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Seismic Assessment and Rehabilitation of Reinforced Concrete (RC) Structures

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A special issue of Buildings (ISSN 2075-5309). This special issue belongs to the section "Building Structures".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2023) | Viewed by 7257

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Fang Yuan

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Guest Editor

College of Civil and Transportation Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China
Interests: seismic rehabilitation; composite structure; FRP-confined concrete structure; seawater sea-sand concrete structure; concrete-filled steel tubular structure

Dr. Yulin Feng

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

School of Civil Engineering and Architecture, East China Jiao Tong University, Nanchang 330013, China
Interests: earthquake engineering; seismic driving safety; seismic damage control of rail transit structures; high-speed railway structures

Dr. Huihui Li

E-Mail
Guest Editor

College of Civil and Transportation Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China
Interests: UHPC structures; earthquake engineering; bridge design and analysis; composite structures; progressive collapse analysis; blast load effects
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

It is well known that reinforced concrete (RC) structures built decades ago were designed according to old design codes and provisions, and their seismic performance tends to be much weaker than those designed by using the current codes and provisions. The structural deficiencies of RC structures designed according to the old codes and provisions, including low concrete strength, insufficient stirrup configuration, insufficient shear performance in joint regions or beam-column ends, and insufficient anchoring, etc., may lead to these structures being vulnerable to damage or failure due to the insufficient performance under earthquake activity. As a result, there is an urgent need for RC structures to be assessed and rehabilitated to avoid inevitable losses under seismic loadings, such as damage, failure, and collapse of structures, potentially resulting in loss of lives.

Within this frame, this Special Issue proposes a journey through different methodological approaches to address seismic rehabilitation optimization combining multiple aspects; thus, we are urgently inviting possible contributions dealing with:

Methodological papers and case studies concerning the seismic assessment aspects/techniques;
Numerical and experimental studies addressing seismic assessment and rehabilitation of old RC structures;
Novel related techniques such as intelligent monitoring, smart assessment, and machine learning, etc.

We welcome the submission of original papers related to the above topics as well as those that deal generally with the related methodologies, numerical and experimental investigations, and case studies addressing the seismic assessment and rehabilitation of RC structures (i.e., composite structures).

Thank you for your contributions.

Dr. Fang Yuan
Dr. Yulin Feng
Dr. Huihui Li
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Buildings is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

seismic damage
seismic assessment
seismic rehabilitation
steel corrosion
reinforced concrete structures
nonlinear time-history analysis
seismic damage control techniques

Related Special Issue

Seismic Safety Assessment and Strengthening of Existing Constructions in Buildings (14 articles)

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 5637 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Comparative Performance Evaluation of Retrofit Alternatives for Upgrading Simply Supported Bridges Using 3D Fiber-Based Analysis

by Homam Ghazal and Aman Mwafy

Buildings 2023, 13(5), 1161; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings13051161 - 27 Apr 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1299

Abstract

This study aims to select an effective mitigation approach from different alternatives to upgrade substandard RC bridges to meet the seismic performance objectives of current design standards. The performance assessment results for an existing benchmark bridge confirmed that the bent curvature ductility and bearing displacement control the seismic response. Thus, five contemporary retrofit solutions were investigated, including adding different supplementary lateral force-resisting systems (SLFRSs), replacing old bearings with those equipped with shape memory alloy (SMA), and combinations of these retrofit options. Fourteen earthquake records representing long- and short-period seismic events and the seismo-tectonic characteristics of a moderate seismic region were progressively scaled and applied separately in the two orthogonal directions of detailed simulation models representing the retrofitted benchmark bridge. This study provided insights into the impact of combining contemporary seismic risk mitigation techniques on improving the seismic performance of substandard bridges and presented a range of fragility functions for delaying structural damage and minimizing disruption of existing bridges to avoid traffic interruption. The dynamic response simulation results in the longitudinal direction (LD) confirmed that utilizing SMA bearings reduces curvature ductility and bearing displacement demands. Although the probabilistic assessment study in the transverse direction (TD) indicated that SMA bearings adequately reduce displacement demands, the bridge should be equipped with SLFRSs to overcome the bents’ high curvature ductility demands. Therefore, the most effective retrofit technique in TD is achieved using both SMA bearings and steel bracings. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Seismic Assessment and Rehabilitation of Reinforced Concrete (RC) Structures)

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18 pages, 6501 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Numerical Simulation of the Seismic Damage of Daikai Station Based on Pushover Analyses

by Yuefeng Yang, Juanjuan Cao, Renquan Qu and Zigang Xu

Buildings 2023, 13(3), 760; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings13030760 - 14 Mar 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1167

Abstract

Numerical analysis is an important method for the study of seismic performance of underground structures. Current research on the seismic damage of Daikai station and the subway tunnel during the Great Hanshin earthquake mainly focuses on the dynamic time-history analysis. However, the modeling process of the dynamic time-history analysis is complicated and shows the characteristics of the enormous calculation amount, long running time and low computation efficiency. This paper briefly introduces the seismic phenomena of Daikai station and the subway tunnel during the Great Hanshin earthquake. The internal forces of Daikai station and the subway tunnel under horizontal and vertical bi-directional seismic effects are obtained by simplified seismic analysis. The pushover analyses of the columns are carried out to obtain the seismic performance curves of the columns under different vertical pressures by considering various loading and restraint conditions. Finally, the pushover analyses of the soil-structure system are carried out to reproduce the seismic damage of Daikai station and subway tunnel under horizontal and vertical bi-directional seismic effects. The results show that the computed damage is similar to the actual damage. The pushover analysis method, which considers both horizontal and vertical inertia forces of the soil, can be used to simulate the damage and study the collapse mechanism at Daikai station. Compared with the dynamic analysis, the calculation efficiency of the pushover analysis method is significantly higher; it is therefore suggested to use pushover analysis in seismic analysis of underground stations. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Seismic Assessment and Rehabilitation of Reinforced Concrete (RC) Structures)

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14 pages, 3878 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Seismic Fragility Assessment of RC Columns Exposed to the Freeze-Thaw Damage

by Fengkun Cui, Guangzhu Guan, Long Cui, Mian Li, Shuwen Deng and Huihui Li

Buildings 2023, 13(1), 126; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings13010126 - 3 Jan 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1080

Abstract

Freeze–thaw damage is one of the primary causes deteriorating the seismic resistance of reinforced concrete (RC) structures. This paper proposed a freeze–thaw damage deterioration model for C30 concrete, and it can be employed to study the time-varying seismic performance of aging RC columns. Next, this study developed a seismic fragility analysis framework for deteriorating RC columns considering the effect of freeze–thaw damage. Considering the geometric parameters of the case-study bridge, the deterioration characteristics of material, and the uncertainties involved in structural modeling and ground motions, a probabilistic seismic fragility analysis on aging RC columns was conducted. The results indicate that the influence of freeze–thaw damage cannot be ignored in studying the seismic performance of aging RC structures. The seismic fragilities of deteriorating RC columns shown a nonlinear increase trend as the increased of freeze–thaw cycles and severity of the damage state. In the early stage of freeze–thaw cycles, the seismic fragilities of RC columns increased slowly. However, the closer to the later stage of freeze–thaw cycles, the more significant of the increase in the seismic fragilities of the columns. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Seismic Assessment and Rehabilitation of Reinforced Concrete (RC) Structures)

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21 pages, 4009 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Predictions and Evolution Characteristics of Failure Modes of Degenerate RC Piers

by Sicong Hu, Kaiwen Shao, Xiang Liu, Ziqiang Ma and Baokui Chen

Buildings 2023, 13(1), 113; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings13010113 - 1 Jan 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1347

Abstract

During the service process, piers are often in harsh chloride ion erosion environments. The failure mode evolution of reinforced concrete (RC) piers may occur under the action of continuous corrosion. Accurately identifying the failure mode types and evolution characteristics of corroded RC bridge piers is a prerequisite for the lifetime seismic performance evaluations of bridges. First, based on Fisher’s theory and 174 RC pier columns as the analysis samples, a two-stage discrimination formula for the pier failure modes was established and compared with the existing theoretical discrimination methods. Then, based on Fisher’s discriminant grouping, and combined with Bayes’ formula and chloride erosion theory, a failure mode discrimination method for corrosion-damaged bridge piers that considers probability was developed. Finally, taking a medium-span concrete bridge as an example, the failure modes of the corroded pier in different service periods were predicted, and the influences of the various parameters on the failure mode evolution process of the corroded pier were studied. The results show that the accuracy of the proposed discriminant model was significantly improved compared with those of previous theoretical studies. The development of the failure mode features depends on how the distinct RC pier material qualities degrade under the influence of chloride ions. The degradation of the stirrups and concrete accelerates the nonductile failure of RC bridge piers, while the degradation of the longitudinal reinforcements delays it. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Seismic Assessment and Rehabilitation of Reinforced Concrete (RC) Structures)

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17 pages, 7201 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Seismic Performance and Global Collapse Resistance Capacity of Infilled Reinforced Concrete Frames Considering the Axial–Shear–Bending Interaction of Columns

by Linjie Huang, Jianping Han, Hongwei Wen, Chunyu Li, Haocheng He, Yuxin Luo and Zhendong Qian

Buildings 2022, 12(11), 2030; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings12112030 - 20 Nov 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1531

Abstract

This paper presents a mechanism and method for simulating the axial–shear–bending interaction of a reinforced concrete (RC) column. The three-dimensional model of a multi-story infilled RC frame was modeled using the OpenSees software. Static pushover and nonlinear dynamic analyses under fortification and rare earthquakes were conducted using the model. Finally, based on the incremental dynamic analyses of 22 suites of ground-motion records, the global collapse resistance capacity of the infilled RC frame was evaluated using the evaluation method of a normal distribution. The analytical results show that the axial–shear–bending interaction is a key factor that affects the seismic response of infilled RC frames. Under the fortification earthquake condition, no obvious damage to physical structures was evident; the influence was relatively minor. However, under the condition of a rare earthquake, severe damage to physical structures was evident, resulting in the underestimation of the lateral inter-story drift ratio, while the degradation rates of the load capacity and global collapse resistance capacities for the infilled concrete frames were highly overestimated when the axial–shear–bending interaction was not considered. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Seismic Assessment and Rehabilitation of Reinforced Concrete (RC) Structures)

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