Guidelines for Displacement-based Design of Buildings and Bridges

Displacement-based seismic design has now come of age, especially for buildings. This report attempts to contribute to it, by focusing on special subjects which are crucial for its further advancement. It is divided in two Parts: one for buildings and another for bridges. Both parts have a chapter on the estimation of displacement and deformation demands and another on component force and deformation capacities.
For buildings, the part on analysis for displacement and deformation demands evaluates nonlinear analysis methods and the corresponding modelling at various degrees of sophistication, on the basis of experimental results (including identification of model parameters affecting reliability of deformation predictions) and compares nonlinear dynamic to linear analyses (static or modal) for irregular in plan buildings. It covers also soil- structure interaction in 3D, including uplift. It concludes with a description of the latest advances in adaptive pushover analysis for irregular buildings. Tools for the estimation of displacement and deformation demands are given, in the form of effective elastic stiffness of concrete members for use in linear analyses emulating nonlinear ones and of ductility-dependent equivalent damping. The chapter on component force and deformation capacities proposes acceptance and design criteria in terms of deformations at various performance levels, for concrete members in uni- or bi-directional cyclic loading.
The Part on bridges starts with an overview of displacement-based design methodologies for them, including evaluation of iterative procedures and proposals for the design of bridge piers directly on the basis of displacement and deformation demands, without analysis iterations. The chapter on estimation of displacement and deformation demands includes nonlinear analysis (static or dynamic), as well as the latest advances in adaptive pushover analysis for bridges. It also uses test results and numerical approaches to develop tools for the analysis, e.g., the secant-to-yield stiffness and the equivalent damping of concrete piers. The chapter on component force and deformation capacities focuses on concrete piers, developing simple rules for the estimation of their flexure- or shear-controlled cyclic ultimate deformation, on the basis of test results and numerical analyses. It also has a part devoted to seismic isolators, dealing with the evaluation of their displacement and re-centring capacity and the effect of exceedance of isolator displacement capacity on the bridge seismic response. The effect of the variation of the axial force of friction pendulum isolators on the response of the isolated bridge is also studied.

Pile Design and Installation Using Ultimate Design Methods

Bentley PondPack 08.11.01.54 V8i

(30 days trial and renew)

Tested in Windows 7 x64 using the crack posted in Lavteam by Istigatore. The registry patch transform the software to Trial Unlimited Size but after 30 days the trial expire. I added a file (BentNew.exe). Running it will restore the 30 days trial. And by the way it will restore the trial period for almost every Bentley trials posted here.

Bentley CivilStorm V8i SELECT Series 2 08.11.02.65 (30 days trial and renew)

Tested in Windows 7 x64 using the crack posted in Lavteam by Istigatore. The registry patch transform the software to Trial Unlimited Size but after 30 days the trial expire. I added a file (BentNew.exe). Running it will restore the 30 days trial. And by the way it will restore the trial period for almost every Bentley trials posted here.

Guidelines for Seismic Vulnerability Reduction in the Urban Environment

This report deals with the reduction of the seismic vulnerability of buildings and infrastructures. This can correspond to very different interventions, as there are many types of structures, many materials and many ways to reduce vulnerability. This explains that a variety of topics is treated.
The first chapter deals with the screening of buildings on an urban scale to identify which need retrofitting. In the second chapter, conventional methods for retrofitting are described.
In all the following chapters, new techniques for retrofitting are presented. The application of Fibre Reinforced Polymers (FRP) on existing structures is a technique which has developed a lot recently. The content of Chapter three is related to the design of FRP solutions: a user friendly design tool, experimental data on durability and fatigue and a design method considering the contribution of steel rebars and FRP to resistance. An effective numerical model for composite is presented. Chapter three also describes experimental studies on masonry infill which FRP can effectively reinforce against transverse move and for their in-plane strength. Rehabilitation using that technique can be applied at an urban scale. The use of dissipative devices to reduce the vulnerability of structures is the subject of Chapter four. The technique is applied to precast concrete portal frames and to steel frames with concentric bracings. The use of base isolation for seismic upgrading of historical buildings is developed in Chapter five, in which a displacement - based method is applied to a light house. The mitigation of hammering between buildings, with a methodology to face various situations, is the subject of Chapter six. A displacement based methodology of analysis for underground structures in soft soils is presented at Chapter seven. This Report focuses on practical applications rather than on theory.

Innovative Anti-Seismic Systems Users Manual

This report contains the Innovative Anti-Seismic Systems User Manual, which was prepared by all partners of Sub-Project 6 at the conclusion of the LESSLOSS Project. The aim of this User Manual is to provide potential Designers and End users of the antiseismic devices developed within Sub-Project 6 of the LESSLOSS project with practical tools to design structures incorporating such devices. The document contains a description of the main features and performance of the devices and instructions for their design, installation and maintenance. Comparisons among different types are also provided, so as to help the User to choose the most suitable device. The antiseismic devices developed in the framework of Sub-Project 6 are:
1. Low Stiffness Isolators (LSIs), particularly addressed to the seismic isolation of light structures like family houses;
2. Electroinductive Dampers (DECS), energy dissipators suitable for the seismic protection of large structures like bridges;
3. Steel Hysteretic elements coupled with flat sliders, addressed to the isolation of viaducts and bridges;
4. Sliding Isolation Pendulum, curved surface sliders for the protection of buildings and other structures.
Devices 1 and 2 are developed by ALGA, Italy. Devices 3 and 4 are developed by MAURER Söhne, Germany. All the devices have been subjected to severe qualification tests. Moreover, all of them have been tested on the ENEA shaking table in real seismic conditions using natural and synthetic acceleration time-histories implemented by ENEA. STAP and VINCI, design and construction companies, contributed to the optimization of the devices and the preparation of this document.

Landslides: From Mapping to Loss and Risk Estimation

Landslides represent an increasing threat to European population, particularly when one takes into account the intensive urbanisation and land use trend that is currently observed in Europe. This risk is a public safety issue that requires appropriate mitigation measures and means to protect citizens, property, infrastructure and the built cultural heritage. Mitigating this risk requires integrated and coordinated actions involving a wide range of organisations and disciplines. For this reason, the LESSLOSS Integrated Project has embraced a large number of European Centres of excellence in earthquake and geotechnical engineering, integrating in the traditional fields of engineers and earth scientists some expertise of social scientists, economists, urban planners, information technologists.
This volume reports some results of the activities carried out within the four LESSLOSS sub-projects that were focused on landslides. These activities were conducted within the LESSLOSS Integrated Project within a collaborative effort that allowed to cover a wide spectrum of topics related to landslides. The exceptionality of the LESSLOSS Project has consisted in the co-presence of research groups with markedly different backgrounds. This allowed a multidisciplinary effort and a contamination of traditional approaches with experiences derived from different fields.
The volume has been thought as a tool for researchers and practitioners who wants to be updated on available models and techniques and to read about difficulties, advantages and disadvantages in using specific studying techniques.
The presented contributions include examples relative to: in situ and remote monitoring of displacements and hydrologic variables, landslide mapping and development of GIS geodatabases, susceptibility and hazard assessment, model validation approaches, numerical modelling, loss evaluation and risk analysis by deterministic and probabilistic models, stabilization methods. All the applications make reference to specific case studies coming from European and non European countries. For reasons of space we maintained all the contributions into a limited number of pages but trying always to guarantee the general understanding. Therefore, the reader can find in the text the essential information about these case studies together with all the most relevant references.
The list of authors is reported at the beginning of each chapter. For sake of simplicity, the affiliation of the authors is expressed using conventional acronyms that refer to the LESSLOSS partners involved into the report.