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.     

Estimation of base motion in instrumented steel buildings using output‐only system identification

A procedure to estimate the seismic motion at the base of a building from measured acceleration response at two or more floors is presented. The proposed method is comprised of two steps. In the first step, the dynamic characteristics of the building are inferred by using an output‐only system identification procedure. In the second step, the motion of the base of the building is estimated by using the transfer function of a simplified building model consisting of a shear and flexural continuous beam together with dynamic properties obtained in the first step. The proposed method is validated first with an analytical model subjected to the 1940 El Centro ground motion and then with an instrumented building in California that experienced the 1994 Northridge earthquake, and the ground motions at the base of the building are available. It is shown that the proposed method is capable of providing very good estimates of the motion at the base. The use of the proposed method is finally illustrated on an instrumented building, where the sensor at the base of the building did not function during the 1994 Northridge earthquake. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Earthquake vulnerability of school buildings: Probabilistic structural fragility analyses

The study presents probabilistic structural fragility assessment of public school buildings in Istanbul, which were constructed based on a standardized/typical project. The typical structure is a four-story, reinforced concrete shear wall building with moment resisting frames. Derivation of fragility functions rely on nonlinear dynamic analyses through Monte Carlo simulations. Nonlinear dynamic analyses are initially performed for a fully deterministic structural model based on the blueprints of the typical school building project. Uncertainties are introduced in different analysis cases following a modified version of the algorithm presented in Smyth et al. (2004) [21], which considers the effect of the random distribution of the parameters using a Monte Carlo approach. Aleatory uncertainties concerning material properties (i.e. compressive strength of concrete, yield strength of reinforcing steel and concrete density), geometrical characteristics (i.e. span lengths and story heights) and cross sectional dimensions of beams, columns and shear walls as well as epistemic uncertainty in the direction of ground motion excitation are considered. Statistical distributions for the parameters considered are obtained from in-situ measurements and material sampling tests. Fragility functions are produced in terms of peak ground acceleration and velocity as well as of the elastic spectral displacement at the first vibration period of the building. Mean damage ratios are calculated from the derived fragility functions. They are further compared to mean damage ratios calculated for similar building typologies provided in HAZUS-MH technical manual and in Istanbul building inventory.     

Dynamic characteristics of a novel damped outrigger system

This paper presents exact analytical solutions for a novel damped outrigger system, in which viscous dampers are vertically installed between perimeter columns and the core of a high-rise building. An improved analytical model is developed by modeling the effect of the damped outrigger as a general rotational spring acting on a Bernoulli-Euler beam. The equivalent rotational spring stiffness incorporating the combined effects of dampers and axial stiffness of perimeter columns is derived. The dynamic stiffness method(DSM) is applied to formulate the governing equation of the damped outrigger system. The accuracy and effi ciency are verifi ed in comparison with those obtained from compatibility equations and boundary equations. Parametric analysis of three non-dimensional factors is conducted to evaluate the infl uences of various factors, such as the stiffness ratio of the core to the beam, position of the damped outrigger, and the installed damping coeffi cient. Results show that the modal damping ratio is signifi cantly infl uenced by the stiffness ratio of the core to the column, and is more sensitive to damping than the position of the damped outrigger. The proposed analytical model in combination with DSM can be extended to the study of structures with more outriggers.     

Influence of earthquake direction on the seismic response of irregular plan RC frame buildings

The nonlinear response of structures is usually evaluated by considering two accelerograms acting simultaneously along the orthogonal directions. In this study, the infl uence of the earthquake direction on the seismic response of building structures is examined. Three multi-story RC buildings, representing a very common structural typology in Italy, are used as case studies for the evaluation. They are, respectively, a rectangular plan shape, an L plan shape and a rectangular plan shape with courtyard buildings. Nonlinear static and dynamic analyses are performed by considering different seismic levels, characterized by peak ground acceleration on stiff soil equal to 0.35 g, 0.25 g and 0.15 g. Nonlinear dynamic analyses are carried out by considering twelve different earthquake directions, and rotating the direction of both the orthogonal components by 30° for each analysis(from 0° to 330°). The survey is carried out on the L plan shape structure. The results show that the angle of the seismic input motion signifi cantly infl uences the response of RC structures; the critical seismic angle, i.e., the incidence angle that produces the maximum demand, provides an increase of up to 37% in terms of both roof displacements and plastic hinge rotations.     

基于高层建筑布局的长沙市整体空间形象塑造

高层建筑的出现标志着城市空间与景观出现一系列新变化,也给人们带来一系列新的城市问题。以长沙市为例,分析了长沙高层建筑对城市整体空间形象的影响,从城市空间形态、总规层面与控规层面不同视角对高层建筑布局结构优化进行探讨。建构长沙"山、水、洲、城"整体空间结构的基本模式为"两圈、两带、一点、五廊",并通过城市整体景观视廊的设立、城市眺望系统的形成、城市两带天际线的塑造等思路来构建长沙"山、水、洲、城"城市整体空间形象,为城市规划管理决策提供参考。     

临近地下室外墙影响下的挡土墙空间土压力研究

目前关于临近地下室外墙影响的挡土墙空间土压力的计算理论的研究还比较少,原有的平面应变条件下的理论不能满足挡土墙的长高比B/H较小时的挡土墙土压力计算要求。通过将土拱效应原理引入顾慰慈[8]建立的空间土压力计算模型,建立了考虑土拱效应的临近地下室外墙影响的空间土压力计算模型,根据挡土墙和地下室外墙的间距与土体破裂面状态的关系将该模型分为3种情况,并将各模型划分为Ⅰ、Ⅱ、Ⅲ、Ⅳ四个区域,通过在各个区域内取水平微分单元体,建立各微分单元体的水平和竖向静力平衡方程,推导出了各区相应的挡土墙空间主动土压力计算公式,该公式可以计算出墙背任意位置的主动土压力;并提出了空间土压力合力及其合力作用点的计算方法。通过算例计算可以直观地看出挡土墙后主动土压力的空间分布,由此可以看出,当空间效应存在时,考虑土拱效应的挡土墙主动土压力沿墙长的分布与平面应变条件时有很大的不同,此时挡土墙两端附近区域的主动土压力远小于平面应变条件下计算出的主动土压力,同时可以看出,考虑空间效应的挡土墙主动土压力合力作用点要比平面应变条件下的位置要高,挡土墙长高比B/H越小,空间效应对主动土压力沿墙长的分布和主动土压力合力作用点位置的影响越大。     

An alternative approach for the seismic rehabilitation of existing RC buildings using seismic isolation

Usually, buildings with seismic isolation are designed to comply with an operational building performance level after strong earthquakes. This approach, however, may limit the use of seismic isolation for the seismic rehabilitation of existing buildings with low lateral strength or substandard details, because it often requires invasive strengthening measures in the superstructure or the use of expensive custom‐made devices. In this paper, an alternative approach for the seismic rehabilitation of existing buildings with seismic isolation, based on the acceptance of limited plastic deformations in the superstructure under strong earthquakes, is proposed and then applied to a real case study, represented by a four‐storey RC frame building. Nonlinear response‐time histories analyses of an accurate model of the case‐study building are carried out to evaluate the seismic performances of the structure, comparing different rehabilitation strategies with and without seismic isolation. Initial costs of the intervention and possible (future) repair costs are then estimated. Based on the results of this study, values of the behavior factor (i.e. response modification factor) higher than those adopted in the current codes for base‐isolated buildings are tentatively proposed. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Experimental evaluation of a glass curtain wall of a tall building

The seismic demand parameters including the floor acceleration amplification (FAA) factors and the interstory drift ratios (IDRs) were acquired from the floor response in time history analysis of a tall building subjected to selected ground motions. The FAA factors determined in this way are larger than those given in most current code provisions, but the obtained IDRs are close to the values given in some code provisions. Imposing a series of in‐plane pre‐deformations to two glass curtain wall (CW) specimens mounted on a shaking table, the IDRs were reproduced and the FAA factors were satisfied through applications of computed floor spectra compatible motion time histories, whose peak accelerations corresponded to the FAA factors. The CW specimens performed well during the whole experimental program with almost no change in the fundamental frequencies. No visible damage was observed in the glass panels. The maximum stresses detected in each component of the CW system were smaller than the design strengths. The obtained component acceleration amplification factor approached 3.35, which is larger than the value given in the current code provisions. In conclusion, the performance of the studied CW system is seismically safe. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.