• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.46 no.5
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• pp.699-706
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• 2014

The probabilistic seismic performance of a standard Korean nuclear power plant (NPP) with an idealized isolation is investigated in the present work. A probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA) of the Wolsong site on the Korean peninsula is performed by considering peak ground acceleration (PGA) as an earthquake intensity measure. A procedure is reported on the categorization and selection of two sets of ground motions of the Tohoku earthquake, i.e. long-period and common as Set A and Set B respectively, for the nonlinear time history response analysis of the base-isolated NPP. Limit state values as multiples of the displacement responses of the NPP base isolation are considered for the fragility estimation. The seismic risk of the NPP is further assessed by incorporation of the rate of frequency exceedance and conditional failure probability curves. Furthermore, this framework attempts to show the unacceptable performance of the isolated NPP in terms of the probabilistic distribution and annual probability of limit states. The comparative results for long and common ground motions are discussed to contribute to the future safety of nuclear facilities against drastic events like Tohoku.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.13 no.8
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• pp.721-731
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• 2004

The dispersion of suspended particulates in the coastal complex terrain of mountain-inland basin (city)-sea, considering their recycling was investigated using three-dimensional non-hydrostatic numerical model and lagrangian particle model (or random walk model). Convective boundary layer under synoptic scale westerly wind is developed with a thickness of about I km over the ground in the west of the mountain, while a thickness of thermal internal boundary layer (TIBL) is only confined to less than 200m along the eastern slope of the mountain, below an easterly sea breeze circulation. At the mid of the eastern slop of the mountain, westerly wind confronts easterly sea breeze, which goes to the height of 1700 m above sea level and is finally eastward return flow toward the sea. At this time, particulates floated from the ground surface of the city to the top of TIBL go along the eastern slope of the mountain in the passage of sea breeze, being away the TIBL and reach near the top of the mountain. Then those particulates disperse eastward below the height of sea-breeze circulation and widely spread out over the coastal sea. Total suspended particulate concentration near the ground surface of the city is very low. On the other hand, nighttime radiative cooling produces a shallow nocturnal surface inversion layer (NSIL) of 200 m thickness over the inland surface, but relatively thin thickness less than 100m is found near the mountain surface. As synoptic scale westerly wind should be intensified under the association of mountain wind along the eastern slope of mountain to inland plain and further combine with land-breeze from inland plain toward sea, resulting in strong wind as internal gravity waves with a hydraulic jump motion bounding up to about 1km upper level in the atmosphere in the west of the city and becoming a eastward return flow. Simultaneously, wind near the eastern coastal side of the city was moderate. Since the downward strong wind penetrated into the city, the particulate matters floated near the top of the mountain in the day also moved down along the eastern slope of the mountain, reaching the. downtown and merging in the ground surface inside the NSIL with a maximum ground level concentration of total suspended particulates (TSP) at 0300 LST. Some of them were bounded up from the ground surface to the 1km upper level and the others were forward to the coastal sea surface, showing their dispersions from the coastal NSIL toward the propagation area of internal gravity waves. On the next day at 0600 LST and 0900 LST, the dispersed particulates into the coastal sea could return to the coastal inland area under the influence of sea breeze and the recycled particulates combine with emitted ones from the ground surface, resulting in relatively high TSP concentration. Later, they float again up to the thermal internal boundary layer, following sea breeze circulation.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.367-380
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• 2024

Investigations has shown that the correct estimation of the effective amplification period is as important as the amplification value itself. It gets more important in 2D basins. This study presents a quantitative coefficient for consideration of the nonlinearity effect in terms of amplification value and the shift in its period which is missing or ineffectively considered in the previous studies. To attain this goal, by the application of a time domain fully nonlinear method, the deviation of the more common equivalent linear results from the basin nonlinear behavior under strong ground motions is investigated quantitatively. Also, despite the increase in the damping ratio, the possibility of the increase in the amplification due to the increase in motion strength is shown. To make the results useful in engineering practice, by introducing nonlinearity ratio, the effect of the nonlinearity is quantitatively estimated for two soft and stiff clayey basins with three different depths under a set of motions scaled to two target spectrum. Results show that at the 100 m depth soft clayey basin, while the nonlinearity ratio shows a 35% deviation at the basin edge part under DD1 motion level, its effect moves to the central part with 20% effect under DD3 motion level. By the increase in depth to 150 m, the results show a decrease in the overall effect of the nonlinear behavior for both clay types. At this depth, the nonlinearity ratio gives a 30% and 17% difference on a limited distance from outcrop at the soft clayey basin under DD1 and DD3 motion levels, respectively. At the 30 m depth basins, the nonlinearity ratio shows up to 25% difference for different cases. The presented ratio would be introduced as nonlinearity coefficients for consideration of the nonlinearity effects in the codes. The presented quantitative margins will help the designer to have a better understanding of the amplification period change because of nonlinearity over 2D basin surface.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.53-63
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• 2011

Selection or generation of appropriate input ground motion is very important in performing a dynamic analysis. In Korea, it is a common practice to use recorded strong ground motions or artificial motions. The recorded motions show non-stationary characteristics, which is a distinct property of all earthquake motions, but have the problem of not matching the design response spectrum. The artificial motions match the design spectrum, but show stationary characteristics. This study generated ground motions that preserve the non-stationary characteristics of a real earthquake motion, but also matches the design spectrum. In the process, an impulse function-based algorithm that adjusts a given time series in time domain such that it matches the target response spectrum is used. Application of the algorithm showed that it can successfully adjust any recorded motions to match the target spectrum and also preserve the non-stationary characteristics. The modified motions are used to perform a series of nonlinear site response analyses. It is shown that the results using the adjusted motions result in more reliable estimates of ground vibration. It is thus recommended that the newly adjusted motions be used in practice instead of original recorded motions.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Hazard Mitigation
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.1-6
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• 2008

Most of seismic design code provisions provide the design response spectra for defining design earthquake ground motions. The design spectra in the code provisions generally come under the 5% of critical damping value, which corresponds to the responses of common structure under the design earthquake. Energy dissipation devices and seismic isolation systems became more popular and the design response spectra at higher damping levels are required. Damping coefficients can be effectively used in conversion of 5%-damped design spectra into other damping levels. These coefficients in the current seismic design code provisions are based on the strong ground motion records. Since the weak and moderate earthquake data have different characteristics from those of strong earthquake data, the application of these coefficients should be investigated in the weak and moderate earthquakes zones. In this study, damping coefficients based on the weak and moderate ground motions were developed and compared to those of current seismic design code provisions.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.211-220
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• 2017

Observations from past strong earthquakes revealed that near-fault ground motions could lead to the failure, or even collapse of electricity transmission towers which are vital components of an overhead electric power delivery system. For assessing the performance and robustness, a high-fidelity three-dimension finite element model of a long span transmission tower-line system is established with the consideration of geometric nonlinearity and material nonlinearity. In the numerical model, the Tian-Ma-Qu material model is utilized to capture the nonlinear behaviours of structural members, and the cumulative damage D is defined as an index to identify the failure of members. Consequently, incremental dynamic analyses (IDAs) are conducted to study the collapse fragility, damage positions, collapse margin ratio (CMR) and dynamic robustness of the transmission towers by using twenty near-fault ground motions selected from PEER. Based on the bending and shear deformation of structures, the collapse mechanism of electricity transmission towers subjected to Chi-Chi earthquake is investigated. This research can serve as a reference for the performance of large span transmission tower line system subjected to near-fault ground motions.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.380-392
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• 2002

The purpose of the present study is to evaluate the usage of microtremor in estimation of subsurface structure and ground response to strong ground motion. To accomplish the purpose, the current status of microtremor study are reviewed and microtremors recorded at several stations are analysed. First of all, the stability of microtremor is examined through the analysis of microtremors recorded for 80 seconds per hour during the time from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. for eight hours at night time. It is found that the shape of microtremor spectra of low frequency below 10Hz is approximately invariable with time and the spectra contain informations about subsurface structure. The subsurface structures estimated from the predominant frequency determined from the recorded microtremors are compared with the known ones from geophysical surveys at several stations in Kyungju. The comparison of structures shows rough agreements at most stations. Horizontal to vertical spectral ratio(HVSR) technique for microtremor has been proposed as an indirect method to determine ground response to strong ground motion. The HVSR for microtremors recorded in Kyungju is calculated and compared with theoretical transfer function calculated from the known structures. The comparison shows rough coincidence of the peak frequency of spectra between them.

• Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
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• 2001.09a
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• pp.36-43
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• 2001

In Korea, we are absolutely short of earthquake data in good quality from moderate and large earthquakes, which are needed fur the study of strong ground motion characteristics. This means that the best use of the available data is needed far the time being. In this respect, several methods are suggested in this paper, which can be applied in the process of data selection and analysis. First, it is shown that the calibration status of seismic stations can be easily checked by comparing the spectra from accelerometer and velocity sensor both of which are located at the same location. Secondly, it is recommended that S/N ratio in the frequency domain should be checked before discarding the data by only look of the data in time domain. Thirdly, the saturated earthquake data caused by ground motion level exceeding the detection limit of a seismograph are considered to see if such data can be used for spectrum analysis by performing numerical simulation. The result reveals that the saturated data can still be used within the dominant frequency range according to the levels of saturation. Finally, a technique to minimize the window effect that distorts the low frequency spectrum is suggested. This technique involves detrending in displacement domain once the displacement data are obtained by integration of low frequency components of the original data in time domain. Especially, the low frequency component can be separated by using discrete wavelet transform among many alternatives. All of these methods mentioned above may increase the available earthquake data and frequency range.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.349-360
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• 1998

Effects of uniform flow on a two-dimensional mesoscale horizontal convection were investigated by using the vorticity and thermodynamic equations. For thins purpose, We simulated properties of a thermal convection m a stably stratified Boussinesq flued caused by partial heating at the center of a lower boundary If we don't consider effects of the uniform flow, the convection takes the form of aidsymmetrlc with respect to the z-alds. But when uniform flow Is strong, velocity field and temperature field consist of a sin91e cell structure which spreads upstream side of the partial heating area. The flow pattern for strong uniform flows takes the form of positive temperatue near the ground and negative temperature perturbation soft over the partial heating area, and downward motion directly over the upwind portion of the partial heating area and upward motion on the downstream side. The downstream edge of the upstream cell Is shifted in the downstream direction with the Increase of uniform flow almost linearly.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.365-372
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• 2019

Post-earthquake crisis management is a key capability for a country to be able to recover after a major seismic event. Instrumental seismic data transmitted and processed in a very short time can contribute to better management of the emergency and can give insights on the earthquake's impact on a specific area. Romania is a country with a high seismic hazard, mostly due to the Vrancea intermediate-depth earthquakes. The elastic acceleration response spectrum of a seismic motion provides important information on the level of maximum acceleration the buildings were subjected to. Based on new data analysis and knowledge advancements, the acceleration elastic response spectrum for horizontal ground components recommended by the Romanian seismic codes has been evolving over the last six decades. This study aims to propose a framework for post-earthquake warning based on code spectrum exceedances. A comprehensive background analysis was undertaken using strong motion data from previous earthquakes corroborated with observational damage, to prove the method's applicability. Moreover, a case-study for two densely populated Romanian cities (Focsani and Bucharest) is presented, using data from a $5.5M_W$ earthquake (October 28, 2018) and considering the evolution of the three generations of code-based spectral levels for the two cities. Data recorded in free-field and in buildings were analyzed and has confirmed that no structural damage occurred within the two cities. For future strong seismic events, this tool can provide useful information on the effect of the earthquake on structures in the most exposed areas.