• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.62 no.3
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• pp.281-289
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• 2017

Damping value has considerable influence on the dynamic and seismic behaviors of bridges. However, currently the constant damping ratios that are prescribed by most bridge seismic design codes can't truly represent the complicated damping character of actual structures. In this paper, a cyclic loading experiment was conducted to study the effect of stress amplitude on material damping of concrete to present an analyzing model of the material damping of concrete. Furthermore, based on the fundamental damping of structure measured under ambient vibration, combined with the presented stress-dependent material damping concrete, the seismic response of a bridge pier was calculated. Comparison between the calculated and experiment results verified the validity of the presented damping model. Finally, a modified design and analysis method for bridge was proposed based on stress-dependent damping theory, and a continuous rigid frame bridge was selected as the example to calculate the actual damping values and the dynamic response of the bridge under different earthquake intensities. The calculation results indicated that using the constant damping given by the Chinese seismic design code of bridges would overestimate the energy dissipation capacity of the bridge.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.85 no.1
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• pp.55-64
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• 2023

Energy-based seismic design and evaluation methods are promising to be involved in the next generation design codes. Accordingly, determining the distribution of earthquake input energy demand among floor levels is quite imperative in order to develop an energy-based seismic design procedure. In this paper, peak floor input energy demands are achieved from relative input energy response histories of several reinforced concrete (RC) frames. A set of 22 horizontal acceleration histories selected from recorded near-fault earthquakes and scaled in time domain to be compatible with the elastic acceleration design spectra of Turkish Seismic Design Code are used in time history analyses. The distribution of the computed input energy per mass values and the arithmetic means through the height of the considered RC frames are presented as a result. It is found that spatial distribution of input energy per mass is highly affected by the number of stories. Very practical yet consistent formulation of distributing the total input energy to story levels is achieved, as a most important contribution of the study.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.445-463
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• 2011

In the design of reinforced concrete (RC) beams, apart from providing adequate strength, it is also necessary to provide a minimum deformability even for beams not located in seismic regions. In most RC design codes, this is achieved by restricting the maximum tension steel ratio or neutral axis depth. However, this empirical deemed-to-satisfy method, which was developed based on beams made of normal-strength concrete (NSC) and normal-strength steel (NSS), would not provide a consistent deformability to beams made of high-strength concrete (HSC) and/or high-strength steel (HSS). More critically, HSC beams would have much lower deformability than that provided previously to NSC beams. To ensure that a consistent deformability is provided to all RC beams, it is proposed herein to set an absolute minimum rotation capacity to all RC beams in the design. Based on this requirement, the respective maximum limits of tension steel ratio and neutral axis depth for different concrete and steel yield strengths are derived based on a formula developed by the authors. Finally for incorporation into design codes, simplified guidelines for designing RC beams having the proposed minimum deformability are developed.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.285-302
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• 2024

Conducting nonlinear pushover analysis typically demands intricate and resource-intensive computational efforts, involving a highly iterative process necessary for meeting both design-defined and requirements of codes in performance-based design. This study presents a computer-based technique for reinforced concrete (RC) buildings, incorporating optimization numerical approaches, optimality criteria and pushover analysis to automatically enhance seismic design performance. The optimal design of concrete beams, columns and shear walls in concrete frames is presented using the artificial bee colony optimization algorithm. The methodology is applied to three frames: a 4-story, an 8-story and a 12-story. These structures are designed to minimize overall weight while satisfying the levels of performance including Life Safety (LS), Collapse Prevention (CP), and Immediate Occupancy (IO). The process involves three main steps: first, optimization codes are implemented in MATLAB software, and the OpenSees software is used for nonlinear static analysis. By solving the optimization problem, several top designs are obtained for each frame and shear wall. Pushover analysis is conducted considering the constraints on relative displacement and plastic hinge rotation based on the nonlinear provisions of the FEMA356 nonlinear provisions to achieve each level of performance. Subsequently, convergence, pushover, and drift history curves are plotted for each frame, and leading to the selection of the best design. The results demonstrate that the algorithm effectively achieves optimal designs with reduced weight, meeting the desired performance criteria.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.84 no.1
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• pp.85-100
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• 2022

The updated Turkish Building Earthquake Code has been significantly renovated and expanded compared to previous seismic design codes. The use of earthquake ground motion levels with different probabilities of exceedance is one of the major advances in structural mechanics with the current code. This study aims to investigate the earthquake performance of steel structure in settlements with different seismic hazards for various earthquake ground motion levels. It is focused on earthquake and structural parameters for four different ground motion levels with different probabilities of exceedance calculated according to the location of the structure by the updated Turkish Hazard Map. For this purpose, each of the seven different geographical regions of Turkey which has the same seismic zone in the previous earthquake hazard map has been considered. Earthquake parameters, horizontal design elastic spectra obtained and comparisons were made for all different ground motion levels for the seven different locations, respectively. Structural analyzes for a sample steel structure were carried out using pushover analysis by using the obtained design spectra. It has been determined that the different ground motion levels significantly affect the expected target displacements of the structure for performance criteria. It is noted that the different locations of the same earthquake zone in the previous code with the same earthquake-building parameters show significant variations due to the micro zoning properties of the updated seismic design code. In addition, the main innovations of the updated code were discussed.

• Journal of The Korea Institute of Healthcare Architecture
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.51-59
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• 2012

Over a past century, the continuity in post-earthquake serviceability of medical facilities has been demonstrated to be essential for sustaining a society and/or a nation stable. However, not many countries including Korea have paid appropriate attention to such a lesson learned from the previous experiences of the countries located in high seismicity for various reasons, one of which may be the lack of social consensus in allocating a portion of the resources to the earthquake preparedness. As a result, an earthquake-related policy might have been pushed away out of the list of priority in the government agenda. Therefore, the present paper attempts to persuade the public general, experts and government officials together to seek a way to upgrade the seismic safety of the country a step forward by enhancing the seismic performance of medical facilities. For this the framework of seismic design codes and standards for medical facilities, and Californian experience in managing the seismic performance enhancement program and U.S.-Italian collaborative study to improve the seismic safety of Italian hospitals are reviewed. Finally, a list of further researches and practices to perform for seismic enhancement of medical facilities in Korea are suggested.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.3 no.3_4
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• pp.231-248
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• 2012

In this study, a systematic investigation is carried out on the seismic behaviour of plane moment resisting steel frames (MRF) to repeated strong ground motions. Such a sequence of earthquakes results in a significant damage accumulation in a structure because any rehabilitation action between any two successive seismic motions cannot be practically materialised due to lack of time. In this work, thirty-six MRF which have been designed for seismic and vertical loads according to European codes are first subjected to five real seismic sequences which are recorded at the same station, in the same direction and in a short period of time, up to three days. Furthermore, the examined frames are also subjected to sixty artificial seismic sequences. This investigation shows that the sequences of ground motions have a significant effect on the response and, hence, on the design of MRF. Additionally, it is concluded that ductility demands, behaviour factor and seismic damage of the repeated ground motions can be satisfactorily estimated using appropriate combinations of the corresponding demands of single ground motions.

• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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• v.1 no.3
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• pp.181-194
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• 2012

Chile is characterized by the largest seismicity in the world which produces strong earthquakes every $83{\pm}9years$ in the Central part of Chile, where it is located Santiago, the capital of Chile. The short interval between large earthquakes magnitude 8.5 has conditioned the Chilean seismic design practice to achieve almost operational performance level, despite the fact that the Chilean Code declares a scope of life safe performance level. Several Indexes have been widely used throughout the years in Chile to evaluate the structural characteristics of concrete buildings, with the intent to find a correlation between general structural conception and successful seismic performance. The Indexes presented are related only to global response of buildings under earthquake loads and not to the behavior or design of individual elements. A correlation between displacement demand and seismic structural damage is presented, using the index $H_o/T$ and the concrete compressive strain ${\varepsilon}_c$. Also the Chilean seismic design codes pre and post 2010 Maule earthquake are reviewed and the practice in seismic design vs Performance Based Design is presented. Performance Based Design procedures are not included in the Chilean seismic design code for buildings, nevertheless the earthquake experience has shown that the response of the Chilean buildings has been close to operational. This can be attributed to the fact that the drift of most engineered buildings designed in accordance with the Chilean practice falls below 0.5%. It is also known by experience that for frequent and even occasional earthquakes, buildings responded elastically and thus with "fully operational" performance. Taking the above into account, it can be said that, although the "basic objective" of the Chilean code is similar to the SEAOC VISION2000 criteria, the actual performance for normal buildings is closer to the "Essential/Hazardous objective".

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.349-365
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• 2013

Structures consisting of concrete and steel parts, which are irregular in damping ratios are investigated. This investigation is a code-based seismic design of such structures. Several practical difficulties encountered, due to inherent differences in the nature of dynamic response of each part, and the different damping ratios of the two parts. These structures are irregular in damping ratios and have complex modes of vibration so that their analysis cannot be handled with the readily available commercial software. Therefore, this work aims to provide simple yet sufficiently accurate constant values of equivalent damping ratios applied to the whole structure for handling the damping irregularity of such structures. The results show that the equivalent damping ratio changes with the height of the building and the kind of the structural system, but it is constant for all accelerations values. Thus, available software SAP2000 applied for seismic analysis, design and the provisions of existing seismic codes. Finally, evaluation of different kinds of structural system used in this research to find the most energy dissipating one found by finding the best value of quality coefficient.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.257-268
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• 2000

The seismic design recommendations of the Jordan Code for Loads and Forces (JC) are evaluated, based on comparisons with analytical studies and the Uniform Building Code. It was established that the overall safety ensured by the implementation of these recommendations is not consistent with the established seismic risk in Jordan and the intended objectives of the code. A new zoning map is proposed with effective peak ground acceleration values. The different period formulae of the code were studied and were found to grossly underestimate the fundamental period when compared with analytically derived values or other codes' formulae. Other factors including the dynamic, soil, importance and behavior factors are discussed. It was determined that the JC's lateral load distribution formulae clearly lead to smaller internal forces than both dynamic analysis and UBC loads, even when those loads are normalized to give the same base shear. The main reason for this is attributed to the limited allowance for a backlash force in the JC.