• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.50 no.3
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• pp.249-263
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• 2024

This article presents a comparative analysis of seismic behavior in steel-beam reinforced concrete column (RCS) frames versus steel and reinforced concrete frames. The study evaluates the seismic response and collapse behavior of RCS frames of varying heights through nonlinear modeling. RCS, steel, and reinforced concrete special moment frames are considered in three height categories: 5, 10, and 20 stories. Two-dimensional frames are extracted from the three-dimensional structures, and nonlinear static analyses are conducted in the OpenSEES software to evaluate seismic response in post-yield regions. Incremental dynamic analysis is then performed on models, and collapse conditions are compared using fragility curves. Research findings indicate that the seismic intensity index in steel frames is 1.35 times greater than in RCS frames and 1.14 times greater than in reinforced concrete frames. As the number of stories increases, RCS frames exhibit more favorable collapse behavior compared to reinforced concrete frames. RCS frames demonstrate stable behavior and maintain capacity at high displacement levels, with uniform drift curves and lower damage levels compared to steel and reinforced concrete frames. Steel frames show superior strength and ductility, particularly in taller structures. RCS frames outperform reinforced concrete frames, displaying improved collapse behavior and higher capacity. Incremental Dynamic Analysis results confirm satisfactory collapse capacity for RCS frames. Steel frames collapse at higher intensity levels but perform better overall. RCS frames have a higher collapse capacity than reinforced concrete frames. Fragility curves show a lower likelihood of collapse for steel structures, while RCS frames perform better with an increase in the number of stories.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.65 no.1
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• pp.53-68
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• 2018

In this paper, an innovative procedure is proposed for the seismic design of reinforced concrete frame structures. The main contribution of the proposed procedure is to minimize the construction cost, considering the uniform damage distribution over the height of structure due to earthquake excitations. As such, this procedure is structured in the framework of an optimization problem, and the initial construction cost is chosen as the objective function. The aim of uniform damage distribution is reached through a design constraint in the optimization problem. Since this aim requires defining allowable degree of damage, a damage pattern based on the concept of global collapse mechanism is presented. To show the efficiency of the proposed procedure, the uniform damage-based optimum seismic design is compared with two other seismic design procedures, which are the strength-based optimum seismic design and the damage-based optimum seismic design. By using the three different seismic design methods, three reinforced concrete frames including six-, nine-, and twelve-story with three bays are designed optimally under a same artificial earthquake. Then, to show the effects of the uniform damage distribution, all three optimized frames are used for seismic damage analysis under a suite of earthquake records. The results show that the uniform damage-based optimum seismic design method renders a design that will suffer less damage under severe earthquakes.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.16 no.3 s.81
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• pp.441-450
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• 2004

The objectives of this study are to investigate the seismic behavior of reinforced concrete bridge columns and to provide the data for developing improved seismic design criteria. The accuracy and objectivity of the assessment process can be enhanced by the use of sophisticated nonlinear finite element analysis program. A computer program, named RCAHEST (Reinforced Concrete Analysis in Higher Evaluation System Technology), for the analysis of reinforced concrete structures was used. Material nonlinearity is taken into account by comprising tensile, compressive and shear models of cracked concrete and a model of reinforcing steel. The low-cycle fatigue damage of both concrete and reinforcing bars has been also considered in order to predict a reliable seismic behavior. The proposed numerical method for the prediction of seismic behavior of reinforced concrete bridge columns is verified by comparison with the reliable experimental results.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.7 no.5
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• pp.691-704
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• 2014

Reinforced concrete (RC) shear walls are commonly used for building structures to resist seismic loading. While the RC shear walls can have a high load-carrying capacity, they tend to fail in a brittle mode under shear, accompanied by forming large diagonal cracks and bond splitting between concrete and steel reinforcement. Improving seismic performance of shear walls has remained a challenge for researchers all over the world. Engineered Cementitious Composite (ECC), featuring incredible ductility under tension, can be a promising material to replace concrete in shear walls with improved performance. Currently, the application of ECC to large structures is limited due to the lack of the proper constitutive models especially under shear. In this paper, a new Cyclic Softening Membrane Model for reinforced ECC is proposed. The model was built upon the Cyclic Softening Membrane Model for reinforced concrete by (Hsu and Mo 2010). The model was then implemented in the OpenSees program to perform analysis on several cases of shear walls under seismic loading. The seismic response of reinforced ECC compared with RC shear walls under monotonic and cyclic loading, their difference in pinching effect and energy dissipation capacity were studied. The modeling results revealed that reinforced ECC shear walls can have superior seismic performance to traditional RC shear walls.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.259-278
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• 2008

This paper presents a nonlinear finite element procedure accounting for the effects of geometric as well as material nonlinearities for reinforced concrete bridge piers supported by laminated rubber bearings. Reinforced concrete bridge piers supported by laminated rubber bearings and carrying a cyclic load were analyzed by using a special purpose, nonlinear finite element program, RCAHEST. For reinforced concrete, the proposed robust nonlinear material model captures the salient response characteristics of the bridge piers under cyclic loading conditions and addresses with the influence of geometric nonlinearity on post-peak response of the bridge piers by transformations between local and global systems. Seismic isolator element to predict the behaviors of laminated rubber bearings is also developed. The seismic performance of reinforced concrete bridge piers supported by laminated rubber bearings is assessed analytically. The results show good correlation between the experimental findings and numerical predictions, and demonstrate the reliability and robustness of the proposed analytical model. Additionally, the studies and discussions presented in this investigation provide an insight into the key behavioral aspects of reinforced concrete bridge piers supported by laminated rubber bearings.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Educational Facilities
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.21-28
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• 2012

This study proposes a procedure for evaluating the seismic performance and retrofit of a typical reinforced building (R/C) school buildings contructed in the 1980s. The procedure is derived from the Japanese Standard for Evaluation of Seismic Capacity of Existing Reinforced Concrete Buildings and Nonlinear Static Procedure (NSP) specified in Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA 356). In this study, the Japanese Standard was applied for evaluating the additionally required seismic performance in the existing school building. Cast-in-place (CIP) reinforced concrete infill walls and steel braces were used to seismically retrofit the existing school building located in the region of Hongsung in Chungnam. In the pushover analysis, i.e NSP, the hinge properties of columns, beams, infill walls and steel braces were carefully calibrated based on the existing experiment results in the available literatures. The predicted seismic performance for the retrofitted building was compared to that for the virgin building. Based on the seismic evaluation with the Japanese Standard and the FEMA 356 criteria, the addition of CIP reinforced concrete infill walls and steel braces have superior constructablility and can improve effectively the seismic performance of the existing school buildings constructed in 1980s.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.79-89
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• 2017

As a new type of energy dissipation component with excellent mechanical performance, the Buckling-Retrained Braces (BRBs) were gradually applied in retrofitting and improving seismic performance of reinforced concrete structures in China. In order to investigate the seismic performance of reinforced concrete structures retrofitted with BRBs, quasi-static test of two single-bay and 3-story reinforced concrete frames specimens was conducted and introduced in this paper. Two 1/2 scaled specimens were designed to reflect real prototype structure. For comparison, one control specimen was designed without BRBs, and the other specimen was retrofitted with BRBs. And particularly, for the specimen retrofitted with BRBs, the BRBs were eccentric layout instead of usually concentric or x-shaped layout, aiming to be more suitable for large-span frames. In the test, the failure mode, carrying capacity, deformability, ductility and energy dissipation ability of both two specimens were investigated. Based on the test results of the measured hysterical curves, skeleton curves, the seismic performances such as bearing capacity, plastic deformability, energy dissipation ability and ductility of two specimens were fully studied. And from the test results, it was indicated that the specimen retrofitted with BRBs showed much better seismic performance than the control specimen without BRBs, and the BRBs could effectively improve the seismic performance of the reinforced concrete frame. For the specimen retrofitted with BRBs, the BRBs firstly yielded before the beam-ends and the column-ends, and an expected yielding process or yielding mechanism as well as good seismic performance was obtained. For the specimens without BRBs, though the beam-ends yielded prior to the column-ends, the seismic performance was much poor than that of the specimen with BRBs.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 1999.11c
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• pp.69-83
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• 1999

Soil-reinforced segmental retaining walls(SRW) have been proven to be high earthquake-resistant structure during recent earthquakes in United States and Japan. The mechanicals behavior of the SRWs under seismic loading, however, has not been fully understood. Although the seismic design issues for the civil engineering structures have gained much attention in Korea due to the increase in frequency of earthquake occurrence, the seismic design for the SRWs has not been being implemented. This study has been undertaken with the aim of developing a more rational seismic design/analysis method for soil-reinforced segmental retaining walls. This paper present fundamentals of current seismic design/analysis method and the results of a comparative study between NCMA and FHWA design guidelines, Practical implications of the findings from this study are discussed in great detail.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.161-168
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• 2021

Existing old reinforced concrete buildings could be vulnerable to earthquakes because they were constructed without satisfying seismic design and detail requirements. In current seismic design standards, the target collapse probability for a given Maximum Considered Earthquake (MCE) ground-shaking hazard is defined as 10% for ordinary buildings. This study aims to estimate the collapse probabilities of a three-story, old, reinforced concrete building designed by only considering gravity loads. Four different seismic design categories (SDC), A, B, C, and D, are considered. This study reveals that the RC building located in the SDC A region satisfies the target collapse probability. However, buildings located in SDC B, C, and D regions do not meet the target collapse probability. Since the degree of exceedance of the target probability increases with an increase in the SDC level, it is imminent to retrofit non-ductile RC buildings similar to the model building. It can be confirmed that repair and reinforcement of old reinforced concrete buildings are required.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.851-873
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• 2015

A methodology for estimation of statistical properties (viz. mean and standard deviation) of the expected seismic damage to reinforced concrete framed structures subject to corrosion of reinforcement, over a specified reference time (typically the service life of the structure) is proposed in this paper. The damage to the structure under the earthquake loading is characterised by the damage index, determined using the modified Park and Ang damage model. The reduction in area, yield strength and strain at ultimate of steel reinforcement, and the reduction in compressive strength of cover concrete due to corrosion are taken into account in the estimation of damage. The proposed methodology is illustrated through an example problem. From the results obtained, it is noted that there is an increase of about 70% in the mean value of expected seismic damage to the reinforced concrete frame considered over a reference time of 30 years when effect of corrosion is taken into consideration. This indicates that there is a need to consider the effect of corrosion of reinforcement on the estimation of expected seismic damage.