Seismic Intensity Levels Research Articles

Seismic vulnerability assessment of historical minarets in Cairo

IntroductionMasonry minarets in Old Cairo are highly susceptible to earthquake damage, particularly those not designed or updated to withstand seismic loads. Therefore, regular monitoring is necessary to ensure their safety and detect any deterioration or reduction in seismic performance. The direct loss of a minaret can lead to the collapse or severe damage to the structure itself. The cascading impacts of partial or complete minaret failure can have significant consequences for the immediate vicinity and the broader community. By studying the effects of earthquakes on minarets and developing mitigation strategies, countries can take proactive measures to protect these structures and ensure the safety of people.ObjectiveThis study focuses on a specific type of Islamic architecture: the historic minarets in Cairo. The research aims to evaluate the seismic vulnerability of eight cultural heritage minarets in Cairo, identifying the parameters influencing their seismic behaviour and susceptibility to earthquake damage.MethodsThe research utilizes empirical seismic vulnerability methods and ambient vibration measurements on eight minarets. An empirical approach compatible with the nature and style of the minarets is employed to evaluate their vulnerability using index values and curves. The method's validity is assessed, and areas of conformity and limitations are identified. Ambient vibration tests (AVTs) are also conducted using a temporary seismic network installed at various heights inside each minaret to determine their dynamic characteristics.ResultsThe seismic vulnerability Index (I_V) is calculated for the selected minarets based on the state of each vulnerability parameter. The contribution of each parameter to the final I_V values of the minarets are presented. Vulnerability curves are developed for each minaret, interpreting the conventional vulnerability indexes in terms of mean damage grades for seismic events with varying intensity on the EMS-98 scale. These mean damage grades can also indicate the expected damage levels of structural and non-structural minaret elements for events with different seismic intensity levels. AVTs are conducted at various heights on the selected minarets, and the dynamic characteristics are extracted from the recorded data. Variations in these characteristics are considered significant for structural health monitoring analysis. The peak-picking method is employed to directly extract each minaret's natural frequencies and mode shapes, as changes in dynamic characteristics are relevant to health monitoring analyses.ConclusionsThe recent study examined the seismic vulnerability assessment of eight masonry minarets in the historic Old Cairo district. The assessment revealed vulnerability index values ranging from 10.3 to 26.1, indicating a concerning susceptibility to seismic events among these structures. Vulnerability curves were constructed for each minaret, visually representing potential damage scenarios across different levels of the EMS-98 intensity scale. These outcomes are significant as they facilitate prioritizing interventions to safeguard the most vulnerable minarets. Additionally, a novel empirical period equation was introduced to estimate the fundamental period of minarets in Old Cairo based on their heights. The equation was validated against field measurements and data from the literature. The study is limited by its focus on a specific category of minarets, specifically the historical masonry minarets in Old Cairo. Furthermore, limitations arise from the need for detailed finite element models to capture these minarets' dynamic responses accurately. Therefore, ongoing research involves the development of detailed finite element models and calibrating fundamental periods for the selected minarets. The anticipated results hold the potential to enhance our understanding of the structural dynamics of historical minarets, ultimately guiding the formulation of tailored seismic retrofitting and preservation strategies. These strategies, aimed at preserving these cherished cultural heritage assets, represent our collective commitment to ensure the endurance of these timeless landmarks for future generations.

Research on seismic fragility of subway station based on incremental dynamic analysis method

Seismic intensity measure is an significant parameter that affects the accuracy of structural seismic risk assessment, and plays an important role in the performance-based earthquake engineering research framework. Taking a two story, three span, and shallow buried subway station as the research object, a two-dimensional finite element analysis model of soil structure underground in a typical engineering site was established using ANSYS. Ten earthquake records were selected from PEER as input, and the structural seismic fragility analysis method based on incremental dynamic analysis (IDA) method was introduced into the subway station structure. The maximum story drift angle was used as the structural damage index, and three typical seismic intensity measures were selected, the exploration is conducted on the seismic intensity measures applicable to shallow buried subway stations and the variation pattern of seismic response of subway stations with increasing seismic amplitude. The seismic fragility curve of shallow buried subway station structures is established to obtain the failure probability of the structure at different seismic intensity levels. The analysis results indicate that for shallow buried subway stations, PGA is the most suitable seismic intensity measure, and the comparison with existing empirical fragility curves shows that the vulnerability analysis method is feasible and can quantitatively provide the failure probability of structures at different performance levels, providing reference for seismic design of underground structures.

Life-cycle dynamic analysis and probabilistic seismic risk assessment of cross-fault hydraulic tunnels considering AAR-induced deterioration

The alkali-aggregate reaction (AAR) triggered the deterioration of the machinistic property of concrete materials is among the major negative factor that results in the reduction of structural serviceability and performance for concrete structures, especially for those hydraulic engineering in contact with water for service life-cycle. Hydraulic tunnels, being a vital component of hydraulic engineering, are frequently employed in various lifeline projects around the world. Once the AAR effect renders the hydraulic tunnel inoperable, the government and society will suffer enormous economic losses, delaying the achievement of carbon neutrality. However, current specification for seismic design does not account for the degradation of structural performance parameters induced by AAR effects, which cannot fully reveal the earthquake performance of AAR-affected tunnels during use. Having realized this challenge, this work presents a mechanical model of the AAR effect integrating the concrete elastic-plastic damage model to conduct the inelastic dynamic response and random earthquake risk assessment of AAR-affected cross-fault hydraulic tunnels with design life-cycle. To this end, a study of the AAR-affected hydraulic tunnels, which consider the fluid-structure-surrounding rock coupling systems throughout the service period, is undertaken to associate the structural reaction with the predefined evaluation index directly. Subsequently, The nonlinear dynamic assessment of cross-fault hydraulic tunnel is conducted by using increased dynamic method to generate several data. Besides, this research constructs the three-dimensional (3D) time-dependent fragility surfaces considering the AAR effect and seismic intensity level. The results of this study underscore this point that the AAR effect possesses the capability to aggravate the response of relative displacement and extend the cumulative damage cracking area of the cross-fault hydraulic tunnels (CFHTs) with the increase in service time. Similarly, the 3D time-varying fragility surfaces show that the longer the service time of AAR-affected cross-fault hydraulic tunnels, the more likely they are to collapse. The above phenomena demonstrate that the AAR effect can be recommended for the utilization in estimating the likelihood of the erosion of the building during service life-cycle and future seismic design code.

Modeling and material uncertainty quantification of RC structural components

It is well established that various sources of uncertainties play a critical role in the safety assessment of engineering structures. Some widely used frameworks, such as performance-based earthquake engineering (PBEE), explicitly consider the ground motion record-to-record randomness, while the material and modeling uncertainty remain to be primarily based on judgments or limited analysis. This paper presents the results of a comprehensive uncertainty quantification and sensitivity analysis of a reinforced concrete structural component. First, different modeling strategies are adopted to develop several parent models. Next, various sources of uncertainty are propagated through the parent models to generate thousands of children models. The children models are further combined with material uncertainty to produce grandchildren models, and nonlinear transient simulations are conducted using an innovative artificial acceleration at different seismic intensity levels. The results are post-processed using a range of probabilistic, statistical, and machine learning methods. The study finds that the modeling strategy and its associated variability can cause significant bias and dispersion in the drift response, while material uncertainty has a relatively minor effect. The study quantifies the importance of modeling uncertainty, which is often overlooked in engineering practice.

Seismic behaviour of post-earthquake composite frame structures with different damage levels

Since earthquakes pose a huge threat to buildings, the post-earthquake safety assessment is quite important, especially in earthquake-prone areas. This paper investigates the seismic performance of post-earthquake composite frame structures with different damage levels. Two-stage nonlinear time history analysis is carried out for a ten-story steel–concrete composite frame and the peak ground acceleration (PGA) of the seismic waves is used as the main parameter characterizing the seismic intensity and damage level. In the first stage, the seismic waves with the PGAs of 0.20 g, 0.30 g and 0.40 g are applied to the frame to result in three different damage levels. The peak inter-story drift ratios, residual inter-story drift ratios and plastic hinge ratios of the structure in the first-stage earthquakes are analysed, which presents a uniform distribution pattern for the three damage levels. The composite frame is evaluated as structurally safe at all three damage levels based on the limits of residual inter-story drift ratios given in current standards. In the second stage, the seismic waves with the PGA of 0.40 g are used to explore the residual capacity of the structure subjected to strong earthquakes. The dynamic responses of the intact structure and the structure with different damage levels are compared. The results indicate that despite the recognised structural safety, pre-existing seismic damage can enlarge the lateral deformation, reduce the internal forces and resistance capacity and increase the plastic hinges when the composite frame is exposed to the second-stage earthquakes. Generally, the damage caused by earthquakes with the PGA of 0.40 g will have an obvious influence on the seismic behaviour of the post-earthquake structure, in which situation further safety assessment and structural repairs are necessary.

Statistical investigation of the influence of ground motion duration on concrete gravity dam responses by proposing a quantitative index

This study aims to investigate the influence of ground motion duration on the seismic performance of concrete gravity dams seeking a quantitative correlation between ground motion durations and structural responses at several seismic intensity levels. In this regard, the Koyna gravity dam, located in India, is selected as the case study. In order to analyze the cumulative damage of the dam body, incremental dynamic analysis with 30 earthquake records with a broad range of durations has been implemented. All selected ground motion records have been spectrally matched to a target spectrum to isolate the contribution of duration from the effects of other ground motion parameters. The first mode spectral acceleration of the structure is considered the intensity measure, and the relative crest displacement and damage dissipation energy are chosen as the damage measure in this paper. Unlike previous studies in this field which are based on central measures of responses such as absolute mean value, in this study confidence intervals of the mean value of responses have been calculated in order to reach a quantitative relationship considering the uncertainty of results. Also, a duration influence index is developed. The obtained results revealed that there is a positive correlation between the ground motion duration and the cumulative damage of the concrete gravity dams so that long-duration motions can cause about 25% higher responses in relative crest displacement and about 70% higher responses in damage dissipation energy in comparison to short-duration ground motions at the same intensity.

Economic Seismic Performance of Buildings with Peer Methodology and Fema P-58

The performance-based seismic design pretends to take care of the lives of the occupants and reduce the cost of damage caused by earthquakes. Several ways of estimating damage and economic losses have been developed, but most of them lack objectivity and have great dispersion in the results. In the last decade, the advancement of technology has allowed the appearance of new methodologies, such as the one developed by the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center (PEER methodology). However, the information regarding application and scope is scarce. In the present investigation, the economic seismic performance for a steel building was determined by applying the PEER methodology with different levels of seismic intensity. A multi-family residential model of special moment frames (SMF) was used, and the structure was designed by means of modal analysis. Spectral, incremental dynamic non-linear analysis was performed where the structural response was determined, with the help of the PACT software. The seismic performance, expressed as the repair costs, repair times, deaths, and injuries, was defined. The results obtained indicate that buildings designed with traditional structural standards can be demolished after the action of an earthquake because the repair costs exceed 40% of the replacement cost. Rare and very rare seismic events can cause the total suspension of the service and a considerable number of deaths and injuries.

Design seismic track irregularity for high‐speed railways

AbstractThere has been no consensus on post‐earthquake operating plan for high‐speed railway trains. In this paper, two three‐dimensional coupling model of track‐bridge system without and with trains for high‐speed railways were developed, and their performance were verified based on shaking table tests. The equivalent method of design seismic track irregularity for random structures was discussed, and the amplitude response spectra of design seismic track irregularity for all levels of seismic intensity were proposed. In addition, the rationality of design seismic track irregularity was evaluated based on engineering case analysis, providing a theoretical foundation of formulating post‐earthquake contingency plans for high‐speed railways. The results show that when span number increases, the design seismic track irregularity amplitude increases and then tends to be stable; when the span number reaches 9, the train dynamic response gradually becomes stable; the random structures with arbitrary span numbers are equivalent to a specific 9‐span structure when constructing design seismic track irregularity. When the seismic intensity is low, there is no significant difference in shape and amplitude between the measured pre‐earthquake and post‐earthquake track alignment irregularities, and the train can normally run with no significant deceleration required. The train dynamic response under the design post‐earthquake track irregularity is greater than that under the measured post‐earthquake track irregularity, indicating that the design seismic track irregularity has a reasonable safety margin and a good feasibility in engineering practice.

EVALUATION OF RETROFIT EFFECTIVENESS AND COST IMPLICATIONS OF MRF STRUCTURES USING DISTINCT FRCM COMPOSITE SYSTEMS

This paper summarizes the results of a numerical investigation to assess the effectiveness of retrofitting pre-seismic code concrete framing structural systems using two distinct fiber-reinforced cementitious matrix (FRCM) composites. While FRCM composites were focused in the literature at the member level, this study focuses on implementing this retrofit technique effectively at the structure level. Several static pushover analyses (SPAs) and inelastic dynamic simulations (IDSs) are carried out for FRCM-retrofitted RC frames representing the lateral force-resisting system of a moment-resisting frame (MRF) structure. Correlating the numerical simulation results and experimental results obtained from another study verified the selected fiber discretized section modeling technique for FRCM retrofitted MRFs and reflected the effectiveness of the adopted approach in prolonging local and global damage states. The verified modeling technique of the risk-mitigation measure is then employed to evaluate the performance of an upgraded RC building using three-dimensional fiber-based numerical models. Finally, a parametric study using SPAs and IDSs using multiple seismic scenarios is conducted to select the most effective FRCM retrofit material for the seismic performance enhancement of the benchmark structure. The study concludes that using the selected FRCM retrofit technique effectively mitigated the structural collapse damage state of the substandard building at the design and maximum considered seismic intensity levels by 28% and 32%, respectively.

Experimental study on seismic performance of super high-rise building with topology optimized diagonal mega frame

Diagrid system has received increasing attention by designers and researchers of high-rise building. In this paper, an innovative super high-rise diagonal mega frame-core tube structure adopting topology optimization for two-dimensional diagrid mesh and shape optimization for three-dimensional outline was introduced. Different from traditional diagrid structures, eight corner columns and a number of corner beams were used in the external diagrid frame, leading to unique spatial working capacity. In order to assess and study the seismic performance of this innovative structure, a series of shaking table tests on a 1/35 scaled model were conducted. Three earthquake waves and three seismic intensity levels were considered during the tests and the external diagrid frame tube showed strong lateral stiffness while severe tensile damage occurred at the bottom of corner columns under maximum considered earthquakes. Then repair work of the test model was initiated and second part of shake table test was conducted which covered the same loading steps of the first part test and more loading steps of two higher seismic levels. Based on a large amount of test data recorded, the acceleration response, displacement response, strain response, seismic fragility and hysteretic energy dissipation of this structure were analyzed. This structure performed satisfactory seismic performance and collapse resistance capacity without obvious whiplash effect and weak story. Corner columns became the key components due to their tremendous axial forces and welding connections of corner columns became the comparatively weak parts in this system, which need be carefully concerned in practical project.

Incremental Dynamic Analysis and Seismic Fragility Analysis of Reinforced Concrete Frame

Abstract Due to technological developments in last decade, new methods of seismic evaluation are in use like simulation based, algorithm based, probabilistic, software based etc. These developments have enabled researchers to move from linear to non-linear methods of analysis. Incremental dynamic analysis (IDA) is performance evaluation method where a suite of ground motions applied to structure are further scaled to particular levels of seismic intensity. Seismic fragility curves become significant in estimation of structures risk possibility from the point of view of potential earthquakes and helps in predicting the economic consequences for forthcoming earthquakes. The paper reflects IDA and seismic fragility analysis of ground storey + 7 floor (G + 7) reinforced concrete frame subjected to suite of eleven ground motions. Primary objective was to perform equivalent static and linear-dynamic analysis to meet the National and International codal requirements. Then, pushover analysis is carried out by introducing parametric auto hinges as per ASCE 41-13 tables. To carry out pushover analysis, both geometric and material non-linearity was introduced. Strong ground motions were selected as per suitable criteria of seismic intensity. IDA is then carried out as per SeismoStruct 2022 software and using IDA curves, the fragility analysis was carried out. The results of study found useful for researchers to predict the probability of damage of the structure under earthquakes.

Triaxial shake table testing of an integrated low‐damage building system

AbstractLessons from recent earthquakes have provided a tough reality check of the traditional seismic design approach and technologies, highlighting the urgent need for a paradigm shift of performance‐based design criteria and objectives toward low‐damage design philosophy and technologies for the whole building system. Modern society is asking for “earthquake proof” resilient buildings that are able to withstand seismic events without compromising their functionality. The EU‐funded SERA (Seismology and Earthquake Engineering Research Infrastructure Alliance for Europe Project) project discussed in this paper provided the opportunity to develop and validate within the European context an integrated seismic low‐damage prototype, including main structure and non‐structural elements, for the next generation of high‐performance buildings. This paper presents an overview of the research, involving three‐dimensional shake table tests of a two‐storey 1:2 scaled timber‐concrete post‐tensioned dissipative low‐damage structure “dressed” by earthquake‐resistant gypsum/masonry partitions and glass/concrete facades. Specimen details, construction and assembly phases, test setup, and experimental results are discussed. After many cycles of input motions at increasing levels of seismic intensity (higher than Collapse Prevention Limit State), the integrated building system exhibited a very high seismic performance. The experimental campaign carried out at the National Laboratory of Civil Engineering in Lisbon confirmed the unique potential of low‐damage technologies and the opportunity for their widespread implementation into design practice.

Do soft soil layers reduce the seismic kinematic distress of onshore high-pressure gas pipelines?

AbstractOnshore high - pressure gas pipelines constitute critical infrastructure that usually cross seismic - prone regions and are vulnerable to Permanent Ground Deformations (PGDs) due to active seismic faults. In design, it may not be feasible to avoid fault rupture areas due to various technical, economical and topographic reasons. Moreover, the presence of soil layers affects the PGDs resulting from a tectonic fault, which in turn may alter the seismic demand on the pipeline. The current study investigates numerically the impact of soft soil layers on the seismic kinematic distress of onshore gas pipelines. For this purpose, a decoupled numerical modeling approach is adopted, consisting of two separate finite - element models for the simulation of soil response and pipeline distress, respectively. Soil non - linearities are taken into account utilizing the Mohr - Coulomb constitutive model with isotropic strain softening. An extensive parametric analysis is performed considering different faulting mechanisms and fault dip angles, as well as soil geometry and mechanical properties. Consequently, the maximum absolute values of both tensile and compressive pipeline strains are correlated with the seismic intensity level (i.e., in terms of bedrock offset which is associated with earthquake magnitude via simple relationships). The paper concludes with a set of design charts and tables for the preliminary seismic design of onshore high - pressure gas pipelines. These charts and tables predict with reasonable accuracy pipeline deformations, in terms of strains, for different magnitude, fault type, dip angle, sand type, and varying overlying soil layer thickness.

Earthquake-induced loss assessment of steel dual concentrically braced structures subjected to near-field ground motions

Steel structures with dual systems, including special moment-resisting frames (SMRFs) and special concentrically braced frames (SCBFs), have found extensive applications in seismically active regions due to their considerable lateral stiffness and ductility. However, the seismic performance of such system has not been investigated subjected to near-field ground motion records. To address this research gap, this paper evaluates collapse risk and earthquake-induced loss of multi-story steel structures with dual concentrically braced frames. A comprehensive seismic performance assessment is conducted on selected five-, 10-, and 15-story structures subjected to near-field ground motions (NF-GMs) with and without pulses based on the methodology provided in FEMA P-58. The results are also used to assess the effect of NF-GMs with pulses on the seismic performance measures, such as life-cycle cost and repair time of the studied structures at different seismic intensity levels. Finally, the contribution rate of collapse and demolition of structures, and contribution of structural and nonstructural members in the repair cost and time of the steel structures are estimated and compared subjected to NF-GMs. It is concluded that collapse and demolition loss play significant roles for NF-GMs with and without pulses, respectively, while the seismic collapse behavior is governed by the ratio of the pulse period of the GM to the period of the first mode of the structure.

Numerical and Experimental Investigation of the Seismic Effect of a Two-Stage Seismic Isolation Method

In order to improve the post-earthquake resilience of bridge structures, a Two-Stage seismic isolation method is proposed in this paper. According to the method, the restoring force and horizontal stiffness are smaller in the first stage and become much larger in the second stage. Therefore, a new kind of seismic isolation device, Two-Stage Friction Pendulum Bearing (TSFPB for short), is invented based on the traditional friction pendulum bearing (FPB for short). In this paper, the geometry configuration, sliding states and hysteresis characteristics of the bearing are first introduced with a theoretical approach. Then the hysteresis curve of the TSFPB is verified experimentally and the simulation method of the bearing in an FEM software is proposed. Last, a numerical analysis for an actual highway girder bridge is carried out to compare the seismic design method recommended in this paper with the conventional seismic isolation method. It is found that the Two-Stage seismic isolation method has an adaptive restoring force, horizontal stiffness and energy dissipation mechanism for different seismic intensity levels and better seismic performance compared with a conventional seismic isolation method. In addition, bridges with TSFPBs have smaller residual displacements and better post-earthquake resilience than those with traditional FPBs.

Nonlinear modeling of the ten-story RC building at E-Defense (2015): assessment with different modeling assumptions

Two models of the 10-story reinforced concrete building tested at E-Defense laboratory in 2015 are built: the F model, in which nonlinear behavior is distributed over the element length, and the H model, in which nonlinear behavior is lumped in plastic hinges with a moment-chord rotation response assigned based on empirical formulations proposed in the literature. Nonlinear time–history analyses are performed to reproduce the experimental shaking-table tests performed at increasing seismic intensity level. The incremental experimental test has been performed twice: the first time (BS test), the structure base was free to slip on a concrete base fixed to the shaking table. After the BS test, a second test was performed on the same structure with the foundation fixed to the concrete base (BF test). Both tests are simulated for both models. When simulating both the BS and BF tests, the seismic input adopted for the numerical analyses is the displacement time-history registered at the base of the specimen’s columns, in order to implicitly account for base slip through the input signal without explicitly modeling the slipping devices. It is observed that the significant damage experienced by the specimen during the runs of BF tests at medium–high seismic intensity is probably triggered by softening and damage of beam-column joints: this is reproduced also by H numerical model and highlights the influence of beam-column joints on the overall seismic response of the structure. In general, it is observed that both numerical models, which were constructed, based on experimental data, only by adopting available and well-established tools proposed in the literature, can reproduce the overall response of the case-study structure, especially in terms of maximum top displacement demand and maximum damage state for structural members, provided that beam-column joints’ contribution is adequately considered.

Seismic Upgrade of Steel Frame Buildings by Using Damped Braces

Supplementary energy dissipation has proved to be an effective way of protecting structures from the disastrous effects of earthquakes and has been used in the last decades both in new and in existing constructions. In this regard, various procedures for the design of the damping system for the seismic retrofit of buildings have been formulated over the years, mainly focused on reinforced concrete (RC) constructions, which represent the largest part of the existing stock in many seismic-prone countries. The study deals with the assessment of a displacement-based design procedure for proportioning the damping system recently proposed in the literature for RC framed buildings, with the goal of establishing a good practice for the application of the procedure to steel buildings as well. The method was applied to three case-study frames, regular in plan and in elevation, which were assumed as being representative of old structures designed without consideration of seismic requirements. The retrofit was performed by using chevron braces equipped with dampers with an elastic-perfectly plastic behavior. The method aimed at defining the properties of the dampers to achieve a target performance in terms of the maximum lateral deflection for a specific level of seismic intensity. The effectiveness and reliability of the proposed procedure was eventually assessed by evaluating the seismic performance of the upgraded steel structures in static and dynamic non-linear analyses.

Corrosion-related parameter estimation for RC structures using UKF-based Bayesian nonlinear finite element model updating with seismic data

Model updating based on field measurements (e.g., from ambient vibration) has proven to be an efficient approach for assessing the condition of reinforced concrete (RC) structures. Despite existing studies in the literature, no effort has been devoted to corrosion-related parameter estimation for RC structures based on Bayesian nonlinear finite element model updating (FEMU) with seismic data. To bridge this gap, this research work extends the application of nonlinear FEMU to corroded RC structures and provides a methodology to estimate the corrosion-related parameters from seismic measurement of RC structures with high nonlinearity. The essential idea of this approach is to integrate recursive Bayesian inference (i.e., unscented Kalman filter) with advanced finite element (FE) modeling of corroded RC structures to estimate corrosion-affected properties. The advanced FE modeling approach used in this study is an efficient modeling strategy that accounts for different aspects of the corrosion, particularly corroded bond-slip in RC structures. The capability of the approach in evaluating the corrosion-affected model parameters is examined by 13 case studies using an example RC column with simulated seismic data due to lack of real-word measurements. These study cases consider different corrosion levels, measurement noise levels, corroded features, seismic intensity levels, and types of measurement. The successful estimation of the corrosion-affected properties for the corroded column under various scenarios indicates that the proposed methodology can be employed to identify the unknown corroded properties of RC structures using recorded seismic response data. The updated FE model of a corroded RC structure can potentially be utilized for reliable seismic performance assessment, which assists in future decision-making for repair or retrofit of existing structures.

Concept and numerical analysis of a double-stage coupling damper for multilevel seismic protection

A new double-stage coupling damper (DSCD), consisting of a friction component (FC) and a buckling restrained component (BRC) in series, is proposed for improving the seismic performance of structures under multilevel earthquakes. A robust numerical model for the DSCD is established based on experimental testing of conventional dampers. This numerical model explores the effects on the performance of the double-stage hysteresis behaviour of the ratio between the friction force of the FC and the yield force of the BRC, Rfy, as well as the length of slotted holes in the inner plate, Lsh and the number of FCs, Pfc. The results show that the energy dissipation capacity and the double-stage energy dissipation characteristics of the DSCD decrease with increasing Rfy and Lsh. The energy dissipation capacity of the DSCD with the single-sided FC is also higher than that of the two-sided FCs. Furthermore, a simple finite element model of the double-stage damper for general application in structural analysis is developed and validated against the detailed model. The simplified model is defined in OpenSees and applied to the nonlinear seismic analysis of single-degree-of-freedom structures. The results show that the DSCD reduces the displacements and accelerations of the structure more than the conventional BRB in most cases and for various seismic intensity levels.

The Influence of Input Motion Scaling Strategies on Nonlinear Ground Response Analyses of Soft Soil Deposits

A key issue for the estimation of ground shaking is the proper selection of input motions at the seismic bedrock. At the same time, the effect of the input motion scaling strategy on structural response is typically studied disregarding the presence of the soil deposit. In this work, different soft soil deposits are selected by varying the shear wave velocity profiles and the depth to the seismic bedrock, modelling the soil behaviour through a nonlinear constitutive model implemented into a fully coupled FE code. Seven input motions are retrieved for several selection strategies in conjunction with two seismic intensity levels. Hence, more than 300 one-dimensional ground response analyses are performed. The results of the analysed cases, which are presented in terms of spectral response at ground surface and amplification factors, indicate that: (i) the use of an advanced elasto-plastic soil constitutive model accounts for nonlinear ground response effects, including higher site amplification in the mid-period range and deamplification of the peak ground accelerations; (ii) the different scaling strategies lead to comparable mean values of the amplification factors, and (iii) the variability of the amplification factors is significantly reduced when the scaling strategy seeks the compatibility with the target spectrum over a specified period range. The research will aid the prediction of local seismic site response over large areas, particularly in the absence of the fundamental period of a structure and facilitate its use in general recommendation for quantifying and reducing uncertainty.