Earthquake responses of RC moment frames subjected to near‐fault ground motions

There are three objectives in this paper. The first objective is to compare the dynamic behaviour of a reinforced concrete building structure subjected to near‐fault and far‐field ground motions. A twelve‐storey and a five‐storey reinforced concrete building with moment resisting frames were selected in this study. The Chi‐Chi earthquake was selected as a first set in this study to test near‐fault earthquake characteristics. Further, another earthquake record of an event at the same site was selected to test the far‐field earthquake characteristics for comparison. Through nonlinear time history analyses, the results show that the near‐fault earthquake results in much more damage than the far‐field earthquake. The second objective of this paper is to compare the predictions for ductility demand by the nonlinear time history analyses with those obtained by the pushover analysis procedure. The third objective is to explore the parameters that will more significantly affect the the building structure's dynamic response characteristics of base shear reduction and displacement amplification. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effectiveness of sliding isolators with variable curvature in near‐fault ground motions

Recent studies have revealed that a sliding isolator with variable curvature (SIVC) can mitigate the resonance phenomenon likely to occur in seismic response of a conventional friction pendulum system (FPS) isolator due to its constant isolation frequency. The present study simulates four SIVC isolators and an FPS to find the optimum range of initial isolation period and coefficient of friction and employ them in comparing the effectiveness of SIVC in different peak ground acceleration (PGA) scales of near‐fault earthquakes. Velocity‐dependent coefficient of friction and modified viscoplasticity model have been used to simulate nonlinear friction force of the isolators. Results indicate identical performance of all SIVC isolators in PGA scales up to 0.4 g. When subjected to PGA scales from 0.4 g to 1.0 g, polynomial friction pendulum isolator (PFPI) and variable curvature friction pendulum system (VCFPS) reduce base displacement greatly, while conical friction pendulum isolator (CFPI) and variable frequency pendulum isolator (VFPI) show amplified responses. However, in mitigating structural acceleration, performance of CFPI and VFPI, unlike PFPI and VCFPS, which perform poorly, is excellent. Thus, in a strong near‐fault earthquake, PFPI and VCFPS or CFPI and VFPI can be chosen based on whether reduction of base displacement or super‐structural acceleration is the main concern of designer, respectively. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Reliable fragility functions for seismic collapse assessment of reinforced concrete special moment resisting frame structures under near‐fault ground motions

A collapse fragility function shows how the probability of collapse of a structure increases with increasing ground motion intensity measure (IM). To have a more reliable fragility function, an IM should be applied that is efficient and sufficient with respect to ground motion parameters such as magnitude (M) and source‐to‐site distance (R). Typically, pulse‐like near‐fault ground motions are known by the presence of a velocity pulse, and the period of this pulse (T_p) affects the structural response. The present study investigates the application of different scalar and vector‐valued IMs to obtain reliable seismic collapse fragility functions for reinforced concrete special moment resisting frames (RC SMRFs) under near‐fault ground motions. The efficiency and sufficiency of the IMs as the desirable features of an optimal IM are investigated, and it is shown that seismic collapse assessments by using most of the IMs are biased with respect to T_p. The results show that (Sa(T₁), Sa(T₁)/DSI) has high efficiency and sufficiency with respect to M, R, T_p, and scale factor for collapse capacity prediction of RC SMRFs. Moreover, the multiobjective particle swarm optimization algorithm is applied to improve the efficiency and sufficiency of some advanced scalar IMs, and an optimal scalar IM is proposed.     

Modeling of lightly reinforced concrete walls subjected to near‐fault and far‐field earthquake ground motions

Reinforced concrete bearing walls with low vertical reinforcement ratios of less than 0·2% are referred to as lightly reinforced walls. Recently, Eurocode 8 and the French code PS 92 adopted a special design concept for lightly reinforced concrete walls based on the multifuse principle favouring rupture occurrence at several storeys. This design leads to lower reinforcement ratios with their optimized distribution allowing wide cracks to take place with large energy dissipation potential. In addition, the vertical displacement of the mass results in energy transformation from kinematic to potential. The objective of the investigation is to analytically predict the response of such lightly reinforced walls when subjected to near‐fault and far‐field ground motion records up to failure to establish the load‐carrying capacity and ductility of the walls. A wall was modeled using six‐node two‐dimensional panel elements. The panel elements have lumped flexural/axial plasticity at their top and bottom fibre sections. The response of the wall was evaluated in terms of pushover, spectral, displacement‐based, and time history analyses. The model and the response data were verified against available measurements from a test program conducted using a shake table. The comparison indicated that the model closely represented the behaviour observed in the test. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Plastic hinge length of reinforced concrete columns subjected to both far‐fault and near‐fault ground motions having forward directivity

In a strong earthquake, a standard reinforced concrete (RC) column may develop plastic deformations in regions often termed as plastic hinge regions. A plastic hinge is basically an energy dampening device that dampens energy through the plastic rotation of a rigid column connection, which triggers redistribution of bending moments. The formation of a plastic hinge in an RC column in regions that experience inelastic actions depends on the characteristics of the earthquakes as well as the column details. Recordings from recent earthquakes have provided evidence that ground motions in the near field of a rupturing fault can contain a large energy or ‘directivity’ pulse. A directivity pulse occurs when the propagation of the fault proceeds at nearly the same rate as the shear wave velocity. This pulse is seen in the forward direction of the rupture and can cause considerable damage during an earthquake, especially to structures with natural periods that are close to those of the pulse. In the present paper, 1316 inelastic time‐history analyses have been performed to predict the nonlinear behaviour of RC columns under both far‐fault and near‐fault ground motions. The effects of axial load, height over depth ratio and amount of longitudinal reinforcement, as well as different characteristics of earthquakes, were evaluated analytically by finite element methods and the results were compared with corresponding experimental data. Based on the results, simple expressions were proposed that can be used to estimate plastic hinge length of RC columns subjected to both far‐fault and near‐fault earthquakes that contain a forward‐directivity effect. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

New insights on effects of directionality and duration of near‐field ground motions on seismic response of tall buildings

The effects of ground motion directionality on seismic response of buildings are at the center of ongoing debate among earthquake engineering professionals and researchers. This has prompted a renewed interest to have a better understanding of directionality effects of near‐field pulse‐like ground motions on seismic response of tall buildings to further improve seismic design in this respect. In particular the prediction of the maximum displacement response along the structural axis which is called the critical displacement response. This paper presents the results from parametric studies that investigate the directionality effects on nonlinear dynamic response of simple structures and a tall building. The outcome of these analyses was the development of a method, which relies on the maximum velocity to provide a good approximation to the critical displacement response. The method developed is computationally efficient and involves less calculation than other methods. In addition, it was determined that the building responses to records rotated to fault‐normal can lead to significant underestimation of the maximum response along the structural axis, using the fault‐parallel ground motion also may lead to large response differences and smaller yet significant differences when using the maximum direction ground motion.     

Seismic response of mega buckling‐restrained braces subjected to fling‐step and forward‐directivity near‐fault ground motions

Special characteristics of earthquakes in the near‐fault regions caused failures for many modern‐engineered structures. Fling‐step and forward‐directivity are the main consequences of these earthquakes. High‐amplitude pulses at the beginning of the seismograph have been obviously presented in forward‐directivity sites. These pulses have high amount of seismic energy released in a very short time and caused higher demands for engineering structures. Fling‐step is generally characterized by a unidirectional large‐amplitude velocity pulse and a monotonic step in the displacement time history. These monotonic steps cause residual ground displacements that are associated with rupture mechanism. In this paper, the seismic performance of steel buckling‐restrained braced frames with mega configuration under near‐source excitation was investigated. Fourteen near‐fault records with forward‐directivity and fling‐step characteristics and seven far‐faults have been selected. Nonlinear time‐history analyses of 4‐story, 8‐story, 12‐story and 15‐story frames have been performed using OpenSees software. After comparing the results, it is shown that, for all frames subjected to the selected records, the maximum demand occurred in lower floors, and higher modes were not triggered. Near‐fault records imposed higher demands on the structures. The results for near‐fault records with fling‐step were very dispersed, and in some cases, these records were more damaging than others. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Performance‐based seismic rehabilitation of existing steel eccentric braced buildings in near fault ground motions

The devastating effects observed in the recent earthquakes, in terms of loss of lives as well as immediate and long‐term economic losses, have prompted the need to provide documents concerning the assessment and improvement of the structural performance of existing buildings at the time of an earthquake. In this regard, performance engineering is defined as performance‐based seismic design and rehabilitation. There are many reasons for rehabilitation of existing buildings. Changing the building's usage is one of the most common reasons. In the present study, the residential steel buildings were subject to performance‐based rehabilitation, converting to educational use. Several steel frames with dual lateral‐resistant systems (MRF–EBF) and different numbers of stories were initially designed as residential buildings. The frames were rehabilitated according to the current seismic rehabilitation codes and regulations. Cover plates were used to strengthen structural elements. Variations in structural responses were evaluated before and after retrofitting by the use of nonlinear analysis. Moreover, the performance of rehabilitated structures was evaluated, considering the gross features observed in near‐field records. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Variability of seismic demands according to different sets of earthquake ground motions

It is a challenging task to predict seismic demands for earthquake resistant design, particularly for tall buildings. In current seismic design provisions, seismic demands are expressed as a design base shear of which the key components are linear elastic design response spectra, force reduction factor (‘R factor’), and building weight. For tall buildings, response spectrum analysis or response history analysis is recommended in current design provisions. In recent years, new methods for predicting seismic demands have been developed, such as the capacity spectrum method (CSM) and displacement coefficient method. This study investigates the effect of different earthquake ground motion (EQGM) sets on seismic demands. Key components of the base shear and performance points in the CSM are considered as the seismic demands to be tested. For this purpose three EQGM sets are collected independently at rock sites. This study found that seismic demands can vary significantly according to different EQGM sets even though those sets were obtained at sites with similar soil conditions. This study also attempts to provide a criterion for reducing the variability in seismic demands according to different EQGM sets. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Collapse analysis of building structures under excitation of near‐fault ground motion with consideration of large deformation and displacement

The dynamic analysis of structural stability with consideration of material and geometrical non‐linearity is necessary for near fault‐earthquake that is rich in long‐period components and often induces the non‐linear large displacement and deformation response of a building structure. A macro‐element bilinear geometric stiffness model and simplified analytical model are proposed and developed to analyze the P‐Δ effects of structural dynamic response using a numerical approach. A structural stable threshold diagram is then proposed to evaluate the geometric stability of a building structure with large deformation under the excitation of a near‐fault earthquake. The analysis results reveal: (1) the simplified geometric stiffness analytical model is useful for analyzing structural dynamic P‐Δ effects and acquire very good accurate results even though the structural geometric stiffness varies between elastic and plastic zone; (2) stable threshold diagrams, based on dynamic analysis and statistical analysis procedures, are conducted by application of this proposed model to easily evaluate structural geometric stability with larger deformation imposed by a near‐fault earthquake. This method can supplement the insufficient capability for the static pushover analysis procedure to estimate the seismic proof demands for building without dynamic P‐Δ effects analysis; (3) the analysis results of stable threshold diagrams indicate that when stability coefficient θ of a building is greater than 1 or base shear factor (V/W) of the building is less than 0·2, static P‐Δ effects become noticeable. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Estimation of seismic demands of steel frames subjected to near‐fault earthquakes having forward directivity and comparing with pushover analysis results

High statistics of damages in modern structures (buildings structured based on new codes) exposed to near‐fault earthquake illustrates the necessity of more studies on this kind of earthquake effects on the structures. A specification of near‐fault earthquakes is the directivity effects. Existing records of near‐fault quakes containing directivity effects including records of Iran and abroad were modified and used for linear time history analysis of three steel moment frames (5, 8 and 12 story frames), and the results were compared with nonlinear time history analysis and pushover analysis of far‐fault quakes in this paper. The results showed that these records (near fault) motivate high modes of the structure, and especially for the 12‐story structure, high response was detected, but none of these results made the frames collapse. By comparing nonlinear dynamic analysis (time history) with nonlinear static analysis (pushover), it was concluded that various lateral load patterns in pushover cannot cover the time history result needs. Load distribution pattern based on the first vibration mode covers these demands in the lower floors, but in higher floors, this method is not applicable. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effectiveness of modified pushover analysis procedure for the estimation of seismic demands of buildings subjected to near‐fault earthquakes having forward directivity

Near‐fault ground motions with long‐period pulses have been identified as being critical in the design of structures. These motions, which have caused severe damage in recent disastrous earthquakes, are characterized by a short‐duration impulsive motion that transmits large amounts of energy into the structures at the beginning of the earthquake. In nearly all of the past near‐fault earthquakes, significant higher mode contributions have been evident, resulting in the migration of dynamic demands (i.e., drifts) from the lower to the upper stories. Due to this, the static nonlinear pushover analysis (PA) (which utilizes a load pattern proportional to the shape of the fundamental mode of vibration) may not produce accurate results when used in the analysis of structures subjected to near‐fault ground motions. The objective of this paper was to improve the accuracy of the pushover method in these situations by introducing a new load pattern into the common pushover procedure. Several PAs are performed for six existing reinforced concrete buildings that possess a variety of natural periods. Then, a comparison is made between the PA results (with four new load patterns) and those of FEMA‐356 with reference to nonlinear dynamic time‐history analyses. The comparison shows that, generally, the proposed pushover method yields better results than all FEMA‐356 PA procedures for all investigated response quantities, and is a closer match to the nonlinear time‐history responses. In general, the method is able to reproduce the essential response features providing a reasonable measure of the likely contribution of higher modes in all phases of the response. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

基于速度脉冲地震动的边坡地震位移统一预测模型

采用基于小波变换的多向地震动速度脉冲特性鉴定方法,从NGA数据库及汶川地震动记录中提取出了196条速度脉冲地震动数据;基于Newmark非耦合滑动模型,考虑土体非线性特征。通过计算速度脉冲地震动作用下不同强度(k_y)及初始自振周期(T_s)边坡模型的地震位移,对比分析了边坡地震位移与速度脉冲地震动参数之间的相关性,并建立了适用于近断层速度脉冲地震动的边坡地震位移统一预测模型。结果表明：既有边坡地震位移预测模型低估了近断层速度脉冲地震动引起的位移值,而用于预测近断层非脉冲地震动引起的边坡地震位移离散较小;近断层速度脉冲地震动引起的边坡地震位移与其速度脉冲特性密切相关,地震位移与速度脉冲地震动参数(峰值速度PGV)相关性最好;采用1.5倍边坡自振周期对应的加速度反应谱(S_a(1.5T_s))和 PGV分别代表速度脉冲地震动的频谱成分及速度脉冲特征,能够综合反映速度脉冲地震动对边坡地震位移的影响;建立了基于边坡参数(k_y, T_s)和脉冲地震动参数(PGV, S_a(1.5T_s))的边坡地震位移预测模型,为考虑近断层地震动速度脉冲特性影响的边坡地震位移概率灾害分析提供了基础。     

Forward directivity near‐fault and far‐fault ground motion effects on the behavior of reinforced concrete wall tall buildings with one and more plastic hinges

Near‐fault (NF) ground motion having forward directivity and far‐fault (FF) earthquakes can generate different responses on tall reinforced concrete cantilever walls. In this paper, the behavior of the core wall buildings were examined by performing nonlinear time history analyses on 20‐story, 30‐story and 40‐story fiber element models. The concept of one, two, three and extended plastic hinge in the core walls subjected to the NF motions having forward directivity (pulse‐like) and FF motion was studied by carrying out inelastic dynamic analysis. At the upper levels of the walls, NF pulse‐like ground motions can produce considerably larger curvature ductility, inter‐story drift and displacement demands as compared with the FF motions. A new approach was proposed to obtain the moment demand and reinforcement required to balance the curvature ductility demand along the height of a core wall. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A study on the effects of torsional component of ground motions on seismic response of low‐ and mid‐rise buildings

The torsional component of ground motion is a potential factor to excite the torsional response of buildings during earthquake, which is not explicitly considered in seismic design codes. Building codes have proposed accidental eccentricity to consider the effect of torsional component and other unpredicted factors, which may contribute to torsion in buildings. This study investigated the effects of torsional component on the buildings' responses and the adequacy of the accidental eccentricity. For this purpose, the torsional component of some selected ground motions was generated using single‐station procedure. Subsequently, 5, 10, and 15‐story buildings with different ratios of rotational to translational frequencies were analyzed; first, by translational components only, and second, by simultaneous application of translational and torsional components. Also, the role of mass eccentricity in the effects of torsional component was studied. Furthermore, all models were reanalyzed by applying the 5% accidental eccentricity, and the effects of torsional component and accidental eccentricity were compared accordingly. Results indicated that torsional component has significant impact on the buildings' responses and can increase the displacement and drift ratio up to 36% and 41%, respectively. However, the 5% accidental eccentricity is not sufficient to take account the torsional component effects, and leads to unreliable responses.     

Effects of soil–structure cluster interactions on ground motions

The effects of soil–structure cluster interaction (SSCI) on ground motion are presented through shaking table tests and parametric numerical simulation using the finite element method. The superstructure is simplified as a concrete column at a 1/20 scale, with a total mass of 60 kg installed on top of the structures. The Davidenkov foundation model is used to simulate soil nonlinearity. The results of the shaking table test are then compared with the results of the numerical simulation. It is found that the spectral amplification and fundamental resonance frequency are reduced because of the SSCI effects. Further, the structure amount, spacing, height, and distribution play a significant role in the SSCI effects on the ground motion. It is also inferred that having more structures, less spacing, and higher structures may result in a reduction in the acceleration response.     

Fragility of skewed bridges under orthogonal seismic ground motions

The paper evaluates seismic fragility characteristics of skewed bridges under simultaneous action of orthogonal ground motion components. The effect of skew angle on bridge seismic fragility characteristics is investigated through nonlinear time-history analyses of Painter Street Overpass, a 38.5° skewed bridge located in Rio Dell, CA, and six representative bridges with skew angles varying between 0° and 50°. Ground motion incident angle is varied from 0° to 180° to investigate the effect of the direction of ground motion incidence on bridge seismic performance. Bridge seismic response is used to generate fragility curves and contours plots that quantify the sensitivity of bridge fragility characteristics on skew angle and incident angle. For any value of incident angle, bridge seismic vulnerability increases with an increase in skew angle; however, no such general trend is found to describe the effect of incident angle on bridge fragility characteristics. Results show that the variation of maximum rotation of bridge columns for an earthquake does not follow any particular trend with the change in skew angle and incident angle. Analysis-based fragility curves are further compared with empirical fragility curves generated using real-life seismic damage data of skewed bridges and a reasonable agreement is observed between these two.     

Automated classification of near‐fault acceleration pulses using wavelet packets

This study proposes a new algorithm for automatically classifying two types of velocity‐pulses that are integral of a distinct acceleration pulse (acc‐pulse) or a succession of high‐frequency one‐sided acceleration spikes (non‐acc‐pulse). For achieving this, wavelet packet transform is used to filter the high‐frequency content and to extract the coherent velocity‐pulse. Then, the pulse period is unequivocally derived through the peak point method. Following the determination of the pulse‐starting (t_s) and pulse‐ending (t_e) time instants in the velocity time‐history, a local acceleration time‐history truncated by t_s and t_e is obtained. The maximum relative energy of the pulse between two adjacent zero crossings is then employed as indicator for distinguishing the two types of velocity‐pulses. The criteria for identifying acc‐pulses and non‐acc‐pulses are calibrated using a training data set of manually classified ground motions from the Next Generation Attenuation West 2 project. Finally, significance of such a classification between velocity‐pulses of different characteristics is assessed through the comparison of elastic acceleration response spectra of the two categories of pulse‐like records.