• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.37-55
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• 2013

An important issue in the design of soil-nailing systems, as long-term retaining walls, is to assess their stability during seismic events. As such, this study is aimed at simulating the dynamic behavior and failure pattern of nailed structures using two series of numerical analyses, namely dynamic time history and pseudo-static. These numerical simulations are performed using the Finite Difference Method (FDM). In order to consider the actual response of a soil-nailed structure, nonlinear soil behaviour, soil-structure interaction effects, bending resistance of structural elements and construction sequences have been considered in the analyses. The obtained results revealed the efficiency of both analysis methods in simulating the seismic failure mechanism. The predicted failure pattern consists of two sliding blocks enclosed by three slip surfaces, whereby the bottom nails act as anchors and the other nails hold a semi-rigid soil mass. Moreover, it was realized that an increase in the length of the lowest nails is the most effective method to improve seismic stability of soil-nailed structures. Therefore, it is recommended to first estimate the nails pattern for static condition with the minimum required static safety factor. Then, the required seismic stability can be obtained through an increase in the length of the lowest nails. Moreover, placement of additional long nails among lowest nails in existing nailed structures can be considered as a simple retrofitting technique in seismic prone areas.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.167-181
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• 2024

The soil-structure relative stiffness is a key factor affecting the seismic response of underground structures. It is of great significance to study the soil-structure relative stiffness for the soil-structure interaction and the seismic disaster reduction of subway stations. In this paper, the dynamic shear modulus ratio and damping ratio of an inhomogeneous soft soil site under different buried depths which were obtained by a one-dimensional equivalent linearization site response analysis were used as the input parameters in a 2D finite element model. A visco-elasto-plastic constitutive model based on the Mohr-Coulomb shear failure criterion combined with stiffness degradation was used to describe the plastic behavior of soil. The damage plasticity model was used to simulate the plastic behavior of concrete. The horizontal and vertical relative stiffness ratios of soil and structure were defined to study the influence of relative stiffness on the seismic response of subway stations in inhomogeneous soft soil. It is found that the compression damage to the middle columns of a subway station with a higher relative stiffness ratio is more serious while the tensile damage is slighter under the same earthquake motion. The relative stiffness has a significant influence on ground surface deformation, ground acceleration, and station structure deformation. However, the effect of the relative stiffness on the deformation of the bottom slab of the subway station is small. The research results can provide a reference for seismic fortification of subway stations in the soft soil area.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2009.09a
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• pp.1441-1446
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• 2009

Numerical analysis is a powerful method in evaluating the soil-pile-structure interaction under the dynamic loading, and this approach has been applied to the practical area due to the development of computer technology. Finite Difference Method, one of the most popular numerical methods, is sensitive to the shape and the number of mesh. However, the trial and error approach is conducted to obtain the accurate results and the reasonable simulation time because of the lack of researches about mesh size and the number. In this study, FLAC 3D v3.1 program(FDM) is used to simulate the dynamic pile model tests, and the numerical results are compared with the 1G shaking table tests results. With the different size and shape of mesh, the responses of pile behavior and the simulation time are estimated, and the optimum mesh sizes in dynamic analysis of single pile is studied.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.407-421
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• 2020

In-place analysis for offshore platforms is essentially required to make proper design for new structures and true assessment for existing structures, in addition to the structural integrity of platforms components under the maximum and minimum operating loads when subjected to the environmental conditions. In-place analysis have been executed to check that the structural member with all appurtenance's robustness have the capability to support the applied loads in either storm or operating conditions. A nonlinear finite element analysis is adopted for the platform structure above the seabed and pile-soil interaction to estimate the in-place behavior of a typical fixed offshore platform. The SACS software is utilized to calculate the dynamic characteristics of the platform model and the response of platform joints then the stresses at selected members, as well as their nodal displacements. The directions of environmental loads and water depth variations have significant effects in the results of the in-place analysis behavior. The most of bending moment responses of the piles are in the first fourth of pile penetration depth from pile head level. The axial deformations of piles in all load combinations cases of all piles are inversely proportional with penetration depth. The largest values of axial soil reaction are shown at the pile tips levels (the maximum penetration level). The most of lateral soil reactions resultant are in the first third of pile penetration depth from pile head level and approximately vanished after that penetration. The influence of the soil-structure interaction on the response of the jacket foundation predicts that the flexible foundation model is necessary to estimate the force responses demands of the offshore platform with a piled jacket-support structure well.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.34 no.8
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• pp.15-26
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• 2018

Recently, as the seismic performance based design methods have been introduced, dynamic numerical analyses need to be performed to evaluate the actual performance of structures under earthquakes. The verification of the numerical modeling is the most important for the performance based design. Therefore, 2-dimensional numerical analyses were performed to simulate the seismic behavior of a pile-supported structure, to provide the proper numerical modeling and to determine of input parameters. A dynamic centrifuge test of a pile group in dry loose sand was simulated to verify the applicability of the numerical model. The numerical modeling was carefully made to reflect the actual condition of the centrifuge test including dynamic soil properties, soil-pile interaction, boundary condition, the modeling of the group pile and structure and so on. The predicted behavior of the numerical analyses successfully simulated the acceleration variation in ground, the moment and displacement of the pile, and the displacement and acceleration of the structure. Therefore, the adopted numerical modeling and the input parameters can be used to evaluate the seismic performance of pile groups.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.523-538
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• 2017

A series of field vibration tests are conducted on the Runyang Suspension Bridge during both the construction and operational stages. The purpose of this study is devoted to the analysis of the dynamic characteristics of the suspension tower. After the tower was erected, an array of accelerometers was deployed to study the evolution of its modal parameters during the construction process. Dynamic tests were first performed under the freestanding tower condition and then under the tower-cable condition after the superstructure was installed. Based on the identified modal parameters, the effect of the pile-soil-structure interaction on dynamic characteristics of the suspension tower is investigated. Moreover, the stiffness of the pile foundation is successfully identified using a probabilistic finite model updating method. Furthermore, challenges of identifying the dynamic properties of the tower from the coupled responses of the tower-cable system are discussed in detail. It's found that compared with the identified results from the freestanding tower, the longitudinal and torsional natural frequencies of the tower in the tower-cable system have changed significantly, while the lateral mode frequencies change slightly. The identified modal results from measurements by the structural health monitoring system further confirmed that the vibrations of the bridge subsystems (i.e., the tower, the suspended deck and the main cable) are strongly coupled with one another.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.32 no.9
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• pp.51-62
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• 2016

Parametric studies for various site conditions by using 3d numerical model were carried out in order to estimate dynamic behavior of soil-pile-structure system in dry soil deposits. Proposed model was analyzed in time domain using FLAC3D which is commercial finite difference code to properly simulate nonlinear response of soil under strong earthquake. Mohr-Coulomb criterion was adopted as soil constitutive model. Soil nonlinearity was considered by adopting the hysteretic damping model, and an interface model which can simulate separation and slip between soil and pile was adopted. Simplified continuum modeling was used as boundary condition to reduce analysis time. Also, initial shear modulus and yield depth were appropriately determined for accurate simulation of system's nonlinear behavior. Parametric study was performed by varying weight of superstructure, pile length, pile head fixity, soil relative density with proposed numerical model. From the results of parametric study, it is identified that inertial force induced by superstructure is dominant on dynamic behavior of soil-pile-structure system and effect of kinematic force induced by soil movement was relatively small. Difference in dynamic behavior according to the pile length and pile head fixity was also numerically investigated.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 1998

In the dynamic soil-structure interaction(SSI) analysis, numerous uncertain parameters are involved. They include the uncertainties in the definition of input motions, modeling of soil-structure interaction systems. analysis techniques, etc. This paper presents the results of parametric studies of the seismic responses of a reactor containment structure built on the viscoelastic layered soil. Among the numerous parameter, this study concentrates on the effects of definition point of the input motion, embedment of structure to the base soil, thickness of the top soil layer, and rigidity of the base soil. The substructure method using frequency independent impedances is adopted. The method is based on the mode superposition method in time domain using the composite modal damping values of th SSI system computed from the ratio of dissipated energy to the strain energy for each model. From the study results, the sensitivity of each parameter on the earthquake responses has been suggested for the practical application of the substructure method of SSI analysis.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.275-304
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• 2015

The objective of this paper is to investigate the validity of transmitting boundaries in dynamic analysis of soil-structure interaction problems. As a case study, the proposed Baghdad metro line is considered. The information about the dimensions and the material properties of the concrete tunnel and surrounding soil were obtained from a previous study. A parametric study is carried out to investigate the effect of several parameters including the peak value of the horizontal component of earthquake displacement records and the frequency of the dynamic load. The computer program (Mod-MIXDYN) is used for the analysis. The numerical results are analyzed for three conditions; finite boundaries (traditional boundaries), infinite boundaries modelled by infinite elements (5-node mapped infinite element) presented by Selvadurai and Karpurapu, 1988), and infinite boundaries modelled by dashpot elements (viscous boundaries). It was found that the transmitting boundary absorbs most of the incident energy. The distinct reflections observed for the "fixed boundaries" disappear by using "transmitted boundaries". This is true for both cases of using viscous boundaries or mapped infinite elements. The type and location of the dynamic load represent two controlling factors in deciding the importance of using infinite boundaries. It was found that the results present significant differences when earthquake is applied as a base motion or a pressure load is applied at the surface ground. The peak value of the vertical displacement at nodes A, B, E and F (located at the tunnel's crown and side walls, and at the surface above the tunnel and at the surface 6.5 m away from tunnel's centre respectively) increases with the frequency of the surface pressure load for both cases 1 and 2 (traditional boundaries and mapped infinite elements respectively) while it decreases for case 3 (viscous boundaries). The modular ratio Ec/Es (modulus of elasticity of the concrete lining to that of the surrounding soil) has a considerable effect on the peak value of the horizontal displacement at node B (on the side wall of the tunnel lining) increase about (17.5) times, for the three cases (1, 2, and 3).

• Wind and Structures
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.625-639
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• 2015

Monopiles have been most widely used for supporting offshore wind turbines (OWTs) in shallow water areas. However, multi-member lattice-type structures such as jackets and tripods are also considered good alternatives to monopile foundations for relatively deep water areas with depth ranging from 25-50 m owing to their technical and economic feasibility. Moreover, jacket structures have been popular in the oil and gas industry for a long time. However, several unsolved technical issues still persist in the utilization of multi-member lattice-type supporting structures for OWTs; these problems include pile-soil-interaction (PSI) effects, realization of dynamically stable designs to avoid resonances, and quick and safe installation in remote areas. In this study, the effects of PSI on the dynamic properties of bottom-fixed OWTs, including monopile-, tripod- and jacket-supported OWTs, were investigated intensively. The tower and substructure were modeled using conventional beam elements with added mass, and pile foundations were modeled with beam and nonlinear spring elements. The effects of PSI on the dynamic properties of the structure were evaluated using Monte Carlo simulation considering the load amplitude, scouring depth, and the uncertainties in soil properties.