• International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.83-95
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• 2012

In the present study, the structural response of breakwaters installed on container carriers against green water impact loads was numerically investigated on the basis of the fluid-structure interaction analysis. A series of numerical studies is carried out to induce breakwater collapse under such conditions, whereby a widely accepted fluid-structure interaction analysis technique is adopted to realistically consider the phenomenon of green water impact loads. In addition, the structural behaviour of these breakwaters under green water impact loads is investigated simultaneously throughout the transient analysis. A verification study of the numerical results is performed using data from actual collapse incidents of breakwaters on container carriers. On the basis of the results of a series of numerical analyses, the pressure distribution of green water was accurately predicted with respect to wave mass and velocity. It is expected that the proposed analytical methodology and predicted pressure distribution could be used as a practical guideline for the design of breakwaters on container carriers.

• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.315-321
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• 2009

The Very Large Marine Structure has been widely used new method of ocean space instead of method for reclamation Therefore, VLFS is proposed to coincide on such request. It can be established regardless of nature of soil and height of water, and stream of flow exists under the floating structure, there is seldom effect in natural environment. Fuertherrnore, it can do easily to do assembly and taking to pieces due to expansion or removal. Based on the regulation by class, VLFS have to possess more than enough structural strength against severe wave loading induced by green sea condition Therefore, There are performed structural simulation as well as experimental test about expected loading scenario in order to examine the safety of structure. Up to now, various examinations based on the strength limit value of the main structural material have been done based on the elasticity response analysis. However, there is little finding about the collapse behavior and the safety when the load that exceeds the collapse of the material acts. In the present study, we investigated the collapse behavior based on the ultimate limit state calculated by FE-analysis.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.587-607
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• 2014

Progressive collapse, which is referred to as the collapse of the entire building under local damages, is a common failure mode happened by earthquakes. The collapse process highly depends on the whole structural system. Since, asymmetry of the building plan leads to the local damage concentration; it may intensify the progressive collapse mechanism of asymmetric buildings. In this research the progressive collapse of regular and irregular 6-story RC ordinary moment resisting frame buildings are studied in the presence of the earthquake loads. Collapse process and collapse propagation are investigated using nonlinear time history analyses (NLTHA) in buildings with 5%, 15% and 25% mass asymmetry with respect to the number of collapsed hinges and story drifts criteria. Results show that increasing the value of mass eccentricity makes the asymmetric buildings become unstable earlier and in the early stages with lower number of the collapsed hinges. So, with increasing the mass eccentricity in building, instability and collapse of the entire building occurs earlier, with lower potential of the progressive collapse. It is also demonstrated that with increasing the mass asymmetry the decreasing trend of the number of collapsed beam and column hinges is approximately similar to the decreasing trend in the average story drifts of the mass centers and stiff edges. So, as an alternative to a much difficult-to-calculate local response parameter of the number of collapsed hinges, the story drift, as a global response parameter, measures the potential of progressive collapse more easily.

• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.265-283
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• 2021

To ensure that fire induced collapse of a building is prevented it is important to understand the sequence of events that can lead to this event. In this paper, the initiation of collapse mechanisms of generic a multi-storey steel frame subjected to vertical and horizontal travelling fires are analysed computationally by tracking the formation of plastic hinges in the frame and generation of fire induced loads. Both uniform and travelling fires are considered. In total 58 different cases are analysed using finite element software LS-DYNA. For the frame examined with a simple and generic structural arrangement and higher applied fire protection to the columns, the results indicate that collapse mechanisms for singe floor and multiple floor fires can be each split into two main groups. For single floor fires (taking place in the upper floors of the frame (Group S1)), collapse is initiated by the pull-in of external columns when heated beams in end bays go into catenary action. For single floor fires occurring on the lower floors(Group S2), failure is initiated (i.e. ultimate strain of the material is exceeded) after the local beam collapse. Failure in both groups for single floor fires is governed by the generation of high loads due to restrained thermal expansion and the loss of material strength. For multiple floor fires with a low number of fire floors (1 to 3) - Group M1, failure is dominated by the loss of material strength and collapse is mainly initiated by the pull-in of external columns. For the cases with a larger number of fire floors (5 to 10) - Group M2, failure is dominated by thermal expansion and collapse is mainly initiated by swaying of the frame to the side of fire origin. The results show that for the investigated frame initiation of collapse mechanisms are affected by the fire type, the number of fire floors, and the location of the fire floor. The findings of this study could be of use to designers of buildings when developing fire protection strategies for steel framed buildings where the potential for a multifloor fire exists.

• International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.237-247
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• 2016

Progressive collapse resistance of RC buildings can be analyzed by considering column loss scenarios. Using finite element analysis and a static test, the progressive collapse process of a RC frame under monotonic vertical displacement of a side column was investigated, simulating a column removal scenario. A single-story 1/3 scale RC frame that comprises two spans and two bays was tested and computed, and downward displacement of a side column was placed until failure. Our study offers insight into the failure modes and progressive collapse behavior of a RC frame. It has been noted that the damage of structural members (beams and slabs) occurs only in the bay where the removal side column is located. Greater catenary action and tensile membrane action are mobilized in the frame beams and slabs, respectively, at large deformations, but they mainly happen in the direction where the frame beams and slabs are laterally restrained. Based on the experimental and computational results, the mechanism of progressive collapse resistance of RC frames at different stages was discussed further. With large deformations, a simplified calculation method for catenary action and tensile membrane action is proposed.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.59 no.4
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• pp.653-669
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• 2016

Recent earthquakes worldwide show that a significant portion of the earthquake shaking happens in the vertical direction. This phenomenon has raised significant interests to consider the vertical ground motion during the seismic design and assessment of the structures. Strong vertical ground motions can alter the axial forces in the columns, which might affect the shear capacity of reinforced concrete (RC) members. This is particularly important for non-ductile RC frames, which are very vulnerable to earthquake-induced collapse. This paper presents the detailed nonlinear dynamic analysis to quantify the collapse risk of non-ductile RC frame structures with varying heights. An array of non-ductile RC frame architype buildings located in Los Angeles, California were designed according to the 1967 uniform building code. The seismic responses of the architype buildings subjected to concurrent horizontal and vertical ground motions were analyzed. A comprehensive array of ground motions was selected from the PEER NGA-WEST2 and Iran Strong Motions Network database. Detailed nonlinear dynamic analyses were performed to quantify the collapse fragility curves and collapse margin ratios (CMRs) of the architype buildings. The results show that the vertical ground motions have significant impact on both the local and global responses of non-ductile RC moment frames. Hence, it is crucial to include the combined vertical and horizontal shaking during the seismic design and assessment of non-ductile RC moment frames.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.635-647
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• 2018

In order to improve the efficiency of the Reinforced Concrete, RC, structures against progressive collapse, this paper proposes a procedure using alternate path and specific local resistance method to resist progressive collapse in intermediate RC frame structures. Cap truss consists of multiple trusses above a suddenly removed structural element to restrain excessive collapse and provide an alternate path. Steel strut is used as a brace to resist compressive axial forces. It is similar to knee braces in the geometry, responsible for enhancing ductility and preventing shear force localization around the column. In this paper, column removals in the critical position at the first story of two 5 and 10-story regular buildings strengthened using steel strut or cap truss are studied. Based on nonlinear dynamic analysis results, steel strut can only decrease vertical displacement due to sudden removal of the column at the first story about 23%. Cap truss can reduce the average vertical displacement and column axial force transferred to adjacent columns for the studied buildings about 56% and 61%, respectively due to sudden removal of the column. In other words, using cap truss, the axial force in the removed column transfers through an alternate path to adjacent columns to prevent local or general failure or to delay the progressive collapse occurrence.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.68 no.6
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• pp.647-660
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• 2018

The Incremental Dynamic Analysis (IDA) procedure is currently known as a robust tool for estimation of seismic collapse capacity. However, the procedure is time-consuming and requires significant computational efforts. Recently some simplified methods have been developed for rapid estimation of seismic collapse capacity using pushover analysis. However, a comparative review and assessment of these methods is necessary to point out their relative advantages and shortcomings, and to pave the way for their practical use. In this paper, four simplified pushover analysis-based methods are selected and applied on four regular RC intermediate moment-resisting frames with 3, 6, 9 and 12 stories. The accuracy and performance of the different simplified methods in estimating the median seismic collapse capacity are evaluated through comparisons with the results obtained from IDAs. The results show that reliable estimations of the summarized 50% fractile IDA curve are produced using SPO2IDA and MPA-based IDA methods; however, the accuracy of the results for 16% and 84% fractiles is relatively low. The method proposed by Shafei et al. appears to be the most simple and straightforward method which gives rise to good estimates of the median sidesway collapse capacity with minimum computational efforts.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.76 no.2
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• pp.193-205
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• 2020

The growing need for assuring efficient and sustainable investments in civil engineering structures has determined a renovated interest in the rational design of such structures from designers, clients and authorities. As a result, risk-informed decision-making methodologies are increasingly being used as a direct decision tool or as an upper-level layer from which performance-based approaches are then calibrated against. One of the most important and challenging aspects of today's structural design is to adequately handle the system-level effects, the known unknowns and the unknown unknowns. These aspects revolve around assessing and evaluating relevant damage scenarios, namely those involving unacceptable/intolerable damage levels. Hence, the importance of risk analysis of disproportionate collapse, and along with it of robustness. However, the way robustness has been used in modern design codes varies substantially, from simple provisions of prescriptive rules to complex risk analysis of the disproportionate collapse. As a result, implementing design for robustness is still very much a grey area and more so when it comes to defining means to quantify robustness. This paper revisits the most common robustness frameworks, highlighting their merits and limitations, and identifies one among them which is very promising as a way forward to solve the still open challenges.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.72-77
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• 2019

Vinyl house consists of main rafter, lateral member, clamps and polyethylene film. Many vinyl houses are used to grow fruits, flowers and vegetables in the countryside. Due to climate change, vinyl houses are often destroyed by strong winds or typhoons in summer. Many farmers suffer great economic damage from the collapse of vinyl houses. So it is very important to build a safe vinyl house and find a method to withstand this heavy wind load. In this study, a structural analysis was performed on four types of vinyl houses(10-single-4, 10-single-6, 10-single-7, 10-single-10). In addition, axial force and flexural moment are obtained from the structural analysis of four types of vinyl house. For these four types of vinyl house, structural safety was reviewed by obtaining the combined stress ratio by the strength design method. This structural review showed that the specifications for the vinyl house proposed in the design are not safe. Especially, the result of structural analysis for four types of vinyl house showed that the vinyl house structure constructed as a standard was a very dangerous structure. Therefore, it is necessary to devise diverse methods in order to make vinyl houses structurally safe for heavy wind load in the future. Also a variety of manual development is needed to prevent the collapse of vinyl houses at heavy wind load.