@inproceedings{MistlerButenwegAnthoine2004, author = {Mistler, M. and Butenweg, Christoph and Anthoine, A.}, title = {Evaluation of the failure criterion for masonry by homogenisation}, series = {Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Computational Structures Technology : [Lisbon, Portugal, 7 - 9 September 2004] / ed. by B. H. V. Topping and C.A. Mota Soares}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Computational Structures Technology : [Lisbon, Portugal, 7 - 9 September 2004] / ed. by B. H. V. Topping and C.A. Mota Soares}, publisher = {Civil-Comp Press}, address = {Stirling}, organization = {International Conference on Computational Structures Technology <7, 2004, Lissabon>}, isbn = {0-948749-95-4}, doi = {10.4203/ccp.79.201}, pages = {16 Seiten}, year = {2004}, language = {en} } @incollection{GkatzogiasVeljkovivPohorylesetal.2022, author = {Gkatzogias, Konstantinos and Veljkoviv, Ana and Pohoryles, Daniel A. and Tsionis, Georgios and Bournas, Dionysios A. and Crowley, Helen and Norl{\´e}n, Hedvig and Butenweg, Christoph and Gervasio, Helena and Manfredi, Vincenzo and Masi, Angelo and Zaharieva, Roumiana}, title = {Policy practice and regional impact assessment for building renovation}, series = {REEBUILD Integrated Techniques for the Seismic Strengthening \& Energy Efficiency of Existing Buildings}, booktitle = {REEBUILD Integrated Techniques for the Seismic Strengthening \& Energy Efficiency of Existing Buildings}, editor = {Gkatzogias, Konstantinos and Tsionis, Georgios}, publisher = {Publications Office of the European Union}, address = {Luxembourg}, isbn = {978-92-76-60454-9}, issn = {1831-9424}, doi = {10.2760/883122}, pages = {1 -- 68}, year = {2022}, abstract = {The work presented in this report provides scientific support to building renovation policies in the EU by promoting a holistic point of view on the topic. Integrated renovation can be seen as a nexus between European policies on disaster resilience, energy efficiency and circularity in the building sector. An overview of policy measures for the seismic and energy upgrading of buildings across EU Member States identified only a few available measures for combined upgrading. Regulatory framework, financial instruments and digital tools similar to those for energy renovation, together with awareness and training may promote integrated renovation. A framework for regional prioritisation of building renovation was put forward, considering seismic risk, energy efficiency, and socioeconomic vulnerability independently and in an integrated way. Results indicate that prioritisation of building renovation is a multidimensional problem. Depending on priorities, different integrated indicators should be used to inform policies and accomplish the highest relative or most spread impact across different sectors. The framework was further extended to assess the impact of renovation scenarios across the EU with a focus on priority regions. Integrated renovation can provide a risk-proofed, sustainable, and inclusive built environment, presenting an economic benefit in the order of magnitude of the highest benefit among the separate interventions. Furthermore, it presents the unique capability of reducing fatalities and energy consumption at the same time and, depending on the scenario, to a greater extent.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{Butenweg2022, author = {Butenweg, Christoph}, title = {Seismic design and evaluation of industrial facilities}, series = {Progresses in European Earthquake Engineering and Seismology. Third European Conference on Earthquake Engineering and Seismology - Bucharest, 2022}, booktitle = {Progresses in European Earthquake Engineering and Seismology. Third European Conference on Earthquake Engineering and Seismology - Bucharest, 2022}, editor = {Vacareanu, Radu and Ionescu, Constantin}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {Cham}, isbn = {978-3-031-15103-3}, issn = {2524-342X}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-031-15104-0}, pages = {449 -- 464}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Industrial facilities must be thoroughly designed to withstand seismic actions as they exhibit an increased loss potential due to the possibly wideranging damage consequences and the valuable process engineering equipment. Past earthquakes showed the social and political consequences of seismic damage to industrial facilities and sensitized the population and politicians worldwide for the possible hazard emanating from industrial facilities. However, a holistic approach for the seismic design of industrial facilities can presently neither be found in national nor in international standards. The introduction of EN 1998-4 of the new generation of Eurocode 8 will improve the normative situation with specific seismic design rules for silos, tanks and pipelines and secondary process components. The article presents essential aspects of the seismic design of industrial facilities based on the new generation of Eurocode 8 using the example of tank structures and secondary process components. The interaction effects of the process components with the primary structure are illustrated by means of the experimental results of a shaking table test of a three story moment resisting steel frame with different process components. Finally, an integrated approach of digital plant models based on building information modelling (BIM) and structural health monitoring (SHM) is presented, which provides not only a reliable decision-making basis for operation, maintenance and repair but also an excellent tool for rapid assessment of seismic damage.}, language = {en} } @article{ButenwegBursiPaolaccietal.2021, author = {Butenweg, Christoph and Bursi, Oreste S. and Paolacci, Fabrizio and Marinković, Marko and Lanese, Igor and Nardin, Chiara and Quinci, Gianluca}, title = {Seismic performance of an industrial multi-storey frame structure with process equipment subjected to shake table testing}, series = {Engineering Structures}, volume = {243}, journal = {Engineering Structures}, number = {15}, editor = {Yang, J.}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Amsterdam}, issn = {0141-0296}, doi = {10.1016/j.engstruct.2021.112681}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Past earthquakes demonstrated the high vulnerability of industrial facilities equipped with complex process technologies leading to serious damage of process equipment and multiple and simultaneous release of hazardous substances. Nonetheless, current standards for seismic design of industrial facilities are considered inadequate to guarantee proper safety conditions against exceptional events entailing loss of containment and related consequences. On these premises, the SPIF project -Seismic Performance of Multi-Component Systems in Special Risk Industrial Facilities- was proposed within the framework of the European H2020 SERA funding scheme. In detail, the objective of the SPIF project is the investigation of the seismic behaviour of a representative industrial multi-storey frame structure equipped with complex process components by means of shaking table tests. Along this main vein and in a performance-based design perspective, the issues investigated in depth are the interaction between a primary moment resisting frame (MRF) steel structure and secondary process components that influence the performance of the whole system; and a proper check of floor spectra predictions. The evaluation of experimental data clearly shows a favourable performance of the MRF structure, some weaknesses of local details due to the interaction between floor crossbeams and process components and, finally, the overconservatism of current design standards w.r.t. floor spectra predictions.}, language = {en} } @article{RossiWinandsButenweg2022, author = {Rossi, Leonardo and Winands, Mark H. M. and Butenweg, Christoph}, title = {Monte Carlo Tree Search as an intelligent search tool in structural design problems}, series = {Engineering with Computers : An International Journal for Simulation-Based Engineering}, volume = {38}, journal = {Engineering with Computers : An International Journal for Simulation-Based Engineering}, number = {4}, editor = {Zhang, Jessica}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, address = {Cham}, issn = {1435-5663}, doi = {10.1007/s00366-021-01338-2}, pages = {3219 -- 3236}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Monte Carlo Tree Search (MCTS) is a search technique that in the last decade emerged as a major breakthrough for Artificial Intelligence applications regarding board- and video-games. In 2016, AlphaGo, an MCTS-based software agent, outperformed the human world champion of the board game Go. This game was for long considered almost infeasible for machines, due to its immense search space and the need for a long-term strategy. Since this historical success, MCTS is considered as an effective new approach for many other scientific and technical problems. Interestingly, civil structural engineering, as a discipline, offers many tasks whose solution may benefit from intelligent search and in particular from adopting MCTS as a search tool. In this work, we show how MCTS can be adapted to search for suitable solutions of a structural engineering design problem. The problem consists of choosing the load-bearing elements in a reference reinforced concrete structure, so to achieve a set of specific dynamic characteristics. In the paper, we report the results obtained by applying both a plain and a hybrid version of single-agent MCTS. The hybrid approach consists of an integration of both MCTS and classic Genetic Algorithm (GA), the latter also serving as a term of comparison for the results. The study's outcomes may open new perspectives for the adoption of MCTS as a design tool for civil engineers.}, language = {en} } @article{MarinkovićButenweg2022, author = {Marinković, Marko and Butenweg, Christoph}, title = {Experimental testing of decoupled masonry infills with steel anchors for out-of-plane support under combined in-plane and out-of-plane seismic loading}, series = {Construction and Building Materials}, volume = {318}, journal = {Construction and Building Materials}, number = {1}, editor = {Ford, Michael C.}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Amsterdam}, issn = {1879-0526}, doi = {10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2021.126041}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Because of simple construction process, high energy efficiency, significant fire resistance and excellent sound isolation, masonry infilled reinforced concrete (RC) frame structures are very popular in most of the countries in the world, as well as in seismic active areas. However, many RC frame structures with masonry infills were seriously damaged during earthquake events, as the traditional infills are generally constructed with direct contact to the RC frame which brings undesirable infill/frame interaction. This interaction leads to the activation of the equivalent diagonal strut in the infill panel, due to the RC frame deformation, and combined with seismically induced loads perpendicular to the infill panel often causes total collapses of the masonry infills and heavy damages to the RC frames. This fact was the motivation for developing different approaches for improving the behaviour of masonry infills, where infill isolation (decoupling) from the frame has been more intensively studied in the last decade. In-plane isolation of the infill wall reduces infill activation, but causes the need for additional measures to restrain out-of-plane movements. This can be provided by installing steel anchors, as proposed by some researchers. Within the framework of European research project INSYSME (Innovative Systems for Earthquake Resistant Masonry Enclosures in Reinforced Concrete Buildings) the system based on a use of elastomers for in-plane decoupling and steel anchors for out-of-plane restrain was tested. This constructive solution was tested and deeply investigated during the experimental campaign where traditional and decoupled masonry infilled RC frames with anchors were subjected to separate and combined in-plane ‬and out-of-plane loading. Based on a detailed evaluation and comparison of the test results, the performance and effectiveness of the developed system are illustrated.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{RajanKubalskiAltayetal.2017, author = {Rajan, Sreelakshmy and Kubalski, Thomas and Altay, Okyay and Dalguer, Luis A and Butenweg, Christoph}, title = {Multi-dimensional fragility analysis of a RC building with components using response surface method}, series = {24th International Conference on Structural Mechanics in Reactor Technology, Busan, Korea, 20-25 August, 2017}, booktitle = {24th International Conference on Structural Mechanics in Reactor Technology, Busan, Korea, 20-25 August, 2017}, publisher = {International Assn for Structural Mechanics in Reactor Technology (IASMiRT)}, address = {Raleigh, USA}, isbn = {9781510856776}, pages = {3126 -- 3135}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Conventional fragility curves describe the vulnerability of the main structure under external hazards. However, in complex structures such as nuclear power plants, the safety or the risk depends also on the components associated with a system. The classical fault tree analysis gives an overall view of the failure and contains several subsystems to the main event, however, the interactions in the subsystems are not well represented. In order to represent the interaction of the components, a method suggested by Cimellaro et al. (2006) using multidimensional performance limit state functions to obtain the system fragility curves is adopted. This approach gives the possibility of deriving the cumulative fragility taking into account the interaction of the response of different components. In this paper, this approach is used to evaluate seismic risk of a representative electrical building infrastructure, including the component, of a nuclear power plant. A simplified model of the structure, with nonlinear material behavior is employed for the analysis in Abaqus©. The input variables considered are the material parameters, boundary conditions and the seismic input. The variability of the seismic input is obtained from selected ground motion time histories of spectrum compatible synthetic ccelerograms. Unlike the usual Monte Carlo methods used for the probabilistic analysis of the structure, a computationally effective response surface method is used. This method reduces the computational effort of the calculations by reducing the required number of samples.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{MarinkovićButenweg2019, author = {Marinković, Marko and Butenweg, Christoph}, title = {Experimental and numerical analysis of RC frames with decoupled masonry infills}, series = {7th ECCOMAS Thematic Conference on Computational Methods in Structural Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering}, booktitle = {7th ECCOMAS Thematic Conference on Computational Methods in Structural Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering}, editor = {Papadrakakis, Manolis and Fragiadakis, Michalis}, publisher = {National Technical University of Athens}, address = {Athen}, isbn = {978-618-82844-5-6}, issn = {2623-3347}, doi = {10.7712/120119.7088.18845}, pages = {2464 -- 2479}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Masonry infill walls are commonly used in reinforced concrete (RC) frame structures, also in seismically active areas, although they often experience serious damage during earthquakes. One of the main reasons for their poor behaviour is the connection to the frame, which is usually constructed using mortar. This paper describes the novel solution for infill/frame connection based on application of elastomeric material between them. The system called INODIS (Innovative Decoupled Infill System) has the aim to postpone the activation of infill in in-plane direction and at the same time to provide sufficient out-of-plane support. First, experimental tests on infilled frame specimens are presented and the comparison of the results between traditionally infilled frames and infilled frames with the INODIS system are given. The results are then used for calibration and validation of numerical model, which can be further employed for investigating the influence of some material parameters on the behaviour of infilled frames with the INODIS system.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{MarinkovićButenweg2020, author = {Marinković, Marko and Butenweg, Christoph}, title = {Out-of-plane behavior of decoupled masonry infills under seismic loading}, series = {17th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, Sendai, Japan, September 27 to October 2, 2021.}, booktitle = {17th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, Sendai, Japan, September 27 to October 2, 2021.}, pages = {13 Seiten}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Masonry is used in many buildings not only for load-bearing walls, but also for non-load-bearing enclosure elements in the form of infill walls. Many studies confirmed that infill walls interact with the surrounding reinforced concrete frame, thus changing dynamic characteristics of the structure. Consequently, masonry infills cannot be neglected in the design process. However, although the relevant standards contain requirements for infill walls, they do not describe how these requirements are to be met concretely. This leads in practice to the fact that the infill walls are neither dimensioned nor constructed correctly. The evidence of this fact is confirmed by the recent earthquakes, which have led to enormous damages, sometimes followed by the total collapse of buildings and loss of human lives. Recently, the increasing effort has been dedicated to the approach of decoupling of masonry infills from the frame elements by introducing the gap in between. This helps in removing the interaction between infills and frame, but raises the question of out-of-plane stability of the panel. This paper presents the results of the experimental campaign showing the out-of-plane behavior of masonry infills decoupled with the system called INODIS (Innovative decoupled infill system), developed within the European project INSYSME (Innovative Systems for Earthquake Resistant Masonry Enclosures in Reinforced Concrete Buildings). Full scale specimens were subjected to the different loading conditions and combinations of in-plane and out-of-plane loading. Out-of-plane capacity of the masonry infills with the INODIS system is compared with traditionally constructed infills, showing that INODIS system provides reliable out-of-plane connection under various loading conditions. In contrast, traditional infills performed very poor in the case of combined and simultaneously applied in-plane and out-of-plane loading, experiencing brittle behavior under small in-plane drifts followed by high out-of-plane displacements. Decoupled infills with the INODIS system have remained stable under out-of-plane loads, even after reaching high in-plane drifts and being damaged.}, language = {en} } @article{MorandiButenwegBreisetal.2022, author = {Morandi, Paolo and Butenweg, Christoph and Breis, Khaled and Beyer, Katrin and Magenes, Guido}, title = {Latest findings on the behaviour factor q for the seismic design of URM buildings}, series = {Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering}, volume = {20}, journal = {Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering}, number = {11}, editor = {Ansal, Atilla}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, address = {Cham}, issn = {1573-1456}, doi = {10.1007/s10518-022-01419-7}, pages = {5797 -- 5848}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Recent earthquakes as the 2012 Emilia earthquake sequence showed that recently built unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings behaved much better than expected and sustained, despite the maximum PGA values ranged between 0.20-0.30 g, either minor damage or structural damage that is deemed repairable. Especially low-rise residential and commercial masonry buildings with a code-conforming seismic design and detailing behaved in general very well without substantial damages. The low damage grades of modern masonry buildings that was observed during this earthquake series highlighted again that codified design procedures based on linear analysis can be rather conservative. Although advances in simulation tools make nonlinear calculation methods more readily accessible to designers, linear analyses will still be the standard design method for years to come. The present paper aims to improve the linear seismic design method by providing a proper definition of the q-factor of URM buildings. These q-factors are derived for low-rise URM buildings with rigid diaphragms which represent recent construction practise in low to moderate seismic areas of Italy and Germany. The behaviour factor components for deformation and energy dissipation capacity and for overstrength due to the redistribution of forces are derived by means of pushover analyses. Furthermore, considerations on the behaviour factor component due to other sources of overstrength in masonry buildings are presented. As a result of the investigations, rationally based values of the behaviour factor q to be used in linear analyses in the range of 2.0-3.0 are proposed.}, language = {en} }