• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.75 no.1
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• pp.33-47
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• 2020

In this paper the dynamic behavior of an isolated building subjected to idealized near-fault pulses is investigated. The building is represented with a simple 2-DOF model. Both linear and non-linear behavior of the isolation system is considered. Using dimensional analysis, in conjunction with closed form mathematical idealized pulses, appropriate dimensionless parameters are defined and self-similar curves are plotted on dimensionless graphs, based on which various conclusions are reached. In the linear case, the role of viscous damping is examined in detail and the existence of an optimum value of damping along with its significant variation with the number of half-cycles is shown. In the nonlinear case, where the behavior of the building depends on the amplitude of the excitation, the benefits of dimensional analysis are evident since the influence of the dimensionless 𝚷-terms is easily examined. Special consideration is given to the normalized strength of the non-linear isolation system that appears to play a complex role which greatly affects the response of the 2-DOF. In the last part of the paper, a comparison of the responses to idealized pulses between a linear fixed-base SDOF and the respective isolated 2-DOF with both linear and non-linear damping is conducted and it is shown that, under certain values of the superstructure and isolation system characteristics, the use of an isolation system can amplify both the normalized acceleration and displacement of the superstructure.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.267-283
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• 2011

Although earthquakes generate random cyclic lateral loading on structures, a quasi-static cyclic loading pattern with gradually increasing amplitude has been commonly used in the laboratory tests because of its relatively low cost and simplicity compared with pseudo-dynamic and shake table tests. The number, amplitudes and sequence of cycles must be chosen appropriately as important parameters of a quasi-static cyclic loading pattern in order to account for cumulative damage matter. This paper aims to reach a new cyclic displacement pattern to be used in quasi-static tests of well-confined, flexure-dominated reinforced concrete (RC) columns. The main parameters of the study are sectional dimensions, percentage of longitudinal reinforcement, axial force intensity and earthquake types, namely, far-fault and near-fault.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.66 no.5
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• pp.637-648
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• 2018

When the centers of mass and stiffness of a building do not coincide, the structure experiences torsional responses. Such systems can consist of the underlying soil and the super-structure. The underlying soil may modify the earthquake input motion and change structural responses. Specific effects of the input motion shall also not be ignored. In this study, seismic demands of asymmetric buildings considering soil-structure interaction (SSI) under near-fault ground motions are evaluated. The building is modeled as an idealized single-story structure. The soil beneath the building is modeled by non-linear finite elements in the two states of loose and dense sands both compared with the fixed-base state. The infinite boundary conditions are modelled using viscous boundary elements. The effects of traditional and yield displacement-based (YDB) approaches of strength and stiffness distributions are considered on seismic demands. In the YDB approach, the stiffness considered in seismic design depends on the strength. The results show that the decrease in the base shear considering soft soil induced SSI when the YDB approach is assumed results only in the center of rigidity to control torsional responses. However, for fixed-base structures and those on dense soils both centers of strength and rigidity are controlling.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.409-430
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• 2006

The aim of this study is to investigate the reliability of strong motion records processed by causal and acausal Butterworth filters in comparison to the results obtained from a synthetic accelerogram. For this purpose, the fault parallel component of the Bolu record of the Duzce earthquake is modeled with a sum of exponentially damped sinusoidal components. Noise-free velocities and displacements are then obtained by analytically integrating the synthetic acceleration model. The analytical velocity and displacement signals are used as a standard with which to judge the validity of the signals obtained by filtering with causal and acausal filters and numerically integrating the acceleration model. The results show that the acausal filters are clearly preferable to the causal filters due to the fact that the response spectra obtained from the acausal filters match the spectra obtained from the simulated accelerogram better than that obtained by causal filters. The response spectra are independent from the order of the filters and from the method of integration (whether analytical integration after a spline fit to the synthetic accelerogram or the trapezoidal rule). The response spectra are sensitive to the chosen corner frequency of both the causal and the acausal filters and also to the inclusion of the pads. Accurate prediction of the static residual displacement (SRD) is very important for structures traversing faults in the near-fault regions. The greatest adverse effect of the high pass filters is their removal of the SRD. However, the noise-free displacements obtained by double integrating the synthetic accelerogram analytically preserve the SRD. It is thus apparent that conventional high pass filters should not be used for processing near-fault strong-motion records although they can be reliably used for far-fault records if applied acausally. The ground motion parameters such as ARIAS intensity, HUSID plots, Housner spectral intensity and the duration of strong-motion are found to be insensitive to the causality of filters.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.217-225
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• 2013

We carried out geometrical, kinematic, and geomechanical analyses on a lineament (the Imgok fault) near Gangneung, observed in ASTER images and aerial photographs, and field surveys. Earthquake focal mechanism solutions, used to estimate the present-day stress state, revealed that the direction of maximum compression is approximately N$70^{\circ}$E and that the stress condition is in favor of either strike-slip or reverse movement on the fault. The strike of the fault is not ideal for slip under the present-day stress field and thus the fault has a low slip tendency. However, the fault may be able to slip if the frictional coefficient (${\mu}$), representing the resistance of the fault to slip, is sufficiently low (e.g., ${\mu}$ < 0.25).

• International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.345-367
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• 2015

Past earthquakes have signaled the increased collapse vulnerability of mainshock-damaged bridge piers and urgent need of repair interventions prior to subsequent cascading hazard events, such as aftershocks, triggered by the mainshock (MS). The overarching goal of this study is to quantify the collapse vulnerability of mainshock-damaged substandard RC bridge piers rehabilitated with different repair jackets (FRP, conventional thick steel and hybrid jacket) under aftershock (AS) attacks of various intensities. The efficacy of repair jackets on post-MS resilience of repaired bridges is quantified for a prototype two-span single-column bridge bent with lap-splice deficiency at column-footing interface. Extensive number of incremental dynamic time history analyses on numerical finite element bridge models with deteriorating properties under back-to-back MS-AS sequences were utilized to evaluate the efficacy of different repair jackets on the post-repair behavior of RC bridges subjected to AS attacks. Results indicate the dramatic impact of repair jacket application on post-MS resilience of damaged bridge piers-up to 45.5 % increase of structural collapse capacity-subjected to aftershocks of multiple intensities. Besides, the efficacy of repair jackets is found to be proportionate to the intensity of AS attacks. Moreover, the steel jacket exhibited to be the most vulnerable repair intervention compared to CFRP, irrespective of the seismic sequence (severe MS-severe or moderate AS) or earthquake type (near-fault or far-fault).

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.503-515
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• 2022

This paper presents the development of seismic fragility curves for a precast reinforced concrete bridge instrumented with a structural health monitoring (SHM) system. The bridge is located near an active seismic fault in the Dominican Republic (DR) and provides the only access to several local communities in the aftermath of a potential damaging earthquake; moreover, the sample bridge was designed with outdated building codes and uses structural detailing not adequate for structures in seismic regions. The bridge was instrumented with an SHM system to extract information about its state of structural integrity and estimate its seismic performance. The data obtained from the SHM system is integrated with structural models to develop a set of fragility curves to be used as a quantitative measure of the expected damage; the fragility curves provide an estimate of the probability that the structure will exceed different damage limit states as a function of an earthquake intensity measure. To obtain the fragility curves a digital twin of the bridge is developed combining a computational finite element model and the information extracted from the SHM system. The digital twin is used as a response prediction tool that minimizes modeling uncertainty, significantly improving the predicting capability of the model and the accuracy of the fragility curves. The digital twin was used to perform a nonlinear incremental dynamic analysis (IDA) with selected ground motions that are consistent with the seismic fault and site characteristics. The fragility curves show that for the maximum expected acceleration (with a 2% probability of exceedance in 50 years) the structure has a 62% probability of undergoing extensive damage. This is the first study presenting fragility curves for civil infrastructure in the DR and the proposed methodology can be extended to other structures to support disaster mitigation and post-disaster decision-making strategies.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Navigation and Port Research Conference
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• v.2
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• pp.297-301
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• 2006

There are more than thirty continuously recording GPS stations (CORS) have been set up at different geological sites and distributed throughout a 140 km by 140 km area in southern Taiwan beginning since 2000, and the amount of the CORS are still under increasing in this area which is recognized the suture zone between the Philippe sea plate and Eurasia plate. From the year 2000 to the end of 2005, we analyze the daily solutions to obtain the average station velocities before and after the Chengkung earthquake which occurred near eastern Taiwan at 04:38 UTC on 10 December 2003. After considering the effects of the coseismic and postseismic displacements, the difference of the horizontal components reaches 13 mm/year of the average station velocity happened in the east side of the Central Range. To the vertical component, all of the stations are risen which located in the Coastal Range, and the largest difference approaches 20mm/year.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.81-90
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• 2023

The maximum drifts are important to the seismic evaluation of steel buildings and connections, but the information can hardly be obtained from the post-earthquake field investigation. This research studies the feasibility of using the loss rate of bolt pretension as an earthquake damage predictor. Full-scale tests were made on four steel connections using bolted-web-welded-flange details. One connection was unreinforced (UN), another was reinforced with double shear plates (DS), and the other two used reduced beam sections (RBS). The preinstalled strain gauges were used to control the pretensions and monitor the losses of the high-strength bolts. The results showed that the loss rate of bolt pretension was highly related to the damage of the connections. The pretensions lost up to 10% in all the connections at the yield drifts of 0.5% to 1%. After yielding of the connections, the pretensions lost significantly until fracture occurred. The UN and DS connections failed with a maximum drift of 4 %, and the two RBS connections showed better ductility and failed with a maximum drift of 6%. Under the far-field-type loading protocol, the loss rate grew to 60%. On the contrary, the rate for the specimen under near-fault-type loading protocol was about 40%. The loss rate of bolt pretension is therefore recommended to use as an earthquake damage predictor. Additionally, the 10% and 40% loss rates are recommended to predict the limit states of connection yielding and maximum strength, respectively, and to define the performance levels of serviceability and life-safety for the buildings.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.11-26
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• 2011

The inelastic displacement ratio is defined as the ratio of the peak inelastic displacement to the peak linear elastic displacement. The inelastic displacement ratio allows simple evaluation of the peak inelastic displacement directly from the peak elastic displacement without computation of the inelastic response. Existing research of the inelastic displacement ratio is limited to piece-wise linear systems such as bilinear or stiffness degrading systems. In this paper, the inelastic displacement ratio is investigated for smooth hysteretic behavior systems subjected to near- and far-fault earthquakes. A simple formula of the inelastic displacement ratio is proposed by using a two step procedure of regression analysis.