by scouring, the soil around the foundation is modelled as an equivalent soil spring with various stiffness. Seismic fragility analyses for 3 types of bridges subjected to 4 types of ground motions classified into Site Class A, B, C, D are evaluated according to several scour depths. From the fragility analysis results, it can be observed that the deeper the scour depth, the higher probability of exceeding damage states. Also, seismic failure probability of asymmetric bridge is higher than that of symmetric bridge.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.463-472
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• 2022

Reinforced concrete (RC) beam column joints (BCJ) have mostly exhibited poor seismic performance during several past earthquakes, typically due to the poor-quality concrete or lack of reinforcement detailing typical of pre-code design practice. The present study is motivated towards numerical simulation and seismic fragility assessment of one such RC-BCJ. The BCJ is loaded to failure and strengthened using Ultra High Performance-Hybrid Fiber Reinforced Concrete (UHP-HFRC) jacketing. The strengthening is performed for four different BCJ specimens, each representing an intermediate damage state before collapse. viz., slight, moderate, severe, and collapse. From the numerical simulation of all the BCJ specimens, an attempt is made to correlate different modelling and design parameters of the BC joint with respect to the damage states. In addition, seismic fragility analysis of the original as well as the retrofitted damaged BCJ specimens show the relative enhancement achieved in each case.