scholarly journals Seismic Assessment of Footbridges under Spatial Variation of Earthquake Ground Motion (SVEGM): Experimental Testing and Finite Element Analyses

Sensors ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 1227 ◽  
Author(s):  
Izabela Joanna Drygala ◽  
Joanna Maria Dulinska ◽  
Maria Anna Polak

In this paper, the seismic assessments of two footbridges, i.e., a single-span steel frame footbridge and a three-span cable-stayed structure, to the spatial variation of earthquake ground motion (SVEGM) are presented. A model of nonuniform kinematic excitation was used for the dynamic analyses of the footbridges. The influence of SVEGM on the dynamic performance of structures was assessed on both experimental and numerical ways. The comprehensive tests were planned and carried out on both structures. The investigation was divided into two parts: in situ experiment and numerical analyses. The first experimental part served for the validation of both the finite element (FE) modal models of structures and the theoretical model of nonuniform excitation as well as the appropriateness of the FE procedures used for dynamic analyses. First, the modal properties were validated. The differences between the numerical and the experimental natural frequencies, obtained using the operational modal analysis, were less than 10%. The comparison of the experimental and numerical mode shapes also proved a good agreement since the modal assurance criterion values were satisfactory for both structures. Secondly, nonuniform kinematic excitation was experimentally imposed using vibroseis tests. The apparent wave velocities, evaluated from the cross-correlation functions of the acceleration-time histories registered at two consecutive structures supports, equaled 203 and 214 m/s for both structures, respectively. Also, the coherence functions proved the similarity of the signals, especially for the frequency range 5 to 15 Hz. Then, artificial kinematic excitation was generated on the basis of the adopted model of nonuniform excitation. The obtained power spectral density functions of acceleration-time histories registered at all supports as well as the cross-spectral density functions between registered and artificial acceleration-time histories confirmed the strong similarity of the measured and artificial signals. Finally, the experimental and numerical assessments of the footbridges performance under the known dynamic excitation generated by the vibroseis were carried out. The FE models and procedures were positively validated by linking full-scale tests and numerical calculations. In the numerical part of the research, seismic analyses of the footbridges were conducted. The dynamic responses of structures to a representative seismic shock were calculated. Both the uniform and nonuniform models of excitation were applied to demonstrate and quantify the influence of SVEGM on the seismic assessment of footbridges. It occurred that SVEGM may generate non-conservative results in comparison with classic uniform seismic excitation. For the stiff steel frame footbridge the maximum dynamic response was obtained for the model of nonuniform excitation with the lowest wave velocity. Especially zones located closely to stiff frame nodes were significantly more disturbed. For the flexible cable-stayed footbridge, in case of nonuniform excitation, the dynamic response was enhanced only at the points located in the extreme spans and in the midspan closely to the pillars.

Author(s):  
Jinsuo R. Nie ◽  
Jim Xu ◽  
Joseph I. Braverman

For seismic analysis of nuclear structures, synthetic acceleration time histories are often required and are generated to envelop design response spectra following the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Standard Review Plan (SRP) Section 3.7.1. It has been recognized that without an additional check of the power spectral density (PSD) functions, spectral matching alone may not ensure that synthetic acceleration time histories have adequate power over the frequency range of interest. The SRP Section 3.7.1 Appendix A provides a target PSD function for the Regulatory Guide 1.60 horizontal spectral shape. For other spectral shapes, additional guidance on developing the target PSD functions compatible with the design spectra is desired. This paper presents a general procedure for the development of target PSD functions for any practical design response spectral shapes, which has been incorporated into the recent SRP 3.7.1, Revision 4.


2001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saeed D. Barbat

Abstract This paper demonstrates an application of the nine linear accelerometer scheme, proposed by (Padgaonkar et al., 1975), to the development and validation of a finite element model of a deformable featureless headform for rotational accelerations. Steps and procedures involved in the development and calibration of the model are also described. A set of tri-axial accelerometers was mounted at the headform center of gravity, C.G., which is located at the origin of the local coordinate axes of the headform. Three bi-axial accelerometers were also mounted at the front, left, and top of the headform’s aluminum skull and on the local coordinate axes of the physical headform. Nine linear accelerations were measured at the headform in drop tests against a rigid plate at impact speeds of 2.68, 4.0, 5.36, and 6.71 m/s (6, 9, 12, and 15 mph). The rotational accelerations of the headform were then calculated from the nine linear acceleration measurements. In the finite element (FE) model of the featureless deformable headform, a visco-elastic material law, available in the non-linear dynamic explicit code PAM-CRASH, was used to simulate the vinyl skin response during impact. The constitutive parameters of the headform’s skin material were calibrated through comparison of the headform drop simulations at various impact speeds with the corresponding tests. Headform responses, such as, resultant acceleration time histories at the headform C.G. and the rotational acceleration time histories obtained from the FE predictions of the headform responses during the drop tests simulations correlated very well with those obtained from experiments. Validation of the headform model for rotational accelerations provided higher level of confidence in the prediction capability of the model when used for interior head impact simulations with vehicle upper interior as specified by the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard FMVSS 201.


2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (K2) ◽  
pp. 14-23
Author(s):  
Kien Dinh Nguyen ◽  
Dong Lam Vu

Seismic analysis of AP1000 nuclear island structure by using the commercial finite element software ANSYS is presented. Using the ANSYS Workbench, a sophisticated threedimensional finite element model of the structure is created and employed in the analysis. Dynamic response of the structure to both the one-directional and three-directional acceleration time histories are considered in the analysis. The time histories for the relative displacement, velocity and absolute acceleration of the structure are obtained for various earthquakes, including American El Centro, Japanese Kobe and Vietnamese Dien Bien earthquakes. The numerical results show that the dynamic characteristics obtained by using one-directional and thee-directional acceleration time histories are different, and the three three-directional acceleration time histories should be employed in the seismic analysis. The result also reveals that the nuclear island is safer in Dien Bien earthquake that it is in El Centro and Kobe earthquakes. The distribution of the von Mises stresses of the structure according to the maximum displacement at the top point is also examined and highlighted.


DYNA ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 88 (217) ◽  
pp. 228-236
Author(s):  
Cristian Soriano Camelo ◽  
Samuel Felipe Mollepaza Tarazona ◽  
Maria Cascão Ferreira de Almeida ◽  
Márcio de Souza Soares de Almeida ◽  
Ricardo Garske Borges

Brazil is in an intraplate area of low to moderate seismicity, this means that few or no records of strong ground motions are available. Part of the site response analysis and seismic design of structures require the use of acceleration time-histories compatible with a specified target response spectrum. This study aims to utilize methodologies based on the use of existing earthquake records from a well-known database and synthetic accelerograms to obtain ground motions representative of the Brazilian Southeast Region, particularly in the offshore Campos Basin. Information from a probabilistic seismic hazard assessment performed in the interest area was employed as input to the methodologies applied in terms of target response spectrum and the dominant earthquake scenarios. Besides, the acceleration time-histories of two relatively recent earthquakes that occurred in the Brazilian Southeast were used to apply one of the approaches to obtain a synthetic spectrum compatible accelerogram.


Author(s):  
Tuomo Ka¨rna¨ ◽  
Yan Qu ◽  
Walter L. Ku¨hnlein

This paper presents a method of evaluating the response of a vertical offshore structure that is subjected to dynamic ice actions. The model concerns a loading scenario where a uniform ice sheet is drifting and crushing against the structure. Full scale data obtained at the lighthouse Norstro¨msgrund is used in the derivation of a method that applies both to narrow and wide structures. A large amount of events with directly measured local forces was used to derive formulas for spectral density functions of the ice force. A non-dimensional formula that was derived for the autospectrum applies for all ice thicknesses. Coherence functions are used to define the cross-spectra of the local ice forces. The two kind of spectral density functions for local forces can be used to evaluate the spectral density of the total ice force. The method takes account of both the spatial and time correlation between the local forces. Accordingly, the model provides a tool to consider the non-simultaneous characteristics of the local ice pressures while assessing the total ice force. The model can be used in conjunction with general purpose FE programs to evaluate the dynamic response of an offshore structure.


Author(s):  
Nithyagopal Goswami ◽  
Mourad Zeghal ◽  
Majid Manzari ◽  
Bruce Kutter

Author(s):  
Yasin M. Fahjan ◽  
F. İlknur Kara ◽  
Aydın Mert

Recent developments in performance-based analyses and the high performance of computational facilities have led to an increased trend for utilizing nonlinear time-history analysis in seismic evaluation of the performance of structures. One of the crucial issues of such analysis is the selection of appropriate acceleration time histories set that satisfy design code requirements at a specific site. In literature, there are three sources of acceleration time histories: 1) recorded accelerograms in real earthquakes scaled to match design code spectrum/uniform hazard spectra/conditional mean spectrum, 2) artificial records generated from white noise spectra to satisfy design code spectrum, and 3) synthetic records obtained from seismological models. Due to the increase of available strong ground motion database, using and scaling real recorded accelerograms is becoming one of the most contemporary research issues in this field. In this study, basic methodologies and criteria for selecting strong ground motion time histories are discussed. Design code requirements for scaling are summarized for ASCE/SEI-7-10, EC8 and Turkish Seismic Codes. Examples for scaling earthquake records to uniform hazard spectra are provided.


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