• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• v.9 no.5
• /
• pp.999-1028
• /
• 2015

Despite the fact that the fundamental period appears to be one of the most critical parameters for the seismic design of structures according to the modal superposition method, the so far available in the literature proposals for its estimation are often conflicting with each other making their use uncertain. Furthermore, the majority of these proposals do not take into account the presence of infills walls into the structure despite the fact that infill walls increase the stiffness and mass of structure leading to significant changes in the fundamental period numerical value. Toward this end, this paper presents a detailed and indepth analytical investigation on the parameters that affect the fundamental period of reinforce concrete structure. The calculated values of the fundamental period are compared against those obtained from the seismic code and equations proposed by various researchers in the literature. From the analysis of the results it has been found that the number of storeys, the span length, the stiffness of the infill wall panels, the location of the soft storeys and the soil type are crucial parameters that influence the fundamental period of RC buildings.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.21 no.6
• /
• pp.440-447
• /
• 2020

Masonry structures are used as bearing walls in small buildings, but they are generally considered non-bearing walls. They are used as partition walls that divide the interior spaces of the frame structures of buildings. In addition, wetting techniques that use mortar as an adhesive between blocks or bricks in construction are vulnerable to climatic conditions, especially cracks in mortar, which can cause conduction collapse of the walls in seismic loading. The purpose of this research was to propose a dry concrete block construction method that complements the weak axial shear stiffness and improves the weakness of the wet construction method as well as to investigate its structural behavior. In this study, the material properties of concrete blocks were examined, and the seismic performance of the proposed dry assembly structure was verified by structural behavior tests on horizontal cyclic loads. First, in these study results, concrete blocks can be applied to the dry block construction method instead of wet construction methods because they secure more than C-type blocks in KS regulations. Second, the structural performance of the wall against a horizontal cyclic load indicates that the resisting force of the assembly block wall is increased by increasing the horizontal length of the wall, forming several diagonal cracks. Finally, the proposed dry block wall structure requires a seismic performance assessment considering that the ratio of the shape of the wall by height and length is considered a major influence variable on the structural behavior under a horizontal load.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.86 no.4
• /
• pp.547-571
• /
• 2023

To deeply probe the actual earthquake level and fragility of typical reinforced concrete (RC) structures under multiple intensity grades, considering diachronic measurement building stock samples and actual observations of representative catastrophic earth shocks in China from 1990 to 2010, RC structures were divided into traditional RC structures (TRCs) and bottom reinforced concrete frame seismic wall masonry (BFM) structures, and the empirical damage characteristics and mechanisms were analysed. A great deal of statistics and induction were developed on the historical experience investigation data of 59 typical catastrophic earthquakes in 9 provinces of China. The database and fragility matrix prediction model were established with TRCs of 4,122.5284×104 m² and 5,844 buildings and BFMs of 5,872 buildings as empirical seismic damage samples. By employing the methods of structural damage probability and statistics, nonlinear prediction of seismic vulnerability, and numerical and applied functional analysis, the comparison matrix of actual fragility probability prediction of TRC and BFM in multiple intensity regions under the latest version of China's macrointensity standard was established. A novel nonlinear regression prediction model of seismic vulnerability was proposed, and prediction models considering the seismic damage ratio and transcendental probability parameters were constructed. The time-varying vulnerability comparative model of the sample database was developed according to the different periods of multiple earthquakes. The new calculation method of the average fragility prediction index (AFPI) matrix parameter model has been proposed to predict the seismic fragility of an areal RC structure.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
• /
• v.19 no.6
• /
• pp.351-361
• /
• 2003

Brick wall models with window opening, length 1.844m $\times$ height 0.6m, representing 2-story building was constructed on a scale of 1/10 of actual size of brick building for the investigation of damage mechanism. Six settlement troughs presenting six stages of excavation were simulated by Peck(1969) and O'Rourke et al.(1976) methods. The results from the model tests using Peck(1969) and O'Rourke et al.(1976) method indicated that angular distortion of brick wall by O'Rourke et at. method was 21% greater than that of Peck method. Horizontal displacement by O'Rourke et al.(1976) was 24% greater than that of Peck. When the degree of building damage for the O'Rourke et al. method of settlement trough is plotted on the damage level graph(Boscardin & Cording, 1989), damage level becomes much more severe than the level obtained by peck's method. Also, building stiffness and soil-structure interface are considered important factors of expressing building damage.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.17 no.3_4
• /
• pp.527-537
• /
• 2004

Consequence-Based Engineering (CBE) is a new paradigm proposed by the Mid-America Earthquake Center (MAE) to guide evaluation and rehabilitation of building structures and networks in areas of low probability - high consequence earthquakes such as the central region of the U.S. The principal objective of CBE is to minimize consequences by prescribing appropriate intervention procedures for a broad range of structures and systems, in consultation with key decision makers. One possible intervention option for rehabilitating unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings, widely used for essential facilities in Mid-America, is passive energy dissipation (PED). After the CBE process is described, its application in the rehabilitation of vulnerable URM building construction in Mid-America is illustrated through the use of PED devices attached to flexible timber floor diaphragms. It is shown that PED's can be applied to URM buildings in situations where floor diaphragm flexibility can be controlled to reduce both out-of-plane and in-plane wall responses and damage. Reductions as high as 48% in roof displacement and acceleration can be achieved as demonstrated in studies reported below.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
• /
• v.108 no.2
• /
• pp.224-232
• /
• 2019

The movement of fish to the upper and the lower parts of a mountain stream was investigated based on the installation of specific types of structures within the stream. The results indicated that as the flow rate increases after a rain, the height of the drop in an open-type structure, such as a concrete box, is decreased so that the floating fishes, such as the Chinese minnow fish, move relatively easily from the upper to the lower parts and from the lower to the upper parts of the stream. In contrast, the fishes released from an upper point of a wall-type structure with <1 m, such as rocks drop works and stone masonry for stream-grade stabilization, were trapped in the lower part of the stream and, even after the rainy season, it was difficult for the fish to move from the lower to the upper parts of the stream. In particular, the barrier-type structures ${\geq}3m$ limit the movement of fish, even when there are few drainage holes at the lower end of the dam, and there is no space for the fishes to communicate with each other, even when the flow rate is high; therefore, although the fish are active, they are restricted to move according to the type and characteristics of the structures. When installing structures in a mountain stream, the height of the structure must be low enough to allow the fish to communicate with each other or an open-type structure must be installed. The fish habitat and water conditions within the stream must be considered when designing the type and height of the in-stream structures.

• Magazine of the Korea Concrete Institute
• /
• v.5 no.4
• /
• pp.123-134
• /
• 1993

A rapid progress has been made over last decade in the state-of-the-art earthquake structura1 engineering towards a better understanding of both the earthqauke ground motion and structural response. These efforts seek to ensure that there will be no serious injury or loss of life in the event of earthquake, and that structures can be built at minimum cost. The design of structures in general, concrete structures in particular, to resist strong ground input motions is not a simple matter, and analytical models for such structures must be developed from a design perspective that accounts for the complexities of the structural responses. The primary obj ective of earthquake structural engineering research is to ensure the safety of structures by understanding and improving a design methodology. Ideally, this would require the development of an analytical model related to a design methodology that ensures a ductile performance. For the accurate assessment of the adequacy of analytically developed model, experiments conducted to study the inplane inelastic cyclic behavior of structures should verify the analytical approach. The fundamental goal of this paper is to present and demonstrate experimentally verified analytical methods that provide the adequate degree of safety and confidience in the behavior of reinforced concrete structural components. This study further attempts to extend the developed modeling techruque for use by practicing structural engineers for both the analysis and design.Plication of the relaxed diaphragm through left thoracotomy was done and result was excellent as seen on Fig. 5. Cause of eventration of the left hemidiaphragm was due to paralysis of the left phrenic nerve which was tested during thoracotomy.

• Smart Structures and Systems
• /
• v.4 no.2
• /
• pp.209-220
• /
• 2008

A methodology for the seismic vulnerability assessment of historical monuments is presented in this paper. The ongoing work has been conducted in Tunisia within the framework of the FP6 European Union project (WIND-CHIME) on the use of appropriate modern seismic protective systems in the conservation of Mediterranean historical buildings in earthquake-prone areas. The case study is the five-century-old Zaouia of Sidi Kassem Djilizi, located downtown Tunis, the capital of Tunisia. Ambient vibration tests were conducted on the case study using a number of force-balance accelerometers placed at selected locations. The Enhanced Frequency Domain Decomposition (EFDD) technique was applied to extract the dynamic characteristics of the monument. A 3-D finite element model was developed and updated to obtain reasonable correlation between experimental and numerical modal properties. The set of parameters selected for the updating consists of the modulus of elasticity in each wall element of the finite element model. Seismic vulnerability assessment of the case study was carried out via three-dimensional time-history dynamic analyses of the structure. Dynamic stresses were computed and damage was evaluated according to a masonry specific plane failure criterion. Statistics on the occurrence, location and type of failure provide a general view for the probable damage level and mode. Results indicate a high vulnerability that confirms the need for intervention and retrofit.