• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.50 no.3
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• pp.337-345
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• 2024

This research proposed a particle swarm optimization (PSO) based seismic retrofit design of moment frame structures using a steel frame assembly. Two full scale specimens of the steel frame assembly with different corner details were attached to one-story RC frames for seismic retrofit, and the lateral load resisting capacities of the retrofitted frames subjected to cyclic loads were compared with those of a bare RC frame. The open source software framework Opensees was used to develop an analytical model for validating the experimental results. The developed analytical model and the optimization scheme were applied to a case study structure for economic seismic retrofit design, and its seismic performance was assessed before and after the retrofit. The results show that the developed steel frame assembly was effective in increasing seismic load resisting capability of the structure, and the PSO algorithm could be applied as convenient optimization tool for seismic retrofit design of structures.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.68 no.5
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• pp.591-601
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• 2018

Non-moment beam-to-column connections, which are usually referred to as simple or shear connections, are typically designed to carry only gravity loads in the form of vertical shears. Although in the analysis of structures these connections are usually assumed to be pinned, they may provide a small amount of rotational stiffness due to the typical connection details. This paper investigates the effects of this small rotational restraint of simple beam-to-column connections on the behavior and seismic response of steel braced non-moment resisting frames. Two types of commonly used simple connections with bolted angles, i.e., the Double Web angle Connection (DWC) and Unstiffened Seat angle Connection (USC) are considered for this purpose. In addition to the pinned condition - as a simplified representation of these connections - more accurate semi-rigid models are established and then applied to some frame models subjected to nonlinear pushover and nonlinear time history analyses. Although the use of bracing elements generally reduces the sensitivity of the global structural response to the behavior of connections, the obtained results indicate considerable effects on the local responses. Namely, our results show that consideration of the real behavior of connections is essential in designing the column elements where the pin-connection assumption significantly underestimates design of outer columns of upper stories.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.297-321
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• 2011

The seismic design of a two-storey precast reinforced-concrete building structure equipped with viscous dampers is presented in this paper with twofold purpose. The first goal is to verify the applicability of a practical procedure for the identification of the mechanical characteristics of the viscous dampers which allow to achieve target performance levels, originally proposed by the authors for moment-resisting building frames, also with reference to "pendular" structures. The second goal is to investigate the effectiveness of the use of viscous dampers (as compared with traditional lateral-resisting stiff braces) for the seismic design of precast not moment-resisting concrete structures.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.221-231
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• 2014

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the cyclic behavior of steel column-tree moment connections used in steel moment resisting frames. These connections are composed of shop-welded stub beam-to-column connection and field bolted beam-to-beam splice. In this study, the effects of beam splice length on the seismic performance of column-tree connections were experimentally investigated. The change of the beam splice location alters the bending moment and shear force at the splice, and this may affect the seismic performance of column-tree connections. Three full-scale test specimens of column-tree connections with the splice lengths of 900 mm, 1,100 mm, and 1,300 mm were fabricated and tested. The splice lengths were roughly 1/6, 1/7, 1/8 of the beam span length of 7,500 mm, respectively. The test results showed that all the specimens successfully developed ductile behavior without brittle fracture until 5% radians story drift angle. The maximum moment resisting capacity of the specimens showed little differences. The specimen with the splice length of 1,300 mm showed better bolt slip resistance than the other specimens due to the smallest bending moment at the beam splice.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.353-373
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• 2015

In this paper, the effects of different types of irregularity along the height on the seismic responses of moment resisting frames are investigated using nonlinear dynamic analysis. Furthermore, the applicability of consecutive modal pushover (CMP) procedure for computing the seismic demands of vertically irregular frames is studied and the advantages and limitations of the procedure are elaborated. For this purpose, a special moment resisting steel frame of 10-storey height was selected as reference regular frame for which the effect of higher modes is important. Forty vertically irregular frames with stiffness, strength, combined-stiffness-and-strength and mass irregularities are created by applying two modification factors (MF=2 and 4) in four different locations along the height of the reference frame. Seismic demands of irregular frames are computed by using the nonlinear response history analysis (NL-RHA) and CMP procedure. Modal pushover analysis (MPA) method is also carried out for the sake of comparison. The effect of different types of irregularity along the height on the seismic demands of vertically irregular frames is investigated by studying the results obtained from the NL-RHA. To demonstrate the accuracy of the enhanced pushover analysis methods, the results derived from the CMP and MPA are compared with those obtained by benchmark solution, i.e., NL-RHA. The results show that the CMP and MPA methods can accurately compute the seismic demands of vertically irregular buildings. The methods may be, however, less accurate especially in estimating plastic hinge rotations for weak or weak-and-soft top and middle storeys of vertically irregular frames.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.173-190
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• 2015

This study presents an analytical investigation on the seismic response of a medium-rise buckling-restrained braced frame (BRBF) under the near-fault ground motions. A seven-story BRBF is designed as per the current code provisions for five different combinations of brace configurations and beam-column connections. Two types of brace configurations (i.e., Chevron and Double-X) are considered along with a combination of the moment-resisting and the non-moment-resisting beam-to-column connections for the study frame. Nonlinear dynamic analyses are carried out for all study frames for an ensemble of forty SAC near-fault ground motions. The main parameters evaluated are the interstory and residual drift response, brace displacement ductility, and plastic hinge mechanisms. Fragility curves are developed using log-normal probability density functions for all study frames considering the interstory drift ratio and residual drift ratio as the damage parameters. The average interstory drift response of BRBFs with Double-X brace configurations significantly exceeded the allowable drift limit of 2%. The maximum displacement ductility characteristics of BRBs is efficiently utilized under the seismic loading if these braces are arranged in the Double-X configurations instead of Chevron configurations in BRBFs located in the near-fault regions. However, BRBFs with the Double-X brace configurations exhibit the higher interstory drift and residual drift response under near-fault ground motions due to the formation of plastic hinges in the columns and beams at the intermediate story levels.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.99-112
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• 2023

This paper investigates the influences of Soil-Structure Interaction (SSI) on the seismic behavior of two-dimensional reinforced concrete moment-resisting frames subjected to Far-Field Ground Motion (FFGM) and Near-Field Ground Motion (NFGM). For this purpose, the nonlinear modeling of 7, 10, and 15-story reinforced concrete moment resisting frames were developed in Open Systems for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (OpenSees) software. Effects of SSI were studied by simulating Beam on Nonlinear Winkler Foundation (BNWF) and the soil type as homogenous medium-dense. Generally, the building resistance to seismic loads can be explained in terms of Incremental Dynamic Analysis (IDA); therefore, IDA curves are presented in this study. For comparison, the fragility evaluation is subjected to NFGM and FFGM as proposed by Quantification of Building Seismic Performance Factors (FEMA P-695). The seismic performance of Reinforced Concrete (RC) buildings with fixed and flexible foundations was evaluated to assess the probability of collapse. The results of this paper demonstrate that SSI and NFGM have significantly influenced the probability of failure of the RC frames. In particular, the flexible-base RC buildings experience higher Spectral acceleration (Sa) compared to the fixed-base ones subjected to FFGM and NFGM.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.9 no.5 s.45
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• pp.11-19
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• 2005

Seismic design of a building is usually performed by using the linear static procedure. However, the actual behavior of the building subjected to earthquake is inelastic and dynamic in nature. Therefore, inelastic dynamic analysis is required to evaluate the safety of the structure designed by the current design codes. For the validation, a RC special moment resisting frame building was chosen and designed by IBC 2003 representing new codes. Maximum plastic rotation and dissipated energy of some selected members were calculated for examining if the inelastic behavior of the building follows the intention of the code, and drift demand were calculated as well for checking if the building well satisfies the design drift limit. In addition, the effect of including internal moment resisting frames (non lateral resisting system) on analyses results was investigated. As a result of this study, the building designed by IBC 2003 showed the inelastic behavior intended in the code and satisfied the design drift limit. Furthermore, the internal moment resisting frames should be included in the analytical model as they affect the results of seismic analyses significantly.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.529-541
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• 2017

According to the definition, progressive collapse could occur due to the initial partial failure of the structural members which by spreading to the adjacent members, could result in partial or overall collapse of the structure. Up to now, most researchers have investigated the progressive collapse due to explosion, fire or impact loads. But new research has shown that the seismic load could also be a factor for initiation of the progressive collapse. In this research, the progressive collapse capacity for the 5 and 15-story steel special moment resisting frames using push-down nonlinear static analysis, and nonlinear dynamic analysis under the gravity loads specified in the GSA Guidelines, were studied. After identifying the critical members, in order to investigate the seismic progressive collapse, the 5-story steel special moment resisting frame was analyzed by the nonlinear time history analysis under the effect of earthquakes with different characteristics. In order to account for the initial damage, one of the critical columns was weakened at the initiation of the earthquake or its Peak Ground Acceleration (PGA). The results of progressive collapse analyses showed that the potential of progressive collapse is considerably dependent upon location of the removed column and the number of stories, also the results of seismic progressive collapse showed that the dynamic response of column removal under the seismic load is completely dependent on earthquake characteristics like Arias intensity, PGA and earthquake frequency contents.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.41 no.5
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• pp.747-759
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• 2021

Built-up Double-I (BD-I) columns have been commonly used for mid-rise steel-frame structures in Iran. These columns consist of two hot rolled IPE sections which are connected by two cover plates and fillet welds. Until 2017, BD-I columns were employed in intermediate moment resisting frames (MRF) using welded flange plate (WFP) connections. To evaluate the seismic behavior of the connections, four samples were made and tested based on cyclic loading according to AISC 341-16. It was concluded that typical samples cannot satisfy the seismic provisions related to intermediate MRFs. In contrast, the proposed connections retrofitted with two-part external diaphragms were able to satisfy not only the seismic requirements related to intermediate MRFs but also those related to special MRFs according to AISC. The numerical modeling of these samples was performed using ABAQUS finite element software. This study compared the hysteresis moment-rotation curves, plastic strains, and behavior modes in both experimental samples and numerical models.