• 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.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.367-392
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• 2020

The specific characteristics of near-field earthquake records can lead to different dynamic responses of bridges compared to far-field records. However, the effect of near-field strong ground motion has often been neglected in the seismic performance assessment of the bridges. Furthermore, damage to horizontally curved multi-frame RC box-girder bridges in the past earthquakes has intensified the potential of seismic vulnerability of these structures due to their distinctive dynamic behavior. Based on the nonlinear time history analyses in OpenSEES, this article, assesses the effects of near-field versus far-field earthquakes on the seismic performance of horizontally curved multi-frame RC box-girder bridges by accounting the vertical component of the earthquake records. Analytical seismic fragility curves have been derived thru considering uncertainties in the earthquake records, material and geometric properties of bridges. The findings indicate that near-field effects reasonably increase the seismic vulnerability in this bridge sub-class. The results pave the way for future regional risk assessments regarding the importance of either including or excluding near-field effects on the seismic performance of horizontally curved bridges.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.1-11
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• 2007

This paper verifies the difference of the seismic behavior and seismic damage of the neighboring two reinforced concrete piers damaged by the 1995 Hyogoken Nanbu earthquake. The two piers were almost the same size, carrying slightly different dead load, and were provided with the same reinforcement arrangement except the amount of longitudinal reinforcement at the bottom portion of the piers. The pier with more reinforcement was completely collapsed due to this near field earthquake by shear failure at the longitudinal reinforcement cut-off while the other was only damaged at the bottom by flexure even though the longitudinal reinforcement cut-off was also existed at the mid height of the pier. According to the results of the pseudo dynamic test, the seismic damage was recognized to be greatly dependent on the ground motion characteristics even though the employed ground motions had the same peak acceleration. The severe damage was observed when the test employed the seismic wave that had strong influence to the longer period range compared to the initial natural period of the pier. On the other hand, based on the similar model experiment, the defect of gas-pressure welded splice of longitudinal reinforcement was revealed to save the piers against collapse due to the so-called fail-safe mechanism contrary to the intuitive opinion of some researchers. It was concluded that the primary cause of the collapse of the pier was the extremely strong intensity and peculiar characteristics of the earthquake motion according to both the site-specific and the structure-specific effects.

• Geotechnical Engineering
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.139-156
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• 1995

A set of field investigations was performed to estimate accurately the predominant periods of seismic 8round motions and the attenuation characteristics of the seismic ground vibration. Predominant periods of ground motions were estimated from the measurement of the continuous microseismic vibratins of certain periods, inherent in the ground and in the buildings, utilizing the high sensitivity digital velocity seismometer consisting of 3-component geophones and a digital seismograph. Estimated predominant periods of microseismic vibraion of the ground(measured on'the ground surface) and the building (measured on the second floor) were in the range of 0.18~0.235 sec. and 0.26~0.31 sec. respectively. The subsurface structure of the site ground was surveyed by the seismic refraction method utilizing the digital seismicwave probing system. The ground structure was found to be a two-layered system : an upper top soil layer of 7m in thickness with the P-wave velocity of 662m1sec and a lower layer of silty-clayey soils with the P -wave velocity of 2210m1 sec. The attenuation characteristics of the seismic ground vibrations were determined by the amplitude decay measurement method us;ng the Seisgun, which produces strong artificial seismic energy. Measured spatial attenuation coefficients of the ground vibration in vertical(Z) longitudinal(X), transverse(Y) direction were 0.1137, 0.0025, and 0.0290 respectively. Estimated Spartial QP's (inverse of the specific dissipation constant w.r.t. shear waved of X, Y, and Z directions were in the range of 5.913~7.575, 32.371~41.452, 2.794~3.579 re spectively. This indicates that aseimic design of the structures on the site should take stronger consideration regarding the earthquake resistance characteristics of the structures against longitudinal ground motion.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.237-262
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• 2015

In this study, we try to compare different intensity measures for evaluating nonlinear response of bridge structure. This paper presents seismic analytic fragility of a three-span concrete girder highway bridge. A complete detail of bridge modeling parameters and also its verification has been presented. Fragility function considers the relationship of intensities of the ground motion and probability of exceeding certain state of damage. Incremental dynamic analysis (IDA) has been subjected to the bridge from medium to strong ground motions. A suite of 20 earthquake ground motions with different range of PGAs are used in nonlinear dynamic analysis of the bridge. Complete sensitive analyses have been done on the response of bridge and also efficiency and practically of them are studied to obtain a proficient intensity measure for these types of structure by considering its sensitivity to the period of the bridge. Three dimensional finite element (FE) model of the bridge is developed and analyzed. The numerical results show that the bridge response is very sensitive to the earthquake ground motions when PGA and Sa (Ti, 5%) are used as intensity measure (IM) and also indicated that the failure probability of the bridge system is dominated by the bridge piers.

• Transactions on Control, Automation and Systems Engineering
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.341-346
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• 2002

When a construction company builds a high structure. many piles should be driven into the ground by a hammer whose weight is 7,000 kg in order to make the ground under the structure safe and strong. So. it is essential to determine whether a pile is penetrated into the ground enough to support the weight of the structure since ground characteristics at different locations are different each other. This paper proposes a visual measurement system for pile rebound and penetration movement including vibration using a high-speed line-scan camera and a specially designed mark to recognize two-dimensional motion parameters of the mark using only a line-scan camera. A mark stacking white and black right-angled triangles is used for the measurement, and movement information for vertical distance, horizontal distance and rotational angle is determined simultaneously. Especially- by adopting a line-scan CCD camera whose line rate is 20 ㎑. the measurement performance of dynamic characteristics of the pile at impact instant is improved dramatically.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.825-837
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• 2017

Due to the severe impacts of recent earthquakes, the use of seismic isolation is paramount for the safety of nuclear structures. The diversity observed in seismic events demands ongoing research to analyze the devastating attributes involved, and hence to enhance the sustainability of base-isolated nuclear power plants. This study reports the seismic performance of a seismically-isolated nuclear reactor containment building (NRCB) under strong short-period ground motions (SPGMs) and long-period ground motions (LPGMs). The United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission-based design response spectrum for the seismic design of nuclear power plants is stipulated as the reference spectrum for ground motion selection. Within the period range(s) of interest, the spectral matching of selected records with the target spectrum is ensured using the spectral-compatibility approach. NRC-compliant SPGMs and LPGMs from the mega-thrust Tohoku earthquake are used to obtain the structural response of the base-isolated NRCB. To account for the lack of earthquakes in low-to-moderate seismicity zones and the gap in the artificial synthesis of long-period records, wavelet-decomposition based autoregressive moving average modeling for artificial generation of real ground motions is performed. Based on analysis results from real and simulated SPGMs versus LPGMs, the performance of NRCBs is discussed with suggestions for future research and seismic provisions.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.146-154
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• 1994

A series of numerical calculations are performed in order to investigate the dispersion mechanism of toxic gaseous and solid pollutants in extremely short-term and short range. The calculations are carried out in an open space characterized by turbulent boundary layer. The simulation is made by the use of numerical model, in which a control-volume based finite difference method is used together with the SIMPLEC algorithm for the resolution of the pressure-velocity coupling problem. The Reynolds stresses are solved by two-equation, k-$\varepsilon$ model modified for buoyancy. The major parameters consider-ed in this study are temperature, velocity and Injection height of toxic gases, environmental conditions such as temperature and velocity of free stream air, and topographic factor. The results are presented and discussed in detail. The flow field is commonly characterized by the formation of a strong recirculation zone due to the upward motion of the hot toxic gas and ground shear stress. The driving force of the upward motion is explained by the effect of thermal buoyancy of hot gas and the difference of inlet velocity between toxic gas and free stream.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 1993.04a
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• pp.160-167
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• 1993

In earthquake structural engineering towards a better understanding of both the earthquake ground motion and structural response, the design of concrete structures to resist strong ground input motions is not a simple matter, and analytical models for such structures must be developed from a design perspective that accounts for the complexities of the structural responses. The primary objective earthquake structural engineering research is to ensure the safety of structures by understanding and improving a design menthodology. Ideally, this would require the development of an analytical model related to a design methodology that ensures a dectile performance. For the accurate assessment of the adequacy of analytically developed model, experiments conducted to study the inplane inelastic cyclic behavior of structures should verify the analytical approach. The paper is to demonstrate experimentally verified analytical method that provide the adequate degree of safety and confidience in the behavior of R.C. structural components and further attempts to extend the developed modeling technique for use by practicing structural engineers.

• 한국방재학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2008.02a
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• pp.597-600
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• 2008

Observed ground motions from the January 2007 magnitude 4.9 Odaesan earthquake and the events occurring in the Gyeongsang provinces are compared with the previously proposed ground attenuation relationships in the Korean Peninsula to select most appropriate one. The selected relationship from the ones for the Korean Peninsula has been compared with attenuation relationships available in HAZUS. Then, the attenuation relation for the Western United States proposed by Sadigh et al.(1997) for the Site Class B has been selected for this study. It has been used for the earthquake loss estimation of the Gyeongju area located in southeast Korea using the deterministic method in HAZUS with a scenario earthquake (M=6.7). Application of the improved methodology for loss estimation in Korea will help decision makers for planning disaster responses and hazard mitigation.