Earthquake resistant structures

About: Earthquake resistant structures is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 1126 publications have been published within this topic receiving 27467 citations.

Field reconnaissance of the 2007 Niigata-Chuetsu Oki earthquake

Abstract: As part of the 2007 Tri-Center Field Mission to Japan, a reconnaissance team comprised of fourteen graduate students and three faculty members from three U.S. earthquake engineering research centers, namely, Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake Engineering Research (MCEER), Mid-America Earthquake Center (MAE), and Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center (PEER), undertook a reconnaissance visit to the affected area shortly after the 2007 Niigata-Chuetsu Oki earthquake. This mission provided an opportunity to review the nature of the earthquake damage that occurred, as well as to assess the significance of the damage from an educational perspective. This paper reports on the seismological characteristics of the earthquake, preliminary findings of geotechnical and structural damage, and the causes of the observed failures or collapses. In addition, economic and socio-economic considerations and experiences to enhance earthquake resilience are presented.

Optimal Design of Earthquake-Resistant Buildings Based on Neural Network Inversion

Abstract: An effective seismic design entails many issues related to the capacity-based assessment of the non-linear structural response under strong earthquakes. While very powerful structural calculation programs are available to assist the designer in the code-based seismic analysis, an optimal choice of the design parameters leading to the best performance at the lowest cost is not always assured. The present paper proposes a procedure to cost-effectively design earthquake-resistant buildings, which is based on the inversion of an artificial neural network and on an optimization algorithm for the minimum total cost under building code constraints. An exemplificative application of the method to a reinforced-concrete multi-story building, with seismic demands corresponding to a medium-seismicity Italian zone, is shown. Three design-governing parameters are assumed to build the input matrix, while eight capacity-design target requirements are assigned for the output dataset. A non-linear three-dimensional concentrated plasticity model of the structure is implemented, and time-history dynamic analyses are carried out with spectrum-consistent ground motions. The results show the promising ability of the proposed approach for the optimal design of earthquake-resistant structures.

Seismic Response of High-Rise RC Buildings Made of High-Strength Materials

Abstract: The present research evaluates the performance of reinforced concrete buildings made of high performance materials in earthquake prone areas through the parametric analysis of twenty-two buildings using a finite element approach. The concrete strength in the buildings varied form 50 MPa to 90 MPa and the reinforcement consisted of 500 MPa, 800 MPa and 1200 MPa steel. Among the building combinations considered, there were two that involved varying concrete strengths between the beam and column elements and different combinations of reinforcement steel. The design of the buildings was carried our for peak ground acceleration 0.25g according to the Eurocodes 2 and 8 for both ductility class “Medium” and “High.” The nonlinear static (pushover) analysis technique was employed to assess the behavior of the RC buildings. The performance of the buildings designed for ductility class “Medium” and “High” under the design earthquake level corresponding to 0.25g and a selected collapse prevention level corresponding to 0.50g was very satisfactory. Considering the financial benefits resulting from the use of mixed concrete strengths in the beams and columns and their general performance under the two seismic events, the construction of RC buildings incorporating different material strengths appears to offer several potential benefits.

Seismic response and damage development analyses of an RC structural wall building using macro-element

Abstract: Numerical simulation of the non-linear behavior of (RC) structural walls subjected to severe earthquake ground motions requires a reliable modeling approach that includes important material characteristics and behavioral response features. The objective of this paper is to optimize a simplified method for the assessment of the seismic response and damage development analyses of an RC structural wall building using macro-element model. The first stage of this study investigates effectiveness and ability of the macro-element model in predicting the flexural nonlinear response of the specimen based on previous experimental test results conducted in UCLA. The sensitivity of the predicted wall responses to changes in model parameters is also assessed. The macro-element model is next used to examine the dynamic behavior of the structural wall building−all the way from elastic behavior to global instability, by applying an approximate Incremental Dynamic Analysis (IDA), based on Uncoupled Modal Response History Analysis (UMRHA), setting up nonlinear single degree of freedom systems. Finally, the identification of the global stiffness decrease as a function of a damage variable is carried out by means of this simplified methodology. Responses are compared at various locations on the structural wall by conducting static and dynamic pushover analyses for accurate estimation of seismic performance of the structure using macro-element model. Results obtained with the numerical model for rectangular wall cross sections compare favorably with experimental responses for flexural capacity, stiffness, and deformability. Overall, the model is qualified for safety assessment and design of earthquake resistant structures with structural walls.