• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• v.2 no.3
• /
• pp.297-321
• /
• 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
• /
• v.24 no.1
• /
• pp.37-52
• /
• 2017

To quantitatively assess the safety against seismic collapse of eccentrically braced steel frame (EBSF) system, 24 typical EBSFs with K-shape and V-shape braces with seismic precautionary intensities 8 and 9 were designed complying with China seismic design code and relative codes to constitute archetype space of this structure system. In the archetype space, the collapse probability of the structural system under maximum considered earthquakes (MCE) was researched. The results show that the structures possess necessary safety against seismic collapse when they respectively encounter the maximum considered earthquakes corresponding to their seismic precautionary levels, and their collapse probabilities increase with increasing seismic precautionary intensities. Moreover, the EBSFs with V-shape braces have smaller collapse probability, thus greater capacity against seismic collapse than those with K-shape braces.

• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• v.23 no.1
• /
• pp.101-113
• /
• 2022

A new type of fabricated subway station construction technology can effectively solve these problems. For a new type of metro structure form, it is necessary to clarify its mechanical properties, especially the seismic performance. A soil-structure elastoplastic finite element model is established to perform three-dimensional nonlinear dynamic time-history analysis based on the first fabricated station structure-Yuanjiadian station of Changchun Metro Line 2, China. Firstly, the nonlinear seismic response characteristics of the fabricated and cast-in-place subway stations under different seismic wave excitations are compared and analyzed. Then, a comprehensive analysis of several important parameters that may affect the seismic response of fabricated subway stations is given. The results show that the maximum plastic strain, the interlayer deformation, and the internal force of fabricated station structures are smaller than that of cast-in-place structure, which indicates that the fabricated station structure has good deformation coordination capability and mechanical properties. The seismic responses of fabricated stations were mainly affected by the soil-structure stiffness ratio, the soil inertia effect, and earthquake load conditions rarely mentioned in cast-in-place stations. The critical parameters have little effect on the interlayer deformation but significantly affect the joints' opening distance and contact stress, which can be used as the evaluation index of the seismic performance of fabricated station structures. The presented results can better understand the seismic responses and guide the seismic design of the fabricated station.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.81 no.6
• /
• pp.677-689
• /
• 2022

Generally, the goal of seismic retrofit design of an existing structure using energy dissipation devices is to determine the optimum design parameters of a retrofit device to satisfy a specified limit state with minimum cost. However, the presence of multiple parameters to be optimized and the computational complexity of performing non-linear analysis make it difficult to find the optimal design parameters in the realistic 3D structure. In this study, genetic algorithm-based optimal seismic retrofit methods for determining the required number, yield strength, and location of steel slit dampers are proposed to retrofit an asymmetric soft first-story structure. These methods use a multi-objective and single-objective evolutionary algorithms, each of which varies in computational complexity and incorporates nonlinear time-history analysis to determine seismic performance. Pareto-optimal solutions of the multi-objective optimization are found using a non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II). It is demonstrated that the developed multi-objective optimization methods can determine the optimum number, yield strength, and location of dampers that satisfy the given limit state of a three-dimensional asymmetric soft first-story structure. It is also shown that the single-objective distribution method based on minimizing plan-wise stiffness eccentricity turns out to produce similar number of dampers in optimum locations without time consuming nonlinear dynamic analysis.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
• /
• v.25 no.4
• /
• pp.169-177
• /
• 2021

In this paper, horizontal seismic responses of a structure built on a sunken mat foundation were compared with those built on a solid embedded mat foundation to investigate the effect of a sunken mat foundation on the horizontal response of a structure. Seismic analyses of a structure laid on the embedded mat foundation were performed by utilizing a pseudo-3D finite element software of P3DASS. Three bedrock earthquake records downloaded from the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center database were scaled to reproduce weak-moderate earthquakes. Weak, medium, and stiff soil layers were considered for the seismic analyses of the structure-foundation-soil system. Parametric studies were performed for foundation radius, foundation embedment depth, and shear wave velocity of a soil layer to investigate their effect on the seismic response spectrum. The study result showed that the design spectrum of a structure built on a sunken mat foundation was similar to that with a solid embedded mat foundation showing a slight difference due to almost the same seismic base motion beneath both embedded foundations.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
• /
• v.20 no.5
• /
• pp.285-293
• /
• 2016

Soil-foundation-structure interaction (SFSI) is one of the important issues in the seismic design for evaluating the exact behavior of the system. A seismic design of a structure can be more precise and economical, provided that the effect of SFSI is properly taken into account. In this study, a series of the dynamic centrifuge tests were performed to compare the seismic response of the single degree of freedom(SDOF) structure on the various types of the foundation. The shallow and pile foundations were made up of diverse mass and different conjunctive condition, respectively. The test specimen consisted of dry sand deposit, foundation, and SDOF structure in a centrifuge box. Several types of earthquake motions were sequentially applied to the test specimen from weak to strong intensity of them, which is known as a stage test. Results from the centrifuge tests showed that the seismic responses of the SDOF structure on the shallow foundation and disconnected pile foundation decreased by the foundation rocking. On the other hand, those on the connected pile foundation gradually increased with intensity of input motion. The allowable displacement of the foundation under the strong earthquake, the shallow and the disconnected pile foundation, have an advantage in dissipating the earthquake energy for the seismic design.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.65 no.5
• /
• pp.557-572
• /
• 2018

The academic research works about liquid storage tanks are reviewed for the purpose of providing valuable reference to the engineering practice on their aseismic design. A summary of the performance of tanks during past earthquakes is described in this paper. Next, the seismic response of tanks under unidirectional earthquake is reported, supplemented with the dynamic response under multidirectional motions. Then, researches on the influence of soil-structure interaction are brought out to help modify the seismic design approach of tanks in different areas with variable properties of soils. Afterwards, base isolation systems are reported to demonstrate their effectiveness for the earthquake-resistant design of liquid storage tanks. Further, researches about the liquid-structure interaction are reviewed with description of simplified models and numerical analytical methods, some of which consider the elastic effect of tank walls. Moreover, the liquid sloshing phenomenon on the hydrodynamic behaviors of tanks is presented by various algorithms including grid-based and meshfree method. And then the impact of baffles in changing the dynamic characteristics of the liquid-structure system is raised, which shows the energy dissipation by the vortex motion of liquid. In addition, uplifting effect is given to enhance the understanding on the capacity of unanchored tanks and some assessment of their development. At last, the concluding remarks and the aspects of extended research in the field of liquid storage tanks under seismic loads are provided, emphasizing the thermal stress analysis, the replaceable system for base isolation, the liquid-solid interaction and dynamic responses with stochastic excitations.

• Proceedings of the KSR Conference
• /
• 2011.10a
• /
• pp.1143-1148
• /
• 2011

In this study, seismic structural reinforcement are carried out, based on the estimated seismic performance of underground box structures in urban railway, and displacement based design method was developed to enhance seismic performance of structures. New seismic reinforcement design method is proposed and compared with existing design methods. And presented an overview of the developed design methodology through a design example to verify the validity of that methods.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
• /
• 2008.04a
• /
• pp.65-70
• /
• 2008

The capacity spectrum method (CSM) is a deterministic seismic analysis approach wherein the expected seismic response of a structure is established as the intersection of the demand and capacity curves. Recently, there are a few studies about a probabilistic CSM where uncertainties in design factors such as material properties, loads, and ground motion are being considered. However, researches show that soil-structure interaction also affects the seismic responses of structures. Thus, their uncertainties should also be taken into account. Therefore, this paper presents a probabilistic approach of using the CSM for seismic analysis considering uncertainties in soil properties. For application, a reinforced concrete bridge column structure is employed as a test model. Considering the randomness of the various design parameters, the structure's probability of failure is obtained. Monte Carlo importance sampling is used as the tool to assess the structure's reliability when subjected to earthquakes. In this study, probabilistic CSM with and without consideration of soil uncertainties are compared and analyzed. Results show that the analysis considering soil structure interaction yields to a greater probability of failure, and thus can lead to a more conservative structural design.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.54 no.6
• /
• pp.2147-2155
• /
• 2022

Nuclear safety-related underground liquid storage tanks, such as those used to store fuel for emergency diesel generators, are critical components for safety of hundreds of existing nuclear power plants (NPP) worldwide. Since most of those NPP will continue to operate for decades, a beyond design base (BDB) seismic screening of safety-related underground tanks in those NPP is beneficial and essential to public safety. The analytical methodology for buried tank subjected to seismic effect, including a BDB seismic evaluation, needs to consider both soil-structure and fluid-structure interaction effects. Comprehensive analysis of such a soil-structure-fluid system is costly and time consuming, often subjected to availability of state-of-art finite element tools. Simple, but practically and reasonably accurate techniques for seismic evaluation of underground liquid storage tanks have not been established. In this study, a mechanics based solution is proposed for the evaluation of a cylindrical underground liquid storage tank using hand calculation methods. For validation, a practical example of two underground diesel fuel tanks in an existing nuclear power plant is presented and application of the proposed method is confirmed by using published results of the computer-aided System for Analysis of Soil Structural Interaction (SASSI). The proposed approach provides an easy to use tool for BDB seismic assessment prior to making decision of applying more costly technique by owner of the nuclear facility.