• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.295-306
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• 2018

Reinforced concrete containment (RCC) building has long been considered as the last barrier for keeping the radiation from leaking into the environment. It is important to quantify the performance of these structures and facilities considering extreme conditions. However, the preceding research on evaluating nuclear power plant (NPP) structures, particularly considering mainshock-aftershock seismic sequences, is deficient. Therefore, this manuscript serves to investigate the seismic fragility of a typical RCC building subjected to mainshock-aftershock seismic sequences. The implementation of the fragility assessment has been performed based on the incremental dynamic analysis (IDA) method. A lumped mass RCC model considering the tri-linear skeleton curve and the maximum point-oriented hysteretic rule is employed for IDA analyses. The results indicate that the seismic capacity of the RCC building would be overestimated without taking into account the mainshock-aftershock effects. It is also found that the seismic capacity of the RCC building decreases with the increase of the relative intensity of aftershock ground motions to mainshock ground motions. In addition, the effects of artificial mainshock-aftershock ground motions generated from the repeated and randomized approaches and the polarity of the aftershock with respect to the mainshock on the evaluation of the RCC are also researched, respectively.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.451-464
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• 2018

This paper presents some quasi-static tests for 4 mixed columns composed of CFST column and RC column. The seismic performance and failure mode were studied under low-cyclic revised loading. The failure mode was observed under different axial compression ratios. The hysteretic curve and skeleton curve were obtained. The effects of axial compression ratio on yield mechanism, displacement ductility, energy dissipation, stiffness and strength attenuation were analyzed. The results indicate that the failure behavior of CFST-RC mixed column with archaized style is mainly caused by bending failure and accompanied by some shear failure. The axial compression ratio performs a control function on the yielding order of the upper and lower columns. The yielding mechanism has a great influence on the ductility and energy dissipation capacity of specimens. Based on the experiment, finite element analysis was made to further research the seismic performance by ABAQUS software. The variable parameters were stiffness ratio of upper and lower columns, axial compression ratio, yielding strength of steel tube, concrete strength and rebar ratio. The simulation results show that with the increase of stiffness ratio of the upper and lower columns, the bearing capacity and ductility of specimens can correspondingly increase. As the axial compression ratio increases, the ductility of the specimen decreases gradually. The other three parameters both have positive effect on the bearing capacity but have negative effect on the ductility. The results can provide reference for the design and engineering application of mixed column consisted of CFST-RC in Chinese archaized buildings.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.72 no.3
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• pp.355-366
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• 2019

Self-centering wall (SCW) is a resilient and sustainable structural system which incorporates unbonded posttensioning (PT) tendons to provide self-centering (SC) capacity along with supplementary dissipators to dissipate seismic energy. Hysteretic energy dissipators are usually placed at two sides of SCWs to facilitate ease of postearthquake examination and convenient replacement. To achieve a good prediction for the skeleton curve of the wall, this paper firstly developed an analytical investigation on lateral load responses of self-centering walls with distributed vertical dampers (VD-SCWs) using the concept of elastic theory. A simplified method for the calculation of limit state points is developed and validated by experimental results and can be used in the design of the system. Based on the analytical results, parametric analysis is conducted to investigate the influence of damper and tendon parameters on the performance of VD-SCWs. The results show that the proposed approach has a better prediction accuracy with less computational effects than the Perez method. As compared with previous experimental results, the proposed method achieves up to 60.1% additional accuracy at the effective linear limit (DLL) of SCWs. The base shear at point DLL is increased by 62.5% when the damper force is increased from 0kN to 80kN. The wall stiffness after point ELL is reduced by 69.5% when the tendon stiffness is reduced by 75.0%. The roof deformation at point LLP is reduced by 74.1% when the initial tendon stress is increased from $0.45f_{pu}$ to $0.65f_{pu}$.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.52 no.2
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• pp.135-143
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• 2024

Once the foundation displacement of the transmission tower occurs, additional stress will be generated on the tower members, which will affect the seismic response of transmission tower-line systems (TTLSs). Furthermore, existing research has shown that the reciprocating slippage of joints needs to be considered in the seismic analysis. The hysteretic behavior of joints is obtained by model tests or numerical simulations, which leads to the low modeling efficiency of TTLSs. Therefore, this paper first utilized numerical simulation and model tests to construct a BP neural network for predicting the skeleton curve of joints, and then a numerical model for a TTLS considering the bolt slippage was established. Then, the seismic response of the TTLS under foundation displacement was studied, and the member stress changes and the failed member distribution of the tower were analyzed. The influence of foundation displacement on the seismic performance were discussed. The results showed that the trained BP neural network could accurately predict the hysteresis performance of joints. The slippage could offset part of the additional stress caused by foundation settlement and reduce the stress of some members when the TTLS with foundation settlement was under earthquakes. The failure members were mainly distributed at the diagonal members of the tower leg adjacent to the foundation settlement and that of the tower body. To accurately analyze the seismic performance of TTLSs, the influence of foundation displacement and the joint effect should be considered, and the BP neural network can be used to improve modeling efficiency.