Estimation of fundamental periods of shear‐wall dominant building structures

Shear‐wall dominant multistorey reinforced concrete structures, constructed by using a special tunnel form technique are commonly built in countries facing a substantial seismic risk, such as Chile, Japan, Italy and Turkey. In spite of their high resistance to earthquake excitations, current seismic code provisions including the Uniform Building Code (International Conference of Building Officials, Whittier, CA, 1997) and the Turkish Seismic Code (Specification for Structures to be Built in Disaster Areas, Ankara, Turkey, 1998) present limited information for their design criteria. In this study, consistency of equations in those seismic codes related to their dynamic properties are investigated and it is observed that the given empirical equations for prediction of fundamental periods of this specific type of structures yield inaccurate results. For that reason, a total of 80 different building configurations were analysed by using three‐dimensional finite‐element modelling and a set of new empirical equations was proposed. The results of the analyses demonstrate that given formulas including new parameters provide accurate predictions for the broad range of different architectural configurations, roof heights and shear‐wall distributions, and may be used as an efficient tool for the implicit design of these structures. Copyright © 2003 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 displacement ratios for evaluation of existing structures

Results of a detailed statistical study of constant relative strength inelastic displacement ratios to estimate maximum lateral inelastic displacement demands on existing structures from maximum lateral elastic displacement demands are presented. These ratios were computed for single‐degree‐of‐freedom systems with different levels of lateral strength normalized to the strength required to remain elastic when subjected to a relatively large ensemble of recorded earthquake ground motions. Three groups of soil conditions with shear wave velocities higher than 180m/s are considered. The influence of period of vibration, level of lateral yielding strength, site conditions, earthquake magnitude, distance to the source, and strain‐hardening ratio are evaluated and discussed. Mean inelastic displacement ratios and those associated with various percentiles are presented. A special emphasis is given to the dispersion of these ratios. It is concluded that distance to the source has a negligible influence on constant relative strength inelastic displacement ratios. However, for periods smaller than 1s earthquake magnitude and soil conditions have a moderate influence on these ratios. Strain hardening decreases maximum inelastic displacement at a fairly constant rate depending on the level of relative strength for periods of vibration longer than about 1.0s while it decreases maximum inelastic displacement non‐linearly as the period of vibration shortens and as the relative‐strength ratio increases for periods of vibration shorter than 1.0s. Finally, results from non‐linear regression analyses are presented that provide a simplified expression to be used to approximate mean inelastic displacement ratios during the evaluation of existing structures built on firm sites. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Seismic response predictions of multi‐span steel bridges through pushover analysis

In the new trend of seismic design methodology, the static pushover analysis is recommended for simple or regular structures whilst the time‐history analysis is recommended for complex structures. To this end, the applicable range of the pushover analysis has to be clarified. This study aims at investigating the applicability of pushover analysis to multi‐span continuous bridge systems with thin‐walled steel piers. The focus is concentrated on the response demand predictions in longitudinal or transverse directions. The pushover analysis procedure for such structures is firstly summarized and then parametric studies are carried out on bridges with different types of superstructure‐pier bearing connections. The considered parameters, such as piers' stiffness distribution and pier–0.5ptdeck stiffness ratio, are varied to cover both regular and irregular structures. Finally, the relation of the applicability of pushover analysis to different structural formats is demonstrated and a criterion based on the higher modal contribution is proposed to quantitatively specify the applicable range. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Evaluating foundation mass,damping and stiffness by the least‐squares method

This paper discusses how to use the three‐dimensional (3D) time‐domain finite‐element method incorporating the least‐squares method to calculate the equivalent foundation mass, damping and stiffness matrices. Numerical simulations indicate that the accuracy of these equivalent matrices is acceptable when the applied harmonic force of 1+sine is used. Moreover, the accuracy of the least‐squares method using the 1+sine force is not sensitive to the first time step for inclusion of data. Since the finite‐element method can model problems flexibly, the equivalent mass, damping and stiffness matrices of very complicated soil profiles and foundations can be established without difficulty using this least‐squares method. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Seismic risk assessments and GIS technology: applications to infrastructures in the Friuli–Venezia Giulia region (NE Italy)

This paper illustrates the seismic risk preliminary estimates of two different groups of structures located on the territory of the Friuli–Venezia Giulia region (NE Italy) : the first group includes some special industrial plants, and the second group includes bridges and tunnels belonging to the regional highway network. The part of the study on special industrial plants tries to evaluate the degree of expected damage, taking into account their structural typology and ground shaking expressed in terms of macroseismic intensity. The second part of the study is an application of the HAZUS methodology to the tunnels and bridges of a highway network: the combination of expected ground shaking and the construction characteristics lead to very different risk levels, especially when considering the bridges. The resulting damage levels to bridges and tunnels are still only indicative because of the fragility curves used in the evaluations: they were developed for existing bridge and tunnel structural typologies in the U.S.A. Moreover, both examples show the power of GIS technology in storing, elaborating, and mapping spatial data. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cyclic tests on large‐scale models of existing bridge piers with rectangular hollow cross‐section

Cyclic tests on two large‐scale models of existing bridge piers with rectangular hollow cross‐section were performed in the ELSA laboratory. The prototype structure is an existing reinforced concrete highway bridge constructed in Austria in 1975. The piers presented several seismic deficiencies and consequently they showed poor hysteretic behaviour and limited deformation capacity as well as undesirable failure modes that do not comply with the requirements of modern codes for seismic‐resistant structures. Experimental data are compared to numerical and empirical predictions. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Evaluation of predictors of non‐linear seismic demands using ‘fishbone’ models of SMRF buildings

Predictors (or estimates) of seismic structural demands that are less computationally time‐consuming than non‐linear dynamic analysis can be useful for structural performance assessment and for design. In this paper, we evaluate the bias and precision of predictors that make use of, at most, (i) elastic modal vibration properties of the given structure, (ii) the results of a non‐linear static pushover analysis of the structure, and (iii) elastic and inelastic single‐degree‐of‐freedom time‐history analyses for the specified ground motion record. The main predictor of interest is an extension of first‐mode elastic spectral acceleration that additionally takes into account both the second‐mode contribution to (elastic) structural response and the effects of inelasticity. This predictor is evaluated with respect to non‐linear dynamic analysis results for ‘fishbone’ models of steel moment‐resisting frame (SMRF) buildings. The relatively small number of degrees of freedom for each fishbone model allows us to consider several short‐to‐long period buildings and numerous near‐ and far‐field earthquake ground motions of interest in both Japan and the U.S. Before doing so, though, we verify that estimates of the bias and precision of the predictor obtained using fishbone models are effectively equivalent to those based on typical ‘full‐frame’ models of the same buildings. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

地震荷载作用下温度和围压对冻土强度影响的试验研究

通过对重塑冻结兰州黄土的动三轴试验，较系统研究了地震荷载作用下冻土的动强度特性，并且定量研究了其在不同温度(-2℃、-5℃、-7℃)和围压(1MPa、3MPa、5MPa)条件下的变化规律．结果发现：冻结黄土的动抗剪强度随围压的增大、温度的降低、振次的减少而增大；动粘聚力Cd随振次的减小和温度的降低而增大；动内摩擦角吼随振次的增大和温度的降低而增大。     

非开挖导向钻进实际轨迹的控制设计

非开挖导向钻进技术，具有施工速度快、适用范围广等优点，得到了广泛的应用。在实际钻进中，由于钻进在地下的不确定性，影响了导向钻进的顺利进行。到得钻进中当前点的顶角、方位角和孔深，通过均角全距法原理，可以近似地描绘出当前钻孔的空间实际轨迹，并确定钻头的位置。应用这一原理，同时运用VisualBasic语言和AutoCAD绘图工具相结合的方法，编制一套应用程序，可以直接绘制出当前钻孔轨迹，并可实现对钻孔轨迹的调控，从而保证导向钻进的顺利进行。