Energy-based numerical evaluation for seismic performance of a high-rise steel building

As an alternative to current conventional force-based assessment methods, the energy-based seismic performance of a code-designed 20-storey high-rise steel building is evaluated in this paper. Using 3D nonlinear dynamic time-history method with consideration of additional material damping effect, the influences of different restoring force models and P-${\Delta}/{\delta}$ effects on energy components are investigated. By combining equivalent viscous damping and hysteretic damping ratios of the structure subjected to strong ground motions, a new damping model, which is amplitude-dependent, is discussed in detail. According to the analytical results, all energy components are affected to various extents by P-${\Delta}/{\delta}$ effects and a difference of less than 10% is observed; the energy values of the structure without consideration of P-${\Delta}/{\delta}$ effects are larger, while the restoring force models have a minor effect on seismic input energy with a difference of less than 5%, but they have a certain effect on both viscous damping energy and hysteretic energy with a difference of about 5~15%. The paper shows that the use of the hysteretic energy at its ultimate state as a seismic design parameter has more advantages than seismic input energy since it presents a more stable value. The total damping ratio of a structure consists of viscous damping ratio and hysteretic damping ratio and it is found that the equivalent viscous damping ratio is a constant for the structure, while the equivalent hysteretic damping ratio approximately increases linearly with structural response in elasto-plastic stage.