• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.121-128
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• 2021

Structures of domestic nuclear power plants are designed to perform elastic behavior against beyond design earthquakes, but studies on the nonlinear behavior of structures have been insufficient since the beyond design earthquake. Accordingly, it is judged that it will be necessary to develop an evaluation method that considers the nonlinear behavioral characteristics to check the safety margin for a standard nuclear power plant structure. It is confirmed that the restoring force characteristics for each member level can be identified through the calculation formula, and the lateral stiffness for each story can also be easily calculated by JEAC 4601. In addition, as a result of applying the evaluation method of JEAC 4601 as a nonlinear restoring force model of the nuclear power plant, a certain degree of safety margin can be identified.

• Coupled systems mechanics
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.461-479
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• 2023

The paper deals with the finite element modelling of the free vibration and structural behavior of a particular four-floor reinforced concrete structure subjected to static equivalent seismic loads and supported by a shallow foundation system called SNSF (Spider Net System Footing). The two FE models are a simple 2D Matlab model and a detailed 3D model based on solid elastic elements using Altairworks (Hypermesh and Optistruct). Both models can simulate the soil structure interaction. We concentrate on the behavior of a representative cell involving two columns on five levels. The influence of the boundary conditions on the external vertical planes of the domain are duly studied. The Matlab model appears relevant for a primary estimation of frequencies and stiffness of the whole structure under vertical and lateral loads.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.273-286
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• 2020

The pile group foundation is widely used for gravity pier of high-speed railway bridges in China. If a moderate or strong earthquake occurs, the pile-surrounding soil will exhibit obvious nonlinearity and significant pile group effect. In this study, an improved pushover analysis model for the pile group foundation with consideration of pile group effect is presented and validated by the quasi-static test. The improved model uses simplified springs to simulate the soil lateral resistance, side friction and tip resistance. PM (axial load-bending moment) plastic hinge model is introduced to simulate the impact of the axial force changing of pile group on their elastic-plastic characteristics. The pile group effect is considered in stress-stain relations of the lateral soil resistance with a reduction factor. The influence factors on nonlinear characteristics and plastic hinge distribution of the pile group foundation are discussed, including the pier height, longitudinal reinforcement ratio and stirrup ratio of the pile, and soil mechanical parameters. Furthermore, the displacement ductility factor, resistance increase factor and yielding stiffness ratio are provided to evaluate the seismic performance of soil-pile system. A case study for the pile group foundation of a railway simply supported beam bridge with a 32 m-span is conducted by numerical analysis. It is shown that the ultimate lateral force of pile group is not determined by the yielding force of the single one in these piles. Therefore, the pile group effect is essential for the seismic performance evaluation of the railway bridge with pile group foundation.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.519-530
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• 2013

Cyclic tests on modular building units for low-rise buildings composed of stud panels and a light-weight steel perimeter frame, were performed to evaluate the earthquake resistance such as stiffness, load-carrying capacity, ductility, and energy dissipation per load cycle. The strap-braced and sheeted stud panels were used as the primary lateral load-resistant element of the modular building units. Test results showed that the modular building units using the strap-braced and sheeted stud panels exhibited excellent post-yield ductile behaviors. The maximum drift ratios were greater than 5.37% and the displacement ductility ratios were greater than 5.76. However, the energy dissipation per load cycle was poor due to severe pinching during cyclic loading. Nominal strength, stiffness, and yield displacement of the modular building units were predicted based on plastic mechanisms. The predictions reasonably and conservatively correlated with the test results. However, the elastic stiffness of the strap-braced stud panel was significantly overestimated. For conservative design, the elastic stiffness of the strap-braced stud panel needs be decreased to 50% of the nominal value.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2010.03a
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• pp.188-197
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• 2010

This paper presents experimental results of a series of 1-g shaking table model tests performed on end-bearing single piles and pile groups to investigate the effect of particle size on the dynamic behavior of soil-pile systems. Two soil-pile models consisting of a single-pile and a $4{\times}2$-pile group were tested twice; first using Jumoonjin sand, and second using Australian Fine sand, which has a smaller particle size. In the case of single-pile models, the lateral displacement was almost within 1% of pile diameter which corresponds to the elastic range of the pile. The back-calculated p-y curves show that the subgrade reaction of the Jumoonjin-sand-model ground was larger than that of the Australian Fine-sand-model ground at the same displacement. This phenomenon means that the stress-strain behavior of Jumoonjin sand was initially stiffer than that of Australian Fine sand. This difference was also confirmed by resonant column tests and compression triaxial tests. And the single pile p-y backbone curves of the Australian fine sand were constructed and compared with those of the Jumoonjin sand. As a result, the stiffness of the p-y backbone curves of Jumunjin sand was larger than those of Australian fine sand. Therefore, using the same p-y curves regardless of particle size can lead to inaccurate results when evaluating dynamic behavior of soil-pile system. In the case of the group-pile models, the lateral displacement was much larger than the elastic range of pile movement at the same test conditions in the single-pile models. The back-calculated p-y curves in the case of group pile models were very similar in both sands because the stiffness difference between the Jumoonjin-sand-model ground and the Australian Fine-sand-model ground was not significantly large at a large strain level, where both sands showed non-linear behavior. According to a series of single pile and group pile test results, the evaluation group pile effect using the p-multiplier can lead to inaccurate results on dynamic behavior of soil-pile system.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.667-685
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• 2018

In eccentrically braced steel frames (EBFs), the links are fuse members which enter inelastic phase before other structure members and dissipate the seismic energy. Based on the force-based seismic design method, damages and plastic deformations are limited to the links, and the main structure members are required tremendous sizes to ensure elastic with limited or no damage. Force-based seismic design method is very common and is found in most design codes, it is unable to determine the inelastic response of the structure and the damages of the members. Nowadays, methods of seismic design are emphasizing more on performance-based seismic design concept to have a more realistic assessment of the inelastic response of the structure. Links use ordinary steel Q345 (the nominal yielding strength $f_y{\geq}345MPa$) while other members use high strength steel (Q460 $f_y{\geq}460MPa$ or Q690 $f_y{\geq}690MPa$) in eccentrically braced frames with high strength steel combination (HSS-EBFs). The application of high strength steels brings out many advantages, including higher safety ensured by higher strength in elastic state, better economy which results from the smaller member size and structural weight as well as the corresponding welding work, and most importantly, the application of high strength steel in seismic fortification zone, which is helpful to popularize the extensive use of high strength steel. In order to comparison seismic behavior between HSS-EBFs and ordinary EBFs, on the basis of experimental study, four structures with 5, 10, 15 and 20 stories were designed by PBSD method for HSS-EBFs and ordinary EBFs. Nonlinear static and dynamic analysis is applied to all designs. The loading capacity, lateral stiffness, ductility and story drifts and failure mode under rare earthquake of the designs are compared. Analyses results indicated that HSS-EBFs have similar loading capacity with ordinary EBFs while the lateral stiffness and ductility of HSS-EBFs is lower than that of EBFs. HSS-EBFs and ordinary EBFs designed by PBSD method have the similar failure mode and story drift distribution under rare earthquake, the steel weight of HSS-EBFs is 10%-15% lower than ordinary EBFs resulting in good economic efficiency.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.12 no.5 s.48
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• pp.527-535
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• 2000

Accurate determination of the relative restraint of beam-to-column connections is important for both the strength and the serviceability of structural frames. But steel frame analysis is carried out under the assumption that the connections are either fixed or pinned. Overestimating the connection restraint can result in underestimating lateral sway and underestimating the connection restraint can lead to underestimating forces developed in the beams and columns. This implies that the exact stiffness of connections as well as the geometric effects should be considered in the frame analysis and the overall behavior of connections could be described adequately. Therefore, the stiffness matrix which is able to consider the moment-rotation of connection was derived previously and the modified exponential model, power model and the proposed log model are adopted for modeling the semi-rigid connections. The main purpose of this study is to examine the feasibility of the derived stiffness matrix and to show the validity of log model proposed.

• Geotechnical Engineering
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.63-78
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• 1996

Various type of in-situ and laboratary tests were performed in order to evaluate the stiffness of sedimentary soft rock. In triaxial compression tests of sedimentary soft rocks, axial strains from the axial displacement of the loading piston or specimen cap conventionally were considerably larger than those measured. tocally on the lateral surfaces of specimen, due to the bedding errors at the top and bottom ends of a specimen. A local deformation transducer was used to measure axial strains free from the bedding error ranging from 0.001% to about 1%. In ultra-sonic wave tests, the elastic modulus of unconfined spec imens was smaller than that of confined specimens, due probably to microfracks. Young's modulus Ed from ultra-sonic wave tests and those at small local strains from triaxial tests were similar, both of which agreed very well with Young's modulus Er from field shear wave velocities. Young'a modulus from the field behaviour was virtually similar to that obtained by reducing Er based on the strain level-dependency of stiffness evaluated by the triaxial tests.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.397-407
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• 2017

To estimate the structural seismic demand, some methods are based on an equivalent linear system such as the Capacity Spectrum Method, the N2 method and the Equivalent Linearization method. Another category, widely investigated, is based on displacement correction such as the Displacement Coefficient Method and the Coefficient Method. Its basic concept consists in converting the elastic linear displacement of an equivalent Single Degree of Freedom system (SDOF) into a corresponding inelastic displacement. It relies on adequate modifying or reduction coefficient such as the inelastic deformation ratio which is usually developed for systems with known ductility factors ($C_{\mu}$) and ($C_R$) for known yield-strength reduction factor. The present paper proposes a rational approach which estimates this inelastic deformation ratio for SDOF bilinear systems by rigorous nonlinear analysis. It proposes a new inelastic deformation ratio which unifies and combines both $C_{\mu}$ and $C_R$ effects. It is defined by the ratio between the inelastic and elastic maximum lateral displacement demands. Three options are investigated in order to express the inelastic response spectra in terms of: ductility demand, yield strength reduction factor, and inelastic deformation ratio which depends on the period, the post-to-preyield stiffness ratio, the yield strength and the peak ground acceleration. This new inelastic deformation ratio ($C_{\eta}$) is describes the response spectra and is related to the capacity curve (pushover curve): normalized yield strength coefficient (${\eta}$), post-to-preyield stiffness ratio (${\alpha}$), natural period (T), peak ductility factor (${\mu}$), and the yield strength reduction factor ($R_y$). For illustrative purposes, instantaneous ductility demand and yield strength reduction factor for a SDOF system subject to various recorded motions (El-Centro 1940 (N/S), Boumerdes: Algeria 2003). The method accuracy is investigated and compared to classical formulations, for various hysteretic models and values of the normalized yield strength coefficient (${\eta}$), post-to-preyield stiffness ratio (${\alpha}$), and natural period (T). Though the ductility demand and yield strength reduction factor differ greatly for some given T and ${\eta}$ ranges, they remain take close when ${\eta}>1$, whereas they are equal to 1 for periods $T{\geq}1s$.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.145-171
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• 2015

Due to earthquakes, many structures suffered extensive damages that were attributed to the torsional effect caused by mass, stiffness or strength eccentricity. Due to this type of asymmetry torsional moments are generated that are imposed by means of additional shear forces developed at the vertical resisting structural elements of the buildings. Although the torsional effect on the response of reinforced concrete buildings was the subject of extensive research over the last decades, a quantitative index measuring the amplification of the shear forces developed at the vertical resisting elements due to lateral-torsional coupling valid for both elastic and elastoplastic response states is still missing. In this study a reliable index capable of assessing the torsional effect is proposed. The performance of the proposed index is evaluated and its correlation with structural response quantities like displacements, interstorey drift, base torque, shear forces and upper diaphragm's rotation is presented. Torsionally stiff, mass eccentric single-story and multistory structures, subjected to bidirectional excitation, are considered and nonlinear dynamic analyses are performed using natural records selected for three hazard levels. It was found that the proposed index provides reliable prediction of the magnitude of torsional effect for all test examples considered.