• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.369-385
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• 2002

Ductility capacity is comprehensively studied for steel moment-resisting frames. Local, story and global ductility are being considered. An appropriate measure of global ductility is suggested. A time domain nonlinear seismic response algorithm is used to evaluate several definitions of ductility. It is observed that for one-story structures, resembling a single degree of freedom (SDOF) system, all definitions of global ductility seem to give reasonable values. However, for complex structures it may give unreasonable values. It indicates that using SDOF systems to estimate the ductility capacity may be a very crude approximation. For multi degree of freedom (MDOF) systems some definitions may not be appropriate, even though they are used in the profession. Results also indicate that the structural global ductility of 4, commonly used for moment-resisting steel frames, cannot be justified based on this study. The ductility of MDOF structural systems and the corresponding equivalent SDOF systems is studied. The global ductility values are very different for the two representations. The ductility reduction factor $F_{\mu}$ is also estimated. For a given frame, the values of the $F_{\mu}$ parameter significantly vary from one earthquake to another, even though the maximum deformation in terms of the interstory displacement is roughly the same for all earthquakes. This is because the $F_{\mu}$ values depend on the amount of dissipated energy, which in turn depends on the plastic mechanism, formed in the frames as well as on the loading, unloading and reloading process at plastic hinges. Based on the results of this study, the Newmark and Hall procedure to relate the ductility reduction factor and the ductility parameter cannot be justified. The reason for this is that SDOF systems were used to model real frames in these studies. Higher mode effects were neglected and energy dissipation was not explicitly considered. In addition, it is not possible to observe the formation of a collapse mechanism in the equivalent SDOF systems. Therefore, the ductility parameter and the force reduction factor should be estimated by using the MDOF representation.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.417-433
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• 2023

The maximum ductility and cumulative ductility of connection joints of Buckling-Restrained Braced Frames (BRBF) are critical to the structural overall performance, which should be matched with the BRB ductility. The two-story and one-span BRBF with a one-third scale was tested under cyclic quasi-static loading, and the top-flange beam splice (TFBS) rotational connections were proposed and adopted in BRBF. The deformation capacity of TFBS connections was observed during the test, and the relationship between structural global ductility and local connection ductility was studied. The rotational capacity of the beam-column connections and the stability performance of the BRBs are highly relevant to the structural overall performance. The hysteretic curves of BRBF are stable and full under large displacement demand imposed up to 2% story drift, and energy is dissipated as the large plastic deformation developed in the structural components. The BRBs acted as fuses and yielded first, and the cumulative plastic ductility (CPD) of BRBs is 972.6 of the second floor and 439.7 of the first floor, indicating the excellent energy dissipation capacity of BRBs. Structural members with good local ductility ensure the large global ductility of BRBF. The ductile capacity and hysteretic behavior of BRBF with TFBS connections were compared with those of BRBF with Reduced Beam Section (RBS) connections in terms of the experimental results.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.6 no.5
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• pp.509-525
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• 2018

In this paper the application of forging process as benefit technique in Reinforced Concrete (RC) beam bars and comparison to lap splices was experimentally investigated with four concrete beam specimens with same dimensions and reinforcement details. The reference specimen was with no splices and the other three beams were with different splices (100% forging in the middle, 50% forging, and 100% lap splices in the middle). Beams were tested with the four points load system. Experimental test results indicated that using forging process as new bar splicing method can have high effects on increasing ductility and energy dissipation of concrete structures. It also proved that this method increased the flexural rigidity, energy absorption, and ductility of the RC beams. And also this research results showed that the flexural capacity and ductility of the beam with 50% forging were respectively increased up to 10% and 75% comparing to that of reference specimen, but the energy absorption of this beams was decreased up to 27%. The ductility of beam with 50% forging was increased up to 25% comparing the ductility of beam with 100% forging.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.365-381
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• 2013

In this paper, a numerical simulation study was conducted on the seismic behavior and ductility demand of single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) systems with partially self-centering hysteresis. Unlike fully self-centering systems, partially self-centering systems display noticeable residual displacement after unloading is completed. Such partially self-centering behavior has been observed in a number of recently researched self-centering structural systems with energy dissipation devices. It is thus of interest to examine the seismic performance such as ductility demand of partially self-centering systems. In this study, a modified flag-shaped hysteresis model with residual displacement is proposed to represent the hysteretic behavior of partially self-centering structural systems. A parametric study considering the effect of variations in post-yield stiffness ratio, energy dissipation coefficient, and residual displacement ratio on the displacement ductility demand of partially self-centering systems was conducted using a suite of 192 scaled ground motions. The results of this parametric study reveal that increasing the post-yield stiffness, energy dissipation coefficient or residual displacement ratio of the partially self-centering systems generally leads to reduced ductility demand, especially for systems with lower yield strength.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.9
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• pp.2990-3002
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• 2021

The mechanical interaction between the fuel pellet and the cladding tube of a nuclear fuel rod is a very important for safety studies as this phenomenon could lead to fuel failure and release of radioactivity. To investigate the ductility of cladding tubes used in WWER type nuclear power plants, several mandrel tests were performed in the Centre for Energy Research (EK). This modified mandrel test was used to model the mechanical interaction between the fuel pellet and the cladding using a segmented tool. The tests were conducted at room temperature and at 300 ℃ with inactive as-received and hydrogenated cladding ring samples. The results show a gradual decrease in ductility as the hydrogen content increases, the ductile-brittle transition was seen above 1500 ppm hydrogen absorbed.

• Proceedings of the KSR Conference
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• 2005.05a
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• pp.712-717
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• 2005

When the weight if a concrete member makes problems, or when the cost of the concrete is relatively high, it may be economical to use a hollow concrete member. But a hollow R.C column may have poor ductility because of the brittle failure at the inner face of the hollow R.C column. This brittle failure results from the absence of the confinement at the inner face of the hollow R.C column. To avoid this brittle failure an internally confined hollow R.C column by a steel tube was developed before. In this study, a hollow R.C column is internally confined by a corrugated steel tube instead of a general flat steel tube. And a column ductility is performed. Test results show that the energy ductility ratio of a internally confined hollow R.C column by a by a corrugated steel tube corresponds to $80\%$ of the energy ductility ratio of a general solid R.C column.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.159-172
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• 2009

Two prestressed steel reinforced high performance concrete (SRC) beams, a nonprestressed SRC beam and a counterpart prestressed concrete beam were tested under low reversed cyclic loading to evaluate seismic performance of prestressed SRC beams. The failure modes, deformation restoring capacity, ductility and energy dissipation capacity of the prestressed SRC beams were discussed. Results showed that due to the effect of plastic deformations of steel beams encased in concrete, the three SRC beams exhibited residual deformation ratios ranging between 0.64 and 0.79, which were apparently higher than that of the prestressed concrete beam (0.33). The ductility coefficients of the prestressed SRC beams and the prestressed concrete beam ranged between 4.65 and 4.87, obviously lower than that of nonprestressed SRC beam (9.09), which indicated the steel beams influenced the ductility little while prestressing resulted in an apparent reduction in ductility. The amount of energy dissipated by the prestressed SRC beams was less than that dissipated by the nonprestressed SRC beam but much more than that dissipated by the prestressed concrete beam.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.917-937
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• 2015

During a seismic event, a considerable amount of energy is input into a structure. The law of energy conservation imposes the restriction that energy must either be absorbed or dissipated by the structure. Recent earthquakes have shown that the use of concentric bracing system with their low ductility and low energy dissipation capacity, causes permanent damage to structures during intense earthquakes. Hence, engineers are looking at bracing system with higher ductility, such as chevron and eccentric braces. However, braced frame would not be easily repaired if serious damage has occured during a strong earthquake. In order to solve this problem, a new bracing system an off-centre bracing system with higher ductility and higher energy dissipation capacity, is considered. In this paper, some numerical studies have been performed using ANSYS software on a frame with off-centre bracing system with optimum eccentricity and circular element created, called OBS_C_O model. In addition, other steel frame with diagonal bracing system and the same circular element is created, called DBS_C model. Furthermore, linear and nonlinear behavior of these steel frames are compared in order to introduce a new way of optimum performance for these dissipating elements. The obtained results revealed that using a ductile element or circular dissipater for increasing the ductility of off-centre bracing system and centric bracing system is useful. Finally, higher ductility and more energy dissipation led to more appropriate behavior in the OBS_C_O model compared to DBS_C model.

• International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.115-122
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• 2008

Ductility is important in the design of reinforced concrete structures. In seismic design of reinforced concrete members, it is necessary to allow for relatively large ductility so that the seismic energy is absorbed to avoid shear failure or significant degradation of strength even after yielding of reinforcing steels in the concrete member occurs. Therefore, prediction of the ductility should be as accurate as possible. The principal aim of this paper is to present the basic data for the ductility evaluation of reinforced high-strength concrete beams. Accordingly, 23 flexural tests were conducted on full-scale structural concrete beam specimens having concrete compressive strength of 40, 60, and 70MPa. The test results were then reviewed in terms of flexural capacity and ductility. The effect of concrete compressive strength, web reinforcement ratio, tension steel ratio, and shear span to beam depth ratio on ductility were investigated experimentally.

• Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
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• 2005.03a
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• pp.121-128
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• 2005

In this study the influences of ground motion characteristics and structural properties on energy demands were evaluated using 100 earthquake ground motions recorded in different soil conditions, and the results were compared with those of previous works. Results show that ductility ratios and the site conditions have significant influence on input energy. The ratio of hysteretic to input energy is considerably influenced by the ductility ratio and damping ratio, while site condition has minor effects.