• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.1213-1232
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• 2016

This paper investigates the response of nonstructural components in the presence of nonlinear behavior of the primary structure considering the near-fault pulse-like ground motions. A database of 81 near-fault pulse-like ground motions is used to examine the effect of these ground motions on the response of nonstructural components. For comparison, a database of 573 non-pulse-like ground motions selected from the PEER database is also employed. The effects of peak ground velocity (PGV), maximum incremental velocity (MIV), primary structural degrading behavior and damping of nonstructural components are evaluated and discussed statistically. Results are presented in terms of amplification factor which quantifies the effect of inelastic deformations of the primary structure on subsystem responses. The results indicate that the near-fault pulse-like ground motions can significantly increase the amplification factors of nonstructural components with primary structural period and the magnitude of increase can reach 17%. The effect of PGV and MIV on amplification factors tends to increase with the increase of primary structural ductility. The near-fault pulse-like ground motions are more dangerous to components supported by structures with strength and stiffness degrading behavior than ordinary ground motions. A new simplified formulation is proposed for the application of amplification factors for design of nonstructural components for near-fault pulse-like ground motions.

• Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
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• 1998.10a
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• pp.3-11
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• 1998

Response of tall buildings to near-field ground motions with distinct low-frequency pulses can differ dramatically from, for example, the response to the 1940 El Centro ground motion. For the same peak ground acceleration (PGA) and duration of shaking, ground motions with a pulse-like characteristic can generate much higher base shear, inter-story drifts and roof displacement in a high-rise building as compared to ground motions without the characteristic pulse. Also, the ductility demand is much higher and the effectiveness of supplemental damping is lower for pulse-like ground motions. This paper presents a simple interpretation of the response characteristics for two recorded and one synthetic near-field pulse-like ground motions.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.62 no.4
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• pp.497-506
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• 2017

A low damage self-centering braced frame equipped with post-tensioning strands is capable of directing damage to replaceable butterfly-shaped fuses. This paper investigates the seismic performance of rocking braced frame under near-field pulse-like ground motions compared to far-field records. A non-linear time history analysis is performed for twelve self-centering archetypes. A sensitivity analysis is carried out to examine the influences of ground motion types and modeling parameters. Findings represent the proper efficiency of the self-centering system under both far-field and near-field pulse-like ground motions.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.457-471
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• 2021

This study aims at providing a simple and effective methodology to define a meaningful characteristic period for special class of earthquake records named "pulse-like ground motions". In the proposed method, continuous wavelet transform is employed to extract the large pulse of ground motions. Then, Fourier amplitude spectra obtained from the original ground motion and the residual motion is simply compared. This comparison permits to define a threshold pulse-period (Tp∗) as the threshold period above which the pulse component has negligible contributions to the Fourier amplitude spectrum. The effect of pulse on frequency content of motions was discussed on the light of this definition. The advantage and superior features of the new definition were related to the inelastic displacement ratio (IDR) for single-degree-of-freedom systems with period equal to one half of the threshold period. Analyses performed for the proposed period at three ductility levels u=2,4,6 were compared with the results obtained at half of pulse period derived from wavelet analysis, peak-point method and the peak of product of the velocity and the displacement response spectra (Sv x Sd). According to the results, pulse effects on inelastic displacement ratio seem to be more important when $\frac{T_p^*}{T}=2$ (T is the fundamental vibration period of system). The results showed that utilizing of the proposed definition could facilitate an enhanced understanding of pulse-like records features.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.133-143
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• 2022

The catastrophic earthquake-induced failure of slopes concentrically distributed at near-fault area, which indicated the special features of near-fault ground motions, i.e. horizontal pulse-like motion and large vertical component, should have great effect on these geo-disasters. We performed shaking table tests to investigate the effect of both horizontal pulse-like motion and vertical component on dynamic response of slope. Both unidirectional (i.e., horizontal or vertical motions) and bidirectional (i.e., horizontal and vertical components) motions are applied to soft rock slope model, and acceleration at different locations is reordered. The results show that the horizontal acceleration amplification factor (AAF) increases with height. Moreover, the horizontal AAF under unidirectional horizontal pulse-like excitations is larger than that subject to ordinary motion. The vertical AAF does not show an elevation amplification effect. The seismic response of slope under different bidirectional excitations is also different: (1) The horizontal AAF is roughly constant under horizontal pulse-like excitations with and without vertical waves, but (2) the horizontal AAF under ordinary bidirectional ground motions is larger than that under unidirectional ordinary motion. Above phenomena indicate that vertical component has limited effect on seismic response when the horizontal component is pulse-like ground motion, but it can greatly enhance seismic response of slope under ordinary horizontal motion. Moreover, the vertical AAF is enhanced by horizontal motion in both horizontal pulse-like and ordinary motion. Thence, we should pay enough attention to vertical ground motion, especially its horizontal component is ordinary ground motion.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.119-131
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• 2024

Pulse-like ground motion can cause greater damage to structures than nonpulse-like ground motion. Currently, much research is being conducted to determine the presence or absence of velocity pulses and to quantify them from seismic-acceleration records. Existing ground motion is divided into far-field (FF) and near-fault ground motion, based on the distance of the measurement point from the fault. Near-fault ground motion is further classified into near-fault pulse-like (NFP) and near-fault nonpulse-like (NFNP) ground motion by quantifying the presence or absence of velocity pulses. For each ground motion group, 40 FF, 40 NFP, and 40 NFNP ground motions are selected; thus, 120 ground motions are used in the seismic analysis to assess the seismic fragility of sample bridges. Probabilistic seismic demand models (PSDMs) are created by evaluating the seismic responses of two types of sample bridges with lead-rubber and elastomeric rubber bearings using three groups of ground motions. Seismic fragility analysis is performed using the PSDM, and from these results, the effect of the presence or absence of seismic velocity pulses on the seismic fragility is evaluated. From the comparison results of the seismic fragility curve, the seismic fragility of NFP ground motion appears to be approximately three to five times greater than that of NFNP ground motion, according to the presence or absence of a velocity pulse of seismic waves. This means that the damage to the bridge is greater in the case of NFP ground motion than that in the case of NFNP ground motion.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.87 no.5
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• pp.431-450
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• 2023

In this study, it is intended to perform nonlinear time-history analyses of nuclear power plant structures (NPP) under near-fault earthquakes showing directivity pulse and fling-step characteristics. Simulation procedures based on cycloidal pulse and far-fault ground motions are also used to simulate near-fault motions showing forward-directivity and fling-step characteristics and the structural responses are compared with those of the recorded near-fault ground motions. Because it is aimed to determine specifically the pulse type characteristics of near-fault ground motions on NPPs, all the ground motions are normalized to have a PGA of 0.3 g. Depending on the obtained results it can be underlined that although near-fault ground motion has the potential to cause damage mostly on structural systems having larger periods, it may also have noticeable effects on the responses of rigid structures, like NPP containment buildings. On the other hand, simulated near-fault motions can help us to get an insight into the near-fault mechanism as well as an approximate visualization of the structural responses under near-fault earthquakes.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.673-698
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• 2015

This paper investigates inelastic seismic demands of the normal component of near-fault pulse-like ground motions, which differ considerably from those of far-fault ground motions and also parallel component of near-fault ones. The results are utilized to improve the nonlinear static procedure (NSP) called Displacement Coefficient Method (DCM). 96 near-fault and 20 far-fault ground motions and the responses of various single degree of freedom (SDOF) systems constitute the dataset. Nonlinear Dynamic Analysis (NDA) is utilized as the benchmark for comparison with nonlinear static analysis results. Considerable influences of different faulting mechanisms are observed on inelastic seismic demands. The demands are functions of the strength ratio and also the pulse period to structural period ratio. Simple mathematical expressions are developed to consider the effects of near-fault motion and fault type on nonlinear responses. Modifications are presented for the DCM by introducing a near-fault modification factor, $C_N$. In locations, where the fault type is known, the modifications proposed in this paper help to obtain a more precise estimate of seismic demands in structures.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.415-423
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• 2019

Near-fault ground motions can impose particularly high seismic demands on structures due to the pulses that are typically observed in the velocity time-histories. In this study it is empirically found that the critical response can be estimated from the directions corresponding to the maximum (max) or minimum (min) pulse-energy. Determination of the pulse-energy requires removing of the high-frequency content. For achieving this, the wavelet analysis and the least-square-fitting (LSF) algorithm are adopted. Results obtained by the two strategies are compared and differences between them are analyzed. Finally, the relationship between the critical response and the response derived from directions having the max or min pulse-energy confirms that using the pulse-energy for deriving the critical response of the building structures is reasonable.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.239-260
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• 2016

Tuned mass dampers (TMDs) have been frequently proposed to mitigate the detrimental effects of dynamic loadings in structural systems. The effectiveness of this protection strategy has been demonstrated for wind-induced vibrations and, to some extent, for seismic loadings. Within this framework, recent numerical studies have shown that beneficial effects can be achieved by placing a linear TMD on the roof of linear elastic structural systems subjected to pulse-like ground motions. Motivated by these positive outcomes, closed-form design formulations have been also proposed to optimize the device's parameters. For structural systems that undergo a near-fault pulse-like ground motion, however, it is unlikely that their dynamic response be linear elastic. Hence, it is very important to understand whether such strategy is effective for inelastic structural systems. In order to provide new useful insights about this issue, the paper presents statistical results obtained from a numerical study conducted for three shear-type hysteretic (softening-type) systems having 4, 8 and 16 stories equipped with a linear elastic TMD. The effectiveness of two design procedures is discussed by examining the performances of the protected systems subjected to 124 natural pulse-like earthquakes.