• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.70 no.3
• /
• pp.303-310
• /
• 2019

Any revision of seismic codes usually demands a higher capacity from structural members, making existing structures unsafe particularly from strength considerations. Retrofitting of capacity deficient members is very suitable for tackling such situations. This paper presents an experimental study on different retrofitting measures adopted for strengthening a series of reinforced concrete (RC) beams. Four identical RC beam specimens were casted, out of which three specimens were strengthened by different schemes (viz., bolted hot rolled flat, bolted cold-formed steel channel, and carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) laminate, respectively) on their tension face and tested under four-point monotonic loading. This study focuses on the investigation of the flexural behaviour of these retrofitted beams, observed in terms of strength and stiffness. It was concluded that all retrofitting measures improved the structural performance of these beams. However, the cost involved with each strengthening mode was proportional to the improvement in the performance achieved.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.70 no.2
• /
• pp.133-141
• /
• 2019

The aim of the present paper is to present the cyclic behavior of strengthened reinforced concrete shear wall test specimen, which was reinforced with cold drawn welded wire mesh fabric. Two reinforced concrete shear wall specimens have been tested in the present study. The walls were tested under reversed cyclic loading with loading applied near the tip of the walls. The control wall is tested in its original state to serve as a baseline for the evaluation of the repair and strengthening techniques. The two test specimens include a control wall and a repaired wall. The control wall test specimen was designed and detailed to simulate non-ductile reinforced concrete shear walls that do not meet the modern seismic provisions. The response of the original wall was associated with the brittle failure. The control shear wall was repaired by addition of the reinforcements and the concrete and then it was reloaded. The effectiveness of the repair technique was investigated. Test results indicate that there can be a near full restoration of the walls' strength. The data from this test, augmenting other data available in the literature, will be useful in calibrating improved analytical methods as they are developed.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
• /
• v.25 no.4
• /
• pp.83-91
• /
• 2021

In this study, to improve the connection performance between the existing reinforced concrete (R/C) frame and the strengthening member, we proposed a new H-section steel frame with elastic pad (HSFEP) system for seismic rehabilitation of existing medium-to-low-rise reinforced concrete (R/C) buildings. This HSFEP strengthening system exhibits an excellent connection performance because an elastic pad is installed between the existing structure and reinforcing frame. The method shows a strength design approach implemented via retrofitting, to easily increase the ultimate lateral load capacity of R/C buildings lacking seismic data, which exhibit shear failure mechanism. Two full-size two-story R/C frame specimens were designed based on an existing R/C building in Korea lacking seismic data, and then strengthened using the HSFEP system; thus, one control specimen and one specimen strengthened with the HSFEP system were used. Pseudodynamic tests were conducted to verify the effects of seismic retrofitting, and the earthquake response behavior with use of the proposed method, in terms of the maximum response strength, response displacement, and degree of earthquake damage compared with the control R/C frame. Test results revealed that the proposed HSFEP strengthening method, internally applied to the R/C frame, effectively increased the lateral ultimate strength, resulting in reduced response displacement of R/C structures under large scale earthquake conditions.

• Smart Structures and Systems
• /
• v.14 no.6
• /
• pp.1031-1054
• /
• 2014

Real-time hybrid simulation (RTHS) of a stacked wood shear wall retrofitted with a rate-dependent seismic energy dissipation device (viscous damper) was conducted at the newly constructed Structural Engineering Laboratory at the University of Alabama. This paper describes the implementation process of the RTHS focusing on the controller scheme development. An incremental approach was adopted starting from a controller for the conventional slow pseudodynamic hybrid simulation and evolving to the one applicable for RTHS. Both benchmark-scale and full-scale tests are discussed to provide a roadmap for future RTHS implementation at different laboratories and/or on different structural systems. The developed RTHS controller was applied to study the effect of a rate-dependent energy dissipation device on the seismic performance of a multi-story wood shear wall system. The test specimen, setup, program and results are presented with emphasis given to inter-story drift response. At 100% DBE the RTHS showed that the multi-story shear wall with the damper had 32% less inter-story drift and was noticeably less damaged than its un-damped specimen counterpart.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
• /
• v.23 no.5
• /
• pp.509-516
• /
• 2010

In this study a seismic retrofit scheme for the reinforced concrete moment framed structures was investigated using steel bracing and moment frames. The analysis model structure is a 3-story 3-bay moment frame structure designed only for gravity load. The stress/strain concentration in brace-RC frame connection was investigated using finite element analysis. To prevent premature joint failure, steel moment frames were placed inside of middle bay of the RC frame. Two types of braces, steel braces and buckling restrained braces(BRBs), were used for retrofit, and the ductility and the strength of the structure before and after the retrofit were compared using nonlinear static and dynamic analyses. According to the analysis results, the strength and ductility of the structure retrofitted by the moment frames and braces increased significantly. The added steel frame did not contribute significantly to the increase of lateral strength mainly because the size is relatively small.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
• /
• v.23 no.3
• /
• pp.385-392
• /
• 2011

In this study, experimental research was carried out to evaluate and improve the seismic performance of reinforced concrete beam-column joint regions using strengthening materials (steel plate, carbon fiber sheet, and embedded carbon fiber rod) in existing reinforced concrete buildings. Six specimens of retrofitted beam-column joints are constructed using various retrofitting materials and tested for their retrofit performances. Specimens designed by retrofitting the beam-column joint regions (LBCJ series) of existing reinforced concrete building showed a stable mode of failure and an increase in load-carrying capacity due to the effect of crack control at the time of initial loading and confinement from retrofitting materials during testing. Specimens of LBCJ series, designed by the retrofitting of FRP in reinforecd beam-column joint regions increased its maximum load carrying capacity by 26~50% and its energy dissipation capacity by 13.0~14.4% when compared to standard specimen of LBCJC with a displacement ductility of 4.

• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• v.12 no.1
• /
• pp.135-144
• /
• 2017

Near-fault ground motions are characterized by high values of the ratio between the peak of vertical and horizontal ground accelerations, which can significantly affect the nonlinear response of a base-isolated structure. To check the effectiveness of different base-isolation systems for retrofitting a r.c. framed structure located in a near-fault area, a numerical investigation is carried out analyzing the nonlinear dynamic response of the fixed-base and isolated structures. For this purpose, a six-storey r.c. framed building is supposed to be retrofitted by insertion of an isolation system at the base for attaining performance levels imposed by current Italian code in a high-risk seismic zone. In particular, elastomeric (e.g., high-damping-laminated-rubber bearings, HDLRBs) and friction (e.g., steel-PTFE sliding bearings, SBs, or friction pendulum bearings, FPBs) isolators are considered, with reference to three cases of base isolation: HDLRBs acting alone (i.e., EBI structures); in-parallel combination of HDLRBs and SBs (i.e., EFBI structures); FPBs acting alone (i.e., FPBI structures). Different values of the stiffness ratio, defined as the ratio between the vertical and horizontal stiffnesses of the HDLRBs, sliding ratio, defined as the global sliding force divided by the maximum sliding force of the SBs, and in-plan distribution of friction coefficient for the FPs are investigated. The EBI, EFBI and FPBI base-isolation systems are designed assuming the same values of the fundamental vibration period and equivalent viscous damping ratio. The nonlinear dynamic analysis is carried out with reference to near-fault earthquakes, selected and scaled on the design hypotheses adopted for the test structures.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
• /
• v.20 no.1
• /
• pp.55-65
• /
• 2008

This study introduced a new method to retrofit RC columns with lap splice that do not have enough ductility during an earthquake. The new method used mechanical external pressure and split steel plates around the RC columns. The introduced method does not require grouting the gap between jacket and concrete surface. In this study, 45 concrete cylinders were manufactured with varyingstrengths and part of them was retrofitted with split steel jackets under a lateral confining stress. The effect of the new method was verified by comparing the results from the compressive tests of retrofitted and unretrofitted cylinders. The steel jacket that was built following the new method showed good results of increasing the compressive strength and ductility of concrete cylinders. The thicker steel jackets showed larger compressive strength, however, the ductility at failure depends on their welding quality.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
• /
• v.2 no.3
• /
• pp.269-282
• /
• 2015

Civil structures should be designed with the lowest cost and longest lifetime possible and without service failure. The efficient and sustainable use of materials in building design and construction has always been at the forefront for civil engineers and environmentalists. Timber is one of the best contenders for these purposes particularly in terms of aesthetics; fire protection; strength-to-weight ratio; acoustic properties and seismic resistance. In recent years, timber has been used in commercial and taller buildings due to these significant advantages. It should be noted that, since the launch of the modern building standards and codes, a number of different structural systems have been developed to stabilise steel or concrete multistorey buildings, however, structural analysis of high-rise and multi-storey timber frame buildings subjected to lateral loads has not yet been fully understood. Additionally, timber degradation can occur as a result of biological decay of the elements and overloading that can result in structural damage. In such structures, the deficient members and joints require strengthening in order to satisfy new code requirements; determine acceptable level of safety; and avoid brittle failure following earthquake actions. This paper investigates performance assessment and damage assessment of older multi-storey timber buildings. One approach is to retrofit the beams in order to increase the ductility of the frame. Experimental studies indicate that Sprayed Fibre Reinforced Polymer (SFRP) repairing/retrofitting not only updates the integrity of the joint, but also increases its strength; stiffness; and ductility in such a way that the joint remains elastic. Non-linear finite element analysis ('pushover') is carried out to study the behaviour of the structure subjected to simulated gravity and lateral loads. A new global index is re-assessed for damage assessment of the plain and SFRP-retrofitted frames using capacity curves obtained from pushover analysis. This study shows that the proposed method is suitable for structural damage assessment of aged timber buildings. Also SFRP retrofitting can potentially improve the performance and load carrying capacity of the structure.

• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• v.22 no.2
• /
• pp.169-184
• /
• 2022

The importance of seismicity in developing countries and the strengthening of buildings is a topic of major importance. Therefore, the study of several solutions with the development of new technologies is of great importance to investigate the damage on retrofitted structures by using probabilistic methods. The Federal Emergency Management Agency considers three types of performance levels by considering different scenarios, intensity and duration. The selection and scaling of ground motions mainly depends on the aim of the study. Intensity-based assessments are the most common and compute the response of buildings for a specified seismic intensity. Assessments based on scenarios estimate the response of buildings to different earthquake scenarios. A risk-based assessment is considered as one of the most effective. This research represents a practical method for developing countries where exists many active faults, tall buildings and lack of good implementable approaches. Therefore, to achieve the main goal, two high-rise steel buildings have been modeled and assessed. The contribution of buckling-restrained braces in the elastic design of both buildings is firstly verified. In the nonlinear static range, both buildings presented repairable damage at the central top part and some life safety hinges at the bottom. The nonlinear incremental dynamic analysis was applied by 15 representative/scaled accelerograms to obtain levels of performance and fragility curves. The results shown that by using probabilistic methods, it is possible to estimate the probability of collapse of retrofitted buildings by buckling-restrained braces and tuned mass dampers, which are practical retrofitting options to protect existing structures against earthquakes.