• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.357-374
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• 2014

The design basis is being shifted from strength to deformation in modern performance-based design codes. This paper presents a practical method for optimization of eccentrically braced steel frames, based on the concept of uniform deformation theory (UDT). This is done by gradually shifting inefficient material from strong parts of the structure to the weak areas until a state of uniform deformation is achieved. In the first part of this paper, UDT is implemented on 3, 5 and 10 story eccentrically braced frames (EBF) subjected to 12 earthquake records representing the design spectrum of ASCE/SEI 7-10. Subsequently, the optimum strength-distribution patterns corresponding to these excitations are determined, and compared with four other loading patterns. Since the optimized frames have uniform distribution of deformation, they undergo less damage in comparison with code-based designed structures while having minimum structural weight. For further investigation, the 10 story EBF is redesigned using four different loading patterns and subjected to 12 earthquake excitations. Then a comparison is made between link rotations of each model and those belonging to the optimized one which revealed that the optimized EBF behaves generally better than those designed by other loading patterns. Finally, efficiency of each loading pattern is evaluated and the best one is determined.

• Magazine of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.111-119
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• 1991

Most of the conventional aseismic design methods for reinforced concrete structures, based on the strong¬column weak-beam design concept, do not necessarily the state of damage distribution over the entire frame. This paper introduces a seismic damage-controlled design method for RC frames which aim at individual member damage indices. Three design parameters, namely the longitudinal steel ratio, the confinement steel ratio and the frame member depth, were studied for their influence on the frame response to an earthquake. The usefulness of this design method will be demonstrated with a three-bay four-story building frame so that, on the one hand, the method will reduce the damage as measured by the global damage index under the same earthquake and, on the other hand, will lead to a larger capacity enabling stronger earthquakes to be accom¬odated .

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.19-35
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• 2015

This study compares the seismic performances of two reinforced concrete frame specimens tested by the pseudo-dynamic procedure. The pair of 3-storey, 3-bay frames specimens are constructed with typical characteristics of older construction which is lacking seismic design. One of the specimens is a bare frame while the other is infilled with low-strength autoclave aerated concrete (AAC) block masonry. The focus of this study is to investigate the influence of low strength masonry infill walls on the seismic response of older RC frames designed for gravity loads. It is found that the presence of weak infill walls considerably reduce deformations and damage in the upper stories while their influence at the critical ground story is not all that positive. Infill walls tend to localize damage at the critical story due to a peculiar frame-infill interaction, and impose larger internal force and deformation demands on the columns and beams bounding the infills. Therefore the general belief in earthquake engineering that infills develop a second line of defence against lateral forces in seismically deficient frames is nullified in case of low-strength infill walls in the presented experimental research.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.17 no.4 s.88
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• pp.587-594
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• 2005

The purpose of seismic design is to ensure the serviceability of buildings against earthquake, which might be occurred during the service life of buildings, and to minimize the loss of life by preventing their failure under strong earthquake. The lack resistance of walls resulting from a tendency toward high-rise apartment buildings with shear walls and use of piloti would lead to a concentration of inelastic behaviors in their weak story. In this study, the seismic performance of reinforced concrete shear wall buildings haying piloti was analyzed by using the evaluation techniques which was proposed by FEMA 273 and ATC-40. The results from comparison with these two techniques are summarized as follows.; The results of elastic analysis method for seismic performance evaluation show that the effect of piloti and building height decrease performance index. In case of shear wall building, the state of insufficient shear stress governs their overall performance and it becomes evident in the case of the buildings with more than 25 stories. For the buildings of piloti, the change of mass, weak story, as well as insufficient shear stress, decrease the performance index rapidly compared with the performance index of the buildings without piloti. The results, obtained from the nonlinear static analysis using capacity spectrum method, indicate that the performance Point increases for the structure having Piloti and high story. Also, deformation limits of buildings satisfy the allowable criteria at the life safety level, but the immediate occupancy level is exceeded in buildings which have more than 25 stories.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.5 no.6
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• pp.703-731
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• 2013

In order to verify the applicability of buckling restrained braces (BRB's) and fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) sheets to the seismic strengthening of a low-rise RC building having the irregularities of a soft/weak story and torsion at the ground story, a series of earthquake simulation tests were conducted on a 1:5 scale RC building model before, and after, the strengthening, and these test results are compared and analyzed, to check the effectiveness of the strengthening. Based on the investigations, the following conclusions are made: (1) The BRB's revealed significant slips at the joint with the existing RC beam, up-lifts of columns from RC foundations and displacements due to the flexibility of foundations, and final failure due to the buckling and fracture of base joint angles. The lateral stiffness appeared to be, thereby, as low as one seventh of the intended value, which led to a large yield displacement and, therefore, the BRB's could not dissipate seismic input energy as desired within the range of anticipated displacements. (2) Although the strengthened model did not behave as desired, great enhancement in earthquake resistance was achieved through an approximate 50% increase in the lateral resistance of the wall, due to the axial constraint by the peripheral BRB frames. Finally, (3) whereas in the original model, base torsion was resisted by both the inner core walls and the peripheral frames, the strengthened model resisted most of the base torsion with the peripheral frames, after yielding of the inner core walls, and represented dual values of torsion stiffness, depending on the yielding of core walls.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.805-827
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• 2016

A new type of precast CFST column to RC beam braced frame is proposed in this paper. A series of shake table tests were conducted to excite a one-third scale six-story model for investigating the global seismic performance of this type of structure against earthquake actions. Particular emphasis was given to its dynamic property, global seismic responses and failure path. Correspondingly, a numerical model built on the basis of fiber-beam-element model, multi-layer shell model and element-deactivation method was developed to simulate the seismic performance of the prototype structure. Numerical results were compared with the measured values from shake table tests to verify the validity and reliability of the numerical model. The results demonstrated that the proposed novel precast CFST column to RC beam braced frame performs excellently under strong earthquake excitations; the "strong CFST column-weak RC beam" and "strong connection-weak member" anti-seismic design principles can be easily achieved; the maximum deflections of precast CFSTC-RCB braced frame satisfied the deflection limitations proposed in national code; the numerical model can properly simulate the dynamic property and responses of the precast CFSTC-RCB braced frame that are highly concerned in engineering practice.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.140-143
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• 2003

Recently, many high-rise reinforced concrete (RC) bearing wall structures of multiple occupancy have been constructed, which have the irregularities of weak (or soft) story and torsion at the lower stories simultaneously. The study compared the eccentricity of such a building predicted by design codes, EC 8, IBC 2000 and UBC 97, and by the test results through a series of shaking table tests of 1:12 model. Based on the comparison of the predicted eccentricity and the test result, the conclusions are drawn as follow: Accidental torsion due to the uncertainty on the properties of structure can be reasonably predicted by using the dynamic analysis with the center of mass being shifted by 5 percent of the dimension of the building perpendicular to the direction of the excitations than by using equivalent lateral force procedure

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2000.10b
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• pp.851-856
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• 2000

When subjected to the strong earthquake ground motion, upper-wall lower-frame structures have high possibility of the weak-story failure in the lower frame part. Sufficient strength, energy dissipation capacity and ductility should be provided at the joint between the deep beam and the lower column. In this study, a typical structure was selected for a prototype and four 1:2.5 scaled models, representing the subassemblage including the exterior column and the deep beam, were constructed. The transverse reinforcement was designed according to ACI procedure¹ and the procedure proposed by Sheikh². The inelastic behavior of the subassemblages subjected to the cyclic lateral displacement were evaluated through investigation of the ultimate strength, ductility, load-deformation characteristics. From the test of 4 specimens, it is concluded that the specimens designed according to Sheikh's procedure revealed higher ductility than that by ACI procedure.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 1990.10a
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• pp.73-78
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• 1990

Large panel building systems are composed of vertical wall panels which support horizontal roof and floor panels to form a box like structure. The simplecity of the connections, which makes precast concrete economically viable, causes a lack of continuity in stiffness, strength and ductility. This precast concrete large panel systems typically have weak connection regions. Three types of 2-story full-scale precast concrete subassemblages were tested under reversed cyclic loading. The seismic resistance capacity and failure mode of each system are compared in connection with the characteristics of joint connection details.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.355-362
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• 2009

Many of residential buildings, which have pilotis in lower stories to meet the architectural needs, are recently constructed in Korea. Usually, infill walls located in the upper stories of these buildings may cause a soft first story, which is very weak from the earthquake resistance. In the design of the buildings, the infill walls of upper stories are usually considered as non-structural elements and thus they are not included in the analytical model. However, the infill walls may affect the seismic behavior of the residential buildings. Therefore, the differences in seismic behaviors of RC buildings with and without masonry infill walls are required to be investigated. In this study, seismic fragility analyses were performed for masonry infilled low-rise RC moment-resisting frames. And seismic behaviors of RC moment-resisting frame with/without masonry infill walls were evaluated. Two types of structural system with the same frame and different allocation of infill walls are used to evaluate the influence of masonry infill walls on seismic behavior of RC moment-resisting frames. The infill walls were modeled as bi-equivalent diagonal struts. The fragility analyses show that the seismic performance of RC moment-resisting frames with soft story is below the desirable building seismic performance level recommended by current seismic codes, indicating high vulnerability of RC moment-resisting frames with soft story.