• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.741-777
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• 2016

A simplified approach of assessing torsionally balanced (TB) and torsionally unbalanced (TU) low-medium rise buildings of up to 30 m in height is presented in this paper for regions of low-to-moderate seismicity. The Generalised Force Method of Analysis for TB buildings which is illustrated in the early part of the paper involves calculation of the deflection profile of the building in a 2D analysis in order that a capacity diagram can be constructed to intercept with the acceleration-displacement response spectrum diagram representing seismic actions. This approach of calculation on the planar model of a building which involves applying lateral forces to the building (waiving away the need of a dynamic analysis and yet obtaining similar results) has been adapted for determining the deflection behaviour of a TU building in the later part of the paper. Another key original contribution to knowledge is taking into account the strong dependence of the torsional response behaviour of the building on the periodic properties of the applied excitations in relation to the natural periods of vibration of the building. Many of the trends presented are not reflected in provisions of major codes of practices for the seismic design of buildings. The deflection behaviour of the building in response to displacement controlled (DC) excitations is in stark contrast to behaviour in acceleration controlled (AC), or velocity controlled (VC), conditions, and is much easier to generalise. Although DC conditions are rare with buildings not exceeding 30 m in height displacement estimates based on such conditions can be taken as upper bound estimates in order that a conservative prediction of the displacement profile at the edge of a TU building can be obtained conveniently by the use of a constant amplification factor to scale results from planar analysis.

• Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
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• 1999.10a
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• pp.319-331
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• 1999

The seismic hazard of Korea is briefly described. The seismic design requirements design earthquake levels and design response spectrum that are going to be adopted in the future code system are introduced. Characteristics of ground motion and seismic responses of structures in low to moderate seismicity regions are briefly described. The concept of limited ductility design that seems appropriate for the seismic design in Korea is explained.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2001.05a
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• pp.871-876
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• 2001

Recent earthquakes in California and Japan caused extensive damage to highway bridge structures. It is also thought that during probable earthquakes bridge structures in Korea could be failed due to the structural deficiencies, which were nonseismically designed and constructed before 1992. In these regards, innovative strengthening methods have been developed to repair reinforced concrete bridge columns, especially by glassfiber sheet bonding methods which are widely used today. The primary objective of this research is to investigate the seismic behavior of RC bridge columns retrofitted with composite straps and to propose pertinent guidelines of repair and rehabilitation method for earthquake resistant design procedure of RC bridges which are located in low or moderate seismicity regions. Six scaled-down concrete test specimens were made with test variables such as lap splice ratio, axial force ratio, confinement ratio, composite straps in the plastic hinge region. Pertinent design guidelines could be developed for the earthquake resistant design of RC bridge piers retrofitted with glassfibers in low or moderate seismic region.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.5 no.6
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• pp.625-655
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• 2013

This paper investigated the seismic behaviour of an innovated non-ductile precast concrete wall structural system; namely HC Precast System (HCPS). The system comprises load-bearing precast wall panels merely connected only to column at both ends. Such study is needed because there is limited research information available in design codes for such structure particularly in regions having low to moderate seismicity threats. Experimentally calibrated numerical model of the wall system was used to carry out nonlinear pushover analyses with various types of lateral loading patterns. Effects of laterally applied single point load (SPL), uniformly distributed load (UDL), modal distributed load (MDL) and triangular distributed load (TDL) onto global behaviour of HCPS were identified. Discussion was focused on structural performance such as ductility, deformability, and effective stiffness of the wall system. Thus, a new method for engineers to estimate the nonlinear deformation of HCPS through linear analysis was proposed.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2004.10a
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• pp.60-67
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• 2004

The designer of a tall building even in moderate and low seismic regions should, in finalizing the desist consider the probable impact of the design basis earthquake on the selected structural system. In this study, seismic response analysis was conducted to evaluate the seismic performance of concentrically braced steel highrise buildings which were designed only for governing wind loading under moderate seismicity. The main purpose of this analysis was to see if the wind design would create a system whose elastic capacity clearly exceeds the probable demand as suggested by the design basis earthquake. The strength demand-to-capacity study revealed that the wind-designed steel highrise buildings with the aspect ratio of larger than five can withstand the design basis earthquake elastically by a sufficient margin due to the system over-strength resulting from the wind-serviceability criterion. The maximum story drift demand from the design basis earthquake was just 0.25% (or half the limit of Immediate Occupancy performance level in FEMA 273)

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.351-360
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• 2016

In regions of low-to-moderate seismicity, various types of lap splices are used for longitudinal reinforcement of columns at the plastic hinge zones. The seismic performance of such lap spliced columns, such as strength, deformation capacity, and energy dissipation, is affected by material strengths, longitudinal re-bar size, confinement of hoops, lap splice location, and lap splice length. In the present study, cyclic loading tests were performed for columns using three types of lap splices (bottom offset bar splice, top offset bar splice, and splice without offset bend). Lap splice length($40d_b$ and $50d_b$) was also considered as test parameters. Ties with 90-degree end hooks were provided in the lap splice length. The test results showed that strength, deformation capacity, and energy dissipation of columns significantly differed depending on the details and the length of lap splices. The bottom offset bar splice showed high ductility and energy dissipation but low strength; on the other hand, the top offset bar splice and the splice without offset bend showed high strength but moderate ductility and energy dissipation.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.121-128
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• 2001

Reinforced concrete frame buildings in regions of low to moderate seismicity are typically designed only for gravity loads with non-seismic detailing provisions of the code. These buildings possess strong beam-weak column, which brings about the brittle structural performance like the column sidesway failure mechanism during the strong lateral load. The objective of this paper is to enhance the column strength and deformation capacity for reconfiguring the structural failure mode by averting a column soft-story collapse and moving to a more ductile beam-sides way mechanism suing new reinforcing materials. Aramid fiber sheet and reinforcing rod-composite materials was used for this purpose. The column was modeled by the 2/3 scale experimental specimen retested. According to the concept of the capacity design, the damaged column was strengthened by the column jacketing using new reinfocing materials such as rod-composite materials. In conclusion, the improvement of the flexural strength is observed and the capacity of the energy dissipation and the ductility is enhanced, too.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.93-108
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• 2010

This paper investigates the seismic performance of existing reinforced concrete frames with wide beams mainly designed for gravity loads, as typically found in the seismic-prone Mediterranean area before the introduction of modern codes. The seismic capacity is evaluated in terms of the overall amount of input energy that the frame can dissipate/absorb up to collapse. This approach provides a quantitative evaluation that can be useful for selecting and designing an appropriate retrofit strategy. Six prototype frames representative of past construction practices in the southern part of Spain are designed, and the corresponding non-linear numerical models are developed and calibrated with purposely conducted tests on wide beam-column subassemblages. The models are subjected to sixteen earthquake records until collapse by applying the incremental dynamic analysis method. It is found that the ultimate energy dissipation capacity at the story level is markedly low (about 1.36 times the product of the lateral yield strength and yield displacement of the story), giving values for the maximum amount of energy that the frame can dissipate which are from one fourth to half of that required in moderate-seismicity regions.

• Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
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• 2001.09a
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• pp.19-27
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• 2001

Seismic parameters fur computation of ground motions in Southern Korea are obtained from recently recorded data, and site-independent regional and site-dependent local strong ground motions are predicted using efficient computational techniques. For the computation of ground motions, we devised an efficient procedure to compute site-independent $x_{q}$ and dependent $x_{s}$ values separately. The first step of this procedure is to use the coda normalization method far computation of site independent Q or corresponding $x_{q}$ value. The next step is the computation of $x_{s}$, values fur each site separately using the given $x_{q}$ value. For computation of ground motions the empirical Green's function (EGF) is modified to account fur the depth and distance variations of subevents on a finite fault plane using the theoritical Green's function. It is computed using wavenumber integration technique in layered media. The site dependent ground motions at seismic stations in southeastern local area were properly simulated using the modified empirical Green's function method in layered medium. The proposed method and procedures fur estimation of site dependent seismic parameters and ground motions could be efficiently used in the low and moderate seismicity regions.ons.s.ons.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.789-830
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• 2015

The recent re-assessment of the seismic hazard in Europe led for many regions of low to moderate seismicity to an increase in the seismic demand. As a consequence, several modern unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings, constructed with reinforced concrete (RC) slabs that provide an efficient rigid diaphragm action, no longer satisfy the seismic design check and have been retrofitted by adding or replacing URM walls with RC walls. Of late, also several new construction projects have been conceived directly as buildings with both RC and URM walls. Despite the widespread use of such construction technique, very little is known about the seismic behaviour of mixed RC-URM wall structures and codes do not provide adequate support to designers. The aim of the paper is therefore to propose a displacement-based design methodology for the design of mixed RC-URM edifices and the retrofit of URM buildings by replacing or adding selected URM walls with RC ones. The article describes also two tools developed for estimating important quantities relevant for the displacement-based design of structures with both RC and URM walls. The tools are (i) a mechanical model based on the shear-flexure interaction between URM and RC walls and (ii) an elastic model for estimating the contribution of the RC slabs to the overturning moment capacity of the system. In the last part of the article the proposed design method is verified through nonlinear dynamic analyses of several case studies. These results show that the proposed design approach has the ability of controlling the displacement profile of the designed structures, avoiding concentration of deformations in one single storey, a typical feature of URM wall structures.