• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.1382-1393
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• 2022

This paper investigates the seismic behavior of an electrical cabinet considering the influence of equipment-anchor-interaction (EAI) that is generally not taken into consideration in a decoupled analysis. The hysteresis behavior of an anchor bolt in concrete was thereby considered to highlight this interaction effect. To this end, the experimental behavior of an anchor bolt under reversed cyclic loading was taken from the recently developed literature, and a numerical model for the anchor hysteresis was developed using the component approach. The hysteresis properties were then used to calibrate the multi-linear link element that is implemented as a boundary condition for the cabinet incorporating the EAI. To highlight this EAI further, the nonlinear time history analysis was performed for a cabinet considering the hysteresis behavior comparative to a fixed boundary condition. Additionally, the influence on the seismic fragility was evaluated for the operational and structural condition of the cabinet. The numerical analysis considering the anchor hysteresis manifests that the in-cabinet response spectra (ICRS) are significantly amplified with the corresponding reduction in the seismic capacity of 25% and 15% for an operational and structural safety condition under the selected protocols. Considering the fixed boundary condition over a realistic hysteresis behavior of the anchor bolt is more likely to overestimate the seismic capacity of the cabinet in a seismic qualification procedure.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.375-388
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• 2014

The effectiveness of using the advanced seismic protection technology based on shape memory alloy (SMA) dampers to preserve a historical minaret is investigated. The proposed studied case, the minaret of Mansourah, is a seven century old minaret located in Tlemcen, Algeria. Its original height was of 47m, while nowadays, the monument is half destructed and its current height reaches the 40m. The proposed seismic retrofit is based on the technique that utilizes SMA wires as dampers for the upper flexible part of the minaret. The effectiveness of the proposed technique is numerically evaluated via non-linear finite element analysis using the structural software ANSYS. The effectiveness of the proposed device in mitigating the seismic hazard is demonstrated by the effective reduction in its dynamic response.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.455-467
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• 2023

This study focuses on demonstrating the effectiveness of vibration control of tuned rotary mass damper (TRMD) for reducing the bidirectional and torsional response of the irregular asymmetric structure with voided slabs under earthquake excitations. The TRMD arranged in plane of one-story eccentric structure is proposed as a distributed tuned rotary mass damper (DTRMD) system. Lagrange's equation is used to derive the equations of motion of the controlled system. The optimum position and number of TRMD are numerically investigated under harmonic excitation and the control effects of different distributions are discussed. Furthermore, a shaking table test is conducted under different excitation cases, including free vibration, forced vibration and seismic wave to investigate the absorption performance of the device. The numerical simulations of different distributions of the TRMDs show that the DTRMDs are more effective in reduction of the displacement response of the asymmetric structure under the same mass ratio, even when the degree of eccentricity becomes large. However, with small degree of eccentricity, the unreasonable asymmetrical arrangement may cause the increase of the peak value of the rotational angular displacement. Finally, the experimental investigations exhibit similar results of translational displacement of the structure. It is concluded that the vibration of the irregular asymmetric structure can be controlled more economically and effectively by reducing the mass ratio through reducing the quantity of TRMDs at the high stiffness end.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.74 no.1
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• pp.129-143
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• 2020

This study proposes a new shape memory alloy-tuned mass damper (SMA-TMD) and investigates the effectiveness of this damper in reducing and controlling the vibrations of a transmission tower-line system under various seismic excitations. Based on a practical transmission line system and considering the geometric nonlinearity of this system, the finite element (FE) software ANSYS is used to create an FE model of the transmission tower-line system and simulate the proposed SMA-TMD. Additionally, the parameters of the SMA springs are optimized. The effectiveness of a conventional TMD and the proposed SMA-TMD in reducing and controlling the vibrations of the transmission tower-line system under seismic excitations is investigated. Moreover, the effects of the ground motion intensity and frequency ratio on the reduction ratio (η) of the SMA-TMD are studied. The vibration reduction effect of the SMA-TMD under various seismic excitations is superior to that of the conventional TMD. Changes in the ground motion intensity and frequency ratio have a significant impact on the η of the SMA-TMD. As the ground motion intensity and frequency ratio increase, the η values of the SMA-TMD first increase and then decrease. Studying the vibration reduction effects of the SMA-TMD can provide a reference for the practical engineering application of this damper.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.39-53
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• 2021

By means of installing sloped rolling-type seismic isolators (SRI), the horizontal acceleration transmitted to the to-be-protected object above can be effectively and significantly reduced under external disturbance. To prevent the maximum horizontal displacement response of SRI from reaching a threshold, designing large and conservative damping force for SRI might be required, which will also enlarge the transmitted acceleration response. In a word, when adopting seismic isolation, minimizing acceleration or displacement responses is always a trade-off. Therefore, this paper proposes that by exploiting the possible information provided by an earthquake early warning system, the damping force applied to SRI which can better control both acceleration and displacement responses might be determined in advance and accordingly adjusted in a semi-active control manner. By using a large number of ground motion records with peak ground acceleration not less than 80 gal, the numerical results present that the maximum horizontal displacement response of SRI is highly correlated with and proportional to some important parameters of input excitations, the velocity pulse energy rate and peak velocity in particular. A control law employing the basic form of hyperbolic tangent function and two objective functions are considered in this study for conceptually developing suitable control algorithms. Compared with the numerical results of simply designing a constant, large damping factor to prevent SRI from pounding, adopting the recommended control algorithms can have more than 60% reduction of acceleration responses in average under the excitations. More importantly, it is effective in reducing acceleration responses under approximately 98% of the excitations.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.133-144
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• 2018

To study the effectiveness of sliding isolation in a CRLSS (concrete rectangular liquid-storage structure) and develop a reasonable limiting-device method, dynamic responses of non-isolation, sliding isolation with spring limiting-devices and sliding isolation with steel bar limiting-devices are comparatively studied by shaking table test. The seismic response reduction advantage of sliding isolation for concrete liquid-storage structures is discussed, and the effect of the limiting-device type on system dynamic responses is analyzed. The results show that the dynamic responses of sliding isolation CRLSS with steel bar-limiting devices are significantly smaller than that of sliding isolation CRLSS with spring-limiting devices. The structure acceleration and liquid sloshing wave height are greatly influenced by spring-limiting devices. The acceleration of the structure in this case is close to or greater than that of a non-isolated structure. Liquid sloshing shows stronger nonlinear characteristics. On the other hand, sliding isolation with steel bar-limiting devices has a good control effect on the structural dynamic response and the liquid sloshing height simultaneously. Thus, a limiting device is an important factor affecting the seismic response reduction effect of sliding isolation. To take full advantage of sliding isolation in a concrete liquid-storage structure, a reasonable design of the limiting device is particularly important.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.51 no.3
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• pp.487-502
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• 2014

In buildings structures, the flexural stiffness reduction of beams and columns due to concrete cracking plays an important role in the nonlinear load-deformation response of reinforced concrete structures under service loads. Most Seismic Design Codes do not precise effective stiffness to be used in seismic analysis for structures of reinforced concrete elements, therefore uncracked section properties are usually considered in computing structural stiffness. But, uncracked stiffness will never be fully recovered during or after seismic response. In the present study, the effect of concrete cracking on the lateral response of structure has been taken into account. Totally 120 cases of 3 Dimensional Dynamic Analysis which considers the real and accidental torsional effects are performed using ETABS to determine the effective structural system across the height, which ensures the performance and the economic dimensions that achieve the saving in concrete and steel amounts thus achieve lower cost. The result findings exhibits that the dual system was the most efficient lateral load resisting system based on deflection criterion, as they yielded the least values of lateral displacements and inter-storey drifts. The shear wall system was the most economical lateral load resisting compared to moment resisting frame and dual system but they yielded the large values of lateral displacements in top storeys. Wall systems executes tremendous stiffness at the lower levels of the building, while moment frames typically restrain considerable deformations and provide significant energy dissipation under inelastic deformations at the upper levels. Cracking found to be more impact over moment resisting frames compared to the Shear wall systems. The behavior of various lateral load resisting systems with respect to time period, mode shapes, storey drift etc. are discussed in detail.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.745-753
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• 2017

Dynamic analysis of a concrete pipes armed with Silica ($SiO_2$) nanoparticles subjected to earthquake load is presented. The structure is modeled with first order shear deformation theory (FSDT) of cylindrical shells. Mori-Tanaka approach is applied for obtaining the equivalent material properties of the structure considering agglomeration effects. Based on energy method and Hamilton's principle, the motion equations are derived. Utilizing the harmonic differential quadrature method (HDQM) and Newmark method, the dynamic displacement of the structure is calculated for the Kobe earthquake. The effects of different parameters such as geometrical parameters of pipe, boundary conditions, $SiO_2$ volume percent and agglomeration are shown on the dynamic response of the structure. The results indicate that reinforcing the concrete pipes by $SiO_2$ nanoparticles leads to a reduction in the displacement of the structure during an earthquake.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.7
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• pp.33-38
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• 2017

The number of damaged lifeline structures have been increasing with urban acceleration under earthquakes. To predict the damage, damage mitigation technology of lifeline structures should be analyzed using damage prediction technology. Therefore, in this paper, the degree of the fragility of structures under an earthquake was evaluated stochastically through an evaluation of the seismic fragility. The aim was to develop damage prediction technology of sewage pipes among the lifeline facilities. The site response was performed using the data from 158 boreholes in Seoul and 7 real earthquake waves to determine the responses in real urban areas. The seismic fragility was deduced through a total of 29822 time history analysis. In addition, sewer pipes were evaluated and the persisting period was passed by applying the research results of strength reduction which is due to sulphate erosion. As a result, the difference in failure probability between 300 and 800 with the smaller diameter of the representative pipes was approximately double and the size of the pipes has a significant effect on the seismic fragility function. Moreover, the failure probability of a seismic load increases by up to 10 fold as the strength reduction rate increases. The results of this study can be used as a means of predicting the damage and countermeasures of sewer pipes and might be reflected in the seismic design of underground facilities.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.53 no.4
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• pp.791-818
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• 2015

RC buildings constitute the prevailing type of construction in earthquake-prone region like Kathmandu Valley. Most of these building constructions were based on conventional methods. In this context, the present paper studied the seismic behaviour of existing RC buildings in Kathmandu Valley. For this, four representative building structures with different design and construction, namely a building: (a) representing the non-engineered construction (RC1 and RC2) and (b) engineered construction (RC3 and RC4) has been selected for analysis. The dynamic properties of the case study building models are analyzed and the corresponding interaction with seismic action is studied by means of non-linear analyses. The structural response measures such as capacity curve, inter-storey drift and the effect of geometric non-linearities are evaluated for the two orthogonal directions. The effect of plan and vertical irregularity on the performance of the structures was studied by comparing the results of two engineered buildings. This was achieved through non-linear dynamic analysis with a synthetic earthquake subjected to X, Y and $45^{\circ}$ loading directions. The nature of the capacity curve represents the strong impact of the P-delta effect, leading to a reduction of the global lateral stiffness and reducing the strength of the structure. The non-engineered structures experience inter-storey drift demands higher than the engineered building models. Moreover, these buildings have very low lateral resistant, lesser the stiffness and limited ductility. Finally, a seismic safety assessment is performed based on the proposed drift limits. Result indicates that most of the existing buildings in Nepal exhibit inadequate seismic performance.