• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.53-63
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• 2007

Seismic design codes are developed mainly based on the observation of the behavior of structures in the high seismicity regions where structures may experience significant amount of inelastic deformations and major earthquakes may result in structural damages in a vast area. Therefore, seismic loads are reduced in current design codes for building structures using response modification factors which depend on the ductility capacity and overstrength of a structural system. However, structures in low seismicity regions, subjected to a minor earthquake, will behave almost elastically because of the larger overstrength of structures in low seismicity regions such as Korea. Structures in low seismicity regions may have longer periods since they are designed to smaller seismic loads and main target of design will be minor or moderate earthquakes occurring nearby. Ground accelerations recorded at stations near the epicenter may have somewhat different response spectra from those of distant station records. Therefore, it is necessary to verify if the seismic design methods based on high seismicity would he applicable to low seismicity regions. In this study, the adequacy of design spectra, period estimation and response modification factors are discussed for the seismic design in low seismicity regions. The response modification factors are verified based on the ductility and overstrength of building structures estimated from the farce-displacement relationship. For the same response modification factor, the ductility demand in low seismicity regions may be smaller than that of high seismicity regions because the overstrength of structures may be larger in low seismicity regions. The ductility demands in example structures designed to UBC97 for high, moderate and low seismicity regions were compared. Demands of plastic rotation in connections were much lower in low seismicity regions compared to those of high seismicity regions when the structures are designed with the same response modification factor. Therefore, in low seismicity regions, it would be not required to use connection details with large ductility capacity even for structures designed with a large response modification factor.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.99-109
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• 1998

Korea is located in either low of moderate seismicity continental region. It is realized that the design codes and underlying design concept of high seismicity region may not be a, pp.opriate to low and moderate seismicity regions. The aim of this paper is to search seismic design concept that is deemed to be a, pp.opriate to low and moderate seismicity regions. To this end, the seismicity of Korea will be introduce first and important aspects of seismic design in moderate seismicity region will be discussed. The two-level code system that is going to be adopted in the future seismic regulations of Korea will be introduced.

• Journal of Korean Association for Spatial Structures
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.109-119
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• 2011

To date, a smart base isolation system has been developed in high seismicity region such as Japan, USA etc. Smart base isolation systems developed for structures in high seismicity region cannot directly applied to structures in regions of low-to-moderate seismicity such as Korea. Therefore, problems that occur by applying the smart base isolation system developed for the structures in high seismicity region to the structures in regions of low-to-moderate seismicity have been investigated in this study. To this end, a spacial arch structure was used as an example structure and MR dampers and low damping elastomeric bearings were used to compose a smart base isolation system. Artificial earthquakes were used for ground motions in regions of high and low-to-moderate seismicity. Based on numerical simulation results, it has been known that the capacity of smart base isolation system for the regions of low-to-moderate seismicity should be carefully designed because the base isolation effects of the smart base isolation system for high seismicity region is deteriorated when it is applied to the structures in regions of low-to-moderate seismicity.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.45-65
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• 2018

Over the last three decades, Performance-based Earthquake Engineering (PBEE) has been mainly developed for high seismicity regions. Although information is abundant for PBEE throughout the world, the application of PBEE to lower-seismicity regions, such as those where the magnitude of the maximum considered earthquake (MCE) is less than 6.5, is not always straightforward because some portions of PBEE may not be appropriate for such regions due to geological differences between high- and low-seismicity regions. This paper presents a brief review of state-of-art PBEE methodologies and introduces the seismic hazard of lower-seismicity regions, including those of the Korean Peninsula, with their unique characteristics. With this seismic hazard, representative low-rise RC MRF structures and high-rise RC wall residential structures are evaluated using PBEE. Also, the range of the forces and deformations of the representative building structures under the design earthquake (DE) and the MCE of South Korea are presented. These reviews are used to propose some ideas to improve the practice of state-of-art PBEE in lower-seismicity regions.

• Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
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• 1998.10a
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• pp.75-84
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• 1998

Korea is located in either low or moderate seismicity continental region. It is realized that design codes and underlying design concepts of high seismicity region may not be appropriate to low or moderate seismicity region. In this paper, test results on the seismic response of structures without seismic detailing are reexamined and compared with numerical analysis results. The seismic design concept based on limited ductility is proposed as an alternative seismic design approach in moderate seismicity regions.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.11-20
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• 1978

This paper examines the seismicity of the offshore area of western Canada in the light of findings from a detailed study of an earthquake swarm which occurred in the area during November-December in 1971. The distribution of epicenters and focal mechanism solutions of a few main events suggest that the seismicity of the area may largely be interpreted in terms of plate interactions among the Pacific, Juan de Fuca, Explorer and North American plates. Differences between the patterns of seismicity along the transform fracture zones and at their junctions with the ridges were also observed.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.10 no.3 s.49
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• pp.57-64
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• 2006

Seismic design codes are mainly based on the research results for the inelastic response of structures in high seismicity regions. Since wind loads and gravity loads may govern the design in low seismicity regions in many cases, structures subjected to design seismic loads will have larger overstrength compared to those of high seismicity regions. Therefore, it is necessary to verify if the response modification factor based on high seismicity would be adequate for the design of structures in low seismicity regions. In this study, the adequacy of the response modification factor was verified based on the ductility and overstrength of building structures estimated from the result of nonlinear static analysis. Framed structures are designed for the seismic zones 1, 2A, 4 in UBC-97 representing the low, moderated and high seismicity regions and the overstrength factors and ductility demands of the example structures are investigated. When the same response modification factor was used in the design, inelastic response of structures in low seismicity regions turned out to be much smaller than that in high seismicity regions because of the larger overstrength of structures in low seismicity regions. Demands of plastic rotation in connections and ductility in members were much lower in the low seismicity regions compared to those of the high seismicity regions when the structures are designed with the same response modification factor.

• Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
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• 2002.09a
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• pp.292-299
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• 2002

It has been realized that the design codes and underlying design concept of high seismicity region may not be appropriate to low and moderate seismicity regions. The aim of this paper is to search seismic design strategies that are appropriate to moderate seismicity regions. The characteristics of seismic hazard in moderate seismicity regions are reviewed. The seismic responses of multi-span continuous bridges subjected to the ground shaking of moderate intensity are examined. The present code on seismic design of bridges is briefly reviewed. Based on these observations, design principles and strategies appropriate to the moderate seismicity regions are proposed for the multi-span continuous bridge

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.111-119
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• 1998

This paper reports a part of research work on earthquake resistance consideration in regions of moderate seismicity, which is being carried out in the Department of Civil Engineering, Hong Kong University of Science & Technology. The possible seismic hazard in Hong Kong, which is located in a region of moderate seismicity, is described. A case study is presented to compare the wind and earthquake effects on Hong Kong buildings and to assess whether seismic analysis and desing is necessary for building structure. Potential problems of reinforced concrete buildings under earthquake effects in regions of moderate seismicity are discussed.

• Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
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• 1999.10a
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• pp.359-366
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• 1999

This paper is a study on the seismic design and test of viscoelastic dampers in regions of moderate seismicity. First moderate seismic waves are generated with measured strong seismic data based on the theory of effective peak acceleration. Then their response spectrums are compared each other to estimate the required damping to attenuate the vibration. As relatively smaller damping is required in the regions of moderate seismicity than in the regions of strong seismicity proper viscoelastic dampers can be designed according to the estimated damping. Finally a test building model is designed and the viscoelastic dampers are installed for the experimental study under moderate and strong earthquakes, It is found that viscoelastic dampers with low damping capacity developed in this study are enough to reduce the building response in regions of moderate seismicity.