• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.463-472
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• 2022

Reinforced concrete (RC) beam column joints (BCJ) have mostly exhibited poor seismic performance during several past earthquakes, typically due to the poor-quality concrete or lack of reinforcement detailing typical of pre-code design practice. The present study is motivated towards numerical simulation and seismic fragility assessment of one such RC-BCJ. The BCJ is loaded to failure and strengthened using Ultra High Performance-Hybrid Fiber Reinforced Concrete (UHP-HFRC) jacketing. The strengthening is performed for four different BCJ specimens, each representing an intermediate damage state before collapse. viz., slight, moderate, severe, and collapse. From the numerical simulation of all the BCJ specimens, an attempt is made to correlate different modelling and design parameters of the BC joint with respect to the damage states. In addition, seismic fragility analysis of the original as well as the retrofitted damaged BCJ specimens show the relative enhancement achieved in each case.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.337-352
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• 2013

Seismic performance of critical facilities has been focused on the structural components over the past decade. However, most earthquake damages were observed to the nonstructural components during and after the earthquakes. The primary objective of this research was to develop the seismic fragility of the piping system incorporating the nonlinear Tee-joint finite element model in the full scale piping configuration installed in critical facilities. The procedure for evaluating fragility curves corresponding to the first damage state was considered the effects of the top floor acceleration sensitivities for 5, 10, 15, and 20 story linear RC and steel building systems subjected to 22 selected ground motions as a function of ground motion uncertainties. The result of this study revealed that the conditional probability of failure of the piping system on the top floor in critical facilities did not increase with increased level of story height and in fact, story level in buildings can tune the fragilities between the building and the piping system.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.64 no.2
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• pp.213-223
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• 2017

Bridges are lifeline and integral components of transportation system that are susceptible to seismic actions, their vulnerability assessment is essential for seismic risk assessment and mitigation. The vulnerability assessment of bridges common in Pakistan is very important as it is seismically very active region and the available code for the seismic design of bridges is obsolete. This research presents seismic vulnerability assessment of three real case simply supported multi-span reinforced concrete bridges commonly found in northern Pakistan, having one, two and three bents with circular piers. The vulnerability assessment is carried through the non-linear dynamic time history analyses for the derivation of fragility curves. Finite element based numerical models of the bridges were developed in MIDAS CIVIL (2015) and analyzed through with non-linear dynamic and incremental dynamic analyses, using a suite of bridge-specific natural spectrum compatible ground motion records. Seismic responses of shear key, bearing pad, expansion joint and pier components of each bridges were recorded during analysis and retrieved for performance based analysis. Fragility curves were developed for the bearing pads, shear key, expansion joint and pier of the bridges that first reach ultimate limit state. Dynamic analysis and the derived fragility curves show that ultimate limit state of bearing pads, shear keys and expansion joints of the bridges exceed first, followed by the piers ultimate limit state for all the three bridges. Mean collapse capacities computed for all the components indicated that bearing pads, expansion joints, and shear keys exceed the ultimate limit state at lowest seismic intensities.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.599-611
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• 2017

This paper improves seismic fragility of a typical steel-concrete composite bridge with the deck-to-pier connection joint configuration at the concrete crossbeam (CCB). Based on the quasi-static test on a typical steel-concrete composite bridge model under the SEQBRI project, the damage states for both of the critical components, the CCB and the pier, are identified. The finite element model is developed, and calibrated using the experimental data to model the damage states of the CCB and the bridge pier as observed from the experiment of the test specimen. Then the component fragility curves for both of the CCB and the pier are derived and combined to develop the system fragility curves of the bridge. The uncertainty associated with the mean system fragility has been discussed and quantified. The study reveals that the CCB is more vulnerable than the pier for certain damage states and the typical steel-concrete composite bridge with CCB exhibits desirable seismic performance.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.101-108
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• 2019

The seismic safety of nuclear power plants has always been emphasized by the effects of accidents. In general, the seismic safety evaluation of nuclear power plants carries out a seismic probabilistic safety assessment. The current probabilistic safety assessment assumes that damage to the structure, system, and components (SSCs) occurs independently to each other or perfect dependently to each other. In case of earthquake events, the failure event occurs with the correlation due to the correlation between the seismic response of the SSCs and the seismic performance of the SSCs. In this study, the EEMS (External Event Mensuration System) code is developed which can perform the seismic probabilistic safety assessment considering correlation. The developed code is verified by comparing with the multiplier n, which is for calculating the joint probability of failure, which is proposed by Mankamo. It is analyzed the changes in seismic fragility curves and seismic risks with correlation. As a result, it was confirmed that the seismic fragility curves and seismic risk change according to the failure correlation coefficient. This means that it is important to select an appropriate failure correlation coefficient in order to perform a seismic probabilistic safety assessment. And also, it was confirmed that carrying out the seismic probabilistic safety assessment in consideration of the seismic correlation provides more realistic results, rather than providing conservative or non-conservative results comparing with that damage to the SSCs occurs independently.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.68 no.6
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• pp.677-689
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• 2018

Residual deformation is a crucial index that should be paid special attention in the performance-based seismic analyses of reinforced concrete (RC) structures. Owing to their superior re-centering capacity under earthquake excitations, the post-tensioned self-centering (PTSC) RC frames have been proposed and developed for engineering application during the past few decades. This paper presents a comprehensive assessment on the seismic fragility of a PTSC frame by simultaneously considering maximum and residual deformations. Bivariate limit states are defined according to the pushover analyses for maximum deformations and empirical judgments for residual deformations. Incremental Dynamic Analyses (IDA) are conducted to derive the probability of exceeding predefined limit states at specific ground motion intensities. Seismic performance of the PTSC frame is compared with that of a conventional monolithic RC frame. The results show that, taking a synthetical consideration of maximum and residual deformations, the PTSC frame surpasses the monolithic frame in resisting most damage states, but is more vulnerable to ground motions with large intensities.

• International journal of steel structures
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.1200-1209
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• 2018

In this study, a probabilistic framework of the damage assessment of pipelines subjected to extreme hazard scenario was developed to mitigate the risk and enhance design reliability. Nonlinear 3D finite element models of T-joint systems were developed based on experimental tests with respect to leakage detection of black iron piping systems, and a damage assessment analysis of the vulnerability of their components according to nominal pipe size, coupling type, and wall thickness under seismic wave propagations was performed. The analysis results showed the 2-inch schedule 40 threaded T-joint system to be more fragile than the others with respect to the nominal pipe sizes. As for the coupling types, the data indicated that the probability of failure of the threaded T-joint coupling was significantly higher than that of the grooved type. Finally, the seismic capacity of the schedule 40 wall thickness was weaker than that of schedule 10 in the 4-inch grooved coupling, due to the difference in the prohibition of energy dissipation. Therefore, this assessment can contribute to the damage detection and financial losses due to failure of the joint piping system in a liquid pipeline, prior to the decision-making.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.249-259
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• 2018

This paper aims to assess the seismic risk of a plane moment-resisting frames (MRFs) consisting of concrete-filled double skin steel tube (CFDST) columns and I-section steel beams. Firstly, three typical limit performance levels of CFDST structures are determined in accordance with the cyclic tests of seven CFDST joint specimens with 1/2-scaled and the limits stipulated in FEMA 356. Then, finite element (FE) models of the test specimens are built by considering with material degradation, nonlinear behavior of beam-column connections and panel zones. The mechanical behavior of the concrete material are modeled in compression stressed condition in trip-direction based on unified strength theory, and such numerical model were verified by tests. Besides, numerical models on 3, 6 and 9-story CFDST frames are established. Furthermore, the seismic responses of these models to earthquake excitations are investigated using nonlinear time-history analyses (NTHA), and the limits capacities are determined from incremental dynamic analyses (IDA). In addition, fragility curves are developed for these models associated with 10%/50yr and 2%/50yr events as defined in SAC project for the region on Los Angeles in the Unite State. Lastly, the annual probabilities of each limits and the collapse probabilities in 50 years for these models are calculated and compared. Such results provide risk information for the CFDST-MRFs based on the probabilistic risk assessment method.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.59 no.4
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• pp.653-669
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• 2016

Recent earthquakes worldwide show that a significant portion of the earthquake shaking happens in the vertical direction. This phenomenon has raised significant interests to consider the vertical ground motion during the seismic design and assessment of the structures. Strong vertical ground motions can alter the axial forces in the columns, which might affect the shear capacity of reinforced concrete (RC) members. This is particularly important for non-ductile RC frames, which are very vulnerable to earthquake-induced collapse. This paper presents the detailed nonlinear dynamic analysis to quantify the collapse risk of non-ductile RC frame structures with varying heights. An array of non-ductile RC frame architype buildings located in Los Angeles, California were designed according to the 1967 uniform building code. The seismic responses of the architype buildings subjected to concurrent horizontal and vertical ground motions were analyzed. A comprehensive array of ground motions was selected from the PEER NGA-WEST2 and Iran Strong Motions Network database. Detailed nonlinear dynamic analyses were performed to quantify the collapse fragility curves and collapse margin ratios (CMRs) of the architype buildings. The results show that the vertical ground motions have significant impact on both the local and global responses of non-ductile RC moment frames. Hence, it is crucial to include the combined vertical and horizontal shaking during the seismic design and assessment of non-ductile RC moment frames.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.483-495
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• 2020

Dams are vital infrastructures that are expected to maintain their stability during seismic excitations. Accordingly, cemented material dams are an emerging type, which are being increasingly used around the world owing to benefiting from advantages of both earth-fill and concrete gravity dams, which should be designed safely when subjected to strong ground motion. In the present paper, the seismic performance of a cemented sand and gravel (CSG) dam is assessed using incremental dynamic analysis (IDA) method by accounting for two failure modes of tension cracking and base joint sliding considering the dam-reservoir-foundation interactions. To take the seismic uncertainties into account, the dam is analyzed under a suite of ground motion records and then, the effect of friction angle for base sliding as well as deformability of the foundation are investigated on the response of dam. To carry out the analyses, the Cindere dam in Turkey is selected as a case study, and various limit states corresponding to seismic performance levels of the dam are determined aiming to estimate the seismic fragilities. Based on the results, sliding of the Cindere dam could be serious under the maximum credible earthquake (MCE). Besides, dam faces are mostly to be cracked under such level of intensity. Moreover, the results indicate that as friction angle increases, probability of sliding between dam and foundation is reduced whereas, increases tensile cracking. Lastly, it is observed that foundation stiffening increases the probability of dam sliding but, reduces the tensile damage in the dam body.