Towards rapid and automated vulnerability classification of concrete buildings

With the overwhelming number of older reinforced concrete buildings that need to be assessed for seismic vulnerability in a city,local governments face the question of how to assess their building inventory.By leveraging engineering drawings that are stored in a digital format,a well-established method for classification reinforced concrete buildings with respect to seismic vulnerability,and machine learning techniques,we have developed a technique to automatically extract quantitative information from the drawings to classify vulnerability.Using this technique,stakeholders will be able to rapidly classify buildings according to their seismic vulnerability and have access to information they need to prioritize a large building inventory.The approach has the potential to have significant impact on our ability to rapidly make decisions related to retrofit and improvements in our communities.In the Los Angeles County alone it is estimated that several thousand buildings of this type exist.The Hassan index is adopted here as the method for automation due to its simple application during the classification of the vulnerable reinforced concrete buildings.This paper will present the technique used for automating information extraction to compute the Hassan index for a large building inventory.

Investigation the Correlation between Thermal Bridging and Geometries in Concrete Buildings

This article focuses on the investigation of the correlation between thermal bridging and various geometric configurations. The article employs QuickField software for conducting three-dimensional steady-state heat transfer simulations to investigate the thermal behaviors of diverse geometric shapes. Significantly, this study involves the simulation of four distinct geometries including concrete circular, square, rectangular, and triangular column through an insulated concrete layer while all geometries maintain the consistent surface areas. The simulations yield findings indicating that circular thermal bridging has the best thermal performance, while rectangular thermal bridging displays comparatively the lowest thermal efficiency. Furthermore, the results indicate that alterations in the perimeter of thermal bridge interfaces, while maintaining a constant area, exert a more pronounced influence on the thermal performance of the geometries compared to proportional changes in area while preserving the perimeter. The study’s findings aid building designers and architects in creating more energy-efficient structural and architectural elements by incorporating thermally efficient geometries and forms. .

Modeling of environmental influence in structural health assessment for reinforced concrete buildings

One branch of structural health monitoring (SHM) utilizes dynamic response measurements to assess the structural integrity of civil infrastructures. In particular,modal frequency is a widely adopted indicator for structural damage since its square is proportional to structural stiffness. However,it has been demonstrated in various SHM projects that this indicator is substantially affected by fluctuating environmental conditions. In order to provide reliable and consistent information on the health status of the monitored structures,it is necessary to develop a method to filter this interference. This study attempts to model and quantify the environmental influence on the modal frequencies of reinforced concrete buildings. Daily structural response measurements of a twenty-two story reinforced concrete building were collected and analyzed over a one-year period. The Bayesian spectral density approach was utilized to identify the modal frequencies of this building and it was clearly seen that the temperature and humidity fluctuation induced notable variations. A mathematical model was developed to quantify the environmental effects and model complexity was taken into consideration. Based on a Timoshenko beam model,the full model class was constructed and other reduced-order model class candidates were obtained. Then,the Bayesian modal class selection approach was employed to select the one with the most suitable complexity. The proposed model successfully characterizes the environmental influence on the modal frequencies. Furthermore,the estimated uncertainty of the model parameters allows for assessment of the reliability of the prediction. This study not only improves the understanding about the monitored structure,but also establishes a systematic approach for reliable health assessment of reinforced concrete buildings.

Deformation Analysis Due to Early Loading of Concrete Buildings

The building industry has experienced in recent years a strong growth in demand in general and in the case of reinforced concrete buildings this increase has been more marked. This fact has also contributed to accelerate all stages of the production process of these constructions with more pronounced effects on the methodologies used in the constructive steps that influence directly the structural design of the building. Structures loaded at ever earlier ages, in which the strength and deformation properties of materials are not yet sufficiently mature. It is a variable that needs to be taken into account already in the design phase so that the concrete structure behaves within acceptable level of reliability taking into account design code recommendations for service life. To understand the importance of constructive effects and to assess its magnitude in the execution of reinforced concrete buildings, this paper presents result from nonlinear analyses using finite element method adopting an approach commonly referred as staged construction applied to a typical building found in the practice. The effects of creep and shrinkage were considered and the results obtained demonstrate that the strains due to constructive effects can, in certain cases, assume representative values which, if ignored, can lead to important pathologies in the building.

The Effect of Core Eccentricity on the Structural Behavior of Concrete Tall Buildings

The main purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of core eccentricity on the structural behavior of concrete tall buildings.Concrete buildings of 55 floors with plan dimensions 48.0×48.0 m2 were investigated.Three cases of main core locations are studied:centric(A),eccentric by one sixth(B)and one third(C)of building width.The three-dimensional finite element method has been used in conducting structural analysis through ETABS software.Gravity and lateral(wind and seismic)loadings are applied to all building cases.It has been concluded that the core location is the prime parameter governing the structural behavior of tall buildings.Although the first two cases(A,B)have acceptable and similar structural behaviors conforming to code limits,in the third case(C),the building behavior came beyond code limits.The author introduced remedial action by adding two secondary cores in the opposite direction of the main core(C-R)to restore the building behavior to the code limits.The results of this action were satisfactory.

Utilization of Basalt Saw Mud as a Spherical Porous Functional Aggregate for the Preparation of Ordinary Structure Concrete

To promote the production and application of artificial aggregates,save natural sand resources and protect the ecological environment,we evaluated the feasibility of using spherical porous functional aggregates(SPFAs) formed by basalt saw mud under autoclave curing in ordinary structural concrete.In our work,two types of prewetted functional aggregates were taken as replacements for natural aggregates with different volume substitution rates(0%,5%,10%,15%,20%,25%,and 30%) in the preparation of ordinary structural concrete with water-to-binder ratios(W/B) of 0.48 and 0.33.The effects of the functional aggregate properties and content,W/B,and curing age on the fluidity,density,mechanical properties and autogenous shrinkage of ordinary concrete were analyzed.The experimental results showed that the density of concrete declined at a rate of not more than 5%,and the 28 d compressive strength could reach 31.0-68.2 MPa.Low W/B,long curing age and high-quality functional aggregates were conducive to enhancing the mechanical properties of SPFAs concrete.Through the rolling effects,SPFAs can optimize the particle gradation of aggregate systems and improve the fluidity of concrete,and the water stored inside SPFAs provides an internal curing effect,which prolongs the cement hydration process and considerably reduces the autogenous shrinkage of concrete.SPFAs exhibits high strength and high density,as well as being more cost-effective and ecological,and is expected to be widely employed in ordinary structural concrete.

Influences of Shrinkage,Creep,and Temperature on the Load Distributions in Reinforced Concrete Buildings During Construction

Site measurements have shown that slab loads re-distribute, between the slabs during the concrete curing, while the external Ioadings and structural geometry remain the same. Some have assumed that this is caused by concrete shrinkage and creep, but there have been no studies on how these factors exactly influence the load distributions and to what degree these influences exist. This paper analyzes the influences of concrete shrinkage, creep, and temperature on the load re-distributions among slabs. Although these factors may all lead to load re-distribution, the results show that the influence of concrete shrinkage can be neglected. Simulations indicate that shrinkage only reduces slab loads by a maximum of 1.1%. Creep, however, may reduce the maximum slab load by from 3% to 16% for common construction schemes. More importantly, temperature variations between day and night can cause load fluctuation as large as 31.6%. This analysis can, therefore, assist site engineers to more accurately estimate slab loads for construction planning.

Load Distribution Assessment of Reinforced Concrete Buildings During Construction with Structural Characteristic Parameter Approach

High-rise reinforced concrete buildings are in great demand in developing countries with rapid urbanization. Construction engineers are facing more and more safety control challenges. One major issue is the understanding of the load distributions, especially the maximum slab load, of structures under construction, which is time dependent. Previous methods were mainly targeted to specific examples, providing specific solutions without addressing the fundamental issues of finding general solutions for load distributions in reinforced concrete buildings with different geometrical and material characteristics during construction. The concept of a structural characteristic parameter is used here to parametedze the main geometrical and material characteristics of concrete structures for generalized assessments of load distributions during construction. The maximum slab load for 20 different construction shoring/reshoring schemes is presented. The results indicate that the traditional simplified method may underestimate or overestimate the maximum slab load, depending mainly on the shoring/reshoring schemes. The structural characteristic parameter approach was specifically developed to assist construction engineers to estimate load distributions to assure safe construction procedures.

Improving the seismic torsional behavior of plan-asymmetric,single-storey,concrete moment resisting buildings with fluid viscous dampers

The optimal distribution of fluid viscous dampers（FVD）in controlling the seismic response of eccentric,single-storey,moment resisting concrete structures is investigated using the previously defined center of damping constant（CDC）.For this purpose,a number of structural models with different one-way stiffness and strength eccentricities are considered.Extensive nonlinear time history analyses are carried out for various arrangements of FVDs.It is shown that the arrangement of FVDs for controlling the torsional behavior due to asymmetry in the concrete structures is very dependent on the intensity of the peak ground acceleration（PGA）and the extent of the structural stiffness and strength eccentricities.The results indicate that,in the linear range of structural behavior the stiffness eccentricity es which is the main parameter in determining the location of optimal CDC,is found to be less or smaller than the optimal damping constant eccentricity e＊d,i.e.,｜e＊d｜ 〉 ｜es｜.But,in the nonlinear range of structural behavior where the strength eccentricity er is the dominant factor in determining the location of optimal CDC,｜e＊d｜ 〉 ｜er｜.It is also concluded that for the majority of the plan-asymmetric,concrete structures considered in this study with er ≠ 0,the optimal CDC approaches the center of mass as er decreases.

Investigation on a mitigation scheme to resist the progressive collapse of reinforced concrete buildings

This study presents the investigation of the approach which was presented by Thaer M.Saeed Alrudaini to provide the alternate load path to redistribute residual loads and preventing from the potential progressive collapse of RC buildings.It was proposed to transfer the residual loads upwards above the failed column of RC buildings by vertical cables hanged at the top to a hat steel braced frame seated on top of the building which in turn redistributes the residual loads to the adjacent columns.In this study a ten-storey regular structural building has been considered to investigate progressive collapse potential.Structural design is based on ACI 318-08 concrete building code for special RC frames and the nonlinear dynamic analysis is carried out using SAP2000 software,following UFC4-023-03 document.Nine independent failure scenarios are adopted in the investigation,including six external removal cases in different floors and three removal cases in the first floor.A new detail is proposed by using barrel and wedge to improve residual forces transfer to the cables after removal of the columns.Simulation results show that progressive collapse of building that resulted from potential failure of columns located in floors can be efficiently resisted by using this method.

Reliability of Reinforced Concrete Buildings During Construction

The safety analysis of reinforced concrete buildings during construction should be based on the comprehensive understanding of loads, load effects, structural resistance, and available safety index of the structure. This paper analyzes the characteristics and probabilistic models of resistance, loads, and load effects. A method was developed to calculate the probability of failure based on Monte Carlo simulation and models proposed in previous articles. Construction examples were used to analyze the influence of live load on the probability of failure. The results show that when the live load increases, the maximum probability of failure increases with acceleration. The results suggest that the construction live load should be carefully addressed during construction.

Assessment of seismic design response factors of concrete wall buildings

To verify the seismic design response factors of high-rise buildings, five reference structures, varying in height from 20- to 60-stories, were selected and designed according to modern design codes to represent a wide range of concrete wall structures. Verified fiber-based analytical models for inelastic simulation were developed, considering the geometric nonlinearity and material inelasticity of the structural members. The ground motion uncertainty was accounted for by employing 20 earthquake records representing two seismic scenarios, consistent with the latest understanding of the tectonic setting and seismicity of the selected reference region （UAE）. A large number of Inelastic Pushover Analyses （IPAs） and Incremental Dynamic Collapse Analyses （IDCAs） were deployed for the reference structures to estimate the seismic design response factors. It is concluded that the factors adopted by the design code are adequately conservative. The results of this systematic assessment of seismic design response factors apply to a wide variety of contemporary concrete wall buildings with various characteristics.

Evaluation of protective quality of prestressed concrete containment buildings of nuclear power plants

The permeability and sorptivity properties of the two prestressed concrete containment buildings （PCCBs） of a nuclear power plant in South China, which had been under operation for 5 years, were measured by using the autoclam permeability system. The air permeability, sorptivity and water permeability indexes of No.1 PCCB are smaller than or equal to 0.11 ln（102 Pa）/min, 0.98×10 ^7 m3/minl/2 and 1.93×10 ^7 m3/min1/2, respectively, and the air permeability, sorptivity and water permeability indexes of No.2 PCCB are smaller than or equal to 0.17 In（102 Pa）/min, 1.6×10 ^7 m3/min1/2 and 4.43 ×10 ^7 m3/min1/2, respectively. Based on the criteria for evaluating the protective quality of concrete structures in terms of their permeability and sorptivity properties, proposed by the research organization of the autoclam permeability system, the protective quality of No. 1 PCCB is still in very good grade and that of No.2 PCCB is not in very good grade but in good grade, and the in-service inspection of the protective quality of No.2 PCCB should be strengthened in the future.

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.

Substructure hybrid testing of reinforced concrete shear wall structure using a domain overlapping technique

An online hybrid test was carried out on a 40-story 120-m high concrete shear wall structure. The structure was divided into two substructures whereby a physical model of the bottom three stories was tested in the laboratory and the upper 37 stories were simulated numerically using ABAQUS. An overlapping domain method was employed for the bottom three stories to ensure the validity of the boundary conditions of the superstructure. Mixed control was adopted in the test. Displacement control was used to apply the horizontal displacement, while two controlled force actuators were applied to simulate the overturning moment, which is very large and cannot be ignored in the substructure hybrid test of high-rise buildings. A series of tests with earthquake sources of sequentially increasing intensities were carried out. The test results indicate that the proposed hybrid test method is a solution to reproduce the seismic response of high-rise concrete shear wall buildings. The seismic performance of the tested precast high-rise building satisfies the requirements of the Chinese seismic design code.

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.

Nondestructive testing algorithm of building concrete material defects based on machine learning

In order to pay more attention to the quality of construction concrete and accurately judge whether concrete material meets the standard,a nondestructive testing algorithm of building concrete material defects based on machine learning is proposed.Through the ray tracing algorithm of Snell’s theorem,the shortest path between two random punctuation marks of building concrete is calculated.The original coordinate system and grid size were set,the trend and length of the line in the grid were calculated,and the coordinates between the grid corner points and the transmitting probe were calculated so as to obtain the position of the intermediate refractive points of the two probes.Finally,the vector dot product of the local defects is obtained by the optimal hyperplane calculation of the binary classification in the support vector machine.Experimental results show that the proposed method has the advantages of high precision.

Shanghai Tower

Owner:Shanghai Tower Construction & Development Co.,Ltd.Contractor:Shanghai Construction Group Co.,Ltd.Architectural Designer:Gensler,USA Structural engineer:Thornton Tomasetti,USA Construction Drawing Designer:Tongji Architectural Design(Group)Co.,Ltd.With a height of 632 m,the Shanghai Tower stands