• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.203-218
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• 2024

Beam-column joints in the frame structure are at high risk of brittle shear failure which would lead to significant residual deformation and even the collapse of the structure during an earthquake. In order to improve the damage issue and enhance the recoverability of the beam-column joints, a sector lead rubber damper (SLRD) has been developed. The SLRD can increase the bearing capacity and energy dissipation capacity, and also demonstrating recoverability of seismic performance following cyclic loading. In this paper, the hysteretic behavior of SLRD was experimentally investigated in terms of the regular hysteretic behavior, large deformation behavior and fatigue behavior. Furthermore, a parametric analysis was performed to study the influence of the primary design parameters on the hysteretic behavior of SLRD. The results show that SLRD resist the exerted loading through the shear capacity of both rubber parts coupled with the lead cores in the pre-yielding stage of lead cores. In the post-yielding phase, it is only the rubber parts of the SLRD that provide the shear capacity while the lead cores primarily dissipate the energy through shear deformation. The SLRD possesses a robust capacity for large deformation and can sustain hysteretic behavior when subjected to a loading rotation angle of 1/7 (equivalent to 200% shear strain of the rubber component). Furthermore, it demonstrates excellent fatigue resistance, with a degradation of critical behavior indices by no more than 15% in comparison to initial values even after 30 cycles. As for the designing practice of SLRD, it is recommended to adopt the double lead core scheme, along with a rubber material having the lowest possible shear modulus while meeting the desired bearing capacity and a thickness ratio of 0.4 to 0.5 for the thin steel plate.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.383-400
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• 2024

For a conventionally repaired frame-supported-transfer-slab (FSTS) reinforced concrete (RC) structure, both the transfer slab and the beam-to-column and transfer slab-to-column joints remain vulnerable to secondary earthquakes. Aimed at improving the seismic performance of a damaged FSTS RC structure, an innovative retrofitting scheme is proposed, which adopts the sector lead rubber dampers (SLRDs) at joints after the damaged FSTS RC structure is repaired by conventional approaches. In this paper, a series of quasi-static cyclic tests was conducted on a large-scale retrofitted FSTS RC structure. The seismic performance was evaluated and the key test results, including deformation characteristics, damage pattern, hysteretic behaviour, bearing capacity and strains on key components, were reported in detail. The test results indicated that the SLRDs started to dissipate energy under the service level earthquake, and thus prevented damages on the beam-to-column and transfer slab-to-column joints during the secondary earthquakes and shifted the plastic hinges away from the beam ends. The retrofitting scheme of using SLRDs also achieved the seismic design concept of 'strong joint, weak component'. The FSTS RC structure retrofitted by the SLRDs could recover more than 85% bearing capacity of its undamaged counterpart. The hysteresis curves were featured by the inverse "S" shape, indicating good bearing capacity and hysteresis performance. The deformation capacity of the damaged FSTS RC structure retrofitted by the SLRDs met the corresponding codified requirements for the case of the maximum considered earthquake, as set out in the Chinese seismic design code. The stability of the FSTS RC structure retrofitted by the SLRDs, which was revealed by the developed stains of the RC frame and transfer slab, was improved compared with the undamaged FSTS RC structure.