Seismic loss assessment of seismically isolated buildings designed by the procedures of ASCE/SEI 7-16

This paper investigates the seismic loss assessment of seismically isolated and non-isolated buildings with steel moment or braced frames, designed by the seismic design standard of ASCE/SEI 7-16. The seismic loss is calculated from the damage to structural and non-structural components, as well as the demolition and the collapse of buildings. This study demonstrates that the expected annual losses for seismically isolated buildings are half or less than half of those calculated for non-isolated buildings. These losses depend on the types of seismic isolation systems and seismic force resisting systems used. Among the cases of isolated buildings studied in this paper, the most cost-effective systems are found to be the buildings designed by minimum strength requirement in ASCE/SEI 7-16 and with isolators which have displacement capacity 1.5 times larger than the minimum required in ASCE/SEI 7-16, in terms of expected annual losses. This study also compares the results obtained from different approaches of selection and scaling of ground motions. The following research finds that when Incremental Dynamic Analysis approach with far-field ground motion set in FEMA P695 is used, the computed expected total annual losses become doubled from the Conditional Spectra approach.

Seismic Experimental Assessment of Remote Terminal Unit System with Friction Pendulum under Triaxial Shake Table Tests

In recent years, earthquakes have caused more damage to nonstructural components, such as mechanical and electrical equipment and piping systems, than to structural components. In particular, among the nonstructural components, the electrical cabinet is an essential piece of equipment used to maintain the functionality of critical facilities such as nuclear and non-nuclear power plants. Therefore, damage to the electrical cabinet associated with the safety of the facility can lead to severe accidents related to loss-of-life and property damage. Consequently, the electrical cabinet system must be protected against strong ground motion. This paper presents an exploratory study of dynamic characteristics of seismically isolated remote terminal unit (RTU) cabinet system subjected to tri-axial shaking table, and also the shaking table test of the non-seismically isolated cabinet system was conducted to compare the vibration characteristics with the cabinet system installed with friction pendulum isolator device. In addition, for the shaking table test, two recorded earthquakes obtained from Korea and artificial earthquakes based on the common application of building seismic-resistant design standards as an input ground motions were applied. The experimental assessment showed that the various damage modes such as door opening, the fall of the wire mold, and damage to door lock occurred in the RTU panel fixed on the concrete foundation by a set anchor, but the damage occurred only at the seismic isolator in the seismically isolated RTU panel system. Furthermore, it was considered that the application of the seismic isolator can effectively mitigate the impact and amplification of seismic force to the RTU panel system during and after strong ground motions in this study.