• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.735-752
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• 2015

The effectiveness of seismic retrofitting of RC-frame buildings by converting selected bays into new walls through infilling with RC walls was studied experimentally using a full-scale four-storey model tested with the pseudo-dynamic (PsD) method. The frames were designed and detailed for gravity loads only using different connection details between the walls and the bounding frame. In order to simulate the experimental response, two numerical models were formulated differing at the level of modelling. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the capabilities of these models to simulate the experimental nonlinear behaviour of the tested RC building strengthened with RC infill walls and comment on their effectiveness. The comparison between the capacity, in terms of peak ground acceleration, of the strengthened frame and the one of the bare frame, which was obtained numerically, has shown a five-fold increase.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.1-21
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• 2010

As an alternative for conventional structures for tall buildings, a hybrid lateral load resisting structure has been designed, enabling the assembly of tall buildings directly from a truck. It consists of steel frames with discretely connected precast concrete infill panels provided with window openings. Besides the stiffening and strengthening effect of the infill panels on the frame structure, economical benefits may be derived from saving costs on materials and labour, and from reducing construction time. In order to develop design rules for this type of structure, the hybrid infilled frame has recently been subjected to experimental and numerical analyses. Ten full-scale tests were performed on one-storey, one-bay, 3 by 3 m infilled frame structures, having different window opening geometries. Subsequently, the response of the full-scale experiments was simulated with the finite element program DIANA. The finite element simulations were performed taking into account non-linear material characteristics and geometrical non-linearity. The experiments show that discretely connected precast concrete panels provided with a window opening, can significantly improve the performance of steel frames. A comparison between the full-scale experiments and simulations shows that the finite element models enable simulating the elastic and plastic behaviour of the hybrid infilled frame.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.401-419
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• 2013

In this study, the efficiency of adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) and genetic expression programming (GEP) in predicting the effects of infill walls on base reactions and roof drift of reinforced concrete frames were investigated. Current standards generally consider weight and fundamental period of structures in predicting base reactions and roof drift of structures by neglecting numbers of floors, bays, shear walls and infilled bays. Number of stories, number of bays in x and y directions, ratio of shear wall areas to the floor area, ratio of bays with infilled walls to total number bays and existence of open story were selected as parameters in GEP and ANFIS modeling. GEP and ANFIS have been widely used as alternative approaches to model complex systems. The effects of these parameters on base reactions and roof drift of RC frames were studied using 3D finite element method on 216 building models. Results obtained from 3D FEM models were used to in training and testing ANFIS and GEP models. In ANFIS and GEP models, number of floors, number of bays, ratio of shear walls and ratio of infilled bays were selected as input parameters, and base reactions and roof drifts were selected as output parameters. Results showed that the ANFIS and GEP models are capable of accurately predicting the base reactions and roof drifts of RC frames used in the training and testing phase of the study. The GEP model results better prediction compared to ANFIS model.

• Interaction and multiscale mechanics
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.143-156
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• 2008

Elliptical tubes may buckle in an elastic local buckling failure mode under uniform compression. Previous analyses of the local buckling of these members have assumed that the cross-section is hollow, but it is well-known that the local buckling capacity of thin-walled closed sections may be increased by filling them with a rigid medium such as concrete. In many applications, the medium many not necessarily be rigid, and the infill can be considered to be an elastic material which interacts with the buckling of the elliptical tube that surrounds it. This paper uses an energy-based technique to model the buckling of a thin-walled elliptical tube containing an elastic infill, which elucidates the physics of the buckling phenomenon from an engineering mechanics basis, in deference to a less generic finite element approach to the buckling problem. It makes use of the observation that the local buckling in an elliptical tube is localised with respect to the contour of the ellipse in its cross-section, with the localisation being at the region of lowest curvature. The formulation in the paper is algebraic and it leads to solutions that can be determined by implementing simple numerical solution techniques. A further extension of this formulation to a stiffness approach with multiple degrees of buckling freedom is described, and it is shown that using the simple one degree of freedom representation is sufficiently accurate for determining the elastic local buckling coefficient.

• KIEAE Journal
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.63-74
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• 2010

The general housing causes various environmental problems on the squandering of the resources and the production of the construction wastes, as it was removed and rebuilt because of the short-life in 20-30 years after constructing. The short-life of the general housing makes the rebuilt-term short and takes a negative attitude in maintenance. In the other hand, the long-life housing is constantly dwelling house that considers the carbon reduction among the world issues, Support and Infill. The long-life housing promotes the durability of Support and maximize the variability of Infill through separation of Support & Infill. It's useful dwelling house in maintenance as well as various life-cycle and life style. As the maintenance guideline of dwelling house is used for long-life housing, there is not distinction considering who controls maintenance and there is not conception considering alteration, variability and convenience. Consequently, it is required to develop the proper maintenance guideline applied maintenance process for long-life housing. Therefore this study shows efficient maintenance guideline for manager in long-life housing.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.73-84
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• 2012

This paper strongly addresses to the problem of the mechanical systems in which parameters are uncertain and bounded. Interval calculation is used to find sharp bounds of the structural parameters for infilled frame system modeled with finite element method. Infill walls are generally treated as non-structural elements considerably to improve the lateral stiffness, strength and ductility of the structure together with the frame elements. Because of their complex nature, they are often neglected in the analytical model of building structures. However, in seismic design, ignoring the effect of infill wall in a numerical model does not accurately simulate the physical behavior. In this context, there are still some uncertainties in mechanical and also geometrical properties in the analysis and design procedure of infill walls. Structural uncertainties can be studied with a finite element formulation to determine sharp bounds of the structural parameters such as wall thickness and Young's modulus. In order to accomplish this sharp solution as much as possible, interval finite element approach can be considered, too. The structural parameters can be considered as interval variables by using the interval number, thus the structural stiffness matrix may be divided into the product of two parts which correspond to the interval values and the deterministic value.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.52 no.4
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• pp.843-855
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• 2014

Concrete infill and reinforcement are one of the most well-known strengthening methods of structural elements. This study investigated flexural performance of concrete infill composite PHC pile (ICP pile) reinforced by infill concrete and longitudinal rebars in hollow PHC pile. A total four series of pile specimens were tested by four points bending method under simply supported conditions and investigated bending moment experimentally and analytically. From the test results, it was found that although reinforcement of infilled concrete on the pure bending moment of PHC pile was negligible, reinforcement of PHC pile using infilled concrete and longitudinal rebars increase the maximum bending moment with range from 1.95 to 2.31 times than that of conventional PHC pile. The error of bending moment between experimental results and predicted results by nonlinear sectional analysis on the basis of the conventional layered sectional approach was in the range of -2.54 % to 2.80 %. The axial compression and moment interaction analysis for ICP piles shows more significant strengthening effects of infilled concrete and longitudinal rebars.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.53 no.2
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• pp.189-204
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• 2015

After the large destruction of Lisbon due to the 1755 earthquake, the city had to be almost completely rebuilt. In this context, an innovative structural solution was implemented in new buildings, comprising internal timber framed walls which, together with the floors timber elements, constituted a 3-D framing system, known as "cage", providing resistance and deformation capacity for seismic loading. The internal timber framed masonry walls, in elevated floors, are constituted by a timber frame with vertical and horizontal elements, braced with diagonal elements, known as Saint Andrew's crosses, with masonry infill. This paper describes an experimental campaign to assess the in-plane cyclic behaviour of those so called "frontal" walls. A total series of 4 tests were conducted in 4 real size walls. Two models consist of the simple timber frames without masonry infill, and the other two specimens have identical timber frames but present masonry infill. Experimental characterization of the in-plane behaviour was carried out by static cyclic shear testing with controlled displacements. The loading protocol used was the CUREE for ordinary ground motions. The hysteretic behaviour main parameters of such walls subjected to cyclic loading were computed namely the initial stiffness, ductility and energy dissipation capacity.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.763-774
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• 2012

Reinforced concrete frame structures with masonry infill walls constitute the significant portion of the building stock in Turkey. Therefore it is very important to understand the behavior of masonry infill frame structures under earthquake loads. This study presents an experimental work performed on reinforced concrete (RC) frames with different types of masonry infills, namely standard and locked bricks. Earthquake effects are induced on the RC frames by quasi-static tests. Results obtained from different frames are compared with each other through various stiffness, strength, and energy related parameters. It is shown that locked bricks may prove useful in decreasing the problems related to horizontal and vertical irregularities defined in building codes. Moreover tests show that locked brick infills maintain their integrity up to very high drift levels, showing that they may have a potential in reducing injuries and fatalities related to falling hazards during severe ground shakings.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.101-117
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• 2014

This paper presents a reliability-based analysis on seismic performance of timber-steel hybrid shear wall systems. Such system is composed of steel moment resisting frame and infill wood frame shear wall. The performance criteria of the hybrid system with respect to different seismic hazard levels were determined through a damage assessment process, and the effectiveness of the infill wood shear walls on improving the seismic performance of the hybrid systems was evaluated. Performance curves were obtained by considering different target non-exceedance probabilities, and design charts were further established as a function of seismic weight. Wall drift responses and shear forces in wood-steel bolted connections were used as performance criteria in establishing the performance curves to illustrate the proposed design procedure. It was found that the presence of the infill wood shear walls significantly reduced the non-performance probabilities of the hybrid wall systems. This study provides performance-based seismic evaluations on the timber-steel hybrid shear walls in support of future applications of such hybrid systems in multi-story buildings.