• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.1391-1404
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• 2016

Peninsular Malaysia lying on the stable Sunda Plate has traditionally been considered safe with low to moderate seismicity. However, far field Sumatran mega-earthquakes have been shown to be capable of triggering ground motions felt in high rise structures in the major Malaysian cities while seismic impact from local earthquakes of moment magnitude 3.8 have reportedly induced nominal structural damages to nearby buildings. This paper presents an overview of the recent seismic activities in and around Peninsular Malaysia with reference to prominent earthquakes generated by far field interplate and local intraplate sources. Records of ground motion data and seismic hazard assessment (SHA) results available in the literature have been analyzed and discussed. The peak ground acceleration (PGA) values from historical records for few local intraplate events were observed to be higher than those for the events from Sumatran Subduction Zone. This clearly points to the need for a detailed and comprehensive SHA incorporating both far field and local sources. Such an analysis would contribute the knowledge required for secure and reliable infrastructure design and safeguard the Malaysian people and economy.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2004.03b
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• pp.807-814
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• 2004

Land seismic reflection survey has been increasingly demanded in various civil engineering works because of its own ability to delineate layers, water table, to detect cavities or fracture zones, to estimate seismic velocities of each layer. However, our shallow subsurface structures are very complex. The relatively thin layer(mostly soil) to the wavelength directly followed by a basic rock with high impedance used to generate complicated surface waves, kind of channel waves with high amplitude that is dominate in entire seismograms and hence the useful reflection events will be almost hopelessly immersed in the undesired surface waves. Thus, it would seem that the use of traditional seismic survey could not be likely to provide in itself a satisfactory information about our exploration targets. This paper hence introduces an efficient measuring strategy illustrating a properly controlled arrangement of the vertical single force sources commonly used, yielding a very sharply elongated form of P-energy with a minimum of S radiation energy, what we call, P-beam source. Abundant experiments of physical modeling showed that in that way the surface waves could be enormously reduced and the reflection events would be additive and thus reinforced. Examples of field data are also illustrated. The contribution of P-beam source will be great in civil engineering area as well as in general geological exploration area.

• Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
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• 2005.03a
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• pp.68-73
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• 2005

In succession of the previous works, seismo-acoustic analysis was conducted to collect ground truth events and to discriminate surface explosions from natural earthquakes in the Korean Peninsula for 2004. In this period, total 510 seismo-acoustic events corresponding to 10.8 percent of total seismic events occurred in and near the Korean Peninsula were analyzed and discriminated as artificial surface explosions. Events distribution of the seismo-acoustic events in 2004 is similar to the previous results of 1999-2003. And newly determined seismo-acoustic events were added to the surface explosions database. To extend infrasound detection capability, Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM) and Southern Methodist University (SMU) installed new seismo-acoustic array (BRDAR) in Baekryoung Island last November, 2004. The array configuration and design is nearly same to previous seismo-acoustic arrays CHNAR, KSGAR, a triangular 1 km aperture. BRDAR consists of 5 short period vertical seismometers (GS-13) in seismic vaults and 13 microbarometers (Chaparral Model 2). Preliminary analysis using data collected from BRDAR shows an extension of infrasound detection capability to western part of the Korean Peninsula. Also, multiple observations of infrasound at BRDAR and other arrays gave an opportunity to localize sound source regions.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.1-12
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• 2017

Historical earthquakes have shown that successive seismic events may occur in regions of high seismicity. Such a sequence of earthquakes has the potential to increase the damage level of the structures, since any rehabilitation between the successive ground motions is practically impossible due to lack of time. Few studies about this issue can be found in literature, most of which focused their attention on the seismic response of SDOF systems or planar frame structures. The aim of the present study is to examine the impact of seismic sequences on the damage level of 3D multistorey R/C buildings with various structural systems. For the purposes of the above investigation a comprehensive assessment is conducted using three double-symmetric and three asymmetric in plan medium-rise R/C buildings, which are designed on the basis of the current seismic codes. The buildings are analyzed by nonlinear time response analysis using 80 bidirectional seismic sequences. In order to account for the variable orientation of the seismic motion, the two horizontal accelerograms of each earthquake record are applied along horizontal orthogonal axes forming 12 different angles with the structural axes. The assessment of the results revealed that successive ground motions can lead to significant increase of the structural damage compared to the damage caused by the corresponding single seismic events. Furthermore, the incident angle can radically alter the successive earthquake phenomenon depending on the special characteristics of the structure, the number of the sequential earthquakes, as well as the distance of the record from the fault.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.523-529
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• 2004

The seismic monitoring at Syowa Station$(69^{\circ}S,\;39^{\circ}E: SYO)$, located on the continental margin of the Eastern Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica, began in 1959. Phase readings of the earthquakes have been reported since 1967 and have been annually published as part of the Data Report Series of the National Institute of Polar Research since 1968. An observation of a tripartite seismic network was carried out at SYO for a period of three years from 1987 to 1990. Epicenters of local earthquakes were determined for the first time by using the array network for the three-year period. Many different types of earthquakes, such as the mainshock-aftershock type, twin earthquake, earthquake swarms, etc., were detected during the period. After this, local events around SYO have been detected empirically from their waveforms recorded on seismograms. The seismic activity for the period of 1987-1990 was higher than that of the following decade. Earthquake epicenters, occurring during that period, were highly localized along the coast and in the central part of the $L\"{u}tzow-Holm$ Bay (LHB). Nine local earthquakes, recorded during the period of 1990-1996, showed many different types of events. The seismicity for the period of 1990-1996 was very low and the magnitudes ranged from 0.1 to 1.4. The locations of some events were determined by using the single station method for SYO, i.e., using the particle motions of the initial phase and S-P time. Two local events were detected in 1998 and one event in 2001. It would be estimated that the stress concentration was related to the glacial rebound around the LHB. Afterwards, we will be able to eventually examine the relationship between the seismicity around Antarctica and deglacial phenomena such as crustal uplift, and sea level change within the earth environmental system.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.3
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• pp.654-659
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• 2020

The reliability of the spent fuel pool instrument is very important for the security of nuclear power plant, especially during the earthquake. The effect of the fluid force on the vibration characteristics of the flexible tube of the spent fuel pool instrument needs comprehensive analysis. In this paper, based on the potential flow theory, the hydrodynamic pressures acting on the flexible tube were obtained. A mathematical model of a flexible tube was constructed to obtain the dynamic response considering the effects of seismic load and fluid force, and a computer code was written. Based on the mathematical model and computer code, the maximum stresses of the flexible tube in both safe shutdown earthquake and operating basis earthquake events on the spent fuel pool with three typical water levels were calculated, respectively. The results show that the fluid force has an obvious effect on the stress and strain of the flexible tube in both safe shutdown earthquake and operating basis earthquake events.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.44 no.5
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• pp.437-452
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• 2012

The Tohoku earthquake (Mw9.0) occurred on March 11, 2011 and caused a large tsunami. The Fukushima Dai-ichi NPP (F1-NPP) were overwhelmed by the tsunami and core damage occurred. This paper describes the overview of F1-NPP accident and the usability of tsunami PRA at Tohoku earthquake. The paper makes reference to the following current issues: influence on seismic hazard of gigantic aftershocks and triggered earthquakes, concepts for evaluating core damage frequency considering common cause failure with correlation coefficient against seismic event at multi units and sites, and concepts of "seismic-tsunami PSA" considering a combination of seismic motion and tsunami effects.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.801-820
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• 2015

The seismic sequence which hit the Northern Italian territory in 2012 produced extensive damage to reinforced concrete (RC) precast buildings typically adopted as industrial facilities. The considered damaged buildings are constituted by one-storey precast structures with RC columns connected to the ground by means of isolated socket foundations. The roof structural layout is composed of pre-stressed RC beams supporting pre-stressed RC floor elements, both designed as simply supported beams. The observed damage pattern, already highlighted in previous earthquakes, is mainly related to insufficient connection strength and ductility or to the absence of mechanical devices, being the connections designed neglecting seismic loads or neglecting displacement and rotation compatibility between adjacent elements. Following the vulnerabilities emerged in past seismic events, the paper investigates the seismic performance of industrial facilities typical of the Italian territory. The European building code seismic assessment methodologies are presented and discussed, as well as the retrofit interventions required to achieve an appropriate level of seismic capacity. The assessment procedure and retrofit solutions are applied to a selected case study.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.11-15
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• 2018

A development plan for seismic capacity verification procedures of nuclear components based on the elastic-plastic strain (EPS) features is explained in this paper. The EPS methodology is more realistic to assess seismic responses of components to extreme seismic events beyond the safe shutdown earthquake (SSE) than current practices with the criteria of stress limits. The EPS based approach to analyze the seismic capacity of components can reduce over-conservatism in the current stress-based criteria and can incorporate the seismic responses of components deformed in plastic behavior by the motion of extreme earthquake.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.159-166
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• 2019

The seismic PSA is to probabilistically estimate the potential damage that a large earthquake will cause to a nuclear power plant. It integrates the probabilistic seismic hazard analysis, seismic fragility analysis, and system analysis and is utilized to identify seismic vulnerability and improve seismic capacity of nuclear power plants. Recently, the seismic risk of domestic multi-unit nuclear power plant sites has been evaluated after the Great East Japan Earthquake and Gyeongju Earthquake in Korea. However, while the currently available methods for system analysis can derive basic required results of seismic PSA, they do not provide the detailed results required for the efficient improvement of seismic capacity. Therefore, for in-depth seismic risk evaluation, improved system analysis method for seismic PSA has become necessary. This study develops a system analysis method that is not only suitable for multi-unit seismic PSA but also provides risk information for the seismic capacity improvements. It will also contribute to the enhancement of the safety of nuclear power plants by identifying the seismic vulnerability using the detailed results of seismic PSA. In addition, this system analysis method can be applied to other external event PSAs, such as fire PSA and tsunami PSA, which require similar analysis.