The assessment of response of composite seismic force resisting systems requires accurate nonlinear formulations for the composite members. In this work, reporting the first phase of a NEES project, a three-dimensional distributed plasticity formulation is presented for both circular and rectangular composite concrete-filled steel tubes (CFTs) that includes new constitutive models for the concr...

Foundations may undergo severe distress during an earthquake. One such example of foundation failure involving toppling of apartment blocks due to liquefaction during the 1964 Niigata Earthquake is presented in Figure 1. Earthquake effects on shallow and deep foundations are accounted for by designing them structurally to provide necessary strength and ensure serviceability. Strength considerat...

1.0 Introduction It is now reasonably well established that reinforced concrete (RC) structural elements can be strengthened/retrofitted/repaired by bonding high-strength fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) composites. Such reasons include steel reinforcement corrosion, construction flaws, change in loading or structure usage, or damage from impact or seismic events. Traditional methods of repair ca...

In the last decade, displacement-based seismic design procedures have been recognised to be effective alternatives to force-based design (FBD) methods. Indeed, displacement based design (DBD) may allow the structural engineer to get more realistic predictions of local and global deformations of the structure, and hence damage, under design earthquakes. This facilitates the achievement of perfor...

The use of “ductile seismic frames,” whose proper seismic behavior largely depends upon construction details and specific design rules, may do not always lead to effective seismic resistant structures, as dramatically denounced by the famous Chinese artist Ai Weiwei in his artwork Straight. The artwork (96 t of undulating metal bars that were salvaged from schools destroyed by the 2008 Sichuan,...

Continental intraplate seismicity seems often episodic, clustered, and migrating. The observed seismicity shows both spatial clustering in seismic zones and scattering across large plate interiors, temporal clustering followed by long periods of quiescence, and migration of seismicity from one seismic zone to another. Here, we explore the complex spatiotemporal patterns of intraplate seismicity...

Seismic analysis and design of reinforced concrete structures are performed based on linear response, however it is universally accepted that under severe earthquakes inelastic response and cracking is accepted. Therefore element properties should reflect this condition and inertias of beams and columns should be reduced accordingly. Several procedures are suggested to considered effective rigi...

Structural fuses, easily replaceable sacrificial elements to dissipate seismic energy while preventing damage to the gravity loadresisting structural system, are proposed as part of a multicolumn accelerated bridge construction (ABC) pier concept. Different types of structural fuses are investigated to compare the effect of each on ABC bridge bents. The piers of a three span-continuous bridge p...

The composite structural system (RCS) is a new type of moment frame, which is including a combination of concrete columns (RC) and steel beams (S). These structural systems have the advantages of both concrete and steel frames [1]. In previous research on composite structures, there are some studies regarding RCS composite conections, but there is no investigation about seismic resisting system...

Mud volcanoes sometimes erupt within days after nearby earthquakes. The number of such nearly coincident events is larger than would be expected by chance and the eruptions are thus assumed to be triggered by earthquakes. Here we compile observations of the response of mud volcanoes and other geologic systems (earthquakes, volcanoes, liquefaction, ground water, and geysers) to earthquakes. The ...