Seismic response evaluation of the linked column frame system

The linked column frame (LCF) system is proposed as a seismic load resisting system that uses conventional components to limit seismic damage to relatively easily replaced elements. The LCF features a primary lateral system, denoted the linked column, which is made up of dual columns connected with replaceable links, and a secondary flexible moment frame system with beams having fully restrained connections at one end and simple connections at the other. The linked columns are designed to limit seismic forces and provide energy dissipation via link yielding, while preventing damage to the moment frame under certain earthquake hazard levels. A design procedure is proposed that ensures plastic hinges develop in the links of the linked columns at a significantly lower story drift than when plastic hinges develop in the moment frame beams. The large drift difference helps enable design of this system for two distinct performance states: rapid return to occupancy, where only link damage occurs and relatively simple link replacement is possible, and collapse prevention, where both the links and the beams of the moment frame may be damaged. A series of 3‐story, 6‐story, and 9‐story prototype LCF buildings were designed using the proposed design approach. Nonlinear models were developed for the designs with the link models validated using recent experimental results. The seismic response of these systems was investigated for ground motions representing various seismic hazard levels. Results show that the LCF system not only provides collapse prevention, but also has the capability of limiting economic loss by reducing structural damage and allowing for rapid return to occupancy following earthquakes with shorter return periods. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

基于人工铰的自适应结构减震性能与恢复力研究

钢筋混凝土框架结构节点处应力集中、侧向刚度小,在地震作用下容易导致结构整体失稳倒塌,而且梁端、柱端出现的塑性铰破坏严重,难以修复。提出一种全新的结构形式和一种新型人工铰：此种自适应结构能让建筑结构在地震作用下改变自身刚度、增大自振周期,减弱作用于结构的地震作用;新型人工铰具有良好的恢复力性能,能解决传统塑性铰破坏后难以修复的问题,通过设置人工铰将梁端铰从梁根处转移,能解决节点处应力集中的问题。通过ABAQUS软件改变人工铰的位置,建立3个自适应结构有限元模型与现浇框架模型进行对比研究。结果表明,基于自适应结构的控制系统方法让结构减少了70%的地震作用,人工铰和节点处抗震性能和恢复力性能良好。自适应结构可以广泛应用于各种装配式建筑,极大降低人工成本,彻底实现装配式建筑的智能化施工,对于装配式建筑的发展与推广具有重要的意义。此外,还提出了较方便的承载力计算方法和设置人工铰的设计建议。     

Damage‐dependent vulnerability curves for existing buildings

Seismic behavior of damaged buildings may be expressed as a function of their REsidual Capacity (REC), which is a measure of seismic capacity, reduced by damage. REC can be interpreted as the median value of collapse vulnerability curves. Its variation owing to damage is a useful indication of increased building vulnerability. REC reduction, indicating the lowering of seismic safety after an earthquake (performance loss, PL), represents an effective index for assessing the need of seismic repair/strengthening after earthquakes. The study investigates the applicability of a pushover‐based method in the analysis of damaged structures for the case of existing under‐designed RC buildings. The paper presents a systematization of the procedure in an assessment framework that applies the capacity spectrum method based on inelastic demand spectra; furthermore, the vulnerability variation of a real building is investigated with a detailed case study. The behavior of damaged buildings is simulated with pushover analysis through suitable modification of plastic hinges (in terms of stiffness, strength and residual drift) for damaged elements. The modification of plastic hinges has been calibrated in tests on nonconforming columns. The case study analysis evidenced that, for minor or moderate damages, the original structural displacement capacity was only slightly influenced, but the ductility capacity was significantly reduced (up to 40%) because of the increased structure deformability. This implied performance loss in the range 10%–20%. For severe damages the PL ranged between 41% and 56%. Local mechanism types exhibit PL nearly double with respect to global mechanism types. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Residual drift demands in moment‐resisting steel frames subjected to narrow‐band earthquake ground motions

This paper presents the main results of the evaluation of residual inter‐story drift demands in typical moment‐resisting steel buildings designed accordingly to the Mexican design practice when subjected to narrow‐band earthquake ground motions. Analytical 2D‐framed models representative of the study‐case buildings were subjected to a set of 30 narrow‐band earthquake ground motions recorded on stations placed in soft‐soil sites of Mexico City, where most significant structural damage was found in buildings as a consequence of the 1985 Michoacan earthquake, and scaled to reach several levels of intensity to perform incremental dynamic analyses. Thus, results were statistically processed to obtain hazard curves of peak (maximum) and residual drift demands for each frame model. It is shown that the study‐case frames might exhibit maximum residual inter‐story drift demands in excess of 0.5%, which is perceptible for building's occupants and could cause human discomfort, for a mean annual rate of exceedance associated to peak inter‐story drift demands of about 3%, which is the limiting drift to avoid collapse prescribed in the 2004 Mexico City Seismic Design Provisions. The influence of a member's post‐yield stiffness ratio and material overstrength in the evaluation of maximum residual inter‐story drift demands is also discussed. Finally, this study introduces response transformation factors, T_p, that allow establishing residual drift limits compatible with the same mean annual rate of exceedance of peak inter‐story drift limits for future seismic design/evaluation criteria that take into account both drift demands for assessing a building's seismic performance. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

强震作用下砌体结构倒塌过程仿真分析

四川汶川地震中大量砌体房屋倒塌,造成巨大人员伤亡。为研究和预防砌体结构震害,本文概述了多层砌体房屋的主要震害特点,研究了砌体结构地震倒塌分析方法、失效单元与结构倒塌等关键技术问题。利用动力有限元程序LS-DYNA模拟了砌体结构的倒塌过程。仿真计算的结果与真实倒塌过程吻合较好,说明通过合理选取计算参数和计算模型,可以对这种特殊的复杂破坏过程进行模拟分析和仿真。通过再现倒塌过程,发现了结构在强震作用下的薄弱环节,为提高砌体结构抗震性能研究、建立结构防倒塌机制提供了有力的技术支撑。     

高强度地震下带钢避难建筑抗震设计

为了提高带钢避难建筑的抗震性能,对高强度地震下带钢避难建筑实施抗震设计。设置高强度地震下带钢避难所的抗震设防要求,给出不同地震情况下地震避难所设防加速度值以及地震避难所地震影响系数最高值,通过SAP2000分析软件对带钢地震避难建筑结构实施动力弹塑性时程研究,选择合理的塑性铰参数值,通过在建筑周围设置钢支撑的策略对带钢避难建筑实施设计,分析高强度地震下的带钢避难建筑的抗震性能。实验结果说明,采用所提设计方法下的带钢避难建筑在大震情况下的反应优,延性较强,在不同地震波作用下的水平方向位移角满足抗震设防规范。     

Inelastic response of RC frame buildings with seismic isolation

A comprehensive parametric study on the inelastic seismic response of seismically isolated RC frame buildings, designed for gravity loads only, is presented. Four building prototypes, with 23 m × 10 m floor plan dimensions and number of storeys ranging from 2 to 8, are considered. All the buildings present internal resistant frames in one direction only, identified as the strong direction of the building. In the orthogonal weak direction, the buildings present outer resistant frames only, with infilled masonry panels. This structural configuration is typical of many existing RC buildings, realized in Italy and other European countries in the 60s and 70s. The parametric study is based on the results of extensive nonlinear response‐time history analyses of 2‐DOF systems, using a set of seven artificial and natural seismic ground motions. In the parametric study, buildings with strength ratio (F_y/W) ranging from 0.03 to 0.15 and post‐yield stiffness ratio ranging from 0% to 6% are examined. Three different types of isolation systems are considered, that is, high damping rubber bearings, lead rubber bearings and friction pendulum bearings. The isolation systems have been designed accepting the occurrence of plastic hinges in the superstructure during the design earthquake. The nonlinear response‐time history analyses results show that structures with seismic isolation experience fewer inelastic cycles compared with fixed‐base structures. As a consequence, although limited plastic deformations can be accepted, the collapse limit state of seismically isolated structures should be based on the lateral capacity of the superstructure without significant reliance on its inherent hysteretic damping or ductility capacity. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Field investigation on severely damaged aseismic buildings in 2014 Ludian earthquake

The 2014 magnitude 6.5 Ludian earthquake caused a death toll of 617, many landslides and tens of thousands of collapsed buildings. A field investigation to evaluate the damage to buildings was carried out immediately after the occurrence of the earthquake. Severely damaged aseismic buildings, which were basically observed in the downtown of Longtoushan Town, were carefully examined one by one with the aim to improve design codes. This paper summarizes the damage observed to the investigated aseismic buildings in both the structural and local levels. A common failure mode was observed that most of the aseismic buildings, such as RC frame structures and confined masonry structures, were similarly destroyed by severe damage or complete collapse of the first story. The related strong ground motion, which was recorded at the nearby station, had a short duration of less than 20 s but a very large PGA up to 1.0 g. The RC frames based on the new design codes still failed to achieve the design target for "strong column, weak beam". Typical local failure details, which were related to the interaction between RC columns and infill walls and between constructional columns and masonry walls, are summarized with preliminary analyses.     

Collapse simulation of reinforced concrete high‐rise building induced by extreme earthquakes

Collapse resistance of high‐rise buildings has become a research focus because of the frequent occurrence of strong earthquakes and terrorist attacks in recent years. Research development has demonstrated that numerical simulation is becoming one of the most powerful tools for collapse analysis in addition to the conventional laboratory model tests and post‐earthquake investigations. In this paper, a finite element method based numerical model encompassing fiber‐beam element model, multilayer shell model, and elemental deactivation technique is proposed to predict the collapse process of high‐rise buildings subjected to extreme earthquake. The potential collapse processes are simulated for a simple 10‐story RC frame and two existing RC high‐rise buildings of 18‐story and 20‐story frame–core tube systems. The influences of different failure criteria used are discussed in some detail. The analysis results indicate that the proposed numerical model is capable of simulating the collapse process of existing high‐rise buildings by identifying potentially weak components of the structure that may induce collapse. The study outcome will be beneficial to aid further development of optimal design philosophy. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Three-dimensional non-linear soil–building interaction analysis in the lakebed zone of Mexico city during the hypothetical Guerrero earthquake

The 1985 Michoacan earthquake (M=8·1) caused very severe damage to mid-rise buildings in the lakebed zone of Mexico City, which is approximately 400 km from the epicentre in the Pacific Ocean. In the present study, we perform a three-dimensional (3-D) non-linear soil–building interaction analysis for several types of low- to high-rise buildings during the hypothetical Guerrero earthquake, and try to understand the real cause of heavy damage to mid-rise buildings in the lakebed zone during the 1985 Michoacan earthquake. We make a reasonable estimation of the input earthquake motions and the local site effects. The non-linear soil-building interaction analysis explains the damage pattern observed during the 1985 earthquake, although other analyses do not. We realize that all the factors from the earthquake source to the building superstructure must be taken into account adequately. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Dual‐plastic hinge design concept for reducing higher‐mode effects on high‐rise cantilever wall buildings

This paper explores the notion of detailing reinforced concrete structural walls to develop base and mid‐height plastic hinges to better control the seismic response of tall cantilever wall buildings to strong shaking. This concept, termed here dual‐plastic hinge (DPH) concept, is used to reduce the effects of higher modes of response in high‐rise buildings. Higher modes can significantly increase the flexural demands in tall cantilever wall buildings. Lumped‐mass Euler–Bernoulli cantilevers are used to model the case‐study buildings examined in this paper. Buildings with 10, 20 and 40 stories are designed according to three different approaches: ACI‐318, Eurocode 8 and the proposed DPH concept. The buildings are designed and subjected to three‐specific historical strong near‐fault ground motions. The investigation clearly shows the dual‐hinge design concept is effective at reducing the effects of the second mode of response. An advantage of the concept is that, when combined with capacity design, it can result in relaxation of special reinforcing detailing in large portions of the walls. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Shaking table testing for masonry infill walls: unreinforced versus reinforced solutions

Several factors influence the behaviour of infilled frames, which have been a subject of research in the past with moderate success. The new generation of European design standards imposes the need to prevent brittle collapse of the infills and makes the structural engineer accountable for this requirement, yet it fails to provide sufficient information for masonry infills design. Therefore, the present work aims at understanding the seismic behaviour of masonry infill walls within reinforced concrete frames, using both unreinforced and reinforced solutions (bed joint reinforcement and reinforced plaster). For this purpose, three reinforced concrete buildings with different infill solutions were constructed at a scale of 1:1.5, all with the same geometry, and were tested on the shaking table of the National Laboratory for Civil Engineering, Portugal. All solutions performed adequately for the design earthquake, with no visible damage. Still, the experimental tests show that the double‐leaf‐unreinforced infill walls underperformed during a large earthquake, collapsing out of plane by rotating as rigid bodies with multiple configurations. Also the reinforced concrete buildings collapsed, because of the adverse interaction with the infill walls. The infill walls with bed joint reinforcement and reinforced plaster did not collapse out of plane, because of their connection to the concrete frame, which is an essential requirement. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

结构倒塌分析的后制作开发

将结构倒塌分析的后处理过程独立出来，创建一个具有通用性的动态演示软件。此软件基于MFC的开发平台上结合OpenGL开放图形库编撰而成，程序的结果在于产生一个结构物倒塌的可视化模拟过程，进而帮助使用者判断其结构倒塌分析研究的正确性。文末，节选一个二维的基础框架，经由视角变换，演示其在地震作用下的倒塌过程。     

Seismic Damage to Owner-Built RC Frames in Charikot during the 2015 Nepal Earthquake Sequence

The damage to the masonry-infilled reinforced concrete (RC) frame buildings in Charikot, the capital city of Dolakha district in Nepal, during the 2015 April-to-May Nepal earthquake sequence is reported. Most of these buildings were built by the owners with little governmental inspections regarding their structural design or constructional quality. Although they generally performed better than other structural systems such as stone-masonry houses, the RC frames sustained extensive damage ranging from cracking of infill to complete collapse. In particular, eight of the 72 inspected RC frames alongside an uphill street collapsed in different ways. In addition to the un-engineered nature of these RC frames, their collapse could also be attributed to multiple technical reasons including the effect of terrain, the pounding between adjacent buildings and the accumulative damage in the earthquake sequence.     

Evaluation of the measured seismic response of the Mexico City Cathedral

The seismic response of the Mexico City Cathedral built of very soft soil deposits is evaluated by using motions recorded in various parts of the structure during several moderate earthquakes. This unique set of records provides significant insight into the seismic response of this and other similar historic stone masonry structures. Free‐field ground motions are carefully compared in time and frequency domains with motions recorded at building basement. The dynamic characteristics of the structure are inferred from the earthquake records by using system identification techniques. Variation of seismic response for different seismic intensities is discussed. It is shown that, due to the soil–structure interaction, due to large differences between dominant frequencies of earthquake ground motions at the site and modal frequencies of vibration of the structure, and due to a particularly high viscous damping, seismic amplifications of ground motion in this and similar historic buildings erected on soft soil deposits are much smaller than that induced in most modern constructions. Nevertheless, earthquake records and analytical results show that several components of the structure such as its central dome and the bell towers may be subjected to local vibrations that significantly amplify ground motions. Overall, results indicate that in its present state the structure has an acceptable level of seismic safety. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The cause of unproportionately large higher mode contributions in the inelastic seismic responses of high‐rise core‐wall buildings

In the conventional seismic design of high‐rise reinforced concrete core‐wall buildings, the design demands such as design shear and bending moment in the core wall are typically determined by the response spectrum analysis procedure, and a plastic hinge is allowed to form at the wall base to limit the seismic demands. In this study, it is demonstrated by using a 40‐story core‐wall building that this conventional approach could lead to an unsafe design where the true demands—the maximum inelastic seismic demands induced by the maximum considered earthquake—could be several times greater than the design demands and be unproportionately dominated by higher vibration modes. To identify the cause of this problem, the true demands are decomposed into individual modal contributions by using the uncoupled modal response history analysis procedure. The results show that the true demands contributed by the first mode are reasonably close to the first‐mode design demands, while those contributed by other higher modes are much higher than the corresponding modal design demands. The flexural yielding in the plastic hinge at the wall base can effectively suppress the seismic demands of the first mode. For other higher modes, however, a similar yielding mechanism is either not fully mobilized or not mobilized at all, resulting in unexpectedly large contributions from higher modes. This finding suggests several possible approaches to improve the seismic design and to suppress the seismic demands of high‐rise core‐wall buildings. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An evaluation of the ductility reduction factor q in the 1976 regulations for the federal district of mexico

The reduction of the spectral accelerations to account for inelastic response of structures as given by the 1976 Regulations for the Federal District of Mexico is evaluated relative to the records obtained at the Secretaria de Communicaciones y Transportes (SCT) during the September 19, 1985 Mexico earthquake. It is concluded that the 1976 Regulations do not treat all types of structural systems equally. On a relative basis the 1976 Regulations provide less protection for those structures designed to larger values of ductility factors. This could have contributed, together with other characteristics of the ground motions and construction practices, to the heavy damage of highrise buildings in Mexico City.     

震后典型建筑物倒塌分类及救援特点分析

震后建筑物倒塌造成人员埋压,快速的搜索与营救是有效减少伤亡的重要途径之一。本文通过研究震后典型建筑物倒塌类型,从建筑物垂直和水平破坏角度出发,提出一套三级分类体系,并对每类倒塌建筑物的受力及生存空间进行讨论。同时结合大量文献及汶川地震救援案例资料,重点分析总结各类建筑物救援时的路线选择、救援通道建立、被困人员施救等技术特点。     

高层钢结构基于均匀损伤设计的整体抗震能力提高方法

本文主要研究如何通过合理设计来提高高层钢结构的整体抗震能力。首先,给出了高层钢结构的非线性计算模型;其次,建立了高层钢结构在强地震动作用下的倒塌失效模式的极限状态判别准则;然后,通过模态pushover分析,研究了高层钢结构在水平地震作用下的损伤规律;最后,重点研究了高层钢结构的整体抗震能力的提高方法,提出了均匀损伤的设计方法,该方法通过消除结构的薄弱层,来达到提高高层钢结构的整体抗震能力的目的。通过对两栋20层的高层钢框架结构进行极限时程分析和极限pushover分析,验证了文中提出的均匀损伤的设计方法的可行性。本文的工作可为高层钢结构的抗地震倒塌设计提供参考依据。     

Seismic vulnerability of reinforced concrete buildings with discontinuity in columns

Irregular reinforced concrete (RC) buildings constitute a significant portion of the existing housing stock. A common type of irregularity is in the form of discontinuity in the vertical framing elements, which can exacerbate their seismic vulnerability. The design guidelines available in seismic design codes essentially cater to only regular buildings, and the safety of such buildings, even when the other guidelines of the codes are followed, is doubtful. This article evaluates the vulnerability of RC frame buildings with discontinuity in columns designed for modern seismic codes, in the form of seismic collapse capacity, collapse resistance against maximum earthquake demand level, and failure mechanism. The adequacy and limitations of the provisions of the seismic design codes are evaluated for such buildings. Analysis results show that the sequential analysis of buildings considering the construction staged effects, considerably affects the design and hence the collapse failure mechanism of even low- and mid-rise buildings. The results also underline the importance of strong column–weak beam design in the seismic performance of the floating column buildings. The vertical component of ground motion is also observed to be relatively more crucial in floating column buildings.