Seismic fragility analysis of clay-pile-pier systems considering the optimization of ground motion intensity measures

The performance of clay-pile-pier system under earthquake shaking was comprehensively examined via three-dimensional finite element analyses,in which the complex stress-strain relationships of a clay and piled pier system were depicted by a hyperbolic-hysteretic and an equivalent elastoplastic model,respectively.One hundred twenty ground motions with varying peak accelerations were considered,along with the variations in bridge superstructure mass and pile flexural rigidity.Comprehensive comparison studies suggested that peak pile-cap acceleration and peak pile-cap velocity are the optimal ground motion intensity measures for seismic responses of the pier and the pile,respectively.Furthermore,based on two optimal ground motion intensity measures and using curvature ductility to quantify different damage states,seismic fragility analyses were performed.The pier generally had no evident damage except when the bridge girder mass was equal to 960 t,which seemed to be comparatively insensitive to the varying pile flexural rigidity.In comparison,the pile was found to be more vulnerable to seismic damage and its failure probabilities tended to clearly reduce with the increment of pile flexural rigidity,while the influence of the bridge girder mass was relatively minor.

Time-varying seismic fragility analysis of durability damage of high-tensile reinforcement ECC bridge pier

The deterioration of the performance of offshore bridges is particularly prominent due to the complex natural environment,including the coupling effects of earthquake and seawater erosion.In particular,bridge piers are the main energy-consuming and load-bearing components,so that excellent seismic capacity of bridge piers is the key to avoiding bridge damage.Although earthquake resistant behavior of ordinary reinforced concrete bridge piers(ordinary pier)can be improved by increasing the section size and reinforcement ratio of piers,the improvement of the earthquake resistant behavior is limited.To further improve the earthquake resistant behavior of bridge piers,high-tensile reinforcement engineered cementitious composite(ECC)bridge piers are utilized and time-varying seismic fragility analysis are conducted in this study.The refined model of a bridge pier is built by OpenSees.First,the influence of ECC replacement height on pier curvature is analyzed to determine the reasonable ECC height.Then,the time-varying fragility analysis of high-tensile reinforcement ECC piers(ECC composite piers)with durability damage are evaluated considering the time-varying law of materials.Four damage states,slight damage,moderate damage,extensive damage and complete collapse,are utilized in the study.These fragility curves indicate the durability damage can debase the earthquake resistant behavior of piers continually,the exceedance probability of the same state of destruction increases with the increase of peak ground acceleration(PGA)and service time of pier.The results also indicate that the corrosion level of chloride ion to pier is small during the early service period,and the bridge pier vulnerable curve is similar to that of the new bridge pier.As the level of chlorine ion corrosion deepens,transcendental probability is increased.Compared with the ordinary pier,the exceedance probability in each limit state of ECC composite piers is significantly reduced.The proposed ECC composite pies leads to better realistic time-varying earthquake resistant behavior.

Comparison of seismic fragility analysis methods for arch dams

This study focuses on the seismic fragility analysis of arch dams.The multiple stripe analysis(MSA),cloud analysis(CLA),and incremental dynamic analysis(IDA)methods are compared.A comprehensive dam-reservoir-foundation rock system,which considers the opening of contraction joints,the nonlinearity of dam concrete and foundation rock,the radiation damping effect of semi-unbounded foundation,and the compressibility of reservoir water,is used as a numerical example.225,80,and 15 earthquake records are selected for MSA,CLA,and IDA,respectively.The results show that MSA provides satisfactory fragility analysis,while both CLA and IDA have assumptions that may lead to deviations.Therefore,MSA is the most reliable method among the three methods and is recommended for the fragility analysis of arch dams.It is also shown that the choice of demand level affects the reliability of fragility curves and the effect of the material uncertainty on the fragility of the dam is not significant.

Detailed seismic zoning of the East Kazakhstan region in the Republic of Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan is currently drafting new construction regulations that comply with the major provisions of the Eurocodes.Such regulations are created on the basis of seismic zoning maps of various degrees of detail,developed by our Institute of Seismology using a new methodological approach for Kazakhstan.The article is about creating the first normative map of the Detailed Seismic Zoning on a probabilistic foundation for the Republic of Kazakhstan’s East Kazakhstan region.We carried out the probabilistic assessment of seismic hazard using a methodology consistent with the main provisions of Eurocode 8and updated compared with that used in developing maps of Kazakhstan’s General Seismic Zoning and seismic microzoning of Almaty.The most thorough and current data accessible for the area under consideration were combined with contemporary analytical techniques.Updates have been done to not only the databases being used but also the way seismic sources were shown,including active faults now.On a scale of 1:1000000,precise seismic zoning maps of the East Kazakhstan region were created for two probabilities of exceedance:10%and 2%in 50 years in terms of peak ground accelerations and macroseismic intensities.The obtained seismic hazard distribution is generally consistent with the General Seismic Zoning of Kazakhstan’s previous findings.However,because active faults were included and a thoroughly revised catalog was used,there are more pronounced zones of increased danger along the fault in the western part of the region.In the west of the territory,acceleration values also increased due to a more accurate consideration of seismotectonic conditions.Zoning maps are the basis for developing new state building regulations of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Seismic performance evaluation of water supply pipes installed in a full-scale RC frame structure based on a shaking table test

As an important part of nonstructural components,the seismic response of indoor water supply pipes deserves much attention.This paper presents shaking table test research on water supply pipes installed in a full-scale reinforced concrete(RC)frame structure.Different material pipes and different methods for penetrating the reinforced concrete floors are combined to evaluate the difference in seismic performance.Floor response spectra and pipe acceleration amplification factors based on test data are discussed and compared with code provisions.A seismic fragility study of displacement demand is conducted based on numerical simulation.The acceleration response and displacement response of different combinations are compared.The results show that the combination of different pipe materials and different passing-through methods can cause obvious differences in the seismic response of indoor riser pipes.

Co-seismic surface displacement of the June 21, 2022 M_(W)6 Khōst,Afghanistan earthquake from InSAR observations

A robust estimation of the earthquake location, seismic moment, and fault geometry is essential for objective seismic hazard assessment. Seismic events in a remote location, specifically in the absence of seismic and GNSS networks, can be investigated effectively using the In SAR-based technique. This study adopts the Differential Interferometric SAR(DIn SAR) technique to quantify the co-seismic surface displacement caused by the June 21, 2022, Khōst M_(W)6 earthquake that occurred along the western plate boundary between the Indian and Eurasian plate. The interferograms show that the maximum surface deformation occurred on the northwest and southwest of the fault line. From coherence, the Line of Sight(LOS) displacement, and the co-seismic surface displacement analysis, it has been observed that surface deformation was most pronounced in the southwest region of the fault line, and the surface has moved to the opposite direction along the fault line, which indicates a sinistral slightly oblique strike-slip movement. This In SAR-based observation appears consistent with the seismic waveforms derived from co-seismic surface displacements. Further, it has been argued that the slip deficit accumulated during the period of the last about 48 years along the frontal region of the northward extension of the Suleiman range and associated fault zone is qualitatively estimated at about 1.5 m, which is consistent with the seismic waveforms derived finite slip model.

Potential seismic landslide hazard and engineering effect in the Ya’an-Linzhi section of the Sichuan-Tibet transportation corridor, China

The Sichuan-Tibet transportation corridor is located at the eastern margin of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau,where the complex topography and geological conditions,developed geo-hazards have severely restricted the planning and construction of major projects.For the long-term prevention and early control of regional seismic landslides,based on analyzing seismic landslide characteristics,the Newmark model was used to carry out the potential seismic landslide hazard assessment with a 50-year beyond probability 10%.The results show that the high seismic landslide hazard is mainly distributed along large active tectonic belts and deep-cut river canyons,and are significantly affected by the active tectonics.The low seismic landslide hazard is mainly distributed in the flat terrain such as the Quaternary basins,broad river valleys,and plateau planation planes.The major east-west linear projects mainly pass through five areas with high seismic landslide hazard:Luding-Kangding section,Yajiang-Xinlong(Yalong river)section,Batang-Baiyu(Jinsha river)section,Basu(Nujiang river)section,and Bomi-Linzhi(eastern Himalaya syntaxis)section.The seismic action of the Bomi-Linzhi section can also induce high-risk geo-hazard chains such as the high-level glacial lake breaks and glacial debris flows.The early prevention of seismic landslides should be strengthened in the areas with high seismic landslide hazard.

Evolution of Coulomb failure stress in Sulaiman Lobe,Pakistan,and its implications for seismic hazard assessment

In this research work,we present the evolution of Coulomb failure stress(CFS)in the Sulaiman Lobe and its implications for seismic hazard assessment.The Chaman transform fault,~1,000 km long,is the major active fault that marks the western boundary between Pakistan and Afghanistan on the Indian Plate.To date,few studies have been conducted to unveil the interactions among earthquakes and the implications of these interactions for seismic hazard assessment in the region.We thoroughly investigated the published and online catalog to construct a sequence of major earthquakes that occurred in this region during the past.The final earthquake sequence was composed of 15 earthquakes of M_(w)≥6.0,beginning with the 1888 earthquake.We used the stress-triggering theory to numerically simulate the evolution of CFS caused by these earthquakes.The numerical results revealed that 8 out of 15earthquakes were triggered by the preceding earthquakes.The earthquakes in 1908,1910,1935,1966,and 1997 were rather independent earthquakes in this sequence.Although the epicenters of the 1975a and 1975b earthquakes were in the stress shadow zone,the partial rupture segments of both these earthquakes were in high-CFS regions.The CFS induced by the 1935 earthquake was notable,as it later triggered the 2008 doublet.Moreover,our results revealed that the northern segment of the Chaman Fault,the southern segment of the Ghazaband Fault,and the northwestern segment of the Urghargai Fault demonstrated a high change in CFS that could trigger seismicity in these regions.The necessary arrangements must therefore be made to mitigate any possible seismic hazards in the region.

Seismic fragility analysis of highway bridges considering multi-dimensional performance limit state

Fragility analysis for highway bridges has become increasingly important in the risk assessment of highway transportation networks exposed to seismic hazards. This study introduces a methodology to calculate fragility that considers multi-dimensional performance limit state parameters and makes a first attempt to develop fragility curves for a multi-span continuous (MSC) concrete girder bridge considering two performance limit state parameters: column ductility and transverse deformation in the abutments. The main purpose of this paper is to show that the performance limit states, which are compared with the seismic response parameters in the calculation of fragility, should be properly modeled as randomly interdependent variables instead of deterministic quantities. The sensitivity of fragility curves is also investigated when the dependency between the limit states is different. The results indicate that the proposed method can be used to describe the vulnerable behavior of bridges which are sensitive to multiple response parameters and that the fragility information generated by this method will be more reliable and likely to be implemented into transportation network loss estimation.

Seismic fragility assessment of RC frame structure designed according to modern Chinese code for seismic design of buildings

Following several damaging earthquakes in China, research has been devoted to find the causes of the collapse of reinforced concrete （RC） building sand studying the vulnerability of existing buildings. The Chinese Code for Seismic Design of Buildings （CCSDB） has evolved over time, however, there is still reported earthquake induced damage of newly designed RC buildings. Thus, to investigate modern Chinese seismic design code, three low-, mid- and high-rise RC frames were designed according to the 2010 CCSDB and the corresponding vulnerability curves were derived by computing a probabilistic seismic demand model （PSDM）.The PSDM was computed by carrying out nonlinear time history analysis using thirty ground motions obtained from the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center. Finally, the PSDM was used to generate fragility curves for immediate occupancy, significant damage, and collapse prevention damage levels. Results of the vulnerability assessment indicate that the seismic demands on the three different frames designed according to the 2010 CCSDB meet the seismic requirements and are almost in the same safety level.

Seismic fragility of flexible pipeline connections in a base isolated medical building

Flexible pipelines are often used to connect hard pipes from a foundation to a superstructure to accommodate large deformation in the base isolation layer during an earthquake. Although Chinese seismic design guidelines suggest several confi gurations, they are diff erent from the designs that have been proven in practice, e.g., Japanese styles, and extensive experimental investigation into their seismic performance is required. Three types of seals, rubber-, metal- and asbestinebased, were tested quasi-statically with infi lled pressurized water at 2.5 MPa. The asbestine-based seal leaked at a smaller deformation than the other two types of seals. Based on the test results, three damage states were defi ned and the deformation capacity was estimated. To evaluate their performance, a three-dimensional model of a base-isolated medical building was developed using OpenSees, with the fl exible pipelines simulated by a mechanical model calibrated from the experimental data. A probabilistic seismic demand model and the fragility function of the fl exible pipelines were then developed to evaluate the seismic performance.

Effects of structural characterizations on fragility functions of bridges subject to seismic shaking and lateral spreading

This paper evaluates the seismic vulnerability of different classes of typical bridges in California when subjected to seismic shaking or liquefaction-induced lateral spreading. The detailed structural configurations in terms of superstructure type, connection, continuity at support and foundation type, etc. render different damage resistant capability. Six classes of bridges are established based on their anticipated failure mechanisms under earthquake shaking. The numerical models that are capable of simulating the complex soil-structure interaction effects, nonlinear behavior of columns and connections are developed for each bridge class. The dynamic responses are obtained using nonlinear time history analyses for a suite of 250 earthquake motions with increasing intensity. An equivalent static analysis procedure is also implemented to evaluate the vulnerability of the bridges when subjected to liquefaction-induced lateral spreading. Fragility functions for each bridge class are derived and compared for both seismic shaking （based on nonlinear dynamic analyses） and lateral spreading （based on equivalent static analyses） for different performance states. The study finds that the fragility functions due to either ground shaking or lateral spreading show significant correlation with the structural characterizations, but differences emerge for ground shaking and lateral spreading conditions. Structural properties that will mostly affect the bridges＇ damage resistant capacity are also identified.

Time-variant fragility analysis of the bridge system considering time-varying dependence among typical component seismic demands

This paper presents a copula technique to develop time-variant seismic fragility curves for corroded bridges at the system level and considers the realistic time-varying dependence among component seismic demands. Based on material deterioration mechanisms and incremental dynamic analysis, the time-evolving seismic demands of components were obtained in the form of marginal probability distributions. The time-varying dependences among bridge components were then captured with the best fitting copula function, which was selected from the commonly used copula classes by the empirical distribution based analysis method. The system time-variant fragility curves at different damage states were developed and the effects of time-varying dependences among components on the bridge system fragility were investigated. The results indicate the time-varying dependence among components significantly affects the time-variant fragility of the bridge system. The copula technique captures the nonlinear dependence among component seismic demands accurately and easily by separating the marginal distributions and the dependence among them.

Seismic fragility of structures isolated by single concave sliding devices for different soil conditions

This study deals with the seismic fragility of elastic structural systems equipped with single concave sliding（friction pendulum system（FPS）） isolators considering different soil conditions. The behavior of these systems is analyzed by employing a two-degree-of-freedom model, whereas the FPS response is described by means of a velocity-dependent model. The uncertainty in the seismic inputs is taken into account by considering artificial seismic excitations modelled as timemodulated filtered Gaussian white noise random processes of different intensity within the power spectral density method. In particular, the filter parameters, which control the frequency content of the random excitations, are calibrated to describe stiff, medium and soft soil conditions. The sliding friction coefficient at large velocity is also considered as a random variable modelled through a uniform probability density function. Incremental dynamic analyses are developed in order to evaluate the probabilities of exceeding different limit states related to both the reinforced concrete（RC） superstructure and isolation level, defining the seismic fragility curves within an extensive parametric study carried out for different structural system properties and soil conditions. The abovementioned seismic fragility curves are useful to evaluate the seismic reliability of base-isolated elastic systems equipped with FPS and located in any site for any soil condition.

Seismic evaluation of rocking structures through performance assessment and fragility analysis

Numerical studies have been conducted for low- and medium-rise rocking structures to investigate their efficiency as earthquake-resisting systems in comparison with conventional structures. Several non-linear time-history analyses have been performed to evaluate seismic performance of selected cases at desired ground shaking levels, based on key parameters such as total and flexural story drifts and residual deformations. The Far-field record set is selected as input ground motions and median peak values of key parameters are taken as best estimates of system response. In addition, in order to evaluate the probability of exceeding relevant damage states, analytical fragility curves have been developed based on the results of the incremental dynamic analysis procedure. Small exceedance probabilities and acceptable margins against collapse, together with minor associated damages in main structural members, can be considered as superior seismic performance for medium-rise rocking systems. Low-rise rocking systems could provide significant performance improvement over their conventional counterparts notwithstanding certain weaknesses in their seismic response.

Development of seismic fragility curves for low-rise masonry infilled reinforced concrete buildings by a coefficient-based method

This study presents a seismic fragility analysis and ultimate spectral displacement assessment of regular low-rise masonry infilled （MI） reinforced concrete （RC） buildings using a coefficient-based method. The coefficient-based method does not require a complicated finite element analysis; instead, it is a simplifed procedure for assessing the spectral acceleration and displacement of buildings subjected to earthquakes. A regression analysis was first performed to obtain the best-fitting equations for the inter-story drift ratio （IDR） and period shift factor of low-rise MI RC buildings in response to the peak ground acceleration of earthquakes using published results obtained from shaking table tests. Both spectral acceleration- and spectral displacement-based fragility curves under various damage states （in terms of IDR） were then constructed using the coefficient-based method. Finally, the spectral displacements of low-rise MI RC buildings at the ultimate （or near- collapse） state obtained from this paper and the literature were compared. The simulation results indicate that the fragility curves obtained from this study and other previous work correspond well. Furthermore, most of the spectral displacements of low-rise MI RC buildings at the ultimate state from the literature fall within the bounded spectral displacements predicted by the coefficient-based method.

Seismic fragility reduction of an unreinforced masonry school building through retrofit using ferrocement overlay

The Himalayan region is one of the major seismic areas in the world.However,similar to many other seismically active locations,there are substantial numbers of unreinforced masonry(URM)buildings;the majority of which have not been designed for seismic loads.Past seismic events have shown that such buildings are highly vulnerable to earthquakes.Retrofitting of these URM buildings is an important concern in earthquake mitigation programs.Most government school buildings in rural areas of northern India are constructed of unreinforced masonry.These school buildings are socially important structures and serve as a crucial resource for rehabilitation during any disaster.The effectiveness of ferrocement(FC)to create a URM-FC composite is described in this study by estimating the performance and fragility of a URM school building before and after a retrofit.Analytical models,based on the equivalent frame method,are developed and used for nonlinear static analysis to estimate the enhancement in capacity.The capacity enhancement due to retrofitting is presented in terms of the maximum PGA sustained and damage probabilities at the expected level of earthquake hazard.

Seismic fragility assessment of low-rise stone masonry buildings

Many historic buildings in old urban centers in Eastern Canada are made of stone masonry reputed to be highly vulnerable to seismic loads.Seismic risk assessment of stone masonry buildings is therefore the first step in the risk mitigation process to provide adequate planning for retrofit and preservation of historical urban centers.This paper focuses on development of analytical displacement-based fragility curves reflecting the characteristics of existing stone masonry buildings in Eastern Canada.The old historic center of Quebec City has been selected as a typical study area.The standard fragility analysis combines the inelastic spectral displacement,a structure-dependent earthquake intensity measure,and the building damage state correlated to the induced building displacement.The proposed procedure consists of a three-step development process：（1） mechanics-based capacity model,（2） displacement-based damage model and（3） seismic demand model.The damage estimation for a uniform hazard scenario of 2% in 50 years probability of exceedance indicates that slight to moderate damage is the most probable damage experienced by these stone masonry buildings.Comparison is also made with fragility curves implicit in the seismic risk assessment tools Hazus and ELER.Hazus shows the highest probability of the occurrence of no to slight damage,whereas the highest probability of extensive and complete damage is predicted with ELER.This comparison shows the importance of the development of fragility curves specific to the generic construction characteristics in the study area and emphasizes the need for critical use of regional risk assessment tools and generated results.

Seismic Fragility Analysis of Long-Span Bridge System with Durability Degradation

An offshore long-span continuous rigid-frame bridge is taken as an example to study the effect of degradation of bond-slip behavior on the seismic performance of bridges in an offshore environment during a service period.On the basis of a numerical simulation analysis using the OpenSeeS platform,the influence of durability degradation of concrete carbonization,steel corrosion,and degradation of bond-slip performance is considered collectively using incremental dynamic analysis method to examine the time-varying seismic fragility of the offshore bridge.Results show that when bond slip is considered,the exceedance probability of the bridge components and the system increases significantly,and the durability degradation caused by concrete carbonization and chloride ion erosion in the whole life cycle increases the seismic response of the bridge structure.The results of the proposed time-varying seismic fragility analysis indicate that,considering the degradation of bond-slip behavior of reinforced concrete after the durability degradation of materials,the exceedance probability of the pier,bearing,abutment,and system increases with the extension of service period and the increase in seismic strength under earthquake action.In addition,with the extension of service time,the effect of bond slip on the seismic fragility of components and system gradually decreases.

Seismic fragility analysis of composite frame structure based on performance

Steel-concrete composite structures that share the advantages of both steel structure and concrete structure have been developed rapidly and used widely. It has been a popular structure in high-rise buildings in recent years. Although more and more composite structures have been used in earthquake area, only a few literatures about fragility analysis of this type of structure are available. In this paper, a fragility analysis method based on performance is proposed, in which both the uncertainty due to variability in structures and ground motion are considered. Seismic fragility analysis is performed for a 15-story composite beam-concrete-filled square steel tube column frame by the proposed method. The top-drift-angle and the story-drift-angle are used as quantitative indexes to define the four different performance levels. Then seismic demand probability analysis is carried out and fragility curves are derived to assess the seismic performance of this type of structure.