• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.91 no.5
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• pp.469-486
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• 2024

Electric transformers are major components of electrical systems, and damage to them caused by earthquakes can result in significant financial loss. The current study modeled a three-dimensional (3D) isolated electrical transformer under horizontal and vertical records from different earthquakes. Instead of using fixed coefficients, an improved wavelet method has been used to create the greatest compatibility between the response spectra and the target spectrum. This method has primarily been used for dynamic analysis of isolated structures with spring-damper devices because it has shown greater accuracy in predicting the response of such structures. The effect of the nonlinear soil-structure interaction on the probability of transformer failure also has been investigated. Soil and structure interaction modeling was carried out using a beam on a nonlinear Winkler foundation. The effect of the nonlinear soil-structure interaction during dynamic analysis of transformers revealed that the greatest increase in the probability of transformer failure was in the fixed-base condition when the structure was located on soft soil. This intensified the response of the structure and increased the probability of transformer failure by up to 27% for far-field and up to 95% for near-field ground motions. A comparison of the results indicates that the use of 3D isolation systems in transformers in areas with soft clay that are subject to near-field ground motions can strongly reduce the probability of failure and improve the seismic performance of the transformer.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.101-119
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• 2005

An efficient methodology is presented to evaluate the seismic behavior of a Fluid-Elevated Tank-Foundation/Soil system taking the embedment effects into accounts. The frequency-dependent cone model is used for considering the elevated tank-foundation/soil interaction and the equivalent spring-mass model given in the Eurocode-8 is used for fluid-elevated tank interaction. Both models are combined to obtain the seismic response of the systems considering the sloshing effects of the fluid and frequency-dependent properties of soil. The analysis is carried out in the frequency domain with a modal analysis procedure. The presented methodology with less computational efforts takes account of; the soil and fluid interactions, the material and radiation damping effects of the elastic half-space, and the embedment effects. Some conclusions may be summarized as follows; the sloshing response is not practically affected by the change of properties in stiff soil such as S1 and S2 and embedment but affected in soft soil. On the other hand, these responses are not affected by embedment in stiff soils but affected in soft soils.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.424.2-424
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• 2002

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.71 no.4
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• pp.445-458
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• 2019

This study mainly aims to assess the performance of soil-structure systems designed by direct displacement-based method coupled with strong column-weak beam design concept through various system identification techniques under strong ground motions. To this end, various system identification methods are employed to evaluate the dynamic characteristics of a structure (i.e., modal frequency, system damping, mode shapes, and plastic hinge formation pattern) under a strong seismic excitation considering soil-structure interaction for different site conditions as specified by ASCE 7-10. The scope of the study narrowed down to the code-complying low- to high-rise steel moment resisting frames with various heights (4, 8, 12, 16-story). The comparison of the result of soil-structure systems with fix-based support condition indicates that the modal frequencies of these systems are highly influenced by the structure heights, specifically for the softer soils. This trend is more significant for higher modes of the system which can considerably dominate the response of structures in which the higher modes have more contribution in dynamic response. Amongst all studied modes of the vibration, the damping ratio estimated for the first mode is relatively the closet to the initial assumed damping ratios. Moreover, it was found that fewer plastic hinges are developed in the structure of soil-structure systems with a softer soil which contradicts the general expectation of higher damageability of such structural systems.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.11 no.1 s.53
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• pp.67-77
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• 2007

Site coefficients in IBC and KBC codes have some limits to predict the rational seismic responses of a structure, because they take into account only the effect of the soil amplification without the effects of the structure-soil interaction. In this study, upper and lower limits of the site coefficients are estimated through the pseudo 3-D elastic seismic response analyses of structures built on the linear or nonlinear soil layers taking Into account the effects of the structure-soil interaction. Soil characteristics of site classes of A, B and C were assumed to be linear, and those of site classes of D and E were done to be nonlinear and the Ramberg-Osgood model was used to evaluate shear modulus and damping ratio of a soil layer depending on the shear wave velocity of the soil layer, Seismic analyses were performed with 12 weak or moderate earthquake records scaled the peak acceleration to 0.1g or 0.2g and deconvoluted as earthquake records at the bedrock located at 30m deep under the outcrop. With the study results of the elastic seismic response analyses of structures, new standard response spectrum and upper and lower limits of the site coefficients of $F_{a}\;and\;F_{v}$ at the short period range and the period of 1 second are suggested including the effects of the structure-soil interaction, and new site coefficients for the KBC code are also suggested.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.117-125
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• 2022

In this study, centrifuge model tests were performed to evaluate the seismic response of multi-DOF structures with shallow foundations. Also, elastic time history analysis on the fixed-base model was performed and compared with the experimental results. As a result of the centrifuge model test, earthquake amplification at the fundamental vibration frequency of the soil (= 2.44 Hz) affected the third vibration mode frequency (= 2.50 Hz) of the long-period structure and the first vibration mode (= 2.27 Hz) of the short-period structure. The shallow foundation lengthened the periods of the structures by 14-20% compared to the fixed base condition. The response spectrum of acceleration measured at the shallow foundation was smaller than that of free-field motion due to the foundation damping effect. The ultimate moment capacity of the soil-foundation system limited the dynamic responses of the multi-DOF structures. Therefore, the considerations on period lengthening, foundation damping, and ultimate moment capacity of the soil-foundation system might improve the seismic design of the multi-DOF building structures.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.168-178
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• 2008

The hybrid simulation test method is a versatile technique for evaluating the seismic performance of structures by seamlessly integrating both physical and numerical simulations of substructures into a single test mode. In this paper, a software framework that integrates computational and experimental simulation has been developed to simulate and test a bridge structural system under earthquake loading. Using hybrid simulation, the seismic response of complex bridge structural systems partitioned into multiple large-scale experimental and computational substructures at networked distributed experimental and computational facilities can be evaluated. In this paper, the examples of application are presented in terms of a bridge model with soil-foundation-structure interaction.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.583-595
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• 2019

In this paper, a comprehensive investigation of the dynamic response of a long-bridge subjected to spatially varying earthquake ground motions (SVEGM) is performed based on a proposed analytical model which includes the effect of soil-structure interaction (SSI). The spatial variability of ground motions is simulated by the powerful record generator, SIMQKE II. Modeling of the SSI in the system is simplified by replacing the pile foundations and soil with sets of independent equivalent linear springs and dashpots along the pile groups. One of the most fundamental objectives of this study is to examine how well the proposed model simulates the dynamic response of a bridge system. For this purpose, the baseline data required for the evaluation process is derived from analyzing a 3D numerical model of the bridge system which is validated in this paper. To emphasize the importance of the SVEGM and SSI, bridge responses are also determined for the uniform ground motion and fixed base cases. This study proposing a compatible analytical model concerns the relative importance of the SSI and SVEGM and shows that these effects cannot be neglected in the seismic analysis of long-bridges.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.85-107
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• 2012

The building frame and its foundation along with the soil on which it rests, together constitute a complete structural system. In the conventional analysis, a structure is analysed as an independent frame assuming unyielding supports and the interactive response of soil-foundation is disregarded. This kind of analysis does not provide realistic behaviour and sometimes may cause failure of the structure. Also, the conventional analysis considers infill wall as non-structural elements and ignores its interaction with the bounding frame. In fact, the infill wall provides lateral stiffness and thus plays vital role in resisting the seismic forces. Thus, it is essential to consider its effect especially in case of high rise buildings. In the present research work the building frame, infill wall, isolated column footings (open foundation) and soil mass are considered to act as a single integral compatible structural unit to predict the nonlinear interaction behaviour of the composite system under seismic forces. The coupled isoparametric finite-infinite elements have been used for modelling of the interaction system. The material of the frame, infill and column footings has been assumed to follow perfectly linear elastic relationship whereas the well known hyperbolic soil model is used to account for the nonlinearity of the soil mass.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.87-96
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• 2021

Ground motions recorded in near-fault sites, where the rupture propagates toward the site, are significantly different from those observed in far-fault regions. In this research, finite element modeling is used to investigate the effect of pile cap stiffness on the seismic response of soil-pile-structure systems under near-fault ground motions. The Von Wolffersdorff hypoplastic model with the intergranular strain concept is applied for modeling of granular soil (sand) and the behavior of structure is considered to be non-linear. Eight fault-normal near-field ground motion records, recorded on rock, are applied to the model. The numerical method developed is verified by comparing the results with an experimental test (shaking table test) for a soil-pile-structure system. The results, obtained from finite element modeling under near-fault ground motions, show that when the value of cap stiffness increases, the drift ratio of the structure decreases, whereas the pile relative displacement increases. Also, the residual deformations in the piles are due to the non-linear behavior of soil around the piles.