Recently two seismic cloaking methods of earthquake engineering have been suggested. One is the seismic wave deflection method that makes the seismic wave bend away and the other is the shadow zone method that makes an area that seismic waves cannot pass through. It is called as seismic cloaking. The fundamental principles of the seismic cloaking by variable refractive index were explained. A two-dimensional cylindrical model which was composed of 40 layers of different density and modulus was tested by numerical simulation. The center region of the model to be protected is called ‘cloaked area’ and the outer region of it to deflect the incoming wave is called ‘cloaking area’ or ‘cloak area.’ As the incoming surface wave is approaching to the cloaking area, the refractive index is decreasing and, therefore, the velocity and impedance are increasing. Then, the wave bends away the cloaked area instead of passing it. Three cases are tested depending on the comparison between the seismic wavelength and the diameter of the cloaked region. The advantage and disadvantage of the method were compared with conventional earthquake engineering method. Some practical requirements for realization in fields were discussed.
The tsunami hazard analysis is performed for testing the application of probabilistic tsunami hazard analysis to nuclear power plant sites in the Korean Peninsula. Tsunami hazard analysis is based on the seismic hazard analysis. Probabilistic method is adopted for considering the uncertainties caused by insufficient information of tsunamigenic fault sources. Logic tree approach is used. Uljin nuclear power plant (NPP) site is selected for this study. The tsunamigenic fault sources in the western part of Japan (East Sea) are used for this study because those are well known fault sources in the East Sea and had several records of tsunami hazards. We have performed numerical simulations of tsunami propagation for those fault sources in the previous study. Therefore we use the wave parameters obtained from the previous study. We follow the method of probabilistic tsunami hazard analysis (PTHA) suggested by the atomic energy society of Japan (AESJ). Annual exceedance probabilities for wave height level are calculated for the site by using the information about the recurrence interval, the magnitude range, the wave parameters, the truncation of lognormal distribution of wave height, and the deviation based on the difference between simulation and record. Effects of each parameters on tsunami hazard are tested by the sensitivity analysis, which shows that the recurrence interval and the deviation dominantly affects the annual exceedance probability and the wave heigh level, respectively.
In this study, shaking table test has been carried out for the dual frame passive control system for seismic performance verification of the proposed system. The proposed system was separated into two independent frameworks that are strength resistant core and frame structure by connecting to the damper. Moreover, the seismic performance improvement of the proposed system has been verified by comparing and analyzing the experimental results of the proposed system with an existing core system. As a result of the shaking table test, acceleration and displacement responses of dual-frame vibration control system are decreased than those of the existing strength resistant type core system. In the case of the core system, while the damage was concentrated on the column of first floor, the damage of the dual system was dispersed in each layer. The damage also was concentrated on the damper, almost no damage occurs to the structural members. It has been emphasized that installed dampers in the proposed dual system reduce the input energy of whole structure by absorbing seismic input energy, which leads overall system damage to be reduced.
In the moment frame subjected to earthquake loads, beam-column joint is structurally important for ductile behavior of a system. ACI Committee 352 proposed guidelines for designing beam-column joint details. The guidelines, however, need to be updated because of the lack of data regarding several factors that may improve the performance of joints. The purpose of this study is to investigate the seismic performance of reinforced concrete exterior joints with high-strength materials and unbonded tendons. Three specimens with different joint shear demand-to-strength ratios were constructed and tested, where headed bars were used to anchor the beam bars into the joint. All specimens showed satisfactory seismic behavior including moment strength of 1.3 times the nominal moment, ductile performance (ductility factor = at least 2.4), and sufficiently large dissipated energy.
ASCE 4 requires that a hard stop be built around the seismic isolation system in nuclear power plants. In order to maintain the function of the isolation system, this hard stop is required to have clearance-to-stop, which should be no less than the 90th-percentile displacements for 150% Design Basis Earthquake (DBE) shaking. Huang et al. calculated clearance-to-stop by using a Latin Hypercube Sampling technique, without considering the rocking behavior of the isolated structure. This paper investigates the effects on estimation of clearance-to-stop due to 1) rocking behavior of the isolated structure and 2) sampling technique for considering the uncertainties of isolation system. This paper explains the simplified analysis model to consider the rocking behavior of the isolated structure, and the input earthquakes recorded at Diablo Canyon in the western United States. In order to more accurately approximate the distribution tail of the horizontal displacement in the isolated structure, a modified Latin Hypercube Sampling technique is proposed, and then this technique was applied to consider the uncertainty of the isolation system. Through the use of this technique, it was found that rocking behavior has no significant effect on horizontal displacement (and thus clearance-to-stop) of the isolated structure, and the modified Latin Hypercube Sampling technique more accurately approximates the distribution tail of the horizontal displacement than the existing Latin Hypercube Sampling technique.