• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제30권2호
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• pp.91-98
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• 1998

Time history analysis is usually performed to characterize the nonlinear seismic behavior of a spent fuel storage rack(SFSR). In the past, the seismic analyses of the SFSR were performed with two-dimensional planar models, which could not account for torsional response and simultaneous multi-directional seismic input In this study, three-dimensional seismic analysis methodology is developed for the single SFSR using the ANSYS code. The 3D- Model can be used to determine the nonlinear behavior of the rack, i.e., sliding, uplifting, and impact evaluation between the fuel assembly and rack, and rack and the pool wall, This paper also reviews the 3-D modeling of the SFSR and the adequacy of the ANSYS for the seismic analysis. AS a result of the adquacy study, the method of ANSYS transient analysis with acceleration time history is suitable for the seismic analysis of highly nonlinear structure such as an SFSR but it isn't appropriate to use displacement time history of seismic input.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제20권2호
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• pp.399-412
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• 2016

This paper evaluates the seismic response of three dimensional steel space buildings using the spread plastic hinge approach. A numerical study was carried out in which a sample steel space building was selected for pushover analysis and incremental nonlinear dynamic time history analysis. For the nonlinear analysis, three earthquake acceleration records were selected to ensure compatibility with the design spectrum defined in the Turkish Earthquake Code. The interstorey drift, capacity curve, maximum responses and dynamic pushover curves of the building were obtained. The analysis results were compared and good correlation was obtained between the idealized dynamic analyses envelopes with and static pushover curves for the selected building. As a result to more accurately account response of steel buildings, dynamic pushover envelopes can be obtained and compared with static pushover curve of the building.

• Multiscale and Multiphysics Mechanics
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• 제1권2호
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• pp.143-156
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• 2016

Reinforced concrete (RC) structures require advanced analysis techniques for better estimation of their seismic responses, especially in the case of exhibiting complex three-dimensional coupling of torsional and flexural behaviors. This study focuses on validating a numerical approach for evaluating the seismic response of a three-dimensional unsymmetrical RC structure through the participation in the SMART 2013 international benchmark program. The benchmark program provides material properties, detailed drawings of the RC structure, and input ground motions for the seismic response evaluation. In this study, nonlinear constitutive models of concrete and rebar were formed and local tests were conducted to verify the constitutive models in finite element analysis. Elastic calibration of the finite element model of the SMART 2013 RC structure was performed by comparing numerical and experimental results in modal and linear time history analyses. Using the calibrated model, nonlinear earthquake analysis and seismic fragility analysis were performed to estimate the behavior and vulnerability of the RC structure with various ground motions.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• 제20권1호
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• pp.97-107
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• 2021

A comprehensive study on seismic performance of wood frame building in hilly regions is presented. Specifically, seismic fragility assessment of a typical wood frame building at various locations of the northeast region of India are demonstrated. A three-dimensional simplified model of the wood frame building is developed with due consideration to nonlinear behaviour of shear walls under lateral loads. In doing so, a trilinear model having improved capability to capture the force-deformation behaviour of shear walls including the strength degradation at higher deformations is proposed. The improved capability of the proposed model to capture the force-deformation behaviour of shear wall is validated by comparing with the existing experimental results. The structural demand values are obtained from nonlinear time history analysis (NLTHA) of the three-dimensional wood frame model considering the effect of uncertainty due to record to record variation of ground motions and structural parameters as well. The ground motion bins necessary for NLTHA are prepared based on the identified hazard level from probabilistic seismic hazard analysis of the considered locations. The maximum likelihood estimates of the lognormal fragility parameters are obtained from the observed failure cases and the seismic fragilities corresponding to different locations are estimated accordingly. The results of the numerical study show that the wood frame constructions commonly found in the region are likely to suffer minor cracking or damage in the shear walls under the earthquake occurrence corresponding to the estimated seismic hazard level; however, poses negligible risk against complete collapse of such structures.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• 제23권1호
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• pp.101-113
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• 2022

A new type of fabricated subway station construction technology can effectively solve these problems. For a new type of metro structure form, it is necessary to clarify its mechanical properties, especially the seismic performance. A soil-structure elastoplastic finite element model is established to perform three-dimensional nonlinear dynamic time-history analysis based on the first fabricated station structure-Yuanjiadian station of Changchun Metro Line 2, China. Firstly, the nonlinear seismic response characteristics of the fabricated and cast-in-place subway stations under different seismic wave excitations are compared and analyzed. Then, a comprehensive analysis of several important parameters that may affect the seismic response of fabricated subway stations is given. The results show that the maximum plastic strain, the interlayer deformation, and the internal force of fabricated station structures are smaller than that of cast-in-place structure, which indicates that the fabricated station structure has good deformation coordination capability and mechanical properties. The seismic responses of fabricated stations were mainly affected by the soil-structure stiffness ratio, the soil inertia effect, and earthquake load conditions rarely mentioned in cast-in-place stations. The critical parameters have little effect on the interlayer deformation but significantly affect the joints' opening distance and contact stress, which can be used as the evaluation index of the seismic performance of fabricated station structures. The presented results can better understand the seismic responses and guide the seismic design of the fabricated station.

• Computers and Concrete
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• 제16권5호
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• pp.723-740
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• 2015

In this study, the seismic performance of skewed highway bridges has been assessed by using fragility function methodology. Incremental Dynamic Analysis (IDA) has been used to prepare complete information about the different damage states of a 30 degree skewed highway bridge. A three dimensional model of a skewed highway bridge is presented and incremental dynamic analysis has been applied. The details of the full nonlinear procedures have also been presented. Different spectral intensity measures are studied and the effects of the period on the fragility curves are shown in different figures. The efficiency, practicality and proficiency of these different spectral intensity measures are compared. A suite of 20 earthquake ground motions are considered for nonlinear time history analysis. It has been shown that, considering different intensity measures (IM) leads us to overestimate or low estimate the damage probability which has been discussed completely.

• International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials
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• 제10권1호
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• pp.99-112
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• 2016

During earthquake, reinforced concrete walls show complicated post-yield behavior varying with shear span-to-depth ratio, re-bar detail, and loading condition. In the present study, a macro-model for the nonlinear analysis of multi-story wall structures was developed. To conveniently describe the coupled flexure-compression and shear responses, a reinforced concrete wall was idealized with longitudinal and diagonal uniaxial elements. Simplified cyclic material models were used to describe the cyclic behavior of concrete and re-bars. For verification, the proposed method was applied to various existing test specimens of isolated and coupled walls. The results showed that the predictions agreed well with the test results including the load-carrying capacity, deformation capacity, and failure mode. Further the proposed model was applied to an existing wall structure tested on a shaking table. Three-dimensional nonlinear time history analyses using the proposed model were performed for the test specimen. The time history responses of the proposed method agreed with the test results including the lateral displacements and base shear.

• Computational Structural Engineering : An International Journal
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• 제1권1호
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• pp.1-9
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• 2001

Collapse behavior of Mission-Gothic Undercrossing under Northridge earthquake is studied by performing nonlinear time-history analysis and three-dimensional nonlinear finite element method for flared columns. Bridge structural model is characterized as three-dimensional with consideration of columns, superstructures, and abutment conditions. Three components of ground motion, corresponding to bridge's longitudinal, transverse, and vertical direction and their combinations are used to investigate bridge collapse. Studies indicate that bridge collapse is dominantly caused by transverse ground motion and the consideration of three-dimensional ground motion leads to a more accurate assessment. Failure mechanism of flared columns is analyzed applying nonlinear finite element method. Reduction of column capacity is observed due to orientation of flare. Further investigation demonstrates that the effects of flare play an important role in predicting of bridge failure mechanism. Suggestions are offered to improve the performance of bridges during severe earthquake.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제53권8호
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• pp.2696-2707
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• 2021

The purpose of this study is to investigate the efficiency of various structural modeling schemes for evaluating seismic performances and fragility of the reactor containment building (RCB) structure in the advanced power reactor 1400 (APR1400) nuclear power plant (NPP). Four structural modeling schemes, i.e. lumped-mass stick model (LMSM), solid-based finite element model (Solid FEM), multi-layer shell model (MLSM), and beam-truss model (BTM), are developed to simulate the seismic behaviors of the containment structure. A full three-dimensional finite element model (full 3D FEM) is additionally constructed to verify the previous numerical models. A set of input ground motions with response spectra matching to the US NRC 1.60 design spectrum is generated to perform linear and nonlinear time-history analyses. Floor response spectra (FRS) and floor displacements are obtained at the different elevations of the structure since they are critical outputs for evaluating the seismic vulnerability of RCB and secondary components. The results show that the difference in seismic responses between linear and nonlinear analyses gets larger as an earthquake intensity increases. It is observed that the linear analysis underestimates floor displacements while it overestimates floor accelerations. Moreover, a systematic assessment of the capability and efficiency of each structural model is presented thoroughly. MLSM can be an alternative approach to a full 3D FEM, which is complicated in modeling and extremely time-consuming in dynamic analyses. Specifically, BTM is recommended as the optimal model for evaluating the nonlinear seismic performance of NPP structures. Thereafter, linear and nonlinear BTM are employed in a series of time-history analyses to develop fragility curves of RCB for different damage states. It is shown that the linear analysis underestimates the probability of damage of RCB at a given earthquake intensity when compared to the nonlinear analysis. The nonlinear analysis approach is highly suggested for assessing the vulnerability of NPP structures.

• International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials
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• 제9권1호
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• pp.89-118
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• 2015

The geometric nonlinearity of off-diagonal bracing system (ODBS) could be a complementary system to covering and extending the nonlinearity of reinforced concrete material. Finite element modeling is performed for flexural frame, x-braced frame and the ODBS braced frame system at the initial phase. Then the different models are investigated along various analyses. According to the experimental results of flexural and x-braced frame, the verification is done. Analytical assessments are performed in according to three dimensional finite element modeling. Nonlinear static analysis is considered to obtain performance level and seismic behaviour, and then the response modification factors calculated from each model's pushover curve. In the next phase, the evaluation of cracks observed in the finite element models, especially for RC members of all three systems is performed. The finite element assessment is performed on engendered cracks in ODBS braced frame for various time steps. The nonlinear dynamic time history analysis accomplished in different stories models for three records of Elcentro, Naghan and Tabas earthquake accelerograms. Dynamic analysis is performed after scaling accelerogram on each type of flexural frame, x-braced frame and ODBS braced frame one by one. The base-point on RC frame is considered to investigate proportional displacement under each record. Hysteresis curves are assessed along continuing this study. The equivalent viscous damping for ODBS system is estimated in according to references. Results in each section show the ODBS system has an acceptable seismic behaviour and their conclusions have been converged when the ODBS system is utilized in reinforced concrete frame.