Seismic Behaviour of Rc Building Located in Erbil, Iraq and Strengthening by Using Steel Frame Sections Precast Bolt-Connected Steel-Plate Reinforced Concrete

This paper present outside strengthening with precast substructures, is a relatively new retrofitting approach that has recently attracted the attention of researchers. Outside strengthening with precast substructure, in contrast to member-level strengthening technologies (e.g., FRP strengthening, enlarging member section areas, and replacing rebars), is a structure-system reinforcement method that integrates the substructure and the original structure, improves overall seismic performance, and changes the deformation mode of the entire structure. The seismic capability of the exterior strengthening with precast bolt-connected steel-plate reinforced concrete is critically evaluated in this paper (PBSPC) Case studies are used to demonstrate the working principles, numerical methodologies, and design approaches. The simulation results were similar with prior studies, demonstrating that the numerical model was effective. The use of building steel representations reduces construction time, increases efficiency, and lowers costs. The goal of this technology is to lower the seismic displacement demand of nonductile. Current RC structures have steel frames connecting to the building floors. These frameworks run parallel to the structure of the building. Ganjan Life City, a building in Erbil, Iraq, is being used as a case study. The ISC 2017 and ASCE 7-10 earthquake codes were used to evaluate the building’s seismic performance before and after the reinforcement. The analysis’ findings suggest that the recommended technique is correct.

Analytical 1D transfer functions for layered soils

Transfer functions are constantly used in both Seismology and Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering to relate seismic displacement at different depths within strata. In the context of Diffusive Theory, they also appear in the expression of the imaginary part of 1D Green's functions. In spite of its remarkable importance, their mathematical structure is not fully understood yet, except in the simplest cases of two or three layers at most. This incomplete understanding, in particular as to the effect of increasing number of layers, hinders progress in some areas, as researchers have to resort to expensive and less conclusive numerical parametric studies. This text presents the general form of transfer functions for any number of layers, overcoming the above issues. Owing to the formal connection between seismic wave propagation and other phenomena that, in essence, represent different instances of wave propagation in a linear-elastic medium, one can extend the results derived elsewhere [Garcia-Suarez, Joaquin. 2021. “Trace Spectrum of 1D Transfer Matrices for Wave Propagation in Layered Media.” engrXiv. June 24. doi:10.31224/osf.io/ygt8z] in the context of longitudinal wave propagation in modular rods to seismic response of stratified sites. The knowledge of the general closed-form expression of the transfer functions allows to analytically characterize the long-wavelength asymptotics of the horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratio for any number of layers.

Environmental and Economic Impact of Retrofitting Techniques to Prevent Out-of-Plane Failure Modes of Unreinforced Masonry Buildings

This paper presents an innovative methodology to assess the economic and environmental impact of integrated interventions, namely solutions that improve both structural and energy performance of existing masonry buildings, preventing out-of-plane modes and increasing their energy efficiency. The procedure allows the assessment of the environmental and the economic normalized costs of each integrated intervention, considering seismic and energy-saving indicators. In addition, the work introduces in relative or absolute terms two original indicators, associated with seismic displacement and thermal transmittance. The iso-cost curves so derived are thus a powerful tool to compare alternative solutions, aiming to identify the most advantageous one. In fact, iso-cost curves can be used with a twofold objective: to determine the optimal integrated intervention associated with a given economic/environmental impact, or, as an alternative, to derive the pairs of seismic and energy performance indicators associated with a given budget. The analysis of a somehow relevant case study reveals that small energy savings could imply excessive environmental impacts, disproportionally increasing the carbon footprint characterizing each intervention. Iso-cost curves in terms of absolute indicators are more suitable for assessing the effects of varying acceleration demands on a given building, while iso-cost curves in terms of relative indicators are more readable to consider a plurality of cases, located in different sites. The promising results confirm the effectiveness of the proposed method, stimulating further studies.

An Earthquake Early Warning System for Southwestern British Columbia

Southwestern British Columbia (BC) is exposed to the highest seismic hazard in Canada. Ocean Networks Canada (ONC) has developed an Earthquake Early Warning (EEW) system for the region. The system successfully utilizes offshore cabled seismic instruments in addition to land-based seismic sensors and integrates displacement data from Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS). The seismic and geodetic data are processed in real-time onsite at 40 different stations along the coast of BC. The processing utilizes P-wave and S-wave detection algorithms for epicentre calculations as well as incorporation of geodetic and seismic displacement data into a Kalman filter to provide magnitude estimates. The system is currently in its commissioning phase and has successfully detected over 60 earthquakes since being deployed in October 2018. To increase the coverage of the EEW system, we are in the process of incorporating detection parameters from neighbouring networks (e.g., the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network (PNSN)) to provide additional information for future event notifications.

A new approach to inertial damper design to control base displacement in isolated buildings

A novel design procedure for tuned mass dampers in isolated structures is presented. The proposed optimization method is specifically developed to control base displacements or to solve the large isolator displacement problem in this type of structures under earthquakes. Therefore, it is based on a displacement transmissibility function, T, a particular case of the general transmissibility concept, which comes from Vibration Isolation. Three contributions are application of new seismic displacement narrowbandness, simpler relative transmissibility function, and compound design of isolation plus tuned mass damper. A standard isolated model is used to show that the base displacement can be controlled at levels in the proximity of the ground motion ( T ≈ 1), which results in a positive comparison with previous isolation and tuned mass damper solutions; this is one of the main conclusions and it is based on novelty three above; in fact, other solutions in the literature compare their attained displacements with respect to the structure without tuned mass damper. Comparison with isolated results is not, therefore, possible herein, but it is not desirable either; actually, what is possible is a positive and more demanding comparison, which is with respect to the very seismic ground displacement itself. The large isolator displacement problem can be solved or attenuated by properly designing a tuned mass damper subsystem jointly with the isolation one.