• Earthquakes and Structures
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• 제15권3호
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• pp.243-251
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• 2018

The dynamic responses of a rocking wall-moment frame (RWMF) with a post-tensioned cable are investigated. The nonlinear equations of motions are developed, which can be categorized as a single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) model. The model is validated through comparison of the rocking response of the rigid rocking wall (RRW) and displacement of the moment frame (MF) against that obtained from Finite Element analysis when subjected ground motion excitation. A comprehensive parametric analysis is carried out to determine the seismic performance factors of the RWMF systems under near-fault trigonometric pulse excitation. The horizontal displacement of the RWMF system is compared with that of MF structures without RRW, revealing the damping effect of the RRW. Frame displacement spectra excited by trigonometric pulses and recorded earthquake ground motions are constructed. The effects of pulse type, mass ratio, frame stiffness, and wall slenderness variations on the displacement spectra are presented. The paper shows that the coupling with a RRW has mixed results on suppressing the maximum displacement response of the frame.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• 제18권5호
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• pp.931-953
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• 2016

In this paper, the effects of mass eccentricity of superstructure as well as stiffness eccentricity of isolators on the amplification of seismic responses of base-isolated structures are investigated by using mathematical near-fault pulse models. Superstructures with 3, 6 and 9 stories and aspect ratios equal to 1, 2 and 3 are mounted on a reasonable variety of Triple Concave Friction Pendulum (TCFP) bearings considering different period and damping ratio. Three-dimensional linear superstructure mounted on nonlinear isolators are subjected to simplified pulses including fling step and forward directivity while various pulse period ($T_p$) and Peak Ground Velocity (PGV) amounts as two crucial parameters of these pulses are scrutinized. Maximum isolator displacement and base shear as well as peak superstructure acceleration and drift are selected as the main engineering demand parameters. The results indicate that the torsional intensification of different demand parameters caused by superstructure mass eccentricity is more significant than isolator stiffness eccentricity. The torsion due to mass eccentricity has intensified the base shear of asymmetric 6-story model 2.55 times comparing to symmetric one. In similar circumstances, the isolator displacement and roof acceleration are increased 49 and 116 percent respectively in the presence of mass eccentricity. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that torsional effects of mass eccentricity can force the drift to reach the allowable limit of ASCE 7 standard in the presence of forward directivity pulses.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• 제15권4호
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• pp.395-402
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• 2018

Floor location of adjacent buildings may be different in terms of height elevation, and thus, the slab may hit on the columns of adjacent insufficiently separated buildings during severe ground motions. Such impacts, often referred to as mid-column pounding, can be catastrophic. Substantial pounding damage or even total collapse of structures was often observed in large amount of adjacent low rise buildings. The research on the mid-column pounding between low rise buildings is in urgency need. In present study, the responses of two adjacent low rise buildings with unequal heights and different dynamic properties have been analyzed. Parametric studies have also been conducted to assess the influence of story height difference, gap distance and input direction of ground motion on the effect of structural pounding response. Another emphasis of this study is to analyze the near-fault effect, which is important for the structures located in the near-fault area. The analysis results show that collisions exhibit significant influence on the local shear force response of the column suffering impact. Because of asymmetric configuration of systems, the structural seismic behavior is distinct by varying the incident directions of the ground motions. Results also show that near-fault earthquakes induced ground motions can cause more significant effect on the pounding responses.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제37권2호
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• pp.191-200
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• 2005

Shaking table tests of the seismic behavior of a steel frame structure model were performed. The purpose of these tests was to estimate the effects of a near-fault ground motion and a scenario earthquake based on a probabilistic seismic hazard analysis for nuclear power plant structures. Three representative kinds of earthquake ground motions were used for the input motions: the design earthquake ground motion for the Korean nuclear power plants, the scenario earthquakes for Korean nuclear power plant sites, and the near-fault earthquake record from the Chi-Chi earthquake. The probability-based scenario earthquakes were developed for the Korean nuclear power plant sites using the PSHA data. A 4-story steel frame structure was fabricated to perform the tests. Test results showed that the high frequency ground motions of the scenario earthquake did not damage the structure at the nuclear power plant site; however, the ground motions had a serious effect on the equipment installed on the high floors of the building. This shows that the design earthquake is not conservative enough to demonstrate the actual danger to safety related nuclear power plant equipment.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• 제7권1호
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• pp.83-99
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• 2014

This study is devoted to estimate higher-mode effects for multi-story structures with considering soil-structure interaction subjected to decomposed parts of near-fault ground motions. The soil beneath the super-structure is simulated based on the Cone model concept. Two-dimensional structural models of 5, 15, and 25-story shear buildings are idealized by using nonlinear stick models. The ratio of base shears for the soil-MDOF structure system to those obtained from the equivalent soil-SDOF structure system is selected as an estimator to quantify the higher-mode effects. The results demonstrate that the trend of higher-mode effects is regular for pulse component and has a descending variation with respect to the pulse period, whereas an erratic pattern is obtained for high-frequency component. Moreover, the effect of pulse component on higher modes is more significant than high-frequency part for very short-period pulses and as the pulse period increases this phenomenon becomes vice-versa. SSI mechanism increases the higher-mode effects for both pulse and high-frequency components and slenderizing the super-structure amplifies such effects. Furthermore, for low story ductility ranges, increasing nonlinearity level leads to intensify the higher-mode effects; however, for high story ductility, such effects mitigates.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제33권3호
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• pp.389-402
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• 2019

Reinforced concrete walls and buckling restrained braces are effective structural elements that are used to resist seismic loads. In this paper, the behavior of the reinforced concrete walls coupled with buckling restrained braces is investigated. In such a system, there is not any conventional reinforced concrete coupling beam. The coupling action is provided only by buckling restrained braces that dissipate energy and also cause coupling forces in the wall piers. The studied structures are 10-, 20- and 30-story ones designed according to the ASCE, ACI-318 and AISC codes. Wall nonlinear model is then prepared using the fiber elements in PERFORM-3D software. The responses of the systems subjected to the forward directivity near-fault (NF) and ordinary far-fault (FF) ground motions at maximum considered earthquake (MCE) level are studied. The seismic responses of the structures corresponding to the inter-story drift demand, curvature ductility of wall piers, and coupling ratio of the walls are compared. On average, the results show that the inter-story drift ratio for the examined systems subjected to the far-fault events at MCE level is less than allowable value of 3%. Besides, incremental dynamic analysis is used to examine the considered systems. Results of studied systems show that, the taller the structures, the higher the probability of their collapse. Also, for a certain peak ground acceleration of 1 g, the probability of collapse under NF records is more than twice this probability under FF records.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• 제7권3호
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• pp.365-384
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• 2014

The intensity of a ground motion can be measured by a number of parameters, some of which might exhibit robust correlations with the damage of structures subjected to that motion. In this study, 204 near-fault pulse-type records are selected and their seismic parameters are determined. Time history and damage analyses of a tested 3-storey reinforced concrete frame representing for low-rise reinforced concrete buildings subjected to those earthquake motions are performed after calibration and comparison with the available experimental results. The aim of this paper is to determine amongst several available seismic parameters, the ones that have strong correlations with the structural damage measured by a damage index and the maximum inter-story drift. The results show that Velocity Spectrum Intensity is the leading parameter demonstrating the best correlation, followed by Housner Intensity, Spectral Acceleration and Spectral Displacement. These seismic parameters are recommended as reliable parameters of near-fault pulse-type motions related to damage potential of low-rise reinforced concrete structures. The results also reaffirm that the conventional and widely used parameter of Peak Ground Acceleration does not exhibit a good correlation with the structural damage.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• 제22권1호
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• pp.53-64
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• 2022

This study proposes an intelligent semi-active isolation system combining a variable-stiffness control device and ground motion characteristic prediction. To determine the optimal control parameter in real-time, a genetic algorithm (GA)-fuzzy control law was developed in this study. Data on various types of ground motions were collected, and the ground motion characteristics were quantified to derive a near-fault (NF) characteristic ratio by employing an on-site earthquake early warning system. On the basis of the peak ground acceleration (PGA) and the derived NF ratio, a fuzzy inference system (FIS) was developed. The control parameters were optimized using a GA. To support continuity under near-fault and far-field ground motions, the optimal control parameter was linked with the predicted PGA and NF ratio through the FIS. The GA-fuzzy law was then compared with other control laws to verify its effectiveness. The results revealed that the GA-fuzzy control law could reliably predict different ground motion characteristics for real-time control because of the high sensitivity of its control parameter to the ground motion characteristics. Even under near-fault and far-field ground motions, the GA-fuzzy control law outperformed the FPEEA control law in terms of controlling the isolation layer displacement and the superstructure acceleration.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• 제15권5호
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• pp.453-462
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• 2018

Damages to buildings affected by a near-fault strong ground motion are largely attributed to the vertical component of the earthquake resulting in column failures, which could lead to disproportionate building catastrophic collapse in a progressive fashion. Recently, considerable interests are awakening to study effects of earthquake vertical components on structural responses. In this study, detailed modeling and time-history analyses of a 12-story code-conforming reinforced concrete moment frame building carrying the gravity loads, and exposed to once only the horizontal component of, and second time simultaneously the horizontal and vertical components of an ensemble of far-field and near-field earthquakes are conducted. Structural responses inclusive of tension, compression and its fluctuations in columns, the ratio of shear demand to capacity in columns and peak mid-span moment demand in beams are compared with and without the presence of the vertical component of earthquake records. The influences of the existence of earthquake vertical component in both exterior and interior spans are separately studied. Thereafter, the correlation between the increase of demands induced by the vertical component of the earthquake and the ratio of a set of earthquake record characteristic parameters is investigated. It is shown that uplift initiation and the magnitude of tensile forces developed in corner columns are relatively more critical. Presence of vertical component of earthquake leads to a drop in minimum compressive force and initiation of tension in columns. The magnitude of this reduction in the most critical case is recorded on average 84% under near-fault ground motions. Besides, the presence of earthquake vertical components increases the shear capacity required in columns, which is at most 31%. In the best case, a direct correlation of 95% between the increase of the maximum compressive force and the ratio of vertical to horizontal 'effective peak acceleration (EPA)' is observed.

• 지구물리
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• 제3권1호
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• pp.49-56
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• 2000

울산단층의 단층분절 연구의 일환으로, 울산단층의 파쇄대로 추정되는 경주-울산간 7번국도와 인접한 지역 17개 측점에서 워커웨이 자료를 획득하였으며, 1-48 m의 옵셋구간에서 기록된 굴절파의 속도이방성을 측정하였다. 기록된 굴절 P파 속도는 평균 1787 m/s로 기반암의 풍화층 상부에서 굴절된 파로 해석되며, 속도이방성은 평균 0.056으로 구조선이 예상주향방향과 일치함을 간접적으로 시사한다. 경상북도와 경상남도의 도경계선를 기준으로 남쪽에서는 예상주향방향의 속도가 예상 경사방향보다 빠른 정상적인 이방성을 보이나, 북쪽으로는 단층의 주향이 여러 방향으로 갈라져있거나, 예상경사방향으로 발달된 구조선이 많이 발달해 있을 가능성이 높은 것으로 분석되었다. 이는 단층이 도경계선 부근을 경계로 울산단층이 분절되어 있을 가능성을 시사한다.