• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.82 no.3
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• pp.325-341
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• 2022

Previous major earthquakes indicated that the earthquake induced ground motions are typical non-stationary processes, which are non-stationary in both amplification and frequency. For the convenience of aseismic design and analysis, it usually assumes that the ground motions at structural supports are stationary processes. The development of time-frequency analysis technique makes it possible to evaluate the non-stationary responses of engineering structures subjected to non-stationary inputs, which is more general and realistic than the analysis method commonly used in engineering. In this paper, the wavelet-based stochastic vibration analysis methodology is adopted to calculate the non-stationary responses of multi-support structures. For comparison, the stationary response based on the standard random vibration method is also investigated. A frame structure and a two-span bridge are analyzed. The effects of non-stationary spatial ground motion and local site conditions are considered, and the influence of structural property on the structural responses are also considered. The analytical results demonstrate that the non-stationary spatial ground motions have significant influence on the response of multi-support structures.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.463-472
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• 1994

A method of stochastic response analysis of base-isolated fluid-filled pool structures subject to random ground excitations is studied. Fluid-structure interaction effects between the flexible walls and contained fluid are taken into account in the form of added mass matrix derived by FEM modeling of the contained fluid motion. The stationary ground excitation is represented by Modified Clough-Penzien spectral model and the nonstationary one is obtained by imposing an envelope function on the stationary one. The stationary and nonstationary response statistics of the two different isolation systems are obtained by solving the governing Lyapunov covariance matrix differential equations.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.499-518
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• 2009

The present paper investigates the stochastic seismic responses of steel structure systems with Partially Restrained (PR) connections by using Perturbation based Stochastic Finite Element (PSFEM) method. A stiffness matrix formulation of steel systems with PR connections and PSFEM and MCS formulations of structural systems are given. Based on the formulations, a computer program in FORTRAN language has been developed, and stochastic seismic analyses of steel frame and bridge systems have been performed for different types of connections. The connection parameters, material and geometrical properties are assumed to be random variables in the analyses. The Kocaeli earthquake occurred in 1999 is considered as a ground motion. The connection parameters, material and geometrical properties are considered to be random variables. The efficiency and accuracy of the proposed SFEM algorithm are validated by comparison with results of Monte Carlo simulation (MCS) method.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Fisheries and Ocean Technology
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.337-346
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• 2000

Earthquake is a natural disaster accompanied by damage of human and properties caused by the ground motion, crustal movements, faults as well as tidal wave. The earthquake is known to occur mostly in earthquake-prone areas and the Korean Peninsula is known to be relatively safe in terms of geological characteristics. In order to withstand on severe environmental dynamic random load such as an earthquake, the large structure need to be designed to withstand the anticipated seismic tremor. The seismetic design is essential for building structures, bridges, and large structures which is handles explosive gases. Thus, the necessity of earthquake resistant analysis for large structure is growing and the capability of dynamic analysis should be obtained. In this thesis, dynamic responses of a high building(height 60m, width 18) which subjected to random earthquake load are presented which responses are derived using dynamic analysis methods such as response spectrum analysis, mode superposition and direct integration. Each results are also compared to review the merit of each methods.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.45-56
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• 2020

The application of critical excitation method with displacement-based objective function for multi degree of freedom (MDOF) systems is investigated. To this end, a new critical excitation method is developed to find the critical input motion of a MDOF system as a synthetic accelerogram. The upper bound of earthquake input energy per unit mass is considered as a new constraint for the problem, and its advantages are discussed. Considering this constraint, the critical excitation method is then used to generate synthetic accelerograms for MDOF models corresponding to three shear buildings of 10, 16, and 22 stories. In order to demonstrate the reliability of generated accelerograms to estimate dynamic response of the structures, three target ground motions with considerable level of energy contents are selected to represent "real critical excitation" of each model, and the method is used to re-generate these ground motions. Afterwards, linear dynamic analyses are conducted using these accelerograms along with the generated critical excitations, to investigate the key parameters of response including maximum displacement, maximum interstory drift, and maximum absolute acceleration of stories. The results show that the generated critical excitations can make an acceptable estimate of the structural behavior compared to the target ground motions. Therefore, the method can be reliably implemented to generate critical excitation of the structure when real one is not available.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.31-40
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• 2003

Due to the random nature of earthquake, the definition of the input excitation is one of the major uncertainties in the seismic response analysis. Furthermore, ground motions that correspond to a limited number of design parameters are not unique. Consequently, a brood range of response values can be obtained even with a set of motions, which match the same target parameters. The paper presents a practical probabilistic approach that can be used to systematically model the stochastic nature of seismic loading. The new approach is based on energy-based RMS hazard and takes account for the uncertainties of key ground motion parameters. The simulations indicate that the new RMS procedure is particularly useful for the rigorous probabilistic seismic response analysis, since the procedure is suitable for generation of large number of hazard-compatible motions, unlike the conventional procedure that aim to generate a small number of motions.

• Land and Housing Review
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.79-82
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• 2012

While there exists a relatively large body of technical information for the engineered design of wood-frame buildings to resist seismic ground motions, the quantitative assessment of seismic resistance of conventional houses built by prescriptive requirements is less well understood. Forintek Canada Corp., in collaboration with other research and industry partners, has embarked on a research project to address this topic. This paper will report on the seismic shake table tests of a full-scale wood-frame building. The two-story specimen, $6m{\times}6m$ in plan, was built on the seismic shake table at Tongji University in Shanghai, China, according to Part 9 of the 1995 National Building Code of Canada and shaken uni-directionally in each of the two principal directions. Three different seismic table motions were applied at increasing peak ground motion amplitudes up to 0.40 and 0.50 g. The specimen was repaired after the above sets of seismic table motions, and successive runs were conducted for increased door openings. Measurements included specimen accelerations, displacements and anchorage forces. Static stiffness of the specimen was measured at low force levels, and natural frequencies were measured after each seismic loading stage by applying low-level random excitation. The results presented consist of the capacity spectra of the shake table tests, changes in specimen stiffness and natural frequencies with increasing seismic loading. These results and those from other recent shake table tests elsewhere will be compared with simplified engineering calculations based on codified values of strength, and on that basis preliminary conclusions will be drawn on the adequacy of the current code provisions and design guides in Canada and the USA for conventional wood-frame construction.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.56 no.6
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• pp.959-982
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• 2015

In this study, a non-stationary random earthquake Clough-Penzien model is used to describe earthquake ground motion. Using stochastic direct integration in combination with an equivalent linear method, a solution is established to describe the non-stationary response of lead-rubber bearing (LRB) system to a stochastic earthquake. Two parameters are used to develop an optimization method for bearing design: the post-yielding stiffness and the normalized yield strength of the isolation bearing. Using the minimization of the maximum energy response level of the upper structure subjected to an earthquake as an objective function, and with the constraints that the bearing failure probability is no more than 5% and the second shape factor of the bearing is less than 5, a calculation method for the two optimal design parameters is presented. In this optimization process, the radial basis function (RBF) response surface was applied, instead of the implicit objective function and constraints, and a sequential quadratic programming (SQP) algorithm was used to solve the optimization problems. By considering the uncertainties of the structural parameters and seismic ground motion input parameters for the optimization of the bearing design, convex set models (such as the interval model and ellipsoidal model) are used to describe the uncertainty parameters. Subsequently, the optimal bearing design parameters were expanded at their median values into first-order Taylor series expansions, and then, the Lagrange multipliers method was used to determine the upper and lower boundaries of the parameters. Moreover, using a calculation example, the impacts of site soil parameters, such as input peak ground acceleration, bearing diameter and rubber shore hardness on the optimization parameters, are investigated.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.311-326
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• 2024

Transmission tower structures are particularly susceptible to damage and even collapse under strong seismic ground motions. Conventional seismic analyses of transmission towers are usually performed by considering only ground motion uncertainty while ignoring structural uncertainty; consequently, the performance evaluation and failure prediction may be inaccurate. In this context, the present study numerically investigates the seismic responses and failure mechanism of transmission towers by considering multiple sources of uncertainty. To this end, an existing transmission tower is chosen, and the corresponding three-dimensional finite element model is created in ABAQUS software. Sensitivity analysis is carried out to identify the relative importance of the uncertain parameters in the seismic responses of transmission towers. The numerical results indicate that the impacts of the structural damping ratio, elastic modulus and yield strength on the seismic responses of the transmission tower are relatively large. Subsequently, a set of 20 uncertainty models are established based on random samples of various parameter combinations generated by the Latin hypercube sampling (LHS) method. An uncertainty analysis is performed for these uncertainty models to clarify the impacts of uncertain structural factors on the seismic responses and failure mechanism (ultimate bearing capacity and failure path). The numerical results show that structural uncertainty has a significant influence on the seismic responses and failure mechanism of transmission towers; different possible failure paths exist for the uncertainty models, whereas only one exists for the deterministic model, and the ultimate bearing capacity of transmission towers is more sensitive to the variation in material parameters than that in geometrical parameters. This research is expected to provide an in-depth understanding of the influence of structural uncertainty on the seismic demand assessment of transmission towers.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.381-394
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• 2003

While constructing multistorey buildings with reinforced concrete framed structures it is a common practice to provide parking space for vehicles at the ground floor level. This floor will generally consist of open frames without any infilled walls and is called an open-storey. From a post disaster damage survey carried out, it was noticed that during the January 26, 2001 Bhuj (Gujarat, India) earthquake, a large number of reinforced concrete framed buildings with open-storey at ground floor level, suffered extensive damage and in some cases catastrophic collapse. This has brought into sharp focus the need to carry out systematic studies on the seismic vulnerability of such buildings. Determination of vulnerability requires realistic structural response estimations taking into account the stochasticity in the loading and the system parameters. The stochastic finite element method can be effectively used to model the random fields while carrying out such studies. This paper presents the details of stochastic finite element analysis of a five-storey three-bay reinforced concrete framed structure with open-storey subjected to standard seismic excitation. In the present study, only the stochasticity in the system parameters is considered. The stochastic finite element method used for carrying out the analysis is based on perturbation technique. Each random field representing the stochastic geometry/material property is discretised into correlated random variables using spatial averaging technique. The uncertainties in geometry and material properties are modelled using the first two moments of the corresponding parameters. In evaluating the stochastic response, the cross-sectional area and Young' modulus are considered as independent random fields. To study the influence of correlation length of random fields, different correlation lengths are considered for random field discretisation. The spatial expectations and covariances for displacement response at any time instant are obtained as the output. The effect of open-storey is modelled by suitably considering the stiffness of infilled walls in the upper storey using cross bracing. In order to account for changes in soil conditions during strong motion earthquakes, both fixed and hinged supports are considered. The results of the stochastic finite element based seismic analysis of reinforced concrete framed structures reported in this paper demonstrate the importance of considering the effect of open-storey with appropriate support conditions to estimate the realistic response of buildings subjected to earthquakes.