• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.279-293
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• 2021

Most of the existing seismic codes for RC buildings consider only a scenario earthquake for analysis, often characterized by the response spectrum at the specified location. However, any real earthquake event often involves occurrences of multiple earthquakes within a few hours or days, possessing similar or even higher energy than the first earthquake. This critically impairs the rehabilitation measures thereby resulting in the accumulation of structural damages for subsequent earthquakes after the first earthquake. Also, the existing seismic provisions account for the non-linear response of an RC building frame implicitly by specifying a constant response modification factor (R) in a linear elastic design. However, the 'R' specified does not address the changes in structural configurations of RC moment-resisting frames (RC MRFs) viz., building height, number of bays present, bay width, irregularities arising out of mass and stiffness changes, etc. resulting in changed dynamic characteristics of the structural system. Hence, there is an imperative need to assess the seismic performance under sequential earthquake ground motions, considering the adequacy of code-specified 'R' in the representation of dynamic characteristics of RC buildings. Therefore, the present research is focused on the evaluation of the non-linear response of medium-rise 3D RC MRFs with and without vertical irregularities under bi-directional sequential earthquake ground motions using non-linear dynamic analysis. It is evident from the results that collapse probability increases, and 'R' reduces significantly for various RC MRFs subjected to sequential earthquakes, pronouncing the vulnerability and inadequacy of estimation of design base shear by code-specified 'R' under sequential earthquakes.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.345-353
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• 2022

The configuration of an open ground floor (pilotis) is a common and very critical irregularity observed in multistory reinforced concrete frame structures. The characteristics and the geometrical formation of the beams of the first story proved to be a critical parameter for the overall seismic behavior of this type of Reinforced Concrete (RC) structures. In this work the combination of open ground floor (pilotis) morphology with very strong perimetrical beams at the level of the first story is studied. The observation of the seismic damages and the in situ measurements of the fundamental period of four buildings with this morphology and Π-shaped plan view are presented herein. Further analytical results of a pilotis type Π-shaped RC structure are also included in the study. From the measurements and the analytical results yield that the open ground floor configuration greatly influences the fundamental period whereas this morphology in combination with strong beams can lead to severe local shear damages in the columns of the ground floor. The structural damage was limited in the columns of the ground floor and yet based on the changes of the in situ measured fundamental period the damaged level is assessed as DI=88%. Furthermore, due to the Π-shape of the plan view the tendency of the parts of the building to move independently strongly influences the distribution of the damages over the ground floor vertical elements.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.86 no.1
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• pp.29-48
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• 2023

Pounding happens when contiguous structures with differing heights vibrate out of line caused by a seismic activity. The situation is aggravated due to the insufficient separation gap between the structures which can lead to the crashing of the buildings or total collapse of an edifice. Countries around the world have compiled building standards to address the pounding issue. One of the strategies recommended is the introduction of the separation gap between structures. AS1170.4-2007 is an Australian standard that requires 1% of the building height as a minimum separation gap between buildings to preclude pounding. This article presents experimental and numerical tests to determine the adequacy of this specification to prevent the occurrence of seismic pounding between steel frame structures under near-field and far-field earthquakes. The results indicated that the recommended minimum separation gap based on the Australian Standard is inaccurate if low-rise structure in a coupled case is utilised under both near and far field earthquakes. The standard is adequate if a tall building is involved but only when a far-field earthquake happens. The research likewise presents results derived by using the ABS and SRSS methods.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Traditional Landscape Architecture
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.37-49
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• 2014

This paper aims to interpret the transformation process of town plan of Gosan-up(高山), which was provincial administrative focus town in Josun dynasty, basing on morphological viewpoint. Morphological concepts, such as morphological frame, urban plan, kernel, colonization, route system, fixation line, fringe belt, plan unit & plan division, morphological period derived from the study of Conzen, M.R.G. and Caniggia, G. epidome district, break point, broken plot, urban fallow, privatization are adopted for the interpretation of urban form. Morphological period of Gosan can be divided in four ; formation of kernel & morphological structure, disintegration & redevelopment of the kernel, augmentative development of the kernel & formation of modern epidome district, outwards expanding of urbanized area, transition & reorganization of epidome district. Especially public leading projects such as construction of new regional connection road and public facilities such as myeon(township) office, agricultural cooperatives federation office, market, are main factors of morphological transformation of townplan. In the early stage, under the Japanese imperialism, construction of the new matrix route(Gosan-ro) through the kernel and followed planned routes gave way to disintegrating traditional areal plan unit and forming small block plan units in administrative facilities area. And linear plan units with commercial buildings were formed along the new matrix route and planned route adjacent to periodical market. In the latter stage, with development of public facilities, private sectors' large circulation institution and terminal outside the kernel with planned routes formed areal block based plan units with commercial and public buildings. And part of the spatial area with the linear plan unit were turned into urban fallow. With the transformation of town plan, new roads outside the kernel have substituted for traditional fixation line of waterway with road and topographical feature. Fringe belts were made successively along the new road and around the major intersections outside of existing urbanized area. Land use in fringe belts, constituting of outer locational tendency early on formation, was gradually replaced with commercial & business buildings.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.463-478
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• 2006

The design of structural frameworks for buildings is constantly evolving and is dependent on regional issues such as loading and constructability. One of the most promising recent developments for low to medium rise construction in terms of efficiency of construction, robustness and aesthetic appearance utilises concrete-filled steel tubular sections as the columns in a moment-resisting frame. These are coupled to rigid or semi-rigid connections to composite steel-concrete beams. This paper includes the results of a pilot experimental programme leading towards the development of economical, reliable connections that are easily constructed for this type of frame. The connections must provide the requisite strength, stiffness and ductility to suit gravity loading conditions as well as gravity combined with the governing lateral wind or earthquake loading. The aim is to develop connections that are stiffer, less expensive and easier to construct than those in current use. A proposed fabricated T-stub connection is to be used to connect the beam flanges and the column. These T-stubs are connected to the column using "blind bolts" with extensions, allowing installation from the outside of the tube. In general, the use of the extensions results in a dramatic increase in the strength and stiffness of the T-stub to column connection in tension, since the load is shared between membrane action in the tube wall and the anchorage of the bolts through the extensions into the concrete.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Educational Facilities
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.35-43
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• 2013

Some results of experimental investigation conducted to assess the effect of cement composite strength and ductility on the shear behavior and crack-damage mitigation of stud connections between existing reinforced concrete frame in school buildings and seismic strengthening elements from cyclically direct shear tests are described. The cement composite strengths include 50 for medium strength and 70 MPa for high strength. Two types of cement composites, strain-hardening cement composite (SHCC) and non-shrinkage mortar, are used for stud shear connection specimens. The special SHCCs are reinforced with hybrid 0.2% polyethylene (PE) and 1.3% polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fibers at the volume fraction and exhibits tensile strain capacity ranging from 0.2 to 0.5%. Test result indicates that SHCC improves the seismic performance and crack-damage mitigation of stud shear connections compared with stud connections with non-shrinkage mortar. However, the performance enhancement in SHCC stud connections with transverse and longitudinal reinforcements is less notable for those without additional reinforcement.

• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.43-50
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• 2016

The reinforced-concrete multi-story shear-wall structure, which can free a building from beams and columns to allow the planning of a vast room, has increasingly been used in Japan as a high-rise reinforced-concrete structure. Since this structural system concentrates the seismic force onto multi-story shear walls inside, the bending deformation of the walls may cause excessive deformation on the upper floors during an earthquake. However, it is possible to control the bending deformation to within a certain level by setting high-strength and rigid beams (outriggers) at the top of the multi-story shear walls; these outriggers restrain the bending behavior of the walls. Moreover, it is possible to achieve high energy dissipation by placing vibration control devices on the outriggers and thus restrain the bending behavior. This paper outlines the earthquake response analysis of a high-rise residential tower to demonstrate the effectiveness of the outrigger frame incorporating vibration control devices.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.133-140
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• 2014

The friction damper can be used for improving the seismic resistance of existing buildings. The damper is often installed in bracing members. The energy dissipation capacity of the damping systems depends on the type of the structure, the configuration of the bracing members, and the property of dampers. In Korea, there are numerous low- to mid-rise reinforced concrete moment frames that were constructed considering only gravity loads. Those frames may be vulnerable for future earthquakes. To resolve the problem, this study developed a toggle bracing system with a high density friction damper. To investigate the improvement of reinforced concrete frames after retrofit using the developed damped system, experimental tests were conducted on frame specimens with and without the damped system. The results showed that the maximum strength, initial stiffness and energy dissipation capacity of the framed with the damped system were much larger than those of the frame without the damped system.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.63 no.4
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• pp.497-507
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• 2017

During recent earthquakes, a significant number of concrete structures suffered extensive damage. Conventional reinforced concrete structures are designed for life-time safety that may see permanent inelastic deformation after severe earthquakes. Hence, there is a need to utilize adequate materials that have the ability to tolerate large deformation and get back to their original shape. Super-elastic shape memory alloy (SMA) is a smart material with unique properties, such as the ability to regain undeformed shape by unloading or heating. In this research, four different stories (three, five, seven and nine) of reinforced concrete (RC) buildings have been studied and subjected to near-field ground motions. For each building, two different types of reinforcement detailing are considered, including (1) conventional steel reinforcement (RC frame) and (2) steel-SMA reinforcement (SMA RC frame), with SMA bars being used at plastic zones of beams and steel bars in other regions. Nonlinear time history analyses have been performed by "SeismoStruct" finite element software. The results indicate that the application of SMA materials in plastic hinge regions of the beams lead to reduction of the residual displacement and consequently post-earthquake repairs. In general, it can be said that shape memory alloy materials reduce structural damage and retrofit costs.

• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.205-214
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• 2014

The super high rise building construction is characterized by a large quantity of engineering works and structural components, high demanding of construction technology and complex cross operations. As the height of super high rise building increases, the construction difficulties increase, it is challenging the steel structural building construction technology. In this paper, the key technologies in the construction of Chinese modern super high rise steel structure building have been studied. The innovative tower crane supporting frame suspension disassembly technology has been developed to allow the crane supporting frame to turnover in the air without occupying materials stockyard. A new self-elevating platform technique which is capable of striding over structural barriers has been developed. This new technology allows the platform to be self-elevated along variable cross section column with a maximum 600 mm size change. A new automatic submerged arc welding technology has also been developed to ensure the process continuity and quality stability of welding job on the construction site.