• Computers and Concrete
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• 제14권4호
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• pp.405-417
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• 2014

The poor seismic performance of reinforced concrete buildings during the latest earthquakes has become a serious issue in the building industry in Turkey. This case, designing new buildings without structural irregularities against earthquake loads reveals to be quite significant. This study mainly is focused on the effects of different torsional irregularities on construction costs and earthquakes performance of reinforced concrete buildings. In that respect, structural torsional irregularities are investigated based on the Turkish Earthquake Code. The study consists of major eight main parametric models. In this models consist of totally 49 models together with the variations in the number of storey. With this purpose, the earthquake performances and construction costs (especially steel quantities) of reinforced concrete buildings which having different structural torsional irregularities were obtained with the help of Sta4-CAD program. Each model has been analyzed by both the methods of equivalent earthquake loading and dynamic analysis. The obtained results reveal that the model-1 which has lower torsional irregularity coefficient shows the best earthquake performance owing to its regular plan geometry. Also, economical comparisons on costs of the torsional irregularity are performed, and results-recommendations are given.

• Computers and Concrete
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• 제13권2호
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• pp.271-290
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• 2014

In this study, structural irregularities in plan, which has a considerable effect on earthquake behavior of buildings, have been investigated in detail based on Turkish Earthquake Code 2007. The study consists of six main parametric models and a total of 144 sub-models that are grouped based on RC structural systems such as frame, frame + rigid core, frame with shear wall, and frame with shear wall + rigid core. All models are designed to have both symmetrical plan geometry and regular rigidity distribution. Changes in the earthquake behavior of buildings were evaluated according to the number of storeys, number of axes and the configuration of structural elements. Many findings are obtained and assessed as a result of the analysis for each structural irregularity. The study shows that structural irregularities can be observed in completely symmetric buildings in terms of plan geometry and rigidity distribution.

• Computers and Concrete
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• 제9권6호
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• pp.439-455
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• 2012

The interaction of plan geometry and structural configuration, a determinative factor in the earthquake behavior of buildings, has become a serious issue in the building industry in Turkey due to the poor seismic performance of R/C buildings during the latest earthquake. Consequently, designing new buildings without structural irregularities against earthquake loads is proving to be more significant. This study focuses on the effects of plan geometries on earthquake performances of buildings. In that respect, structural irregularities in the plan are investigated in detail based on the Turkish Earthquake Code (TEC 2007). The study is based on five main parametric models and a total of 40 sub-models that are grouped according to their plan geometries with excessive projections such as L-shaped, H-shaped, T-shaped and U-shaped models. In addition to these, a square model without any projections is also generated. All models are designed to have the same storey gross area but with different number of storeys. Changes in the earthquake behavior of buildings were evaluated according to the number of storeys, the projection ratios and the symmetry conditions of each model. The analysis of each structural irregularity resulted in many findings, which were then assessed. The study demonstrates that the square model delivers the best earthquake performance owing to its regular plan geometry.

• 한국광학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국광학회 2004년도 제15회 정기총회 및 동계학술발표회
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• pp.368-369
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• 2004

Birefringence due to structural irregularities in photonic crystal fiber is numerically analyzed. The statistical correlations between the birefringence and the degree of the irregularities are presented, and their behaviors are explained using a perturbation theory.

• Biomaterials and Biomechanics in Bioengineering
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• 제3권1호
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• pp.1-14
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• 2016

Well-ordered porous materials are very promising in orthopedics since they allow tailoring the mechanical properties. Finite element (FE) analysis is commonly used to evaluate the mechanical behavior of well-ordered porous materials. However, FE results generally differ importantly from experimental data. In the present article, three types of manufacturing irregularities were characterized on an additive manufactured porous titanium sample having a simple cubic unit-cell: strut diameter variation, strut inclination and fractured struts. These were included in a beam FE model. Results were compared with experimental data in terms of the apparent elastic modulus (Eap) and apparent yield strength (SY,ap). The combination of manufacturing irregularities that yielded the closest results to experimental data was determined. The idealized FE model resulted in an Eap one order of magnitude larger than experimental data and a SY,ap almost twice the experimental values. The strut inclination and fractured struts showed the strongest effects on Eap and SY,ap, respectively. Combining the three manufacturing irregularities produced the closest results to experimental data. The model also performed well when applied to samples having different structural dimensions. We recommend including the three proposed manufacturing irregularities in the FE models to predict the mechanical behavior of such porous structures.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제62권2호
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• pp.179-196
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• 2017

The paper focuses on dynamic analyses of a series of simply-supported symmetric composite steel-concrete bridges loaded by an ICE-3 train moving at high speeds up to 300 km/h. The series includes five bridges with span lengths ranging from 15 m to 27 m, with repeatable geometry of the superstructures. The objects, designed according to Polish standards valid from 1980s to 2010, are modelled on the bridges serviced on the Central Main Line in Poland since 1980s. The advanced, two-dimensional, physically nonlinear model of the bridge-track structure-high-speed train system takes into account unilateral nonlinear wheel-rail contact according to Hertz's theory and random vertical track irregularities equal for both rails. The analyses are focused on the influence of random track irregularities on dynamic response of composite steel-concrete bridges loaded by an ICE-3 train. It has been pointed out that certain restrictions on the train speed and on vertical track irregularities should be imposed.

• 한국철도학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국철도학회 2011년도 정기총회 및 추계학술대회 논문집
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• pp.275-280
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• 2011

Due to high-speed of trains, the track deformation increases rapidly and may lead to track irregularities causing the track stability problem. To secure the track stability, the continual inspection on track irregularities is required. The paper presents a methodology for identifying track irregularity using the NARX neural network considering non-linearity in the train structural system. A simulation study has been carried out to examine the proposed method. Acceleration time history data measured at a bogie were re-sampled to every 0.25m track irregularity. In the simulation study, two sets of measured data were simulated. The second data set was obtained by a train with 10% more mass than the one for the first data set. The first set of simulated data was used to train the series-parallel mode of NARX neural network. Then, the track irregularities at the second time period are identified by using the measured acceleration data. The closeness of the identified track irregularity to the actual one is evaluated by PSD and RMSE.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제47권6호
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• pp.791-818
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• 2013

The seismic performance of reinforced concrete (RC) frame structures with irregularities leading to soft first floor is studied using capacity assessment procedures. The soft first story effect is investigated for the cases: (i) slab-column connections without beams at the first floor, (ii) tall first story height and (iii) pilotis type building (open ground story). The effects of the first floor irregularity on the RC frame structure performance stages at global and local level (limit states) are investigated. Assessment based on the Capacity Spectrum Method (ATC-40) and on the Coefficient Method (FEMA 356) is also examined. Results in terms of failure modes, capacity curves, interstory drifts, ductility requirements and infills behaviour are presented. From the results it can be deduced that the global capacity of the structures is decreased due to the considered first floor morphology irregularities in comparison to the capacities of the regular structure. An increase of the demands for interstory drift is observed at the first floor level due to the considered irregularities while the open ground floor structure (pilotis type) led to even higher values of interstory drift demands at the first story. In the cases of tall first story and slab-column connections without beams soft-story mechanisms have also been observed at the first floor. Rotational criteria (EC8-part3) showed that the structure with slab-column connections without beams exhibited the most critical response.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제63권5호
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• pp.659-667
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• 2017

Rail support failure is inevitably subjected to track geometric deformations. Due to the randomness and evolvements of track irregularities, it is naturally a hard work to grasp the trajectories of dynamic responses of railway systems. This work studies the influence of rail fastener failure on dynamic behaviours of wheel/rail interactions and the railway tracks by jointly considering the effects of track random irregularities. The failure of rail fastener is simulated by setting the stiffness and damping of rail fasteners to be zeroes in the compiled vehicle-track coupled model. While track random irregularities will be transformed from the PSD functions using a developed probabilistic method. The novelty of this work lays on providing a method to completely reveal the possible responses of railway systems under jointly excitation of track random irregularities and rail support failure. The numerical results show that rail fastener failure has a great influence on both the wheel/rail interactions and the track vibrations if the number of rail fastener failure is over three. Besides, the full views of time-dependent amplitudes and probabilities of dynamic indices can be clearly presented against different failing status.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• 제20권3호
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• pp.279-293
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• 2021

Most of the existing seismic codes for RC buildings consider only a scenario earthquake for analysis, often characterized by the response spectrum at the specified location. However, any real earthquake event often involves occurrences of multiple earthquakes within a few hours or days, possessing similar or even higher energy than the first earthquake. This critically impairs the rehabilitation measures thereby resulting in the accumulation of structural damages for subsequent earthquakes after the first earthquake. Also, the existing seismic provisions account for the non-linear response of an RC building frame implicitly by specifying a constant response modification factor (R) in a linear elastic design. However, the 'R' specified does not address the changes in structural configurations of RC moment-resisting frames (RC MRFs) viz., building height, number of bays present, bay width, irregularities arising out of mass and stiffness changes, etc. resulting in changed dynamic characteristics of the structural system. Hence, there is an imperative need to assess the seismic performance under sequential earthquake ground motions, considering the adequacy of code-specified 'R' in the representation of dynamic characteristics of RC buildings. Therefore, the present research is focused on the evaluation of the non-linear response of medium-rise 3D RC MRFs with and without vertical irregularities under bi-directional sequential earthquake ground motions using non-linear dynamic analysis. It is evident from the results that collapse probability increases, and 'R' reduces significantly for various RC MRFs subjected to sequential earthquakes, pronouncing the vulnerability and inadequacy of estimation of design base shear by code-specified 'R' under sequential earthquakes.