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The safety of railway vehicles running on bridges needs to be evaluated in the seismic design of bridges. This study examined the spectral intensity calculated from the lateral vibration of the bridge deck during earthquakes, a Japanese code-based index to measure bridge vibration's strength. In addition, the effect of the torsion of the bridge deck on vehicle derailment is investigated using a nonlinear vehicle–track–bridge model. The bridge deck torsion increases the derailment risk, especially for bridges with a low natural frequency. The reason lies in that the lateral and torsional deck motions are highly correlated for bridges with lower frequency. Based on this observation, a code-type formula was proposed to evaluate the vehicle running safety including both lateral and torsional motions of the bridge deck. The accuracy of the proposed formula was demonstrated by comparison with vehicle–track–bridge simulation excited by ground motion records. The new procedure overcomes the non-conservative assessment of derailment caused by ignoring bridge torsion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a new stochastic methodology for evaluating and quantifying the downtime of a structure in terms of a family of fragilities that represent the probability of exceeding prescribed times to return to functionality. This methodology integrates several existing concepts, namely, Federal Emergency Management Agency P-58 and Resilience-based Earthquake Design Initiative (REDi), to build a family of system (building) level fragility curves corresponding to the time needed to achieve different recovery levels (reoccupancy, functional recovery, and full recovery). This approach enables one to propagate uncertainty throughout the procedure so that variations in the delay time and repair schedules are accounted for in the resulting fragilities. As an illustrative example of this approach, the methodology is applied to assess the downtime of a two-story mass timber building that was originally tested at the NHERI@UCSD outdoor shake table in 2017. One unique aspect of this analysis is that it incorporates a relatively new material, cross-laminated timber (CLT), in a resilient posttension rocking wall design application. Nonstructural components representing a typical office building were selected and incorporated into the procedure for the two-story CLT rocking wall building. Time-to-functionality fragility curves are then developed for the two-story building, and potential design and resilience-focused applications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Post-tensioned timber (Pres-Lam) buildings have been constructed throughout the world, beginning in 2010. The technology, which originated from low-damage concrete building applications, relies on unbonded post-tensioning tendons to provide moment capacity to beam–column, wall–foundation, or column–foundation connections. Supplemental energy dissipation can be introduced by the inclusion of mild steel bars or replaceable damping devices when designing buildings for high-seismic-risk areas. Given the increasing demand for multistory timber buildings in high seismic zones, the Pres-Lam system is recognized worldwide as one of many efficient solutions for achieving seismic-resilient and sustainable structures. This paper presents an overview of the current state-of-the-art of the Pres-Lam system, including experimental campaigns, numerical and analytical modeling, and operating buildings as well as design procedures and design procurement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cross-laminated timber (CLT) is a wood construction technology that has been utilized in Europe for several decades and has become even more popular recently. Although the technology has been in existence for approximately 20 years, its seismic performance has been explored only recently by a handful of researchers. Interest in bringing CLT to the North American construction market necessitates a full understanding of the seismic behavior of CLT systems and the development of a response-modification factor, known as the R-factor, for use in force-based seismic design codes. In this paper, a nonlinear, load-resistance model for CLT shear walls is developed based on reversed-cyclic test data and explained. An estimation of a possible R-factor is obtained by developing a design for a 6-story CLT apartment building, based on computed peak interstory drifts, to achieve good performance in a high seismic region of the United States. It is concluded that using the equivalent lateral force procedure with an R-factor close to 4.5 likely will provide an 80% probability of not exceeding 4% peak interstory drift during a maximum credible earthquake (MCE) near Los Angeles, CA (i.e., an earthquake with a return period of 2,500 years). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With two producers in operation and over 20 buildings already constructed or in planning process, use of cross-laminated timber (CLT) is gaining popularity in Canada. Since CLT as a structural system is currently not included in the National Building Code of Canada (NBCC), one of the most important issues are the values for the force modification factors for seismic design of CLT structures when NBCC equivalent static force procedure is used. In this study, a test-calibrated numerical model for CLT shear walls was applied to develop the design resistances for typical CLT wall configurations. An estimation of a possible range of Rd-factors was obtained by developing design variations for three multi-storey CLT apartment buildings. By specifying the desired seismic performance in terms of inter-storey drift, it is concluded that an Rd-factor of 2.0 will likely provide desirable building performance during the design earthquake level event in Vancouver, B.C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The understanding of, and ability to predict, the seismic behavior of woodframe structures has improved immensely in the last 10 years. Two notable projects occurred in succession, the Consortium of Universities for Research in Earthquake Engineering (CUREE) and California Institute of Technology (Caltech) CUREE-Caltech Woodframe Project, and the Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES) NEESWood Project, which provided greater understanding, improved analytical modeling, and advances in force- and performance-based seismic design (PBSD) of woodframe buildings, respectively. The NEESWood project focused on the development of a PBSD philosophy (and procedures) for midrise woodframe buildings and included full-scale system-level validation. To date, the complete design procedure has not been systematically explained, which serves as the impetus for this paper. While the method was shown to be quite viable, some challenges remain, including identifying a format that would facilitate widespread adoption and use by engineers. Thus, this paper examines the progress, current state, and challenges for PBSD of midrise woodframe buildings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]