• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.123-133
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• 2003

A practical statistical approach that can be used to model various sources of uncertainty systematically is presented in the context of reliability analysis of slope stability. New expressions for probabilistic characterization of soil properties incorporate sampling and measurement errors, as well as spatial variability and its reduced variance due to spatial averaging. The stochastic nature of seismic loading is studied by generating a large series of hazard-compatible artificial motions, and by using them in subsequent response analyses. The analyses indicate that in a seismically less active region such as the Korean Peninsular, a moderate variability in soil properties has an effect as large as the characterization of earthquake hazard on the computed risk of slope failure and excessive slope deformations.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.159-166
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• 2019

The seismic PSA is to probabilistically estimate the potential damage that a large earthquake will cause to a nuclear power plant. It integrates the probabilistic seismic hazard analysis, seismic fragility analysis, and system analysis and is utilized to identify seismic vulnerability and improve seismic capacity of nuclear power plants. Recently, the seismic risk of domestic multi-unit nuclear power plant sites has been evaluated after the Great East Japan Earthquake and Gyeongju Earthquake in Korea. However, while the currently available methods for system analysis can derive basic required results of seismic PSA, they do not provide the detailed results required for the efficient improvement of seismic capacity. Therefore, for in-depth seismic risk evaluation, improved system analysis method for seismic PSA has become necessary. This study develops a system analysis method that is not only suitable for multi-unit seismic PSA but also provides risk information for the seismic capacity improvements. It will also contribute to the enhancement of the safety of nuclear power plants by identifying the seismic vulnerability using the detailed results of seismic PSA. In addition, this system analysis method can be applied to other external event PSAs, such as fire PSA and tsunami PSA, which require similar analysis.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.449-470
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• 2016

Energy harvesting is an emerging technique that extracts energy from surrounding environments to power low-power devices. For example, it can potentially provide sustainable energy for wireless sensing networks (WSNs) or structural control systems in civil engineering applications. This paper presents a comprehensive study on harvesting energy from earthquake-induced structural vibrations, which is typically of low frequency, to power WSNs. A macroscale pendulum-type electromagnetic harvester (MPEH) is proposed, analyzed and experimentally validated. The presented predictive model describes output power dependence with mass, efficiency and the power spectral density of base acceleration, providing a simple tool to estimate harvested energy. A series of shaking table tests in which a single-storey steel frame model equipped with a MPEH has been carried out under earthquake excitations. Three types of energy harvesting circuits, namely, a resistor circuit, a standard energy harvesting circuit (SEHC) and a voltage-mode controlled buck-boost converter were used for comparative study. In ideal cases, i.e., resistor circuit cases, the maximum electric energy of 8.72 J was harvested with the efficiency of 35.3%. In practical cases, the maximum electric energy of 4.67 J was extracted via the buck-boost converter under the same conditions. The predictive model on output power and harvested energy has been validated by the test data.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.119-129
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• 2019

Many reinforced concrete (RC) buildings constructed prior to 1980's lack important features guaranteeing ductile response under earthquake excitation. Structural components in such buildings, especially columns, do not satisfy the reinforcement details demanded by current seismic design codes. Columns with deficient reinforcement details may suffer significant damage when subjected to cyclic lateral loads. They can also experience rapid lateral strength degradation induced by shear failure. The objective of this study is to accurately simulate the load-deformation response of RC columns experiencing shear failure. In order to do so, model parameters are calibrated to the load-deformation response of 40 RC column specimens failed in shear. Multivariate stepwise regression analyses are conducted to develop the relationship between the model parameters and physical parameters of RC column specimens. It is shown that the proposed predictive equations successfully estimated the model parameters of RC column specimens with great accuracy. The proposed equations also showed better accuracy than the existing ones.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.503-515
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• 2022

Global or partial damage to a structure due to the failure of gravity or lateral load-bearing elements is called progressive collapse. In the present study, the alternate load path (ALP) method introduced by GSA and UFC 4-023-03 guidelines is used to evaluate the progressive collapse in special steel moment-resisting frame (SMRF) buildings. It was assumed that the progressive collapse is due to the earthquake force and its effects after the removal of the elements still remain on the structures. Therefore, nonlinear dynamic time history analysis employing 7 earthquake records is used to investigate this phenomenon. Internal and external column removal scenarios are investigated and the stiffness of the connections is changed from semi-rigid to rigid. The results of the analysis performed in the OpenSees program show that the loss of the bearing capacity of an exterior column due to a seismic event and the occurrence of progressive collapse can increase the inter-story drift of the structure with semi-rigid connections by more than 50% and make the structure unable to satisfy the life safety performance level. Furthermore, connection stiffness severely affects the redistribution of forces and moments in the adjacent elements of the removed column.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.86 no.4
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• pp.573-587
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• 2023

A conventional tuned mass damper (TMD) provides a passive control option to suppress the structures' wind- or earthquake-induced vibrations. However, excessive displacements of the TMD raise concerns in the practical implementation. Therefore, this study proposes a novel TMD designed for and deployed on a high-rise sightseeing tower. The device consists of an integrated two-way slide rail mount and an eddy current damper (ECD) with a stroke control mechanism. This stroke control mechanism allows the damping coefficient to automatically increase when the stroke reaches a predetermined value, preventing excessive damper displacements during large earthquakes. The corresponding two-stage damping parameters are designed with a variable-thickness copper plate to enable the TMD stroke within a specified range. Thus, this study discusses the detailed design schemes of the device components in TMD. The designed two-stage damping parameters are also numerically verified, and the structural responses with/without the TMD are compared. As seen in the results, the proposed TMD yields effective control authority to limit the acceleration response within a comfort level. In addition, this TMD resolves the spatial availability for the damper movement in high-rise buildings by the controllable damping mechanism.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.189-195
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• 2024

Buried pipelines can be classified as continuous and segmented pipelines. These infrastructures can be damaged either by ground movement or by seismic wave propagation during an earthquake. Permanent ground deformations (PGD) include surface faulting, liquefaction-induced lateral spreading and landslide. Liquefaction is a major problem for both superstructures and infrastructures. Buyukcekmece lake zone, which is the studied region in this paper, is a liquefaction prone area located near the North Anatolian Fault Line. It is an active fault line in Turkey and a major earthquake with a magnitude of around 7.5 is expected in this investigated region in Istanbul. It is planned to be constructed a new 12" steel natural gas pipeline from one side of the lake to the other side. In this study, this case has been examined in terms of two different support conditions. Firstly, it has been defined as a beam in liquefied soil and has built-in supports at both ends. In the other approach, this case has been modeled as a beam in liquefied soil and has vertical elastic pinned supports at both ends. These models have been examined and some solution proposals have been produced according to the obtained results. In this study, based on this sample, it is aimed to determine the behaviors of buried continuous pipelines subject to liquefaction effects in terms of buoyancy.

• Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
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• 2000.04a
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• pp.97-104
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• 2000

Evaluating a Review-Level Ground Motion is a key to efficiently perform Seismic Margin Assessment of nuclear power plants whose purpose is to determine a ground motion level for which a plant has high-confidence-of-a-low-probability of seismic-induced core damage and to identify any weaker-link components. In this study a method to obtain RLGMs is reviewed which is recommended by Electric Power Research Institute and implemented to be applied to Limerick site in eastern and central U. S as a case study. This method provides reasonable and site-specific RLGMs as minimum required plant HCLPF for SMA that meet a target mean seismic core-damage frequency based on seismic hazard results and generic values of uncertainty and randomness parameters of the core-damage fragility curves. In addition high-frequency RLGM is justifiably modified to reflect the increased seismic capacity of high-frequency components and spatial variation and incoherence of input ground motion on a basemat of large structures by establishing a method to obtain high0-frequency reduction factors according to EPRI guidelines.

• Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
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• 2000.10a
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• pp.372-380
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• 2000

Seismic forces for member design of bridges may be determined by modifying elastic member forces induced by design earthquakes using appropriate response modification factors according to national design code of bridges. Modeling of soil/foundation system is one of the critical parameter in the process of elastic seismic analysis of bridge system which greatly affects on the analysis results. In this paper, a simplified modelling procedure of soil/foundation system which gives practically reasonable results is presented and its applicability has been validated through example bridge. Based on the results, it has been shown that the procedure is acceptable in modelling soil/foundation system for practical seismic analysis of bridges.

• Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
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• 2000.10a
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• pp.184-191
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• 2000

In this research, a numerical model is developed for analysis of buried pipelines considering longitudinal permanent ground deformation(PGD) due to liquefaction induced lateral spreading. Buried pipelines and surrounding soil are medeled as continuous pipelines using the beam elements and a series of elasto-plastic springs uniformly distributed along the pipelines, respectively. Idealized various PGD patte군 based on the observation of PGD are used as a loading configuration and the length of the lateral spread zone is considered as a loading parameter. Numerical results are verified with other research results and efficient applicability of developed procedure is shown. Analyses are performed by varying different parameters such as PGD pattern, pipe diameter and pipe thickness. Results show that response of buried pipelines are more affected by pipe thickness than pipe diameter. Finally, the critical length of the lateral spread zone and the critical magnitude of PGD which cause yielding, local buckling or tension failure are proposed for the steel pipe which are normally used in Korea.