• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.76 no.2
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• pp.223-237
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• 2020

Transmission towers have come to represent one of the most important infrastructures in today's society, which may suffer severe earthquakes during their service lives. However, in the conventional seismic analyses of transmission towers, the towers are normally assumed to be fixed on the ground without considering the effect of soil-structure interaction (SSI) on the pile-supported transmission tower. This assumption may lead to inaccurate seismic performance estimations of transmission towers. In the present study, the seismic response and failure analyses of pile-supported transmission towers considering SSI are comprehensively performed based on the finite element method. Specifically, two detailed finite element (FE) models of the employed pile-supported transmission tower with and without consideration of SSI effects are established in ABAQUS analysis platform, in which SSI is simulated by the classical p-y approach. A simulation method is developed to stochastically synthesize the earthquake ground motions at different soil depths (i.e. depth-varying ground motions, DVGMs). The impacts of SSI on the dynamic characteristic, seismic response and failure modes are investigated and discussed by using the generated FE models and ground motions. Numerical results show that the vibration mode shapes of the pile-supported transmission towers with and without SSI are basically same; however, SSI can significantly affect the dynamic characteristic by altering the vibration frequencies of different modes. Neglecting the SSI and the variability of earthquake motions at different depths may cause an underestimate and overestimate on the seismic responses, respectively. Moreover, the seismic failure mode of pile-supported transmission towers is also significantly impacted by the SSI and DVGMs.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2009.09a
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• pp.905-912
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• 2009

1-g shaking table test is conducted to evaluate the dynamic behavior of a soil-structure system under seismic loading condition. A consistent similitude law between the model and prototype is needed to predict the behavior of the prototype structure, quantitatively. The natural frequency of geomaterial decreases with the increase of shaking intensity because of the non-linear property of the geomaterial. This phenomenon affects the applicability of similitude laws in 1-g shaking table tests. In this study, a simple method is suggested to determine the frequency of the input motions in 1-g tests in order to enhance the applicability of similitude laws. Modified input frequency is calculated using the frequency ratio with consideration of the variation of the natural frequency according to the intensity of input ground acceleration. To verify the applicability of the suggested method, a series of 1-g shaking table tests were performed for three different sizes of model piles having an overburden mass on their heads by varying the acceleration and the frequency of input motion. The acceleration amplification ratio on the overburden mass, the lateral displacement at the pile head and the maximum bending moment along the pile depth were measured. The projected behaviors of the virtual prototype based on the measured values of the model tests, where the input frequencies were calculated by the new method, showed good consistency, verifying the applicability of the suggested method.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.141-152
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• 2015

The objective of this study is to estimate shear wave velocity of rockfill materials by making practical use of the micro-earthquake records which are ordinarily obtained at a domestic rockfill dam and to verify its applicability. Micro-earthquake records were obtained at the site of Heongseong dam and Soyanggang dam, which are the existing multi-purpose dams in Korea. In the previous study, the fundamental periods of each dam were already evaluated by analyzing the response spectrum of the observed records. In this study, numerical analyses varying shear moduli of rockfill zone were carried out using the acceleration histories measured at the abutment as input ground motions. From comparison between the fundamental periods calculated by numerical analyses and measured records, the shear wave velocities with depth were estimated. It is found that the effect of different earthquake events on shear wave velocity estimation for the target dam materials is negligible and the shear wave velocity can be consistently evaluated. Furthermore, comparing the shear wave velocity with the previous researchers' empirical relationships and field test results, applicability of suggested method is verified. Therefore, in case that it is impossible to conduct field tests and estimation is preliminary, the suggested method can be practically used.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.619-629
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• 2013

The objective of this study is to estimate shear wave velocity of earth dam materials using artificially generated vibration from blasting events and to verify its applicability. In this study, the artificial blasting and vibration monitoring were carried out at the site adjacent to Seongdeok dam, which is the first blasting test for an existing dam in Korea. The vibrations were induced by 4 different types of blasting with various depths of blasting boreholes and explosive charge weights. During the tests, the acceleration time histories were recorded at the bedrock adjacent to the explosion and the crest of the dam. From frequency analyses of acceleration histories measured at the crest, the fundamental frequency of the target dam could be evaluated. Numerical analyses varying shear moduli of earth fill zone were carried out using the acceleration histories measured at the bedrock as input ground motions. From the comparison between the fundamental frequencies calculated by numerical analyses and measured records, the shear wave velocities with depth, which are closely related to shear moduli, could be determined. It is found that the effect of different blasting types on shear wave velocity estimation for the target dam materials is negligible and the shear wave velocity can be consistently evaluated. Furthermore, comparing the shear wave velocity with the previous researchers' empirical relationships, the applicability of suggested method is verified. Therefore, in case that the earthquake record is not available, the shear wave velocity of earth dam materials can be reasonably evaluated if blasting vibration test is allowed at the site adjacent to the dam.