• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.83 no.6
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• pp.811-824
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• 2022

Despite its disadvantages, soft story can reduce the damage to the upper floors by concentrating drift in that specific story provided that large drifts are avoided. Gapped-Inclined Brace (GIB) with reduced P-delta effects and the control of soft story stiffness makes it possible to take advantage of the soft story in buildings and increase their capacity for energy dissipation. OpenSees software is used in this study to validate and modify the GIB model's shortcomings. Also, the analysis method for this element is changed for design. The modified element is evaluated in 3D analysis. Finally, to retrofit an existing building, this element is used. Based on the Iranian seismic code, a six-story reinforced concrete building is modelled and studied with 3D analysis. In this building, the construction shortcomings and elimination of infills on the ground floor cause the formation of a soft story. Results of nonlinear static analysis, nonlinear dynamic, and incremental dynamic analysis using both components of seismic acceleration applied to the structure at different angles and the fragility curves indicate the improvement of the retrofitted structure's performance using the modified element to reach the required performance level following the retrofit code.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.83 no.2
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• pp.229-244
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• 2022

This paper investigates the seismic performance of buildings designed using DDBD (Direct Displacement based Design) and FBD (Force based Design) approaches from the probabilistic viewpoint. It aims to estimate the collapse capacity of structures and assess the adequacy of seismic design codes. In this regard, (i) IDA (Incremental Dynamic Analysis) curves, (ii) interstory drift demand distribution curves, (iii) fragility curves, and (iv) the methodology provided by FEMA P-695 are applied to examine two groups of RC moment resistant frame buildings: 8-story structures with different plans, to study the effect of different span arrangements; and 3-, 7- and 12-story structures with a fixed plan, to study the dynamic behavior of the buildings. Structural modeling is performed in OpenSees software and validated using the results of an experimental model. It is concluded that increasing the building height would not significantly affect the response estimation of IDA and fragility curves of DDBD-designed structures, while the change in span arrangements is effective in estimating responses. In the investigation of the code adequacy, unlike the FBD approach, the DDBD can satisfy the performance criteria presented in FEMA P-695 and hence provide excellent performance.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.49-63
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• 2022

This study aims to develop ensemble machine learning (ML) models for estimating the peak floor acceleration and maximum top drift of steel moment frames. For this purpose, random forest, adaptive boosting, gradient boosting regression tree (GBRT), and extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) models were considered. A total of 621 steel moment frames were analyzed under 240 ground motions using OpenSees software to generate the dataset for ML models. From the results, the GBRT and XGBoost models exhibited the highest performance for predicting peak floor acceleration and maximum top drift, respectively. The significance of each input variable on the prediction was examined using the best-performing models and Shapley additive explanations approach (SHAP). It turned out that the peak ground acceleration had the most significant impact on the peak floor acceleration prediction. Meanwhile, the spectral accelerations at 1 and 2 s had the most considerable influence on the maximum top drift prediction. Finally, a graphical user interface module was created that places a pioneering step for the application of ML to estimate the seismic demands of building structures in practical design.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.293-318
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• 2023

This study aims to examine the elastic stiffness properties of Elliptic-Braced Moment Resisting Frame (EBMRF) subjected to lateral loads. Installing the elliptic brace in the middle span of the frames in the facade of a building, as a new lateral bracing system not only it can improve the structural behavior, but it provides sufficient space to consider opening it needed. In this regard, for the first time, an accurate theoretical formulation has been developed in order that the elastic stiffness is investigated in a two-dimensional single-story single-span EBMRF. The concept of strain energy and Castigliano's theorem were employed to perform the analysis. All influential factors were considered, including axial and shearing loads in addition to the bending moment in the elliptic brace. At the end of the analysis, the elastic lateral stiffness could be calculated using an improved relation through strain energy method based on geometric properties of the employed sections as well as specifications of the utilized materials. For the ease of finite element (FE) modeling and its use in linear design, an equivalent element was developed for the elliptic brace. The proposed relation was verified by different examples using OpenSees software. It was found that there is a negligible difference between elastic stiffness values derived by the developed equations and those of numerical analysis using FE method.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.141-153
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• 2023

The presented paper considers infill masonry walls' influence on the seismic reliability of precast concrete frames. The recent Bojnord earthquake on May 13th, 2017 in Iran (MW 5.4) illustrated that the infill masonry walls play a crucial role in the damage extent and life safety issues of inhabitants in the precast concrete buildings. The incremental dynamic analysis (IDA) approach was used to determine the fragility curves of the represented damaged precast frame. Then, by integrating site hazard and structural fragilities, the seismic reliability of the represented precast frame was evaluated in different damage limit states. Additionally, the static pushover analysis (SPA) approach was used to assess the seismic performance assessment of the precast frame. Bare and infilled frames were modeled as 2D frames employing the OpenSees software platform. The multi-strut macro-model method was employed for infill masonry simulation. Also, a relatively efficient and straightforward nonlinear model was used to simulate the nonlinear behavior of the precast beam-column joint. The outputs show that consideration of the masonry infilled wall effect in all spans of the structural frame leads to a decrease in the possibility of exceedance of specified damage limit states in the structures. In addition, variation of hazard curves for buildings with and without consideration of infilled walls leads to a decrease in the reliability of the building's frames with masonry infilled walls. Furthermore, the lack of infill walls in the first story significantly affects the precast concrete frame's seismic reliability and performance.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.47-64
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• 2023

Due to their efficient use of materials, hybrid reinforced concrete-steel (RCS) systems provide more practical and economic advantages than traditional steel and concrete moment frames. This study evaluated the seismic design factors and response modification factor 'R' of RCS composite moment frames composed of reinforced concrete (RC) columns and steel (S) beams. The current International Building Code (IBC) and ASCE/SEI 7-05 classify RCS systems as special moment frames and provide an R factor of 8 for these systems. In this study, seismic design parameters were initially quantified for this structural system using an R factor of 8 based on the global methodology provided in FEMA P695. For analyses, multi-story (3, 5, 10, and 15) and multi-span (3 and 5) archetypes were used to conduct nonlinear static pushover analysis and incremental dynamic analysis (IDA) under near-field and far-field ground motions. The analyses were performed using the OpenSees software. The procedure was reiterated with a larger R factor of 9. Results of the performance evaluation of the investigated archetypes demonstrated that an R factor of 9 achieved the safety margin against collapse outlined by FEMA P695 and can be used for the design of RCS systems.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.343-358
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• 2023

The superelastic viscous damper (SVD) is a hybrid passive control device comprising a viscoelastic damper and shape memory alloy (SMA) cables connected in series. The SVD is an innovative damper through which a large amount of seismic energy can dissipate. The current study assessed the seismic collapse induced by steel moment-resisting frames (SMRFs) equipped with SVDs and compared them with the performance of special MRFs and buckling restrained brace frames (BRBFs). For this purpose, nonlinear dynamic and incremental dynamic analysis (IDA) were conducted in OpenSees software. Both 5- and 9-story special MRFs, BRBFs, and MRFs equipped with the SVDs were examined. The results indicated that the annual exceedance rate for maximum residual drifts of 0.2% and 0.5% for the BRBFs and MRFs with SVDs, respectively, were considerably less than for SMRFs with reduced-beam section (RBS) connections and that the seismic performances of these structures were enhanced with the use of the BRB and SVD. The probability of collapse due to residual drift in the SVD, BRB, and RBS frames in the 9-story structure was 1.45, 1.75, and 1.05 times greater than for the 5-story frame.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.52 no.5
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• pp.543-555
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• 2024

This study examines the seismic vulnerability of vertically irregular reinforced concrete (RC) frame buildings, focusing on the effectiveness of retrofitting techniques such as rocking walls (RWs) in mitigating soft story mechanisms. Utilizing a seven-story residential apartment as a prototype in a high-seismicity urban area, this research performs detailed nonlinear simulations to evaluate both regular and irregular structures, both before and after retrofitting. Pushover and nonlinear time history analyses were conducted using OpenSees software, with a suite of nine ground motion records to capture diverse seismic scenarios. The findings indicate that retrofitting with RWs significantly improves seismic performance: for instance, roof displacements at the Collapse Prevention (CP) level decreased by up to 23% in the irregular structure with retrofitting compared to its non-retrofitted counterpart. Additionally, interstory drift ratios were more uniform post-retrofit, with Drift Concentration Factor (DCF) values approaching 1.0 across all performance levels, reflecting reduced variability in seismic response. The global ductility of the retrofitted buildings improved, with displacement ductility ratios increasing by up to 29%. These results underscore the effectiveness of RWs in enhancing global ductility, mitigating soft story failures, and providing a more predictable deformation pattern during seismic events. The study thus provides valuable insights into the robustness and cost-effectiveness of using rocking walls for retrofitting irregular RC buildings.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.491-506
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• 2014

Buckling-restrained braces (BRBs) have excellent hysteretic behavior while buckling-restrained braced frames (BRBFs) are susceptible to residual lateral deformations. To address this drawback, a novel self-centering (SC) BRB with Basalt fiber reinforced polymer (BFRP) composite tendons is presented in this work. The configuration and mechanics of proposed BFRP-SC-BRBs are first discussed. Then an 1840-mm-long BFRP-SC-BRB specimen is fabricated and tested to verify its hysteric and self-centering performance. The tested specimen has an expected flag-shaped hysteresis character, showing a distinct self-centering tendency. During the test, the residual deformation of the specimen is only about 0.6 mm. The gap between anchorage plates and welding ends of bracing tubes performs as expected with the maximum opening value 6 mm when brace is in compression. The OpenSEES software is employed to conduct numerical analysis. Experiment results are used to validate the modeling methodology. Then the proposed numerical model is used to evaluate the influence of initial prestress, tendon diameter and core plate thickness on the performance of BFRP-SC-BRBs. Results show that both the increase of initial prestress and tendon diameters can obviously improve the self-centering effect of BFRP-SC-BRBs. With the increase of core plate thickness, the energy dissipation is improved while the residual deformation is generated when the core plate strength exceeds initial prestress force.

• Journal of Information Technology Services
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.79-88
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• 2004

Practical use of Information Technology in present enterprise simply enterprise support do pass over known dimension and is utilizing by means for enterprise competitive power strengthening. Because of these point, a lot of kind of information systems appeared. It can be said that EIP system that many enterprises are introducing recently is concept that appear to also use information in enterprise more efficiently. If present EIP system sees construct example, segment is detected to improve some. First, should do duplicate development despite it is same function to use EIP system in wireless and web browser environment. Second, can hear management's difficulty by immense contents that happen in System Integration. We wish to solve problem that happen in development of existing EIP system using XUL and a SVG technology in this paper that aim to these. XUL is open source In language to manufacture UI that do not receive court of platform and existence and nonexistence captain rain, support wireless and web browser equipment at the same time to source that is produced once if is browser that can manufacture usable interface in web and supports XUL as user wants. SVG method is a skill that can offer convenience that is epoch-making in contents management by software that describe contents representation in source code unlike form that show because calls contents forming already in the existent bit map room and establishes to browser handles this and expresses contents. In paper, produced use of XUL and SVG by prototype to presented whether can apply XUL and a SVG technology to actuality EIP system and verifies whether this is possible and that do actuality through existent method and comparison and excellency were seen.