• International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.743-754
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• 2020

This study provides an insight of the nonlinear behavior of the Offshore Wind Turbine (OWT) structure using the distributed plasticity approach. The fiber section beam-column element is applied to construct the finite element model. The accuracy of the proposed model is verified using linear analysis via the comparison of the dynamic characteristics. For collapse risk assessment of OWT, the nonlinear effects considering the earthquake Incident Angle (IA) have been evaluated first. Then, the Incremental Dynamic Analysis (IDA) has been executed using a set of 20 near-fault records. Lastly, fragility curves are developed to evaluate the vulnerability of structures for different limit states. Attained results justify the accuracy of the proposed approach for the structural response against the ground motions and other environmental loads. It indicates that effects of static wind and wave loads along with the earthquake loads should be considered during the risk assessment of the OWT structure.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.78 no.5
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• pp.637-649
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• 2021

Great efforts have been conducted to investigate the seismic performances of the arch and rectangular underground structures, however, the differences between seismic responses of these two types of underground structures, especially the vault radian influencing the seismic responses of arch structures are not clarified. This paper presents a detailed numerical investigation on the seismic responses of arch underground structures with different vault radians, and aims to illustrate the rule that vault radian affects the seismic responses of underground structures. Five arch underground structures are built for nonlinear soil-structure interaction analysis. The internal forces of the structural components of the underground structures only under gravity are discussed detailedly, and an optimum vault radian for perfect load-carrying functionality of arch underground structures is suggested. Then the structures are analyzed under seven scaled ground motions, amounting to a total of 35 dynamic calculations. The numerical results show that the vault radian can have beneficial effects on the seismic response of the arch structure, compared to the rectangular underground structures, causing the central columns to suffer smaller axial force and horizontal deformation. The conclusions provide some directive suggestions for the seismic design of the arch underground structures.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.8
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• pp.2974-2988
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• 2022

Implementation of component isolation in nuclear industry is challenging due to gaps in research and the lack of specific guidelines. In this study, parameters affecting component-level isolation of advanced reactor vessels are identified based on a representative numerical model with explicit consideration of nonlinear soil-structure interaction (SSI). The objective of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of, and to identify potential limitations of using conventional friction pendulum bearings to seismically isolate vessels. It is found that slender vessels or components are particularly vulnerable to rotational accelerations at the isolation interface, which are caused by rotation of the sub-structure and by excitation of higher modes in the horizontal direction of the seismically isolated system. Component isolation is found to be more effective for relatively stiffer vessels and at sites with stiff soil. Considering that conventional isolators are deficient in resisting axial tension, it is observed that the optimum location for supporting a component to achieve seismic isolation, is at a cross-sectional plane passing through the center of mass of the vessel. These findings are corroborated by numerous simulations of the response of seismically isolated reactor vessels at different nuclear power plant sites subject to a variety of ground motions.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.375-388
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• 2022

Nibellen structural system is a novel resilient bracing system based on the application of Bellville disks and Nitinol rods. The cyclic behavior of Nibellen assembly was obtained, and the design equations were developed based on the available literature. Seismic performance of the system was then studied analytically. Two groups of buildings with different lateral force resisting systems were designed and studied: one group with the Nibellen system, and the other with the special concentrically braced frame system. Each building group consisted of 5-, 10-, and 15-story buildings. The Design-Base-Event (DBE) and Maximum Considered Event (MCE) were considered as the seismic hazard, and a suite of seven ground motions were scaled accordingly for response history analyses. Finally, the resiliency of the buildings was studied by obtaining the functionality curve of the buildings before and after the seismic event. The construction cost of the 5-story building with Nibellen bracing system increased but the post-earthquake cost decreased significantly. The application of Nibellen system in the 10- and 15-story buildings reduced both the construction and repair costs, considerably. Resiliency of all the buildings was improved when Nibellen system was used as the lateral force resisting system.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.467-488
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• 2023

Seismic retrofit of an existing steel-reinforced concrete hospital building that features innovative use of a continuous energy-dissipative steel column (CEDC) system is presented in this paper. The special system has been adopted to provide an efficient solution taking into account the difficulties of applying traditional intervention techniques to minimize the impact on architectural functionality and avoid the loss of building function and evacuation during the retrofit implementation. The lateral stiffness and strength of the CEDC system were defined based on the geometric and mechanical properties of the steel strip dampers. The hysteretic behavior under cyclic loadings was defined using a simplified numerical model. Its effectiveness was validated by comparing the results of full-scale experimental data available from the literature. All the main design considerations of the retrofitting plan are described in detail. The effectiveness of the proposed retrofitting system was demonstrated by nonlinear time-history analyses under different sets of earthquake-strong ground motions. The analysis results show that the CEDC system is effective in controlling the deformation pattern and significantly reducing damage to the existing structure during major earthquakes.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.231-243
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• 2022

The earthquake with a magnitude of Mw 6.8, which occurred on January 24, 2020, hit Sivrice (Elazığ) province of Turkey. The earthquake area takes place on the East Anatolian Fault Zone (EAFZ) located between the Arabian and Turkish plates, one of the most active seismic regions in Turkey. According to the Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency of Turkey (AFAD), 584 buildings collapsed, 6845 were heavily damaged, 1207 were moderately damaged, and 14389 were slightly damaged. The authors went to the region of earthquake after the mainshock to investigate the earthquake performances of masonry buildings. This paper presents the seismological aspects of the earthquake, acceleration records, and response spectra with different damping ratios. Furthermore, some typical damages and failure mechanisms on masonry buildings like rubble stone dwellings and minarets are discussed with illustrative photos. Although many major earthquakes have occurred in the region, similar mistakes are still being made in masonry building construction. In consequence, some suggestions viewpoint of the wooden tie beams, the corner details of masonry walls, the door and window openings, the metal fasteners and the earthquake codes are made to be more careful in masonry constructions at the end of the article.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.1-11
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• 2007

This paper verifies the difference of the seismic behavior and seismic damage of the neighboring two reinforced concrete piers damaged by the 1995 Hyogoken Nanbu earthquake. The two piers were almost the same size, carrying slightly different dead load, and were provided with the same reinforcement arrangement except the amount of longitudinal reinforcement at the bottom portion of the piers. The pier with more reinforcement was completely collapsed due to this near field earthquake by shear failure at the longitudinal reinforcement cut-off while the other was only damaged at the bottom by flexure even though the longitudinal reinforcement cut-off was also existed at the mid height of the pier. According to the results of the pseudo dynamic test, the seismic damage was recognized to be greatly dependent on the ground motion characteristics even though the employed ground motions had the same peak acceleration. The severe damage was observed when the test employed the seismic wave that had strong influence to the longer period range compared to the initial natural period of the pier. On the other hand, based on the similar model experiment, the defect of gas-pressure welded splice of longitudinal reinforcement was revealed to save the piers against collapse due to the so-called fail-safe mechanism contrary to the intuitive opinion of some researchers. It was concluded that the primary cause of the collapse of the pier was the extremely strong intensity and peculiar characteristics of the earthquake motion according to both the site-specific and the structure-specific effects.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.76 no.2
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• pp.251-267
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• 2020

Transmission tower-line systems have come to represent one of the most important infrastructures in today's society. Recent strong earthquakes revealed that transmission tower-line systems are vulnerable to earthquake excitations, and that ground motions may arrive at such structures from any direction during an earthquake event. Considering these premises, this paper presents experimental and numerical studies on the dynamic responses of a 1000 kV ultrahigh-voltage (UHV) transmission tower-line system under different seismic incidence angles. Specifically, a 1:25 reduced-scale experimental prototype model is designed and manufactured, and a series of shaking table tests are carried out. The influence of the seismic incidence angle on the dynamic structural response is discussed based on the experimental data. Additionally, the incidence angles corresponding to the maximum peak displacement of the top of the tower relative to the ground (referred to herein as the critical seismic incidence angles) are summarized. The experimental results demonstrate that seismic incidence angle has a significant influence on the dynamic responses of transmission tower-line systems. Subsequently, an approximation method is employed to orient the critical seismic incidence angle, and a corresponding finite element (FE) analysis is carried out. The angles obtained from the approximation method are compared with those acquired from the numerical simulation and shaking table tests, and good agreement is observed. The results demonstrate that the approximation method can properly predict the critical seismic incidence angles of transmission tower-line systems. This research enriches the available experimental data and provides a simple and convenient method to assess the seismic performance of UHV transmission systems.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.940-947
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• 2018

The purpose of this study was to obtain data to support applied motions of bench press and to provide basic data for the efficient execution of the exercise by analyzing muscular activation through measuring electromyogram of pectoralis major and erector spinae when flat bench pressing with feet on the ground versus feet on the bench. For this study, 4 amateur bodybuilders and 2 health trainers were chosen as subjects. Surface electrodes were attached on the measuring muscles; pectoralis major and erector spinae. Motion phases were defined for the flat bench press and each subject, with a 10RM load, performed a set with feet on the ground and another set with feet on the bench. Data was analyzed in SPSS 20.0 and the following results were obtained. The placement of the feet did not affect the muscular activation of the pectoralis major during the flat bench press. however, the muscular activation of the erector spinae was different between the two positions.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.193-202
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• 2018

This paper studied the probability of pounding occurred between decks and abutments of a long span high-pier continuous rigid fame bridge subjected to ground motions with local soil effect. A pounding probability analysis methodology has been proposed using peak acceleration at bedrock as intensity measure (IM) for multi-support seismic analysis. The bridge nonlinear finite element (FE) models was built with four different separation distances. Effect of actual site condition and non-uniform spatial soil profiles on seismic wave propagating from bedrock to ground surface is modelled. Pounding probability of the high-pier bridge under multi-support seismic excitations (MSSE) is analyzed based on the nonlinear incremental dynamic analysis (n-IDA). Pounding probability results under uniform excitations (UE) without actual local site effect are compared with that under MSSE with site effect. The study indicates that the required design separation length between deck and abutment under uniform excitations is larger than that under MSSE as the peak acceleration at bedrock increases. As the increase of both separation distance between deck and abutment and the peak acceleration, the probability of pounding occurred at a single abutment or at two abutments simultaneously under MSSE is less than that under UE. It is of great significance considering actual local site effect for determining the separation distance between deck and abutment through the probability pounding analysis of the high-pier bridge under MSSE.