The stochastic method is applied to simulate strong ground motions at seismic stations of seven metropolises in South Korea, creating an earthquake scenario based on the causative fault of the 2016 Gyeongju earthquake. Input parameters are established according to what has been revealed so far for the causative fault of the Gyeongju earthquake, while the ratio of differences in response spectra between observed and simulated strong ground motions is assumed to be an adjustment factor. The calculations confirm the applicability and reproducibility of strong ground motion simulations based on the relatively small bias in response spectra between observed and simulated strong ground motions. Based on this result, strong ground motions by a scenario earthquake on the causative fault of the Gyeongju earthquake with moment magnitude 6.5 are simulated, assuming that the ratios of its fault length to width are 2:1, 3:1, and 4:1. The results are similar to those of the empirical Green’s function method. Although actual site response factors of seismic stations should be supplemented later, the simulated strong ground motions can be used as input data for developing ground motion prediction equations and input data for calculating the design response spectra of major facilities in South Korea.
Communication facilities play an essential role in disaster situations. Therefore, communication facilities need to have structural and functional safety during and after earthquakes. Recently, technology for partial seismic isolation has been increasing to protect data facilities and communication equipment installed in buildings from earthquakes. However, excessive displacement may occur in the seismic isolator during an earthquake due to the resonance between the building and the seismic isolator having long-period characteristics, which may cause overturning and separation of the installed equipment. In this study, analytical and experimental studies were conducted to evaluate the safety of seismic isolators installed in high-rise buildings. It was confirmed that damages might occur in buildings' seismic isolator, with resonance characteristics of less than 1 Hz.
Current seismic fragility functions for buildings were developed by defining damage state threshold based on story drift concerning foreign references and using the capacity spectrum method based on spectral displacement. In this study, insufficient details and dependence on the core location of piloti-type buildings were not reflected in the fragility function because it was developed before the Pohang earthquake. In order to develop an improved one for piloti-type buildings, several types of core were selected, damage state threshold was determined based on the capacity of structural members, and three-dimensional analyses were utilized. As a result, seismic fragility functions based on spectral acceleration were developed for various core locations and different shear strengths of the column stirrup. The fragility of piloti-type buildings significantly varied according to core location, an additional single wall, and whether the contribution of column stirrup was included or not. To estimate fragility more reasonably, it is necessary to prepare the parameters to reflect actual state well.
Nuclear power plants in Korea were designed and evaluated based on the NRC's Regulatory Guide 1.60, a design response spectrum for nuclear power plants. However, it can be seen that the seismic motion characteristics are different when analyzing the Gyeongju earthquake and the Pohang earthquake that has recently occurred in Korea. Compared to the design response spectrum, seismic motion characteristics in Korea have a larger spectral acceleration in the high-frequency region. Therefore, in the case of equipment with a high natural frequency installed in a nuclear power plant, seismic performance may be reduced by reflecting the characteristics of domestic seismic motions. The failure modes of the equipment are typically structural failure and functional failure, with an anchorage failure being a representative type of structural failure. In this study, comparative analyses were performed to decide whether to consider the inelastic behavior of the anchorage or not. As a result, it was confirmed that the seismic performance of the anchorages could be increased by considering the inelastic behavior of an anchorage.
Seismic fragility analysis of a structure is generally performed for the expected critical component of a structure. The seismic fragility analysis assumes that all the components behave independently in a structural system. A bridge system consists of many inter-connected components. Thus, for an accurate evaluation of the seismic fragility of a bridge, the seismic fragility analysis requires the composition of probabilities considering the correlation between structural components. This study presented a procedure to obtain the seismic fragility curve of a bridge system, considering the correlation between bridge components. Seismic fragility analysis was performed on a PSC bridge that is considered as the central infrastructure. The analysis results showed that the probability of the seismic fragility curve of the bridge system was higher than that of each bridge component.
In this study, algorithms for analyzing the torsion of buildings under earthquake excitation are developed. The algorithm and formulations to account for the torsional angle are verified by analyzing the seismic acceleration time history data. The method was applied to the reference buildings to examine their operation and usability. The reference application demonstrated that the noise-canceling scheme successfully overcame various obstacles in the field measurements. The developed method is expected to be used as a tool to support a loss assessment system for determining the direction and priority of disaster response in the event of an earthquake.
In this study, a structural health monitoring system for cable-stayed bridges is developed. In the system, condition assessment of the structure is performed based on measured records from seismic accelerometers. Response indices are defined to monitor structural safety and serviceability and derived from the measured acceleration data. The derivation process of the indices is structured to follow the transformation from the raw data to the outcome. The process includes noise filtering, baseline correction, numerical integration, and calculation of relative differences. The system is packed as a condition assessment program, which consists of four major processes of the structural health evaluation: (i) format conversion of the raw data, (ii) noise filtering, (iii) generation of response indices, and (iv) condition evaluation. An example set of limit states is presented to evaluate the structural condition of the test-bed and cable-stayed bridge.
Seismic fragility functions for unreinforced masonry buildings were derived based on the incremental dynamic analysis of eight representative inelastic numerical models for application to Korea's earthquake damage estimation system. The effects of panel zones formed between piers and spandrels around openings were taken into account explicitly or implicitly regarding stiffness and inelastic deformation capacity. The site response of ground motion records measured at the rock site was used as input ground motion. Limit states were proposed based on the fraction of structural components that do not meet the required performance from the nonlinear static analysis of each model. In addition to the randomness of ground motion considered in the incremental dynamic analysis explicitly, supplementary standard deviation due to uncertainty that was not reflected in the fragility assessment procedure was added. The proposed seismic fragility functions were verified by applying them to the damage estimation of masonry buildings located around the epicenter of the 2017 Pohang earthquake and comparing the result with actual damage statistics.
The Gyeongju and Pohang earthquakes caused damages to many cultural properties; particularly, stone pagoda structures were significantly damaged among masonry cultural properties. To preserve these structures, it is necessary to understand their dynamic behavior characteristics under earthquakes. Analyses on such areas as deformation, frequency, maximum acceleration, permanent displacement, sliding, and rocking have to be performed. Although many analytical studies have already been conducted, dynamic behavior studies based on experiments are insufficient. Therefore, this study analyzed dynamic behavior characteristics by performing a shaking table experiment on a three-story stone pagoda structure at the Cheollongsa temple site damaged by the Gyeongju earthquake. As a result of the experiment, the displacements of stylobates did not occur significantly, but the tower body parts rotated. In particular, the rotation of the 1F main body stone was relatively larger than that of the other chief body stones because the 1F main body stone is relatively more slender than the other parts. In addition, the decorative top was identified as the component most vulnerable to sliding. This study found that the 1F main body stone is vulnerable to rocking, and the parts located on the upper part are more vulnerable to sliding.