• List of Articles


      • Open Access Article

        1 - Design Approach of Bolts and Sandwiching Steel Plates in Hybrid-Sandwiching Systems Based on FEM
        Alireza Zaferani Pasha Javadi Parham Memarzadeh
        Conventional reduced beam sections (RBS) maintain their capacity with up to 4% drift angle, after which local buckling at the reduced section significantly reduces their resistance. The use of hybrid-sandwiched reduced beam sections (HS-RBS) in the reduced section of co More
        Conventional reduced beam sections (RBS) maintain their capacity with up to 4% drift angle, after which local buckling at the reduced section significantly reduces their resistance. The use of hybrid-sandwiched reduced beam sections (HS-RBS) in the reduced section of conventional RBS beams previously proposed by the authors can increase the energy absorption capacity, allowing the beam to reach 7% drift without losing capacity. The experimental results indicate that placing the HS-RBS in the reduced section of the RBS beam does not disrupt its main role in forming a plastic joint in the reduced section. HS-RBS is comprised of grout, nuts and bolts, and the sandwiching plates. In this system, the bolts and the sandwiching plate enclose the grout and the bolts are placed in the grout on two sides of the beam web in the reduced section to increase the grout's capacity to resist the tensile stresses arising from the web buckling. The sandwiching plate is located in the reduced section on two sides of the flange to enclose the grout and increase the buckling resistance of the flange. This study employed finite element modeling (FEM) to analyse beam bolts with different diameters for different sections of the HS-RBS to obtain the best diameter for each bolt. Moreover, sandwiching plates with different thicknesses were examined to find the best thickness. Manuscript profile
      • Open Access Article

        2 - Seismic Fragility Analysis of a RC Bridge with Uniform and Non-Uniform Random Scour Patterns
        Ali Raoof Mehrpour Hosseini Mehran Seyedrazzaghi Nasser Shamskia
        Previous natural disaster assessments had identified bridges as vulnerable structures against hydraulic hazards, particularly scouring. Additionally, in areas with high seismic activity, bridges are exposed to minor damage to complete collapse, in most cases requiring i More
        Previous natural disaster assessments had identified bridges as vulnerable structures against hydraulic hazards, particularly scouring. Additionally, in areas with high seismic activity, bridges are exposed to minor damage to complete collapse, in most cases requiring immediate occupancy structural performance levels in the event of an earthquake. Previous studies have focused on vulnerability assessments by considering the effects of simultaneous hazards. This study examines a simply supported RC bridge model with a discontinuous deck-girder superstructure installed on cap beams via elastomers. Seismic vulnerability assessments were conducted by developing fragility curves through nonlinear time history analyses on scoured models. One of the study's objectives is to consider the effects of non-uniform patterns in different foundations of the four-span model by generating random depth samples. The study also evaluated even depths as the uniform scenario for vulnerability assessment. The results indicate that, in all limit states considered in the study, the uniform has a higher probability of exceeding the limit states than the non-uniform scenario. However, in evaluating critical scoured models, the uniformly maximum credible scoured pattern did not necessarily have a higher probability of exceeding all limit states. In other words, the non-uniform scenario, which had pier(s) with the maximum credible scour depth, had a more critical vulnerability in some limit states. Manuscript profile