• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• 제15권4호
• /
• pp.381-394
• /
• 2003

While constructing multistorey buildings with reinforced concrete framed structures it is a common practice to provide parking space for vehicles at the ground floor level. This floor will generally consist of open frames without any infilled walls and is called an open-storey. From a post disaster damage survey carried out, it was noticed that during the January 26, 2001 Bhuj (Gujarat, India) earthquake, a large number of reinforced concrete framed buildings with open-storey at ground floor level, suffered extensive damage and in some cases catastrophic collapse. This has brought into sharp focus the need to carry out systematic studies on the seismic vulnerability of such buildings. Determination of vulnerability requires realistic structural response estimations taking into account the stochasticity in the loading and the system parameters. The stochastic finite element method can be effectively used to model the random fields while carrying out such studies. This paper presents the details of stochastic finite element analysis of a five-storey three-bay reinforced concrete framed structure with open-storey subjected to standard seismic excitation. In the present study, only the stochasticity in the system parameters is considered. The stochastic finite element method used for carrying out the analysis is based on perturbation technique. Each random field representing the stochastic geometry/material property is discretised into correlated random variables using spatial averaging technique. The uncertainties in geometry and material properties are modelled using the first two moments of the corresponding parameters. In evaluating the stochastic response, the cross-sectional area and Young' modulus are considered as independent random fields. To study the influence of correlation length of random fields, different correlation lengths are considered for random field discretisation. The spatial expectations and covariances for displacement response at any time instant are obtained as the output. The effect of open-storey is modelled by suitably considering the stiffness of infilled walls in the upper storey using cross bracing. In order to account for changes in soil conditions during strong motion earthquakes, both fixed and hinged supports are considered. The results of the stochastic finite element based seismic analysis of reinforced concrete framed structures reported in this paper demonstrate the importance of considering the effect of open-storey with appropriate support conditions to estimate the realistic response of buildings subjected to earthquakes.

• 대한안전경영과학회지
• /
• 제22권3호
• /
• pp.1-8
• /
• 2020

The desulfurizers facility is cylindrical shape. To operate properly it needs nozzles cleaned, get rid of lime adhesion and sludge, repair the wear and corrosion of facility regularly. For this purpose, workers shall access the ceiling or vertical wall at high place. Ordinary scaffoldings such as steel pipe scaffolding or system scaffolding have been using so that workers can access them. With these ordinary scaffoldings, openings around cylindrical wall are inevitable which make workers can expose always to the risk of falling. The purpose of this study is to develop customized scaffolding to minimize the openings to prevent workers form falling during maintenance it. It consists of a hexagonal central tower and six trapezoidal outer towers. And the bracing among the towers have connected each other for self-standing and for maintaining the structure of towers. Span decks, the circumference footstools, steps, etc. are laid on each floor. The safety is reviewed by structural analysis and performance test. With this study, openings each floor of this scaffold are removed. The gap between the cylindrical wall and the edge of the work stage is approximately 100 mm. Therefore, we expect that workers can work safely and efficiently.