Performance-based methodology for assessing seismic vulnerability and capacity of buildings

This paper presents a performance-based methodology for the assessment of seismic vulnerability and capacity of buildings. The vulnerability assessment methodology is based on the HAZUS methodology and the improved capacity- demand-diagram method. The spectral displacement (Sd) of performance points on a capacity curve is used to estimate the damage level of a building. The relationship between Sd and peak ground acceleration (PGA) is established, and then a new vulnerability function is expressed in terms of PGA. Furthermore, the expected value of the seismic capacity index (SCev) is provided to estimate the seismic capacity of buildings based on the probability distribution of damage levels and the corresponding seismic capacity index. The results indicate that the proposed vulnerability methodology is able to assess seismic damage of a large number of building stock directly and quickly following an earthquake. The SCev provides an effective index to measure the seismic capacity of buildings and illustrate the relationship between the seismic capacity of buildings and seismic action. The estimated result is compared with damage surveys of the cities of Dujiangyan and Jiangyou in the M8.0 Wenchuan earthquake, revealing that the methodology is acceptable for seismic risk assessment and decision making. The primary reasons for discrepancies between the estimated results and the damage surveys are discussed.

Performance-based seismic design of nonstructural building components:The next frontier of earthquake engineering

With the development and implementation of performance-based earthquake engineering,harmonization of performance levels between structural and nonstructural components becomes vital. Even if the structural components of a building achieve a continuous or immediate occupancy performance level after a seismic event,failure of architectural,mechanical or electrical components can lower the performance level of the entire building system. This reduction in performance caused by the vulnerability of nonstructural components has been observed during recent earthquakes worldwide. Moreover,nonstructural damage has limited the functionality of critical facilities,such as hospitals,following major seismic events. The investment in nonstructural components and building contents is far greater than that of structural components and framing. Therefore,it is not surprising that in many past earthquakes,losses from damage to nonstructural components have exceeded losses from structural damage. Furthermore,the failure of nonstructural components can become a safety hazard or can hamper the safe movement of occupants evacuating buildings,or of rescue workers entering buildings. In comparison to structural components and systems,there is relatively limited information on the seismic design of nonstructural components. Basic research work in this area has been sparse,and the available codes and guidelines are usually,for the most part,based on past experiences,engineering judgment and intuition,rather than on objective experimental and analytical results. Often,design engineers are forced to start almost from square one after each earthquake event: to observe what went wrong and to try to prevent repetitions. This is a consequence of the empirical nature of current seismic regulations and guidelines for nonstructural components. This review paper summarizes current knowledge on the seismic design and analysis of nonstructural building components,identifying major knowledge gaps that will need to be filled by future research. Furthermore,considering recent trends in earthquake engineering,the paper explores how performance-based seismic design might be conceived for nonstructural components,drawing on recent developments made in the field of seismic design and hinting at the specific considerations required for nonstructural components.

Performance-based seismic financial risk assessment of reinforced concrete frame structures

Engineering facilities subjected to natural hazards(such as winds and earthquakes) will result in risk when any designed system(i.e.capacity) will not be able to meet the performance required(i.e.demand).Risk might be expressed either as a likelihood of damage or potential financial loss.Engineers tend to make use of the former(i.e.damage).Nevertheless,other non-technical stakeholders cannot get useful information from damage.However,if financial risk is expressed on the basis of probable monetary loss,it will be easily understood by all.Therefore,it is necessary to develop methodologies which communicate the system capacity and demand to financial risk,Incremental dynamic analysis(IDA) was applied in a performance-based earthquake engineering context to do hazard analysis,structural analysis,damage analysis and loss analysis of a reinforced concrete(RC) frame structure.And the financial implications of risk were expressed by expected annual loss(EAL).The quantitative risk analysis proposed is applicable to any engineering facilities and any natural hazards.It is shown that the results from the IDA can be used to assess the overall financial risk exposure to earthquake hazard for a given constructed facility.The computational IDA-EAL method will enable engineers to take into account the long-term financial implications in addition to the construction cost.Consequently,it will help stakeholders make decisions.

Performance-based concept on seismic evaluation of existing bridges

Conventional seismic evaluation of existing bridges explores the ability of a bridge to survive under significant earthquake excitations. This approach has several major drawbacks, such as only a single structural performance of near collapse is considered, and the simplified approach of adopting strength-based concept to indirectly estimate the nonlinear behavior of a structure lacks accuracy. As a result, performance-based concepts that include a wider variety of structural performance states of a given bridge excited by different levels of earthquake intensity is needed by the engineering community. This paper introduces an improved process for the seismic evaluation of existing bridges. The relationship between the overall structural performance and earthquakes with varying levels of peak ground acceleration （PGA） can successfully be linked. A universal perspective on the seismic evaluation of bridges over their entire life-cycle can be easily obtained to investigate multiple performance objectives. The accuracy of the proposed method, based on pushover analysis, is proven in a case study that compares the results from the proposed procedure with additional nonlinear time history analyses.

Peak displacement patterns for the performance-based seismic design of steel eccentrically braced frames

Performance-based seismic design(PBSD) aims to assess structures at different damage states. Since damage can be directly associated to displacements, seismic design with consideration of displacement seems to be logical. In this study, simple formulae to estimate the peak floor displacement patterns of eccentrically braced frames(EBFs) at different performance levels subjected to earthquake ground motions are proposed. These formulae are applicable in a PBSD and especially in direct displacement-based design(DDBD). Parametric study is conducted on a group of 30 EBFs under a set of 15 far field and near field accelerograms which they scaled to different amplitudes to adapt various performance levels. The results of thousands of nonlinear dynamic analyses of EBFs have been post-processed by nonlinear regression analysis in order to recognize the major parameters that influence the peak displacement pattern of these frames. Results show that suggested displacement patterns have relatively good agreement with those acquired by an exact nonlinear dynamic analysis.

Probabilistic Performance-Based Optimum Seismic Design Framework: Illustration and Validation

In the field of earthquake engineering,the advent of the performance-based design philosophy,together with the highly uncertain nature of earthquake ground excitations to structures,has brought probabilistic performance-based design to the forefront of seismic design.In order to design structures that explicitly satisfy probabilistic performance criteria,a probabilistic performance-based optimum seismic design(PPBOSD)framework is proposed in this paper by extending the state-of-the-art performance-based earthquake engineering(PBEE)methodology.PBEE is traditionally used for risk evaluation of existing or newly designed structural systems,thus referred to herein as forward PBEE analysis.In contrast,its use for design purposes is limited because design is essentially a more challenging inverse problem.To address this challenge,a decision-making layer is wrapped around the forward PBEE analysis procedure for computer-aided optimum structural design/retrofit accounting for various sources of uncertainty.In this paper,the framework is illustrated and validated using a proof-of-concept problem,namely tuning a simplified nonlinear inelastic single-degreeof-freedom(SDOF)model of a bridge to achieve a target probabilistic loss hazard curve.For this purpose,first the forward PBEE analysis is presented in conjunction with the multilayer Monte Carlo simulation method to estimate the total loss hazard curve efficiently,followed by a sensitivity study to investigate the effects of system(design)parameters on the probabilistic seismic performance of the bridge.The proposed PPBOSD framework is validated by successfully tuning the system parameters of the structure rated for a target probabilistic seismic loss hazard curve.The PPBOSD framework provides a tool that is essential to develop,calibrate and validate simplified probabilistic performance-based design procedures.

Research on performance-based seismic design criteria

The seismic design criterion adopted in the existing seismic design codes is reviewed. It is pointed out that the presently used seismic design criterion is not satisfied with the requirements of nowadays social and economic development. A new performance-based seismic design criterion that is composed of three components is presented in this paper. It can not only effectively control the economic losses and casualty, but also ensure the building's function in proper operation during earthquakes. The three components are: classification of seismic design for buildings, determination of seismic design intensity and/or seismic design ground motion for controlling seismic economic losses and casualties, and determination of the importance factors in terms of service periods of buildings. For controlling the seismic human losses, the idea of socially acceptable casualty level is presented and the 'Optimal Economic Decision Model' and 'Optimal Safe Decision Model' are established. Finally, a new method is recommended for calculating the importance factors of structures by adjusting structures service period on the base of more important structure with longer service period than the conventional ones. Therefore, the more important structure with longer service periods will be designed for higher seismic loads, in case the exceedance probability of seismic hazard in different service period is same.

Experimental study on seismic behavior of semi-rigid connection between steel beam and concrete wall

Beam-column or beam-wall connections are an important problem in high-rise buildings. In this study, based on the analysis of an example structure, an analytical model for design of the semi-rigid connections between steel beams and RC walls in high-rise hybrid buildings is proposed. Also, the mechanical characteristics of these connections subjected to low-reversed cyclic loading are investigated through comparison of experimental results from three semi-rigid connections and two rigid connections. Moreover, some latent problems for design of these connections as well as the corresponding solutions are discussed. The results from the experiments and analyses indicate that semi-rigid connections exhibit satisfactory capacity and seismic performance, and the proposed design can be used in practice.

Performance-based global reliability assessment of a high-rise frame-core tube structure subjected to multi-dimensional stochastic earthquakes

When evaluating the seismic safety and reliability of complex engineering structures,it is a critical problem to reasonably consider the randomness and multi-dimensional nature of ground motions.To this end,a proposed modeling strategy of multi-dimensional stochastic earthquakes is addressed in this study.This improved seismic model has several merits that enable it to better provide seismic analyses of structures.Specifically,at first,the ground motion model is compatible with the design response spectrum.Secondly,the evolutionary power spectrum involved in the model and the design response spectrum are constructed accordingly with sufficient consideration of the correlation between different seismic components.Thirdly,the random function-based dimension-reduction representation is applied,by which seismic modeling is established,with three elementary random variables.Numerical simulations of multi-dimensional stochastic ground motions in a specific design scenario indicate the effectiveness of the proposed modeling strategy.Moreover,the multi-dimensional seismic response and the global reliability of a high-rise frame-core tube structure is discussed in detail to further illustrate the engineering applicability of the proposed method.The analytical investigations demonstrate that the suggested stochastic model of multi-dimensional ground motion is available for accurate seismic response analysis and dynamic reliability assessment of complex engineering structures for performance-based seismic resistance design.

Experimental study on seismic behavior of circular RC columns strengthened with pre-stressed FRP strips

Bonding fiber reinforced polymer （FRP） has been commonly used to improve the seismic behavior of circular reinforced concrete （RC） columns in engineering practice. However, FRP jackets have a significant stress hysteresis effect in this strengthening method, and pre-tensioning the FRP can overcome this problem. This paper presents test results of 25 circular RC columns strengthened with pre-stressed FRP strips under low cyclic loading. The pre-stressing of the FRP strips, types of FRP strips and longitudinal reinforcement, axial load ratio, pre-damage degree and surface treatments of the specimens are considered as the primary factors in the tests. According to the failure modes and hysteresis curves of the specimens, these factors are analyzed to investigate their effect on bearing capacity, ductility, hysteretic behavior, energy dissipation capacity and other important seismic behaviors. The results show that the initial lateral confined stress provided by pre-stressed FRP strips can effectively inhibit the emergence and development of diagonal shear cracks, and change the failure modes of specimens from brittle shear failure to bending or bending-shear failure with better ductility. As a result, the bearing capacity, ductility, energy dissipation capacity and deformation capacity of the strengthened specimens are all significantly improved.

Primary Quantitative Study on Earthquake Damage Extracted from Remote Sensing Imagery——A Case Study of Seismic Damage in the Urban Area of Dujiangyan due to the M_S8.0 Wenchuan Earthquake

The fast developing remote sensing techniques play an increasingly important role in earthquake emergency response, disaster survey and loss estimation. As there is a lack of quantitative studies on seismic damage based on remote sensing, its practicality in seismic disaster management has usually been questioned. The paper introduces the essential quantitative study idea, the concept of the remote sensing seismic damage index （D1RS） and analysis models, demonstrates the seismic damage indices （ D1G ） of buildings obtained from ground surveying and its quantitative relation to D1RS in Dujiangyan city, Sichuan Province, which was destroyed by the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake with Ms8.0. The primary results show that an obvious relationship exists between the D1RS of buildings obtained from the high resolution satellite or aerial remote sensing images and D1G or the building collapse ratio obtained through ground survey, which suggests that the quantitative study on seismic damage based on remote sensing will provide an effective method for seismic damage survey and loss estimation.

Persisting challenges for performance-based building assessment

Intense research and refinement of the tools used in performance-based seismic engineering have been made,but the maturity and accuracy of these methods have not been adequately confirmed with actual data from the field. The gap between the assumed characteristics of actual building systems and their idealized counterparts used for analysis is wide. When the randomly distributed flaws in buildings as they exist in urban areas and the extreme variability of ground motion patterns combine,the conventional procedures used for pushover or dynamic response history analyses seem to fall short of reconciling the differences between calculated and observed damage. For emergency planning and loss modeling purposes,such discrepancies are factors that must be borne in mind. Two relevant examples are provided herein. These examples demonstrate that consensus-based analytical guidelines also require well-idealized building models that do not lend themselves to reasonably manageable representations from field data. As a corollary,loss modeling techniques,e.g.,used for insurance purposes,must undergo further development and improvement.

Seismic Observations and Seismic Hazard Studies in the Philippines

It has taken more than a hundred years for seismic observations in the Philippines to evolve to a modern observation system. The responsibility of seismic observations was likewise transferred from one agency to another during this same period of time. At present, the mandate of conducting seismic observations in the Philippines rests with the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS). In 2000, through a grant aid from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the Philippine seismic network was upgraded to a digital system. As a result, a new set of seismic monitoring equipments was installed in all of the 34 PHIVOLCS seismic stations all over the country. Digital waveforms are now available for high level seismic data processing, and data acquisition and processing are now automated. Included in the upgrade is the provision of strong motion accelerographs in all stations whose data can now be used for studying ground motion and intensity attenuation relations. The new setup is now producing high-resolution data that can now be used for conducting basic seismological researches. Earthquake locations have now improved allowing for the modeling and delineation of earthquake source regions necessary for earthquake hazard studies. Current seismic hazard studies in the Philippines involve the estimation of ground motion using both probabilistic and deterministic approaches, seismic microzonation studies of key cities using microtremor observations, paleoseismology and active faults mapping, and identification of liquefaction-prone, landslide-prone and tsunami-affected areas. The earthquake database is now being reviewed and completed with the addition of historical events and from data from regional databases. While studies of seismic hazards were primarily concentrated on a regional level, PHIVOLCS is now focusing on doing these seismic hazard studies on a microlevel. For Metro Manila, first generation hazard maps showing ground rupture, ground shaking and liquefaction hazards have recently been completed. Other large cities that are also at risk from large earthquakes are the next targets. The elements at risk such as population, lifelines, and vertical and horizontal structures for each of these urban centers are also being incorporated in the hazard maps for immediate use of planners, civil defense officials, policy-makers and engineers. The maps can also now be used to describe possible scenarios during times of strong events and how appropriate socio-economic and engineering responses could be designed. In addition, a rapid earthquake damage assessment system has been started which will attempt to produce immediate or rapid assessments including identification of elements at risk during times of strong earthquakes.

自攻钉集块连接混凝土复合剪力墙抗震性能试验

提出了适用于装配式混凝土复合剪力墙结构的自攻钉集块连接构造,为研究自攻钉集块连接混凝土复合剪力墙的抗震性能,设计制作了3个剪跨比为1.39的足尺剪力墙试件,进行了低周反复荷载试验,主要变量包括自攻钉集块连接构造、自攻钉集块与后浇条带组合连接构造以及L形边框构造柱。分析了试件破坏模式、承载力、滞回特性、刚度及退化、变形能力、耗能性能和应变特征等。结果表明:自攻钉集块连接构造装配便捷,受力性能可靠;采用自攻钉集块与后浇条带组合连接构造试件的承载力及刚度相比自攻钉集块连接构造分别提高了8.54%和6.03%;设置L形边框构造柱的试件承载力、刚度及耗能分别提高了67.48%、129.33%和277.93%。自攻钉集块连接复合剪力墙具有良好的抗震性能,满足装配式低层住宅混凝土复合剪力墙结构的抗震设计要求,可用于实际工程。

新型铁路桥梁自复位体系抗震性能研究

针对铁路桥梁震后损伤重、修复难的问题,提出了基于新型自复位减震装置的铁路桥梁自复位体系,并开展了抗震性能研究。提出了具有低损伤、变刚度等特点的新型自复位减震装置,阐明了装置工作机理,建立了滞回分析模型。提出了“活动型支座+新装置”的减隔震与复位系统,明确了装置布置与安装方案。随后基于非线性时程分析方法,对比了传统非减隔震桥梁与自复位桥梁的抗震性能。研究结果表明:所提出的自复位体系具有极佳的抗震性能和可恢复性能,相比于原型桥梁,最大位移可降低27%,残余位移基本消除,仅最大剪力有所增加。

榫卯灌浆钢管框架节点抗震性能试验研究

为探索建筑钢结构低能耗循环利用技术,研究方钢管柱-矩钢管梁采用榫卯连接、砂浆灌浆阻滑的钢框架节点的抗震性能。对榫卯灌浆节点及传统全焊接节点进行了低周往复荷载试验,对比分析其破坏形态、荷载-位移滞回曲线、延性系数以及极限承载力,并建立有限元分析模型,与试验结果进行对比。研究表明:榫卯灌浆节点在弹性阶段的承载力与全焊接节点相当,但榫卯灌浆节点的极限承载力高于全焊接节点,塑性发展平台更长;榫卯灌浆节点的破坏方式为砂浆磨损挤碎,钢构件损伤小;摩擦耗能效果好,滞回曲线饱满,且震后砂浆易修复。

动态地震监测系统设计及数据处理技术优化

Client/Server作为一种分布式网络协作处理模式,是当前计算机领域内比较热门的处理技术,应用范围也更加宽广。尤其是在图像处理应用方面,通过对Client/Server模式的应用,可实现对动态地震图像的有效处理,将图像画面更加清晰地表现出来,通过图像完成地震现场处理工作。基于此,本文主要对Client/Server模式下的动态地震图像处理系统进行分析研究。该系统从应用效果来看,充分利用现代计算机技术,采用模块化设计方式,为动态地震图像处理提供一种很好的解决方法,从而发挥出地震仪器设备作用,对地震出现展开正确预判,提升通信处理效果,提前做好相关的预防措施。

双曲面球型减隔震支座与普通支座在成昆铁路典型桥梁上的抗震性能对比分析

以成昆铁路典型桥梁为研究背景,讨论了双曲面球形减隔震支座的抗震性能,对比分析了不同桥型对减隔震效果的影响。进一步地,讨论了桥墩的高度、形式以及位置对减隔震效率的影响。结果表明,双曲面球形减隔震支座对于简支T梁桥、简支桁架梁桥以及连续梁桥均有良好的减隔震效果。整体而言,双曲面球形减隔震支座对墩顶的载荷优化大于墩底,对弯矩的优化大于剪力;桥墩墩高、桥墩位置以及桥墩形式都会影响抗震支座的减隔震率。

Simplified seismic performance assessment and implications for seismic design

The last decade or so has seen the development of refined performance-based earthquake engineering(PBEE) approaches that now provide a framework for estimation of a range of important decision variables,such as repair costs,repair time and number of casualties. This paper reviews current tools for PBEE,including the PACT software,and examines the possibility of extending the innovative displacement-based assessment approach as a simplified structural analysis option for performance assessment. Details of the displacement-based s+eismic assessment method are reviewed and a simple means of quickly assessing multiple hazard levels is proposed. Furthermore,proposals for a simple definition of collapse fragility and relations between equivalent single-degree-of-freedom characteristics and multi-degree-of-freedom story drift and floor acceleration demands are discussed,highlighting needs for future research. To illustrate the potential of the methodology,performance measures obtained from the simplified method are compared with those computed using the results of incremental dynamic analyses within the PEER performance-based earthquake engineering framework,applied to a benchmark building. The comparison illustrates that the simplified method could be a very effective conceptual seismic design tool. The advantages and disadvantages of the simplified approach are discussed and potential implications of advanced seismic performance assessments for conceptual seismic design are highlighted through examination of different case study scenarios including different structural configurations.