• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.505-526
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• 2005

The influence of the inter-story structural pounding on the seismic behaviour of adjacent multistory reinforced concrete structures with unequal total heights and different story heights is investigated. Although inter-story pounding is a common case in practice, it has not been studied before in the literature as far as the authors are aware. Fifty two pounding cases, each one for two different seismic excitations, are examined. From the results it can be deduced that: (i) The most important issue in the inter-story pounding is the local effect on the external column of the tall building that suffers the impact from the upper floor slab of the adjacent shorter structure. (ii) The ductility demands for this column are increased comparing with the ones without the pounding effect. In the cases that the two buildings are in contact these demands appear to be critical since they are higher than the available ductility values. In the cases that there is a small distance between the interacting buildings the ductility demands of this column are also higher than the ones of the same column without the pounding effect but they appear to be lower than the available ductility values. (iii) It has to be stressed that in all the examined cases the developed shear forces of this column exceeded the shear strength. Thus, it can be concluded that in inter-story pounding cases the column that suffers the impact is always in a critical condition due to shear action and, furthermore, in the cases that the two structures are in contact from the beginning this column appears to be critical due to high ductility demands as well. The consequences of the impact can be very severe for the integrity of the column and may be a primary cause for the initiation of the collapse of the structure. This means that special measures have to be taken in the design process first for the critically increased shear demands and secondly for the high ductility demands.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.247-258
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• 2023

Multiple pounding tuned rolling mass damper (MPTRMD) distributed in the cavity of voided slabs is proposed to passively control multi-story frame structures, which disperses the mass of the oscillator to multiple dampers so that the control device can be miniaturized without affecting the vibration control performance. The mechanism and the differential motion equations of the MPTRMD-controlled multi-degree-of-freedom system are derived based on the Lagrange principle. Afterward, this advanced RMD is applied to a simplified 20-floor steel frame to evaluate the seismic control performance in the numerical analysis. A four-storey frame structure equipped with MPTRMD is then taken for a shaking table test to verify its effectiveness of control performance. The pounding mechanism has been detailed studied numerically and experimentally as well. The numerical and experimental results show that the proposed damper is practically promising not only for its prominent control performance but also for its lightweight and space-saving. Additionally, the pounding mechanism influenced by the variable impact parameters exhibits a balance between the two effects of motional limitations and energy dissipation.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.20 no.5 s.72
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• pp.63-69
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• 2006

An isolated bridge using a laminated rubber bearing provides an elastic support of continuous span and prevents the transmission of excessive seismic force from the substructure of the bridge, which uses a metal bearing, as this permits a relative displacement between the super-and substructure. Hawever, this kind of bridge is caused long periodic, as a result of enlargingtotal thickness of the rubber, since it corresponds to temperature change and increases the horizontal displacement of the superstructure. This paper uses a numerical study to describe the pounding problem between adjacent decks when subjected to a strong earthquake. Furthermore, numerical results are clarified for the buffer rubber used to mitigate the pounding force between adjacent decks.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.61 no.2
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• pp.183-192
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• 2017

Seismic pounding between adjacent buildings with inadequate separation and different dynamic characteristics can cause severe damage to the colliding buildings. Efficient estimation of the maximum pounding force is required to control the extent of damage in adjacent structures or develop an appropriate mitigation method. In this paper, an analytical approach on the basis of statistical relations is presented for approximate computation of extreme value of pounding force between two adjacent structures with equal or unequal heights subjected to stationary and non-stationary excitations. The nonlinearity of adjacent structures is considered using Bouc-Wen model of hysteresis and the pounding effect is simulated by applying the nonlinear viscoelastic model. It is shown that the proposed approach can significantly save computational costs by obviating the need for performing dynamic analysis. To assess the reliability and accuracy of the proposed approach, the results are compared with those obtained from nonlinear dynamic analysis.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.347-362
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• 2001

The paper deals with preventing the collapse of by the means of supporting the bridges by rubber bearings and pedeck structures of skew and curved bridges during earthquakes, rmitting pounding between the decks and the abutments. Seismic response during pounding is characterized by various phenomena, such as the caging of bridge decks between abutments during an earthquake or decks popping out. These behaviors depend on only a small difference in seismic intensity. Regarding the global characteristics of a seismic response, smaller clearance between a deck and its abutments results in smaller impact damage of the abutments as well as lesser deformation of the rubber bearings. Similarly, smaller clearance between a deck and the side blocks results in smaller damage. The stiffnesses of the bearings and the stiffness ratio between them control the deck displacement. In short to medium length bridges, zero clearance between a deck and the abutments or the deck and the side blocks is the most effective way in preventing the deck from falling and limits the damage to the abutments or the side blocks.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.62 no.4
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• pp.391-399
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• 2017

This study investigates the effects of soft story, short columns, heavy overhangs, pounding, and construction and workmanship quality parameters on seismic response of reinforced concrete buildings through nonlinear static and dynamic procedures. The accounted parameters are selected for their common use in rapid screening of RC buildings. The 4- and 7-story buildings designed according to pre-modern codes are used to reflect majority of the existing building stock. The relative penalty scores are employed in this study to evaluate relative importance of certain irregularities in the existing rapid seismic assessment procedures. Comparison of relative scores for the irregularities considered in this study show that the overall trend is similar. The relatively small differences may be accounted for regional construction practices. It is concluded that initial-phase seismic assessment procedures based on architectural features yield in somewhat similar results independent of their bases. However, the differences in the scores emphasize the proper selection of the method based on the regional structure characteristics.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.13-21
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• 2011

Seismic structure pounding between adjacent superstructures may induce the destruction of pier and bridge superstructures and cause local damage that leads to the collapse of the whole bridge system. The pounding problem is related to the expansion of joints, gap distance and seismic response of the abutments. In this research, methods of the contact element approach, the linear spring model, the Kelvin-Voigt model and the Hertz model were studied to analyse the pounding characteristics. The shaking table test for a model specimen such as a bridge superstructure with elastomeric bearings was performed to evaluate the contact element approach methods. Relationships between the time history response from the numerical analysis results and the measured response from the shaking table test are compared. The experimental results were not well matched with the numerical analysis results using the existing pounding stiffness models. Therefore, in this study, coefficients are proposed to calculate the appropriate pounding stiffness ratio.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.129-138
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• 2022

One of the objectives to prevent building pounding between two adjacentstructures is to considerseparation distance or decrease relative displacement during seismic excitation. Although the majority of building codes around the world have basically suggested some equations or approximately recommended various distances between structuresto avoid pounding hazard, but a lot of reportsin zone of pounding have obviously shown thatsafety situation or economic consideration are not always provided due to the collisions between buildings and the cost of land, respectively. For this purpose, a dynamic MDOF model by having base isolation system is numerically considered and using various earthquake records, relative displacements are mathematically investigated. Different equations to determine the value of damping ratio are collected and the results of evaluations are listed for comparison among them to present a new equation for determination of impact damping ratio. Presented equation is depends significantly on impact velocity before and after impact based on artificial neural network, which the accuracy of them is investigated and also confirmed. In order to select the optimum equation, hysteresisloop of impact between base of building and rubber bumper is considered and compared with the hysteresis loop of each impact, calculated by different equations. Finally, using representative equation, the effect of thickness, number and stiffness of rubber bumpers are numerically investigated. The results of analysis indicate that stiffness and number of bumpers have significantly affected in zone of impact force while the thickness of bumpers have not shown significant influence to calculate impact force during earthquake. For instance, increasing the number of bumpers, gap size between structures and also the value of stiffness is caused to decrease impact force between models. The final evaluation demonstrates that bumpers are able to decrease peak lateral displacement of top story during impact.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.295-307
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• 2021

The gap provided between adjacent structures in the metropolitan cities is mostly narrow due to architectural and financial issues. Consequently, structural pounding occurs between adjacent structures during earthquakes. It causes damages, ranging from minor local to more severe ones, especially in the case of seismically isolated buildings, due to their higher displacements. However, due to the increased flexibility of isolated buildings, the problem could become more detrimental to such structures. The effect of the seismic pounding of moat walls on the response of buildings isolated by Triple Friction Pendulum Bearing (TFPB) is investigated in this paper. To this propose, two symmetric three-dimensional models, including single-story and five-story buildings, are modeled in Opensees. Nonlinear Time History Analyses (NTHA) are performed for seismic evaluation. Also, five different sizes with four different sets of friction coefficients are considered for base isolators to cover a whole range of base isolation systems with various geometry configurations and fundamental period. The results are investigated in terms of base shear, buildings' drift, and roof acceleration. Results indicated a profound effect of poundings against moat walls. In situations of potential pounding, in some cases, the influence of impact on seismic responses of multistory buildings was more remarkable.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.1 no.3
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• pp.231-252
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• 2010

Previous research on pounding between seismically isolated buildings during earthquakes has been focused on impacts at the bases of structures and the effect of simultaneous interactions at the bases and at the superstructures has not been studied in details. In this paper, the seismic responses of adjacent buildings supported on different or similar base systems considering impacts between bases and superstructures are numerically investigated. The study is carried out in three parts for the two types of adjacent buildings: (i) both structures have fixed bases; (ii) one structure has fixed base and the other is seismically isolated and (iii) both structures have base isolation systems. The results of the study indicate that the pounding-involved responses of the buildings depend mainly on the type of structural base systems and on the structural parameters of both buildings. For the base-isolated building, the variation of the peak accelerations and displacements of the storeys have been found to be relatively low. On the other hand, significant differences have been observed for the fixed base building. The results of the parametric study conducted for different values of the gap size between colliding structures show the reduction in the peak base displacements as the gap distance decreases.