• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.25-35
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• 2023

Considering the non-linear behavior of structure and soil when evaluating a nuclear power plant's seismic safety under a beyond-design basis earthquake is essential. In order to obtain the nonlinear response of a nuclear power plant structure, a time-domain SSI analysis method that considers the nonlinearity of soil and structure and the nonlinear Soil-Structure Interaction (SSI) effect is necessary. The Boundary Reaction Method (BRM) is a time-domain SSI analysis method. The BRM can be applied effectively with a Perfectly Matched Layer (PML), which is an effective energy absorbing boundary condition. The BRM has a characteristic that the magnitude of the response in far-field soil increases as the boundary interface of the effective seismic load moves outward. In addition, the PML has poor absorption performance of low-frequency waves. For this reason, the accuracy of the low-frequency response may be degraded when analyzing the combination of the BRM and the PML. In this study, the accuracy of the analysis response was improved by adjusting the PML input parameters to improve this problem. The accuracy of the response was evaluated by using the analysis response using KIESSI-3D, a frequency domain SSI analysis program, as a reference solution. As a result of the analysis applying the optimal PML parameter, the average error rate of the acceleration response spectrum for 9 degrees of freedom of the structure was 3.40%, which was highly similar to the reference result. In addition, time-domain nonlinear SSI analysis was performed with the soil's nonlinearity to show this study's applicability. As a result of nonlinear SSI analysis, plastic deformation was concentrated in the soil around the foundation. The analysis results found that the analysis method combining BRM and PML can be effectively applied to the seismic response analysis of nuclear power plant structures.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.1-15
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• 2013

Pressure transducers are increasingly used within soil mass or at soil-structure interface for appraisal of stresses acting at point of installation. Calibration of pressure transducers provides a unique relationship between applied pressure and voltage or strain sensed by transducer during various loading conditions and is crucial for proper interpretation of results obtained from pressure transducers. In the present study an in-house calibration device is used to calibrate pressure transducers and the study is divided into two parts: 1) demonstration of developed calibration device for fluid and in-soil calibration of pressure transducers; 2) effect of soil layer thickness on the earth pressure cell (EPC) output. Results obtained from the present study revealed successful performance of the developed calibration device, and significant effect of sand layer thickness on the calibration results. The optimum sand layer thickness is obtained as 1.5 times the diameter of EPC.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2009.03a
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• pp.102-107
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• 2009

Recently, the use of barrette pile is remarkably increased specially for high-rise building and bridge foundations. However, on the contrary, very few studies have been made for analyzing barrette pile behavior considering interface behavior between pile and soils around. Therefore, in this paper, these effects are evaluated by using the 3-dimensional non-linear finite element method with the results of full-scale pile load test from the fields. In addition to that, the selection of proper stiffness modulus on the pile interface is discussed.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.295-312
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• 2017

Cast in situ and grouted concrete helical piles with 150-200 mm diameter half cylindrical ribs have become an economical and effective choice in Shanghai, China for uplift piles in deep soft soils. Though this type of pile has been successful used in practice, the reinforcing mechanism and the contribution of the ribs to the total resistance is not clear, and there is no clear guideline for the design of such piles. To study the inclusion of ribs to the contribution of shear resistance, the shear behaviour between silty sand and concrete slabs with parallel ribs at different spacing and angles were tested in a large direct shear box ($600mm{\times}400mm{\times}200mm$). The front panels of the shear box are detachable to observe the soil deformation after the test. The tests were modelled with three-dimensional finite element method in ABAQUS. It was found that, passive zones can be developed ahead of the ribs to form undulated failure surfaces. The shear resistance and failure mode are affected by the ratio of rib spacing to rib diameter. Based on the shape and continuity of the failure zones at the interface, the failure modes at the interface can be classified as "punching", "local" or "general" shear failure respectively. With the inclusion of the ribs, the pull out resistance can increase up to 17%. The optimum rib spacing to rib diameter ratio was found to be around 7 based on the observed experimental results and the numerical modelling.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 1999.03a
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• pp.349-356
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• 1999

In general, the term soft ground includes clayey soils, which have large compressibility and small shear resistance due to the external load. All process of consolidation in compressible soils can be explained in terms of a transfer of load from an incompressible pore-water to a compressible soil structure. Therefore, one of the most important subjects about the characteristics of the time-dependent consolidation of the clay foundation by the change of load may be the presumption of the final settlement caused by consolidation and the degree of consolidation according to the time. The problems of discontinuous layer interface are very important in the algorithm and programming for the analysis of multi-layered soils using a numerical analysis, finite difference method. Better results can be obtained by the Process for discontinuous layer interface, since it can help consolidation analysis to model the actual ground. The purpose of this paper Provides an efficient computer algorithm based on numerical analysis using finite difference method(F.D.M.) which account for multi-layered soils to determine the degree of consolidation and excess pore pressures relative to time and positions more realistically.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.437-450
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• 2005

In this study, a complete analysis of soil-structure interaction problems is presented which includes a modelling of the near surrounding of the building (near-field) and a special description of the wave propagation process in larger distances (far-field). In order to reduce the computational effort which can be very high for time domain analysis of wave propagation problems, a special approach based on similarity transformation of the infinite domain on the near-field/far-field interface is applied for the wave radiation of the far-field. The near-field is discretised with standard Finite Elements, which also allows to introduce non-linear material behaviour. In this paper, a new approach to calculate the involved convolution integrals is presented. This approximation in time leads to a dramatically reduced computational effort for long simulation times, while the accuracy of the method is not affected. Finally, some benchmark examples are presented, which are compared to a coupled Finite Element/Boundary Element approach. The results are in excellent agreement with those of the coupled Finite Element/Boundary Element procedure, while the accuracy is not reduced. Furthermore, the presented approach is easy to incorporate in any Finite Element code, so the practical relevance is high.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.8
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• pp.2974-2988
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• 2022

Implementation of component isolation in nuclear industry is challenging due to gaps in research and the lack of specific guidelines. In this study, parameters affecting component-level isolation of advanced reactor vessels are identified based on a representative numerical model with explicit consideration of nonlinear soil-structure interaction (SSI). The objective of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of, and to identify potential limitations of using conventional friction pendulum bearings to seismically isolate vessels. It is found that slender vessels or components are particularly vulnerable to rotational accelerations at the isolation interface, which are caused by rotation of the sub-structure and by excitation of higher modes in the horizontal direction of the seismically isolated system. Component isolation is found to be more effective for relatively stiffer vessels and at sites with stiff soil. Considering that conventional isolators are deficient in resisting axial tension, it is observed that the optimum location for supporting a component to achieve seismic isolation, is at a cross-sectional plane passing through the center of mass of the vessel. These findings are corroborated by numerous simulations of the response of seismically isolated reactor vessels at different nuclear power plant sites subject to a variety of ground motions.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.617-633
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• 2016

In this paper, the analysis of hyperbolic cooling tower on elastic subsoil exposed to unsymmetrical wind loading is presented. Modified Vlasov foundation model is used to determine the soil parameters as a function of vertical deformation profile within subsoil. The iterative parameter updating procedure involves the use of Open Application Programming Interface (OAPI) feature of SAP2000 to provide two way data flow during execution. A computing tool coded in MATLAB employing OAPI is used to perform the analysis of hyperbolic cooling tower with supporting columns over a hollow annular raft founded on elastic subsoil. The analysis of such complex soil-structure system is investigated under self-weight and unsymmetrical wind load. The response of the cooling tower on elastic subsoil is compared with that of a tower that its supporting raft foundation is treated as fixed at the base. The results show that the effect of subsoil on the behavior of cooling tower is considerable at the top and bottom of the wall as well as supporting columns and raft foundation. The application of a full-size cooling tower has demonstrated that the procedure is simple, fast and can easily be implemented in practice.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.32 no.5C
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• pp.199-210
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• 2012

The effects of tunnelling in weak weathered rock on the behaviour of a pre-existing single pile and pile groups ($3{\times}3$ and $5{\times}5$ pile groups) above a tunnel have been studied by carrying out three-dimensional (3D) elasto-plastic numerical analyses. Numerical modelling of such effects considers the response of the single pile and pile groups in terms of tunnelling-induced ground and pile settlement as well as changes of the shear transfer mechanism at the pile-soil interface due to tunnelling. Due to changes in the relative shear displacement between the pile and the soil at the pile-soil interface with tunnel advancement, the shear stresses and axial pile force distributions along the pile change drastically. Based on the computed results, upward shear stresses are induced up to about Z/L=0.775 from the pile top, while downward shear stresses are mobilised below Z/L=0.775, resulting in a reduction in the axial pile force distribution with depth equivalent to a net increase in the tensile force on the pile. A maximum tensile force of about $0.36P_a$ developed on the single pile solely due to tunnelling, where $P_a$ is the service axial pile loading prior to tunnelling. The degree of interface shear strength mobilisation at the pile-soil interface was found to be a key factor governing pile-soil-tunnelling interaction. Overall it has been found that the larger the number of piles, the greater is the effect of tunnelling on the piles in terms of pile settlement, while changes of the axial pile forces for the piles in the groups are smaller than for a single pile due to the shielding effect. The reduction of apparent allowable pile capacity due to tunnelling-induced pile head settlement was significant, in particular for piles inside the groups.

• 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.