• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.82 no.5
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• pp.557-569
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• 2022

The retrofit of existing structures in high seismic zones is a crucial issue in the earthquake engineering field. The interest of the research community is particularly high for the structures that do not respect current seismic codes and present structural deficiencies such as poor detailing and lack of capacity design provisions. A reinforced concrete (RC) school building is used as case study to show the influence of different knowledge levels on the seismic retrofitting cost assessment. The safety assessment of the case study building highlights deficiencies under both vertical and seismic loads. By considering all the possible knowledge levels defined by the Italian such as by the European codes in order to derive the mechanical properties of the school building constitutive materials, the retrofit operations are designed to achieve different seismic safety thresholds. The retrofit structural costs are calculated and summed up to the costs for in-situ in tests. The paper shows how for the case study building the major costs spent for a large number of in-situ tests allows to save a consistent amount of money for retrofit operations. The hypothesis of demolition and reconstruction of the building is also compared in terms of costs with all the analyzed retrofit options.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.73 no.1
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• pp.53-64
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• 2020

In different high seismic regions around the world, many non-ductile existing reinforced concrete frame buildings, built without adequate seismic detailing requirements, have been damaged or collapsed after past earthquakes. The assessment and the retrofit of these non-ductile concrete structures is crucial theme of research for all the scientific community of engineers. In particular, a careful assessment of the existing building is fundamental for understanding the failure mechanisms that govern the collapse of the structure or the achievement of the recommended limit states. Based on the seismic assessment, the best retrofit strategy can be designed and applied to the structure. A school building located in Avellino province (Italy) is the case study. The analysis of seismic vulnerability carried out on the mentioned building has highlighted deficiencies in both static and seismic load conditions. The retrofit of the building has been designed based on different retrofit options in order to show the real retrofit design developed from the engineers to achieve the seismic safety of the building. The retrofit costs associated to structural operations are calculated for each case and have been summed up to the costs of the in situ tests. The paper shows a real retrofit design case study in which the best solution is chosen based on the results in terms of structural performance and cost among the different retrofit options.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.203-210
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• 2012

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the diesel retrofit program which have been proceeded for the last 7 years in Gyeonggi-do. Diesel retrofit programs in Gyeonggi-do consist of the attachment of DPF (Diesel Particulate Filter), p-DPF (partial-DPF) and DOC (Diesel Oxidation Catalyst), switching to LPG engine, scraping an old cars. Emission reduction by diesel retrofit program was estimated $N_2O$ 8,313.4 ton/year, PM10 3,626.4 ton/year, VOC 8,078.5 ton/year in 2010. The benefit-cost analysis shows that the 964 billion wons of benefits are greater than the 853 billion wons of total costs. Diesel retrofit programs could be one of the most effective measures to improve PM10 concentration in metropolitan area. But retrofit programs also need to be properly maintained by each vehicle.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.487-502
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• 2022

China is prone to earthquake disasters, and the higher seismic performance is required by many existing civil buildings. And seismic evaluation and retrofit are effective measures to mitigate seismic hazards. With the development of performance-based seismic design and diverse retrofit technology for buildings, advanced evaluation methods and retrofit strategies are in need. In this paper, we introduced the evolution of seismic performance objectives in China combined with performance-based seismic design. Accordingly, multi-phase evaluation methods and comprehensive seismic capacity assessment are introduced. For buildings with seismic deficiency or higher performance requirements, the retrofit technologies are categorized into three types: component strengthening, system optimization, and passive control. Both engineering property and social property for the retrofit methods are discussed. The traditional seismic retrofit methods usually are costly and disturbing, and for example in Beijing, seismic strengthening costs approx. 1000 RMB/m² (for 160 USD/m²), for hospital building even more expensive as 5000 RMB/m²(for 790 USD/m²). So cost-efficient and little disturbance methods are promising techniques. In the end, some opinions about the retrofit strategy and schemes category are shared and wish to discuss the situation and future of seismic retrofit in China.

• Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
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• 2002.03a
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• pp.284-293
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• 2002

Using the life cycle cost concept, optimum maintenance and retrofit planning for reliable seismic performance is suggested the overall life cycle cost to be minimized including the initial cost, the costs of inspection, repair, and failure. Limit states of the bridges are defined. And failure probabilities are computed through crossing theory. The effect of maintenance and retrofit is represented using the probability of damage detection and event tree analysis. Optimization of maintenance and retrofit planning method proposed from this research was applied to numerical examples. The analysis incorporates the acceleration and site conditions prescribed in the code, and the quality of inspection methods.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.505-514
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• 2021

A formulation based on structural reliability and cost effectiveness is proposed to provide recommendations to select the best retrofit strategy for schools with reinforced concrete frames and masonry walls, among three proposed alternatives. The cost calculation includes the retrofit cost and the expected costs of failure consequences. Also, the uncertainty of the seismic hazard is considered for each school site. The formulation identifies the potential failure modes, among shear and bending forces for beams, and flexure-compression forces for columns, for each school, and the seismic damages suffered by the schools after the earthquake of September 17, 2017 are taken into account to calibrate the damaged conditions per school. The school safety level is measured through its global failure probability, instead of only the local failure probability. The proposed retrofit alternatives are appraised in terms of the cost/benefit balance under future earthquakes, for the respective site seismic hazard, as opposed to the current practice of just restoring the structure original resistance. The best retrofit is the one that corresponds to the minimum value of the expected life cycle cost. The study, with further developments, may be used to develop general recommendations to retrofit schools located at seismic zones.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.1337-1353
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• 2015

Seismic upgrading of existing structures is a technical and social issue aimed at risk reduction. Sustainable design is one of the most important challenges in any structural project. Nowadays, many retrofit strategies are feasible and several traditional and innovative options are available to engineers. Basically, the design strategy can lead to increase structural ductility, strength, or both of them, but also stiffness regulation and supplemental damping are possible strategies to reduce seismic vulnerability. Each design solution has different technical and economical performances. In this paper, four different design solutions are presented for the retrofit of an existing RC frame with poor concrete quality and inadequate reinforcement detailing. The considered solutions are based on FRP wrapping of the existing structural elements or alternatively on new RC shear walls introduction. This paper shows the comparison among the considered design strategies in order to select the suitable solution, which reaches the compromise between the obtained safety level and costs during the life-cycle of the building. Each solution is worked out by considering three different levels of seismic demand. The structural capacity of the considered retrofit solutions is assessed with nonlinear static analysis and the seismic performance is evaluated with the capacity spectrum method.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.633-646
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• 2018

This study investigated the seismic performance of a hybrid damper composed of a steel slit plate and friction pads, and an optimum retrofit scheme was developed based on life cycle cost. A sample hybrid damper was tested under cyclic loading to confirm its validity as a damping device and to construct its nonlinear analysis model. The effectiveness of the optimum damper distribution schemes was investigated by comparing the seismic fragility and the life cycle costs of the model structure before and after the retrofit. The test results showed that the damper behaved stably throughout the loading history. Numerical analysis results showed that the slit-friction hybrid dampers optimally distributed based on life cycle cost proved to be effective in minimizing the failure probability and the repair cost after earthquakes.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.26 no.6A
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• pp.977-988
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• 2006

The goal of this study is to develop a realistic methodology for determination of the Life-Cycle Cost (LCC)-effective optimal seismic retrofit and maintenance strategy of deteriorating bridges. The proposed methodology is based on the concept of minimum LCC which is expressed as the sum of present value of seismic retrofit costs, expected maintenance costs, and expected economic losses with the constraints such as design requirements and acceptable risk of death. The proposed methodology is applied to the LCC-effective optimal seismic retrofit and maintenance strategy of a steel bridge considered as a example bridge in the accompanying study, and various conditions such as corrosion environments and Average Daily Traffic Volumes (ADTVs) are considered to investigate the effects on total expected LCC. In addition, to verify the validity of the developed methodology, the results are compared with the existing methodology. From the numerical investigation, it may be positively expected that the proposed methodology can be effectively utilized as a practical tool for the decision-making of LCC-effective optimal seismic retrofit and maintenance strategy of deteriorating bridges.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.6 no.5
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• pp.29-36
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• 2002

In the maintenance and retrofit planning of a bridge system, the optimal strategy for inspection and repair are suggested by minimizing the expected total life-cycle cost, which includes the initial cost, the costs of inspection, repair, and failure. Degradation of seismic performance is modeled by using a damage function. And failure probability is computed according to the degree of damage detection by random vibration theory and the event tree analysis. As an example to illustrate the proposed approach, a 10-span continuous bridge structure is used. The numerical results show that the optimum number of the inspection and the repair are increased, as the seismic intensity is increased and the soil condition of a site becomes more flexible.