• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.62 no.2
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• pp.197-208
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• 2017

Among various retrofitting strategies, use of semi-active control for retrofitting a building structure has gained momentum in recent years. One of the techniques for such retrofitting is to connect a weaker building to an adjacent stronger building by semi-active devices, so that performances of a weaker building are significantly improved for seismic forces. In this paper, a ten storey weaker building is connected to an adjacent stronger building using magneto-rheological (MR) dampers, for primarily improving the performance of the weaker building in terms of displacement, drift and base shear. For this, a fuzzy logic controller is specifically developed by fuzzyfying the responses of the coupled system. The performance of the control strategy is compared with the passive-on and passive-off controls. Pounding Mitigation between the two buildings is also investigated using all three control strategies. The results show that there exists a fundamental frequency ratio between the two buildings for which maximum control of the weaker building response takes place with no penalty on the stronger building. There exists also a fundamental frequency ratio where control of the weaker building response is achieved at the expense of the amplification of the stronger building. However, coupling strategy always improves the possibility of pounding mitigation.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.503-513
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• 2007

The seismic responses of a building are affected by the connection characteristics that have effects on structural stiffness. In this study, push-over analysis and time history analysis were performed to estimate structural behavior of 2D eight-story unbraced steel structures with partially restrained composite connections using a nonlinear dynamic analysis program. Nonlinear $M-{\theta}$characteristics of connection and material inelastic characteristics of composite beam and steel column were considered. The idealization of composite semi-rigid connection as fully rigid connection yielded an increase in initial stiffness and ultimate strength in the push-over analysis. In time history analysis, the stiffness and hysteretic behavior of connections have effects on base-shear force, maximum story-drift and maximum moment in beams and columns. For seismic waves with PGA of 0.4 g, the structure with the semi-rigid composite connections shows the maximum story-drift with less than the life safety criteria by FEMA 273 and no inelastic behavior of beam and column, whereas in the structure with rigid connections, beams and columns have experienced inelastic behaviors.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.65-74
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• 2019

This study presents the optimal isolation period according to the number of vertically expended stories in order to provide the basic data for the application of the seismic isolation system in the vertically expended remodeling of the aged apartment. As a result of the structural analysis, the isolation period should be at least twice the primary structure in three-story vertical expansion, three times in two-story expansion, and four times in one-story expansion for the effective application of the isolation system. On the basis of the result, the efficacy of an isolation system for the actual apartment structure, which is three-story vertically expended, was analytically verified. The maximal acceleration response on the top floor reduced by 70% and 65% of the non-isolated structure in the X and Y directions respectively. Additionally, the base shear force decreased by 30% in the both directions, compared to the non-isolated structure.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.457-472
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• 2021

Reinforced concrete (RC) buildings in Taiwan have suffered failure from strong earthquakes, which was magnified by the non-ductile detailing frames. Inadequate reinforcement as a consequence of the design philosophy prior to the introduction of current standards resulted in severe damage in the column and beam-column joint (BCJ). This study establishes a finite element analysis (FEA) of the non-ductile detailing RC column, BCJ, and three-story building that was previously tested through a tri-axial shaking table test. The results were then validated to laboratory specimens having the exact same dimensions and properties. FEA simulation integrates the concrete damage plasticity model and the elastic-perfectly plastic model for steel. The load-displacement responses of the column and BCJ specimens obtained from FEA were in a reasonable agreement with the experimental curves. The resulting initial stiffness and maximum base shear were found to be a close approximation to the experimental results. Also, the findings of a dynamic analysis of the three-story building showed that the time-history data of acceleration and displacement correlated well with the shaking table test results. This indicates the FEA implementation can be effectively used to predict the RC frame performance and failure mode under seismic loads.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.19-33
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• 2015

Open ground storey (OGS) buildings are characterized by the sudden reduction of stiffness in the ground storey with respect to the upper infilled storeys. During earthquakes, this vertical irregularity may result in accumulated damage in the ground storey members of OGS buildings without much damage in the upper storeys. Hence, the structural design of OGS buildings needs special attention. The present study suggests a modification of existing displacement-based design (DBD) procedure by proposing a new lateral load distribution. The increased demands of ground storey members of OGS buildings are estimated based on non-linear time history analysis results of four sets of bare and OGS frames having four to ten storey heights. The relationship between the increased demand and the relative stiffness of ground storey (with respect to upper storeys) is taken as the criterion for developing the expression for the design lateral load. It is also observed that under far-field earthquakes, there is a decrease in the ground storey drift of OGS frames as the height of the frame increases, whereas there is no such reduction when these frames are subjected to near-field earthquakes.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.691-708
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• 2018

An innovative Hybrid Passive Resistive configuration for Truss Girder Frames (HPR-TGFs) is introduced in the present study. The proposed system is principally consisting of Fluid Viscous Dampers (FVDs) and Buckling Restrained Braces (BRBs) as its seismic resistive components. Concurrent utilization of these devices will develop an efficient energy dissipating mechanism which is able to mitigate lateral displacements as well as the base shear, simultaneously. However, under certain circumstances which the presence of FVDs might not be essential, the proposed configuration has the potential to incorporate double BRBs in order to achieve the redundancy of alternative load bearing paths. This study is extending the modern Direct Displacement Based Design (DDBD) procedure as the design methodology for HPR-TGF systems. Based on a series of nonlinear time history analysis, it is demonstrated that the design outcomes are almost identical to the pre-assumed design criteria. This implies that the ultimate characteristics of HPR-TGFs such as lateral stiffness and inter-story drifts are well-proportioned through the proposed design procedure.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.51 no.3
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• pp.433-446
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• 2014

The purpose of the research presented in this paper was to investigate the effectiveness of several conventional, multi-modal and adaptive pushover procedures. In particular, an extensive numerical study was performed considering eight RC frames characterized by a variable number of storeys and different properties in terms of regularity in elevation. The results of pushover analyses were compared with those of nonlinear dynamic analyses, which were carried out considering different earthquake records and increasing values of earthquake intensity. The study was performed with reference to base shear-top displacement curves and to different storey response parameters. The obtained results allowed a direct comparison between the pushover procedures, which in general were able to give a fairly good estimate of seismic demand with a tendency to better results for lower frames. The advanced procedures, in particular the multi-modal pushover, provided an improvement of the results, more evident for the irregular frames.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.3 no.5
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• pp.749-766
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• 2012

Structural control through integration of passive damping devices within the building structure has been increasingly implemented internationally in the last years and has proven to be a most promising strategy for earthquake safety. In the present paper an alternative configuration of an innovative energy dissipation mechanism that consists of slender tension only bracing members with closed loop and a hysteretic damper is investigated in its dynamic behavior. The implementation of the adaptable dual control system, ADCS, in frame structures enables a dual function of the component members, leading to two practically uncoupled systems, i.e., the primary frame, responsible for the normal vertical and horizontal forces and the closed bracing-damper mechanism, for the earthquake forces and the necessary energy dissipation. Three representative international earthquake motions of differing frequency contents, duration and peak ground acceleration have been considered for the numerical verification of the effectiveness and properties of the SDOF systems with the proposed ADCS-configuration. The control mechanism may result in significant energy dissipation, when the geometrical and mechanical properties, i.e., stiffness and yield force of the integrated damper, are predefined. An optimum damper ratio, DR, defined as the ratio of the stiffness to the yield force of the hysteretic damper, is proposed to be used along with the stiffness factor of the damper's- to the primary frame's stiffness, in order for the control mechanism to achieve high energy dissipation and at the same time to prevent any increase of the system's maximum base shear and relative displacements. The results are summarized in a preliminary design methodology for ADCS.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.215-222
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• 2020

In this paper, slit steel rubber bearing is presented as an innovative seismic isolator device. In this type of isolator, slit steel damper is an energy dissipation device. Its advantages in comparison with that of the lead rubber bearing are its simplicity in manufacturing process and replacement of its yielding parts. Also, slit steel rubber bearing has the same ability to dissipate energy with smaller value of displacement. Using finite element method in ABAQUS software, a parametric study is done on the performance of this bearing. Three different kinds of isolator with three different values of strut width, 9, 12 and 15 mm, three values of thickness, 4, 6 and 8 mm and two steel types with different yield stress are assessed. Effects of these parameters on the performance characteristics of slit steel rubber bearing are studied. It is shown that by decreasing the thickness and strut width and by selecting the material with lower yield stress, values of effective stiffness, energy dissipation capacity and lateral force in the isolator reduce but equivalent viscous damping is not affected significantly. Thus, by choosing appropriate values for thickness, strut width and slit steel damper yield stress, an isolator with the desired behavior can be achieved. Finally, the performance of an 8-storey frame with the proposed isolator is compared with the same frame equipped with LRB. Results show that SSRB is successful in base shear reduction of structure in a different way from LRB.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.69-77
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• 2003

This paper presents test results on eight reduced beam section(RBS) steel moment connections. The testing program addressed bolted versus welded web connection and panel zone(PZ) strength as key variables, Specimens with medium PZ strength were designed to promote energy dissipation from both PZ and RBS regions such that the requirement for expensive doublet plates could be reduced. Both strong and medium PZ specimens with a welded web connection were able to provide satisfactory connection rotation capacity for special moment-resisting frames. On the other hand, specimens with a bolted web connection performed poorly due to premature brittle fracture of the beam flange of the weld access hole. If fracture within the beam flange groove weld was avoided using quality welding, the fracture tended to move into the beam flange base metal of the weld access hole. Plausible explanation of a higher incidence of base metal fracture in bolted web specimens was presented. The measured strain data confirmed that the classical beam theory dose not provide reliable shear transfer prediction in the connection. The practice of providing web bolts uniformly along the beam depth was brought into question. Criteria for a balanced PZ strength improves the plastic rotation capacity while reduces the amount of beam distortion ore also proposed.