• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.72 no.4
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• pp.443-454
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• 2019

In order to reduce the residual drift of a structure in structural engineering field, a combined structural system (dual) consisting of steel buckling-restrained braced frame (BRBF) along with shear wall is proposed. In this paper, BRBFs are used with special reinforced concrete shear walls as combined systems. Some prototype models of the proposed combined systems as well as steel BRBF-only systems (without walls) are designed according to the code recommendations. Then, the nonlinear model of the systems is prepared using fiber elements for the reinforced concrete wall and appropriate elements for the BRBs. Seismic responses of the combined systems subjected to ground motions at maximum considered earthquake level are investigated and compared to those obtained from BRBFs. Results showed that the maximum residual inter-story drift from the combined systems is, on average, less than half of the corresponding value of the BRBFs. In this research, mean of absolute values of the maximum inter-story drift ratio demand obtained from combined systems is less than the 3% limitation, while this criterion has not been fulfilled by BRBF systems.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.76 no.3
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• pp.421-433
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• 2020

Masonry infills are normally considered as non-structural elements in design practice, therefore, the interaction between the bounding frame and the strength contribution of masonry infills is commonly ignored in the seismic analysis work of the RC frames. However, a number of typical RC frames with irregular distributed masonry infills have suffered from undesirable weak-story failure in major earthquakes, which indicates that ignoring the influence of masonry infills may cause great seismic collapse risk of RC frames. This paper presented the investigation on the risk of seismic collapse of RC frames with irregularly distributed masonry infills through a large number of nonlinear time history analyses (NTHAs). Based on the results of NTHAs, seismic fragility curves were developed for RC frames with various distribution patterns of masonry infills. It was found that the existence of masonry infills generally reduces the collapse risk of the RC frames under both frequent happened and very strong earthquakes, however, the severe irregular distribution of masonry infills, such as open ground story scenario, results in great risk of forming a weak story failure. The strong-column weak-beam (SCWB) ratio has been widely adopted in major seismic design codes to control the potential of weak story failures, where a SCWB ratio value about 1.2 is generally accepted as the lower limit. In this study, the effect of SCWB ratio on inter-story drift distribution was also parametrically investigated. It showed that improving the SCWB ratio of the RC frames with irregularly distributed masonry infills can reduce inter-story drift concentration index under earthquakes, therefore, prevent weak story failures. To achieve the same drift concentration index limit of the bare RC frame with SCWB ratio of about 1.2, which is specified in ACI318-14, the SCWB ratio of masonry-infilled RC frames should be no less than 1.5. For the open ground story scenario, this value can be as high as 1.8.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.407-420
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• 2016

The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of vertical ground motion (VGM) on seismic behavior of reinforced concrete (RC) regular frame with construction joints, and determine more proper modeling method for cast-in-situ RC frame. The four-story RC frames in the regions of 7, 8 and 9 earthquake intensity were analyzed with nonlinear dynamic time-history method. Two different methods of ground motion input, horizontal ground motion (HGM) input only, VGM and HGM input simultaneously were performed. Seismic responses in terms of the maximum vertex displacement, the maximum inter-story drift distribution and the plastic hinge distribution were analyzed. The results show that VGM might increase or decrease the horizontal maximum vertex displacement depending on the value of axial load ratio of column. And it will increase the maximum inter-story drift and change its distribution. Finally, proper modeling method is proposed according to the distribution of plastic hinges, which is in well agreement with the actual earthquake damage.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.91-110
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• 2019

In the present study, the effects of six different ground motion scaling methods on inelastic response of nonlinear steel moment frames (SMFs) are studied. The frames were designed using energy-based PBPD approach with the design concept using pre-selected target drift and yield mechanism as performance limit state. Two target spectrums are considered: maximum credible earthquake spectrum (MCE) and design response spectrum (DRS). In order to investigate the effects of ground motion scaling methods on the response of the structures, totally 3216 nonlinear models including three frames with 4, 8 and 16 stories are designed using PBPD approach and then they are subjected to ensembles of ground motions including 42 far-fault and 90 near-fault pulse-type records which were scaled using the six different scaling methods in accordance to the two aforementioned target spectrums. The distributions of maximum inter-story drift over the height of the structures are computed and compared. Finally, the efficiency and reliability of each ground motion scaling method to estimate the maximum nonlinear inter-story drift of special steel moment frames designed by energy-based PBPD approach are statistically investigated, and the most suitable scaling methods with the lowest dispersion for two groups of earthquake ground motions are introduced.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.679-693
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• 2020

This paper investigates the seismic response of buildings equipped with Self-Centering Energy Dissipating (SCED) braces. Two-dimensional models of 3, 6, 12 and 16-story SCED buildings considering both material and geometric nonlinearities are investigated by carrying out pushover and nonlinear time-history analyses. The response indicators of the buildings are studied for weight-scaled ground motions to represent the Design Basis Earthquake (DBE) level and the Maximum Considered Earthquake (MCE) event. The fragility curves of the buildings for two Immediate Occupancy (IO) and Life Safety (LS) performance levels are developed using Incremental Dynamic Analysis (IDA). Results of the nonlinear response history analyses indicate that the maximum inter-story drift occurs at the taller buildings. The mean peak inter-story drift is less than 2% in both hazard levels. High floor acceleration peaks are observed in all the SCED frames regardless of the building height. The overall ductility and ductility demand increase when the number of stories reduces. The results also showed the residual displacement is negligible for all of case study buildings. The 3 and 6-story buildings exhibit desirable performance in IO and LS performance levels according to fragility curves results, while 12 and 16-story frames show poor performance especially in IO level. The results indicated the SCED braces performance is generally better in lower-rise buildings.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.329-350
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• 2016

A parametric study was conducted to investigate the seismic deformation demands in terms of drift ratio, plastic base rotation and compression strain on rectangular wall members in frame-wall systems. The wall index defined as ratio of total wall area to the floor plan area was kept as variable in frame-wall models and its relation with the seismic demand at the base of the wall was investigated. The wall indexes of analyzed models are in the range of 0.2-2%. 4, 8 and 12-story frame-wall models were created. The seismic behavior of frame-wall models were calculated using nonlinear time-history analysis and design spectrum matched ground motion set. Analyses results revealed that the increased wall index led to significant reduction in the top and inter-story displacement demands especially for 4-story models. The calculated average inter-story drift decreased from 1.5% to 0.5% for 4-story models. The average drift ratio in 8- and 12-story models has changed from approximately 1.5% to 0.75%. As the wall index increases, the dispersion in the calculated drifts due to ground motion variability decreased considerably. This is mainly due to increase in the lateral stiffness of models that leads their fundamental period of vibration to fall into zone of the response spectra that has smaller dispersion for scaled ground motion data set. When walls were assessed according to plastic rotation limits defined in ASCE/SEI 41, it was seen that the walls in frame-wall systems with low wall index in the range of 0.2-0.6% could seldom survive the design earthquake without major damage. Concrete compressive strains calculated in all frame-wall structures were much higher than the limit allowed for design, ${\varepsilon}_c$=0.0035, so confinement is required at the boundaries. For rectangular walls above the wall index value of 1.0% nearly all walls assure at least life safety (LS) performance criteria. It is proposed that in the design of dual systems where frames and walls are connected by link and transverse beams, the minimum value of wall index should be greater than 0.6%, in order to prevent excessive damage to wall members.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.1155-1171
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• 2016

Post-tensioned (PT) steel moment resisting frames (MRFs) with semi-rigid connections (SRC) can be used to control the hysteretic energy demands and to reduce the maximum inter-story drift (${\gamma}$). In this study the seismic behavior of steel MRFs with PT connections is estimated by incremental nonlinear dynamic analysis in terms of dissipated hysteretic energy ($E_H$) demands. For this aim, five PT steel MRFs are subjected to 30 long duration earthquake ground motions recorded on soft soil sites. To assess the energy dissipated in the frames with PT connections, a new expression is proposed for the hysteretic behavior of semi-rigid connections validated by experimental tests. The performance was estimated not only for the global $E_H$ demands in the steel frames; but also for, the distribution and demands of hysteretic energy in beams, columns and connections considering several levels of deformation. The results show that $E_H$ varies with ${\gamma}$, and that most of $E_H$ is dissipated by the connections. It is observed in all the cases a log-normal distribution of $E_H$ through the building height. The largest demand of $E_H$ occurs between 0.25 and 0.5 of the height. Finally, an equation is proposed to calculate the distribution of $E_H$ in terms of the normalized height of the stories (h/H) and the inter-story drift.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.905-924
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• 2016

Several two-dimensional analytical beam column joint models with varying complexities have been proposed in quantifying joint flexibility during seismic vulnerability assessment of non-ductile reinforced concrete (RC) frames. Notable models are the single component rotational spring element and the super element joint model that can effectively capture the governing inelastic mechanisms under severe ground motions. Even though both models have been extensively calibrated and verified using quasi-static test of joint sub-assemblages, a comparative study of the inelastic seismic responses under nonlinear time history analysis (NTHA) of RC frames has not been thoroughly evaluated. This study employs three hypothetical case study RC frames subjected to increasing ground motion intensities to study their inherent variations. Results indicate that the super element joint model overestimates the transient drift ratio at the first story and becomes highly un-conservative by under-predicting the drift ratios at the roof level when compared to the single-component model and the conventional rigid joint assumption. In addition, between these story levels, a decline in the drift ratios is observed as the story level increased. However, from this limited study, there is no consistent evidence to suggest that care should be taken in selecting either a single or multi component joint model for seismic risk assessment of buildings when a global demand measure such as maximum inter-storey drift is employed in the seismic assessment framework.

• Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
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• 2003.09a
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• pp.231-238
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• 2003

The overstrength factor and the ductility factor are the two important factors that determines response modification factors used in current seismic codes. The objective of this paper is to obtain the overstrength and ductility factors of special concentric braced frames. For this purpose pushover analysis is performed with model structures until the maximum inter-story drift reaches 2.5% of story height. According to the analysis results, the overstrength factors increase as the height of structures decreases and the span length increases. Ductility factors for mid-story structures turns out to be higher than the other structures and span length does not contribute much to ductility factors.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.389-402
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• 2019

Reinforced concrete walls and buckling restrained braces are effective structural elements that are used to resist seismic loads. In this paper, the behavior of the reinforced concrete walls coupled with buckling restrained braces is investigated. In such a system, there is not any conventional reinforced concrete coupling beam. The coupling action is provided only by buckling restrained braces that dissipate energy and also cause coupling forces in the wall piers. The studied structures are 10-, 20- and 30-story ones designed according to the ASCE, ACI-318 and AISC codes. Wall nonlinear model is then prepared using the fiber elements in PERFORM-3D software. The responses of the systems subjected to the forward directivity near-fault (NF) and ordinary far-fault (FF) ground motions at maximum considered earthquake (MCE) level are studied. The seismic responses of the structures corresponding to the inter-story drift demand, curvature ductility of wall piers, and coupling ratio of the walls are compared. On average, the results show that the inter-story drift ratio for the examined systems subjected to the far-fault events at MCE level is less than allowable value of 3%. Besides, incremental dynamic analysis is used to examine the considered systems. Results of studied systems show that, the taller the structures, the higher the probability of their collapse. Also, for a certain peak ground acceleration of 1 g, the probability of collapse under NF records is more than twice this probability under FF records.