• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.139-150
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• 2022

In most self-center braces, decreasing residual deformation is possible only by increasing pretension force, which results in lower energy dissipation capacity. On the other hand, increasing energy dissipation capacity means higher values of residual deformation. The goal of this research was to find the best design for a self-centering buckling restrained brace (SC-BRB) system by balancing self-centering capability and energy dissipation. Three, six, and nine-story structures were investigated using OpenSees software and the TCL programming language to achieve this goal. For each height, 62 different SC-BRBs were considered using different values for the pretension force of cables, the area of the buckling restrained brace (BRB) core plate, and the yield stress of the core plate. The residual deformation and dissipated energy of all the models were calculated using nonlinear analyses after cyclic loading was applied. The optimum design for each height was determined among all the models and was compared to the structure equipped with the usual BRB. The residual deformation of the framed buildings was significantly reduced, according to the findings. Also the reduction of the energy dissipation was acceptable. The optimum design of SC-BRB in 6-story building has the most reduction percent in residual deformation, it can reduce residual deformation of building 83% while causing only a 57% of reduction in dissipated energy. The greatest reduction in residual deformation versus dissipated energy reduction was for the optimum SC-BRB design of 9-story building, results indicated that it can reduce residual deformation of building 69% while causing only a 42% of reduction in dissipated energy.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.159-172
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• 2009

Two prestressed steel reinforced high performance concrete (SRC) beams, a nonprestressed SRC beam and a counterpart prestressed concrete beam were tested under low reversed cyclic loading to evaluate seismic performance of prestressed SRC beams. The failure modes, deformation restoring capacity, ductility and energy dissipation capacity of the prestressed SRC beams were discussed. Results showed that due to the effect of plastic deformations of steel beams encased in concrete, the three SRC beams exhibited residual deformation ratios ranging between 0.64 and 0.79, which were apparently higher than that of the prestressed concrete beam (0.33). The ductility coefficients of the prestressed SRC beams and the prestressed concrete beam ranged between 4.65 and 4.87, obviously lower than that of nonprestressed SRC beam (9.09), which indicated the steel beams influenced the ductility little while prestressing resulted in an apparent reduction in ductility. The amount of energy dissipated by the prestressed SRC beams was less than that dissipated by the nonprestressed SRC beam but much more than that dissipated by the prestressed concrete beam.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.365-373
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• 2022

In order to investigate the damage evolution law of rock specimens under cyclic loading, cyclic loading tests under constant loads with different amplitudes were carried out on limestone specimens with high strength and brittleness values using acoustic emission (AE) technology and the energy evolution and AE characteristics were evaluated. Based on dissipated energy density and AE counts, the damage variable of specimen was characterized and two damage evolution processes were analyzed and compared. The obtained results showed that the change of AE counts was closely related to radial deformation. Higher cyclic loading values result in more significant radial strain of limestone specimen and larger accumulative AE counts of cyclic loading segment, which indicated Felicity effect. Regarding dissipated energy density, the damage of limestone specimen was defined without considering the influence of radial deformation, which made the damage value of cyclic loading segment higher at lower amplitude loads. The damage of cyclic loading segment was increased with the magnitude of load. When dissipated energy density was applied to define damage, the damage value at unloading segment was smaller than that of AE counts. Under higher cyclic loading values, rocks show obvious damage during both loading and unloading processes. Therefore, during deep rock excavation, the damages caused by the deformation recovery of unloading rocks could not be ignored when considering the damage caused by abutment pressure.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.82 no.5
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• pp.611-628
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• 2022

Energy-dissipative rocking (EDR) columns are a class of seismic mitigation device capable of dissipating seismic energy and preventing weak-story failure of moment resisting frames (MRFs). An EDR consists of two hinge-supported steel columns interconnected by steel dampers along its height. Under earthquakes, the input seismic energy can be dissipated by plastic energy of the steel dampers in the EDR column. However, the unrecoverable plastic deformation of steel dampers generally results in residual drifts in the structural system. This paper presents a proof-of-concept study on an innovative device, namely self-centring energy-dissipative rocking (SC-EDR) column, aiming at enabling self-centring capability of the EDR column by installing a set of shape memory alloy (SMA) tension braces. The working mechanism of the SC-EDR column is presented in detail, and the feasibility of the new device is carefully examined via experimental and numerical studies considering the parameters of the SMA bar diameter and the steel damper plate thickness. The seismic responses including load carrying capacities, stress distributions, base rocking behaviour, source of residual deformation, and energy dissipation are discussed in detail. A rational combination of the steel damper and the SMA tension braces can achieve excellent energy dissipation and self-centring performance.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.373-388
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• 2019

This study proposes a new concept of an axial damper using the combination of shape memory alloy (SMA), friction devices, and polyurethane springs. Although there are many kinds of dampers to limit the damages, large residual deformation may happen and it causes much repairing cost for restoring the structure to the initial position. Also in some of the dampers, a special technology for assembling and fabricating is needed. One of the most important advantages of this damper is the ability to remove all the residual deformation using SMA plates and simple assembling without any special technology to fabricate. In this paper, four different dampers (in presence or omission of friction devices and polyurethane springs) are investigated. All four cases are analyzed in ABAQUS platform under cyclic loadings. In addition, the SMA plates are replaced by steel ones in four cases, and the results are compared to the SMA dampers. The results show that the axial polyurethane friction (APF) damper could decrease the residual deformation effectively. Also, the damper capacity and dissipated energy could be improved. The analysis showed that APF damper is a good recentering damper with a large amount of energy dissipation and capacity, among others.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.1291-1311
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• 2015

This study investigates the seismic energy dissipation capacity of a hybrid passive damper composed of a friction and a hysteretic slit damper. The capacity of the hybrid device required to satisfy a given target performance of a reinforced concrete moment resisting frame designed with reduced design base shear is determined based on the ASCE/SEI 7-10 process, and the seismic performances of the structures designed without and with the hybrid dampers are verified by nonlinear dynamic analyses. Fragility analysis is carried out to investigate the probability of a specified limit state to be reached. The analysis results show that in the structure with hybrid dampers the residual displacements are generally reduced and the dissipated inelastic energy is mostly concentrated on the dampers. At the Moderate to Extensive damage states the fragility turned out to be smallest in the structure with the hybrid dampers.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.6 no.3 s.21
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• pp.9-15
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• 2004

The cracking resistance of asphalt mixtures is generally evaluated by measuring a single parameter (i.e., Tensile strength, Stiffness). However, the use of a single parameter has been questioned in the evaluation of asphalt mixture cracking performance. The focus of this study was to clearly identify the key properties and characteristics associated with the cracking resistance of asphalt mixtures. Results of fracture, creep, and strength tests at multiple loading rates performed on the modified and unmodified mixtures showed that the mixture cracking resistance was primarily affected by the rate of micro-damage accumulation. This was reflected in the m-value, without affecting the fracture energy limit. It was also observed that the short loading time (elastic) stiffness alone could not differentiate the mixture cracking resistance of the mixtures. It was concluded that the key to characterize the cracking resistance of asphalt mixture is in the evaluation of the combined effects of creep and failure limits. It was also found that a residual dissipated energy parameter measured from Superpave IDT strength test gave the quick and useful way to distinguish the difference of cracking resistance of asphalt mixtures. Failure strain in the longer-term creep test appeared to be a useful parameter for evaluating the combined effects of creep and failure limits of asphalt mixtures.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.305-325
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• 2020

Beams of steel frame-tube structures (SFTSs) typically have span-to-depth ratios of less than five. This makes a flexural beam unsuitable for such an application because the plastic hinges at the beam-ends cannot be adequately developed. This leads to lower ductility and energy dissipation capacities of SFTSs. To address this, SFTSs with bolted web-connected replaceable shear links (SFTS-BWSLs) are proposed. In this structural system, a web-connected replaceable shear link with a back-to-back double channel section is placed at the mid-length of the deep beam to act as a ductile fuse. This allows energy from earthquakes to be dissipated through link shear deformation. SFTS and SFTS-BWSL buildings were examined in this study. Several sub-structures were selected from each designed building and finite element models were established to study their respective hysteretic performance. The seismic behavior of each designed building was observed through static and dynamic analyses. The results indicate that the SFTS-BWSL and SFTS have similar initial lateral stiffness and shear leg properties. The SFTS-BWSL had lower strength, but higher ductility and energy dissipation capacities. Compared to the SFTS, the SFTS-BWSL had lower interstory drift, base shear force, and story shear force during earthquakes. This design approach could concentrate plasticity on the shear link while maintaining the residual interstory drift at less than 0.5%. The SFTS-BWSL is a reliable resistant system that can be repaired by replacing shear links damaged due to earthquakes.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.1017-1029
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• 2016

When a welded circular hollow section (CHS) tubular joint is subjected to brace axial loading, failure position is located usually at the weld toe on the chord surface due to the weak flexural stiffness of the thin-walled chord. The failure mode is local yielding or buckling in most cases for a tubular joint subjected to axial load at the brace end. Especially when a cyclic axial load is applied, fracture failure at the weld toe may occur because both high stress concentration and welding residual stress along the brace/chord intersection cause the material in this region to become brittle. To improve the ductility as well as to increase the static strength, a tubular joint can be reinforced by increasing the chord thickness locally near the brace/chord intersection. Both experimental investigation and finite element analysis have been carried out to study the hysteretic behaviour of the reinforced tubular joint. In the experimental study, the hysteretic performance of two full-scale circular tubular T-joints subjected to cyclic load in the axial direction of the brace was investigated. The two specimens include a reinforced specimen by increasing the wall thickness of the chord locally at the brace/chord intersection and a corresponding un-reinforced specimen. The hysteretic loops are obtained from the measured load-displacement curves. Based on the hysteretic curves, it is found that the reinforced specimen is more ductile than the un-reinforced one because no fracture failure is observed after experiencing similar loading cycles. The area enclosed by the hysteretic curves of the reinforced specimen is much bigger, which shows that more energy can be dissipated by the reinforced specimen to indicate the advantage of the reinforcing method in resisting seismic action. Additionally, finite element analysis is carried out to study the effect of the thickness and the length of the reinforced chord segment on the hysteretic behaviour of CHS tubular T-joints. The optimized reinforcing method is recommended for design purposes.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.89-106
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• 2003

Analyses of tidal observations and a numerical model of the $M_2$ and $M_4$ tides in the Uldolmok waterway located at the southwestern tip of the Korean Peninsula are described. This waterway is well known fer its strong tidal flows of up to more than 10 knots at the narrowest part of the channel. Harmonic analysis of the observed water level at five tidal stations reveals dramatic changes in the amplitude and phase of the shallow water constituents at the station near the narrowest part, while survey results show a decreasing trend in local mean sea levels toward the narrow section. It was also observed that the amplitudes of semi-diurnal constituents, $M_2$ and $S_2$ are diminishing toward the narrowest part of the waterway. Two-dimensional numerical modeling shows that the $M_2$ energy flux is dominated by the component coming from the eastern boundary. The $M_2$ energy is inward from both open boundaries and is transported toward the narrow region of the channel, where it is frictionally dissipated or transferred to other constituents due to a strong non-linear advection effect. It is also shown that the $M_4$ generation is strong around the narrow region, and the abrupt decrease in the M4 amplitude in the region is due to a cancellation of the locally generated M4 with the component propagated from open boundaries. The superposition of both propagated and generated M4 contributions also explains the discontinuity of the M4 phase lag in the region. The tide-induced residual sea level change and the regeneration effect of the $M_2$ tide through interaction with $M_4$ are also examined.