• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.261-273
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• 2012

This study proposes and examines a circular composite bridge pier for seismic resistance. The axial and flexural strengths of the proposed bridge pier are provided by the longitudinal reinforcing bars and the concrete, while the transverse reinforcements used in the conventional reinforced concrete pier are replaced by the steel tube. The shear strength of this composite pier relies on the steel tube and the concrete. This system is similar to the steel jacketing method which strengthens the existing reinforced concrete bridge piers. However, no transverse shear reinforcing bar is used in the proposed composite bridge pier. A series of experimental studies is conducted to investigate the seismic resistant characteristics of the proposed circular composite pier. The effects of the longitudinal reinforcing bars, the shear span-to-diameter ratio, and the thickness of the steel tube on the performance of strength, ductility, and energy dissipation of the proposed pier are discussed. The experimental results show that the strength of the proposed circular composite bridge pier can be predicted accurately by the similar method used in the reinforced concrete piers with minor modification. From these experimental studies, it is found that the proposed circular composite bridge pier not only simplifies the construction work greatly but also provides excellent ductility and energy dissipation capacity under seismic lateral force.

• International journal of steel structures
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.1325-1335
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• 2018

This study dealt with investigating the seismic performance of the smart and shape memory alloy (SMA) and magnets plus rubber-spring (MRS) dampers and their effects on the seismic resistance of multiple-span simply supported bridges. The rubber springs in the MRS dampers were pre-compressed. For this aim, a set of experimental works was performed together with developing nonlinear analytical models to investigate dynamic responses of the bridges subjected to earthquakes. Fragility analysis and probabilistic assessment were conducted to assess the seismic performance for the overall bridge system. Fragility curves were then generated for each model and were compared with those of as-built. Results showed dampers could increase the seismic capacity of bridges. Furthermore, from system fragility curves, use of damper models reduced the seismic vulnerability in comparison to the as-built bridge model. Although the SMA damper showed the best seismic performance, the MRS damper was the most appropriate one for the bridge in that the combination of magnetic friction and pre-compressed rubber springs was cheaper than the shape memory alloy, and had the similar capability of the damper.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.85-88
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• 2008

The purpose of this study was to investigate the seismic behavior of precast concrete segmental bridge piers with shear resistance connecting structure. A model of precast concrete segmental bridge columns with shear resistance connecting structure was tested under a constant axial load and a cyclically reversed horizontal load. A computer program, RCAHEST (Reinforced Concrete Analysis in Higher Evaluation System Technology), for the analysis of reinforced concrete structures was used. The proposed numerical method for the seismic behavior of precast concrete segmental bridge piers with shear resistance connecting structure is verified by comparison with reliable experimental results.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.33-42
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• 2007

This paper describes the state-of-the art research activities on seismic isolation systems for improving the seismic capacities of the bridges in Korea. Though Korea is located in a region of low-to-moderate seismicity, the construction of seismic isolation systems has increased rapidly. The application of seismic isolation system has become popular worldwide because of its stable behavior and economical construction especially for bridge structures. Since optimal reliability level of isolated bridges can be determined as the one that provides the highest net life-cycle benefit to society, or the minimum Life-Cycle Cost (LCC), an optimal design procedure based on minimum LCC concept is more expedient for the design of seismically isolated bridges in areas of low-to-moderate seismicty. To verify the adequacy of the new design concept based on the LCC minimization, experimental studies on seismically isolated bridge are introduced as well, which include pseudo-dynamic test of scaled pier and dynamic field test of full-scale. With the application of seismic isolation systems, many kinds of dampers to improve the seismic capacity of structure are also applied not only to new bridges but also to existing bridges.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.649-664
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• 2016

A seismic damaged bridge may be hit again by a strong aftershock or another earthquake in a short interval before the repair work has been done. However, discussions about the impact of the unrepaired damages on the residual earthquake resistance of a steel bridge are very scarce at present. In this paper, nonlinear time-history analysis of a steel arch bridge was performed using multi-scale hybrid model. Two strong historical records of main shock-aftershock sequences were taken as the input ground motions during the dynamic analysis. The strain response, local deformation and the accumulation of plasticity of the bridge with and without unrepaired seismic damage were compared. Moreover, the effect of earthquake sequence on crack initiation caused by low-cycle fatigue of the steel bridge was investigated. The results show that seismic damage has little impact on the overall structural displacement response during the aftershock. The residual local deformation, strain response and the cumulative equivalent plastic strain are affected to some extent by the unrepaired damage. Low-cycle fatigue of the steel arch bridge is not induced by the earthquake sequences. Damage indexes of low-cycle fatigue predicted based on different theories are not exactly the same.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.29 no.2A
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• pp.131-143
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• 2009

Under transverse earthquake shaking, arching action of bridge structures develops along the deck between the abutments thus providing the so-called deck resistance. The magnitude of the arching action for bridge structures is dependent on the number of spans, connection condition between deck and abutment or piers, and stiffness ratio between superstructure and substructure. In order to investigate the arching action effects for inelastic seismic responses of PSC Box bridges, seismic responses evaluated by pushover analysis, capacity spectrum analysis and nonlinear time-history analysis are compared for 18 example bridge structures with two types of span numbers (short bridge, SB and long bridge, LB), three types of pier height arrangement (regular, semi-regular and irregular) and three types of connection condition between superstructure and substructure (Type A, B, C). The arching action effects (reducing inelastic displacement and increasing resistance capacity) for short bridge (SB) is more significant than those for long bridge (LB). Semi-regular and irregular bridge structures have more significant arching action than regular bridges.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.339-354
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• 2006

Hangzhou Bay Bridge spans the Hangzhou Bay and is located at Zhejiang province in the southeast seacoast of China. The total length of the bridge is 36 km. The bridge is composed of bridge approaches made up of multi-span prestressed concrete box girders and two cable-stayed bridges over the north and south navigable spans respectively. The seismic response analysis of the bridge model shows that if the navigable spans are designed as the routine earthquake-resistance system, the displacements and internal forces in pylons, piers and deckes are too large to satisfy the anti-seismic requirement of the structure. Therefore, the seismic reduction design was carried out by using viscous dampers to dissipate the kinetic energy of the structure both longitudinally and transversely. Using the vibration reduction system and aiming at the reasonable optimal goal, the purpose to reduce the seismic responses in south and north navigable spans has been achieved.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.275-288
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• 2023

Based on the crucial role of high-speed railway bridges (HSRBs) in the safety of high-speed railway operations, it is an important approach to mitigate earthquake hazards by proceeding with seismic risk assessments in their whole life. Bridge seismic risk assessment, which usually evaluates the seismic performance of bridges from a probabilistic perspective, provides technical support for bridge risk management. The seismic performance of bridges is greatly affected by the degradation of material properties, therefore, material damage plays a nonnegligible role in the seismic risk assessment of the bridge. The effect of material damage is not considered in most current studies on seismic risk analysis of bridges, nevertheless. To fill the gap in this area, in this paper, a nonlinear dynamic time-history analysis has been carried out by establishing OpenSees finite element model, and a seismic vulnerability analysis is carried out based on the incremental dynamic analysis (IDA) method. On this basis, combined with the site risk analysis, the time-dependent seismic risk analysis of an offshore three-span HSRB in the whole life cycle has been conducted. The results showed that the seismic risk probabilities of both components and system of the bridge increase with the service time, and their seismic risk probabilities increase significantly in the last service period due to the degradation of the material strength, which demonstrates that the impact of durability damage should be considered when evaluating the seismic performance of bridges in the design and service period.

• Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
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• 2002.03a
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• pp.250-257
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• 2002

Pseudo dynamic test is an on-line computer control method to achieve the realism of shaking table test with the economy and versatility of the conventional quasi-static approach Pseudo dynamic tests of six full-size RC bridge piers have been carried out to investigate their seismic performance. For the purpose of precise evaluation, the experimental investigation was conducted to study the seismic performance of the real size specimen, which is constructed for highway bridge piers in Korean peninsula. Since it is believed that Korea belongs to the moderate seismicity region, five test specimens were designed in accordance with limited ductility design concept. Another one test specimen was nonseismically designed according to a conventional code. Important test parameters were transverse reinforcement and lap splicing. Lap splicing was frequently used in the plastic hinge region of many bridge columns. Furthermore, the seismic design code is not present about lap splice in Korean Roadway Bridge Design Code. The results show that specimens designed according to the limited ductility design concept exhibit higher seismic resistance. Specimens with longitudinal steel lap splice in the plastic hinge region appeared to significantly fail at low ductility level.

• Journal of Korean Society of societal Security
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.63-68
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• 2009

Seismic design of newly built bridges can be considered and carried out during construction process according to the revised road bridge design standard issued recently. While for the existing reinforced concrete bridge priers under service before new standard implements, their resistance capacity against lateral seismic loading is inferior. In this research, seismic reinforcing for existing bridge piers by nickel-chrome alloy bar has been analyzed. Based on the established model by MIDAS program, the behaviors of bridge piers including deformation and stress with and without nickel-chrome alloy reinforcing bars have been compared and discussed under lateral seismic loading. And the advantages of using nickel-chrome alloy bar as seismic reinforcement over other materials, such as good performance, good economy etc. have been demonstrated by comparison with other researches. Also the anti-seismic efficiency of nickel-chrome alloy reinforcing bars has been confirmed by MIDAS modeling analysis.