• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제26권2호
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• pp.213-226
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• 2018

This paper focuses on the seismic protection of slender old masonry structures by the implementation of prestressing devices at key locations. The devices are vertically and externally located inside the towers in order to be reversible and calibrated. An extensive parametric study on a selected slender tower is carried out based on more than 100 nonlinear static simulations aimed at investigating the impact of different parameters on the seismic performance: (i) different prestressing levels; (ii) shape memory alloy superelasticity and (iii) changes in prestressing-forces in all the stages of the analysis until failure and masonry toe crushing. The tendon materials under analysis are conventional prestressing steel, fiber-reinforced polymers of different fibers and shape memory alloys. The parametric study serves to select the most suitable prestressing device and optimal prestressing level able to dissipate more earthquake energy. The seismic energy dissipation is evaluated by comparing the structural capacity curves in original state and retrofitted.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제16권2호
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• pp.117-133
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• 2014

Natural vibration of truss cable structures is analyzed based upon the general structural analysis software ANSYS, energy variational method and Rayleigh method, the calculated results of three methods are compared, from which the characteristics of free-vibration are obtained. Moreover, vertical seismic response analysis of truss cable structures is carried out via time-history method. Introducing three natural earthquake waves calculated the results including time-history curve of vertical maximal displacement, time-history curve of maximal internal force. Variation curve of maximal displacement of node along span, and variation curve of maximal internal force of member along span are presented. The results show the formulas of frequencies for truss cable structures obtained by energy variational method are of high accuracy. Furthermore, the maximal displacement and the maximal internal force occur near the 1/5 span point. These provide convenient and simple design method for practical engineering.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제62권4호
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• pp.455-464
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• 2017

Rayleigh damping model is recommended in the recently developed Performance-Based Earthquake Engineering (PBEE) methodology, but this methodology does not provide sufficient information due to the complexity of the damping mechanism. Furthermore, each Rayleigh-type damping model may have its individual limitations. In this study, Rayleigh-type damping models that are used widely in engineering practice are discussed. The seismic performance of a large-span single-layer latticed dome subjected to earthquake ground motions is investigated using different Rayleigh damping models. Herein a simulation technique is developed considering low cycle fatigue (LCF) in steel material. In the simulation technique, Ramberg-Osgood steel material model with the low cycle fatigue effect is used to simulate the non-uniformly distributed material damping and low cycle fatigue damage in the structure. Subsequently, the damping forces of the structure generated by different damping models are compared and discussed; the effects of the damping ratio and roof load on the damping forces are evaluated. Finally, the low cycle fatigue damage values in sections of members are given using these damping models. Through a comparative analysis, an appropriate Rayleigh-type damping model used for a large span single-layer latticed dome subjected to earthquake ground motions is determined in terms of the existing damping models.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• 제24권3호
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• pp.391-401
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• 2019

Control of vibrations against extraordinary excitations such as wind and earthquake is very important to the protection of life and financial concerns. One of the methods of structural control is to use Tuned Liquid Damper (TLD), however due to the nature of TLD only one sloshing frequency can be created when the water is sloshing. Among various ideas proposed to compensate this problem, by changing the angle of some rotatable baffles embedded inside a TLD, a frequency range is created such that these baffles are tuned manually at different frequencies. In this study, the effect of cross sectional shape of container with rotating baffles on seismic behavior of TLD is experimentally studied. For this purpose, rectangular and cylindrical containers are designed and used to suppress the vibrations of a Single Degree-Of-Freedom (SDOF) structure under harmonic and earthquake excitations considering three baffle angles. The results show that the rectangular-shaped damper reduces the structural response in all load cases more than the damper with a cylindrical shape, such that maximum differences of two dampers to reduce the structural displacement and structural acceleration are 5.5% and 3% respectively, when compared to the cases where no baffles are employed.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• 제23권3호
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• pp.307-318
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• 2019

The frequently excessive vibrations presented in civil structures during seismic events or service conditions may result in users' discomfort, or worst, in structures failure, producing economic and even human casualties. This work contributes in proposing the synthesis of a nonlinear optimal control strategy for semiactive structural control, with the main characteristic that the synthesis considers both the structure model and the semiactive actuator nonlinear dynamics, which produces a nonlinear system that requires a nonlinear controller design. The aim is to reduce the unwanted vibrations in the response of civil structures, by means of intelligent fluid semiactive actuator such as the Magnetorheological Damper (MRD), which is a device with a low level of power consumption. The civil structures for which the proposed control methodology can be applied are those admitting a state-dependent coefficient factorized representation model, such as buildings, bridges, among others. A scaled model of a three storey building is analyzed as a case study, whose dynamical response involves displacement, velocity and acceleration of each one of the storeys, subjected to the North-South component of the September 19th., 2017, Puebla-Morelos (7.1M), Mexico earthquake. The investigation rests on comparing the structural response over time for two different conditions: with no control device installed and with one MRD installed between the first floor and the ground, where a nonlinear optimal signal for the MRD input voltage is determined. Simulation results are presented to show the effectiveness of the proposed controller for reducing the building's dynamical response.

• 대한토목학회논문집
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• 제28권5A호
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• pp.685-690
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• 2008

최근 대규모의 지진피해로 인해 내진설계에 대한 관심이 높아지면서, LRB(Lead Rubber Bearing), FPS(Friction Pendulum System) 등 다양한 지진격리장치에 대한 연구가 진행되고 있다. 본 연구에서 E-Shape 강재이력댐퍼를 이용한 지진격리장치의 성능 평가를 위해 E-Shape 댐퍼의 동적거동 실험을 수행하였으며, 이를 바탕으로 해석적 연구를 위한 수치모델을 제안하였다. 또한, 제안된 E-Shape 강재이력댐퍼의 수치모델을 6자유도를 가진 5층 건물에 적용하여 LRB 시스템과 이력거동을 비교하여 지진격리성능 평가를 수행하였다. 본 연구를 통하여 제안된 수치모델은 실제 E-Shape 강재이력댐퍼의 동적거동을 적절히 묘사할 수 있으며, E-Shape 강재이력댐퍼는 비선형 거동을 통한 에너지를 적절히 소산시킴으로서 기존 시스템과 비교하여 충분히 지진격리성능을 발휘할 수 있을 것으로 사료된다.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• 제14권5호
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• pp.425-436
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• 2018

The design of seismically isolated structures considering the stochastic nature of excitations, base isolators' design parameters, and superstructure properties requires robust reliability analysis methods to calculate the failure probability of the entire system. Here, by applying artificial neural networks, we proposed a robust technique to accelerate the estimation of failure probability of equipped isolated structures. A three-story isolated building with susceptible facilities is considered as the analytical model to evaluate our technique. First, we employed a sensitivity analysis method to identify the critical sources of uncertainty. Next, we calculated the probability of failure for a particular set of random variables, performing Monte Carlo simulations based on the dynamic nonlinear time-history analysis. Finally, using a set of designed neural networks as a surrogate model for the structural analysis, we assessed once again the probability of the failure. Comparing the obtained results demonstrates that the surrogate model can attain precise estimations of the probability of failure. Moreover, our proposed approach significantly increases the computational efficiency corresponding to the dynamic time-history analysis of the structure.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제75권2호
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• pp.229-237
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• 2020

The steel slit shear wall (SSSW), made by cutting vertical slits in a steel plate, is increasingly used for the seismic protection of building structures. In the domain of thin plate shear walls, the out-of-plane buckling together with the potential fracture developed at slit ends at large lateral deformation may result in degraded shear strength and energy dissipation, which is not desirable in view of seismic design. To address this issue, the present study proposed a new type of SSSW made by intentionally introducing initial out-of-plane folding into the originally flat slitted plate. Quasi-static cyclic tests on three SSSWs with different amplitudes of introduced out-of-plane folding were conducted to study their shear strength, elastic stiffness, energy dissipation capacity and buckling behavior. By introducing proper amplitude of out-of-plane folding into the SSSW fracture at slit ends was eliminated, plumper hysteretic behavior was obtained and there was nearly no strength degradation. A method to estimate the shear strength and elastic stiffness of the new SSSW was also proposed.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제46권4호
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• pp.487-504
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• 2013

In the present work a new friction device, with a set of single or double rotational friction flanges and a link element, is described and tested. The mechanism may be applied for the strengthening of existing r/c or steel buildings as well as in new constructed buildings. The device has selectable variable behavior in different levels of displacement and an interlock mechanism that is provided by the link element. The link element may be designed to lock at preselected level of displacement, offering in this way an extra safety reserve against strong earthquakes. A summary of the existing literature about other similar mechanisms is initially presented in this paper. The proposed mechanism is presented and described in details. Laboratory experiments are presented in detail and the resulted response that proves the efficiency of the mechanism at selectable levels of strength capacity is discussed. Drawings of the mechanism attached to a r/c frame with connection details are also included. Finally a dynamic analysis of two r/c frames, with and without the proposed mechanism attached, is performed and the resulted response is given. The main conclusion is that the proposed mechanism is a cheap and efficient devise for the improvement of the performance of new or existing framed buildings to seismic loads.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• 제5권2호
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• pp.205-229
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• 2018

Energy induced by minor earthquake and micro vibration cannot be dissipated by traditional buckling-restrained braces (BRBs). To solve this problem, a new type of hybrid passive control device, named as VE-BRB, which is configured by a BRB with high-damping viscoelastic (VE) layers, is developed and studied. Theoretical analysis, performance tests, numerical simulation and case analysis are conducted to study the seismic behavior of VE-BRBs. The results indicate that the combination of hysteretic and damping devices lead to a multi-phased nature and good performance. VE-BRB's working state can be divided into three phases: before yielding of the steel core, VE layers provide sufficient damping ratio to mitigate minor vibrations; after yielding of the steel core, the steel's hysteretic deformations provide supplemental dissipative capacity for structures; after rupture of the steel core, VE layers are still able to work normally and provide multiple security assurance for structures. The simulation results agreed well with the experimental results, validating the finite element analysis method, constitutive models and the identified parameters. The comparison of the time history analysis on a 6-story frame with VE-BRBs and BRBs verified the advantages of VE-BRB for seismic protection of structures compared with traditional BRB. In general, VE-BRB had the potential to provide better control effect on structural displacement and shear in all stages than BRB as expected.