• Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
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• 2002.09a
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• pp.300-307
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• 2002

Bridge foundation failure considering the effect of local scour around pier foundations under hi-directional seismic excitations is examined in probabilistic perspectives. The seismic responses of bridges with deep foundations are evaluated with a simplified mechanical model, which can consider the local scour effect around the deep foundation in addition to many other components. The probabilistic characteristics of local scour depths are estimated by using the Monte Carlo simulation. The probabilistic characteristics of basic random variables used in the Monte Carlo simulation are determined from the actual hydraulic data collected in middle size streams in Korea. The failure condition of deep foundation is assumed as bearing capacity failure of the ground below the foundation base. The probability of foundation failure of a simply supported bridge with various scour conditions and hi-directional seismic excitations are examined. It is found that the local scour and the recovery duration are critical factors in evaluating the probability of foundation failure. Moreover, the probability of foundation failure under hi-directional seismic excitations is much higher than under uni-directional seismic excitations. Therefore, it is reasonable to consider hi-directional seismic excitations in evaluating the seismic safety of bridge systems scoured by a flood.

• Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
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• 2000.10a
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• pp.333-340
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• 2000

Dynamic response behaviors of a bridge are examined under seismic excitations in the 2-dimensional directions are examined. A three-dimensional mechanical model is utilized and the corresponding equations of motions are derived to consider the two directional bridge motions due to the randomness residing in the excitation directions. The arbitrary 2-dimensional directions are simulated by applying two independent excitations in the two directions: main direction(longitudinal) ; the additive direction normal to the main (transverse). The rotational superstructure motions due to the spacial motions of the bridge are considered by admitting the deformation of the bearings at supports. The relative displacement to the ground motions and the relative distance between adjacent oscillators are found to be increased by a considerable amount in the case when considering arbitrary directional seismic excitations. It is also found that the piermotions show more complicated behaviors due to the arbitrary seismic directions.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.527-542
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• 2005

The main objective of this study is to examine the accuracy of the complete quadratic combination (CQC) rule with the modal responses defined by the ordinates of the uniform hazard spectra (UHS) to evaluate the peak responses of the multi-degree-of-freedom (MDOF) systems subjected to nonstationary seismic excitations. For the probabilistic analysis of the peak responses, it is considered that the seismic excitations can be modeled using evolutionary power spectra density functions with uncertain model parameters. More specifically, a seismological model and the Kanai-Tajimi model with the boxcar or the exponential modulating functions were used to define the evolutionary power spectral density functions in this study. A set of UHS was obtained based on the probabilistic analysis of transient responses of single-degree-of-freedom systems subjected to the seismic excitations. The results of probabilistic analysis of the peak responses of MDOF systems were obtained, and compared with the peak responses calculated by using the CQC rule with the modal responses given by the UHS. The comparison seemed to indicate that the use of the CQC rule with the commonly employed correlation coefficient and the peak modal responses from the UHS could lead to significant under- or over-estimation when contributions from each of the modes are similarly significant.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.779-799
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• 2015

The slosh height and the possibility of water spill from rectangular Spent Fuel Storage Bays (SFSB) and Tray Loading Bays (TLB) of Nuclear power plant (NPP) are studied during 0.2 g, Safe Shutdown Earthquake (SSE) level of earthquake. The slosh height obtained through Computational Fluid dynamics (CFD) is compared the values given by TID-7024 (Housner 1963) and American concrete institute (ACI) seismic codes. An equivalent amplitude method is used to compute the slosh height through CFD. Numerically computed slosh height for first mode of vibration is found to be in agreement the codal values. The combined effect in longitudinal and lateral directions are studied separately, and found that the slosh height is increased by 24.3% and 38.9% along length and width directions respectively. There is no liquid spillage under SSE level of earthquake data in SFSB and TLB at convective level and at free surface acceleration data. Since seismic design codes do not have guidelines for combined excitations and effect of higher modes for irregular geometries, this CFD procedure can be opted for any geometries to study effect of higher modes and combined three directional excitations.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.292-296
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• 2018

Recent events in the nuclear industry have resulted in a movement towards increased seismic and LOCA excitations and requirements that challenge current fuel designs. AREVA NP's GAIA fuel design introduces unique and robust characteristics to resist the effects of seismic and LOCA excitations. For demanding seismic and LOCA scenarios, fuel assembly spacer grids can undergo plastic deformations. These plastic deformations must not prohibit the complete insertion of the control rod assemblies and the cooling of the fuel rods after the accident. The specific structure of the GAIA spacer grid produces a unique and stable compressive deformation mode which maintains the regular array of the fuel rods and guide tubes. The stability of the spacer grid allows it to absorb a significant amount of energy without a loss of load-carrying capacity. The GAIA-specific grid behavior is in contrast to the typical spacer grid, which is characterized by a buckling instability. The increased mechanical robustness of the GAIA spacer grid is advantageous in meeting the increased seismic and LOCA loadings and the associated safety requirements. The unique GAIA spacer grid behavior will be incorporated into AREVA NP's licensed methodologies to take full benefit of the increased mechanical robustness.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 1998.10a
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• pp.216-222
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• 1998

Effects of translational and rotational motions of the foundation on the dynamic behaviors of a bridge under seismic excitations are examined by utilizing a simplified 3 degree-of-freedom of system. To consider the nonlinear characteristics of the RC pier, a hysteresis model is adapted, which can simulate the inelastic motion of the pier with the stiffness degradation. From results, the portion of the total displacement due to rotational motion of the foundation becomes larger as applied seismic excitation increases.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.243-261
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• 2019

This paper introduces an appropriate technique to estimate the weighting matrices used in the linear quadratic regulator (LQR) method for active structural control. For this purpose, a parameter is defined to regulate the relationship between the structural energy and control force. The optimum value of the regulating parameter, is determined for single degree of freedom (SDOF) systems under seismic excitations. In addition, the suggested technique is generalized for multiple degrees of freedom (MDOF) active control systems. Numerical examples demonstrate the robustness of the proposed method for controlled buildings under a wide range of seismic excitations.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2001.10a
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• pp.537-544
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• 2001

Bridge dynamic behaviors are examined under seismic excitations including the local scour effect. The corresponding simplified mechanical model, which can also consider the effect of other influence elements, is proposed to simulate the bridge motions. The scour depth around the pier is estimated by the CSU equation recommended by the HEC-18, and the local scour effect upon global bridge motions is then investigated by applying various foundation stiffness based upon the reduced embedded depths. From the results, it is found that seismic responses of a bridge with the same scour depth level for both piers increase as the scour depth increase due to the local scour effect. The scour effect is found to be significant under weak excitations and still to be quite notable even for moderate excitations.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.129-145
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• 2006

This paper provides an insight into the response of non-seismic reinforced concrete (RC) building frames to excitations of different frequencies through experimental investigation. The results of cyclic loading tests of six full-scale RC beam-column sub-assemblies are presented. The tested specimens did not have any transverse reinforcement inside the joint core, and they were subjected to quasi-static and dynamic loading with frequencies as high as 20 Hz. Some important differences between the cyclic responses of non-seismic and ductile RC frames are highlighted. The effect of excitation frequency on the behavior of non-seismic joints is also discussed. In the quasi-static tests, shear deformation of the joint panel accounted for more than 50% of the applied story drift. The test results also showed that higher-frequency excitations are less detrimental than quasi-static cyclic loads, and non-seismic frames can withstand a higher load and a larger deformation when they are applied faster.

• Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
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• 2002.09a
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• pp.371-378
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• 2002

The design concepts using vibration reduction techniques, or structural control, have been proposed recently to protect infrastructure against earthquakes. The magnetorheological(MR) fluid damper is one of the most promising new devices for structural vibration reduction because of its mechanical simplicity, high dynamic range, low power requirement, large force capacity and robustness. In this study, the seismic performance of MR devices are compared with that of NZ systems as an attempt to provide some data for improving seismic design techniques applied to structures. For nonlinear time domain analysis of a base isolation system, a six-story building model is considered as a numerical example. The ground acceleration data of El Centre 1940, Mexico City 1985 and Kobe 1995 earthquakes are used as seismic excitations. The results show that MR damper systems for outperform NZ systems in wide-ranging seismic excitations with respect to intensity and period characteristics.