• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.46 no.5
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• pp.595-604
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• 2014

SILER (Seismic-Initiated event risk mitigation in LEad-cooled Reactors) is a Collaborative Project, partially funded by the European Commission in the $7^{th}$ Framework Programme, aimed at studying the risk associated to seismic-initiated events in Generation IV Heavy Liquid Metal reactors, and developing adequate protection measures. The project started in October 2011, and will run for a duration of three years. The attention of SILER is focused on the evaluation of the effects of earthquakes, with particular regards to beyond-design seismic events, and to the identification of mitigation strategies, acting both on structures and components design. Special efforts are devoted to the development of seismic isolation devices and related interface components. Two reference designs, at the state of development available at the beginning of the project and coming from the $6^{th}$ Framework Programme, have been considered: ELSY (European Lead Fast Reactor) for the Lead Fast Reactors (LFR), and MYRRHA (Multi-purpose hYbrid Research Reactor for High-tech Applications) for the Accelerator-Driven Systems (ADS). This paper describes the main activities and results obtained so far, paying particular attention to the development of seismic isolators, and the interface components which must be installed between the isolated reactor building and the non-isolated parts of the plant, such as the pipe expansion joints and the joint-cover of the seismic gap.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.385-403
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• 2007

The effectiveness of the newly developed smart passive control system employing a magnetorheological (MR) damper and an electromagnetic induction (EMI) part for seismic protection of base isolated structures is numerically investigated. An EMI part in the system consists of a permanent magnet and a coil, which changes the kinetic energy of the deformation of an MR damper into the electric energy (i.e. the induced current) according to the Faraday's law of electromagnetic induction. In the smart passive control system, the damping characteristics of an MR damper are varied with the current input generated from an EMI part. Hence, it does not need any control system consisting of sensors, a controller and an external power source. This makes the system much simpler as well as more economic. To verify the efficacy of the smart passive control system, a series of numerical simulations are carried out by considering the benchmark base isolated structure control problems. The numerical simulation results show that the smart passive control system has the comparable control performance to the conventional MR damper-based semiactive control system. Therefore, the smart passive control system could be considered as one of the promising control devices for seismic protection of seismically excited base isolated structures.

• Advances in Computational Design
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.211-223
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• 2017

This research presented a numerical and experimental study on the seismic performance of first-generation base-isolated and fixed-base nuclear power plants (NPP). Three types of the base isolation system were applied to rehabilitate the first-generation nuclear power plants: frictional pendulum (FP), high-damping rubber (HDR) and lead-rubber (LR) base isolation. Also, an Excel program was proposed for the design of the abovementioned base isolators in accordance with UBC 97 and the Japan Society of Base Isolation Regulation. The seismic assessment was performed using the pushover and nonlinear time history analysis methods in accordance with the FEMA 356 regulation. To validate the adequacy of the proposed design procedure, two small-scale NPPs were constructed at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia's structural laboratory and subjected to a pushover test for two different base conditions, fixed and HDR-isolated base. The results showed that base-isolated structures achieved adequate seismic performance compared with the fixed-base one, and all three isolators led to a significant reduction in the containment's tension, overturning moment and base shear.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.227-242
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• 2019

Seismic isolation systems employ structural control that protect both buildings and vibration-sensitive contents from destructive effects of earthquakes. Structural control is divided into three main groups: passive, active, and semi-active. Among them, semi-active isolation systems, which can reduce floor displacements and accelerations concurrently, has gained importance in recent years since they don't require large power or pose stability problems like active ones. However, their seismic performance may vary depending on the variations that may be observed in the mechanical properties of semi-active devices and/or seismic isolators. Uncertainties relating to isolators can arise from variations in geometry, boundary conditions, material behavior, or temperature, or aging whereas those relating to semi-active control devices can be due to thermal changes, inefficiencies in calibrations, manufacturing errors, etc. For a more realistic evaluation of the seismic behavior of semi-active isolated buildings, such uncertainties must be taken into account. Here, the probabilistic behavior of semi-active isolated buildings under historical pulse-like near-fault earthquakes is evaluated in terms of their performance in preserving structural integrity and protecting vibration-sensitive contents considering aforementioned uncertainties via Monte-Carlo simulations of 3-story and 9-story semi-active isolated benchmark buildings. The results are presented in the form of fragility curves and probability of failure profiles.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.135-144
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• 2006

In performing a risk analysis of structures under earthquakes, it is imperative to identify the vulnerability of structures associated with various damage stages considering structural properties, soil-structure interactions, site condition, and so on. In this paper, the method to derive a representative fragility curve of seismic isolated LRB(lead rubber bearing) bridges is proposed. In which, the curve is assumed log-normally distribution with two parameters. The risk analysis of seismic isolated LRB bridges considering earthquake effects such as PGA, PGV, SA, SV, and SI is also performed to assure the earthquake resisting capability of the structures. An practical way for constructing the representative fragility curves is also recommended combining fragility curves of structures.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.75-92
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• 1999

In this paper, the seismic analysis model for seismically isolated KALIMER reactor structures is developed and the modal analysis and the seismic time history analysis are carried out for seismic isolation and non-isolation cases. To check the seismic stress limit according to the ASME Code, the equivalent seismic stress analyses are preformed using the 3-D finite element model. From the seismic stress analysis, the seismic margins are calculated for structural members. The limit of seismic load is defined to show that the maximum input acceleration ensures the structural safety for seismic load. In comparison of seismic responses between seismic isolation and non-isolation cases, the seismic isolation design gives significantly reduced acceleration responses and relative displacements between structures. The seismic margin of KALIMER reactor structure is high enough to produce the limit seismic load 0.8g.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.65 no.6
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• pp.771-784
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• 2018

This study aims to investigate the stochastic response of isolated and non-isolated highway bridges subjected to spatially varying earthquake ground motion model. This model includes wave passage, incoherence and site response effects. The wave passage effect is examined by using various wave velocities. The incoherency effect is investigated by considering the Harichandran and Vanmarcke coherency model. The site response effect is considered by selecting homogeneous firm, medium and soft soil types where the bridge supports are constructed. The ground motion is described by power spectral density function and applied to each support point. Triple concave friction pendulum (TCFP) bearing which is more effective than other seismic isolation systems is used for seismic isolation. To implement seismic isolation procedure, TCFP bearing devices are placed at each of the support points of the deck. In the analysis, the bridge selected is a five-span featuring cast-in-place concrete box girder superstructure supported on reinforced concrete columns. Foundation supported highway bridge is regarded as three regions and compared its different situation in the stochastic analysis. The stochastic analyses results show that spatially varying ground motion has important effects on the stochastic response of the isolated and non-isolated bridges as long span structures.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.1091-1111
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• 2015

Base isolation is an effective method for protecting structures against earthquake hazard. It elongates the period of vibration and introduces supplemental damping to the structural system. The stiffness, damping and displacement are coupled forcing the code seismic design procedure to be unnecessarily complicated. In addition, the force reduction factor -a key parameter in the design procedurehas not been well addressed by seismic design codes at the high levels of damping due to the pronounced difference between pseudo and actual accelerations. In this study, a comparison has been conducted to evaluate eight different methods, in the literature, for calculating the force reduction factor due to damping. Accordingly, a simplified seismic analysis procedure has been proposed based on the well documented N2 method. Comprehensive analysis has been performed for base-isolated structure models for direct application and verification of the proposed procedure. The results have been compared with those of the European code EC8, the nonlinear time history analysis and investigations in the literature, where good agreement has been reported. In addition, a discussion has been elaborated for the resulted response of the base-isolated structure models with respect to the dynamic characteristics of the base isolation system.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.7 no.6
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• pp.1259-1281
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• 2014

This research has been conducted in order to investigate the effects of peak ground velocity (PGV) of near-field earthquakes on base-isolated structures mounted on Single Friction Pendulum (SFP), Double Concave Friction Pendulum (DCFP) and Triple Concave Friction Pendulum (TCFP) bearings. Seismic responses of base-isolated structures subjected to simplified near field pulses including the forward directivity and the fling step pulses are considered in this study. Behaviour of a two dimensional single story structure mounting on SFP, DCFP and TCFP isolators investigated employing a variety range of isolators and the velocity (PGV) of the forward directivity and the fling step pulses as the main variables of the near field earthquakes. The maximum isolator displacement and base shear are selected as main seismic responses. Peak seismic responses of different isolator types are compared to emphasize the efficiency of each one under near field earthquakes. It is demonstrated that rising the PGVs increases the isolator displacement and base shear of structure. The effects of the forward directivity are greater than the fling step pulses. Furthermore, TCFP isolator is more effective to control the near field effects than the other friction pendulum isolators are. This efficiency is more significant in pulses with longer period and greater PGVs.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.7 no.6
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• pp.1223-1240
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• 2014

Seismic isolation has been established as an effective earthquake-resistant design method and the lead rubber bearings (LRBs) are among the most commonly used seismic isolation systems. In the scientific literature, a sharp bilinear model is often used for capturing the hysteretic behaviour of the LRBs in the analysis of seismically isolated structures, although the actual behaviour of the LRBs can be more accurately represented utilizing smoothed plasticity, as captured by the Bouc-Wen model. Discrepancies between these two models are quantified in terms of the computed peak relative displacements at the isolation level, as well as the peak inter-storey deflections and the absolute top-floor accelerations, for the case of base-isolated buildings modelled as multi degree-of-freedom systems. Numerical simulations under pulse-like ground motions have been performed to assess the effect of non-linear parameters of the seismic isolation system and characteristics of both the superstructure and the earthquake excitation, on the accuracy of the computed peak structural responses. Through parametric analyses, this paper assesses potential inaccuracies of the computed peak seismic response when the sharp bilinear model is employed for modelling the LRBs instead of the more accurate and smoother Bouc-Wen model.