• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.665-679
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• 2015

The strain rate of reinforced concrete (RC) structures stimulated by earthquake action has been generally recognized as in the range from $10^{-4}/s$ to $10^{-1}/s$. Because both concrete and steel reinforcement are rate-sensitive materials, the RC beam-column joints are bound to behave differently under different strain rates. This paper describes an investigation of seismic behavior of RC beam-column joints which are subjected to large cyclic displacements on the beam ends with three loading velocities, i.e., 0.4 mm/s, 4 mm/s and 40 mm/s respectively. The levels of strain rate on the joint core region are correspondingly estimated to be $10^{-5}/s$, $10^{-4}/s$, and $10^{-2}/s$. It is aimed to better understand the effect of strain rates on seismic behavior of beam-column joints, such as the carrying capacity and failure modes as well as the energy dissipation. From the experiments, it is observed that with the increase of loading velocity or strain rate, damage in the joint core region decreases but damage in the plastic hinge regions of adjacent beams increases. The energy absorbed in the hysteresis loops under higher loading velocity is larger than that under quasi-static loading. It is also found that the yielding load of the joint is almost independent of the loading velocity, and there is a marginal increase of the ultimate carrying capacity when the loading velocity is increased for the ranges studied in this work. However, under higher loading velocity the residual carrying capacity after peak load drops more rapidly. Additionally, the axial compression ratio has little effect on the shear carrying capacity of the beam-column joints, but with the increase of loading velocity, the crack width of concrete in the joint zone becomes narrower. The shear carrying capacity of the joint at higher loading velocity is higher than that calculated with the quasi-static method proposed by the design code. When the dynamic strengths of materials, i.e., concrete and reinforcement, are directly substituted into the design model of current code, it tends to be insufficiently safe.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.735-748
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• 2018

In this paper, the cyclic behavior of steel beam-concrete encased steel (CES) column joints was investigated experimentally and numerically. Three frame middle joint samples with varying concrete slab widths were constructed. Anti-symmetrical low-frequency cyclic load was applied at two beam ends to simulate the earthquake action. The failure modes, hysteretic behavior, ultimate load, stiffness degradation, load carrying capacity degradation, displacement ductility and strain response were investigated in details. The three composite joints exhibited excellent seismic performance in experimental tests, showing high load-carrying capacity, good ductility and superior energy dissipation ability. All three joint samples reached their ultimate loads due to shear failure. Numerical results from ABAQUS modelling agreed well with the test results. Finally, the effect of the concrete slab on ultimate load was analyzed through a parametric study on concrete strength, slab thickness, as well as slab width. Numerical simulation showed that slab width and thickness played an important role in the load-carrying capacity of such joints. As a comparison, the influence of concrete grade was not significant.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.443-454
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• 2023

Steel shear walls are used to strengthen steel and concrete structures. One such system is Partial Attached Steel Shear Walls (PASSW), which are only connected to frame beams. This system offers both structural and architectural advantages. This study first calibrated the numerical model of RC frames with and without PASSW using an experimental sample. The seismic performance of the RC frame was evaluated by 30 non-linear static analyses, which considered stiffness, ductility, lateral strength, and energy dissipation, to investigate the effect of PASSW width and column axial load. Based on numerical results and a curve fitting technique, a lateral stiffness equation was developed for frames equipped with PASSW. The effect of the shear wall location on the concrete frame was evaluated through eight analyses. Nonlinear dynamic analysis was performed to investigate the effect of the shear wall on maximum frame displacement using three earthquake records. The results revealed that if PASSW is designed with appropriate stiffness, it can increase the energy dissipation and ductility of the frame by 2 and 1.2 times, respectively. The stiffness and strength of the frame are greatly influenced by PASSW, while axial force has the most significant negative impact on energy dissipation. Furthermore, the location of PASSW does not affect the frame's behavior, and it is possible to have large openings in the frame bay.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.217-243
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• 2016

The linear and nonlinear seismic responses of steel buildings with perimeter moment resisting frames and welded connections (WC) are estimated and compared with those of buildings with post-tensioned connections (PC). Two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) structural representations of the buildings as well as global and local response parameters are considered. The seismic responses and structural damage of steel buildings with PC may be significantly smaller than those of the buildings with typical WC. The reasons for this are that the PC buildings dissipate more hysteretic energy and attract smaller inertia forces. The response reduction is larger for global than for local response parameters. The reduction may significantly vary from one structural representation to another. One of the main reasons for this is that the energy dissipation characteristics are quite different for the 2D and 3D models. In addition, in the case of the 3D models, the contribution of each horizontal component to the axial load on an specific column may be in phase each other during some intervals of time, but for some others they may be out of phase. It is not possible to observe this effect on the 2D structural formulation. The implication of this is that 3D structural representation should be used while estimating the effect of the PC on the structural response. Thus, steel frames with post-tensioned bolted connections are a viable option in high seismicity areas due to the fact that brittle failure is prevented and also because of their reduced response and self-centering capacity.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.611-621
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• 2019

Precast concrete structure has many advantages, but the assembled seam will affect potentially the overall seismic performance of structure. Based on the sidewall joint located in the bottom of assembled monolithic subway station, the main objectives of this study are, on one hand to present an experimental campaign on the seismic behavior of precast sidewall joint (PWJ) and cast-in-place sidewall joint (CWJ) subjected to low-cycle repeated loading, and on the other hand to explore the effect of shape and position of assembled seam on load carrying capacity and crack width of precast sidewall joint. Two full-scale specimens were designed and tested. The important index of failure pattern, loading carrying capacity, deformation performance and crack width were evaluated and compared. Based on the test results, a series of different height and variably-shape of assembled seam of precast sidewall joint were considered. The test and numerical investigations indicate that, (1) the carrying capacity and deformation capacity of precast sidewall and cast-in-place sidewall were very similar, but the crack failure pattern, bending deformation and shearing deformation in the plastic hinge zone were different obviously; (2) the influence of the assembled seam should be considered when precast underground structures located in the aquifer water-bearing stratum; (3) the optimal assembled seam shape and position can be suggested for the design of precast underground concrete structures according to the analysis results.

• 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.

• International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.101-110
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• 2012

This paper focuses on the finite element (FE) response sensitivity and reliability analyses considering smooth constitutive material models. A reinforced concrete frame is modeled for FE sensitivity analysis followed by direct differentiation method under both static and dynamic load cases. Later, the reliability analysis is performed to predict the seismic behavior of the frame. Displacement sensitivity discontinuities are observed along the pseudo-time axis using non-smooth concrete and reinforcing steel model under quasi-static loading. However, the smooth materials show continuity in response sensitivity at elastic to plastic transition points. The normalized sensitivity results are also used to measure the relative importance of the material parameters on the structural responses. In FE reliability analysis, the influence of smoothness behavior of reinforcing steel is carefully noticed. More efficient and reasonable reliability estimation can be achieved by using smooth material model compare with bilinear material constitutive model.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.227-240
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• 2016

An analytical study was conducted to investigate the effect of the shape and spacing of modified inclined studs used as shear connector between concrete and steel plate on the cyclic behavior of steel plate concrete (SC) shear wall. 9 different analysis cases were adopted to determine the optimized shape and spacing of stud. As the results, the skeleton curves were obtained from the load-displacement hysteresis curves, and the ultimate and yielding strengths were increased as the spacing of studs decrease. In addition, the strength of inclined studs is shown to be bigger compared to that of conventional studs. The damping ratios increased as the decrease of stiffness ratio. Finally, with decreasing the spacing distance of studs, the cumulative dissipated energy was increased and the seismic performance was improved.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Railway
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.276-285
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• 2005

This study discussed the effect on rail's axial force due to thermal and seismic loads according to supporting conditions of railway bridges; the considered supporting conditions are 1)simply supported, 2)roller at both ends, and 3)roller with horizontal spring at both ends. Closed form solutions are used to calculate the axial farces on rails. The roller at both ends of a bridge span decreases the compressive axial force on rail due to thermal load compared with the simply supported condition. However, the lateral springs at roller are not helpful to decrease the rail's compressive axial force.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2006.11a
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• pp.305-308
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• 2006

In this paper, the seismic performance of SRC piers for near fault motions was evaluated by shaking table tests on small scale models. Dead load of the superstructures was simulated by axial prestress at the center of the column section. A mass frame linked with steel bars was fabricated to include the effect of superstructure mass. Friction of the mass frame when it moves was minimized by special details and it was proved before tests. Five pier models with 400mm diameter were tested by increasing the acceleration of the near fault motion. Test results were discussed and compared with previous quasi-static tests.