Seismic Design of Bolted Connections in Steel Structures—A Critical Assessment of Practice and Research

The importance of connections in steel structures is paramount, not only because it greatly influences the cost of construction and provides room for innovations, but also due to the connections’ impact on global structural behaviour. Therefore, research into innovative connections for seismic applications and related design criteria has significantly grown in recent years. However, it has been pursued mostly on local—connection or frame—levels, leaving the system analysis and code compliance levels with a meagre investigation. Moreover, less than 1% of published papers concerning steel connections and earthquake engineering are review articles. To overcome this gap, this systematic review of more than 240 references, including scientific contributions and design codes in the field aimed to cover both recent research and current shortcomings in practice and regulations. It has been found that European design rules updated to a fully performance-based design philosophy is imminent and is deemed to bring pre-qualified joints and increased complexity. Design rules have been systematized, and current hindrances have been highlighted. A deeper look into research needs and trends showed that investigations in connections for concentrically X braced frames are still a necessity, while developments in self-centring and replaceable connections as well as in simple solutions for increasing damping are expected to modify how joints are designed, as soon as semi-rigid and partial strength connections are more easily allowed by design codes.

PROCEDIMIENTO PARA SELECCIÓN DE ACELEROGRAMAS PARA ESTUDIOS DE FRAGILIDAD EN PUENTES TÍPICOS DE ARGENTINA

Los acelerogramas adoptados para realizar estudios de fragilidad en puentes a través de análisis dinámico no lineal son uno de los componentes de mayor influencia en los resultados obtenidos. El objetivo de este trabajo es presentar una metodología para selección y escalado de acelerogramas reales de sismos registrados en distintas partes del mundo en ambientes tectónicos semejantes a los del centro-oeste argentino, de manera tal de contar con series de registros compatibles con espectros para distintas clases de sitio, zonas de peligrosidad sísmica y niveles de amenaza sísmica. Para ello, se hizo uso de la aplicación web de la base de datos de movimientos sísmicos del PEER (Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center’s). Se tomaron en consideración los espectros objetivos y distintos parámetros, tales como: magnitud del sismo, tipo de falla, distancia de la estructura a la falla, velocidad media de la onda de corte en los 30 metros superiores del terreno, etc. Mediante la aplicación de un criterio novedoso, en el cual se contempla la Intensidad de Aceleración Espectral (ASI), se arribó a 16 series de sismos considerando: 4 clases de sitio, zonas de elevada y muy peligrosidad sísmica del territorio nacional y periodos de recurrencia de 500 y 2500 años. Estas series de registros representativas de la sismicidad de la región referida podrán utilizarse luego para obtener curvas de fragilidad de mayor confiabilidad para distintas clases de puentes típicos.

Earthquake Resistance Optimization and Evaluation of Bridge Piers Structural Form and Dimensions Based on Demand to Capacity Ratio and Yielding Points of Force-Displacement

The evaluation of structural safety must be taken after each earthquake. The importance losses of life and materials carries the significance of the works in the field of earthquake engineering. The purpose of this study was to optimize and evaluate the earthquake resistance of bridge piers by adopting different cross-section forms and dimensions for bridge supports under earthquake action. Two methods of seismic design were used in the optimization and evaluation process. These methods were demand to capacity ratio (DCR) and yielding point. The results of demand to capacity ratio shown that the values of DCR for all piers forms models were increased when the dimension of pier cross section were increased and the values of DCR became less than 1.0, indicating that the increasing in dimensions leading to rise the capacity of bridge supports to carry the earthquake loads in transverse and longitudinal direction. Comparing with models, solid wall pier form had the lower value of DCR, indicating that solid wall piers were suitable in the design of bridge supports to resist the lateral loads of earthquake and it has enough stiffness and capacity under earthquake action. The results of performance points shown that the yielding points were increased when the dimensions of piers were increased for all piers form in transverse and longitudinal direction. The maximum values were appeared within support No. 1 and support No. 4. Solid wall form of pier had the higher values of yielding points, meaning that this type of piers form had higher seismic capacity and it will resist the earthquake action more than others piers form. This study recommended that to use third model for each pier form in the design of bridges structures to resist the earthquake load. Also this study was recommended to use solid wall piers as supports in construction of bridge structure within areas had earthquake action.

Interacción computacional entre BIM y SAP para modelamiento de la deformación de cables aéreos en subestaciones de alta tensión

La instalación de cables para conexión entre equipos de subestaciones eléctricas, se diseñan considerando cargas debidas a corto circuito, peso propio, viento, entre otras, no obstante, omiten condiciones adicionales según la instalación final o excluyen cargas, como las presentes en zonas de alta actividad sísmica, aspectos que complementarían el cálculo de deformación del cable, por otro lado, se suele desconectar el esfuerzo de diseño en los modelos 3D, ya que estos únicamente emplean los puntos de anclaje y “splines” para definir su trayectoria. Conocer la deformación aproximada del cable es importante para la verificación de distancias de seguridad eléctricas, minimizando posibles inconvenientes en la fase de construcción. Este documento, presenta la integración de diversos modelos de cargas para cables, en una representación de elementos finitos con SAP2000, incluyendo condiciones finales de instalación y cargas sísmicas según IEEE 1527, garantizando estabilidad de conexión, distancias de seguridad eléctricas e integridad de equipos. Adicionalmente, se conectan los resultados de deformación con una aplicación desarrollada en Dynamo-Python para complementar el modelo BIM en Revit. La metodología se valida según casos de conexión documentados por el Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center (PEER), el cual registra medidas de deformación para cables empleados en subestaciones eléctricas bajo diferentes escenarios de carga e instalación. Con la integración propuesta, se obtienen deformaciones esperadas ante desplazamientos bajos, presentando un mejor ajuste de trayectoria y cálculo de esfuerzos según los reportados por PEER, no obstante para desplazamientos altos, se obtienen diferencias representativas en los esfuerzos medidos, aspecto por mejorar.

Parametric influence of magneto elasticity, initial stresses, porosity and thickness ratio on the phase and attenuation traits of SH-waves

The present study is devoted to investigate the traversal of shear horizontal wave (SH-waves) in an initial-stressed fluid saturated porous stratum bounded between an initial-stressed magneto-elastic upper stratum and an initial-stressed elastic substrate. We have obtained the exact solution of the governing equations and explained in detail for various effective parameters. The displacement relation is developed with the help of Maxwell’s fundamental equations and Maxwell’s tensor. The impact of diverse parameters such as initial stress, porosity, magneto-elasticity, thickness ratio of attenuation coefficient and phase velocity of SH-wave has been discussed extensively by means of graphical depictions. Results indicate that such parameters possess a great positive impact on attenuation coefficient. This model contains a huge potential to deal with many commercial and industrial applications in Geo-technical, earthquake engineering and Geophysics.

Numerical model for the dynamic and seismic analysis of pile-supported structures with a meshless integral representation of the layered soil

This paper presents a three–dimensional linear numerical model for the dynamic and seismic analysis of pile-supported structures that allows to represent simultaneously the structures, pile foundations, soil profile and incident seismic waves and that, therefore, takes directly into account structure–pile–soil interaction. The use of advanced Green’s functions to model the dynamic behaviour of layered soils, not only leads to a very compact representation of the problem and a simplification in the preparation of the data files (no meshes are needed for the soil), but also allows to take into account arbitrarily complex soil profiles and problems with large numbers of elements. The seismic excitation is implemented as incident planar body waves (P or S) propagating through the layered soil from an infinitely–distant source and impinging on the site with any generic angle of incidence. The response of the system is evaluated in the frequency domain, and seismic results in time domain are then obtained using the frequency–domain method through the use of the Fast Fourier Transform. An application example using a pile-supported structure is presented in order to illustrate the capabilities of the model. Piles and columns are modelled through Timoshenko beam elements, and slabs, pile caps and shear walls are modelled using shell finite elements, so that the real flexibility of all elements can be rigorously taken into account. This example is also used to explore the influence of soil profile and angle of incidence on different variables of interest in earthquake engineering.

A Novel Method for Predicting Local Site Amplification Factors Using 1-D Convolutional Neural Networks

The analysis of site seismic amplification characteristics is one of the important tasks of seismic safety evaluation. Owing to the high computational cost and complex implementation of numerical simulations, significant differences exist in the prediction of seismic ground motion amplification in engineering problems. In this paper, a novel prediction method for the amplification characteristics of local sites was proposed, using a state-of-the-art convolutional neural network (CNN) combined with real-time seismic signals. The amplification factors were computed by the standard spectral ratio method according to the observed records of seven stations in the Lower Hutt Valley, New Zealand. Based on the geological exploration data from the seven stations and the geological hazard information of the Lower Hutt Valley, eight parameters related to the seismic information were presumed to influence the amplification characteristics of the local site. The CNN method was used to establish the relationship between the amplification factors of local sites and the eight parameters, and the training samples and testing samples were generated through the observed and geological data other than the estimated values. To analyze the CNN prediction ability for amplification factors on unrecorded domains, two CNN models were established for comparison. One CNN model used about 80% of the data from 44 seismic events of the seven stations for training and the remaining data for testing. The other CNN model used the data of six stations to train and the remaining station’s data to test the CNN. The results showed that the CNN method based on the observation data can provide a powerful tool for predicting the amplification factors of local sites both for recorded positions and for unrecorded positions, while the traditional standard spectral ratio method only predicts the amplification factors for recorded positions. The comparison of the two CNN models showed that both can effectively predict the amplification factors of local ground motion without records, and the accuracy and stability of predictions can meet the requirements. With increasing seismic records, the CNN method becomes practical and effective for prediction purposes in earthquake engineering.