• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.78 no.1
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• pp.77-86
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• 2021

Local school buildings are critical facilities that can provide shelter in disasters such as earthquakes, so they must be more resistant to seismic forces than other structures. In this study, a sensitivity analysis was conducted to determine which columns-as the most critical members in a reinforced concrete building-most urgently require seismic retrofitting. The sensitivity analysis was conducted using an optimization technique with the location of each column as a parameter. A numerical model was developed to simulate a realistic collapse mode through a three-dimensional dynamic analysis. Based on numerical analysis results, it was found that the columns positioned in the lower floors, such as the first floor and in the outer part of a building, urgently require retrofitting. For reinforcement of the RC columns, which has been proven for its performance in previous research, was applied. Through this study, the importance of appropriate retrofitting is demonstrated. Further, a method for determining the appropriate location for retrofitting-when retrofitting is not possible on the entire structure-is presented.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.379-399
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• 2015

Existing building structures can easily present material mechanical properties which can largely vary even within a single structure. The current European Technical Code, Eurocode 8, does not provide specific instructions to account for high variability in mechanical properties. As a consequence of the high strength variability, at the occurrence of seismic events, the structure may evidence unexpected phenomena, like torsional effects, with larger experienced deformations and, in turn, with reduced seismic performance. This work is focused on the torsional effects related to the irregular stiffness and strength distribution due to the concrete strength variability. The analysis has been performed on a case-study, i.e., a 3D RC framed 4 storey building. A Normal distribution, compatible to a large available database, has been taken to represent the concrete strength domain. Different plan layouts, representative of realistic stiffness distributions, have been considered, and a statistical analysis has been performed on the induced torsional effects. The obtained results have been compared to the standard analysis as provided by Eurocode 8 for existing buildings, showing that the Eurocode 8 provisions, despite not allowing explicitly for material strength variability, are conservative as regards the estimation of structural demand.

• Journal of Korean Association for Spatial Structures
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.79-87
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• 2012

In this study, static displacement sensors using lead switches are bonded on concrete beams and RC beams, and monitoring systems to crack damages are studied using radio frequency. If load is received on the center of flexible specimens, bonded static displacement sensors will be destroyed, and these become to send signals of damages at radio frequency system connected with static displacement sensors. Study of these functional building elements will be protected from external factors by unusual weather, earthquake, etc, in RC buildings and structures.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Building Construction
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.127-135
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• 2010

As logistics facilities have a high ceiling height, simple structure, and the need for a quick return on investment, it is usually essential to advance the construction schedule of such facilities. Accordingly, PC structures, which require less labor, cost and schedule, can be more competitive than RC structures. However, most construction companies in Korea are familiar with RC structure design, have negative perceptions regarding PC structures, and do not sufficiently adopt new construction techniques. The structure that this research features has 110 columns that are 14 m high and are built to the same specification, and applying an RC design to the structure will lead to issues related to constructibility, economic viability, project duration and safety. Therefore, this study intends to feature PC design as an alternative to the RC warehouse design, and perform a comparative analysis of the reduction in labor, cost and construction schedule to highlight benefits. The research outcomes herein will provide inputs to subsequent studies on new construction strategies to advance the construction schedule, improve quality and constructibility, enhance safety and save costs.

• Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.312-318
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• 2014

Recent building structures are superior in its ability but they are light weight and long span, and so have problems of vibration. In general, the serviceability of RC slabs was known to be good against vibration because of its hardness. However, recent high-rise apartment slabs are mostly light and long, the serviceability of RC slabs due to vibration could be a problem. In this paper, a basic investigation about vibration problems of RC slabs was performed. Basic information and its influence on vibrations of RC slabs were revealed. Also, its serviceability against vibration was examined. Many tests were conducted for natural frequency of building, for example load of two persons walking and one person leaping etc.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.187-201
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• 2014

A new through-beam connection system for a concrete filled steel tube column to RC beam is proposed. In this connection, there are openings on the steel tube while the reinforced concrete beams are continuous in the joint zone. The moment and shear force at the beam ends can be transferred to column by continuous rebar and concrete. The weakening of the axial load and shear bearing capacity due to the opening of the steel tube can be compensated by strengthening steel tube at joint zone. Using this connection, construction of the joint can be made more convenient since welding and hole drilling in situ can be avoided. Axial compression and reversed cyclic loading tests on specimens were carried out to evaluate performance of the new beam-column connection. Load-deflection performance, typical failure modes, stress and strain distributions, and the energy dissipation capacity were obtained. The experimental results showed that the new connection have good bearing capacity, superior ductility and energy dissipation capacity by effectively strengthen the steel tube at joint zone. According to the test and analysis results, some suggestions were proposed to design method of this new connection.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.15-25
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• 2020

The seismic behaviour of reinforced concrete (RC) columns made from high-strength materials was investigated experimentally. Six high-strength concrete specimen columns (1:4 scale), which included three with high-strength stirrups (HSSs) and three with normal-strength stirrups (NSSs), were tested under a combination of high axial and reversed cyclic loads. The effects of stirrup strength and the ratio of transverse reinforcement on the cracking patterns, hysteretic response, strength, stiffness, ductility, energy dissipation and strain of transverse reinforcement were studied. The results indicate that good seismic behaviour of an RC column subjected to high axial compression can be obtained by using a well-shaped stirrup. Stirrup strength had little effect on the lateral bearing capacity. However, the ductility was significantly modified by improving the stirrup strength. When loaded with a large lateral displacement, the strength reduction of NSS specimens was more severe than that of those with HSSs, and increasing the stirrup strength had little effect on the stiffness reduction. The ductility and energy dissipation of specimens with HSSs were superior to those with NSSs. When the ultimate displacement was reached, the core concrete could be effectively restrained by HSSs.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.337-351
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• 2021

On September 12, 2016, the Gyeongju earthquake occurred in the south-eastern region of the Korean peninsula. The event was ranked as the largest magnitude earthquake (=5.8) since instrumental recording was started by the Korean Metrological Administration (KMA) in 1978. The objective of this study is to provide information obtained from the 2016 Gyeongju earthquake and to propose a procedure estimating seismic risk of a typical old RC building for past and potential earthquakes. Ground motions are simulated using the point source model at 4941 grid locations in the Korean peninsula that resulted from the Gyeongju earthquake and from potential future earthquakes with the same hypocenter considering different soil conditions. Nonlinear response history analyses are conducted for each grid location using a three-story gravity-designed reinforced concrete (RC) frame that most closely represents conventional old school and public buildings. Then, contour maps are constructed to present the seismic risk associated with this building for the Gyeongju earthquake and potential future scenario earthquakes. These contour maps can be useful in the development of a mitigation plan for potential earthquake damage to school and public buildings at all grid locations on the Korean peninsula.

• Explosives and Blasting
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.99-107
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• 2010

Domestic explosive demolition techniques have been developed and applied for low-rise structures up to now. However, the demand for the development of those techniques that can be applied economically, safely and environment-friendly rapidly increases because the old high-rise RC rahmen structures that were built since around 1970s are now required to rebuild. As a result, element technologies of explosive demolition for low-rise structures were applied to take advantage of technology in high-rise structures that performed application testing at Chungang Department demolition field in Daejeon city. It could judge elements technology establishment for high-rise structure demolition and field application and suggest the improvements when the problems occurred to develop High-rise building demolition techniques for method of protection a field test and the dust reduction test. The water cannon test was applied to reduce the dust site and the drilling tests are performed to select the best components for explosives demolition elements techniques of the reliability. This paper shows that we have the ability to remove a high-rise building using environmentally friendly safe and economical explosives demolition method. It would contribute to prevent a foreign company from entering the domestic market and should contribute to acquire competitiveness of domestic demolition industry.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.179-191
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• 2018

This study is aimed at investigating the dynamic performance of a composite building structure under seismic ground motions. The building structure is an official fire department building located in southern Taiwan. It is composed of a seven-story reinforced concrete (RC) and an eight-story steel reinforced concrete (SRC) frame. Both frames share a common basement and are separated by expansion joints from the first to the seventh floor. Recorded floor accelerations of the building structure under eight earthquakes occurring during the period from 2011 to 2013 were examined in this paper. It is found that both frames had similar floor acceleration amplifications in the longitudinal direction, while the SRC frame revealed larger response than the RC frame in the transverse direction. Almost invariant and similar fundamental periods under the eight earthquakes in both directions were obtained from their transfer functions. Furthermore, numerical time-history simulations were carried out for the building structure under the most intensive earthquake. It is realized that the seismic response of the composite building was dominated by the first translational mode in each horizontal direction. Higher modes did not significantly contribute to the structural response. The conventional Rayleigh damping model could be appropriately applied to the time-history simulations under bi-directional excitations. Approximate floor acceleration envelopes were obtained with a compound RC and SRC structural model by using the average damping ratios determined from the different structural arrays.