Experimental and analytical study on pounding reduction of base‐isolated highway bridges using MR dampers

Pounding between adjacent superstructures has been a major cause of highway bridge damage in the past several earthquakes. This paper presents an experimental and analytical study on pounding reduction of highway bridges subjected to earthquake ground motions by using magnetorheological (MR) dampers. An analytical model, which incorporates structural pounding and MR dampers, is developed. A series of shaking table tests on a 1:20 scaled base‐isolated bridge model are performed to investigate the effects of pounding between adjacent superstructures on the dynamics of the structures. Based on the test results, the parameters of the linear and the nonlinear viscoelastic impact models are identified. Performance of the semiactive system for reducing structural pounding is also investigated experimentally, in which the MR dampers are used in conjunction with the proposed control strategy, to verify the effectiveness of the MR dampers. Structural responses are also simulated by using the established analytical model and compared with the shaking table test results. The results show that pounding between adjacent superstructures of the highway bridge significantly increases the structural acceleration responses. For the base‐isolated bridge model considered here, the semiactive control system with MR dampers effectively precludes pounding. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Experimental and theoretical simulations of seismic poundings between two adjacent structures

Shaking table tests have been carried out to investigate the pounding phenomenon between two steel towers of different natural frequencies and damping ratios, subject to different combinations of stand‐off distance and seismic excitations. Both harmonic waves and ground motions of the 1940 El Centro earthquake are used as input. Subjected to sinusoidal excitations, poundings between the two towers could appear as either periodic or chaotic. For periodic poundings, impact normally occurs once within each excitation cycle or within every other excitation cycle. A type of periodic group poundings was also observed for the first time (i.e. a group of non‐periodic poundings repeating themselves periodically). Chaotic motions develop when the difference of the natural frequency of the two towers become larger. Under sinusoidal excitations, the maximum relative impact velocity always develops at an excitation frequency between the natural frequencies of the two towers. Both analytical and numerical predictions of the relative impact velocity, the maximum stand‐off distance, and the excitation frequency range for pounding occurrences were made and found to be comparable with the experimental observations in most of the cases. The stand‐off distance attains a maximum when the excitation frequency is close to that of the more flexible tower. Pounding appears to amplify the response of the stiffer structure but suppress that of the more flexible structure; and this agrees qualitatively with previous shaking table tests and theoretical studies. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

地震作用下隔震简支梁桥碰撞反应的振动台试验

由地震引发的碰撞是影响桥梁地震反应以及造成桥梁破坏的重要因素。本文对地震作用下隔震简支梁桥的碰撞反应进行了振动台试验。设计制作1个两跨简支的隔震梁桥模型,试验研究了梁间隙、邻梁质量比、隔震支座类型等参数对桥梁碰撞反应的影响。试验结果表明邻梁间隙、邻梁质量比、隔震支座类型等参数对桥梁的碰撞反应有着显著的影响。邻梁间隙越大,碰撞次数越少;邻梁质量比越大,撞击力越大。铅芯橡胶支座比板式橡胶支座耗能能力更强,可以有效降低邻梁之间的撞击力甚至避免碰撞发生。从而为桥梁防碰撞设计提供了可靠的试验依据。     

Relaxation method for pounding action between adjacent buildings at expansion joint

Earthquake‐induced structural pounding frequently causes serious damage to buildings, particularly at the expansion joint (hereafter, EXPJ) between adjacent buildings. Because the EXPJ width in existing reinforced concrete buildings is usually very small, typically about 5 cm for school buildings in Japan, collision avoidance cannot be achieved by seismic retrofitting. This paper presents an experimental investigation into an effective method for reducing severe structural damage due to pounding at the EXPJ between narrowly separated buildings. The method involves inserting a shock‐absorbing material such as rubber into the EXPJ gap. The efficiency of the proposed method is evaluated by laboratory shaking tests using two model buildings. Furthermore, a lumped mass model is used to carry out a collision analysis in order to numerically investigate the influence of such a shock‐absorbing material. Both the numerical and experimental results confirm the effectiveness of the proposed approach. The validity of the proposed method is also demonstrated by numerical simulation of adjacent 10‐story steel buildings with an EXPJ width of 5 cm. The force, acceleration and velocity produced by earthquake‐induced structural pounding are found to be remarkably mitigated by inserting a soft shock‐absorbing material into the EXPJ gap. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Damage‐based seismic planar pounding analysis of adjacent symmetric buildings considering inelastic structure–soil–structure interaction

In cities and urban areas, building structures located at close proximities inevitably interact under dynamic loading by direct pounding and indirectly through the underlying soil. Majority of the previous adjacent building pounding studies that have taken the structure–soil–structure interaction (SSSI) problem into account have used simple lumped mass–spring–dashpot models under plane strain conditions. In this research, the problem of SSSI‐included pounding problem of two adjacent symmetric in plan buildings resting on a soft soil profile excited by uniaxial earthquake loadings is investigated. To this end, a series of SSSI models considering one‐directional nonlinear impact elements between adjacent co‐planar stories and using a method for direct finite element modeling of 3D inelastic underlying soil volume has been developed to accurately study the problem. An advanced inelastic structural behavior parameter, the seismic damage index, has been considered in this study as the key nonlinear structural response of adjacent buildings. Based on the results of SSSI and fixed base case analyses presented herein, two main problems are investigated, namely, the minimum building separation distance for pounding prevention and seismic pounding effects on structural damage in adjacent buildings. The final results show that at least three times, the International Building Code 2009 minimum distance for building separation recommended value is required as a clear distance for adjacent symmetric buildings to prevent the occurrence of seismic pounding. At the International Building Code‐recommended distance, adjacent buildings experienced severe seismic pounding and therefore significant variations in storey shear forces and damage indices. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Analytical prediction of experimental building pounding

Valuable insights on the problem of seismic pounding have been obtained recently from analytical studies. So far, the proposed analytical models have not been validated experimentally. This paper presents the results of shake table tests of pounding between adjacent three- and eight-storey single-bay steel framed model structures. The pounding response of the frames was measured for various earthquake intensities and initial separations. The experimental results were compared to the predictions resulting from two existing pounding analysis programs. The solution strategy of the first program, SLAM-2, is based on a modal superposition technique. The second program, PC-ANSR, is a non-linear time-step analysis code in which an elastic gap element has been included. Modelling the pounding effect by elastic gap elements in the two programs produced accurate displacement and impact force results. Amplitudes of short acceleration pulses were not well predicted, however, for practical time-step increments. Relative rotations between adjacent floors induced grinding contacts which cannot be captured by uni-axial gap elements.     

A phenomenological contact‐element model considering slight non‐uniform contact for pounding analysis of highway bridges under seismic excitations

Impact stiffness is an important parameter of the contact‐element models for the analysis and prediction of the pounding responses of highway bridges subjected to seismic excitations. This paper presents a pounding experiment to investigate the inconsistencies between the theoretical and experimental values of the impact stiffness both for the linear impact model and Kelvin impact model presented in literature. The analysis of the impact acceleration and acoustic emission signals indicates that accelerometer performance and the non‐uniform pounding are two important factors that affect the pounding responses. Based on this observation, a phenomenological contact‐element model is proposed based on the actual contact state of highway bridges during the impact. To evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed impact model, a numerical simulation is subsequently conducted. A comparison of the results indicates that the proposed impact model can effectively predict the pounding responses of highway bridges. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Experimental study of a highway bridge with shape memory alloy restrainers focusing on the mitigation of unseating and pounding

This paper presents an experimental study to investigate the performance of shape memory alloy(SMA) restrainers for mitigating the pounding and unseating of highway bridges when subjected to seismic excitations.Mechanical property tests of the SMA wire used in the restrainers are conducted first to understand the pseudo-elastic characteristics of the material.Then,a series of shaking table tests are carried out on a highway bridge model.The structural responses of the highway bridge model equipped with SMA restrainers,installed in the form of deck-deck and deck-pile connections,are analyzed and compared with the uncontrolled structures.The test results of this study indicate that the SMA restrainers are not only effective in preventing unseating but also in suppressing the seismic-induced pounding of the highway bridge model used in this study.     

Earthquake simulator testing of pounding between adjacent buildings

Two-storey-building frames have been designed and built in an effort to investigate the pounding phenomenon of adjacent buildings during earthquakes. Static tests have been first performed to determine the static characteristics and the support conditions of the test structures. Sinusoidal and random acceleration signal tests have been subsequently performed to determine the dynamic characteristics of the test structures. Two series of tests were carried out using the shaking table simulator. In the first case, the dynamic response has been recorded without pounding, while in the second case, the test structures have been placed with zero-gap separation and pounding was induced. Input energy time histories were correlated and compared with and without pounding. The experimental results were compared with analytical ones based on a formulation of the contact impact problem by the Lagrange multiplier method. Good agreement between the experimental and the analytical results was achieved.     

Performance improvement studies of masonry houses using elastic post‐tensioning straps

Unreinforced masonry houses are composed of building blocks with weak inter‐binding action between them which commonly possess low tensile strength. The principal tensile stresses generated by out‐of‐plane bending and in‐plane shear forces cannot be tolerated well and leads to heavy structural damage and brittle collapse beyond linear capacity of the material. Remedies such as externally applied mesh reinforcement and post‐tensioning improves post and pre‐cracking performances; however, yielding of reinforcement material or shortening of walls due to cracking causes loss of integrity and post‐tensioning force. This paper discusses a research programme on earthquake strengthening of masonry houses using post‐tensioning by elastomeric straps and related shaking table tests on 1/10 scale single storey rural dwelling models. The aim of the study is to assess the use and effectiveness of post‐tensioning rubber straps at several different configurations especially for houses with heavy earth roofs supported on wooden logs. Full‐scale application can be conducted using scrap automobile tyres, which might be implemented as an economic and environment friendly alternative strengthening technique for poor residents of low‐cost dwellings. The performance and validity of the proposed strengthening techniques were tested on 1/10 scale models using a simplistic shaking table. The structural performance of the reinforced models with vertical post‐tensioning rubber straps was significantly improved as compared to the original specimen; the results were even better when vertical and horizontal straps were used. Obtained results show promise for seismic strengthening using rubber straps for post‐tensioning. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

形状记忆合金橡胶对高架桥梁碰撞减震效果的试验研究

地震作用下,高架桥梁相邻主梁间的碰撞会引起结构位移和加速度响应增大、应力提高,导致混凝土开裂、脱落和伸缩缝被挤压破坏,甚至引发桥梁落梁和倒塌等,因此采取减轻或者避免桥梁结构在地震作用下碰撞的措施显得尤为必要。设计制备了具有变形自恢复能力的形状记忆合金橡胶碰撞缓冲器,通过桥梁地震碰撞的振动台试验,研究了形状记忆合金橡胶缓冲器对桥梁碰撞的控制效果,提出了碰撞缓冲器吸能效率和结构自身耗能控制率指标。研究表明,形状记忆合金橡胶碰撞缓冲器具有稳定的吸能效率,能够大幅度降低桥梁结构碰撞加速度和碰撞力,这对于提高城市交通网络的地震安全性能具有重要意义。     

Experimental simulation of base‐isolated buildings pounding against moat wall and effects on superstructure response

Base‐isolated buildings are typically important facilities expected to remain functional after a major earthquake. However, their behavior under extreme ground shaking is not well understood. A series of earthquake simulator experiments were performed to assess performance limit states of seismically isolated buildings under strong ground motions, including pounding against a moat wall. The test setup consists of a quarter scale three‐story frame isolated at the base with friction pendulum bearings and a moat wall model. An effort was made to properly scale the strength and the stiffness of the frame relative to the bearings properties from a professionally designed isolated three‐story steel intermediate moment‐resisting frame so that realistic yielding mechanisms can be observed. The moat wall was modeled as either a rigid triangle steel stopper or a concrete wall of various thicknesses with soil backfill. The moat wall gap was set to various displacement increments to examine the sensitivity of this parameter and also to assess the effects of impact on the superstructure at different velocities. The test results indicate that the contact forces are largely dependent on the gap distance, impact velocity and wall flexibility and, in extreme cases, pounding can induce yielding in the superstructure. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An analytical model of a deformable cantilever structure rocking on a rigid surface: experimental validation

This paper describes an experimental program to examine the dynamic response of deformable cantilevers rocking on a rigid surface. The primary goal of the tests is to verify and validate a dynamic rocking model that describes the behavior of these structures. The benchmark response data was obtained from shaking‐table tests on deformable rocking specimens with different natural vibration frequencies and different aspect ratios excited by analytical pulses and recorded ground motions. The responses computed using the model are found to be in good agreement with the benchmark test results. Widely used impact, restitution and damping assumptions are revisited based on the experiment results and the analytical model findings. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Performance of base‐isolated reinforced concrete buildings under bidirectional seismic excitation considering pounding with retaining walls including friction effects

Seismic pounding of base‐isolated buildings has been mostly studied in the past assuming unidirectional excitation. Therefore, in this study, the effects of seismic pounding on the response of base‐isolated reinforced concrete buildings under bidirectional excitation are investigated. For this purpose, a three‐dimensional finite element model of a code‐compliant four‐story building is considered, where a newly developed contact element that accounts for friction and is capable of simulating pounding with retaining walls at the base, is used. Nonlinear behavior of the superstructure as well as the isolation system is considered. The performance of the building is evaluated separately for far‐fault non‐pulse‐like ground motions and near‐fault pulse‐like ground motions, which are weighted scaled to represent two levels of shaking viz. the design earthquake (DE) level and the risk‐targeted maximum considered earthquake (MCE_R) level. Nonlinear time‐history analyses are carried out considering lower bound as well as upper bound properties of isolators. The influence of separation distance between the building and the retaining walls at the base is also investigated. It is found that if pounding is avoided, the performance of the building is satisfactory in terms of limiting structural and nonstructural damage, under DE‐level motions and MCE_R‐level far‐fault motions, whereas unacceptably large demands are imposed by MCE_R‐level near‐fault motions. In the case of seismic pounding, MCE_R‐level near‐fault motions are found to be detrimental, where the effect of pounding is mostly concentrated at the first story. In addition, it is determined that considering unidirectional excitation instead of bidirectional excitation for MCE_R‐level near‐fault motions provides highly unconservative estimates of superstructure demands. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Shake table tests of structures subject to pounding

Pounding between adjacent structures during earthquakes may significantly modify their response in terms of forces and displacements. In addition, it has a considerable influence on acceleration and thus on floor response spectra. Therefore, pounding may be unfavorable to the response of equipment. Despite extensive research in this field, the effects of pounding on structures are difficult to quantify accurately. This article presents results of shake table tests carried out on two representative scale adjacent structures subject to pounding. Besides investigating the effects of the gap between structures and the excitation signal, this study examines also the effect of tying the two structures together by means of rigid links to suppress pounding. The results of the experimental campaign are then compared with those of numerical simulations. Analyses and experimental results show good agreement regarding both impact forces and interstorey drifts.     

Shaking table tests on dome‐roof adobe houses

This paper presents the results of an experimental work in order to evaluate the performance of a novel proposed retrofitting technique on a typical dome‐roof adobe building by shaking table tests. For this purpose, two specimens, scaled 2:3, were subjected to a total of nine shaking table tests. The unretrofitted specimen, constructed by common practice, is designed to evaluate seismic performance and vulnerability of dome‐roof adobe houses. The retrofitted specimen, exactly duplicating the first specimen, is retrofitted based on the results obtained from unretrofitted specimen tests, and the improvement in seismic behavior of the structure is investigated. Zarand earthquake (2005) Chatrood Station is selected as the input ground motion that was applied consecutively at 25, 100, 125, 150 and 175% of the design‐level excitation. At 125% excitation level, the roof of the unretofitted specimen collapsed due to the walls' out‐of‐plane action and imbalanced forces. The retrofitting elements consist of eight horizontal steel rods drilled into the walls, passed through the specimen and bolted on the opposite wall surfaces. To improve walls in‐plane seismic performance, welded steel mesh without using mortar, covered less than half area of walls on the external face of the walls, is used. In addition to strain gauges for recording steel rod responses, several instrumentations including acceleration and displacement transducers are implemented to capture response time histories of different parts of the specimens. The corresponding full‐scaled retrofitted prototype tolerated peak acceleration of 0.62 g almost without any serious damage. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A Hertz contact model with non‐linear damping for pounding simulation

This paper investigates the cogency of various impact models in capturing the seismic pounding response of adjacent structures. The analytical models considered include the contact force‐based linear spring, Kelvin and Hertz models, and the restitution‐based stereomechanical approach. In addition, a contact model based on the Hertz law and using a non‐linear hysteresis damper (Hertzdamp model) is also introduced for pounding simulation. Simple analytical approaches are presented to determine the impact stiffness parameters of the various contact models. Parameter studies are performed using two degree‐of‐freedom linear oscillators to determine the effects of impact modelling strategy, system period ratio, peak ground acceleration (PGA) and energy loss during impact on the system responses. A suite of 27 ground motion records from 13 different earthquakes is used in the analysis. The results indicate that the system displacements from the stereomechanical, Kelvin and Hertzdamp models are similar for a given coefficient of restitution, despite using different impact methodologies. Pounding increases the responses of the stiffer system, especially for highly out‐of‐phase systems. Energy loss during impact is more significant at higher levels of PGA. Based on the findings, the Hertz model provides adequate results at low PGA levels, and the Hertzdamp model is recommended at moderate and high PGA levels. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Shaking table tests on reinforced concrete frames without and with passive control systems

An extensive experimental program of shaking table tests on reduced‐scale structural models was carried out within the activities of the MANSIDE project, for the development of new seismic isolation and energy dissipation devices based on shape memory alloys (SMAs). The aim of the experimental program was to compare the behaviour of structures endowed with innovative SMA‐based devices to the behaviour of conventional structures and of structures endowed with currently used passive control systems. This paper presents a comprehensive overview of the main results of the shaking table tests carried out on the models with and without special braces. Two different types of energy dissipating and re‐centring braces have been considered to enhance the seismic performances of the tested model. They are based on the hysteretic properties of steel elements and on the superelastic properties of SMAs, respectively. The addition of passive control braces in the reinforced concrete frame resulted in significant benefits on the overall seismic behaviour. The seismic intensity producing structural collapse was considerably raised, interstorey drifts and shear forces in columns were drastically reduced. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A substructure shaking table test for reproduction of earthquake responses of high‐rise buildings

When subjected to long‐period ground motions, high‐rise buildings' upper floors undergo large responses. Furniture and nonstructural components are susceptible to significant damage in such events. This paper proposes a full‐scale substructure shaking table test to reproduce large floor responses of high‐rise buildings. The response at the top floor of a virtual 30‐story building model subjected to a synthesized long‐period ground motion is taken as a target wave for reproduction. Since a shaking table has difficulties in directly reproducing such large responses due to various capacity limitations, a rubber‐and‐mass system is proposed to amplify the table motion. To achieve an accurate reproduction of the floor responses, a control algorithm called the open‐loop inverse dynamics compensation via simulation (IDCS) algorithm is used to generate a special input wave for the shaking table. To implement the IDCS algorithm, the model matching method and the H_∞ method are adopted to construct the controller. A numerical example is presented to illustrate the open‐loop IDCS algorithm and compare the performance of different methods of controller design. A series of full‐scale substructure shaking table tests are conducted in E‐Defense to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method and examine the seismic behavior of furniture. The test results demonstrate that the rubber‐and‐mass system is capable of amplifying the table motion by a factor of about 3.5 for the maximum velocity and displacement, and the substructure shaking table test can reproduce the large floor responses for a few minutes. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.