• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.1-16
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• 2018

The emergence of tall buildings in the late $19^{th}$ century was possible by using new materials and separating the role of structures and that of non-structural walls from the traditional load-bearing walls that acted as both. The role of structures is more important in tall buildings than in any other building type due to the "premium for height". Among the walls freed from their structural roles, façades are of conspicuous importance as building identifiers, significant definers of building aesthetics, and environmental mediators. This paper studies dynamic interrelationship between the evolution of tall building structural systems and façade design, beginning from the early tall buildings of skeletal structures with primitive curtainwalls to the recent supertall buildings of various tubular and outrigger structures with more advanced contemporary curtainwalls.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.75-91
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• 2009

It is known that retaining walls were severely damaged as well in the most recent earthquakes having occurred in the countries in the active seismic belts of the world. This damage can be ascribed to the calculation methods used for the designs of retaining walls in the event of their constructions and employment having been accurately carried out. Generally simplified pseudo-static methods are used in the analysis of retaining walls with analytical methods and soil-structure interaction are not considered. In view of these circumstances, in this article by taking soil interaction into consideration, linear and nonlinear behaviours of retaining walls are analyzed with the assistance of LUSAS which is one of the structural analysis programs. This investigations are carried out per LUSAS which employs the finite element method as to the Erzincan (1992) Earthquake North-South component and the obtained findings are compared with the ones obtained from the method suggested in Eurocode-8, which is still effective today, and Mononobe-Okabe method. Not only do the obtained results indicate the distribution and magnitude of soil pressures are depend on the filling soil but on the foundation soil as well and nonlinear effects should be considered in designs of these walls.

• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.43-50
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• 2016

The reinforced-concrete multi-story shear-wall structure, which can free a building from beams and columns to allow the planning of a vast room, has increasingly been used in Japan as a high-rise reinforced-concrete structure. Since this structural system concentrates the seismic force onto multi-story shear walls inside, the bending deformation of the walls may cause excessive deformation on the upper floors during an earthquake. However, it is possible to control the bending deformation to within a certain level by setting high-strength and rigid beams (outriggers) at the top of the multi-story shear walls; these outriggers restrain the bending behavior of the walls. Moreover, it is possible to achieve high energy dissipation by placing vibration control devices on the outriggers and thus restrain the bending behavior. This paper outlines the earthquake response analysis of a high-rise residential tower to demonstrate the effectiveness of the outrigger frame incorporating vibration control devices.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.59 no.2
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• pp.291-312
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• 2016

Seismic performance evaluation of shear wall is essential as it is the major lateral load resisting member of a structure. The ultimate load and ultimate drift of the shear wall are the two most important parameters which need to be assessed experimentally and verified analytically. This paper comprises the results of monotonic tests, quasi-static cyclic tests and shake-table tests carried out on a midrise shear wall. The shear wall considered for the study is 1:5 scaled model of the shear wall of the internal structure of a reactor building. The analytical simulation of these tests is carried out using micro and macro modeling of the shear wall. This paper mainly consists of modification in the hysteretic macro model, developed for RC structural walls by Lestuzzi and Badoux in 2003. This modification is made by considering the stiffness degradation effect observed from the tests carried out and this modified model is then used for nonlinear dynamic analysis of the shear wall. The outcome of the paper gives the variation of the capacity, the failure patterns and the performance levels of the shear walls in all three types of tests. The change in the stiffness and the damping of the wall due to increased damage and cracking when subjected to seismic excitation is also highlighted in the paper.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.361-377
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• 2012

Four Reinforced Concrete (RC) single span structural walls having various opening sizes and locations were constructed and tested under lateral reversed cyclic loading at the structural laboratory of Kyoto University. These specimens were scaled to 40% and represented the lower three stories of a six-storied RC building. The main purposes of the experimental tests were to evaluate the shear behavior and to identify the influence of opening ratios on the cracks distribution and shear strength of RC structural walls. The shear strength of the specimens was estimated by combining the shear strength of structural wall without openings and the reduction factor that takes into account the openings. Experimental and analytical results showed that the shear strength was different depending on the loading direction due to opening locations. A two-dimensional finite element analysis was carried out to simulate the performance of the tested specimens. The constructed finite elements model simulated the lateral load-drift angle relations quite well.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.73-84
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• 2012

This paper strongly addresses to the problem of the mechanical systems in which parameters are uncertain and bounded. Interval calculation is used to find sharp bounds of the structural parameters for infilled frame system modeled with finite element method. Infill walls are generally treated as non-structural elements considerably to improve the lateral stiffness, strength and ductility of the structure together with the frame elements. Because of their complex nature, they are often neglected in the analytical model of building structures. However, in seismic design, ignoring the effect of infill wall in a numerical model does not accurately simulate the physical behavior. In this context, there are still some uncertainties in mechanical and also geometrical properties in the analysis and design procedure of infill walls. Structural uncertainties can be studied with a finite element formulation to determine sharp bounds of the structural parameters such as wall thickness and Young's modulus. In order to accomplish this sharp solution as much as possible, interval finite element approach can be considered, too. The structural parameters can be considered as interval variables by using the interval number, thus the structural stiffness matrix may be divided into the product of two parts which correspond to the interval values and the deterministic value.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.15-26
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• 2010

The purpose of this study is to develop a precast concrete structural wall system that can assure reliable seismic performance. In previous studies, the connections of precast concrete structural walls have had some problems in their seismic performance. Therefore, this research proposes precast concrete structural walls which have an improved seismic performance. One is a hybrid precast concrete structural wall that is composed of a reinforced concrete component and a precast concrete component, and another is a precast concrete wall whose reinforcements have a partially reduced section and are partially unbonded from the surrounding concrete. To evaluate the seismic performance of the proposed precast concrete structural walls, the behavior of three specimens, including a reinforced concrete wall, were subjected to reversed cyclic combined flexure and shear. According to the test results, the proposed precast concrete structural walls have reliable seismic performance.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.61 no.3
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• pp.407-417
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• 2017

RC shear walls are considered one of the main lateral resisting members in buildings. In recent years, FRP has been widely utilized in order to strengthen and retrofit concrete structures. A number of experimental studies used CFRP sheets as an external bracing system for retrofitting of RC shear walls. It has been found that the common mode of failure is the debonding of the CFRP-concrete adhesive material. In this study, behavior of RC shear wall was investigated with three different micro models. The analysis included 2D model using plane stress element, 3D model using shell element and 3D model using solid element. To allow for the debonding mode of failure, the adhesive layer was modeled using cohesive surface-to-surface interaction model at 3D analysis model and node-to-node interaction method using Cartesian elastic-plastic connector element at 2D analysis model. The FE model results are validated comparing the experimental results in the literature. It is shown that the proposed FE model can predict the modes of failure due to debonding of CFRP and behavior of CFRP strengthened RC shear wall reasonably well. Additionally, using 2D plane stress model, many parameters on the behavior of the cohesive surfaces are investigated such as fracture energy, interfacial shear stress, partial bonding, proposed CFRP anchor location and using different bracing of CFRP strips. Using two anchors near end of each diagonal CFRP strips delay the end debonding and increase the ductility for RC shear walls.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.67 no.6
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• pp.579-585
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• 2018

Masonry walls are of a complex (anisotropic) structure in terms of their mechanical properties. The mechanical properties of the walls are affected by the properties of the materials used in wall construction, joint thickness and the type of masonry bond. The carried-out studies, particularly in the seismic zones, have revealed that the most of the conventional masonry walls were constructed without considering any engineering approach. Along with that, large-scale damages were detected on such structural elements after major earthquake(s), and such damages were commonly occurred at the brick-joint interfaces. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of joint thickness and also type of mortar on the mechanical behavior of the masonry walls. For this aim, the brick masonry walls were constructed through examination of both the literature and the conventional masonry walls. In the construction process, a single-type of brick was combined with two different types of mortar: cement mortar and hydraulic lime mortar. Three different joint thicknesses were used for each mortar type; thus, a total of six masonry walls were constructed in the laboratory. The mechanical properties of brick and mortars, and also of the constructed walls were determined. As a conclusion, it can be stated that the failure mechanism of the brick masonry walls differed due to the mechanical properties of the mortars. The use of bed joint thickness not less than 20 mm is recommended in construction of conventional masonry walls in order to maintain the act of brick in conjunction with mortar under load.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.205-214
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• 2010

Masonry structures have been used throughout the world for the construction of residential buildings. However, from a structural point of view, the masonry material is characterized by a very low tensile strength. Moreover, the bearing and shear capacity of masonry walls have been found to be vulnerable to earthquakes. In this study, to improve the seismic performance of masonry walls, hexagonal blocks were developed and six masonry walls made with hexagonal block were tested to failure under reversed cyclic lateral loading. This paper focuses on an experimental investigation of different types of wall with hexagonal blocks, i.e. walls with different hexagonal blocks and with different reinforcing bar arrangements, subjected to applied cyclic loads. The cracking, damage patterns and hysteretic feature were evaluated. Results from the hexagonal masonry wall were shown more damage reduction and less brittle failure in comparison to the existing rectangular masonry walls.