• Computers and Concrete
• /
• v.15 no.4
• /
• pp.563-588
• /
• 2015

Piers are the most vulnerable part of a bridge structure during an earthquake event. During Kobe earthquake in 1995, several bridge piers of the Hanshin Expressway collapsed for more than 600m of the bridge length. In this paper, the most important results of an experimental and analytical investigation of ten reinforced concrete bridge piers specimens with the same cross section subjected to constant axial (or variable) load and reversed (or one direction) cycling loading are presented. The objective was to investigate the main parameters influencing the seismic performance of reinforced concrete bridge piers. It was found that loading history and axial load intensity had a great influence on the performance of piers, especially concerning strength and stiffness degradation as well as the energy dissipation. Controlling these parameters is one of the keys for an ideal seismic performance for a given structure during an eventual seismic event. Numerical models for the tested specimens were developed and analyzed using SeismoStruct software. The analytical results show reasonable agreement with the experimental ones. The analysis not only correctly predicted the stiffness, load, and deformation at the peak, but also captured the post-peak softening as well. The analytical results showed that, in all cases, the ratio, experimental peak strength to the analytical one, was greater than 0.95.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.50 no.6
• /
• pp.860-868
• /
• 2018

This article presents a new design of earthquake instrumentation that is suitable for quick decision-making after the seismic event at the nuclear power plant (NPP). The main objective of this work is to ensure more availability of the NPP by expediting walk-down period when the seismic wave is incident. In general, the decision-making to restart the NPP after the seismic event requires more than 1 month if an earthquake exceeds operating basis earthquake level. It affects to the plant availability significantly. Unnecessary shutdown can be skipped through quick assessments of operating basis earthquake, safe shutdown earthquake events, and damage status to structure, system, and components. Multidecision parameters such as cumulative absolute velocity, peak ground acceleration, Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale, floor response spectrum, and cumulative fatigue are discussed. The implementation scope on the field-programmable gate array platform of this work is limited to cumulative absolute velocity, peak ground acceleration, and Modified Mercalli Intensity. It can ensure better availability of the plant through integrated decision-making process by automatic assessment of NPP structure, system, and components.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
• /
• v.24 no.6
• /
• pp.267-275
• /
• 2020

In the event of an earthquake, non-structural components require seismic performance to ensure evacuation routes and to protect lives from falling non-structural components. Accordingly, the seismic design code proposes horizontal force for the design and evaluation of non-structural components. Ground motion observed on each floor is affected by a building's eigen vibration mode. Therefore, the earthquake damage of non-structural components is determined by the characteristics of the non-structural component system and the vibration characteristics of the building. Floor response spectra in the seismic design code are estimated through time history analysis using seismic waves. However, it is difficult to use floor response spectra as a design criterion because of user-specific uncertainties of time history analysis. In addition, considering the response characteristics of high-rise buildings to long-period ground motions, the safety factor of the proposed horizontal force may be low. Therefore, this study carried out the horizontal force review proposed in the seismic design code through dynamic analysis and evaluated the floor response of seismic waves considering buildings and predominant periods of seismic waves.

• Smart Structures and Systems
• /
• v.4 no.5
• /
• pp.655-666
• /
• 2008

In the past 20 years, seismic isolation has see a variety of applications in design of structures to mitigate seismic hazard. In particular, isolation has been seen as a means of achieving enhanced seismic performance objectives, such as those for hospitals, critical emergency response facilities, mass electronic data storage centers, and similar buildings whose functionality following a major seismic event is either critical to the public welfare or the financial solvency of an organization. While achieving these enhanced performance objectives is a natural (and oftentimes requisite) application of seismic isolation, little attention has been given to the extension of current design practice to isolated buildings which may have more conventional performance objectives. The development of a rational design methodology for isolated buildings requires thorough investigation of the behavior of isolated structures subjected to seismic input of various recurrence intervals, and which are designed to remain elastic only under frequent events. This paper summarizes these investigations, and proposed a consistent probabilistic framework within which any combination of performance objectives may be met. Analytical simulations are presented, the results are summarized. The intent of this work is to allow a building owner to make informed decisions regarding tradeoffs between superstructure performance (drifts, accelerations) and isolation system performance. Within this framework, it is possible to realize the benefits of designing isolated buildings for which the design criteria allows consideration of multiple performance goals.

• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• v.13 no.2
• /
• pp.177-191
• /
• 2017

In the present study, exterior beam column sub-assemblages are designed in accordance with the codal stipulations prevailed at different times prior to the introduction of modern seismic provisions, viz., i) Gravity load designed with straight bar anchorage (SP1), ii) Gravity load designed with compression anchorage (SP1-D), iii) designed for seismic load but not detailed for ductility (SP2), and iv) designed for seismic load and detailed for ductility (SP3). Comparative seismic performance of these exterior beam-column sub-assemblages are evaluated through experimental investigations carried out under repeated reverse cyclic loading. Seismic performance parameters like load-displacement hysteresis behavior, energy dissipation, strength and stiffness degradation, and joint shear deformation of the specimens are evaluated. It is found from the experimental studies that with the evolution of the design methods, from gravity load designed to non-ductile and then to ductile detailed specimens, a marked improvement in damage resilience is observed. The gravity load designed specimens SP1 and SP1-D respectively dissipated only one-tenth and one-sixth of the energy dissipated by SP3. The specimen SP3 showcased tremendous improvement in the energy dissipation capacity of nearly 2.56 times that of SP2. Irrespective of the level of design and detailing, energy dissipation is finally manifested through the damage in the joint region. The present study underlines the seismic deficiency of beam-column sub-assemblages of different design evolutions and highlights the need for their strengthening/retrofit to make them fit for seismic event.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.50 no.8
• /
• pp.1387-1401
• /
• 2018

An aircraft impact (AI) on a nuclear power plant (NPP) is considered to be a beyond-design-basis event that draws considerable attention in the nuclear field. As some NPPs have already adopted the seismic isolation technology, and there are relevant standards to guide the application of this technology in future NPPs, a new challenge is that nuclear power engineers have to determine a reasonable method for performing AI analysis of base-isolated NPPs. Hence, dynamic influences of the seismic isolation on the vibration and structural damage characteristics of the base-isolated CPR1000 containment are studied under various aircraft loads. Unlike the seismic case, the impact energy of AI is directly impacting on the superstructure. Under the coupled influence of the seismic isolation and the various AI load, the flexible isolation layer weakens the constraint function of the foundation on the superstructure, the results show that the seismic isolation bearings will produce a large horizontal deformation if the AI load is large enough, the acceleration response at the base-mat will also be significantly affected by the different horizontal stiffness of the isolation bearing. These concerns require consideration during the design of the seismic isolation system.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.50 no.8
• /
• pp.1234-1245
• /
• 2018

The risk of multi-unit nuclear power plants (NPPs) at a site has received considerable critical attention recently. However, current probabilistic safety assessment (PSA) procedures and computer code do not support multi-unit PSA because the traditional PSA structure is mostly used for the quantification of single-unit NPP risk. In this study, the main purpose is to develop a multi-unit Level 2 PSA method and apply it to full-power operating six-unit OPR1000. Multi-unit Level 2 PSA method consists of three steps: (1) development of single-unit Level 2 PSA; (2) extracting the mapping data from plant damage state to source term category; and (3) combining multi-unit Level 1 PSA results and mapping fractions. By applying developed multi-unit Level 2 PSA method into six-unit OPR1000, site containment failure probabilities in case of loss of ultimate heat sink, loss of off-site power, tsunami, and seismic event were quantified.

• 한국지구물리탐사학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2006.06a
• /
• pp.187-192
• /
• 2006

The Korean peninsula has been considered as seismically intermediate region, since seismic activities have not been severe for long time and the active tectonic boundary is also located far away. However, the activities of earthquakes have been increased significantly for last decade. Since currently important structures and facilities are increasing rapidly in the Korean Peninsula, the importance of seismic design are increasing exponentially too. This study used observed ground motion of Fukuoka event including 11 afterschocks and then estimated seismic parameters representing seismic source, propagation effect, considering site amplification. The results were comparable to those of other studies in the same region. The results could be used as basic important parameters for seismic design of the important structures and facilities in Korean peninsula.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
• /
• v.36 no.3
• /
• pp.451-461
• /
• 2016

The objective of this study is to illustrate the methods and procedures for estimating the failure probability of small fill dams subjected to earthquake events and to estimate the seismic failure probability of the Korean disaster risk fill dams where geotechnical information is not available. In this study, first of all, seismic failure probabilities of 7 disaster risk small fill dams, where geotechnical information is available, were evaluated using event tree analysis. Also, the methods and procedures for evaluating probabilities are illustrated. The relationship between dam height and freeboard for 84 disaster risk small dams, for which the safety diagnosis reports are available, was examined. This relationship was associated with the failure computation equation contained in the toolbox of US Army corps of engineers. From this association, the dam height-freeborard critical curve, which represents 'zero' failure probability, was derived. The seismic failure probability of the Korean disaster risk fill dams was estimated using the critical curve and the failure probabilities computed for 7 small dams.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
• /
• v.12 no.4
• /
• pp.316-327
• /
• 2009

A standard for national seismological observatory was proposed on 1999. Since then, Quanterra digitizer has been installed and is operating on almost all of seismic stations which belong to major seismic monitoring organizations. Quanterra digitizer produce and transmit real-time event packet and data packet. Characteristics of event packet and arrival time of each channel's data packet on data center were investigated. Packet selection criteria using signal to noise ratio (hereafter SNR) and signal period from real-time event packet based on 100 samples per second (hereafter sps) velocity data were developed. Estimation of epicenter using time information of the selected event packet were performed and tested. A series of experiment show that event packets were received approximately 3~4 second earlier than data packets and the number of event packet was only 0.3% compare to data packets. Just about 5% against all of event packets were selected as event packet were related P wave of real earthquake. Using the selected event packets we can estimate an epicenter with misfit less than 10 km within 20 sec for local earthquake over magnitude 2.5.