• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.801-820
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• 2015

The seismic sequence which hit the Northern Italian territory in 2012 produced extensive damage to reinforced concrete (RC) precast buildings typically adopted as industrial facilities. The considered damaged buildings are constituted by one-storey precast structures with RC columns connected to the ground by means of isolated socket foundations. The roof structural layout is composed of pre-stressed RC beams supporting pre-stressed RC floor elements, both designed as simply supported beams. The observed damage pattern, already highlighted in previous earthquakes, is mainly related to insufficient connection strength and ductility or to the absence of mechanical devices, being the connections designed neglecting seismic loads or neglecting displacement and rotation compatibility between adjacent elements. Following the vulnerabilities emerged in past seismic events, the paper investigates the seismic performance of industrial facilities typical of the Italian territory. The European building code seismic assessment methodologies are presented and discussed, as well as the retrofit interventions required to achieve an appropriate level of seismic capacity. The assessment procedure and retrofit solutions are applied to a selected case study.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.125-145
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• 2011

Pushover analysis has gained significant popularity as an analytical tool for realistic determination of the inelastic behaviour of RC structures. Though significant work has been done to evaluate the demands realistically, the evaluation of capacity and realistic failure modes has taken a back seat. In order to throw light on the inelastic behaviour and capacity evaluation for the RC framed structures, a 3D Reinforced concrete frame structure was tested under monotonically increasing lateral pushover loads, in a parabolic pattern, till failure. The structure consisted of three storeys and had 2 bays along the two orthogonal directions. The structure was gradually pushed in small increments of load and the corresponding displacements were monitored continuously, leading to a pushover curve for the structure as a result of the test along with other relevant information such as strains on reinforcement bars at critical locations, failure modes etc. The major failure modes were observed as flexural failure of beams and columns, torsional failure of transverse beams and joint shear failure. The analysis of the structure was by considering all these failure modes. In order to have a comparison, the analysis was performed as three different cases. In one case, only the flexural hinges were modelled for critical locations in beams and columns; in second the torsional hinges for transverse beams were included in the analysis and in the third case, joint shear hinges were also included in the analysis. It is shown that modelling and capturing all the failure modes is practically possible and such an analysis can provide the realistic insight into the behaviour of the structure.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.263-270
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• 2017

In this study, two geometrically identical multi-storey steel buildings with different lateral load resisting systems are structurally analyzed under same earthquake conditions and they are compared with respect to their construction costs of their structural systems. One of the systems is a steel structure with eccentrically steel braced frames. The other one is a RC wall-steel frame system, that is a steel framed structure in combination with a reinforced concrete core and shear walls of minimum thickness that the national code allows. As earthquake resisting systems, steel braced frames and reinforced concrete shear walls, for both cases are located on identical places in either building. Floors of both buildings will be of reinforced concrete slabs of same thickness resting on composite beams. The façades are assumed to be covered identically with light-weight aluminum cladding with insulation. Purpose of use for both buildings is an office building of eight stories. When two systems are structurally analyzed by FEM (finite element method) and dimensionally compared, the dual one comes up with almost 34% less cost of construction with respect to their structural systems. This in turn means that, by using a dual system in earthquake zones such as Turkey, for multi-storey steel buildings with RC floors, more economical solutions can be achieved. In addition, slender steel columns and beams will add to that and consequently more space in rooms is achieved.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2000.04a
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• pp.485-490
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• 2000

This paper describes the application of discretized continuum-type optimality criteria (DCOC) for minimum-cost design of the reinforced concrete frame structures consisting of beams and columns. The cost of construction as objective function which includes the costs of concrete, reinforced steel and formwork is minimized. The design constraints include limits on the maximum deflection at a prescribed node, bending and shear strengths in beams, uniaxial bending strength of columns according to design codes(CEB/FIP, 1990). In the first stage, only beams with uniform cross-sectional parameters per span are considered. But the steel ratio is allowed to vary freely. The cross-sectional parameters and steel ratio in each column are assumed to be uniform for practical reasons. Optimality criteria is given based on the well known Kuhn-Tucker necessary conditions, followed by an iterative procedure for designs when the design variables are the depth and the steel ratio. The versatility of the DCOC technique has been demonstrated by considering numerical examples which have one-bay four-storey frame.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2005.11a
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• pp.65-68
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• 2005

An analytical procedure to analyze reinforced concrete (RC) frame subject to cyclic as well as monotonic loadings is proposed on the basis of the layered section method. In contrast to the classical nonlinear approaches adopting the perfect bond assumption, the bond-slip effect along the reinforcing bar is quantified with the force equilibrium and compatibility condition at the post-cracking stage and its contribution is implemented into the reinforcing. The advantage of the proposed analytical procedure, therefore, will be on the consideration of the bond-slip effect while using the classical layered section method without additional consideration such as taking the double nodes. Through correlation studies between experimental data and analytical results, it is verified that the proposed analytical procedure can effectively simulate the cracking behavior of RC beams, columns and Frame accompanying the stiffness degradation caused by the bond-slip.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.459-469
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• 2014

One of the most important structural components of steel structures is the column-base connections which are obliged to transfer horizontal and vertical loads safely to the reinforced concrete (RC) or concrete base. The column-base connections of steel or composite steel structures can be organized both moment resistant and non-moment resistant leading to different connection styles. Some of these connection styles are ordinary bolded systems, socket systems and embedded systems. The structures are frequently exposed to cycling lateral loading effects causing fatal damages on connections like columns-to-beams or columns-to-base. In this paper, connection of steel column with RC base was investigated analytically and experimentally. In the experiments, bolded connections, socket and embedded connection systems are taken into consideration by applying cyclic lateral loads. Performance curves for each connection were obtained according to experimental and analytical studies conducted and inelastic behavior of connections was evaluated accordingly. The cyclic lateral performance of the connection style of embedding the steel column into the reinforced concrete base and strengthening of steel column in upper level of base connection was found to be higher and effective than other connection systems. Also, all relevant test results were discussed.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 1998.04a
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• pp.110-116
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• 1998

The three-dimensional nonlinear analysis on the partial tension experiment of Beam-Column connections in hybrid connections with RC columns and S beams is simulated. In this paper, mechanical characteristics between steel plates and concrete is investigated. Also the stress transfer mechanism prior to beam-column connection analysis was considered by using joint element.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.64 no.5
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• pp.641-652
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• 2017

In general, conventional analysis and design of reinforced concrete (RC) frame structures overlook the role of beam-column (RCBC) joints. Nowadays, the rigid joint model is one of the most common for RCBC joints: the joint is assumed to be rigid (unable to deform) and stronger than the adjacent beams and columns (does not fail before them). This model is popular because (i) the application of the capacity design principles excludes the possibility of the joint failing before the adjacent beams and (ii) many believe that the actual behaviour of RCBC joints designed according to the seismic codes produced mainly after the 1980s can be assumed to be nominally rigid. This study investigates the relevance of the deformation of RCBC joints in a standard pushover analysis at several levels: frame, storey, element and cross-section. Accordingly, a RC frame designed according to preliminary versions of EN 1992-1-1 and EN 1998-1 was analysed, considering the nonlinear behaviour of beams and columns by means of a standard sectional fibre model. Two alternative models were used for the RCBC joints: the rigid model and an explicit component based nonlinear model. The effect of RCBC joints modelling was found to be twofold: (i) the flexibility of the joints substantially increases the frame lateral deformation for a given load (30 to 50%), and (ii) in terms of seismic performance, it was found that joint flexibility (ii-1) appears to have a minor effect on the force and displacement corresponding to the performance point (seismic demand assessed at frame level), but (ii-2) has a major influence on the seismic demand when assessed at storey, element and cross-section levels.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.281-298
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• 2013

Composite special moment frame is one of the systems that are utilized in areas with low to high seismicity to deal with earthquake forces. Composite moment frames are composed of reinforced concrete columns (RC) and steel beams (S); therefore, the connection region is a combination of steel and concrete materials. In current study, a three dimensional finite element model of composite connections is developed. These connections are used in special composite moment frame, between reinforced concrete columns and steel beams (RCS). Finite element model is discussed as a most reliable and low cost method versus experimental procedures. Based on a tested connection model by Cheng and Chen (2005), the finite element model has been developed under cyclic loading and is verified with experimental results. A good agreement between finite element model and experimental results was observed. The connection configuration contains Face Bearing Plates (FBPs), Steel Band Plates (SBPs) enveloping around the RC column just above and below the steel beam. Longitudinal column bars pass through the connection with square ties around them. The finite element model represented a stable response up to the first cycles equal to 4.0% drift, with moderately pinched hysteresis loops and then showed a significant buckling in upper flange of beam, as the in test model.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.335-343
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• 2003

In the previous experimental study, it is verified that the ultimate strain of concrete (${\varepsilon}$$_{cu}$=0.003) and coefficient of equivalent stress block (${\beta}$$_1$) can be used for the analysis of RC beams under biaxial and uniaxial bending moment. However, the characteristics of stress distribution of non rectangular compressed area in the RC columns are different to those of rectangular compressed area. The properties of compressive stress distribution of concrete have minor effect on the pure bending moment such as beams, but for the columns subjected to combined axial load and biaxial bending moment, the properties of compressive stress distribution are influencing factors. Nevertheless, in ACI 318-99 code, the design tables for columns subjected to axial loads with bidirectional eccentricities are based on the parameters recommended for rectangular stress block(RSB) of rectangular compressed areas. In this study the characteristics of stress distribution through both angle and depth of neutral axis are observed and formulated rationally. And the modified parameters of rectangular stress block(MRSB) for non rectangular compressed area is proposed. And the computer program using MRSB for the biaxial bending analysis of RC columns is developed and the results of MRSB are compared to RSB and experimental results respectively.