Seismic retrofitting of reinforced concrete frame structures using GFRP-tube-confined-concrete composite braces

This paper presents a new type of structural bracing intended for seismic retrofitting use in framed structures. This special composite brace,termed glass-fiber-reinforced-polymer(GFRP)-tube-confined-concrete composite brace,is comprised of concrete confined by a GFRP tube and an inner steel core for energy dissipation.Together with a contribution from the GFRP-tube confined concrete,the composite brace shows a substantially increased stiffness to control story drift, which is often a preferred feature in seismic retrofitting.An analysis model is established and implemented in a general finite element analysis program-OpenSees,for simulating the load-displacement behavior of the composite brace.Using this model,a parametric study of the hysteretic behavior(energy dissipation,stiffness,ductility and strength)of the composite brace was conducted under static cyclic loading and it was found that the area ratio of steel core to concrete has the greatest influence among all the parameters considered.To demonstrate the application of the composite brace in seismic retrofitting, a three-story nonductile reinforced concrete(RC)frame structure was retrofitted with the composite braces.Pushover analysis and nonlinear time-history analyses of the retrofitted RC frame structure was performed by employing a suite of 20 strong ground motion earthquake records.The analysis results show that the composite braces can effectively reduce the peak seismic responses of the RC frame structure without significantly increasing the base shear demand.     

Seismic performance and damage evaluation of a reinforced concrete frame with hysteretic dampers through shake‐table tests

Passive energy dissipation devices are increasingly implemented in frame structures to improve their performance under seismic loading. Most guidelines for designing this type of system retain the requirements applicable to frames without dampers, and this hinders taking full advantage of the benefits of implementing dampers. Further, assessing the extent of damage suffered by the frame and by the dampers for different levels of seismic hazard is of paramount importance in the framework of performance‐based design. This paper presents an experimental investigation whose objectives are to provide empirical data on the response of reinforced concrete (RC) frames equipped with hysteretic dampers (dynamic response and damage) and to evaluate the need for the frame to form a strong column‐weak beam mechanism and dissipate large amounts of plastic strain energy. To this end, shake‐table tests were conducted on a 2/5‐scale RC frame with hysteretic dampers. The frame was designed only for gravitational loads. The dampers provided lateral strength and stiffness, respectively, three and 12 times greater than those of the frame. The test structure was subjected to a sequence of seismic simulations that represented different levels of seismic hazard. The RC frame showed a performance level of ‘immediate occupancy’, with maximum rotation demands below 20% of the ultimate capacity. The dampers dissipated most of the energy input by the earthquake. It is shown that combining hysteretic dampers with flexible reinforced concrete frames leads to structures with improved seismic performance and that requirements of conventional RC frames (without dampers) can be relieved. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Seismic response control of frame structures using magnetorheological/electrorheological dampers

Semi‐active control of buildings and structures for earthquake hazard mitigation represents a relatively new research area. Two optimal displacement control strategies for semi‐active control of seismic response of frame structures using magnetorheological (MR) dampers or electrorheological (ER) dampers are proposed in this study. The efficacy of these displacement control strategies is compared with the optimal force control strategy. The stiffness of brace system supporting the smart damper is also taken into consideration. An extensive parameter study is carried out to find the optimal parameters of MR or ER fluids, by which the maximum reduction of seismic response may be achieved, and to assess the effects of earthquake intensity and brace stiffness on damper performance. The work on example buildings showed that the installation of the smart dampers with proper parameters and proper control strategy could significantly reduce seismic responses of structures, and the performance of the smart damper is better than that of the common brace or the passive devices. The optimal parameters of the damper and the proper control strategy could be identified through a parameter study. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Seismic retrofit of reinforced concrete frames using buckling‐restrained braces with bearing block load transfer mechanism

A new method of retrofitting reinforced concrete (RC) frames with buckling‐restrained braces (BRBs) to improve frame strength, stiffness and energy dissipation is proposed. Instead of typical post‐installed anchors, load is transferred between the BRB and RC frame through compression bearing between an installed steel frame connected to the BRB, and high‐strength mortar blocks constructed at the four corners of the RC frame. This avoids complex on‐site anchor installation, and does not limit the allowable brace force by the anchor strength. Cyclic displacements of increasing amplitudes were imposed on two RC frame specimens retrofitted with different BRB strength capacities. In one of the frames, the bearing blocks were reinforced with wire mesh to mitigate cracking. A third RC frame was also tested as a benchmark to evaluate the retrofit strength and stiffness enhancements. Test results indicate that the proposed method efficiently transferred loads between the BRBs and RC frames, increasing the frame lateral strength while achieving good ductility and energy‐dissipating capacity. When the bearing block was reinforced with wire mesh, the maximum frame lateral strength and stiffness were more than 2.2 and 3.5 times the RC frame without the BRB respectively. The BRB imposes additional shear demands through the bearing blocks to both ends of the RC beam and column member discontinuity regions (D‐regions). The softened strut‐and‐tie model satisfactorily estimated the shear capacities of the D‐regions. A simplified calculation and a detailed PISA3D analysis were shown to effectively predict member demands to within 13.8% difference of the measured test results. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Linear‐elastic lateral load analysis and seismic design of pin‐supported wall‐frame structures with yielding dampers

This paper describes an analytical investigation on a reinforced concrete lateral load resisting structural system comprising a pin‐supported (base‐rocking) shear wall coupled with a moment frame on 1 or both sides of the wall. Yielding dampers are used to provide supplemental energy dissipation through the relative displacements at the vertical connections between the wall and the frames. The study extends a previous linear‐elastic model for pin‐supported wall‐frame structures by including the effects of the dampers. A closed‐form solution of the lateral load behavior of the structure is derived by approximating the discrete wall‐frame‐damper interactions with distributed (ie, continuous) properties. The validity of the model is verified by comparing the closed‐form results with computational models using OpenSees program. Then, a parametric analysis is conducted to investigate the effects of the wall, frame, and damper stiffness on the behavior of the structure. It is found that the damper stiffness significantly affects the distribution of shear forces and bending moments over the wall height. Finally, the performance‐based plastic design approach extended to the wall‐frame‐damper system is proposed. Case studies are carried out to design 2 damped pin‐supported wall‐frame structures using the proposed approach. Nonlinear dynamic time‐history analyses are conducted to verify the effectiveness of this method. Results indicate that the designed structures can achieve the performance level with the story drift ratios less than target values, and weak‐story failure mechanism is not observed. The approach can be used in engineering applications.     

粘弹性阻尼器对建筑结构非线性地震反应的控制

粘弹性阻尼器是抗震被动控制中一十分有效的耗能减震装置,本文４推导了粘弹性阻尼器和斜支撑的组合间单元刚度矩阵,并建立了在罕遇地震作用下,设置粘弹性阻尼器斜支撑的钢筋混凝土框架结构非线性地震反应时程分析的方法。     

A displacement‐based seismic design procedure for RC buildings and comparison with EC8

A procedure for displacement‐based seismic design (DBD) of reinforced concrete buildings is described and applied to a 4‐storey test structure. The essential elements of the design procedure are: (a) proportioning of members for gravity loads; (b) estimation of peak inelastic member deformation demands in the so‐designed structure due to the design (‘life‐safety’) earthquake; (c) revision of reinforcement and final detailing of members to meet these inelastic deformation demands; (d) capacity design of members and joints in shear. Additional but non‐essential steps between (a) and (b) are: (i) proportioning of members for the ULS against lateral loads, such as wind or a serviceability (‘immediate occupancy’) earthquake; and (ii) capacity design of columns in flexure at joints. Inelastic deformation demands in step (b) are estimated from an elastic analysis using secant‐to‐yield member stiffnesses. Empirical expressions for the deformation capacity of RC elements are used for the final proportioning of elements to meet the inelastic deformation demands. The procedure is applied to one side of a 4‐storey test structure that includes a coupled wall and a two‐bay frame. The other side is designed and detailed according to Eurocode 8. Major differences result in the reinforcement of the two sides, with significant savings on the DBD‐side. Pre‐test calculations show no major difference in the seismic performance of the two sides of the test structure. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

设置斜撑粘弹性阻尼器框架结构空间协同工作分析方法的控制研究

粘弹性阻尼器（ved）是抗震被动控制中一种十分有效的耗能减震装置。本文根据粘弹性阻尼材料的应力－应变关系，推导了粘弹性阻尼器和人字型支撑的组合层间单元刚度矩阵及单元控制力向量；并基于框架结构的空间特性，建立了设置斜撑Ved框架结构在考虑空间协同分析的基础上地震反应时程分析的控制方法；最后，应用本文的方法，对设置Ved斜支撑后钢筋混凝土框架结构进行了结构地震反应时程分析，并根据计算结果对其减震效果进行了分析讨论。     

基于FEA的填充墙与隔震器协同抗震系统性能分析

隔震器与填充墙对建筑抗震性能有很大作用。为了探究填充墙布置形式及填充材料和隔震器协同作用对钢筋混凝土框架结构动力特性及抗震性能的影响,采用等效斜撑理论,对3种不同填充墙布置形式与隔震器协同作用的抗震系统方案进行对比分析,研究发现顶层不布置填充墙与隔震器协同抗震系统钢筋混凝土框架结构的抗震性能最佳。在此系统上分析了不同填充材料对钢筋混凝土框架结构抗震性能的影响,结果表明,加气混凝土砌块填充墙的钢筋混凝土框架结构抗震性能最好。     

Correlation studies on an RC frame shaking-table specimen

This paper presents the correlation of the results of a new model for the dynamic analysis of reinforced concrete (RC) frames with the experimental time history of a two storey RC frame shaking-table specimen. The frame member model consists of separate subelements that describe the deformations due to flexure, shear and bond slip in RC structural elements. The subelements are combined by superposition of flexibility matrices to form the frame element. A non-linear solution method which accounts for the unbalance of internal forces between different subelements during a given load increment is used with the model. The ability of the proposed model to describe the dynamic response of frame structures under earthquake excitations is evaluated by comparing the analytical results with experimental evidence from a two-storey, one bay reinforced concrete frame tested on the shaking-table. The model parameters for the shaking-table specimen are derived from available experimental evidence and first principles of reinforced concrete. The effect of reinforcing bar slip on the local and global dynamic response of the test structure is assessed. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Shaking table tests and numerical analyses of an RC coupled wall structure with replaceable coupling beams

The replaceable coupling beam (RCB) is an innovative structural component developed to increase the seismic resilience of reinforced concrete (RC) shear wall structures. In this study, two 1/5‐scale 5‐story 3‐dimensional RC shear wall structures—one with conventional RC coupling beams and the other with RCBs—were designed, constructed, and tested on a shaking table. The failure pattern, dynamic properties, and structural responses, including the acceleration, displacement, story force, and strain responses, of the 2 structures are compared under earthquake excitations. The test results demonstrate that the seismic performance of the structure with RCBs was improved when RCBs were working compared with the structure with conventional RC coupling beams. In addition, the replaceable devices suffering the severe damage during an earthquake can be conveniently replaced after the earthquake. However, after the sudden failure of RCBs during the severe earthquakes, the inter‐story drift and floor acceleration of the structure with RCBs became larger. The design and manufacture quality of RCBs should be improved to avoid the sudden failure. Then, numerical models for the test structures were established using the commercial software PERFORM‐3D. Numerical simulations of the tests were conducted. The simulation results correspond well with the experimental results, thus verifying the accuracy of the numerical models. The RC shear wall structure installed with RCBs can be applied as a new type of earthquake‐resilient structure in engineering practice.     

Large‐scale real‐time hybrid simulation of a three‐story steel frame building with magneto‐rheological dampers

A series of large‐scale real‐time hybrid simulations (RTHSs) are conducted on a 0.6‐scale 3‐story steel frame building with magneto‐rheological (MR) dampers. The lateral force resisting system of the prototype building for the study consists of moment resisting frames and damped brace frames (DBFs). The experimental substructure for the RTHS is the DBF with the MR dampers, whereas the remaining structural components of the building including the moment resisting frame and gravity frames are modeled via a nonlinear analytical substructure. Performing RTHS with an experimental substructure that consists of the complete DBF enables the effects of member and connection component deformations on system and damper performance to be accurately accounted for. Data from these tests enable numerical simulation models to be calibrated, provide an understanding and validation of the in‐situ performance of MR dampers, and a means of experimentally validating performance‐based seismic design procedures for real structures. The details of the RTHS procedure are given, including the test setup, the integration algorithm, and actuator control. The results from a series of RTHS are presented that includes actuator control, damper behavior, and the structural response for different MR control laws. The use of the MR dampers is experimentally demonstrated to reduce the response of the structure to strong ground motions. Comparisons of the RTHS results are made with numerical simulations. Based on the results of the study, it is concluded that RTHS can be conducted on realistic structural systems with dampers to enable advancements in resilient earthquake resistant design to be achieved. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Development of elasto-plastic viscous damper finite element model for reinforced concrete frames

By advancing the technologies regarding seismic control of structures and development of earthquake resistance systems in the past decades application of different types of earthquake energy dissipation system has incredibly increased. Viscous damper device as a famous and the simplest earthquake energy dissipation system is implemented in many new structures and numerous number of researches have been done on the performance of viscous dampers in structures subjected to earthquake. The experience of recent severe earthquakes indicates that sometimes the earthquake energy dissipation devices are damaged during earthquakes and there is no function for structural control system. So, damage of earthquake energy dissipation systems such as viscous damper device must be considered during design of earthquake resistance structures.This paper demonstrates the development of three-dimensional elasto-plastic viscous damper element consisting of elastic damper in the middle part and two plastic hinges at both ends of the element which are compatible with the constitutive model to reinforce concrete structures and are capable to detect failure and damage in viscous damper device connections during earthquake excitation. The finite element model consists of reinforced concrete frame element and viscous damper element is developed and special finite element algorithm using Newmark׳s direct step-by-step integration is developed for inelastic dynamic analysis of structure with supplementary elasto-plastic viscous damper element. So based on all the developed components an especial finite computer program has been codified for “Nonlinear Analysis of Reinforced Concrete Buildings with Earthquake Energy Dissipation System”. The evaluation of seismic response of structure and damage detection in structural members and damper device was carried out by 3D modeling, of 3 story reinforced concrete frame building under earthquake multi-support excitation.     

Seismic health monitoring of RC frame structures using smart aggregates

Structural health monitoring of RC structures under seismic loads has recently attracted much attention in the earthquake engineering research community. In this study, a piezoceramic-based device called "smart aggregate" was used for the health monitoring of RC frame structures under earthquake excitations. Three RC moment frames instrumented with smart aggregates were tested using a shaketable with different ground excitation intensities. Distributed piezoceramic- based smart aggregates were embedded in the RC structures and used to monitor their health condition during the tests. The sensitivity and effectiveness of the proposed piezoceramic-based approach were investigated and evaluated by analyzing the measured responses. The displacement ductility demand of the structural members was calculated and compared with the damage index determined from the health monitoring system. The comparison shows that the damage index is compatible with the calculated ductility demand.     

Seismic behaviour of self‐centring braced frame buildings with reusable hysteretic damping brace

This paper presents the seismic behaviour of a concentrically braced frame system with self‐centring capability, in which a special type of bracing element termed reusable hysteretic damping brace (RHDB) is used. The RHDB is a passive energy dissipation device with its core energy‐dissipating component made of superelastic Nitinol wires. Compared with conventional bracing in steel structures, RHDB has a few prominent performance characteristics: damage free under frequent and design basis earthquakes in earthquake prone areas; minimal residual drifts due to the self‐centring capability of RHDB frame; and ability to survive several strong earthquakes without the need for repair or replacement. This paper also includes a brief discussion of the RHDB's mechanical configuration and analytical model for RHDB. The seismic performance study of RHDB frame was carried out through a non‐linear time history analysis of 3‐storey and 6‐storey RHDB frame buildings subjected to two suites of 20 earthquake ground motions. The analysis results were compared with buckling‐restrained brace (BRB) frames. This study shows that RHDB frame has a potential to outperform BRB frames by eliminating the residual drift problem. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Statistical performance analysis of seismic‐excited structures with active interaction control

This paper presents a statistical performance analysis of a semi‐active structural control system for suppressing the vibration response of building structures during strong seismic events. The proposed semi‐active mass damper device consists of a high‐frequency mass damper with large stiffness, and an actively controlled interaction element that connects the mass damper to the structure. Through actively modulating the operating states of the interaction elements according to pre‐specified control logic, vibrational energy in the structure is dissipated in the mass damper device and the vibration of the structure is thus suppressed. The control logic, categorized under active interaction control, is defined directly in physical space by minimizing the inter‐storey drift of the structure to the maximum extent. This semi‐active structural control approach has been shown to be effective in reducing the vibration response of building structures due to specific earthquake ground motions. To further evaluate the control performance, a Monte Carlo simulation of the seismic response of a three‐storey steel‐framed building model equipped with the proposed semi‐active mass damper device is performed based on a large ensemble of artificially generated earthquake ground motions. A procedure for generating code‐compatible artificial earthquake accelerograms is also briefly described. The results obtained clearly demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed semi‐active mass damper device in controlling vibrations of building structures during large earthquakes. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Inelastic response analysis of reinforced concrete structures using modified force analogy method

A modified force analogy method (MFAM) is developed to simulate the nonlinear inelastic response of reinforced concrete (RC) structures. Beam–column elements with three different plastic mechanisms are utilized to simulate inelastic response caused by moment and shear force. A multi‐linear hysteretic model is implemented to simulate the nonlinear inelastic response of RC member. The P‐Δ effect of the structure is also addressed in MFAM. Static and dynamic inelastic response of structure, damage condition and failure type for structural element, structural limit state and collapse time can also be simulated using MFAM. Compared with the general algorithm, the MFAM provides less computational time especially in the case of large structural system. It is also easier to be written as computer program. Three test data groups, which include cyclic loading test data of a non‐ductile RC bridge column, a two‐storey RC frame, and dynamic collapse test data of a non‐ductile RC portal frame, are selected to confirm the effectiveness of applying MFAM to simulate the inelastic behaviour of structures. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Damage index based on stiffness degradation of low‐rise RC walls

Widely used damage indices, such as ductility and drift ratios, do not account for the influences of the duration of strong shaking, the cumulative inelastic deformation or energy dissipation in structures. In addition, the formulation and application of most damage indices have until now been based primarily on flexural modes of failure. However, evidence from earthquakes suggests that shear failure or combined shear‐flexure behavior is responsible for a large proportion of failures. Empirical considerations have been made in this paper for evaluating structural damage of low‐rise RC walls under earthquake ground motions by means of a new energy‐based low‐cycle fatigue damage index. The proposed empirical damage index is based on the results of an experimental program that comprised six shake table tests of RC solid walls and walls with openings; results of six companion walls tested under QS‐cyclic loading were used for comparison purposes. Variables studied were the wall geometry, type of concrete, web shear steel ratio, type of web shear reinforcement, and testing method. The index correlates the stiffness degradation and the destructiveness of the earthquake in terms of the duration and intensity of the ground motions. The stiffness degradation model considers simultaneously the increment of damage associated to the low‐cycle fatigue, energy dissipation, and the cumulative cyclic parameters, such as displacement demand and hysteretic energy dissipated. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Multiple‐slider surfaces bearing for seismic retrofitting of frame structures with soft first stories

A new isolation interface is proposed in this study to retrofit existing buildings with inadequate soft stories as well as new structures to be constructed with soft first story intended for architectural or functional purposes. The seismic interface is an assembly of bearings set in parallel on the top of the first story columns: the multiple‐slider bearings and rubber bearings. The multiple‐slider bearing is a simple sliding device consisting of one horizontal and two inclined plane sliding surfaces based on polytetrafluoroethylene and highly polished stainless steel interface at both ends set in series. A numerical example of a five‐story reinforced concrete shear frame with soft first story is considered and analyzed to demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed isolation system in reducing the ductility demand and damage in the structure while maintaining the superstructure above the bearings to behave nearly in the elastic range with controlled bearing displacement. Comparative study with the conventional system as well as various isolation systems such as rubber bearing interface and resilient sliding isolation is carried out. Moreover, an optimum design procedure for the multiple‐slider bearing is proposed through the trade‐off between the maximum bearing displacement and the first story ductility demand ratio. The results of extensive numerical analysis verify the effectiveness of the multiple‐slider bearing in minimizing the damage from earthquake and protecting the soft first story from excessively large ductility demand. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Seismic response analysis of reinforced concrete frames using inelasticity‐separated fiber beam‐column model

Evaluating the inelastic seismic response of structures accurately is of great importance in earthquake engineering and generally requires refined simulation, which is a time‐consuming process. Because the material nonlinearity generally occurs in a small part of the whole structure, many researches focus on taking advantage of this characteristic to improve the computational efficiency and the inelasticity‐separated finite element method (IS‐FEM) proposed recently provide a generic finite element formulation for solving this kind of problems efficiently. Although the fiber beam‐column element is widely used for the simulation of reinforced concrete (RC) framed structures, the inelastic deformation is often detected in a large part of the numerical model under earthquake excitation so that it is hard to achieve high efficient computation when applying the IS‐FEM to the inelastic response analysis of RC fiber models directly. In this paper, a new numerical scheme for seismic response analysis of RC framed structures model by fiber beam‐column element is proposed based on the IS‐FEM. To implement the RC fiber model for use in IS‐FEM and improve the computational performance of proposed scheme, a method of identifying the local domains with severe section inelasticity level is proposed and a modified Kent‐Park concrete material model is developed. Because the Woodbury formula is adopted as the solver, the global stiffness matrix can keep unchanged throughout the analysis and the main computational effort is only invested on a small matrix representing local inelastic behavior. The numerical examples demonstrate the validity and efficiency of the proposed scheme.