• International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.45-58
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• 2017

Recent investigations have pointed out that current code provisions specifying that the stiffness of reinforced concrete elements is strength independent, and therefore can be estimated prior to any strength assignment, is incorrect. A strength allocation strategy, suitable for preliminary structural design of medium height wall-frame dual systems, is presented for allocating strength in such buildings and estimating the dependable rigidities. The design process may be implemented by either the approximate continuous approach or the stiffness matrix method. It is based on the concept of the inelastic equivalent single-degree-of-freedom system which, the last few years, has been used to implement the performance based seismic design. The aforesaid strategy may also be used to determine structural configurations of minimum rotation distortion. It is shown that when the location of the modal centre of rigidity, as described in author's recent papers, is within a close distance from the mass axis the torsional response is mitigated. The methodology is illustrated in ten story building configurations, whose torsional response is examined under the ground motion of Kobe 1995, component KJM000.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.39-55
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• 2014

A modified procedure is presented for assessing the seismic response of elastic non-proportionate multistory buildings. This procedure retains the simplicity of the methodology presented by the author in earlier papers, but it presents higher accuracy in buildings composed by very dissimilar types of bents. As a result, not only frequencies and peak values of base resultant forces are determined with higher accuracy, but also the location of the first mode center of rigidity (m1-CR). The closeness of m1-CR with the axis passing through the centers of floor masses (mass axis) implies a reduced rotational response and it is demonstrated that in elastic systemsa practically translational response is obtained when this point lies on the mass axis.Besides, when common types of buildings are detailed as planar structures under a code load, this response is maintained in the inelastic phase of their response as a result of the almost concurrent yielding of all the resisting bents. This property of m1-CR can be used by the practicing engineer as a guideline to form a structural configuration which will sustain minimum rotational response, simply by allocating the resisting elements in such a way that this point lies close to the mass axis. Inelastic multistory building structures, detailed as above, may be regarded as torsionally balanced multistory systems and this is demonstrated in eight story buildings, composed by dissimilar bents, under the ground motions of Kobe 1995 (component KJM000) and Friuli 1976 (component Tolmezzo E-W).

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.1049-1066
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• 2016

An approximate analysis is presented for multi-story setback buildings subjected to ground motions. Setback buildings with mass and stiffness discontinuities are common in modern architecture and quite often they are asymmetric in plan. The proposed analysis provides basic dynamic data (frequencies and peak values of base resultant forces) and furthermore an overview of the building response during a ground excitation. The method is based on the concept of the equivalent single story system, which has been introduced by the author in earlier papers for assessing the response of uniform in height buildings. As basic quantities of the dynamic response of elastic setback buildings can be derived by analyzing simple systems, a structural layout of minimum elastic rotational response can be easily constructed. The behavior of such structural configurations, which is basically translational into the elastic phase, is also examined into the post elastic phase when the strength assignment of the various bents is based on a planar static analysis under a set of lateral forces simulating an equivalent 'seismic loading'. It is demonstrated that the almost concurrent yielding of all resisting elements preserves the translational response, attained at the end of the elastic phase, to the post elastic one.