Strong ground motions at specific sites can cause severe damage to structures. Understanding the influence of site characteristics on the dynamic response of structures is crucial for evaluating their seismic performance and mitigating the potential damage caused by site effects. This study investigates the impact of the average shear wave velocity, as a site characteristic, on the seismic response of low-to-medium-rise reinforced concrete buildings. To explore them, one-dimensional soil column models were generated using shear wave velocity profile from California, and nonlinear site response analyses were performed using bedrock motions. Nonlinear dynamic structural analyses were conducted for reinforced concrete moment-resisting frame models based on the regional information. The effect of shear wave velocity on the structural response and surface ground motions was examined. The results showed that strong ground motions tend to exhibit higher damping on softer soils, reducing their intensity, while on stiffer soils, the ground motion intensity tends to amplify. Consequently, the structural response tended to increase on stiffer soils compared to softer soils.

This study analyzes the seismic response of traffic light poles, considering soil-foundation effects through nonlinear static and time history analyses. Two poles are investigated, uni-directional and bi-directional, each with 9 m mast arms. Finite element models incorporate the poles, soil, and concrete foundations for analysis. Results show that the initial stiffness of the traffic light poles decreases by approximately 38% due to soil effects, and the drift ratio at which their nonlinear behavior occurs is 77% of scenarios without considering soil effects. The maximum acceleration response increases by about 82% for uni-directional poles and 73% for bi-directional poles, while displacement response increases by approximately 10% for uni-directional and 16% for bi-directional poles when considering soil-foundation effects. Additionally, increasing ground motion intensity reduces soil restraints, making significant rotational displacement the dominant response mechanism over flexural displacement for the traffic light poles. These findings underscore the importance of considering soil-foundation interactions in analyzing the seismic behavior of traffic light poles and provide valuable insights to enhance their seismic resilience and safety.

Existing reinforced concrete frame buildings designed for only gravity loads have been seismically vulnerable due to their inadequate column detailing. The seismic vulnerabilities can be mitigated by the application of a column retrofit technique, which combines high-strength near surface mounted bars with a fiber reinforced polymer wrapping system. This study presents the full-scale shaker testing of a non-ductile frame structure retrofitted using the combined retrofit system. The full-scale dynamic testing was performed to measure realistic dynamic responses and to investigate the effectiveness of the retrofit system through the comparison of the measured responses between as-built and retrofitted test frames. Experimental results demonstrated that the retrofit system reduced the dynamic responses without any significant damage on the columns because it improved flexural, shear and lap-splice resisting capacities. In addition, the retrofit system contributed to changing a damage mechanism from a soft-story mechanism (column-sidesway mechanism) to a mixed-damage mechanism, which was commonly found in reinforced concrete buildings with strong-column weak-beam system.

Existing reinforced concrete building structures have seismic vulnerabilities under successive earthquakes (or mainshock-aftershock sequences) due to their inadequate column detailing, which leads to shear failure in the columns. To improve the shear capacity and ductility of the shear-critical columns, a fiber-reinforced polymer jacketing system has been widely used for seismic retrofit and repair. This study proposed a numerical modeling technique for damaged reinforced concrete columns repaired using the fiber-reinforced polymer jacketing system and validated the numerical responses with past experimental results. The column model well captured the experimental results in terms of lateral forces, stiffness, energy dissipation and failure modes. The proposed column modeling method enables to predict post-repair effects on structures initially damaged by mainshock.

This paper presents a framework for developing aftershock fragility curves for reinforced concrete bridges initially damaged by mainshocks. The presented aftershock fragility is a damage-dependent fragility function, which is conditioned on an initial damage state resulting from mainshocks. The presented framework can capture the cumulative damage of as-built bridges due to mainshock-aftershock sequences as well as the reduced vulnerability of bridges repaired with CFRP pier jackets. To achieve this goal, the numerical model of column jackets is firstly presented and then validated using existing experimental data available in literature. A four-span concrete boxgirder bridge is selected as a case study to examine the application of the presented framework. The aftershock fragility curves are derived using response data from back-to-back nonlinear dynamic analyses under mainshock-aftershock sequences. The aftershock fragility curves for as-built bridge columns are firstly compared with different levels of initial damage state, and then the post-repair effect of FRP pier jacket is examined through the comparison of aftershock fragility curves for as-built and repaired piers.

This study examines earthquake-induced sloshing effects on liquid storage tanks using computation fluid dynamics. To achieve this goal, this study selects an existing square steel tank tested by Seismic Simulation Test Center at Pusan National University as a case study. The model validation was firstly performed through the comparison of shaking table test data and simulated results for the water tank subjected to a harmonic excitation. For a realistic estimation of the wall pressure response of the water tank, three recorded earthquakes with similar peak ground acceleration are applied:1940 El Centro earthquake, 2016 Gyeongju earthquake, and 2017 Pohang earthquake. Wall pressures monitored during the dynamic analyses are examined and compared for different earthquake motions and monitoring points, using power spectrum density. Finally, the maximum dynamic pressure for three earthquakes is compared with the design pressure calculated from a seismic design code. Results indicated that the maximum pressure from the El Centro earthquake exceeds the design pressure although its peak ground acceleration is less than 0.4 g, which is the design acceleration. On the other hand, the maximum pressure due to two Korean earthquakes does not reach the design pressure. Thus, engineers should not consider only the peak ground acceleration when determining the design pressure of water tanks.

This study experimentally and analytically examines the seismic vulnerability of steel rack storage frames subjected to Korea earthquakes (2016 Gyeongju earthquake and 2017 Pohang earthquake). To achieve this aim, this study selects a three-story, one-bay steel rack frame with a typical configuration of rack frame in Korea. Firstly, the local behavior for frame components is examined by performing monotonic and/or cyclic load tests and the global response and dynamic characteristics of the subject rack frame are investigated by conducting a shaking table test. The analytical model of the rack frame is then created based on the experimental results and is used to perform nonlinear time history analyses with recorded Korea earthquakes. The seismic demand of the rack frame is considerably affected by the spectral acceleration response, instead of peak ground accelerations (peak floor accelerations). Moreover, the collapse fragility curve of the rack frame is developed using incremental dynamic analyses for the Gyeongju and Pohang earthquakes. Fragility results indicate that the ground motion characteristics of these earthquakes do not significantly affect the frame vulnerability at the collapse state.

This research describes the impact of vertical earthquake components on the performance of typical non-ductile bridges. To achieve this goal, this research chooses a non-seismically designed reinforced concrete bridge typically found in the California area. Particularly, their columns with inadequate design have a higher possibility of shear failure. To consider this failure, the column model reflects shear-axial interaction effect and is verified by comparing simulated results and experimental data available in literature. Two computational bridge models having column shear model subjected to constant and varying axial load are then built to conduct inelastic dynamic analyses. The responses are employed to construct probabilistic seismic demand models for two bridge models. This results indicate that the consideration of shear-axial interaction effect increases the seismic demand of all bridge components in non-ductile bridges, resulting in their increased seismic vulnerability.

In this paper, seismic performance assessment has been examined for a mid-rise RC building subjected to 2016 Gyeongju earthquake occurred in Korea. For the purpose of the paper, 2D external and internal frames in each direction of the building have been employed in the present comparative analyses. Nonlinear static pushover analyses have been conducted to estimate frame capacities. Nonlinear dynamic time-history analyses have also been carried out to examine demands for the frames subjected to ground motions recorded at stations in near of Gyeongju and a previous earthquake ground motion. Analytical predictions demonstrate that maximum demands are significantly affected by characteristics of both spectral acceleration response and spectrum intensity over a wide range of periods. Further damage potential of the frames has been evaluated in terms of fragility analyses using the same ground motions. Fragility results reveal that the ground motion characteristics of the Gyeongju earthquake have little influence on the seismic demand and fragility of frames.

Damage potential has been investigated for a domestic metropolitan railway bridge subjected to 2016 Gyeongju earthquake which has been reported as the strongest earthquake in Korea. For this purpose, nonlinear static pushover analyses for the bridge piers have been carried out to evaluate ductility capacities. Then, the capacities have been compared with those suggested by Railway Design Standards of Korea. This comparison shows that all piers possess enough safety margins. Nonlinear dynamic time-history analysis has also been conducted to estimate both displacement and shear force demands for the bridge subjected to ground motions recorded at stations in near of Gyeongju. Maximum demands reveal that response under the ground motions remains essentially in elastic. In addition, for a further assessment of the bridge under the Gyeongju earthquake, fragility analyses have been performed using those ground motions. The fragility results indicate that the recorded earthquakes do not significantly affect the damage exceedance probability of the bridge piers.

This study proposes a selection method of a performance evaluation index of waterproofing and anti corrosion materials used in domestic water treatment facilities for material and construction failures based on different usage and environmental conditions to study the possibility of structural performance maintenance. Different types of waterproofing･anti-corrosion materials have been evaluated based on their respective properties, and have been classified into separate categories based on their case studies of material failures in construction. As a result, 12 different performance evaluation indexes have been produced for the performance evaluation method. Among the 12 performance evaluation index 5 were selected with relatively low importance that produced a low value of 60% importance using AHP analysis method, and conclusively proposed 7 performance evaluation index criteria (wet surface adhesion, fatigue resistance, crack resistance, adhesion performance, joint performance, impact resistance, impermeability)

본 논문은 국내에서 실시되고 있는 인터넷게임 셧다운제의 효과성에 대한 분석을 한다. 청소년보호를 목적으로 정부(문화체육관광부와 여성가족부)에 의하여 실시되고 있는 선택적 셧다운제와 강제적 셧다운제의 효과성을 검증하는 데 중점을 둔다. 분석 결과 인터넷게임과 게임중독간의 원인관계를 명확히 증명하기 어렵다. 또한 인터넷게임 셧다운제 정책만으로는 인터넷게임 중독을 예방할 수 없음을 밝힌다. 이를 기반으로 하여 청소년들의 인터넷게임 중독예방을 위한 다양한 정책을 제언한다.

When the story lateral forces of multi-story frame were not distributed properly during a seismic design, sufficient seismic performances should not secured. Thus, studies on the distribution of story lateral forces that make the uniform distribution of story damage are positively necessary. In this study, a lot of dynamic analyses of multi-story frames were conducted using various seismic waves to find the optimum distributions of story damage and the distributions of story shear in that circumstance were calculated.