• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.1 no.4
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• pp.459-480
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• 2001

The damage suffered by steel structures during the Northridge (1994) and Kobe (1995) earthquakes indicates that the fully restrained (FR) connections in steel frames did not behave as expected. Consequently, researchers began studying other possibilities, including making the connections more flexible, to reduce the risk of damage from seismic loading. Recent experimental and analytical investigations pointed out that the seismic response of steel frames with partially restrained (PR) connections might be superior to that of similar frames with FR connections since the energy dissipation at PR connections could be significant. This beneficial effect has not yet been fully quantified analytically. Thus, the dissipation of energy at PR connections needs to be considered in analytical evaluations, in addition to the dissipation of energy due to viscous damping and at plastic hinges (if they form). An algorithm is developed and verified by the authors to estimate the nonlinear time-domain dynamic response of steel frames with PR connections. The verified algorithm is then used to quantify the major sources of energy dissipation and their effect on the overall structural response in terms of the maximum base shear and the maximum top displacement. The results indicate that the dissipation of energy at PR connections is comparable to that dissipated by viscous damping and at plastic hinges. In general, the maximum total base shear significantly increases with an increase in the connection stiffness. On the other hand, the maximum top lateral displacement $U_{max}$ does not always increase as the connection stiffness decreases. Energy dissipation is considerably influenced by the stiffness of a connection, defined in terms of the T ratio, i.e., the ratio of the moment the connection would have to carry according to beam line theory (Disque 1964) and the fixed end moment of the girder. A connection with a T ratio of at least 0.9 is considered to be fully restrained. The energy dissipation behavior may be quite different for a frame with FR connections with a T ratio of 1.0 compared to when the T ratio is 0.9. Thus, for nonlinear seismic analysis, a T ratio of at least 0.9 should not be considered to be an FR connection. The study quantitatively confirms the general observations made in experimental results for frames with PR connections. Proper consideration of the PR connection stiffness and other dynamic properties are essential to predict dynamic behavior, no matter how difficult the analysis procedure becomes. Any simplified approach may need to be calibrated using this type of detailed analytical study.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.51-56
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• 1997

The objective of this study is to review the current state of earthquake simulation tecniques using the shaking table and check the reliability. One degree-of-freedom(d.o.f) and three d.o.f aluminium shear models were used and $4m{\times}4m$ 6 d.o.f shaking table was excitated in one horizontal direction to simulate 1940 El centro earthquake accelerogram (NS component). When the actual acceleration history of shaking table is compared to the desired one, it can be found that the overall histories are very similar, but that the lower frequency range (0~2 Hz) of the actual excitation has generally lower amplitude than that of the desired in Fourier transform amplitude. Free vibration and white noise tests have shown almost the some values for natural frequencies, but shown quite different values for damping rations, that is, 1.37% in case of free vibration test vs 14.76 % in case of white noise test. The time histories of story shear driff show the globally linear elastic behaviors. But the elliptical shape of the histories with one of the axis being the stiffness of the story implies the effect of viscous damping.

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

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.1167-1184
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• 2015

Despite considerable life casualty and financial loss resulting from past earthquakes, many existing steel buildings are still seismically vulnerable as they have no lateral resistance or at least need some sort of retrofitting. Passive control methods with decreasing seismic demand and increasing ductility reduce rate of vulnerability of structures against earthquakes. One of the most effective and practical passive control methods is to use a shear panel system working as a ductile fuse in the structure. The shear Panel System, SPS, is located vertically between apex of two chevron braces and the flange of the floor beam. Seismic energy is highly dissipated through shear yielding of shear panel web while other elements of the structure remain almost elastic. In this paper, lateral behavior and related benefits of this system with narrow-flange link beams is experimentally investigated in chevron braced simple steel frames. For this purpose, five specimens with IPE (narrow-flange I section) shear panels were examined. All of the specimens showed high ductility and dissipated almost all input energy imposed to the structure. For example, maximum SPS shear distortion of 0.128-0.156 rad, overall ductility of 5.3-7.2, response modification factor of 7.1-11.2, and finally maximum equivalent viscous damping ratio of 35.5-40.2% in the last loading cycle corresponding to an average damping ratio of 26.7-30.6% were obtained. It was also shown that the beam, columns and braces remained elastic as expected. Considering this fact, by just changing the probably damaged shear panel pieces after earthquake, the structure can still be continuously used as another benefit of this proposed retrofitting system without the need to change the floor beam.

• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.177-183
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• 2019

This paper describes the structural design of a 212 m tall building currently under construction in the Tokiwabashi District Redevelopment Project facing Tokyo Station. In this project there was a requirement to rationally solve many issues arising from the conditions of the redevelopment project. In particular, the following two points were considered to be important from the point of view of structural design. 1) To provide an overhang frame with the perimeter columns on the lower stories inclined, in order to enable a typical floor area that greatly exceeded the limitations of the underground structure shape. 2) To provide high grade seismic performance for the office buildings to be constructed on prime city center land. LSCVCS (Lower Stories Concentrated Vibration Control System) was proposed as the method of rationally designing the overhang frame, which is an extremely disadvantageous element in the structural scheme of the tall building with a large slenderness ratio. LSCVCS is a system to provide effective damping by arranging vibration control devices in a concentrated manner in a lower story with large story height, that produces large deformation in an earthquake. Also, the vibration control devices arranged in the lower story are limited to viscous devices, to take into consideration the residual deformation of the overhang frame after an earthquake. The results of investigations into the specific effects of the system for the seismic design are reported, including Performance-based seismic design.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.131-138
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• 2019

This study focused on the roll motion characteristics of a two-dimensional (2D) rectangular floating structure under regular beam sea conditions. An experiment was conducted in a 2D wave tank for a roll free decay test in calm water and the roll motion in a range of regular waves with and without heave motion to investigate the motion response and heave influence on the roll motion. A numerical study was carried out using Reynolds-averaged Navier Stokes (RANS)-based CFD simulations. A grid convergence test was conducted to accurately capture the wave condition on the free surface based on the overset mesh and wave forcing method. It was found in the roll free decay test that the numerical results agreed well with the experimental results for the natural roll period and roll damping coefficient. It was also observed that the heave motion had an impact on the roll motion, and the responses of the heave and roll motion from the CFD simulations were in reasonable agreement with those from the experiment.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.5A
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• pp.657-664
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• 2008

Rain-wind induced cable vibration can cause the damages in the cable-stayed bridge due to very little inherent damping characteristics and low fundamental frequency. External Dampers attached to stay cables near anchorages have been shown to be effective means at short stay-cables. However, installation locations of external dampers are limited to a particular range due to aesthetic and practical reasons for very long stay-cables. A recent study by the authors showed that the stay-cable vibration system can perform better than the optimal passive viscous damper, thereby demonstrating its applicability in large cable-stayed bridges. This paper extends the previous study on the taut string representation of the cable by adding cable sag and inclination. The response of the proposed system compared to those of the cable with and without an external damper, and the movable anchorage system provides very effective mitigation of cable vibration. Cable damping ratio is seen to be remarkably reduced by movable anchorage system for a wide range of cable sag. This result shows that the sag effects of the proposed system should be considered.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.225-237
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• 2013

Excessive vibrations induced by earthquake excitation and wind load are an obstacle in design and construction of tall and super tall buildings. An innovative vibration control structure system (Mega-Sub Controlled Structure System-MSCSS) was recently proposed to further improve humans comfort and their safeties during natural disasters. Preliminary investigations were performed using a two dimensional equivalent simplified model, composed by 3 mega-stories. In this paper, a more reasonable and realistic scaled model is design to investigate the dynamical characteristics and controlling performances of this structure when subjected to strong earthquake motion. The control parameters of the structure system, such as the modulated sub-structures disposition; the damping coefficient ratio (RC); the stiffness ratio (RD); the mass ratio of the mega-structure and sub-structure (RM) are investigated and their optimal values (matched values) are obtained. The MSCSS is also compared with the so-called Mega-Sub Structure (MSS) regarding their displacement and acceleration responses when subjected to the same load conditions. Through the nonlinear time history analysis, the effectiveness and the feasibility of the proposed mega-sub controlled structure system (MSCSS) is demonstrated in reducing the displacement and acceleration responses and also improving human comfort under earthquake loads.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.65 no.5
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• pp.505-511
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• 2018

Recently, a new foundation model called "Dynamic foundation model" was proposed for the dynamic analysis of structures on the foundation. This model includes a linear elastic spring, shear layer, viscous damping and the special effects of mass density parameter of foundation during vibration. However, the relationship of foundation property parameters with the experimental parameter of the influence of foundation mass also has not been established in previous research. Hence, the purpose of the paper presents a simple experimental model in order to establish relationships between foundation properties such as stiffness, depth of foundation and experimental parameter of the influence of foundation mass. The simple experimental model is described by a steel plate connected with solid rubber layer as a single degree of freedom system including an elastic spring connected with lumped mass. Based on natural circular frequencies of the experimental models determined from FFT analysis plots of the time history of acceleration data, the experimental parameter of the influence of foundation mass is obtained and the above relationships are also discussed.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.25-31
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• 2015

PURPOSES: Implementation and verification of the simple linear cohesive viscoelastic contact model that can be used to simulate dynamic behavior of sticky aggregates. METHODS: The differential equations were derived and the initial conditions were determined to simulate a free falling ball with a sticky surface from a ground. To describe this behavior, a combination of linear contact model and a cohesive contact model was used. The general solution for the differential equation was used to verify the implemented linear cohesive viscoelastic API model in the DEM. Sensitivity analysis was also performed using the derived analytical solutions for several combinations of damping coefficients and cohesive coefficients. RESULTS : The numerical solution obtained using the DEM showed good agreement with the analytical solution for two extreme conditions. It was observed that the linear cohesive model can be successfully implemented with a linear spring in the DEM API for dynamic analysis of the aggregates. CONCLUSIONS: It can be concluded that the derived closed form solutions are applicable for the analysis of the rebounding behavior of sticky particles, and for verification of the implemented API model in the DEM. The assumption of underdamped condition for the viscous behavior of the particles seems to be reasonable. Several factors have to be additionally identified in order to develop an enhanced contact model for an asphalt mixture.