• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.399-414
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• 1997

This paper presents an investigation into the seismic response characteristics of a proposed ligh-weight pedestrian cable-stayed bridge made entirely from Glass Fiber Reinforced Plastics(GFRP). The study employs three dimensional finite element models to study and compare the dynamic characteristics and the seismic response of the GFRP bridge to a conventional Steel-Concrete (SC) cable-stayed bridge alternative. The two bridges were subjected to three synthetic earthquakes that differ in the frequency content characteristics. The performance of the GFRP bridge was compared to that of the SC bridge by normalizing the live load and the seismic internal forces with respect to the dead load internal forces. The normalized seismically induced internal forces were compared to the normalized live load internal forces for each design alternative. The study shows that the design alternatives have different dynamic characteristics. The light GFRP alternative has more flexible deck motion in the lateral direction than the heavier SC alternative. While the SC alternative has more vertical deck modes than the GFRP alternative, it has less lateral deck modes than the GFRP alternative in the studied frequency range. The GFRP towers are more flexible in the lateral direction than the SC towers. The GFRP bridge tower attracted less normalized base shear force than the SC bridge towers. However, earthquakes, with peak acceleration of only 0.1 g, and with a variety of frequency content could induce high enough seismic internal forces at the tower bases of the GFRP cable-stayed bridge to govern the structural design of such bridge. Careful seismic analysis, design, and detailing of the tower connections are required to achieve satisfactory seismic performance of GFRP long span bridges.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.55-70
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• 2021

In urban cities, buildings were built in the neighborhood, these buildings influence each other through structure-soilstructure interaction (SSSI) and seismic pounding due to limited separation distance in-between. Generally, the effects of the interaction between soil and structure are disregarded during seismic design and analysis of superstructure. However, the system of soil-base adversely changes structural behavior and response demands. Thus, the vibration characteristics plus the seismic response of a building are not able to be independent of those in adjacent buildings. The interaction between structure, soil, and structure investigates the action of the attendance of adjacent buildings to the others by the interaction effect of the sub-soil under dynamic disturbances. The main purpose of this research is to analyze the effects of SSSI and seismic pounding on the behavior of adjacent buildings. The response of a single structure or two adjacent structures with shallow raft base lying on soft soil are studied. Three dimensions finite element models are developed to investigate the effects of pounding; gap distance; conditions of soil; stories number; a mass of adjacent building and ground excitation frequency on the seismic responses and vibration characteristics of the structures. The variation in the story displacement, story shear, and story moment responses demands are studied to evaluate the presence effect of the adjacent buildings. Numerical results acquired using conditions of soil models are compared with the condition of fixed support and adjacent building models to a single building model. The peak responses of story displacement, story moment, and story shear are studied.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.1069-1089
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• 2015

This paper presents average numerical results of 2128 nonlinear dynamic finite element (FE) analyses of lightweight acceleration-sensitive non-structural components (NSCs) attached to the floors of one-bay three-storey reinforced concrete (RC) primary structures (P-structures) with different eccentricity ratios. The investigated parameters include the NSC to P-structure vibration period ratio, peak ground acceleration, P-structure eccentricity ratio, and NSC damping ratio. Appropriate constitutive relationships were used to model the behaviour of the RC P-structures. The NSCs were modelled as vertical cantilevers fixed at their bases with masses on the free ends and varying lengths so as to match the vibration periods of the P-structures. Full dynamic interaction was considered between the NSCs and P-structures. A set of seven natural bi-directional ground motions were used to evaluate the seismic response of the NSCs. The numerical results show that the acceleration response of the NSCs depends on the investigated parameters. The accelerations of the NSCs attached to the flexible sides of the P-structures increased with the increase in peak ground acceleration and P-structure eccentricity ratio but decreased with the increase in NSC damping ratio. Comparison between the FE results and Eurocode 8 (EC8) predictions suggests that, under tuned conditions, EC8 provisions underestimate the seismic response of the NSCs mounted on the flexible sides of the plan-irregular RC P-structures.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.15-22
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• 2003

Seismic design codes developed taking into account the strong earthquakes may result in unnecessary economical loss in the low seismic area, and the importance of the performance based design considering the soil-structure interaction is recognized for the reasonable seismic design. In this study. elastic and inelastic seismic response analyses of a single degree of freedom system on the soft soil layer were performed considering the nonlinearity of the soil for the 1 weak earthquakes scaled to the nominal peak accelerations of 0.07g and 0.11g. The seismic response analyses were performed in one step applying the earthquake motions to the bedrock, utilizing a pseudo 3-D dynamic analysis software of the soil-structure system. The study results indicated that seismic response spectra of a system assuming the rigid base or the linear soil layer does not represent the true behavior of a structure-soil system, and it is necessary to take into account the nonlinear soil-structure interaction effects and to perform the performance based seismic design for the various soil layers, having different characteristics, rather than to follow the routine design procedures specified in the design codes for the reasonable seismic design. The nonlinearity of the soft soil excited with the weak seismic motions also affected significantly on the elastic and inelastic seismic response spectra of a system due to the nonlinear soil amplification of the earthquake motions, and it was pronounced especially for the elastic response spectra.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.123-132
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• 2018

In this paper the strain energy density (SED) model is used to analyze the seismic behavior of suspen-domes and a new criterion is established for judging the seismic failure based on a characteristic point in the SED model. Firstly, a nonlinear time-history response analysis was carried out using the finite-element package ANSYS for typical suspen-domes subjected to different ground motions. The seismic responses including nodal displacements, ratios of yielding members, strain energy density and structural maximum deformation energy were extracted corresponding to the increasing peak ground acceleration (A). Secondly, the SED sum ($I_d$) was calculated which revealed that the $I_d-A$ curve exhibited a relatively large change (called a characteristic point) at a certain value of A with a very small load increment after the structures entered the elastic-plastic state. Thirdly, a SED criterion is proposed to judge the seismic failure load based on the characteristic point. Subsequently, the case study verifies the characteristic point and the proposed SED criterion. Finally, this paper describes the unity and application of the SED criterion. The SED method may open a new way for structural appraisal and the SED criterion might give a unified criterion for predicting the failure loads of various structures subjected to dynamic loads.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.259-278
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• 2008

This paper presents a nonlinear finite element procedure accounting for the effects of geometric as well as material nonlinearities for reinforced concrete bridge piers supported by laminated rubber bearings. Reinforced concrete bridge piers supported by laminated rubber bearings and carrying a cyclic load were analyzed by using a special purpose, nonlinear finite element program, RCAHEST. For reinforced concrete, the proposed robust nonlinear material model captures the salient response characteristics of the bridge piers under cyclic loading conditions and addresses with the influence of geometric nonlinearity on post-peak response of the bridge piers by transformations between local and global systems. Seismic isolator element to predict the behaviors of laminated rubber bearings is also developed. The seismic performance of reinforced concrete bridge piers supported by laminated rubber bearings is assessed analytically. The results show good correlation between the experimental findings and numerical predictions, and demonstrate the reliability and robustness of the proposed analytical model. Additionally, the studies and discussions presented in this investigation provide an insight into the key behavioral aspects of reinforced concrete bridge piers supported by laminated rubber bearings.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.319-330
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• 2022

Retrofit of soft-story buildings due to seismic loads using Gap-Inclined-Brace (GIB) system is considered a new retrofit technique that aims to maintain both strength and stiffness of structure. In addition, it provides more ductility and less P-delta effect, and subsequently better performance is observed. In this paper, the effect of the eccentricity between GIB and the retrofitted column due to installation on the efficiency of the retrofitting system is studied. In addition, a modification in the determination method of GIB properties is introduced to reduce the eccentricity effect. Also, the effect of GIB system on the seismic response of mid-rise buildings with different heights considering soft-story at various heights has been studied. A numerical model is developed to study the impact of such system on the response of retrofitted soft-story buildings under the action of seismic loads. To achieve that goal, this model is used to perform a numerical investigation, by considering five case study scenarios represent several locations of soft-story of two mid-rise reinforced concrete buildings. At first, Non-linear static pushover analysis was carried out to develop the capacity curves for case studies. Then, Non-linear time history analyses using ten earthquake records with five peak ground accelerations is performed for each case study scenario before and after retrofitting with GIB. The results show that large GIB eccentricity reduce the ultimate lateral resistance and deformation capacity of the retrofitting system. Moreover, the higher the retrofitted building, the more deformation capacity is observed but without significant increase in ultimate lateral resistance.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.247-256
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• 2015

This paper briefly introduces the design seismic loads in Korea (KBC 2009). Then, over 10,000 recorded earthquake ground accelerograms, with their magnitude ranging from 4.0 to 8.0 and their epicentral distance ranging from 0 to 200 km, were used to examine the appropriateness of seismic load defined in Korea known as a low-to-moderate seismicity region. The following conclusions are drawn based on the results: (1) The effective peak ground accelerations (EPA) of recorded earthquake accelerograms under $M{\leq}6.0$ and $R{\geq}15km$ appear to be less than that of MCE in Korea for all site conditions defined in KBC 2009. (2) The design spectrum (two-thirds of the intensity of MCE) in KBC 2009 is comparable to those of earthquake records in the magnitude 6 - 7 and the epicentral distance less than 50 km. Therefore, (3) the intensity of Korean design earthquake is considered to be overly high since the Korea peninsula is generally conceived to be a low-seismicity region.

• Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
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• 2005.03a
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• pp.487-494
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• 2005

In this study, a set of artificial earthquake time histories, which can be used for the earthquake-resistant design of seismically isolated highway bridges, was presented. In addition, adequateness of the generated ground accelerations was investigated. These were performed based on the seismic design standard for seismically isolated bridges. Total of 22 acceleration time histories were generated for each soil condition by the spectral method. The time histories were verified to meet the code provisions including (1) mean response spectrum at control frequencies, (2) EPGA (effective peak ground acceleration), and (3) correlation coefficient. Finally, the maximum response corresponding to four time histories and the mean response associated with seven time histories were computed using the generated acceleration time histories, which shows validity of the proposed artificial earthquake time histories.

• Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
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• 1998.10a
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• pp.407-412
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• 1998

Amplification factor spectrum, using the observed strong ground motions database, has been obtained and compared with Standard Response Spectrum, which were suggested by US NRC. The observed ground motions from the Yongwol and the Kyoungju Earthquake, respectively, which are suppose to represent domestic seismotectonic characteristics such as seismic source, attenuation, and site effect, are used for the analysis of amplification factor spectrum. Amplification factors have been calculated by comparing the observed peak ground motions with results from responses to the observed horizontal and vertical ground motions. The comparison shows that the amplification factors resultant from this study exceeds those of Standard Response Spectum at relatively higher frequencies. The results suggest that the characteristics of the seismic strong ground motion, which are supposed to represent the domestic seismotectonic characteristics, differs from those of Standard Response Spectrum, especially at hither frequencies