Sessions & Events

MINI SESSION: Seismic Research Presentations by Younger Members

Tuesday, November 5, 2024  1:00 PM - 2:00 PM, Franklin 2

ACI 341 will be regularly hosting mini sessions at each convention aimed at providing an opportunity for graduate students and early career individuals to present their research. We are coordinating this effort with the other ACI seismic committees.

Learning Objectives:
(1) Report on state-of-the-art research conducted in the realm of seismic design;
(2) Support an exchange of ideas within the seismic engineering community;
(3) Establish an avenue for early career researchers to convey their work;
(4) Organize young professionals to engage in ACI committee activities.

This session has been approved by AIA and ICC for 1 PDH (0.1 CEU). Please note: You must attend the live session for the entire duration to receive credit. On-demand sessions do not qualify for PDH/CEU credit.

Additive Construction of a New Seismic Protective Bridge System

Presented By: Anthony Mackin
Affiliation: Rowan University
Description: Conventional design for bridges in seismic-prone areas relies on ductility concept by concentrating the damage at columns’ ends. This approach is adequate for life safety; however, bridge columns exhibit significant damage and residual deformations resulting in expensive repairs or the need for full replacement. Several seismic protective systems were developed over the last few decades to minimize the damage and enable repair after strong earthquakes like rocking systems, dampers, and seismic isolation systems. This presentation proposes an innovative system that integrates several seismic protective concepts to achieve self-repair and deconstruction through additive construction. In this proposed system, protected elements such as bridge bent caps, columns, and footings are additively constructed. In addition, the columns are designed to rock at interfaces between the columns and bent cap/footing, and external elements are added to dissipate energy to promote resiliency.

Sliding Shear and Diagonal Shear Behavior Modes of Squat Reinforced Concrete Shear Walls: Which Parameters Define Them? An Experimental Approach

Presented By: Diego Pizarro
Affiliation: ETH Zurich
Description: Squat reinforced concrete shear walls are commonly used as primary gravity and lateral-load-resisting systems in structures. Such low aspect ratio walls could have a predominant diagonal shear or a sliding shear behavior mode. However, some shear walls could be close to the transition between these two behavior modes, which makes it difficult to predict the controlling failure mode. The objective of this study was to experimentally investigate the influence of the axial load ratio, the steel reinforcement ratios, and the test protocol on the transition between the sliding shear and diagonal shear behavior modes of reinforced concrete shear walls. In this session, we will present the results of a series of real-scale quasi-static cyclic and hybrid simulation shear wall tests conducted at the Multi-Axial Subassemblage Testing (MAST) facility at ETH Zürich. The hybrid simulation tests were conducted as one-degree-of-freedom systems subjected to earthquake loading. Therefore, the effect of a conventional cyclic test protocol will be compared to the response of the specimens under a real ground motion. Three of the specimens had sliding shear failure, characterized by quasi-ductile behavior and ability to carry the gravity load, while the other three had diagonal shear failures, either in diagonal tension or compression, characterized as brittle because of the loss of gravity load carrying capacity. We will look deeper at the specimens with sliding shear behavior: when did they reach their peak strength, how their damage progressed, and what were the characteristics of their response.