PhD Defense Announcement: S.Taban Hajimirza

The CEE Department is pleased to announce S.Taban Hajimirza's PhD Defense: "Structural Earthquake Resiliency of Rocking Core Systems with Floor Enabled Recentering "

Date: Thursday, Dec 5th, 2024
Time: 12:30 PM
Location: EB 202L CEE Conf Rm or Zoom: https://pdx.zoom.us/j/3582585785
Advisor: Dr. Peter Dusicka

Abstract: "he growing need for structural earthquake resiliency, coupled with increasing demands for fast and environmentally sustainable construction, has driven architects and engineers to emphasize the importance of earthquake-resistant mass timber structures in regions with high seismic activity. With advancements in building technologies, cross-laminated timber (CLT) is at the forefront of this movement by unlocking new potentials for urban development. A novel low-damage earthquake-resistant structural system, named as Floor Recentering Rocking Core Wall (FLR-ROCR), has been developed to support rapid post-earthquake recovery of core-layout multistory timber buildings when subjected to high hazard demands. The system is designed as a solution to the challenges embedded in implementation of post-tensioned rocking systems. FLR-ROCR enhances performance of rocking shear wall structures by eliminating the need for post-tensioning, and instead enabling restoring interactions between rocking core walls and floor diaphragms to deliver a recentering mechanism. The provision of a drift-control mechanism and structural ductility is ensured through hysteretic energy dissipation via plasticity of replaceable U-shaped Flexural Plates (UFPs). To study structural earthquake resiliency of FLR-ROCR, the system mechanics is expanded for multistory buildings, and its lateral behavior, performance and damage limit states, and earthquake response are investigated through analytical equations, nonlinear numerical modeling, and full-scale shake table experiments. The effectiveness of FLR-ROCR performance is ultimately evaluated in accordance with performance-based criteria established for low-damage rocking systems."