Seismic Response Analysis of Steel Structure Isolation System Under Long-Period Seismic Motion

To analyze the seismic response of steel structure isolation systems under long-period seismic motion,a 9-story steel frame building was selected as the subject.Five steel structure finite element models were established using SAP2000.Response spectrum analysis was conducted on the seismic motion to determine if it adhered to the characteristics of long-period seismic motion.Modal analysis of each structural model revealed that the isolation structure significantly prolonged the structural natural vibration period and enhanced seismic performance.Base reactions and floor displacements of various structures notably increased under long-period seismic motion compared to regular seismic activity.Placing isolation bearings in the lower part of the structure proved more effective under long-period seismic motion.In seismic design engineering,it is essential to consider the impact of long-period seismic motion on structures and the potential failure of isolation bearings.

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.

Engineering characteristics of near-fault vertical ground motions and their effect on the seismic response of bridges

A wide variety of near-fault strong ground motion records were collected from various tectonic environments worldwide and were used to study the peak value ratio and response spectrum ratio of the vertical to horizontal component of ground motion, focusing on the effect of earthquake magnitude, site conditions, pulse duration, and statistical component. The results show that both the peak value ratio and response spectrum ratio are larger than the 2/3 value prescribed in existing seismic codes, and the relationship between the vertical and horizontal ground motions is comparatively intricate. In addition, the effect of the near-fault ground motions on bridge performance is analyzed, considering both the material nonlinear characteristics and the P-A effect.

Analytical investigations of seismic responses for reinforced concrete bridge columns subjected to strong near-fault ground motion

Strong near-fault ground motion, usually caused by the fault-rupture and characterized by a pulse-like velocity- wave form, often causes dramatic instantaneous seismic energy （Jadhav and Jangid 2006）. Some reinforced concrete （RC） bridge columns, even those built according to ductile design principles, were damaged in the 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake. Thus, it is very important to evaluate the seismic response of a RC bridge column to improve its seismic design and prevent future damage. Nonlinear time history analysis using step-by-step integration is capable of tracing the dynamic response of a structure during the entire vibration period and is able to accommodate the pulsing wave form. However, the accuracy of the numerical results is very sensitive to the modeling of the nonlinear load-deformation relationship of the structural member. FEMA 273 and ATC-40 provide the modeling parameters for structural nonlinear analyses of RC beams and RC columns. They use three parameters to define the plastic rotation angles and a residual strength ratio to describe the nonlinear load- deformation relationship of an RC member. Structural nonlinear analyses are performed based on these parameters. This method provides a convenient way to obtain the nonlinear seismic responses of RC structures. However, the accuracy of the numerical solutions might be further improved. For this purpose, results from a previous study on modeling of the static pushover analyses for RC bridge columns （Sung et al. 2005） is adopted for the nonlinear time history analysis presented herein to evaluate the structural responses excited by a near-fault ground motion. To ensure the reliability of this approach, the numerical results were compared to experimental results. The results confirm that the proposed approach is valid.

Strength reduction factors for seismic analyses of buildings exposed to near-fault ground motions

To estimate the near-fault inelastic response spectra, the accuracy of six existing strength reduction factors （R） proposed by different investigators were evaluated by using a suite of near-fault earthquake records with directivity-induced pulses. In the evaluation, the force-deformation relationship is modelled by elastic-perfectly plastic, bilinear and stiffness degrading models, and two site conditions, rock and soil, are considered. The R-value ratio （ratio of the R value obtained from the existing R-expressions （or the R-p-T relationships） to that from inelastic analyses） is used as a measurement parameter. Results show that the R-expressions proposed by Ordaz ＆ Perez-Rocha are the most suitable for near-fault ground motions, followed by the Newmark ＆ Hall and the Berrill et al. relationships. Based on an analysis using the near-fault ground motion dataset, new expressions of R that consider the effects of site conditions are presented and verified.

Seismic Responses of Asymmetric Base-Isolated Structures under Near-Fault Ground Motion

An inter-story shear model of asymmetric base-isolated structures incorporating deformation of each isolation bearing was built, and a method to simultaneously simulate bi-directional near-fault and far-field ground motions was proposed. A comparative study on the dynamic responses of asymmetric base-isolated structures under near-fault and far-field ground motions were conducted to investigate the effects of eccentricity in the isolation system and in the superstructures, the ratio of the uncoupled torsional to lateral frequency of the superstructure and the pulse period of near-fault ground motions on the nonlinear seismic response of asymmetric base-isolated structures. Numerical results show that eccentricity in the isolation system makes asymmetric base-isolated structure more sensitive to near-fault ground motions, and the pulse period of near-fault ground motions plays an import role in governing the seismic responses of asymmetric base-isolated structures.

Seismic Reliability Assessment of Inelastic SDOF Systems Subjected to Near-Fault Ground Motions Considering Pulse Occurrence

The ground motions in the orientation corresponding to the strongest pulse energy impose more serious demand on structures than that of ordinary ground motions.Moreover,not all near-fault ground motion records present distinct pulses in the velocity time histories.In this paper,the parameterized stochastic model of near-fault ground motion with the strongest energy and pulse occurrence probability is suggested,and the Monte Carlo simulation(MSC)and subset simulation are utilized to calculate the first excursion probability of inelastic single-degree-of-freedom(SDOF)systems subjected to these types of near-fault ground motion models,respectively.Firstly,the influences of variation of stochastic pulse model parameters on structural dynamic reliability with different fundamental periods are explored.It is demonstrated that the variation of pulse period,peak ground velocity and pulse waveform number have significant effects on structural reliability and should not be ignored in reliability analysis.Then,subset simulation is verified to be unbiased and more efficient for computing small reliable probabilities of structures compared to MCS.Finally,the reliable probabilities of the SDOF systems with different fundamental periods subjected to impulsive,non-pulse ground motions and the ground motions with pulse occurrence probability are performed,separately.It is indicated that the ground motion model with the pulse occurrence probability can give a rational estimate on structural reliability.The impulsive and ordinary ground motion models may overestimate and underestimate the reliability of structures with fundamental period much less than the mean pulse period of earthquake ground motions.

Seismic behavior of precast segmental column bridges under near-fault forward-directivity ground motions

Precast segmental column bridges exhibit various construction advantages in comparison to traditional monolithic column bridges.However,the lack of cognitions on seismic behaviors has seriously restricted their applications and developments.In this paper,comprehensive investigations are conducted to analyze the dynamic characteristics of precast segmental column bridges under near-fault,forward-directivity ground motions.First,the finite-element models of two comparable bridges with precast segmental columns and monolithic columns are constructed by using OpenSees software,and the nonlinearities of the bridges are considered.Next,three different earthquake loadings are meticulously set up to handle engineering problems,namely recorded near-and far-field ground motions,parameterized pulses,and pulse and residual components extracted from real records.Finally,based on the models and earthquake sets,extensive explorations are carried out.The results show that near-fault forward-directivity ground motions are more threatening than far-field ones;precast segmental column bridges may suffer more pounding impacts than monolithic bridges;the“narrow band”effect caused by near-fault,forward-directivity ground motions may occur in bridges with shorter periods than pulse periods;and pulse and residual components play different roles in seismic responses.

An investigation of the influence of near-fault ground motion parameters on the pile's response in liquefiable soil

The performance of a soil-pile system can be significantly influenced by ground motion parameters. However, few research efforts have been performed to provide a complete description of the influence of key ground motion parameters on the pile’s behavior in liquefiable soil. In this study, a three-dimensional finite element（FE） model, incorporating a multisurface plasticity solid-fluid fully coupled formulation soil constitutive model, is developed and calibrated based on centrifuge test data. Seventy-two near-fault non-pulse-like（NF-NP） and seventy-two near-fault pulse-like（NF-P） ground motion records are studied with the calibrated FE model to distinguish the effects of several common ground motion parameters soon afterwards. Base on the parametric study results, a simple index, RPGV/PGA（i.e., the ratio of peak ground velocity（PGV） to peak ground acceleration（PGA））, shows its capability on characterizing the pile behavior under both NF-NP and NF-P ground motions. Furthermore, two equations are developed to characterize the relationships between the RPGV/PGA as well as the maximum pile’s moments and displacements. In general, this study can be helpful to gain new insights on the influence of typical index parameters for near-field ground motions on the response of the pile foundation in liquefiable soil.

Double deck bridge behavior and failure mechanism under seismic motions using nonlinear analyzes

This paper investigates the behavior and the failure mechanism of a double deck bridge constructed in China through nonlinear time history analysis. A parametric study was conducted to evaluate the influence of different structural characteristics on the behavior of the double deck bridge under transverse seismic motions, and to detect the effect of bi- directional loading on the seismic response of this type of bridge. The results showed that some characteristics, such as the variable lateral stiffness, the foundation modelling, and the longitudinal reinforcement ratio of the upper and lower columns of the bridge pier bents have a major impact on the double deck bridge response and its failure mechanism under transverse seismic motions. It was found that the soft story failure mechanism ：is not unique to the double deck bridge and its occurrence is related to some conditions and structural characteristics of the bridge structure. The analysis also showed that the seismic vulnerability of the double deck bridge under bi-directional loading： was severely increased compared to the bridge response under unidirectional transverse loading, and out-of-phase movements were triggered between adjacent girders.

Representation of near-fault pulse-type ground motions

Near-fault ground motions with long-period pulses have been identified as critical in the design of structures. To aid in the representation of this special type of motion, eight simple pulses that characterize the effects of either the flingstep or forward-directivity are considered. Relationships between pulse amplitudes and velocity pulse period for different pulses are discussed. Representative ratios and peak acceleration amplification can exhibit distinctive features depending on variations in pulse duration, amplitude and the selected acceleration pulse shape. Additionally, response spectral characteristics for the equivalent pulses are identified and compared in terms of fixed PGA and PGV, respectively. Response spectra are strongly affected by the duration of pulses and the shape of the basic pulses. Finally, dynamic time history response features of a damped SDOF system subjected to pulse excitations are examined. These special aspects of pulse waveforms and their response spectra should be taken into account in the estimation of ground motions for a project site close to a fault.

Dynamic-Response Analysis of the Branch System of a Utility Tunnel Subjected to Near-Fault and Far-Field Ground Motions in Different Input Mechanisms

There are few studies on the dynamic-response mechanism of near-fault and far-field ground motions for large underground structures,especially for the branch joint of a utility tunnel(UT)and its internal pipeline.Based on the theory of a 3D viscous-spring artificial boundary,this paper deduced the equivalent nodal force when a P wave and an SV wave were vertically incident at the same time and transformed the ground motion into an equivalent nodal force using a self-developed MATLAB program,which was applied to an ABAQUS finite element model.Based on near-fault and far-field groundmotions obtained fromtheNGA-WEST2 database,the dynamic responses of a utility tunnel and its internal pipeline in different inputmechanisms of near-fault and far-field groundmotions were compared according to bidirectional input and tridirectional input,respectively.Generally,the damage to the utility tunnel caused by the near-fault ground motion was stronger than that caused by the far-field ground motion,and the vertical ground motion of near-fault ground motion aggravated the damage to the utility tunnel.In addition,the joint dislocation of the upper and lower three-way joints of the pipeline in the branch systemunder the seismic action led to local stress concentrations.In general,the branch system of the utility tunnel had good seismic performance to resist the designed earthquake action and protect the internal pipeline fromdamage during the rare earthquake.

The effect of local irregular topography on seismic ground motion

Effects of irregUlar topography on ground motion for incident P, SV and the propagation of Rayleigh waves are studied by combining finite element method with modified transmitting boundary. TheoretiCal models include isolated protrUding topography and similar adjacent Protruding topography. The concluaion drawn from thisstudy is that the effects Of isolated protruding topography are remarkably larger for Rayleigh wave propagation than for P and SV they waves; Considering adjacent irregUlar toography ground motion is amplified, the duration of ground motion becomes longer and the speCtral ratios exhibit narrowband peaks Considering adjacent irregular topography and Rayleigh wave Propagation, the theoretical results wb more approach the results obtained in practice.

Amplification of in-plane seismic ground motion by group cavities in layered half-space (Ⅱ): with saturated poroelastic soil layers

As the continuation study on amplification of in-plane seismic ground motion by underground group cavities in layered half-space, this study extends to the case of poroelastic half-space with dry poroelastic and saturated poroelastic soil layers. The influence of poroelastic layers on the amplification of seismic ground motion is studied both in frequency domain and time domain using indirect boundary element method （IBEM）. It is shown that for the example of a saturated poroelastic site in Tianjin under the excitation of Taft wave and E1 Centro wave, the amplification of seismic ground motion in poroelastic case is slightly smaller than that in the elastic case, and the amplification of PGA （peak ground acceleration） and its PRS （peak response spectrum）.. can be increased up to 38.8% and 64.6%; the predominant period of response spectra in poroelastic case becomes shorter to some extent compared with that in the elastic case. It is suggested that the effect of underground group cavities in poroelastic half-space on design seismic ground motion should be considered.

Identification of acceleration pulses in near-fault ground motion using the EMD method

In this paper, response spectral characteristics of one-, two-, and three-lobe sinusoidal acceleration pulses are investigated, and some of their basic properties are derived. Furthermore, the empirical mode decomposition （EMD） method is utilized as an adaptive filter to decompose the near-fault pulse-like ground motions, which were recorded during the September 20, 1999, Chi-Chi earthquake. These ground motions contain distinct velocity pulses, and were decomposed into high-frequency （HF） and low-frequency （LF） components, from which the corresponding HF acceleration pulse （if existing） and LF acceleration pulse could be easily identified and detected. Finally, the identified acceleration pulses are modeled by simplified sinusoidal approximations, whose dynamic behaviors are compared to those of the original acceleration pulses as well as to those of the original HF and LF acceleration components in the context of elastic response spectra. It was demonstrated that it is just the acceleration pulses contained in the near-fault pulse-like ground motion that fundamentally dominate the special impulsive dynamic behaviors of such motion in an engineering sense. The motion thus has a greater potential to cause severe damage than the far-field ground motions, i.e. they impose high base shear demands on engineering structures as well as placing very high deformation demands on long-period structures.

An alternative construction of normalized seismic design spectra for near-fault regions

This paper presents a methodology for constructing seismic design spectra in near-fault regions. By analyzing the characteristics of near-fault pulse-type ground motions, an equivalent pulse model is proposed, which can well represent the characteristics of the near-fault forward-directivity and fling-step pulse-type ground motions. The normalized horizontal seismic design spectra for near-fault regions are presented using recorded near-fault pulse-type ground motions and equivalent pulse-type ground motions, which are derived based on the equivalent pulse model coupled with ground motion parameter attenuation relations. The normalized vertical seismic design spectra for near-fault regions are obtained by scaling the corresponding horizontal spectra with the vertical-to-horizontal acceleration spectral ratios of near-fault pulse-type ground motions. The proposed seismic design spectra appear to have relatively small dispersion in a statistical sense. The seismic design spectra for both horizontal and vertical directions can provide alternative spectral shapes for seismic design codes.

Near-fault ground motions with prominent acceleration pulses:pulse characteristics and ductility demand

Major earthquakes of last 15 years （e.g., Northridge 1994, Kobe 1995 and Chi-Chi 1999） have shown that many near-fault ground motions possess prominent acceleration pulses. Some of the prominent ground acceleration pulses are related to large ground velocity pulses, others are caused by mechanisms that are totally different from those causing the velocity pulses or fling steps. Various efforts to model acceleration pulses have been reported in the literature. In this paper, research results from a recent study of acceleration pulse prominent ground motions and an analysis of structural damage induced by acceleration pulses are summarized. The main results of the study include： （1） temporal characteristics of acceleration pulses; （2） ductility demand spectrum of simple acceleration pulses with respect to equivalent classes of dynamic systems and pulse characteristic parameters; and （3） estimation of fundamental period change under the excitation of strong acceleration pulses. By using the acceleration pulse induced linear acceleration spectrum and the ductility demand spectrum, a simple procedure has been developed to estimate the ductility demand and the fundamental period change of a reinforced concrete （RC） structure under the impact of a strong acceleration pulse.

Orthogonal expansion of ground motion and PDEM-based seismic response analysis of nonlinear structures

This paper introduces an orthogonal expansion method for general stochastic processes. In the method, a normalized orthogonal function of time variable t is first introduced to carry out the decomposition of a stochastic process and then a correlated matrix decomposition technique, which transforms a correlated random vector into a vector of standard uncorrelated random variables, is used to complete a double orthogonal decomposition of the stochastic processes. Considering the relationship between the Hartley transform and Fourier transform of a real-valued function, it is suggested that the first orthogonal expansion in the above process is carried out using the Hartley basis function instead of the trigonometric basis function in practical applications. The seismic ground motion is investigated using the above method. In order to capture the main probabilistic characteristics of the seismic ground motion, it is proposed to directly carry out the orthogonal expansion of the seismic displacements. The case study shows that the proposed method is feasible to represent the seismic ground motion with only a few random variables. In the second part of the paper, the probability density evolution method （PDEM） is employed to study the stochastic response of nonlinear structures subjected to earthquake excitations. In the PDEM, a completely uncoupled one-dimensional partial differential equation, the generalized density evolution equation, plays a central role in governing the stochastic seismic responses of the nonlinear structure. The solution to this equation will yield the instantaneous probability density function of the responses. Computational algorithms to solve the probability density evolution equation are described. An example, which deals with a nonlinear frame structure subjected to stochastic ground motions, is illustrated to validate the above approach.

Amplification of in-plane seismic ground motion by group cavities in layered half-space (Ⅰ)

Amplification of in-plane seismic ground motion by underground group cavities in layered half-space is studied both in frequency domain and time domain by using indirect boundary element method （IBEM）, and the effect of cavity interval and spectrum of incident waves on the amplification are studied by numerical examples. It is shown that there may be large interaction between cavities, and group cavities with certain intervals may have significant amplification to seismic ground motion. The amplification of PGA （peak ground acceleration） and its PRS （peak response spectrum） can be increased up to 45.2% and 84.4%, for an example site in Tianjin, under the excitation of Taft wave and E1 Centro wave; and group cavities may also affect the spectra of the seismic ground motion. It is suggested that the effect of underground group cavities on design seismic ground motion should be considered.

Study on inelastic displacement ratio spectra for near-fault pulse-type ground motions

In displacement-based seismic design, inelastic displacement ratio spectra （IDRS） are particularly useful for estimating the maximum lateral inelastic displacement demand of a nonlinear SDOF system from the maximum elastic displacement demand of its counterpart linear elastic SDOF system. In this study, the characteristics of IDRS for near-fault pulse-type ground motions are investigated based on a great number of earthquake ground motions. The influence of site conditions, ratio of peak ground velocity （PGV） to peak ground acceleration （PGA）, the PGV, and the maximum incremental velocity （MIV） on IDRS are also evaluated. The results indicate that the effect of near-fault ground motions on IDRS are significant only at periods between 0.2 s - 1.5 s, where the amplification can approach 20%. The PGV/PGA ratio has the most significant influence on IDRS among the parameters considered. It is also found that site conditions only slightly affect the IDRS.