Unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings are known to be highly vulnerable to seismic loadings. Although significant physical variation may exist for URM buildings that fall into a same structural category, a single set of fragility curves is typically used as a representation of the seismic vulnerability of the URM structures. This study investigates the effect of physical variation of URM structures on their seismic performance level. Variables that describe the physical variation of the structure are defined based on the inventory analysis. Seismic behavior of the structures is then monitored by changing the variables to investigate the effect of each variable. The analysis results show that among the variables considered the seismic performance of URM building depends on the variation of the width, the aspect ratio, and the number of story. The need for further research on the modeling of the connections between the walls and diaphragms and the torsional effect is also addressed.
Soil-foundation-structure interaction (SFSI) is one of the important issues in the seismic design for evaluating the exact behavior of the system. A seismic design of a structure can be more precise and economical, provided that the effect of SFSI is properly taken into account. In this study, a series of the dynamic centrifuge tests were performed to compare the seismic response of the single degree of freedom(SDOF) structure on the various types of the foundation. The shallow and pile foundations were made up of diverse mass and different conjunctive condition, respectively. The test specimen consisted of dry sand deposit, foundation, and SDOF structure in a centrifuge box. Several types of earthquake motions were sequentially applied to the test specimen from weak to strong intensity of them, which is known as a stage test. Results from the centrifuge tests showed that the seismic responses of the SDOF structure on the shallow foundation and disconnected pile foundation decreased by the foundation rocking. On the other hand, those on the connected pile foundation gradually increased with intensity of input motion. The allowable displacement of the foundation under the strong earthquake, the shallow and the disconnected pile foundation, have an advantage in dissipating the earthquake energy for the seismic design.
In this study, Stockbridge damper was adopted to reduce the reponses of structures under earthquakes. A finite element analysis software, SAP2000, was used to simulate the structural response and the control device under dynamic loads. A 3 story frame model and the proposed control device, Stockbridge damper, were designed under laboratory conditions. In this research, a pendulum type tuned mass damper (PTMD) was also adopted in order to compare with the Stockbridge damper. Harmonic loads were applied to verity the control performance of both control devices in each mode. In results, it has been found that the Stockbirdge damper decreases significantly the responses of the structure more than the PTMD under the harmonic loadings. The El Centro and Northridge earthquakes were also applied in order to investigate the performance by both control devices. The responses of the building demonstrate that the Stockbridge damper reduces the response of the building structure during earthquakes more effectively than the PTMD.
There are differences in seismic behavior between non-skewed bridges and skewed bridges due to in-plane rotations caused by pounding between the skewed deck and its abutments during strong earthquake. Many advances have been made in developing design codes and guidelines for dynamic analyses of non-skewed bridges. However, there remain significant uncertainties with regard to the structural response of skewed bridges caused by unusual seismic response characteristics. The purpose of this study is performing non-linear time history analysis of the bridges using abutment-soil interaction model considering pounding between the skewed deck and its abutments, and analyzing global seismic behavior characteristics of the skewed bridges to assess the possibility of unseating. Refined bridge model with abutment back fill, shear key and elastomeric bearing was developed using non-linear spring element. In order to evaluate the amplification of longitudinal and transverse displacement response, non-linear time history analysis was performed for single span bridges. Far-fault and near-fault ground motions were used as input ground motions. According to each parameter, seismic behavior of skewed bridges was evaluated.
The lead-rubber bearing (LRB) dissipates seismic energy through plastic deformation of lead core. Under large-displacement cyclic motion, the temperature increases in the lead core. The shear strength of a lead–rubber bearing is reduced due to the heating effect of the lead core. In this study, the seismic responses such as displacement increasing, shear strength and vertical stiffness degradations of LRB due to the heating effect are evaluated for design basis earthquake (DBE) and beyond design basis earthquake (150% DBE, 167% DBE, 200% DBE).
The Eradi Quake System (EQS) is a seismic isolation bearing system designed to minimize forces and displacements experienced by structures subjected to ground motion. The EQS dissipates seismic energy through friction of Poly Tetra Fluoro Ethylene (PTFE) disk pad. In general, a force-displacement relationship of EQS has post yield stiffness hardening during large inelastic displacement. In this study, seismic responses of seismically isolated nuclear power plant (NPP) subjected to design basis earthquake (DBE) and beyond design basis earthquakes (150% DBE and 167% DBE) are compared considering the post yield stiffness hardening effect of EQS. From the results, it can be observed that if the post-yield stiffness hardening effect of EQS is increased, the displacement response of EQS is reduced, and the acceleration and shear responses of containment structures of NPP is increased.
It is important to select proper ground motions for obtaining accurate results from response history analyses. The purpose of this study is to propose an accurate and efficient method that does not require excessive computation for selecting and scaling ground motions to match target response spectrum mean and variance. The proposed method is conceptually simple and straightforward, and it does not use a simulation algorithm that requires a sophisticated subroutine program. In this method, the desired number of ground motions are sequentially scaled and selected from a ground motion library. The proposed method gives the best selection results using Sum of Square Error and has the smallest value(=0.14). Also, The accuracy and consistency of the proposed method are verified by comparing the selection results of the proposed method with those of existing methods.
Currently, researches are being actively conducted in assessing seismic performance of nuclear facilities in USA and Europe. In particular, applying this technique of assessing seismic performance to design of isolation systems in nuclear power plants is being performed and then ASCE 4 Draft (2013) is being revised accordingly in the United States. In order to satisfy the probabilistic performance objectives described by seismic responses with certain confidence levels (ASCE 43, 2005), the probability distributions of these responses have to be defined. What is the minimum number of input ground-motions to obtain the probability distribution precise enough to represent the unknown actual distribution? Theoretical basis, for how to determine the minimum number of input ground-motions for given a logarithmic standard deviation to approximate the unknown actual median of the log-normal distribution within a range of error at a certain level of confidence, is introduced by Huang et al. (2008). However, the relationship between the level of confidence and the range of error is not stated in the previous study. In this paper, based on careful reviews on the previous work, the relationship between the level of confidence and the range of error is logically and explicitly stated. Furthermore, this relationship is also applied to derive the minimum number of input ground-motions in order to approximate the unknown actual logarithmic standard deviation. Several recommendations are made for determining the minimum number of input ground-motions in probabilistic assessment on seismic performance of facilities in nuclear power plants.