• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• v.7 no.3
• /
• pp.365-384
• /
• 2014

The intensity of a ground motion can be measured by a number of parameters, some of which might exhibit robust correlations with the damage of structures subjected to that motion. In this study, 204 near-fault pulse-type records are selected and their seismic parameters are determined. Time history and damage analyses of a tested 3-storey reinforced concrete frame representing for low-rise reinforced concrete buildings subjected to those earthquake motions are performed after calibration and comparison with the available experimental results. The aim of this paper is to determine amongst several available seismic parameters, the ones that have strong correlations with the structural damage measured by a damage index and the maximum inter-story drift. The results show that Velocity Spectrum Intensity is the leading parameter demonstrating the best correlation, followed by Housner Intensity, Spectral Acceleration and Spectral Displacement. These seismic parameters are recommended as reliable parameters of near-fault pulse-type motions related to damage potential of low-rise reinforced concrete structures. The results also reaffirm that the conventional and widely used parameter of Peak Ground Acceleration does not exhibit a good correlation with the structural damage.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
• /
• 2008.11a
• /
• pp.93-96
• /
• 2008

The near fault ground motion(NFGM) is characterized by a single long period velocity pulse of large magnitude. NFGM's have been observed in recent strong earthquakes, Turkey Izmit (1999), Japan Kobe(1995), Northridge(1994), etc. These strong earthquakes have caused considerable damage to infrastructures because the epicenter was close to the urban area, called as NFGM. Extensive research for the far fault ground motion(FFGM) have been carried out in strong seismic region, but limited research have been done for NFGM in low or moderate seismic regions because of very few records. The purpose of this study is to investigate and analyze the effect of near-fault ground motions on RC bridge piers without lap-spliced longitudinal reinforcing steels. The seismic performance of two RC bridge piers under near-fault ground motions was investigated on the shake table. In addition, Two of four identical RC bridge piers were tested under a quasi-static load, and the others were under a pseudo-dynamic load. The respectively two RC bridge pier is comparatively subjected to Pseudo-dynamic loadings and Quasi-Static loadings. This paper indicated that more gives bigger ultimate strain of longitudinal steels to be fractured at bigger PGA motion.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
• /
• v.36 no.6
• /
• pp.371-380
• /
• 2023

To calculate seismic fragility, it is important to select input earthquake ground motions that can properly express the characteristics of the target site. This study analyzed the seismic fragility of a single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) model based on input earthquake ground motions in strong and low-to-moderate seismic regions. As a first step, a total of four sets of input earthquake ground motions were selected,: two sets measured near or far from overseas strong earthquake records and two sets exhibiting the characteristics of low-to-moderate earthquake regions in South Korea. A nonlinear SDOF model for three natural periods was applied to the target structure, and incremental dynamic analysis was used for fragility analysis. In addition, four damage states were defined, and seismic fragility results for each natural period of the nonlinear SDOF model for the four aforementioned input earthquake ground motion sets were obtained for each damage state.

• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• v.14 no.2
• /
• pp.129-142
• /
• 2018

The current paper introduces a new approach for development of damage index to obtain the maximum damage in the reinforced concrete frames caused by as-recorded single and consecutive earthquakes. To do so, two sets of strong ground motions are selected based on maximum and approximately maximum peak ground acceleration (PGA) from "PEER" and "USGS" centers. Consecutive earthquakes in the first and second groups, not only occurred in similar directions and same stations, but also their real time gaps between successive shocks are less than 10 minutes and 10 days, respectively. In the following, a suite of six concrete moment resisting frames, including 3, 5, 7, 10, 12 and 15 stories, are designed in OpenSees software and analyzed for more than 850 times under two groups of as-recorded strong ground motion records with/without seismic sequences phenomena. The idealized multilayer artificial neural networks, with the least value of Mean Square Error (MSE) and maximum value of regression (R) between outputs and targets were then employed to generate the empirical charts and several correction equations for design utilization. To investigate the effectiveness of the proposed damage index, calibration of the new approach to existing real data (the result of Park-Ang damage index 1985), were conducted. The obtained results show good precision of the developed ANNs-based model in predicting the maximum damage of regular reinforced concrete frames.

• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• v.13 no.1
• /
• pp.89-101
• /
• 2017

The focus of this paper is the study on the seismic performance of RC buildings with two different connections at the base level under near-fault earthquakes. It is well-known that the impulsive nature of the near-fault ground motions causes severe damages to framed buildings especially at base connections. In the scope of this study, two types of 3-dimensional RC Moment Frames with Fixed Support (MFFS) and Hinged Support (MFHS) containing 5 and 10 stories are assessed under an ensemble of 11 strong ground motions by implementing nonlinear response history analysis. The most vulnerable locations of MFFS, are the connections of corner columns to foundation especially under strong earthquakes. On the other hand, using beams at the base level as well as hinged base connections in MFHS buildings, prevents damages of corner columns and achieves more ductile behavior. Results denote that the MFHS including Base Level Beams (BLB) significantly shows better behavior compared with MFFS, particularly under pulse-type records. Additionally, the first story beams and also interior components undergo more actions. Role of the BLBs are similar to fuses decreasing the flexural moments of the corner columns. The BLBs can be constructed as replaceable members which provide the reparability of structures.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Hazard Mitigation
• /
• v.8 no.5
• /
• pp.1-6
• /
• 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
• /
• v.5 no.1
• /
• pp.49-65
• /
• 2013

This article presents the statistical characteristics of elastic floor acceleration spectra that represent the peak response demand of non-structural components attached to a nonlinear supporting frame. For this purpose, a set of stiff and flexible general moment resisting frames with periods of 0.3-3.6 sec. are analyzed using forty-nine near-field strong ground motion records. Peak accelerations are derived for each single degree of freedom non-structural component, supported by the above mentioned frames, through a direct-integration time-history analysis. These accelerations are obtained by Floor Acceleration Response Spectrum (FARS) method. They are statistically analyzed in the next step to achieve a better understanding of their height-wise distributions. The factors that affect FARS values are found in the relevant state of the art. Here, they are summarized to evaluate the amplification and/or reduction of FARS values especially when the supporting structures undergo inelastic behavior. The properties of FARS values are studied in three regions: long-period, fundamental-period and short-period. Maximum elastic acceleration response of non-structural component, mounted on inelastic frames, depends on the following factors: inelasticity intensity and modal periods of supporting structure; natural period, damping ratio and location of non-structural component. The FARS values, corresponded to the modal periods of supporting structure, are strongly reduced beyond elastic domain. However, they could be amplified in the transferring period domain between the mentioned modal periods. In the next step, the amplification and/or reduction of FARS values, caused by inelastic behavior of supporting structure, are calculated. A parameter called the response acceleration reduction factor ($R_{acc}$), has been previously used for far-field earthquakes. The feasibility of extending this parameter for near-field motions is focused here, suggested repeatedly in the relevant sources. The nonlinearity of supporting structure is included in ($R_{acc}$) for better estimation of maximum non-structural component absolute acceleration demand, which is ordinarily neglected in the seismic design provisions.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
• /
• v.15 no.5
• /
• pp.35-44
• /
• 2011

PGA (Peak Ground Acceleration) is the parameter which indicates the peak value for strong ground motion and is mainly due to the intensity of the seismic wave. Usually, seismic waves can consist of different characteristics and can have different effects on structures. Therefore, it may be undesirable that the effects of a seismic wave are evaluated only based on the PGA. In this study, time history analysis was executed with a single degree of freedom model for inelastic seismic analysis. The numerical model was assumed to be a perfect elasto-plastic model. Input accelerations were made with El Centro NS (1940), other earthquake records and artificial earthquakes. The displacement ductility demand and cumulative dissipated energy, which were calculated from other artificial earthquakes, were compared. As a result, different responses from other seismic waves which have the same PGA were identified. Therefore, an index which could reflect both seismic and structural characteristics is needed. The SI (Spectrum Intensity) scale which could be obtained from integration by parts of the velocity response spectrum could be an index reflecting the inelastic seismic response of structures. It can be possible to identify from correlation analysis among the SI scale, displacement ductility demand and cumulative dissipated energy that the SI scale is sufficient to be an index for the inelastic response of structures under seismic conditions.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
• /
• v.22 no.5
• /
• pp.667-673
• /
• 2010

The near fault ground motion (NFGM) is characterized by a single long period velocity pulse with large magnitude. NFGMs have been observed in recent strong earthquakes, Northridge (1994), Japan Kobe (1995), Turkey Izmit (1999), China Sichuan (2008), Haiti (2010) etc. These strong earthquakes have caused considerable damage to infrastructures because the epicenter was close to the urban area, called as NFGM. Extensive research for the far field ground motion (FFGM) have been carried out in strong seismic region, but limited research have been done for NFGM in low or moderate seismic regions because of very few records. The purpose of this research is to investigate and analyze the seismic response of reinforced concrete bridge piers subjected to near-fault ground motions. The seismic performance of six RC bridge piers depending on three confinement steel ratios and three superstructure mass was investigated on the shaking table. From these experimental results, it was confirmed that the reduction of seismic performance was observed for test specimens with lower confinement steel ratio or more deck weight. The displacement ductility of RC bridge piers in terms of the stiffness degradation is proposed based on test results the shaking table.

• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• v.8 no.6
• /
• pp.1363-1386
• /
• 2015

The October 23 2011 Van Earthquake is studied from an earthquake engineering point of view. Strong ground motion processing was performed to investigate features of the earthquake source, forward directivity effects during the rupture process as well as local site effects. Strong motion characteristics were investigated in terms of peak ground motion and spectral acceleration values. Directiviy effects were discussed in detail via elastic response spectra and wide band spectograms to see the high frequency energy distributions. Source parameters and slip distribution results of the earthquake which had been proposed by different researchers were summarized. Influence of the source parameters on structural response were shown by comparing elastic response spectra of Muradiye synthetic records which were performed by broadband strong motion simulations of the earthquake. It has been emphasized that characteristics of the earthquake rupture dynamics and their effects on structural design might be investigated from a multidisciplinary point of view. Seismotectonic calculations (e.g., slip pattern, rupture velocity) may be extended relating different engineering parameters (e.g., interstorey drifts, spectral accelerations) across different disciplines while using code based seismic design approaches. Current state of the art building codes still far from fully reflecting earthquake source related parameters into design rules. Some of those deficiencies and recent efforts to overcome these problems were also mentioned. Next generation ground motion prediction equations (GMPEs) may be incorporated with certain site categories for site effects. Likewise in the 2011 Van Earthquake, Reverse/Oblique earthquakes indicate that GMPEs need to be feasible to a wider range of magnitudes and distances in engineering practice. Due to the reverse faulting with large slip and dip angles, vertical displacements along with directivity and fault normal effects might significantly affect the engineering structures. Main reason of excessive damage in the town of Erciş can be attributed to these factors. Such effects should be considered in advance through the establishment of vertical design spectra and effects might be incorporated in the available GMPEs.