• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.7 no.6
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• pp.955-967
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• 2014

Storage racks are used worldwide in industries and commercial outlets due to the advantage of lighter, faster erection and easy alteration of pallet level as required. The studies to understand the behaviour of cold formed steel pallet racks, under seismic action is one of the emerging area of research. The rack consists of perforated uprights and beams with hook-in end connector, which enables the floor height adjustments. The dynamic characteristics of these racks are not well established. This paper presents the dynamic characteristics of 3-D single bay two storey pallet rack system with hook-in end connectors, which is tested on shake table. The sweep sine test and El Centro earthquake acceleration is used to evaluate the seismic performance of the cold formed steel pallet racks. Also an attempt is made to evaluate the realistic dynamic characteristics by using STAAD Pro software. Modal analysis is performed by incorporating the effective moment of inertia of the upright, which considers the effect of presence of perforations and rotational stiffness of the beam-to-upright connection to determine the realistic fundamental frequency of pallet racks, which is required for carrying out the seismic design. Finite element model of the perforated upright section has been developed as a cantilever beam through which effective moment of inertia is evaluated. The stiffness of the hook-in connector is taken from the previous study by Prabha et al. (2010). The results from modal analysis are in good agreement with the respective experimental results.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.151-162
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• 2017

In practical engineering, the friction damper is a widely used energy dissipation device because of its large deformation capacity, stable energy dissipation capability, and cost effectiveness. While based on conventional friction dampers, the double-sliding friction damper (DSFD) being proposed is different in that it features two sliding friction forces, i.e., small and large sliding friction forces, rather than a single-sliding friction force of ordinary friction dampers. The DSFD starts to deform when the force sustained exceeds the small-sliding friction force, and stops deforming when the deformation reaches a certain value. If the force sustained exceeds the large sliding friction force, it continues to deform. Such a double-sliding behavior is expected to endow structures equipped with the DSFD better performance in both small and large earthquakes. The configuration and working mechanism of the DSFD is described and analyzed. Quasi-static loading tests and finite element analyses were conducted to investigate its hysteretic behavior. Finally, time history analysis of the single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) and multi-degree-of-freedom (MDOF) systems were performed to investigate the seismic performance of DSFD-equipped structures. For the purpose of comparison, tests on systems equipped with conventional friction dampers were also performed. The proposed DSFD can be realized perfectly, and the DSFD-equipped structures provide better performances than those equipped with conventional friction dampers in terms of interstory drift and floor acceleration. In particular, for the MDOF system, the DSFD helps the structural system to have a uniform distributed interstory drift.

• Journal of Korean Association for Spatial Structures
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.65-74
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• 2010

In this study, the vibration control effect according to the installation location of the sky-bridge and the difference of natural periods of the connected buildings has been investigated. To this end, 40-story and 50-story building structures connected by a sky-bridge were used as example structures and the equivalent modeling method was used. Boundary nonlinear time history analyses were performed using El Centro and Taft earthquakes to investigate the dynamic behavior of the example structures and vibration control effect of the sky-bridge. Based on numerical results, it has been shown that displacement responses can be effectively controlled as the installation floor of the sky-bridge increases and acceleration responses can be effectively reduced when the sky-bridge is installed on the mid-stories of the example building.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Railway
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.203-211
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• 2015

Ride comfort of a vehicle can be utilized to maintain the track geometry and track irregularities because ride comfort of the rolling stock is affected by the characteristics of the vehicle and track. Ride comfort was evaluated according to the measured floor acceleration data of vehicles for a Korean high speed line as well as European high speed lines using Continuous comfort method which can be applied to track maintenance. The exceedance distribution of the ride comfort was quantitatively analyzed by the vehicle speed, the ride comfort of the Korean high speed line was compared with that of European high speed lines. It is shown that the ride comfort of Korean high speed line is better than that of European high speed lines, which indicates that the Korean track geometry and track irregularities are properly maintained.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.307-318
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• 2019

The frequently excessive vibrations presented in civil structures during seismic events or service conditions may result in users' discomfort, or worst, in structures failure, producing economic and even human casualties. This work contributes in proposing the synthesis of a nonlinear optimal control strategy for semiactive structural control, with the main characteristic that the synthesis considers both the structure model and the semiactive actuator nonlinear dynamics, which produces a nonlinear system that requires a nonlinear controller design. The aim is to reduce the unwanted vibrations in the response of civil structures, by means of intelligent fluid semiactive actuator such as the Magnetorheological Damper (MRD), which is a device with a low level of power consumption. The civil structures for which the proposed control methodology can be applied are those admitting a state-dependent coefficient factorized representation model, such as buildings, bridges, among others. A scaled model of a three storey building is analyzed as a case study, whose dynamical response involves displacement, velocity and acceleration of each one of the storeys, subjected to the North-South component of the September 19th., 2017, Puebla-Morelos (7.1M), Mexico earthquake. The investigation rests on comparing the structural response over time for two different conditions: with no control device installed and with one MRD installed between the first floor and the ground, where a nonlinear optimal signal for the MRD input voltage is determined. Simulation results are presented to show the effectiveness of the proposed controller for reducing the building's dynamical response.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.159-167
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• 2019

2016 Gyeongju and 2017 Pohang earthquakes led Koreans to acknowledge that the Korean peninsula is not an earthquake-free zone anymore. Among various buildings crucial to after-shock recovery, general hospital buildings, especially existing old ones, are very significant so seismic retrofitting of those must be an important issue. Self-centering energy dissipative(SCED) brace is one of retrofitting methods, which consists of tendon with restoring force and friction device capable of dissipating seismic energy. The strength of the SCED brace is that the tendon forces a structure to go back to the original position, which means residual drift can be negligible. The residual drift is a very important parameter to determine usableness of general hospitals after shock. To the contrary, buckling-restrained braces(BRB) are also a very effective way to retrofit because they can resist both compressive and tensile, but residual drift may exist when the steel core yields. On this background, the seismic retrofitting effect of general hospitals reinforced with SCED braces was investigated and compared to that of the BRD in this study. As a result, although the floor acceleration cannot be reduced, the story drift and residual drift, and the shear demand of walls significantly decreased. Consequently, seismic retrofitting by SCED braces are very effective for domestic low-rise general hospitals.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.105-116
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• 2022

Seismic demand on nonstructural components (NSCs) is highly dependent on the coupled behavior of a combined supporting structure-NSC system. Because of the inherent complexities of the problem, many of the affecting factors are inevitably neglected or simplified based on engineering judgments in current seismic design codes. However, a systematic analysis of the key affecting factors should establish reasonable seismic design provisions for NSCs. In this study, an idealized 2-DOF model simulating the coupled structure-NSC system was constructed to analyze the parameters that affect the response of NSCs comprehensively. The analyses were conducted to evaluate the effects of structure-NSC mass ratio, structure, and NSC nonlinearities on the peak component acceleration. Also, the appropriateness of component ductility factor (R_p) given by current codes was discussed based on the required ductility capacity of NSCs. It was observed that the responses of NSCs on the coupled system were significantly affected by the mass ratio, resulting in lower accelerations than the floor spectrum-based response, which neglected the interaction effects. Also, the component amplification factor (a_p) in current provisions tended to underestimate the dynamic amplification of NSCs with a mass ratio of less than 15%. The nonlinearity of NSCs decreased the component responses. In some cases, the code-specified R_p caused nonlinear deformation far beyond the ductility capacity of NSCs, and a practically unacceptable level of ductility was required for short-period NSCs to achieve the assigned amount of response reduction.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.7
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• pp.2387-2395
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• 2021

Seismic qualifications of electrical equipment, such as cabinet systems, have been emerging as the key area of nuclear power plants in Korea since the 2016 Gyeongju earthquake, including the high-frequency domain. In addition, electrical equipment was sensitive to the high-frequency ground motions during the past earthquake. Therefore, this paper presents the rocking behavior of the electrical cabinet system subjected to Reg. 1.60 and UHS. The high fidelity finite element (FE) model of the cabinet related to the shaking table test data was developed. In particular, the first two global modes of the cabinet from the experimental test were 16 Hz and 24 Hz, respectively. In addition, 30.05 Hz and 37.5 Hz were determined to be the first two local modes in the cabinet. The high fidelity FE model of the cabinet using the ABAQUS platform was extremely reconciled with shaking table tests. As a result, the dynamic properties of the cabinet were sensitive to electrical instruments, such as relays and switchboards, during the shaking table test. In addition, the amplification with respect to the vibration transfer function of the cabinet was observed on the third floor in the cabinet due to localized impact corresponding to the rocking phenomenon of the cabinet under Reg.1.60 and UHS. Overall, the rocking of the cabinet system can be caused by the low-frequency oscillations and higher peak horizontal acceleration.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.531-549
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• 2021

Analytical models were developed and seismic behaviors were analyzed for a three-story stone pagoda at the Cheollyongsa temple site, which was damaged by the Gyeongju earthquake of 2016. Both finite and discrete element modeling were used and the analysis results were compared to the actual earthquake damage. Vulnerable parts of stone pagoda structure were identified and their seismic behaviors via sliding, rocking, and risk analyses were verified. In finite and discrete element analyses, the 3F main body stone was displaced uniaxially by 60 and 80 mm, respectively, similar to the actual displacement of 90 mm resulting from the earthquake. Considering various input conditions such as uniaxial excitation and soil-structure interaction, as well as seismic components and the distance from the epicenter, both models yielded reasonable and applicable results. The Gyeongju earthquake exhibited extreme short-period characteristics; thus, short-period structures such as stone pagodas were seriously damaged. In addition, we found that sliding occurred in the upper parts because the vertical load was low, but rocking predominated in the lower parts because most structural members were slender. The third-floor main body and roof stones were particularly vulnerable because some damage occurred when the sliding and rocking limits were exceeded. Risk analysis revealed that the probability of collapse was minimal at 0.1 g, but exceeded 80% at above 0.3 g. The collapse risks at an earthquake peak ground acceleration of 0.154 g at the immediate occupancy, life safety, and collapse prevention levels were 90%, 52%, and 6% respectively. When the actual damage was compared with the risk analysis, the stone pagoda retained earthquake-resistant performance at the life safety level.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.149-158
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• 2024

Piloti-type structures with vertical irregularity are vulnerable to earthquakes due to the soft structure of the first story. Structural characteristics of buildings can significantly affect the seismic loss function, calculated based on seismic fragility, and therefore need to be considered. This study investigated the effects of the number of stories and core locations on the seismic loss function of piloti-type buildings in Korea. Twelve analytical models were developed considering two variations: three stories (4-story, 5-story, and 6-story) and four core locations (center core, x-eccentric core, y-eccentric core, and xy-eccentric core). The interstory drift ratio and peak floor acceleration were assessed through incremental dynamic analysis using 44 earthquake records, and seismic fragility was derived. Seismic loss functions were calculated and compared using the derived seismic fragility and repair cost ratio of each component. The results indicate that the seismic loss function increases with more stories and when the core is eccentrically located in the piloti-type structure model. Therefore, the uncertainty due to the number of stories and core location should be considered when deriving the seismic loss function of piloti-type structures.