• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.487-497
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• 2020

During the last few decades, fluid viscous dampers have been significantly improved in terms of performance and reliability. Viscous dampers dissipate the input energy into heat and the increased temperature may damage internal seals of the damper. As a result, thermal compensation is crucial for almost all fluid viscous dampers. In this study, while referring to the main working principles of the recently developed bypass viscous damper in Iran, a comprehensive case study is conducted on a RC building having diagonal braces equipped with such viscous dampers. Experimental results of a small-scale bypass viscous damper is presented and it is shown that the currently available simplified Maxwell models can simulate behavior of the bypass viscous damper with good accuracy. Using a case study, contribution of bypass viscous dampers to seismic behavior of structural and non-structural elements are investigated. A designed procedure is adopted to increase damping ratio of the building from 3% to 15%. In this way, reductions of 25% and 13% in the required concrete and steel rebar materials have been achieved. From nonlinear time history analyses, it is observed that bypass viscous dampers can greatly improve seismic behavior of structural elements and non-structural elements.

• Journal of the Architectural Institute of Korea Structure & Construction
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.121-128
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• 2020

In this paper, the ASCE 7 equivalent static approach for seismic design of non-structural elements is critically evaluated based on the measured floor acceleration data, theory of structural dynamics, and linear/nonlinear dynamic analysis of three-dimensional building models. The analysis of this study on the up-to-date database of the instrumented buildings in California clearly reveals that the measured database does not well corroborate the magnitude and the profile of the floor acceleration as proposed by ASCE 7. The basic flaws in the equivalent static approach are illustrated using elementary structural dynamics. Based on the linear and nonlinear dynamic analyses of three-dimensional case study buildings, it is shown that the magnitude and distribution of the PFA (peak floor acceleration) can significantly be affected by the supporting structural characteristics such as fundamental period, higher modes, structural nonlinearity, and torsional irregularity. In general, the equivalent static approach yields more conservative acceleration demand as building period becomes longer, and the PFA distribution in long-period buildings tend to become constant along the building height due to the higher mode effect. Structural nonlinearity was generally shown to reduce floor acceleration because of its period-lengthening effect. Torsional floor amplification as high as 250% was observed in the building model of significant torsional irregularity, indicating the need for inclusion of the torsional amplification to the equivalent static approach when building torsion is severe. All these results lead to the conclusion that, if permitted, dynamic methods which can account for supporting structural characteristics, should be preferred for rational seismic design of non-structural elements.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.191-204
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• 2019

Near-field earthquake records including long-period high-amplitude velocity pulses can cause large isolation system displacements leading to buckling or rupture of isolators. In such cases, providing supplemental damping in the isolation system has been proposed as a solution. However, it is known that linear viscous dampers can reduce base displacements in case of near-field earthquakes but at the potential expense of increased superstructure response in case of far-field earthquakes. But can non-linear dampers with different levels of non-linearity offer a superior seismic performance? In order to answer this question, the effectiveness of non-linear viscous dampers in reducing isolator displacements and its effects on the superstructure response are investigated. A comparison with linear viscous dampers via time history analysis is done using a base-isolated benchmark building model under historical near-field and far-field earthquake records for a wide range of different levels of non-linearity and supplemental damping. The results show that the non-linearity level and the amount of supplemental damping play important roles in reducing base displacements effectively. Although use of non-linear supplemental dampers may cause superstructure response amplification in case of far-field earthquakes, this negative effect may be avoided or even reduced by using appropriate combinations of non-linearity level and supplemental damping.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.82 no.3
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• pp.325-341
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• 2022

Previous major earthquakes indicated that the earthquake induced ground motions are typical non-stationary processes, which are non-stationary in both amplification and frequency. For the convenience of aseismic design and analysis, it usually assumes that the ground motions at structural supports are stationary processes. The development of time-frequency analysis technique makes it possible to evaluate the non-stationary responses of engineering structures subjected to non-stationary inputs, which is more general and realistic than the analysis method commonly used in engineering. In this paper, the wavelet-based stochastic vibration analysis methodology is adopted to calculate the non-stationary responses of multi-support structures. For comparison, the stationary response based on the standard random vibration method is also investigated. A frame structure and a two-span bridge are analyzed. The effects of non-stationary spatial ground motion and local site conditions are considered, and the influence of structural property on the structural responses are also considered. The analytical results demonstrate that the non-stationary spatial ground motions have significant influence on the response of multi-support structures.

• Journal of Korean Association for Spatial Structures
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.73-80
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• 2024

Non-uniform reinforced concrete brace facade systems are newly considered to improve seismic performance of reinforced concrete frame buildings under lateral load. For normal and high strength concrete of 30MPa, 80MPa, and 120MPa, the cross-sections of reinforced concrete brace facade systems were designed as different size with same amount of reinforcements. The strengthened frame systems were analyzed by a non-linear two-dimensional finite element technique which was considering material non-linearities of concrete and reinforcing bars under monotonic and cyclic loadings. From the study of non-linear analysis of the systems, therefore, it was provided that the proposed braced facade systems were reliable to improve laterally load-carrying capacity and minimize damages of concrete members through comparisons of load-displacement curves, crack patterns, and stress distributions of reinforcing bars predicted by current non-linear finite element analysis of frame specimens.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.163-178
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• 2012

A strut-and-tie model is introduced in this paper to predict the ultimate shear strength of non-seismically detailed columns. The validity and applicability of the proposed strut-and-tie model are evaluated by comparison with available experimental data. The model was developed based on visible crack patterns observed on the test specimens. The concrete contribution is integrated into the strut-and-tie model through a concept of equivalent transverse reinforcement. To further validate the model a full-scale non-seismically detailed reinforced concrete column was tested to investigate its seismic behavior. The specimen was tested under the combination of a constant axial load, $0.30f_c{^{\prime}}A_g$ and quasi-static cyclic loadings simulating earthquake actions. Quasi-static cyclic loadings simulating earthquake actions were applied to the specimen until it could not sustain the applied axial load. The analytical results reveal that the strut-and-tie method is capable of modeling to a satisfactory accuracy the ultimate shear strength of non-seismically detailed columns subjected to reserved cyclic loadings.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.39-50
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• 2002

Several pre-processing techniques for earthquake data from earthquake monitoring institutes in Korea including Korea Electric Power Research Institute are thoroughly reviewed. Among these techniques for removing an instrumental response, removing the non-causal ringing distortion by FIR filter, checking calibration status of seismic stations, and minimizing the window effect are introduced and applied to real data. It is also recommended that analysts evaluate S/N ratio in the frequency domain and consider the possibility of using the saturated earthquake data.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.475-502
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• 2012

In this paper, the seismic analysis modeling technologies for sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR) are presented with detailed descriptions for each structure, system and component (SSC) model. The complicated reactor system of pool type SFR, which is composed of the reactor vessel, internal structures, intermediate heat exchangers, primary pumps, core assemblies, and core support structures, is mathematically described with simple stick models which can represent fundamental frequencies of SSC. To do this, detailed finite element analyses were carried out to identify fundamental beam frequencies with consideration of fluid added mass effects caused by primary sodium coolant contained in the reactor vessel. The calculation of fluid added masses is performed by detailed finite element analyses using FAMD computer program and the results are discussed in terms of the ways to be considered in a seismic modeling. Based on the results of seismic time history analyses for both seismic isolation and non-isolation design, the functional requirements for relative deflections are discussed, and the design floor response spectra are proposed that can be used for subsystem seismic design.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.623-633
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• 2019

A large number of available concrete buildings designed only considering gravity load that require seismic rehabilitation because of failure to meet plasticity criteria. Using steel bracings are a common type of seismic rehabilitation. The eccentric bracings with vertical link reduce non-elastic deformation imposed on concrete members as well as elimination of probable buckling problems of bracings. In this study, three concrete frames of 10, 15, and 20 stories designed only for gravity load have been considered for seismic improvement using performance-based plastic design. Afterwards, nonlinear time series analysis was employed to evaluate seismic behavior of the models in two modes including before and after rehabilitation. The results revealed that shear link can yield desirable performance with the least time, cost and number of bracings of concrete frames. Also, it was found that the seismic rehabilitation can reduce maximum relative displacement in the middle stories about 40 to 80 percent. Generally, findings of this study demonstrated that the eccentric bracing with vertical link can be employed as a suitable proxy to achieve better seismic performance for existing high rise concrete frames.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.129-145
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• 2020

Seismic resilience is a key feature for buildings that play a strategic role within the community. In this framework, not only the structural and non-structural elements damage but also the protracted structural dysfunction can contribute significantly to overall seismic damage and post-seismic crisis situations. Reduction of the residual and peak displacements and energy dissipation by replaceable elements are some effective aspects to pursue in order to enhance the resilience. Control systems able to adapt their response based on the nature of events, such as active or semi-active, can achieve the best results, but also require higher costs and their complexity jeopardizes their reliability; on the other hand, a passive control system is not able to adapt but its functioning is more reliable and characterized by lower costs. In this study it is proposed a strategy for the optimization of the dissipative capacity of a seismic resistant system obtained placing in parallel two different groups dissipative Re-Centering Devices, specifically designed to enhance the energy dissipation, one for the low and the other for the high intensity earthquakes. In this way the efficiency of the system in dissipating the seismic energy is kept less sensitive to the seismic intensity compared to the case of only one group of dissipative devices.