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Assessing the potential damage caused by earthquakes is crucial for a community's emergency response. In this study, four machine learning (ML) methods—random forest, extremely randomized trees, AdaBoost (AB), and gradient boosting (GB)—were employed to develop prediction models for the damage potential of the mainshock (DIMS) and mainshock–aftershock sequences (DIMA). Building structures were modeled using eight single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) systems with different hysteretic rules. A set of 662 recorded mainshock-aftershock (MS-AS) ground motions was selected from the PEER database. Seven intensity measures (IMs) were chosen to represent the characteristics of the mainshock and aftershock. The results revealed that the selected ML methods can well predict the structural damage potential of the SDOF systems, except for the AB method. The GB model exhibited the best performance, making it the recommended choice for predicting DIMS and DIMA among the four ML models. Additionally, the impact of input variables in the prediction was investigated using the shapley additive explanations (SHAP) method. The high-correlation variables were sensitive to the structural period (T). At T=1.0 s, the mainshock peak ground velocity (PGVM) and aftershock peak ground displacement (PGDA) significantly influenced the prediction of DIMA. When T increased to 5.0 s, the primary high-correlation factor of the mainshock IMs changed from PGVM to the mainshock peak ground displacement (PGDM); however, the high-correlation variable of the aftershock IMs remained PGDA. The high-correlation factors for DIMS showed trends similar to those of DIMA. Finally, a table summarizing the first and second high-correlation variables for predicting DIMS and DIMA were provided, offering a valuable reference for parameter selection in seismic damage prediction for mainshock–aftershock sequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The single-station microtremor method is one of the fastest, most reliable, and cheapest methods used to identify dynamic soil properties. This study utilizes 49 single-station microtremor measurements to identify the dynamic soil properties of the Hilalkent quarter of the Yakutiye district in Erzurum. Soil dominant frequency and the amplification factor were calculated by using the Nakamura horizontal/vertical spectral ratio (H/V) method. While the soil dominant frequency values varied between 0.4 Hz and 10 Hz, the soil amplification factor changed between 1 and 10. Higher H/V values were acquired with lower frequency values. The vulnerability index (Kg) and shear strain parameters that are utilized to estimate the damage that may be caused by an earthquake were mapped. Especially in the west side of the study area, higher Kg values were observed. The shear strain map was created with 0.25 g, 0.50 g and 0.75 g bedrock accelerations, and soil types that lost elasticity during an earthquake were identified. The average shear wave velocity for the first 30 m (Vs30) was calculated. Finally, it was observed that the western part of the study area, which resulted in a higher period and higher H/V, higher Kg and lower Vs30 values, presents a higher risk of damage during an earthquake. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several popular time-frequency techniques, including the Wigner-Ville distribution, smoothed pseudo-Wigner-Ville distribution, wavelet transform, synchrosqueezing transform, Hilbert-Huang transform, and Gabor-Wigner transform, are investigated to determine how well they can identify damage to structures. In this work, a synchroextracting transform (SET) based on the short-time Fourier transform is proposed for estimating post-earthquake structural damage. The performance of SET for artificially generated signals and actual earthquake signals is examined with existing methods. Amongst other tested techniques, SET improves frequency resolution to a great extent by lowering the influence of smearing along the time-frequency plane. Hence, interpretation and readability with the proposed method are improved, and small changes in the time-varying frequency characteristics of the damaged buildings are easily detected through the SET method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large numbers of basic transceiver stations, where the telecommunication room is one of the main components, comprise an important part of the telecommunication system. After earthquakes, considerable economic loss from telecommunication systems is often associated with seismic damage and functional loss of the telecommunication room. However, research related to this has been limited. In this study, shaking table tests were conducted for a full-scale typical telecommunication room, including a light-steel house and the necessary communication and power supply equipment. The tests not only focused on the seismic damage to all the structures but also considered the functions of the communication and power supply of the equipment. The interactions between these facilities and their effects on communication function were also investigated. Compared with the damage to structures, the interruption of the power supply due to earthquakes is a weak link. Finally, the damage indexes, together with their threshold values of different damage states for the communication and power supply equipment, were derived from the test results. The results of this research can contribute to the literature gaps regarding seismic performance studies of telecommunication rooms, and can serve as a valuable reference for future research on its seismic fragility and economic losses evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two simultaneous earthquakes occurred in the Kahramanmaraş-Pazarcık and Kahramanmaraş-Elbistan districts of Turkey on February 6, 2023, and with magnitudes of 7.7 and 7.6, respectively. These events caused the highest estimated loss recorded in Turkey within the last century from natural disasters. The key reason for the extensive loss was the proximity of eleven cities to the earthquake epicenters. Middle East Technical University teams investigated the building sites in Gaziantep, Kahramanmaras, Hatay, Adiyaman and Adana. The ground motion recordings revealed that in certain locations of Gaziantep, Kahramanmaraş and Hatay, the ground motion levels exceeded the maximum credible earthquake level defined for a return period of 2,475 years in the Turkish Earthquake Code. Residential building performance was investigated with respect to the construction year, which is a good indicator of compliance with modern seismic codes and inspection procedures. About 97% of the collapsed buildings were constructed prior to 2000, whereas over 5,000 buildings, which were built after 2000, collapsed or required urgent demolition. Most of the buildings with minor or greater structural damage sustained heavy infill wall damage rendering occupancy impossible. Aside from damage in older construction with significant structural deficiencies, the damage in some of the more recent and better constructed buildings was observed to be surprisingly poor. This can be attributed to the level of ground motion, significant ductility demands, poor material and workmanship and damage to non-structural elements. With the estimated total loss of above 100 billion dollars and over 50,000 casualties, the current seismic design criterion based on ductility and acceptance of structural damage should be re-evaluated to ensure a more resilient urban environment in high seismic regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The most important method of understanding liquefaction-induced engineering failures comes from the investigation and analysis of earthquake damage. In May 2021, the Maduo Ms7.4 earthquake occurred on the Tibetan Plateau of China. The most representative engineering disaster caused by this earthquake was bridge damage on liquefied sites. In this study, the mutual relationships between the anti-liquefaction pre-design situation, the ground motion intensity, the site liquefaction severity, and the bridge damage state for this earthquake were systematically analyzed for typical bridge damage on the liquefied sites. Using field survey data and the current Chinese industry code, simulations of the liquefaction scenarios at typical bridge sites were performed for the pre-design seismic ground motion before the earthquake and the seismic ground motion during the earthquake. By combining these results with post-earthquake investigation results, the reason for the serious bridge damage resulting from this earthquake is revealed, and the necessary conditions for avoiding serious seismic damage to bridges built in liquefiable sites is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Buildings undergo various kinds of structural damage during earthquakes, and damage detection and functional assessment of these structures in the aftermath of the events have been challenging issues. Under these circumstances, computer vision techniques offer a promising solution by automating the inspection process. This study presents an effective methodology for automatic structural components and damage detection using unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) images of damaged buildings. Two types of neural network architectures are considered for appropriate feature extractions in different task detections. The feature pyramid network (FPN) is employed for crack, spall, rebar, and component damage segmentation, while the UNet++ network is utilized for the damage state. For network training and validation, a total of 3805 original images of size 1920×1080 pixels are processed by the proposed method and reduced the image pixels. From the FPN, the achieved highest intersection over unions (IoUs) were 0.59, 0.93, 0.42, and 0.99 for crack, spall, rebar, and components, respectively. These predicted labels were found in close agreement with the labels. Similarly, the UNet++ recognized the semantic information and damage state with an IoU of 0.72. This demonstrated the applicability of the proposed method for automated post-earthquake building inspection process accurately without information loss from the original images. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Computer vision-based inspection methods show promise for automating post-earthquake building inspections. These methods survey a building with unmanned aerial vehicles and automatically detect damage in the collected images. Nevertheless, assessing the damage's impact on structural safety requires localizing damage to specific building components with known design and function. This paper proposes a BIM-based automated inspection framework to provide context for visual surveys. A deep learning-based semantic segmentation algorithm is trained to automatically identify damage in images. The BIM automatically associates any identified damage with specific building components. Then, components are classified into damage states consistent with component fragility models for integration with a structural analysis. To demonstrate the framework, methods are developed to photorealistically simulate severe structural damage in a synthetic computer graphics environment. A graphics model of a real building in Urbana, Illinois, is generated to test the framework; the model is integrated with a structural analysis to apply earthquake damage in a physically realistic manner. A simulated UAV survey is flown of the graphics model and the framework is applied. The method achieves high accuracy in assigning damage states to visible structural components. This assignment enables integration with a performance-based earthquake assessment to classify building safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Double-column bridge piers are prone to local damage during earthquakes, leading to the destruction of bridges. To improve the earthquake resistance of double-column bridge piers, a novel swing column device (SCD), consisting of a magnetorheological (MR) damper, a current controller, and a swing column, was designed for the present work. To verify the seismic energy dissipation ability of the SCD, a lumped mass model for a double-column bridge pier with the SCD was established according to the low-order modeling method proposed by Steo. Furthermore, the motion equation of the double-column bridge pier with the SCD was established based on the D'Alembert principle and solved with the use of computational programming. It was found that the displacement response of the double-column bridge pier was effectively controlled by the SCD. However, due to rough current selection and a time delay, there is a significant overshoot of the bridge acceleration using SCD. Hence, to solve the overshoot phenomenon, a current controller was designed based on fuzzy logic theory. It was found that the SCD design based on fuzzy control provided an ideal shock absorption effect, while reducing the displacement and acceleration of the bridge pier by 36.43%–40.63% and 30.06%–33.6%, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies about optimizing earthquake structural energy dissipation systems indicated that most existing techniques employ merely one or a few parameters as design variables in the optimization process, and thereby are only applicable only to simple, single, or multiple degree-of-freedom structures. The current approaches to optimization procedures take a specific damper with its properties and observe the effect of applying time history data to the building; however, there are many different dampers and isolators that can be used. Furthermore, there is a lack of studies regarding the optimum location for various viscous and wall dampers. The main aim of this study is hybridization of the particle swarm optimization (PSO) and gravitational search algorithm (GSA) to optimize the performance of earthquake energy dissipation systems (i.e., damper devices) simultaneously with optimizing the characteristics of the structure. Four types of structural dampers device are considered in this study: (i) variable stiffness bracing (VSB) system, (ii) rubber wall damper (RWD), (iii) nonlinear conical spring bracing (NCSB) device, (iv) and multi-action stiffener (MAS) device. Since many parameters may affect the design of seismic resistant structures, this study proposes a hybrid of PSO and GSA to develop a hybrid, multi-objective optimization method to resolve the aforementioned problems. The characteristics of the above-mentioned damper devices as well as the section size for structural beams and columns are considered as variables for development of the PSO-GSA optimization algorithm to minimize structural seismic response in terms of nodal displacement (in three directions) as well as plastic hinge formation in structural members simultaneously with the weight of the structure. After that, the optimization algorithm is implemented to identify the best position of the damper device in the structural frame to have the maximum effect and minimize the seismic structure response. To examine the performance of the proposed PSO-GSA optimization method, it has been applied to a three-story reinforced structure equipped with a seismic damper device. The results revealed that the method successfully optimized the earthquake energy dissipation systems and reduced the effects of earthquakes on structures, which significantly increase the building's stability and safety during seismic excitation. The analysis results showed a reduction in the seismic response of the structure regarding the formation of plastic hinges in structural members as well as the displacement of each story to approximately 99.63%, 60.5%, 79.13% and 57.42% for the VSB device, RWD, NCSB device, and MAS device, respectively. This shows that using the PSO-GSA optimization algorithm and optimized damper devices in the structure resulted in no structural damage due to earthquake vibration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The seismic vulnerability index (Kg) is a parameter that depends on the dynamic properties of soil. With this parameter, it is possible to evaluate the vulnerability of a point-based site under strong ground motion. Since it is related to the natural vibration period and amplification factor, the parameter can be calculated for both soil and structure. In this study, HVSR microtremor measurements are recorded at more than 200 points in the Van region to generate a seismic vulnerability index map. After generating the map, it is determined that the hazard potential and seismic vulnerability index is high at the sites close to Van Lake and at the densely populated city center. Damage information of the buildings investigated after the 2011 Van earthquakes (Mw = 7.1) are placed on the seismic vulnerability index map and it is realized that there may be a correlation between the damage and the seismic vulnerability index. There is a high correlation, approximately 80 percent, between the damage rate map based on the damaged building data and the Kg values. In addition, vulnerability indexes of buildings are calculated and the eff ect of local soil conditions and building properties on the damage levels are determined. From the results of this study and the site observations after the 2011 Van earthquakes, it is found that structural damage is not only structure-dependent but is also related to the dynamic behavior of soil layers and local soil conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Retaining walls have been used in many construction projects such as for road and inclined surfaces protection. The damage caused by an earthquake depends on the fundamental frequency, amplitude and the duration of the seismic motion. These parameters strongly depend on the seismic properties of the layers that are near the surface. In the study of retaining walls, in addition to the influence of soil, the influence of topography is also important. In the present study, site response analysis is performed by using finite element software PLAXIS to obtain the effect of various factors such as embedded length of the sheet pile, underground water table, length and angle of the nail, shear wave velocity of soil on site effect and dynamic response. Moreover, for better understanding of the effect of the above parameters, the stability analysis was performed by using shear reduction method. The results show that an increase in the embedded length of the sheet pile and the length of nailing causes an increase in the amplification factor. Moreover, for shear-wave velocity in the range of 200–600 m/s, the amplification factor increases with increase of the shear-wave velocity due to the decrease of nonlinear behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On 26th October 2015, an Mw 7.5 earthquake struck northern Pakistan, with its epicenter located 45 km southwest of Jarm in the Hindu Kush region of Afghanistan. The earthquake resulted from reverse faulting at a depth of 210 km, resulting in 280 fatalities and substantial damage to some 109,123 buildings. Regional seismicity, characteristics of recorded strong motions, damage statistics, and building performance observations are presented. Earthquake damage was mostly constrained to seismic-deficient unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings. Typical failure modes included toppled minarets, partial or complete out of plane collapse of URM walls, diagonal shear cracking in piers, flexural cracking in spandrels, corner damage, pounding damage, and damage due to ground settlement. The majority of human loss resulted due to failure of URM walls and subsequent roof collapse. URM buildings located in rural hilly areas closer to the epicenter suffered more intense and frequent damage than urban URM buildings located farther away in larger cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Gorkha earthquake in Nepal led to many landslides and severe damage to the transportation infrastructure. After careful comparison of the aerial photographs and satellite images before and after the earthquake, partially verified by a field study, more than 2,064 landslides and many road failures were observed. Many bridges, especially steel-truss and suspension bridges, suffered little damage from inertia loads during the earthquake, but were severely damaged due to rockfalls. Potential geological hazards hindered the delivery of supplies in mountainous areas, and road closures impeded the overall speed of rehabilitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the efficiency of two types of rehabilitation methods based on economic justification that can lead to logical decision making between the retrofitting schemes. Among various rehabilitation methods, concentric chevron bracing (CCB) and cylindrical friction damper (CFD) were selected. The performance assessment procedure of the frames is divided into two distinct phases. First, the limit state probabilities of the structures before and after rehabilitation are investigated. In the second phase, the seismic risk of structures in terms of life safety and financial losses (decision variables) using the recently published FEMA P58 methodology is evaluated. The results show that the proposed retrofitting methods improve the serviceability and life safety performance levels of steel and RC structures at different rates when subjected to earthquake loads. Moreover, these procedures reveal that financial losses are greatly decreased, and were more tangible by the application of CFD rather than using CCB. Although using both retrofitting methods reduced damage state probabilities, incorporation of a site-specific seismic hazard curve to evaluate mean annual occurrence frequency at the collapse prevention limit state caused unexpected results to be obtained. Contrary to CFD, the collapse probability of the structures retrofitted with CCB increased when compared with the primary structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The buildings' capacity to maintain minimum structural safety levels during natural disasters, such as earthquakes, is recognisably one of the aspects that most influence urban resilience. Moreover, the public investment in risk mitigation strategies is fundamental, not only to promote social and urban and resilience, but also to limit consequent material, human and environmental losses. Despite the growing awareness of this issue, there is still a vast number of traditional masonry buildings spread throughout many European old city centres that lacks of adequate seismic resistance, requiring therefore urgent retrofitting interventions in order to both reduce their seismic vulnerability and to cope with the increased seismic requirements of recent code standards. Thus, this paper aims at contributing to mitigate the social and economic impacts of earthquake damage scenarios through the development of vulnerability-based comparative analysis of some of the most popular retrofitting techniques applied after the 1998 Azores earthquake. The influence of each technique individually and globally studied resorting to a seismic vulnerability index methodology integrated into a GIS tool and damage and loss scenarios are constructed and critically discussed. Finally, the economic balance resulting from the implementation of that techniques are also examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, strong ground motion record (SGMR) selection based on Eta ( η) as a spectral shape indicator has been investigated as applied to steel braced frame structures. A probabilistic seismic hazard disaggregation analysis for the definition of the target Epsilon ( ε) and the target Eta ( η) values at different hazard levels is presented, taking into account appropriately selected SGMR's. Fragility curves are developed for different limit states corresponding to three representative models of typical steel braced frames having significant irregularities in plan, by means of a weighted damage index. The results show that spectral shape indicators have an important effect on the predicted median structural capacities, and also that the parameter η is a more robust predictor of damage than searching for records with appropriate ε values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous failure analyses of bridges typically focus on substructure failure or superstructure failure separately. However, in an actual bridge, the seismic induced substructure failure and superstructure failure may influence each other. Moreover, previous studies typically use simplified models to analyze the bridge failure; however, there are inherent defects in the calculation accuracy compared with using a detailed three-dimensional (3D) finite element (FE) model. Conversely, a detailed 3D FE model requires more computational costs, and a proper erosion criterion of the 3D elements is necessary. In this paper, a multi-scale FE model, including a corresponding erosion criterion, is proposed and validated that can significantly reduce computational costs with high precision by modelling a pseudo-dynamic test of an reinforced concrete (RC) pier. Numerical simulations of the seismic failures of a continuous RC bridge based on the multi-scale FE modeling method using LS-DYNA are performed. The nonlinear properties of the bridge, various connection strengths and bidirectional excitations are considered. The numerical results demonstrate that the failure of the connections will induce large pounding responses of the girders. The nonlinear deformation of the piers will aggravate the pounding damages. Furthermore, bidirectional earthquakes will induce eccentric poundings to the girders and different failure modes to the adjacent piers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, three rapid repair techniques are proposed to retrofit circular bridge piers that are severely damaged by the flexural failure mode in major earthquakes. The quasi-static tests on three 1:2.5 scaled circular pier specimens are conducted to evaluate the efficiency of the proposed repair techniques. For the purpose of rapid repair, the repair procedure for all the specimens is conducted within four days, and the behavior of the repaired specimens is evaluated and compared with the original ones. A finite element model is developed to predict the cyclic behavior of the repaired specimens and the numerical results are compared with the test data. It is found that all the repaired specimens exhibit similar or larger lateral strength and deformation capacity than the original ones. The initial lateral stiffness of all the repaired specimens is lower than that of the original ones, while they show a higher lateral stiffness at the later stage of the test. No noticeable difference is observed for the energy dissipation capacity between the original and repaired pier specimens. It is suggested that the repair technique using the early-strength concrete jacket confined by carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) sheets can be an optimal method for the rapid repair of severely earthquake-damaged circular bridge piers with flexural failure mode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A full-scale, two-story, two-by-one bay, steel braced-frame was subjected to a number of unidirectional ground motions using three shake tables at the UNR-NEES site. The test-bed frame was designed to study the seismic performance of nonstructural systems including steel-framed gypsum partition walls, suspended ceilings and fire sprinkler systems. The frame can be configured to perform as an elastic or inelastic system to generate large floor accelerations or large inter story drift, respectively. In this study, the dynamic performance of the linear and nonlinear test-beds was comprehensively studied. The seismic performance of nonstructural systems installed in the linear and nonlinear test-beds were assessed during extreme excitations. In addition, the dynamic interactions of the test-bed and installed nonstructural systems are investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The optimal distribution of fluid viscous dampers (FVD) in controlling the seismic response of eccentric, single-storey, moment resisting concrete structures is investigated using the previously defined center of damping constant (CDC). For this purpose, a number of structural models with different one-way stiffness and strength eccentricities are considered. Extensive nonlinear time history analyses are carried out for various arrangements of FVDs. It is shown that the arrangement of FVDs for controlling the torsional behavior due to asymmetry in the concrete structures is very dependent on the intensity of the peak ground acceleration (PGA) and the extent of the structural stiffness and strength eccentricities. The results indicate that, in the linear range of structural behavior the stiffness eccentricity es which is the main parameter in determining the location of optimal CDC, is found to be less or smaller than the optimal damping constant eccentricity e*, i.e., |e*| > |e|. But, in the nonlinear range of structural behavior where the strength eccentricity er is the dominant factor in determining the location of optimal CDC, |e*| > |e|. It is also concluded that for the majority of the plan-asymmetric, concrete structures considered in this study with e ≠ 0, the optimal CDC approaches the center of mass as e decreases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerical studies have been conducted for low- and medium-rise rocking structures to investigate their efficiency as earthquake-resisting systems in comparison with conventional structures. Several non-linear time-history analyses have been performed to evaluate seismic performance of selected cases at desired ground shaking levels, based on key parameters such as total and flexural story drifts and residual deformations. The Far-field record set is selected as input ground motions and median peak values of key parameters are taken as best estimates of system response. In addition, in order to evaluate the probability of exceeding relevant damage states, analytical fragility curves have been developed based on the results of the incremental dynamic analysis procedure. Small exceedance probabilities and acceptable margins against collapse, together with minor associated damages in main structural members, can be considered as superior seismic performance for medium-rise rocking systems. Low-rise rocking systems could provide significant performance improvement over their conventional counterparts notwithstanding certain weaknesses in their seismic response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On 3 August 2014, the Ludian earthquake struck northwest Yunnan Province with a surface wave magnitude of 6.5. This moderate earthquake unexpectedly caused high fatalities and great economic loss. Four strong motion stations were located in the areas with intensity V, VI, VII and IX, near the epicentre. The characteristics of the ground motion are discussed herein, including 1) ground motion was strong at a period of less than 1.4 s, which covered the natural vibration period of a large number of structures; and 2) the release energy was concentrated geographically. Based on materials collected during emergency building inspections, the damage patterns of adobe, masonry, timber frame and reinforced concrete (RC) frame structures in areas with different intensities are summarised. Earthquake damage matrices of local buildings are also given for fragility evaluation and earthquake damage prediction. It is found that the collapse ratios of RC frame and confined masonry structures based on the new design code are significantly lower than non-seismic buildings. However, the RC frame structures still failed to achieve the 'strong column, weak beam' design target. Traditional timber frame structures with a light infill wall showed good aseismic performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper summarizes the research on non-structural elements and building contents being conducted at University of Canterbury in New Zealand. Since the 2010-2011 series of Canterbury earthquakes, in which damage to non-structural components and contents contributed heavily to downtime and overall financial loss, attention to seismic performance and design of non-structural components and contents in buildings has increased exponentially in NZ. This has resulted in an increased allocation of resources to research leading to development of more resilient non-structural systems in buildings that would incur substantially less damage and cause little downtime during earthquakes. In the last few years, NZ researchers have made important developments in understanding and improving the seismic performance of secondary building elements such as partitions, facades, ceilings and contents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article extends a signal-based approach formerly proposed by the authors, which utilizes the fractal dimension of time frequency feature (FDTFF) of displacements, for earthquake damage detection of moment resist frame (MRF), and validates the approach with shaking table tests. The time frequency feature (TFF) of the relative displacement at measured story is defined as the real part of the coefficients of the analytical wavelet transform. The fractal dimension (FD) is to quantify the TFF within the fundamental frequency band using box counting method. It is verified that the FDTFFs at all stories of the linear MRF are identical with the help of static condensation method and modal superposition principle, while the FDTFFs at the stories with localized nonlinearities due to damage will be different from those at the stories without nonlinearities using the reverse-path methodology. By comparing the FDTFFs of displacements at measured stories in a structure, the damage-induced nonlinearity of the structure under strong ground motion can be detected and localized. Finally shaking table experiments on a 1:8 scale sixteen-story three-bay steel MRF with added frictional dampers, which generate local nonlinearities, are conducted to validate the approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a method for seismic vulnerability analysis of bridge structures based on vector-valued intensity measure (vIM), which predicts the limit-state capacities efficiently with multi-intensity measures of seismic event. Accounting for the uncertainties of the bridge model, ten single-bent overpass bridge structures are taken as samples statistically using Latin hypercube sampling approach. 200 earthquake records are chosen randomly for the uncertainties of ground motions according to the site condition of the bridges. The uncertainties of structural capacity and seismic demand are evaluated with the ratios of demand to capacity in different damage state. By comparing the relative importance of different intensity measures, S( T) and S( T) are chosen as vIM. Then, the vector-valued fragility functions of different bridge components are developed. Finally, the system-level vulnerability of the bridge based on vIM is studied with Dunnett-Sobel class correlation matrix which can consider the correlation effects of different bridge components. The study indicates that an increment IMs from a scalar IM to vIM results in a significant reduction in the dispersion of fragility functions and in the uncertainties in evaluating earthquake risk. The feasibility and validity of the proposed vulnerability analysis method is validated and the bridge is more vulnerable than any components. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For modal pushover analysis procedures, the model proposed by Ghobarah et al. (called the G model hereafter, 1999) has been extended to account for the contributions of transient higher modes to global seismic damage of structures excited by strong ground motions. The proposed model has physically and perfectly bridged the G model and the final softening model proposed by DiPasquale and Cakmak (1988). Modal damage indexes corresponding to all considered vibration modes are combined by the CQC rule or the SRSS rule. Incremental dynamic analysis (IDA) is performed on three example RC frames to validate the proposed model, and a comprehensive comparison is carried out. The demonstration indicates that the proposed model is easy to implement and reflects the influence of the transition in transient vibration periods and modes on structural damage evolution. Some limitations associated with the proposed model are also addressed. Further experimental validations are needed to improve the model in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Framed structures are usually infilled with masonry walls. They may cause a significant increase in both stiffness and strength, reducing the deformation demand and increasing the energy dissipation capacity of the system. On the other hand, irregular arrangements of the masonry panels may lead to the concentration of damage in some regions, with negative effects; for example soft story mechanisms and shear failures in short columns. Therefore, the presence of infill walls should not be neglected, especially in regions of moderate and high seismicity. To this aim, simple models are available for solid infills walls, such as the diagonal no-tension strut model, while infilled frames with openings have not been adequately investigated. In this study, the effect of openings on the strength and stiffness of infilled frames is investigated by means of about 150 experimental and numerical tests. The main parameters involved are identified and a simple model to take into account the openings in the infills is developed and compared with other models proposed by different researchers. The model, which is based on the use of strength and stiffness reduction factors, takes into account the opening dimensions and presence of reinforcing elements around the opening. An example of an application of the proposed reduction factors is also presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One common scenario during disasters such as earthquakes is that the activity of damage field reconnaissance on site is not well-coordinated. For example in Italy the damage assessment of structures after an earthquake is managed from the Italian Emergency Authority, using printed forms (AeDES) which are filled by experts on site generating a lot of confusion in filling and transferring the forms to the Disaster Management Operative Center. Because of this, the paper explores the viability of using mobile communication technologies (smart phones) and the Web to develop response systems that would aid communities after a major disaster, providing channels for allowing residents and responders of uploading and distributing information, related to structural damages coordinating the damage field reconnaissance. A mobile application that can be run by residents on smart phones has been developed, to give an initial damage evaluation of the area, which is going to be very useful when resources (e.g. the number of experts is limited). The mobile application has been tested for the first time during 2012 Emilia earthquake to enhance the emergency response, showing the efficiency of the proposed method in statistical terms comparing the proposed procedure with the standard procedure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new structural system called a stepped wall-frame structure is proposed in this study to solve the bottom yielding problem of RC frames, which widely occurred during previous earthquakes such as the Wenchuan and Yushu earthquakes in China. A 1/5 scale ordinary RC frame model and a stepped wall-frame model were subjected to shake table motions together to study the seismic behavior of the new structural system. This paper presents the dynamic characteristics, the seismic responses and the failure and collapse mechanism of the two models under low, moderate and high intensity shaking. The test results and further analysis demonstrate that the seismic performance of stepped wall-frame structures is superior to ordinary RC frames in terms of the well-controlled deformation pattern and more uniformly distributed damage. The stepped wall can effectively suppress the bottom yielding mechanism, and is simple, economical and practical for engineering practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The seismic behavior of skewed bridges has not been well studied compared to straight bridges. Skewed bridges have shown extensive damage, especially due to deck rotation, shear keys failure, abutment unseating and column-bent drift. This research, therefore, aims to study the behavior of skewed and straight highway overpass bridges both with and without taking into account the effects of Soil-Structure Interaction (SSI) due to near-fault ground motions. Due to several sources of uncertainty associated with the ground motions, soil and structure, a probabilistic approach is needed. Thus, a probabilistic methodology similar to the one developed by the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center (PEER) has been utilized to assess the probability of damage due to various levels of shaking using appropriate intensity measures with minimum dispersions. The probabilistic analyses were performed for various bridge configurations and site conditions, including sand ranging from loose to dense and clay ranging from soft to stiff, in order to evaluate the effects. The results proved a considerable susceptibility of skewed bridges to deck rotation and shear keys displacement. It was also found that SSI had a decreasing effect on the damage probability for various demands compared to the fixed-base model without including SSI. However, deck rotation for all types of the soil and also abutment unseating for very loose sand and soft clay showed an increase in damage probability compared to the fixed-base model. The damage probability for various demands has also been found to decrease with an increase of soil strength for both sandy and clayey sites. With respect to the variations in the skew angle, an increase in skew angle has had an increasing effect on the amplitude of the seismic response for various demands. Deck rotation has been very sensitive to the increase in the skew angle; therefore, as the skew angle increased, the deck rotation responded accordingly. Furthermore, abutment unseating showed an increasing trend due to an increase in skew angle for both fixed-base and SSI models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lateral deformation of liquefiable soil is a cause of much damage during earthquakes, reportedly more than other forms of liquefaction-induced ground failures. Researchers have presented studies in which the liquefied soil is considered as viscous fluid. In this manner, the liquefied soil behaves as non-Newtonian fluid, whose viscosity decreases as the shear strain rate increases. The current study incorporates computational fluid dynamics to propose a simplified dynamic analysis for the liquefaction-induced lateral deformation of earth slopes. The numerical procedure involves a quasi-linear elastic model for small to moderate strains and a Bingham fluid model for large strain states during liquefaction. An iterative procedure is considered to estimate the strain-compatible shear stiffness of soil. The post-liquefaction residual strength of soil is considered as the initial Bingham viscosity. Performance of the numerical procedure is examined by using the results of centrifuge model and shaking table tests together with some field observations of lateral ground deformation. The results demonstrate that the proposed procedure predicts the time history of lateral ground deformation with a reasonable degree of precision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the development and implementation of performance-based earthquake engineering, harmonization of performance levels between structural and nonstructural components becomes vital. Even if the structural components of a building achieve a continuous or immediate occupancy performance level after a seismic event, failure of architectural, mechanical or electrical components can lower the performance level of the entire building system. This reduction in performance caused by the vulnerability of nonstructural components has been observed during recent earthquakes worldwide. Moreover, nonstructural damage has limited the functionality of critical facilities, such as hospitals, following major seismic events. The investment in nonstructural components and building contents is far greater than that of structural components and framing. Therefore, it is not surprising that in many past earthquakes, losses from damage to nonstructural components have exceeded losses from structural damage. Furthermore, the failure of nonstructural components can become a safety hazard or can hamper the safe movement of occupants evacuating buildings, or of rescue workers entering buildings. In comparison to structural components and systems, there is relatively limited information on the seismic design of nonstructural components. Basic research work in this area has been sparse, and the available codes and guidelines are usually, for the most part, based on past experiences, engineering judgment and intuition, rather than on objective experimental and analytical results. Often, design engineers are forced to start almost from square one after each earthquake event: to observe what went wrong and to try to prevent repetitions. This is a consequence of the empirical nature of current seismic regulations and guidelines for nonstructural components. This review paper summarizes current knowledge on the seismic design and analysis of nonstructural building components, identifying major knowledge gaps that will need to be filled by future research. Furthermore, considering recent trends in earthquake engineering, the paper explores how performance-based seismic design might be conceived for nonstructural components, drawing on recent developments made in the field of seismic design and hinting at the specific considerations required for nonstructural components. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The post-earthquake rapid accurate assessment of macro influence of seismic ground motion is of significance for earthquake emergency relief, post-earthquake reconstruction and scientific research. The seismic intensity distribution map released by the Lushan earthquake field team of the China Earthquake Administration (CEA) five days after the strong earthquake ( M7.0) occurred in Lushan County of Sichuan Ya'an City at 8:02 on April 20, 2013 provides a scientific basis for emergency relief, economic loss assessment and post-earthquake reconstruction. In this paper, the means for blind estimation of macroscopic intensity, field estimation of macro intensity, and review of intensity, as well as corresponding problems are discussed in detail, and the intensity distribution characteristics of the Lushan '4.20' M7.0 earthquake and its influential factors are analyzed, providing a reference for future seismic intensity assessments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intense research and refinement of the tools used in performance-based seismic engineering have been made, but the maturity and accuracy of these methods have not been adequately confirmed with actual data from the field. The gap between the assumed characteristics of actual building systems and their idealized counterparts used for analysis is wide. When the randomly distributed flaws in buildings as they exist in urban areas and the extreme variability of ground motion patterns combine, the conventional procedures used for pushover or dynamic response history analyses seem to fall short of reconciling the differences between calculated and observed damage. For emergency planning and loss modeling purposes, such discrepancies are factors that must be borne in mind. Two relevant examples are provided herein. These examples demonstrate that consensus-based analytical guidelines also require well-idealized building models that do not lend themselves to reasonably manageable representations from field data. As a corollary, loss modeling techniques, e.g., used for insurance purposes, must undergo further development and improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Earthquake engineering research and development have received much attention since the first half of the twentieth century. This valuable research presented a huge step forward in understanding earthquake hazard mitigation, which resulted in appreciable reduction of the effects of past earthquakes. Nevertheless, the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and the subsequent tsunami resulted in major damage. This paper presents the timeline of earthquake mitigation and recovery, as seen by the authors. Possible research directions where the authors think that many open questions still remain are identified. These are primarily based on the important lessons learned from the 2011 Tohoku earthquake. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of shake-table tests was conducted by inserting and replacing 4 different types of dampers, or by removing them in a full-scale 5-story steel frame building. The objective is to validate response-control technologies that are increasingly adopted for major Japanese buildings without being attested to-date by a major earthquake. Test results are briefly described, and good performance of the dampers and frame demonstrated. The concepts of the full-scale building tests and various contributions are discussed. The difficulty associated with full-scale dynamic testing is explained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The seismic conceptual design is an essential part of seismic design codes. It points out that the term 'seismic conceptual design' should imply three aspects, i.e., the given concept itself, the specific provisions related to the given concept and the designing following the provisions. Seismic conceptual design can be classified into two categories: the strict or traditional seismic conceptual design and the generalized seismic conceptual design. The authors are trying to define for both conceptual designs their connotations and study their characteristics, in particular, the differences between them. Authors emphasize that both conceptual designs sound very close, however, their differences are apparent. The strict conceptual designs are usually worked out directly from engineering practice and/or lessons learnt from earthquake damage, while the generalized conceptual designs are resulted in a series of visions aiming to realize the general objectives of the seismic codes. The strict conceptual designs, (traditional conceptual designs) are indispensable elements of seismic codes in assuring designed structures safer and the generalized conceptual designs are playing key roles in directing to a more advanced and effective seismic codes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current structural analysis software programs offer few if any applicable device-specific hysteresis rules or nonlinear elements to simulate the precise mechanical behavior of a multiple friction pendulum system (MFPS) with numerous sliding interfaces. Based on the concept of subsystems, an equivalent series system that adopts existing nonlinear elements with parameters systematically calculated and mathematically proven through rigorous derivations is proposed. The aim is to simulate the characteristics of sliding motions for an MFPS isolation system with numerous concave sliding interfaces without prior knowledge of detailed information on the mobilized forces at various sliding stages. An MFPS with numerous concave sliding interfaces and one articulated or rigid slider located between these interfaces is divided into two subsystems: the first represents the concave sliding interfaces above the slider, and the second represents those below the slider. The equivalent series system for the entire system is then obtained by connecting those for each subsystem in series. The equivalent series system is validated by comparing numerical results for an MFPS with four sliding interfaces obtained from the proposed method with those from a previous study by Fenz and Constantinou. Furthermore, these numerical results demonstrate that an MFPS isolator with numerous concave sliding interfaces, which may have any number of sliding interfaces, is a good isolation device to protect structures from earthquake damage through appropriate designs with controllable mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early structural damage identification to obtain an accurate condition assessment can assist in the reprioritization of structural retrofitting schedules in order to guarantee structural safety. Nowadays, seismic isolation technology has been applied in a wide variety of infrastructure, such as buildings, bridges, etc., and the health conditions of these nonlinear hysteretic vibration isolation systems have received considerable attention. To effectively detect structural damage in vibration isolation systems based on vibration data, three time-domain analysis techniques, referred to as the adaptive extended Kalman filter (AEKF), adaptive sequential nonlinear least-square estimation (ASNLSE) and adaptive quadratic sum-squares error (AQSSE), have been investigated. In this research, these analysis techniques are compared in terms of accuracy, convergence and efficiency, for structural damage detection using experimental data obtained through a series of laboratory tests based on a base-isolated structural model subjected to El Centro and Kobe earthquake excitations. The capability of the AEKF, ASNLSE and AQSSE approaches in tracking structural damage is demonstrated and compared. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the U.S., the current Load and Resistance Factor Design (LRFD) Specifications for highway bridges is a reliability-based formulation that considers failure probabilities of bridge components due to the actions of typical dead load and frequent vehicular loads. Various extreme load effects, such as earthquake and vessel collision, are not considered on the same reliability-based platform. Since these extreme loads are time variables, combining them with frequent, nonextreme loads is a significant challenge. The number of design limit state equations based on these failure probabilities can be unrealistically large and unnecessary from the view point of practical applications. Based on the opinion of AASHTO State Bridge Engineers, many load combinations are insignificant in their states. This paper describes the formulation of a criterion to include only the necessary load combinations to establish the design limit states. This criterion is established by examining the total failure probabilities for all possible time-invariant and time varying load combinations and breaking them down into partial terms. Then, important load combinations can be readily determined quantitatively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Severe damage to steel space structures is rarely reported when compared to other structural systems damaged during past major earthquakes around the world. Two gymnasiums of steel space structures in downtown Lushan County that were damaged during the 2013 M7.0 Lushan earthquake in China were investigated and the observations are summarized in this paper. Typical damage to these two steel space structures ranges from moderate to severe. Moderate damage includes global buckling and dislocation of bolted connections of truss members, and inelastic elongation of anchor bolts and sliding of pedestal plates of supports. Severe damage includes member fracture caused by local buckling, and fracture failure of anchor bolts and welds. The distribution of structural damage to these two structures is described in detail and future research opportunities are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many staircases in reinforced concrete (RC) frame structures suffered severe damage during the Wenchuan earthquake. Elastic analyses for 18 RC structure models with and without staircases are conducted and compared to study the influence of the staircase on the stiffness, displacements and internal forces of the structures. To capture the yielding development and damage mechanism of frame structures, elasto-plastic analysis is carried out for one of the 18 models. Based on the features observed in the analyses, a new type of staircase design i.e., isolating them from the master structure to eliminate the effect of K-type struts, is proposed and discussed. It is concluded that the proposed method of staircase isolation is effective and feasible for engineering design, and does not significantly increase the construction cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The peak ground acceleration (PGA), the volume of a sliding mass V, the height of a mountain H and the slope angle θ of a mountain are four important parameters affecting the horizontal run-out distance of a landslide L. Correlations among them are studied statistically based on field investigations from 67 landslides triggered by the ground shaking and other factors during the Wenchuan earthquake, and then a prediction model for horizontal run-out distance L is developed in this study. This model gives due consideration to the implications of the above four parameters on the horizontal run-out distance L and the validity of the model is verified by the Donghekou and Magong Woqian landslides. At the same time, the advantages of the model are shown by comparing it with two other common prediction methods. The major findings drawn from the analyses and comparisons are: (1) an exponential relationship exists between L and log V, L and log H, L and log PGA separately, but a negative exponential relationship exists between L and log tan θ, which agrees with the statistical results; and (2) according to the analysis results of the relative relationship between the height of a mountain ( H) and the place where the landslides occur, the probabilities at distances of 2 H/3- H, H/3-2 H/3, and 0- H/3 are 70.8%, 15.4%, and 13.8%, respectively, revealing that most landslides occurred at a distance of H/2- H. This prediction model can provide an effective technical support for the prevention and mitigation of landslide hazards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Zipingpu Concrete Faced Rockfill Dam (CFRD) was subjected to significant local damage in the '5.12' Wenchuan earthquake. It is the first rockfill dam of more than one hundred meters high to encounter a strong earthquake anywhere in the world. Based on the finite element smoothing method, the residual strains at a typical cross-section and a downstream slope of the dam were obtained by processing the dam monitored displacement data. The position of and reason for the dam settlement and deformation of rockfill dilatancy in the earthquake were analyzed according to the section residual strain. The results show that the maximum settlement ratio on the dam body approximately occurs at 2/3 of the dam height; dilatancy occurs from the dam crest to 25-30 m in the upstream and downstream slope; the immediate cause of the face slabs horizontal construction joint dislocation is excessive residual shear strain. Meanwhile, the position of and reason for the dam fissure in the earthquake were analyzed according to the dam slope residual strain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Past researchers have anticipated the occurrence of a great earthquake in the central Himalayas in the near future. This may cause serious damage in the Kathmandu Valley, which sits on an ancient lake bed zone, with lacustrine sediments of more than 500 m depth. In this study, the predominant frequency of ground motion is evaluated using the Horizontal-to-Vertical ( H/V) spectral ratio technique and recordings of ambient noise. The results of the H/V ratio show two peaks in about 20 percent of the locations, which are distributed mainly in and around the center and northern part of the Kathmandu Valley. The predominant frequencies vary from 0.5 Hz to 8.9 Hz in the study area, whereas the second resonance frequency varies from 4 Hz to 6 Hz in the center and northern part of the valley. This indicates that the center and northern part of the valley have a wide range of resonance frequency due to two levels of impedance contrast - one may be from the surface layer and the other may be from the layer underneath. These two levels of resonance indicate the importance of considering the effects of surface and lower layers during the planning and designing of infrastructures in the Kathmandu Valley. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During past strong earthquakes, highway bridges have sustained severe damage or even collapse due to excessive displacements and/or very large lateral forces. For commonly used isolation bearings with a pure friction sliding surface, seismic forces may be reduced but displacements are often unconstrained. In this paper, an alternative seismic bearing system, called the cable-sliding friction bearing system, is developed by integrating seismic isolation devices with displacement restrainers consisting of cables attached to the upper and lower plates of the bearing. Restoring forces are provided to limit the displacements of the sliding component. Design parameters including the length and stiffness of the cables, friction coefficient, strength of the shear bolt in a fixed-type bearing, and movements under earthquake excitations are discussed. Laboratory testing of a prototype bearing subjected to vertical loads and quasi-static cyclic lateral loads, and corresponding numerical finite element simulation analysis, were carried out. It is shown that the numerical simulation shows good agreement with the experimental force-displacement hysteretic response, indicating the viability of the new bearing system. In addition, practical application of this bearing system to a multi-span bridge in China and its design advantages are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, the authors reply to a discussion on their article "Introspection on improper seismic retrofit of Basilica Santa Maria di Collemaggio after 2009 Italian earthquake," which appeared in a previous issue of the journal. They elaborated some points that are not discussed in detail in the original paper like mechanism that lead to the collapse of the transept. They also clarify a doubt of the discusser regarding a remark in the original paper on the reticular truss and seismic load. The article also presents global behavior of the basilica during the earthquake.

Based on raw data from dams damaged in the Wenchuan earthquake, including many that were severely damaged, characteristics and factors that influenced the damage are discussed in this paper. Findings from this study include: severely damaged dams were densely distributed along the seismologic fault; small dams, especially small earth-rock dams, had the most serious damage that was caused by a variety of factors; the most serious damage was caused by seismic waves; damage was aggregated by aftershocks; and the extent of the damage patterns increased with the seismic intensity. Damage patterns varied in different intensity zones and cracking was the most common type of damage. Most of the dams had a good base with relatively high bearing capacity, and the walls of the earth-rock dams were mostly of clay soil. This type of base and body material mitigated some of the damage to dams. Reservoir maintenance and other factors also have a significant impact on the seismic safety of the dam. Finally, some recommendations to reduce seismic damage to dams are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

comprehensive study is presented for empirical seismic vulnerability assessment of typical structural types, representative of the building stock of Southern Europe, based on a large set of damage statistics. The observational database was obtained from post-earthquake surveys carried out in the area struck by the September 7, 1999 Athens earthquake. After analysis of the collected observational data, a unified damage database has been created which comprises 180,945 damaged buildings from/after the near-field area of the earthquake. The damaged buildings are classified in specific structural types, according to the materials, seismic codes and construction techniques in Southern Europe. The seismic demand is described in terms of both the regional macroseismic intensity and the ratio α/ a, where α is the maximum peak ground acceleration (PGA) of the earthquake event and a is the unique value PGA that characterizes each municipality shown on the Greek hazard map. The relative and cumulative frequencies of the different damage states for each structural type and each intensity level are computed in terms of damage ratio. Damage probability matrices (DPMs) and vulnerability curves are obtained for specific structural types. A comparison analysis is fulfilled between the produced and the existing vulnerability models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]