• Earthquakes and Structures
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• 제8권5호
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• pp.977-994
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• 2015

In this study, earthquake loads are investigated statistically and compared with the nominal earthquake loads calculated according to the Turkish Earthquake Code, namely: "Specifications for Structures to be Built in Earthquake Areas". For this purpose, the "actual" mean load values estimated from statistical methods and the nominal load values computed according the Seismic Code are compared, with respect to some variations in the basic parameters, such as the importance factor, building height, site coefficient, seismic zone and seismic load reduction factor. In addition to the data compiled from different regions of Turkey, the published data and information in the foreign literature are also used in the determination of the earthquake load statistics. Although the dead and live loads acting on a structure are independent of the geographical location of the structure, environmental loads, such as earthquake loads are highly dependent on the location of the structure. Accordingly, for the assessment of statistical parameters associated with earthquake loads, twelve different locations which can represent the different seismic zones of Turkey as accurately as possible are chosen. As a result of the code calibration procedure considered in this study, it is observed that the load values obtained from the Turkish Seismic Code may overestimate or underestimate the actual seismic loads in some of the seismic zones.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• 제18권6호
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• pp.709-718
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• 2020

Fragility curves are useful tools to estimate the damage probability of buildings owing to seismic actions. The purpose of this study is to investigate seismic vulnerability of reinforced concrete (RC) buildings, according to the 2007 and 2018 Turkish Seismic Codes, using fragility curves. For the numerical analyses, typical five- and seven-storey RC buildings were selected and incremental dynamic analyses (IDA) were performed. To complete the IDAs, eleven earthquake acceleration records multiplied by various scaling factors from 0.2g to 0.8g were used. To predict nonlinearity, a distributed hinge model that involves material and geometric nonlinearity of the structural members was used. Damages to confined concrete and reinforcement bar of structural members were obtained by considering the unit deformation demands of the 2007 Turkish Seismic Code (TSC-2007) and the 2018 Turkey Building Earthquake Code (TBEC-2018). Vulnerability evaluation of these buildings was performed using fragility curves based on the results of incremental dynamic analyses. Fragility curves were generated in terms of damage levels occurring in confined concrete and reinforcement bar of structural members with a lognormal distribution assumption. The fragility curves show that the probability of damage occurring is more according to TBEC-2018 than according to TSC-2007 for selected buildings.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제84권1호
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• pp.85-100
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• 2022

The updated Turkish Building Earthquake Code has been significantly renovated and expanded compared to previous seismic design codes. The use of earthquake ground motion levels with different probabilities of exceedance is one of the major advances in structural mechanics with the current code. This study aims to investigate the earthquake performance of steel structure in settlements with different seismic hazards for various earthquake ground motion levels. It is focused on earthquake and structural parameters for four different ground motion levels with different probabilities of exceedance calculated according to the location of the structure by the updated Turkish Hazard Map. For this purpose, each of the seven different geographical regions of Turkey which has the same seismic zone in the previous earthquake hazard map has been considered. Earthquake parameters, horizontal design elastic spectra obtained and comparisons were made for all different ground motion levels for the seven different locations, respectively. Structural analyzes for a sample steel structure were carried out using pushover analysis by using the obtained design spectra. It has been determined that the different ground motion levels significantly affect the expected target displacements of the structure for performance criteria. It is noted that the different locations of the same earthquake zone in the previous code with the same earthquake-building parameters show significant variations due to the micro zoning properties of the updated seismic design code. In addition, the main innovations of the updated code were discussed.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• 제9권5호
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• pp.1069-1089
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• 2015

This paper investigates the limits and efficacies of the Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) material for strengthening mid-rise RC buildings against seismic actions. Turkey, the region of the highest seismic risk in Europe, is chosen as the case-study country, the building stock of which consists in its vast majority of mid-rise RC residential and/or commercial buildings. Strengthening with traditional methods is usually applied in most projects, as ordinary construction materials and no specialized workmanship are required. However, in cases of tight time constraints, architectural limitations, durability issues or higher demand for ductile performance, FRP material is often opted for since the most recent Turkish Earthquake Code allows engineers to employ this advanced-technology product to overcome issues of inadequate ductility or shear capacity of existing RC buildings. The paper compares strengthening of a characteristically typical mid-rise Turkish RC building by two methods, i.e., traditional column jacketing and FRP strengthening, evaluating their effectiveness with respect to the requirements of the Turkish Earthquake Code. The effect of FRP confinement is explicitly taken into account in the numerical model, unlike the common procedure followed according to which the demand on un-strengthened members is established and then mere section analyses are employed to meet the additional demands.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제83권2호
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• pp.195-206
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• 2022

Significant structural damages due to earthquakes reveal the importance of seismic design provisions. This paper presents a comparison between the seismic design provisions of Albania, Croatia, Iran, and Turkey for the design of mid-rise reinforced-concrete (RC) frames. Information on the historical development of the considered provisions are given. The code provisions are compared, illustrating the main differences in the minimum requirements for column and beam detailing and analysis for mid-rise RC frames. 4-story, 5-story, and 6-story buildings are designed according to each design code, and their performance is evaluated comparatively by using a displacement-based adaptive pushover procedure and eigenvalue analysis. It is observed that recent Turkish code has the highest and Albanian code has the lowest level of requirements in terms of member size and reinforcement detailing. The considered models indicate 15%, 20% and 50%, lower period values than the Croatia, Iran and Albania buildings, respectively. Additionally, building models per Croatia, Iran and Albania codes have 30%, 35% and 65% less base shear capacity when compared to Turkish building codes. Building models per Croatia and Iran codes indicate similar properties both in terms of strength and stiffness.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• 제10권6호
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• pp.1331-1346
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• 2016

Historical masonry structures have an important value for cultures and it is essential for every society to strengthen them and confidently transfer to the future. For this reason, determination of the seismic earthquake response, which is the most affecting factor to cause the damage at these structures, gain more importance. In this paper, the seismic earthquake behaviour of Kaya Çelebi Mosque, which is located in Turkey and the restoration process has still continued after 2011 Van earthquake, is determined. Firstly the dynamic modal analysis and subsequently the seismic spectral analysis are performed using the finite element model of the mosque constructed with restoration drawings in SAP2000 program. Maximum displacements, tensile, compressive and shear stresses are obtained and presented with contours diagrams. Turkish Earthquake Code and its general technical specifications are considered to evaluate the structural responses. After the analyses, it is seen that the displacements and compressive/shear stresses within the code limits. However, tension stresses exceeded the maximum values at some local regions. For this mosque, this is in tolerance limits considering the whole structure. But, it can be said that the tension stresses is very important for this type of the structures, especially between the stone and mortar. So, some additional strengthening solutions considering the originality of historical structures may be applicable on maximum tensile regions.

• 국제초고층학회논문집
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• 제3권1호
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• pp.65-71
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• 2014

Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, has seen a boom in construction in recent years. The old Baku city has been rapidly transforming into a new hub of high-rise buildings and lively cultural centers hosting the Euro Vision Song Contest in 2012 and European Games in 2015. A major population shift to Baku from its suburbs and the countryside has resulted in the doubling of Baku's population in the 4 years between 2009 and 2013. As of January 2013, Baku's population reached four million people, 43% of the citizens in Azerbaijan according to The State Statistical Committee of Azerbaijan. With this trend, the city needs more high-rise buildings to accommodate rapidly increasing demands for more housing and business space. Until the Azerbaijan Seismic Building Code was published in 2010 and became effective, many different seismic criteria, in terms of building codes and seismic intensities, were used for all new high-rise projects in Baku. Some designers used the SNIP (Russian) code with seismic level 9 or level 8 with 1 point penalty. Others used the Turkish code with Seismic Zone 1, UBC 97 with Zone 2 through 4, or IBC with Sa = 0.75 g through 1.0 g. The seismic intensity is now clarified with the Azerbaijan Seismic Building Code. However, the Azerbaijan Seismic Building Code is appropriate for low-rise buildings applications but may be inappropriate for high-rise project applications. This is because the code-defined response spectrum yields unrealistically conservative seismic forces for high-rise buildings with long periods, as compared to those determined by other internationally accepted building codes. This paper provides observations and recommendations for code-based seismic load assessment of high-rise buildings in the Baku area.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제69권3호
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• pp.293-306
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• 2019

In current seismic design codes, various elastic design acceleration spectra are defined considering different seismological and soil characteristics and are widely used tool for calculation of seismic loads acting on structures. Response spectrum analyses directly use the elastic design acceleration spectra whereas time history analyses use acceleration records of earthquakes whose acceleration spectra fit the design spectra of seismic codes. Due to the fact that obtaining coherent structural response quantities with the seismic design code considerations is a desired circumstance in dynamic analyses, the response spectra of earthquake records used in time history analyses had better fit to the design acceleration spectra of seismic codes. This paper evaluates structural response distributions of multi-story reinforced concrete frames obtained from nonlinear time history analyses which are performed by using the scaled earthquake records compatible with various elastic design spectra. Time domain scaling procedure is used while processing the response spectrum of real accelerograms to fit the design acceleration spectra. The elastic acceleration design spectra of Turkish Seismic Design Code 2007, Uniform Building Code 1997 and Eurocode 8 are considered as target spectra in the scaling procedure. Soil classes in different seismic codes are appropriately matched up with each other according to $V_{S30}$ values. The maximum roof displacements and the total base shears of considered frame structures are determined from nonlinear time history analyses using the scaled earthquake records and the results are presented by graphs and tables. Coherent structural response quantities reflecting the influence of elastic design spectra of various seismic codes are obtained.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• 제11권3호
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• pp.387-406
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• 2016

The main purpose of this paper is to determine the dynamic characteristics and the structural stability of the two approach viaducts of the Bosphorus Suspension Bridge under the expected stresses that would be caused during earthquake conditions. The Ortakoy and the Beylerbeyi approach viaducts constitute the side spans of the bridge at two locations. The bridge's main span over the Bosphorus is suspended, whereas they are supported at the base at either end. For the numerical investigation of the viaducts, 3-D computational structural finite element-FE models were developed. Their natural frequencies and the corresponding mode shapes were obtained, analyzed, presented and compared. The performances of the viaducts, under earthquake conditions, were studied considering the P-Delta effects implementing the push-over (POA) and the non-linear time-history analyses (NTHA). For the NTHA, three earthquake ground motions were generated depending on the location of the bridge. Seismic performances of the viaducts were determined in accordance with the requirements of the Turkish Seismic Code for the Earthquake Design of Railways Bridges (TSC-R/2008) and those of Caltrans (CALTRANS-2001) given for Seismic Design of Steel Bridges, separately. Furthermore, the investigation was extended for evaluating the possible need for retrofitting in the future. After the analysis of the resultant data, a retrofit recommendation for the viaducts was presented.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제41권6호
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• pp.759-773
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• 2012

The objective of this paper is to present an energy-based method for calculating target displacement of RC structures. The method, which uses the Newmark-Hall pseudo-velocity spectrum, is called the "Pseudo-velocity Spectrum (PSVS) Method". The method is based on the energy balance concept that uses the equality of energy demand and energy capacity of the structure. First, nonlinear static analyses are performed for five, eight and ten-story RC frame structures and pushover curves are obtained. Then the pushover curves are converted to energy capacity diagrams. Seven strong ground motions that were recorded at different soil sites in Turkey are used to obtain the pseudo-acceleration and the pseudo-velocity response spectra. Later, the response spectra are idealised with the Newmark-Hall approximation. Afterwards, energy demands for the RC structures are calculated using the idealised pseudo-velocity spectrum. The displacements, obtained from the energy capacity diagrams that fit to the energy demand values of the RC structures, are accepted as the energy-based performance point of the structures. Consequently, the target displacement values determined from the PSVS Method are checked using the displacement-based successive approach in the Turkish Seismic Design Code. The results show that the target displacements of RC frame structures obtained from the PSVS Method are very close to the values calculated by the approach given in the Turkish Seismic Design Code.