• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.533-543
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• 2019

This paper presents a study on the behavior of an RC bridge under near-field and far-field ground motions. For this purpose, a dynamic nonlinear finite element time history analysis has been conducted. The near-field and far-field records are chosen pairwise from the same events which are fits to the seismic design of the bridge. In order to perform an accurate seismic evaluation, the model has been analyzed under two vertical and horizontal components of ground motions. Parameters of relative displacement, residual displacement, and maximum plastic strain have been considered and compared in terms of near-field and far-field ground motions. In the following, in order to decrease the undesirable effects of near-field ground motions, a viscous damper is suggested and its effects have been studied. In this case, the results show that the near-field ground motions increase maximum relative and residual displacement respectively up to three and twice times. Significant seismic improvements were achieved by using viscous dampers on the bridge model. Somehow under the considered near-field ground motion, parameters of residual and relative displacement decrease dramatically even less than the model without damper under the far-field record of the same ground motion.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.62 no.4
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• pp.497-506
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• 2017

A low damage self-centering braced frame equipped with post-tensioning strands is capable of directing damage to replaceable butterfly-shaped fuses. This paper investigates the seismic performance of rocking braced frame under near-field pulse-like ground motions compared to far-field records. A non-linear time history analysis is performed for twelve self-centering archetypes. A sensitivity analysis is carried out to examine the influences of ground motion types and modeling parameters. Findings represent the proper efficiency of the self-centering system under both far-field and near-field pulse-like ground motions.

• Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
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• 2003.03a
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• pp.69-76
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• 2003

Near-field ground motions exhibit special characteristics that are different from ordinary far-field ground motions. This paper first briefly examines the characteristics of near-field ground motions associated with fault directivity and fling-step effects. Then evaluation of near-field ground motions by inelatstic response spectrum analysis is performed and analyzed. As a result, ductility demand in near-field ground motions is larger in hanging wall than in foot wall in long period regions. Also in long period regions ductility demand in soil site is larger than that in rock site.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.399-409
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• 2018

The dynamic response and seismic damage of single-layer reticulated shells in the near field of a rupturing fault can be different from those in the far field due to the different characteristics in the ground motions. To investigate the effect, the dynamic response and seismic damage of this spatial structures subjected to two different ground motions were numerically studied by nonlinear dynamic response analysis. Firstly, twelve seismic waves with an apparent velocity pulse, including horizontal and vertical seismic waves, were selected to represent the near-fault ground motion characteristics. In contrast, twelve seismic records recorded at the same site from other or same events where the epicenter was far away from the site were employed as the far-fault ground motions. Secondly, the parametric modeling process of Kiewitt single-layer reticulated domes using the finite-element package ANSYS was described carefully. Thirdly, a nonlinear time-history response analysis was carried out for typical domes subjected to different earthquakes, followed by analyzing the dynamic response and seismic damage of this spatial structures under two different ground motions based on the maximum nodal displacements and Park-Ang index as well as dissipated energy. The results showed that this spatial structures in the near field of a rupturing fault exhibit a larger dynamic response and seismic damage than those obtained from far-fault ground motions. In addition, the results also showed that the frequency overlap between structures and ground motions has a significant influence on the dynamic response of the single-layer reticulated shells, the duration of the ground motions has little effects.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.625-635
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• 2020

Suspension bridges have the extended in plan configuration which makes them prone to dynamic events like earthquake. The longer span lead to more flexibility and slender of them. So, control systems seem to be essential in order to protect them against ground motion excitation. Tuned mass damper or in brief TMD is a passive control system that its efficiency is practically proven. Moreover, its parameters i.e. mass ratio, tuning frequency and damping ratio can be optimized in a manner providing the best performance. Meta-heuristic optimization algorithm is a powerful tool to gain this aim. In this study, TMD parameters are optimized in different-length suspension bridges in three distinct cases including 3, 4 and 5 TMDs by observer-teacher-learner based algorithm under a complete set of ground motions formed from both near-field and far-field instances. The Vincent Thomas, Tacoma Narrows and Golden Gate suspension bridges are selected for case studies as short, mean and long span ones, respectively. The results indicate that All cases of used TMDs result in response reduction and case 4TMD can be more suitable for bridges in near and far-field conditions.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.443-456
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• 2021

Structural design of the vertical displacements and shear strains in the earth fill (EF) dams has great importance in the structural engineering problems. Moreover, far fault earthquakes have significant seismic effects on seismic damage performance of EF dams like the near fault earthquakes. For this reason, three dimensional (3D) earthquake damage performance of Oroville dam is assessed considering different far-fault ground motions in this study. Oroville Dam was built in United States of America-California and its height is 234.7 m (770 ft.). 3D model of Oroville dam is modelled using FLAC3D software based on finite difference approach. In order to represent interaction condition between discrete surfaces, special interface elements are used between dam body and foundation. Non-reflecting seismic boundary conditions (free field and quiet) are defined to the main surfaces of the dam for the nonlinear seismic analyses. 6 different far-fault ground motions are taken into account for the full reservoir condition of Oroville dam. According to nonlinear seismic analysis results, the effects of far-fault ground motions on the nonlinear seismic settlement and shear strain behaviour of Oroville EF dam are determined and evaluated in detail. It is clearly seen that far-fault earthquakes have very significant seismic effects on the settlement-shear strain behaviour of EF dams and these earthquakes create vital important seismic damages on the swelling behaviour of dam body surface. Moreover, it is proposed that far-fault ground motions should not be ignored while modelling EF dams.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.1-15
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• 2019

In the structures with high level of ductility, the earthquake energy dissipation in structural components is an important factor that describes their seismic behavior. Since the connection details play a major role in the ductile behavior of structure, in this paper, the seismic response of 3-, 5- and 8-story steel special moment frames (SMFs) is investigated by considering the effects of panel zone modeling and the influence of forward-directivity near-field ground motions. To provide a reasonable comparison, selected records of both near and far-field are used in the nonlinear time-history analysis of models. The results of the comparison of the median maximum inter-story drift under excitation by near-field (NF) records and the far-field (FF) ground motions show that the inter-story drift demands can be obtained 3.47, 4.86 and 5.92 times in 3-, 5- and 8-story structures, respectively, undergoing near-field earthquakes.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.73 no.6
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• pp.651-666
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• 2020

In this study, the spatial variation mechanisms of large far-field earthquakes at engineering scales are first investigated with data from the 2008 Ms 8.0 Wenchuan earthquake. And a novel 'coherency cut-off frequency' is proposed to distinguish the spatial variations in ground motions in the low-frequency and high-frequency ranges. Then, a practical piecewise coherency model is developed to estimate and characterize the spatial variation in earthquake ground motions, including the effects of source-to-site distances, site conditions and neighboring topography on these variations. Four particular earthquake records from dense seismograph arrays are used to investigate values of the coherency cut-off frequency for different source-to-site distances. On the basis of this analysis, the model is established to simulate the spatial variations, whose parameters are suitable for both near- and far-field earthquake conditions. Simulations are conducted to validate the proposed model and method. The results show that compared to the existing models, the proposed model provides an effective method for simulating the spatial correlations of ground motions at local sites with known source-to-site distances.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.1391-1404
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• 2016

Peninsular Malaysia lying on the stable Sunda Plate has traditionally been considered safe with low to moderate seismicity. However, far field Sumatran mega-earthquakes have been shown to be capable of triggering ground motions felt in high rise structures in the major Malaysian cities while seismic impact from local earthquakes of moment magnitude 3.8 have reportedly induced nominal structural damages to nearby buildings. This paper presents an overview of the recent seismic activities in and around Peninsular Malaysia with reference to prominent earthquakes generated by far field interplate and local intraplate sources. Records of ground motion data and seismic hazard assessment (SHA) results available in the literature have been analyzed and discussed. The peak ground acceleration (PGA) values from historical records for few local intraplate events were observed to be higher than those for the events from Sumatran Subduction Zone. This clearly points to the need for a detailed and comprehensive SHA incorporating both far field and local sources. Such an analysis would contribute the knowledge required for secure and reliable infrastructure design and safeguard the Malaysian people and economy.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.53-64
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• 2022

This study proposes an intelligent semi-active isolation system combining a variable-stiffness control device and ground motion characteristic prediction. To determine the optimal control parameter in real-time, a genetic algorithm (GA)-fuzzy control law was developed in this study. Data on various types of ground motions were collected, and the ground motion characteristics were quantified to derive a near-fault (NF) characteristic ratio by employing an on-site earthquake early warning system. On the basis of the peak ground acceleration (PGA) and the derived NF ratio, a fuzzy inference system (FIS) was developed. The control parameters were optimized using a GA. To support continuity under near-fault and far-field ground motions, the optimal control parameter was linked with the predicted PGA and NF ratio through the FIS. The GA-fuzzy law was then compared with other control laws to verify its effectiveness. The results revealed that the GA-fuzzy control law could reliably predict different ground motion characteristics for real-time control because of the high sensitivity of its control parameter to the ground motion characteristics. Even under near-fault and far-field ground motions, the GA-fuzzy control law outperformed the FPEEA control law in terms of controlling the isolation layer displacement and the superstructure acceleration.