• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.103-111
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• 2018

This study examines the seismic failure of RC low-rise building structures having irregularities at the ground story during the 15 November 2017 Pohang, Korea, earthquake, $M_w=5.4$, which is the second strongest since the government began monitoring them in 1978 in South Korea. Some 2,000 private houses were damaged or destroyed in this earthquake. Particularly, serious damage to the piloti story of RC low-rise residential building structures of fewer than five stories was observed within 3 km of the epicenter with brittle shear failure of columns and walls due to severe torsional behavior. Buildings below six stories constructed before 2005 did not have to comply with seismic design requirements, so confinement detailing of columns and walls also led to inadequate performance. However, some buildings constructed after 2005 were damaged at the flexible side of the piloti story due to the high torsional irregularity. Based on these results, this study focuses on the problems of the seismic torsion design approach in current building codes.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.1-23
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• 2015

Wind tunnel testing of a low-rise building with openings (holes) of different sizes and shapes on a roof corner is conducted to measure the internal and external pressures from the building model. Detailed analysis of the testing data is carried out to investigate the characteristics of the internal and external pressures of the building with different openings' configurations. Superimposition of the internal and external pressures makes the emergence of positive net pressures on the roof. The internal pressures demonstrate an overall uniform distribution. The probability density function (PDF) of the internal pressures is close to the Gaussian distribution. Compared with the PDF of the external pressures, the non-Gaussian characteristics of the net pressures weakened. The internal pressures exhibit strong correlation in frequency domain. There appear two humps in the spectra of the internal pressures, which correspond to the Helmholtz frequency and vortex shedding frequency, respectively. But, the peak for the vortex shedding frequency is offset for the net pressures. Furthermore, the internal pressure characteristics indirectly reflect that the length of the front edge enhances the development of the conical vortices.The objective of this study aims to further understanding of the characteristics of internal, external and net pressures for low-rise buildings in an effort to reduce wind damages to residential buildings.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.669-691
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• 2014

Since low-rise residential buildings are the most common and vulnerable structures in coastal areas, a reliable prediction of their performance under hurricanes is necessary. The present study focuses on developing a refined finite element model that is able to more rigorously represent the load distributions or redistributions when the building behaves as a unit or any portion is overloaded. A typical 5:12 sloped low-rise residential building is chosen as the prototype and analyzed under wind pressures measured in the wind tunnel. The structural connections, including the frame-to-frame connections and sheathing-to-frame connections, are modeled extensively to represent the critical structural details that secure the load paths for the entire building system as well as the boundary conditions provided to the building envelope. The nail withdrawal, the excessive displacement of sheathing, the nail head pull-through, the sheathing in-plane shear, and the nail load-slip are found to be responsible for the building envelope damage. The uses of the nail type with a high withdrawal capacity, a thicker sheathing panel, and an optimized nail edge distance are observed to efficiently enhance the building envelope performance based on the present numerical damage predictions.

• Proceeding of KASS Symposium
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• 2006.05a
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• pp.102-109
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• 2006

The effects of wind fence on the pressure characteristics around low-rise building model were investigated experimentally. Flow characteristics of turbulences behind wind fence were measured using hot-wire anemometer. The wind fence characterize by varying the porosity of 0 %, 40 % and the distances from the wind fence from 1 H to 6 H with maintaining the uniform flow velocity of 6 m/s. We investigated the overall characterization of the low-rise building by measuring pressure seventy four on model. The effects of porosity fences varied with the porosity of the fence and measurement locations(1H-6H). The 0% porosity proved to be effective for the protection area of 4H to 6H, but the 40% porosity proved to be effective for the protection area of 1H to 6H. The low-rise building of front face was found to be best wind fence for decreasing the mean, maximum and minimum pressure fluctuation.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.389-404
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• 2019

In coastal regions, it is common to witness significant damages on low-rise buildings caused by hurricanes and other extreme wind events. These damages start at high pressure zones or weak building components, and then cascade to other building parts. The state-of-the-art in experimental and numerical aerodynamic load evaluation is to assume buildings with intact envelopes where wind acts only on the external walls and correct for internal pressure through separate aerodynamic studies. This approach fails to explain the effect of openings on (i) the external pressure, (ii) internal partition walls; and (iii) the load sharing between internal and external walls. During extreme events, non-structural components (e.g., windows, doors or rooftiles) could fail allowing the wind flow to enter the building, which can subject the internal walls to lateral loads that potentially can exceed their load capacities. Internal walls are typically designed for lower capacities compared to external walls. In the present work, an anticipated damage development scenario is modelled for a four-story building with a stepped gable roof. LES is used to examine the change in the internal and external wind flows for different level of assumed damages (starting from an intact building up to a case with failure in most windows and doors are observed). This study demonstrates that damages in non-structural components can increase the wind risk on the structural elements due to changes in the loading patterns. It also highlights the load sharing mechanisms in low rise buildings.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.44-53
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• 2009

The Purpose of this study is to find out necessity and possibility of low-rise high density housing improving an old residential district of hillside areas. Housing of hillside areas should be maintained and it is necessary to make topographical adaptation plan. For this purpose, we calculate the floor area ratio to break even on case study area by GIS date. As a result, we found out that floor area ratio as minimum qualifications for the feasibility of urban redevelopment is 180%, and carried out a landscape simulation to a low-rise high density housing by AutoCAD 2004 and ArcView 3.2a. In results of simulations, it reveals that a rule to low-rise high density housing effective for topographical adaptation development.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.241-244
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• 2008

The authors proposed a new rapid-screening method for more reasonably evaluating seismic capacities of medium and low-rise RC buildings controlled by both shear and flexure in Ref. [1]. The method proposed in Ref. [1] was based on relationships between required strengths of each failure system for ductility factors and damage degrees of overall system derived from the view-point of ductility factors. The proposed method was also verified using observed real damage data of low-rise RC buildings caused by past earthquakes. Results indicated that the methodology proposed in Ref. [1] compares well with real damages and is a useful strategy for rapidly identifying low-rise RC buildings having high potential seismic risk. In this study, in order to verify the applicability of the new methodology proposed in Ref. [1] to real RC building systems, seismic capacities of existing eleven low-rise RC buildings in Korea are evaluated based on the new method.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.163-173
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• 2018

The design wind pressure for low-rise buildings in the ASCE 7-10 is defined by procedures that are categorized into the Main Wind Force-Resisting System (MWFRS) and the Components and Cladding (C&C). Some of these procedures were originally developed based on steel portal frames of industrial buildings, while the residential structures are a completely different structural system, most of which are designed as low-rise light-frame wood constructions. The purpose of this study is to discuss the rationality (or irrationality) of the extension of the wind loads calculated by the ASCE 7-10 to the light-frame wood residential buildings that represent the most vulnerable structures under extreme wind conditions. To serve this purpose, the same approach as used in the development of Chapter 28 of the ASCE 7-10 that envelops peak responses is adopted in the present study. Database-assisted design (DAD) methodology is used by applying the dynamic wind loads from Louisiana State University (LSU) database on a typical residential building model to assess the applicability of the standard by comparing the induced responses. Rather than the postulated critical member demands on the industrial building such as the bending moments at the knee, the maximum values at the critical points for wood frame buildings under wind loads are used as indicators for the comparison. Then, the critical members are identified through these indicators in terms of the displacement or the uplift force at connections and roof envelope. As a result, some situations for each of the ASCE 7 procedures yielding unconservative wind loads on the typical low-rise residential building are identified.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.289-299
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• 2009

This study summarizes basic results on the characteristics of mean wind pressure distribution on rectangular low-rise buildings with various breadths and depths through simultaneous multi-point wind pressure test. 5 types of rectangular wind pressure test models with various breadths and depths have been made for this study. Wind pressure tests are conducted on the Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel at Kumoh National Institute of Technology. The characteristics of mean wind pressure distribution with respect to various breadths and depths of low-rise buildings are analyzed into windward face, leeward face and side faces of building. From the results, new wind pressure coefficients and simplified wind load estimating formula for the resonable design of the structural frames of low-rise building were proposed.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.245-255
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• 2009

The low-rise buildings with gable roofs are commonly used in a number of industries. In order to study the characteristics of peak external pressure coefficient on low-rise buildings with gable roofs, wind-tunnel test have been carried out. Wind-induced pressures were measured simultaneously at many points on wind-pressure models, typical of simple low-rise buildings with gable roofs, which have seven different roof slope with constant width(D), height(H), and length(D). The pressure measurements were made in one kind of turbulent boundary layer, which simulated the natural winds over typical suburban terrains at a geometric scale of 1/150. The results indicate that peak external pressure coefficient on the roof and wall edges were increased. The results compared with wind standard of KBC-2005 and standards of various nations. The comparative resultant, experimental result appeared very similar at AIJ-2004. But the results were somewhat larger then wind standard of KBC-2005.