Consideration of Three Seismic Isolation Performances as Design Objectives for Equivalent Linear Analysis of Bilinear Hysteretic Isolation Systems

The design displacement, its corresponding acceleration performance, and the re-centering performance of bilinear hysteretic isolation systems are adopted as previously determined design objectives for equivalent linear analysis. To demonstrate the applicability and generalization of the analysis procedure, two sets of values for damping modification factors are employed in the analysis: those provided by ASCE/SEI 7-16, and those estimated for different ranges of the ratios of effective periods of seismic isolation systems to pulse periods of ground motions. To investigate a broad range of seismic responses of base-isolated structures, 15 pulse-like near-fault ground motions are used for numerical demonstration. The analysis procedure is numerically verified to be practically feasible. A numerical comparison also shows that the three design objectives previously determined in the analysis procedure are sufficiently conservative compared with analysis results from nonlinear dynamic response history, even when subjected to pulse-like near-fault ground motions. Regarding the approximation to maximum inelastic acceleration and displacement responses, it is particularly more conservative for the former when the design displacement is greater and when adopting values of the damping modification factors provided in ASCE/SEI 7-16. For the approximation to dynamic residual displacement responses, the influences of pulse-like near-fault ground motions and different design objectives on the re-centering performance of bilinear hysteretic isolation systems still need further study.

Analysis of helical soil-nailed walls under static and seismic conditions

The present study investigates the behaviour of helical soil-nailed wall in a dry cohesionless medium under static and seismic conditions. Initially, results from laboratory pullout tests are used to develop a pullout capacity equation, which is subsequently used for stability analysis of helical soil-nailed wall. A detailed parametric study is conducted to evaluate the effect of angle of internal friction of soil, nail inclination, vertical spacing of nails, number of nails, helix size, number of helices, and the face angle on the stability of the soil-nailed wall. Results from the present method are compared and validated with similar existing methods available in the literature. The results suggest that for the given input parameters, the factor of safety (FoS) values from the present method are lower than the pseudo-static and pseudo-dynamic values. Further, the study clearly highlights the significance of input excitation frequency on the FoS of helical soil-nailed walls. In addition, the effects of strain-dependent dynamic properties (shear modulus and damping ratio) on the stability of helical soil-nailed walls are studied using the newly proposed equivalent linear analysis approach. The results computed from the proposed linear and equivalent linear analysis are also compared and discussed in detail.

Buried pipelines with bends: analytical verification against permanent ground displacements

Available analytical methodologies for the stress analysis of buried pipelines against large permanent ground displacements (PGDs) apply only to straight pipeline segments. Hence, a new methodology is proposed herein for the analytical computation of pipeline strains in bends of arbitrary angle and radius of curvature, located outside the PGD high-curvature zone, but within the pipeline’s unanchored length. The methodology is based on the equivalent-linear analysis of the bend, assuming that it will perform as an elastic arched beam subjected to uniformly distributed ultimate axial and transverse horizontal soil reactions. The end of the bend towards the PGD zone is subjected to an axial displacement, calculated on the basis of overall displacement compatibility along the pipeline, while the other end is restrained by the unanchored pipeline segment beyond the bend. Using this approach, the maximum axial force at the vicinity of the PGD zone can also be calculated and consequently used for the estimation of corresponding pipeline strains with any of the available numerical or analytical methodologies for straight pipeline segments. Parametric nonlinear finite element analyses are performed to verify the analytical methodology and also derive conclusions of practical interest regarding the effect of bends on pipeline design.