• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.1-10
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• 1999

Free-field ground motion during earthquake is significantly affected by the local site conditions and it is essential for the seismic design to perform the site specific ground response analysis. In this paper, the procedures of site specific ground response analysis were suggested based on the Korean seismic guideline and the review of state of the art technologies. The concept of ground response analysis was introduced, and the techniques of obtaining soil data for one dimensional equivalent linear analysis which include site investigation planning, field and laboratory testing techniques, deformational characteristics of soils at small to large strains, and site characterization techniques combining field and laboratory test results, were suggested. Finally, the case study was performed at Inchon area following the suggested procedure.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.60 no.3
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• pp.433-453
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• 2016

During earthquake, the motion of ground is affected significantly by source characteristics, source-to-site path properties and local site conditions. Due to the influence of local soil conditions different places experience distinctive amplitude of surface ground motion. Ground response analysis of a specific site utilizing the borehole information at different locations is done in present study. The ground motion with the highest peak ground acceleration for this site obtained from the ground response analysis is used in finite element soil-structure interaction analysis of multi-storey shear wall buildings with various positions of shear walls. The variation in seismic response of buildings and advantageous position of shear wall are determined. The study reveals that providing shear wall at the core of buildings at the specific site is advantageous among all shear wall configurations considered.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.586-595
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• 2002

The Seismic probabilistic risk assessment (SPRA) or seismic margin assessment (SMA) have been used for the seismic safety evaluation of nuclear power plant structures and equipments. For the SPRA or SMA, the reference response spectrum should be defined. The site-specific median spectrum has been generally used for the seismic fragility analysis of structures and equipments in a Korean nuclear power plant Since the site-specific spectrum has been developed based on the peak ground motion parameter, the site-specific response spectrum does not represent the same probability of exceedance over the entire frequency range of interest. The uniform hazard spectrum is more appropriate to be used in seismic probabilistic risk assessment than the site- specific spectrum. A method for modifying the seismic fragility parameters that are calculated based on the site-specific median spectrum is described. This simple method was developed to incorporate the effects of the uniform hazard spectrum. The seismic fragility parameters of typical NPP components are modified using the uniform hazard spectrum. The modification factor is used to modify the original fragility parameters. An example uniform hazard spectrum is developed using the available seismic hazard data for the Korean nuclear power plant (NPP) site. This uniform hazard spectrum is used for the modification of fragility parameters.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.67-77
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• 2017

Oil storage tanks are vital life-line structures, suffered significant damages during past earthquakes. In this study, a numerical model for an unanchored vertical vaulted-type tank was established by ANSYS software, including the tank-liquid coupling, nonlinear uplift and slip effect between the tank bottom and foundation. Four actual earthquakes recorded at different soil sites were selected as input to study the dynamic characteristics of the tank by nonlinear time-history dynamic analysis, including the elephant-foot buckling, the liquid sloshing, the uplift and slip at the bottom. The results demonstrate that, obvious elephant-foot deformation and buckling failure occurred near the bottom of the tank wall under the seismic input of Class-I and Class-IV sites. The local buckling failure appeared at the location close to the elephant-foot because the axial compressive stress exceeded the allowable critical stress. Under the seismic input of Class-IV site, significant nonlinear uplift and slip occurred at the tank bottom. Large amplitude vertical sloshing with a long period occurred on the free surface of the liquid under the seismic wave record at Class-III site. The seismic properties of the storage tank were affected by site class and should be considered in the seismic design of large tanks. Effective measures should be taken to reduce the seismic response of storage tanks, and ensure the safety of tanks.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.233-247
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• 2024

The damage to structures during an earthquake can be varied depending on the frequency characteristics of seismic waves and the geological properties of the ground. Therefore, considering such attributes in the design ground motions is crucial. The Korean seismic design standard (KDS 17 10 00) provides design response spectra for various ground classifications. If required for time-domain analysis, ground motion time series can be either selected and adjusted from motions recorded at rock sites in intraplate regions or artificially synthesized. Ground motion time series at soil sites should be obtained from site response analysis. However, in practice, selecting suitable ground motion records is challenging due to the overall lack of large earthquakes in intraplate regions, and artificially synthesized time series often leads to unrealistic responses of structures. As an alternative approach, this study provides a case study of generating ground motion time series based on the hybrid broadband ground motion simulation of selected scenario earthquakes at sites in the Nakdonggang delta region. This research is significant as it provides a novel method for generating ground motion time series that can be used in seismic design and response analysis. For large-magnitude earthquake scenarios close to the epicenter, the simulated response spectra surpassed the 1000-year design response spectra in some specific frequency ranges. Subsequently, the acceleration time series at each location were used as input motions to perform nonlinear 1D site response analysis through the PySeismoSoil Package to account for the site response characteristics at each location. The results of the study revealed a tendency to amplify ground motion in the mid to long-period range in most places within the study area. Additionally, significant amplification in the short-period range was observed in some locations characterized by a thin soil layer and relatively high shear wave velocity soil near the upper bedrock.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2009

In order to evaluate the effect of shear wave velocity of a seismic control point on site response analysis, one-dimensional equivalent linear site response analysis were performed on the model soil profile based on the results of a detailed site investigation of sedimentary layers at Incheon and Busan. The results of the analysis show that an increase of shear wave velocity on the seismic control point (base rock) results in an increase of acceleration in the soil layers. This was mainly due to an unclear definition of the seismic control point. For this reason, the Korean Seismic Design Standard requires a specific definition of the seismic control point, including spatial conditions and soil properties, similar to the MCE (Maximum Considered Earthquake) in FEMA 369.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.113-119
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• 2018

The probabilistic seismic safety assessment is one of the methodology to evaluate the seismic safety of the nuclear power plants. The site characteristics of the nuclear power plant should be reflected when evaluating the seismic safety of the nuclear power plant. The Korea seismic characteristics are strong in high frequency region and may be different from NRC Regulatory Guide 1.60, which is the design spectrum of nuclear power plants. In this study, seismic response of a nuclear power plant structure by Pohang earthquake (2017.11.15. (KST)) is investigated. The Pohang earthquake measured at the Cheongsong seismic observation station (CHS) is scaled to the peak ground acceleration (PGA) of 0.2 g and the seismic acceleration time history curve corresponding to the design spectrum is created. A nuclear power plant of the containment building and the auxiliary buildings are modeled using OPENSEES to analyze the seismic response of the Pohang earthquake. The seismic behavior of the nuclear power plant due to the Pohang earthquake is investigated. And the seismic performances of the equipment of a nuclear power plant are evaluated by the HCLPF. As a result, the seismic safety evaluation of nuclear power plants should be evaluated based on site-specific characteristics of nuclear power plants.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.249-255
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• 2024

Strong ground motions at specific sites can cause severe damage to structures. Understanding the influence of site characteristics on the dynamic response of structures is crucial for evaluating their seismic performance and mitigating the potential damage caused by site effects. This study investigates the impact of the average shear wave velocity, as a site characteristic, on the seismic response of low-to-medium-rise reinforced concrete buildings. To explore them, one-dimensional soil column models were generated using shear wave velocity profile from California, and nonlinear site response analyses were performed using bedrock motions. Nonlinear dynamic structural analyses were conducted for reinforced concrete moment-resisting frame models based on the regional information. The effect of shear wave velocity on the structural response and surface ground motions was examined. The results showed that strong ground motions tend to exhibit higher damping on softer soils, reducing their intensity, while on stiffer soils, the ground motion intensity tends to amplify. Consequently, the structural response tended to increase on stiffer soils compared to softer soils.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.967-973
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• 2021

In 2011, an earthquake and subsequent tsunami hit the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, causing simultaneous accidents in several reactors. This accident shows us that if there are several reactors on site, the seismic risk to multiple units is important to consider, in addition to that to single units in isolation. When a seismic event occurs, a seismic-failure correlation exists between the nuclear power plant's structures, systems, and components (SSCs) due to their seismic-response and seismic-capacity correlations. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate the multi-unit seismic risk by considering the SSCs' seismic-failure-correlation effect. In this study, a methodology is proposed to obtain the seismic-response-correlation coefficient between SSCs to calculate the risk to multi-unit facilities. This coefficient is calculated from a probabilistic multi-unit seismic-response analysis. The seismic-response and seismic-failure-correlation coefficients of the emergency diesel generators installed within the units are successfully derived via the proposed method. In addition, the distribution of the seismic-response-correlation coefficient was observed as a function of the distance between SSCs of various dynamic characteristics. It is demonstrated that the proposed methodology can reasonably derive the seismic-response-correlation coefficient between SSCs, which is the input data for multi-unit seismic probabilistic safety assessment.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2020

In 2016, an earthquake occurred at Gyeongju, Korea. At the Wolsong site, the observed peak ground acceleration was lower than the operating basis earthquake (OBE) level of Wolsong nuclear power plant. However, the measured spectral acceleration value exceeded the spectral acceleration of the operating-basis earthquake (OBE) level in some sections of the response spectrum, resulting in a manual shutdown of the nuclear power plant. Analysis of the response spectra shape of the Gyeongju earthquake motion showed that the high-frequency components are stronger than the response spectra shape used in nuclear power plant design. Therefore, the seismic performance evaluation of structures and equipment of nuclear power plants should be made to reflect the characteristics of site-specific earthquakes. In general, the floor response spectrum shape at the installation site or the generalized response spectrum shape is used for the seismic performance evaluation of structures and equipment. In this study, a generalized response spectrum shape is proposed for seismic performance evaluation of structures and equipment for nuclear power plants. The proposed response spectrum shape reflects the characteristics of earthquake motion in Korea through earthquake hazard analysis, and it can be applied to structures and equipment at various locations.