• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
• /
• v.12 no.5
• /
• pp.1-10
• /
• 2008

A series of shaking table tests were conducted on a 1:12 scale model using scaled Taft N21E earthquake records to investigate the seismic performance of a 17-story high-rise reinforced concrete building structure with a high degree of torsional eccentricity and soft-story irregularities in the bottom two stories. The main characteristics of the behaviors were: (1) a sudden change of the predominant vibration mode from the mode of translation and torsion to the torsional mode after the flexible side underwent a substantial inelastic deformation; (2) an abrupt increase in the torsional stiffness during this change of modes; (3) a warping behavior of the wall in the torsional mode; and (4) a unilateral overturning moment in the transverse direction to the table excitations. In this study, efforts were made to simulate the above characteristics using a nonlinear analysis program, Perform3D. The advantages and limitations are presented with the nonlinear models available in this software, as they are related to the correlation between analysis and test results.

• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• v.23 no.2
• /
• pp.151-168
• /
• 2022

Torsion is one of the most important causes of building collapse during earthquakes. Sometimes, despite the symmetric form of the building, infill walls disturb the symmetry of the lateral resisting system. The purpose of this research is to investigate the effect of urban layout on developing torsion caused by infill walls. For this purpose, a typological study was conducted based on the conditions of perimeter walls on 364 buildings and then 9 cases were selected. The dimensions of the selected buildings are constant and the conditions of the perimeter walls including facades with openings and cantilevered facades are variable. The selected buildings with 60 different layouts of infill walls were analyzed and the behavior of each one was evaluated based on the torsional irregularity criteria of seismic codes. The results of the analyses showed that if the perimeter walls of a building are symmetric, asymmetric interior walls will not be important in developing torsion and effective parameters in symmetry of the perimeter infill walls are the number of walls, area of openings, aspect ratio, and construction details. Finally, architectural solutions to mitigate the torsional effects of infill walls were proposed for buildings with solid infill walls on some sides, for buildings where the perimeter walls of one side are on the cantilevered part, and for buildings where the perimeter walls of two adjacent sides are on the cantilevered part. In three-sided buildings, where two adjacent façades are cantilevered, it is often impossible to use the potential of the infill walls.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
• /
• v.13 no.1
• /
• pp.35-43
• /
• 2009

Two types of piloti-type high-rise RC building structures having irregularity in the lower two stories were selected as prototypes, and nonlinear time history analysis was performed using OpenSees to verify the analysis technique and to investigate the seismic capacity of those buildings. One of the buildings studied had a symmetrical moment-resisting frame (BF), while the other had an infilled shear wall in only one of the exterior frames (ESW). A fiber model, consisting of concrete and reinforcing bar represented from the stress-strain relationship, was adapted and used to simulate the nonlinearity of members, and MVLEM (Multi Vertical Linear Element Model) was used to simulate the behavior of the wall. The analytical results simulate the behavior of piloti-type high-rise RC building structures well, including the stiffness and yield force of piloti stories, the rocking behavior of the upper structure and the variation of the axial stiffness of the column due to variation in loading condition. However, MVLEM has a limitation in simulating the abrupt increasing lateral stiffness of a wall, due to the torsional mode behavior of the building. The design force obtained from a nonlinear time history analysis was shown to be about $20{\sim}30%$ smaller than that obtained in the experiment. For this reason, further research is required to match the analytical results with real structures, in order to use nonlinear time history analysis in designing a piloti-type high-rise RC building.

• Smart Structures and Systems
• /
• v.19 no.6
• /
• pp.679-694
• /
• 2017

The complexity, enlargement and irregularity of structures and multi-directional dynamic loads acting on the structures can lead to unexpected structural behavior, such as torsion. Continuous torsion of the structure causes unexpected changes in the structure's stress distribution, reduces the performance of the structural members, and shortens the structure's lifespan. Therefore, a method of monitoring the torsional behavior is required to ensure structural safety. Structural torsion typically occurs accompanied by displacement, but no model has yet been developed to measure this type of structural response. This research proposes a model for measuring dynamic torsional response of structure accompanied by displacement and for identifying the torsional modal parameter using vision-based displacement measurement equipment, a motion capture system (MCS). In the present model, dynamic torsional responses including pure rotation and translation displacements are measured and used to calculate the torsional angle and displacements. To apply the proposed model, vibration tests for a shear-type structure were performed. The torsional responses were obtained from measured dynamic displacements. The torsional angle and displacements obtained by the proposed model using MCS were compared with the torsional response measured using laser displacement sensors (LDSs), which have been widely used for displacement measurement. In addition, torsional modal parameters were obtained using the dynamic torsional angle and displacements obtained from the tests.

• Computers and Concrete
• /
• v.9 no.6
• /
• pp.439-455
• /
• 2012

The interaction of plan geometry and structural configuration, a determinative factor in the earthquake behavior of buildings, has become a serious issue in the building industry in Turkey due to the poor seismic performance of R/C buildings during the latest earthquake. Consequently, designing new buildings without structural irregularities against earthquake loads is proving to be more significant. This study focuses on the effects of plan geometries on earthquake performances of buildings. In that respect, structural irregularities in the plan are investigated in detail based on the Turkish Earthquake Code (TEC 2007). The study is based on five main parametric models and a total of 40 sub-models that are grouped according to their plan geometries with excessive projections such as L-shaped, H-shaped, T-shaped and U-shaped models. In addition to these, a square model without any projections is also generated. All models are designed to have the same storey gross area but with different number of storeys. Changes in the earthquake behavior of buildings were evaluated according to the number of storeys, the projection ratios and the symmetry conditions of each model. The analysis of each structural irregularity resulted in many findings, which were then assessed. The study demonstrates that the square model delivers the best earthquake performance owing to its regular plan geometry.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.47 no.6
• /
• pp.791-818
• /
• 2013

The seismic performance of reinforced concrete (RC) frame structures with irregularities leading to soft first floor is studied using capacity assessment procedures. The soft first story effect is investigated for the cases: (i) slab-column connections without beams at the first floor, (ii) tall first story height and (iii) pilotis type building (open ground story). The effects of the first floor irregularity on the RC frame structure performance stages at global and local level (limit states) are investigated. Assessment based on the Capacity Spectrum Method (ATC-40) and on the Coefficient Method (FEMA 356) is also examined. Results in terms of failure modes, capacity curves, interstory drifts, ductility requirements and infills behaviour are presented. From the results it can be deduced that the global capacity of the structures is decreased due to the considered first floor morphology irregularities in comparison to the capacities of the regular structure. An increase of the demands for interstory drift is observed at the first floor level due to the considered irregularities while the open ground floor structure (pilotis type) led to even higher values of interstory drift demands at the first story. In the cases of tall first story and slab-column connections without beams soft-story mechanisms have also been observed at the first floor. Rotational criteria (EC8-part3) showed that the structure with slab-column connections without beams exhibited the most critical response.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
• /
• v.9 no.4
• /
• pp.167-174
• /
• 2006

Two typical responses have been documented for flatfish when they encounter the ground gear of bottom trawls: herding response and falling back response. These two responses were analyzed from video recordings of fish and were characterized by time sequences for four parameters: swimming speed, angular velocity, acceleration, and distance between the fish and the ground gear. When flatfish displayed the falling-back response, absolute values of the three swimming parameters and their deviations were significantly higher than those during the herding response. However, the swimming parameters were not dependent on the distance between the flatfish and the ground gear, regardless of which response occurred. The dominant periods for most of the movement parameters ranged from 2.0 to 3.7 s, except that no periodicity was observed for swimming speed or angular velocity during the falling-back response. However, variations in the four parameters during the falling -back response revealed greater irregularity in periodicity and higher amplitudes. This complex behavior is best described as a chaos phenomenon' and is discussed as the building block for a model predicting the responses of flatfish to ground gear as part of the general understanding of the fish capture process.

• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• v.5 no.3
• /
• pp.297-319
• /
• 2013

Two destructive earthquakes occurred on October 23 and November 9, 2011 in Van province of Turkey. The damage in residential units shows significant deviation from the expectation of decreasing damage with increasing distance to epicenter. The most damaged settlement Ercis has the same distance to the epicenter with Muradiye, where no damage occurred while relatively less damage observed in Van having half distance. These three cities seem to have resembling soil conditions. If the damages are evaluated: joint failures and insufficient lap splice lengths are observed to be the main causes of the total collapses in RC buildings. Additionally, low concrete strength, reinforcement detailing mistakes, soft story, heavy overhang, pounding and short columns are among other damage reasons. Examples of damages due to non-structural elements are also given. Remarkable points about seismic damages are: collapsed buildings with shear-walls, heavily damaged buildings despite adequate concrete strength due to detailing mistakes, undamaged two-story adobe buildings close to totally collapsed RC ones and undamaged structural system in buildings with heavily damaged non-structural elements. On the contrary of the common belief that buildings with shear-walls are immune to total collapse among civil engineers, collapse of Gedikbulak primary school is a noteworthy example.

• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• v.16 no.6
• /
• pp.655-664
• /
• 2019

Behavior factor of a structure plays a crucial role in designing and predicting the inelastic responses of it. Recently, irregular buildings have been interested in many designers. To design irregular structures, recognizing the inelastic behavior of them is necessary. The main objective of this study is to determine the behavior factor of irregular Reinforced Concrete Moment Resisting Frames (RCMRFs) via nonlinear Incremental Dynamic Analysis (IDA). To do so, first, several frames are designed according to the regulations of the Iranian national building code. Then the nonlinear incremental dynamic analysis is performed on these structures and the behavior factors are achieved. The acquired results are compared with those obtained using pushover analysis and it is shown that the behavior factors acquired from the nonlinear incremental dynamic analysis are somewhat larger than those obtained from pushover analysis. Eventually, two practical relations are proposed to predict the behavior factor of irregular RCMRFs. Since these relations are based on the simple characteristics of frames such as: irregularity indices, the height and fundamental period, the behavior factor of irregular RCMRFs can be achieved efficiently using these relations. The proposed relations are applied to design of four new irregular RCMRFs and the outcomes confirm the accuracy of the aforementioned relations.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
• /
• v.10 no.3 s.49
• /
• pp.65-75
• /
• 2006

Nonlinear pushover analysis is used to evaluate the earthquake response of building structures. To accurately predict the inelastic response of a structure, the prescribed story load profile should be able to describe the earthquake force profile which actually occurs during the time-history response of the structure. In the present study, a new modal combination method was developed to predict the earthquake load profiles of building structures. In the proposed method, multiple story load profiles are predicted by combining the modal spectrum responses multiplied by the modal combination factors. Parametric studies were performed far moment-resisting frames and walls. Based on the results. the modal combination factors were determined according to the hierarchy of each mode affecting the dynamic responses of structures. The proposed modal combination method was applied to prototype buildings with and without vertical irregularity. The results showed that the proposed method predicts the actual story load profiles which occur during the time-history responses of the structures.