A procedure for earthquake-resistant design is developed to limit the potential damage of buildings to a tolerable level. The procedure is based on the damage model developed earlier (Park and Ang, 1984) in which structural damage is expressed as a function of the maximum deformation and dissipated hysteretic energy. The tolerable degree of damage is defined on the basis of calibration with observed damages from past major earthquakes. The design method is examined in the context of reliability.

No abstract

The hollandite structure is a promising crystalline host for Cs immobilization. A series of Ga-doped hollandite BaxCsyGa2x+yTi8−2x−yO16 (x = 0, 0.667, 1.04, 1.33; y = 1.33, 0.667, 0.24, 0) was synthesized through a solid oxide reaction method resulting in a tetragonal hollandite structure (space group I4/m). The lattice parameter associated with the tunnel dimension was found to increases as Cs substitution in the tunnel increased. A direct investigation of cation mobility in tunnels using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy was conducted to evaluate the ability of the hollandite structure to immobilize cations over a wide compositional range. Hollandite with the largest tunnel size and highest aspect ratio grain morphology resulting in rod-like microstructural features exhibited the highest ionic conductivity. The results indicate that grain size and optimized Cs stoichiometry control cation motion and by extension, the propensity for Cs release from hollandite.

For performance evaluation of buildings and structures, synthetic uniform hazard (10% and 2% in 50 years) ground motions are generated for Memphis, Tennessee, St. Louis, Missouri, and Carbondale, Illinois. The method of simulation is based on the latest regional seismic information and stochastic ground motion models. Both point-source model and finite-fault model are used and the effects of soil profile are considered. The emphasis is on treatment of uncertainty and efficiency in application to evaluation of structural performance in both the linear and nonlinear range. The results show that the uniform hazard response spectra calculated from the simulated motions are comparable to those corresponding to USGS hazard maps. The suites of ten ground motions selected to match the uniform hazard response spectra represent events of different magnitudes, distances, and attenuation. The median value of the structural response to the selected ground motions matches closely the uniform hazard linear and nonlinear response spectra based on nine thousand ground motions and has a coefficient of variation of less than 10%. The suites of uniform hazard ground motions therefore can be used in probabilistic performance evaluation with good accuracy and efficiency.

No abstract