• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.595-603
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• 2018

Shake table testing has been regarded as one of the most effective experimental approaches to evaluate seismic response of structural systems subjected to earthquakes. However, reproducing a prescribed acceleration time history precisely over the frequency of interest is challenging because shake table test systems are eventually nonlinear by nature. In addition, interaction between the table and specimen could affect the control accuracy of shake table testing significantly. Various novel control algorithms have been proposed to improve the control accuracy of shake table testing; however, reference values for control performance assessment remain rare. In this study, reference values for control performance assessment of shake table testing are specified based on the statistical analyses of 1,209 experimental data provided by the Seismic Simulator Laboratory of National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering in Taiwan. Three individual reference values are considered for the assessment including the root-mean-square error of the achieved acceleration time history; the percentage of the spectral acceleration that exceeds the determined tolerance range over the frequency of interest; and the error-ratio of the achieved peak ground acceleration. Quartiles of the real experimental data in terms of the three objective variables are obtained, providing users with solid and simple references to evaluate the control performance of shake table testing. Finally, a set of experimental data of a newly developed control framework implementation for uni-axial shake tables are used as an application example to demonstrate the significant improvement of control accuracy according to the reference values provided in this study.

• Land and Housing Review
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.79-82
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• 2012

While there exists a relatively large body of technical information for the engineered design of wood-frame buildings to resist seismic ground motions, the quantitative assessment of seismic resistance of conventional houses built by prescriptive requirements is less well understood. Forintek Canada Corp., in collaboration with other research and industry partners, has embarked on a research project to address this topic. This paper will report on the seismic shake table tests of a full-scale wood-frame building. The two-story specimen, $6m{\times}6m$ in plan, was built on the seismic shake table at Tongji University in Shanghai, China, according to Part 9 of the 1995 National Building Code of Canada and shaken uni-directionally in each of the two principal directions. Three different seismic table motions were applied at increasing peak ground motion amplitudes up to 0.40 and 0.50 g. The specimen was repaired after the above sets of seismic table motions, and successive runs were conducted for increased door openings. Measurements included specimen accelerations, displacements and anchorage forces. Static stiffness of the specimen was measured at low force levels, and natural frequencies were measured after each seismic loading stage by applying low-level random excitation. The results presented consist of the capacity spectra of the shake table tests, changes in specimen stiffness and natural frequencies with increasing seismic loading. These results and those from other recent shake table tests elsewhere will be compared with simplified engineering calculations based on codified values of strength, and on that basis preliminary conclusions will be drawn on the adequacy of the current code provisions and design guides in Canada and the USA for conventional wood-frame construction.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.501-513
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• 2017

To investigate the seismic performance of Y-shaped eccentrically braced frames fabricated with high-strength steel (Y-HSS-EBFs), a shake table test of a 1:2 scaled three-story Y-HSS-EBF specimen was performed. The input wave for the shake table test was generated by the ground motions of El Centro, Taft, and Lanzhou waves. The dynamic properties, acceleration, displacement, and strain responses were obtained from the test specimen and compared with previous test results. In addition, a finite element model of the test specimen was established using the SAP2000 software. Results from the numerical analysis were compared with the test specimen results. During the shake table test, the specimen exhibited sufficient overall structural stiffness and safety but suffered some localized damage. The lateral stiffness of the structure degenerated during the high seismic intensity earthquake. The maximum elastic and elastoplastic interstory drift of the test specimen for different peak ground accelerations were 1/872 and 1/71, respectively. During the high seismic intensity earthquake, the links of the test specimen entered the plastic stage to dissipate the earthquake energy, while other structural members remained in the elastic stage. The Y-HSS-EBF is a safe, dual system with reliable seismic performance. The numerical analysis results were in useful agreement with the test results. This finding indicated that the finite element model in SAP2000 provided a very accurate prediction of the Y-HSS-EBF structure's behavior during the seismic loadings.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.665-677
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• 2019

This study utilizes large-scale shake table test to investigate the seismic performance of an isolated bridge with lead rubber bearings crossing an active fault. Two transverse restraining systems with and without shear keys are tested by applying spatially varying ground motions. It is shown that the near-fault span exhibits larger bearing displacement than the crossing-fault span. Bridge piers away from the fault rupture are more vulnerable than those adjacent to the fault rupture by attracting more seismic demand. It is also verified that the shear keys are effective in restraining the bearing displacement on the near-fault span, particularly under the large permanent ground displacement.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.805-827
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• 2016

A new type of precast CFST column to RC beam braced frame is proposed in this paper. A series of shake table tests were conducted to excite a one-third scale six-story model for investigating the global seismic performance of this type of structure against earthquake actions. Particular emphasis was given to its dynamic property, global seismic responses and failure path. Correspondingly, a numerical model built on the basis of fiber-beam-element model, multi-layer shell model and element-deactivation method was developed to simulate the seismic performance of the prototype structure. Numerical results were compared with the measured values from shake table tests to verify the validity and reliability of the numerical model. The results demonstrated that the proposed novel precast CFST column to RC beam braced frame performs excellently under strong earthquake excitations; the "strong CFST column-weak RC beam" and "strong connection-weak member" anti-seismic design principles can be easily achieved; the maximum deflections of precast CFSTC-RCB braced frame satisfied the deflection limitations proposed in national code; the numerical model can properly simulate the dynamic property and responses of the precast CFSTC-RCB braced frame that are highly concerned in engineering practice.

• Journal of the Architectural Institute of Korea Structure & Construction
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• v.35 no.10
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• pp.143-153
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• 2019

In this study, a full scale 3-axes shake table test for M-bar and T-bar type ceilings commonly used in the country was conducted. Through damage inspection during the test, seismic performance of ceilings according to variables, such as clearance between wall mold and ceiling as well as existence of facilities, was evaluated. A test frame consisted of square hollow section members was used for the shake table test. The experimental method was performed as a fragility test using required response spectrum described in ICC-ES AC156. In the case of architectural nonstructural component that contain ceilings, it mainly is evaluated the performance by post-test visual inspection. For the evaluation of seismic performance of ceilings, this study classified and defined damaged items for targeted ceiling system referring to illustrative damage according to nonstructural performance levels accordance with ASCE 41 and previous studies. And proposed illustrative damage items classification was utilized to compare the degree of the damage according to experimental variables. The experiment results confirmed that differences in boundary conditions due to the clearance at wall mold and the installation of facilities had a significant effect on the seismic performance of the ceiling.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.1-24
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• 2012

A reinforced concrete (RC) framed structure detailed according to non-seismic detailing provisions as per Indian Standard was tested on shake table under dynamic loads. The structure had 3 main storeys and an additional storey to simulate the footing to plinth level. In plan the structure was symmetric with 2 bays in each direction. In order to optimize the information obtained from the tests, tests were planned in three different stages. In the first stage, tests were done with masonry infill panels in one direction to obtain information on the stiffness increase due to addition of infill panels. In second stage, the infills were removed and tests were conducted on the structure without and with tuned liquid dampers (TLD) on the roof of the structure to investigate the effect of TLD on seismic response of the structure. In the third stage, tests were conducted on bare frame structure under biaxial time histories with gradually increasing peak ground acceleration (PGA) till failure. The simulated earthquakes represented low, moderate and severe seismic ground motions. The effects of masonry infill panels on dynamic characteristics of the structure, effectiveness of TLD in reducing the seismic response of structure and the failure patterns of non-seismically detailed structures, are clearly brought out. Details of design and similitude are also discussed.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.1125-1141
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• 2016

The direct displacement based design (DDBD) approach is spreading in the field of seismic design for many types of structures. This paper is carried out to present a robust approach for the DDBD procedure for single degree of freedom (SDOF) concentrically braced frames (CBFs). Special attention is paid to the choice of an equivalent viscous damping (EVD) model that represents the behaviour of a series of full scale shake table tests. The performance of the DDBD methodology of the CBFs is verified by two ways. Firstly, by comparing the DDBD results with a series of full-scale shake table tests. Secondly, by comparing the DDBD results with a quantified nonlinear time history analysis (NLTHA). It is found that the DDBD works relatively well and could predict the base shear forces ($F_b$) and the required brace cross sectional sizes of the actual values obtained from shake table tests and NLTHA. In other words, when comparing the ratio of $F_b$ estimated from the DDBD to the measured values in shake table tests, the mean and coefficient of variation ($C_V$) are found to be 1.09 and 0.12, respectively. Moreover, the mean and $C_V$ of the ratios of $F_b$ estimated from the DDBD to the values obtained from NLTHA are found to be 1.03 and 0.12, respectively. Thus, the DDBD methodology presented in this paper has been shown to give accurate and reliable results.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.4
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• pp.1345-1356
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• 2021

Damage to nuclear power plants causes human casualties and environmental disasters. There are electrical facilities that control safety-related devices in nuclear power plants, and seismic performance is required for them. The 2016 Gyeongju earthquake had many high-frequency components. Therefore, there is a high possibility that an earthquake involving many high frequency components will occur in South Korea. As such, it is necessary to examine the safety of nuclear power plants against an earthquake with many high-frequency components. In this study, the shaking table test of electrical facilities was conducted against the design earthquake for nuclear power plants with a large low-frequency components and an earthquake with a large high-frequency components. The response characteristics of the earthquake with a large high-frequency components were identified by deriving the amplification factors of the response through the shaking table test. In addition, safety of electrical facility against the two aforementioned types of earthquakes with different seismic characteristics was confirmed through limit-state seismic tests. The electrical facility that was performed to the shaking table test in this study was a motor control center (MCC).

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.1115-1132
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• 2015

The study considers earthquake shake table testing of bending-torsion coupled structures under multi-component stationary random earthquake excitations. An experimental procedure to arrive at the optimal excitation cross-power spectral density (psd) functions which maximize/minimize the steady state variance of a chosen response variable is proposed. These optimal functions are shown to be derivable in terms of a set of system frequency response functions which could be measured experimentally without necessitating an idealized mathematical model to be postulated for the structure under study. The relationship between these optimized cross-psd functions to the most favourable/least favourable angle of incidence of seismic waves on the structure is noted. The optimal functions are also shown to be system dependent, mathematically the sharpest, and correspond to neither fully correlated motions nor independent motions. The proposed experimental procedure is demonstrated through shake table studies on two laboratory scale building frame models.