Innovative Solutions for Enhancing Seismic Resilience of Buildings

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 October 2025 | Viewed by 2949

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX 76019, USA
Interests: seismic resilience; infrastructure resilience; structural control; finite element analysis; structural engineering

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Guest Editor
Civil Engineering Department, Toronto Metropolitan University, 350 Victoria St.—YNG-900, Toronto, ON M5B 2K3, Canada
Interests: experimental study on full scale steel and concrete specimens; finite element methods (FEM); nonlinear analysis of structures; passive metallic damper; steel plate shear wall

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Earthquakes can have devastating effects on both the environment and infrastructure. Despite the history of destructive earthquakes, many countries still rely on outdated and traditional construction techniques for their buildings, leaving them susceptible to significant structural damage, collapses, and disruption of services in an earthquake event. This vulnerability can lead to loss of life, significant economic losses, and interrupting emergency response efforts. To mitigate these adverse impacts, transitioning from traditional construction methods to more advanced technologies and alternatives is essential. One such strategy is developing innovative solutions that enhance the seismic resilience of buildings against extreme events, like severe earthquakes. This will help to minimize the detrimental effects of earthquakes, control damage, avoid structural collapse, and preserve human life. This Special Issue focuses on innovative seismic solutions with a low-damage concept. We welcome papers on topics including, but not limited to, the following:

  • Low-damage systems;
  • Passive, active, and semi-active control methods;
  • Self-centering systems;
  • Rocking systems;
  • Innovative dampers.

Dr. Himan Hojat Jalali
Dr. Arman Mamazizi
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • structural resilience damage control
  • damper
  • rocking mechanism
  • low-damage system
  • repairable seismic system
  • self-centering seismic system

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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27 pages, 14793 KiB  
Article
Seismic Performance Assessment of Optimal Tandem-Based Tuned Mass Damper Inerters
by Maziar Fahimi Farzam, Shahram Ajori, Himan Hojat Jalali and Rim Najmeddine
Buildings 2025, 15(9), 1441; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings15091441 - 24 Apr 2025
Viewed by 297
Abstract
In the current work, two novel tandem-based tuned mass damper configurations are introduced. These configurations extend the recently proposed tuned tandem mass damper inerter (TTMDI) by replacing the linking dashpot with an inerter (i.e., the inerter-connected TTMDI (ICTTMDI)), and an integrated tuned tandem [...] Read more.
In the current work, two novel tandem-based tuned mass damper configurations are introduced. These configurations extend the recently proposed tuned tandem mass damper inerter (TTMDI) by replacing the linking dashpot with an inerter (i.e., the inerter-connected TTMDI (ICTTMDI)), and an integrated tuned tandem mass damper inerter (I-TTMDI) by integrating recently proposed tuned tandem mass damper (TTMD) configurations. The control efficiency of the optimally designed dampers for a single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) system was evaluated in a uniform framework to reveal and compare the performances of the ICTTMDI and I-TTMDI with those of other recently proposed tandem-based configurations. The optimum design of all the studied configurations was determined by the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm. The evaluation of the performances included the effectiveness in the frequency domain and that of the norm and maximum reduction in the displacement and absolute acceleration in the time domain under 21 earthquake records with different characteristics. Additionally, the strokes of the dampers, the structure energies, and the power spectral densities (PSDs) of the responses were investigated. The optimum design of the I-TTMDI revealed the best configuration by determining the optimum distributions of the mass and inertance between the tandem mass and inerter links, respectively. The proposed configuration not only demonstrated improved response reduction across the displacement and acceleration measures but also maintained remarkable robustness under 21 earthquake records (far-fault, near-fault forward-directivity, and fling-step records). Furthermore, the advantages of the side inerter distribution were particularly effective at widening the operating frequency band, breaking through the traditional limitations of TMD-based devices. The consistent performances of the newly proposed configurations prove that they can be used to advance the development of more reliable structural control systems. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovative Solutions for Enhancing Seismic Resilience of Buildings)
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26 pages, 10298 KiB  
Article
Seismic Resilience Evaluation of High-Rise Frame-Core Tube Structure Considering Structural Network Performance Loss and Repair Path
by Jianfeng Lu, Zuohua Li and Jun Teng
Buildings 2025, 15(1), 23; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings15010023 - 25 Dec 2024
Viewed by 818
Abstract
Structural seismic resilience is influenced by both the structural performance loss (loss) and the repair path (path). Some studies ensure the reality of path but lack accuracy of loss. Others ensure the accuracy of loss but lack the reality of path. Therefore, this [...] Read more.
Structural seismic resilience is influenced by both the structural performance loss (loss) and the repair path (path). Some studies ensure the reality of path but lack accuracy of loss. Others ensure the accuracy of loss but lack the reality of path. Therefore, this paper proposes a new resilience evaluation method for frame-core tube structure that considers both loss and path. Firstly, the complex network method is used to establish structural network performance and its loss index. Next, the repair path is determined by updating the network performance after component repairs. Then, a resilience index that considers both network performance loss and repair path is proposed. Finally, the resilience of the case structures is evaluated and compared with methods that do not reasonably consider loss or path. The results indicate that the proposed method can comprehensively consider the impact of loss and path on resilience. Loss has a greater impact on resilience when the structure is less than slight loss or is in the late stage of moderate loss. Path has a greater impact on resilience when the structure is slight loss or is in the early stage of moderate loss. When only considering loss, the fixed linear path underestimates the resilience of a convex-shaped path and overestimates the resilience of a concave-shaped path. When only considering path, underestimating or overestimating loss can lead to a higher or lower resilience. Particularly when the structure is in the late stage of moderate loss, resilience dropped from 89.16% to 42.04% due to overestimation of loss. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovative Solutions for Enhancing Seismic Resilience of Buildings)
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Review

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16 pages, 2561 KiB  
Review
The Seismic Evaluation of Existing Buildings for Energy Renovation—A Case Study for the Residential Building Stock in Bucharest (Romania)
by Florin Pavel and George Nica
Buildings 2024, 14(6), 1742; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings14061742 - 10 Jun 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1153
Abstract
This study focuses on an overview of two programs applied to the residential building stock of Bucharest (Romania), namely, the seismic strengthening program and the thermal rehabilitation program. The methodology for seismic risk assessment given in the current generation of Romanian codes, as [...] Read more.
This study focuses on an overview of two programs applied to the residential building stock of Bucharest (Romania), namely, the seismic strengthening program and the thermal rehabilitation program. The methodology for seismic risk assessment given in the current generation of Romanian codes, as well as in previous regulations, is examined. A brief review of other seismic risk assessment methodologies currently applied in various seismically prone countries is also presented. Examples of high-rise buildings in Bucharest that suffered significant damage during the Vrancea 1977 earthquake and that were thermally rehabilitated without any strengthening works are shown in this paper. The consistent differences between the current outcomes of the two programs are presented and discussed. Finally, this review paper highlights the lack of coherence in terms of seismic risk assessments for the same class of buildings, inducing, in some situations, a false feeling of safety in the building inhabitants. In addition, a combined procedure for both seismic strengthening and thermal rehabilitation is mandatory, considering the seismicity of Romania, as well as ongoing climate change. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovative Solutions for Enhancing Seismic Resilience of Buildings)
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