• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제86권1호
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• pp.29-48
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• 2023

Pounding happens when contiguous structures with differing heights vibrate out of line caused by a seismic activity. The situation is aggravated due to the insufficient separation gap between the structures which can lead to the crashing of the buildings or total collapse of an edifice. Countries around the world have compiled building standards to address the pounding issue. One of the strategies recommended is the introduction of the separation gap between structures. AS1170.4-2007 is an Australian standard that requires 1% of the building height as a minimum separation gap between buildings to preclude pounding. This article presents experimental and numerical tests to determine the adequacy of this specification to prevent the occurrence of seismic pounding between steel frame structures under near-field and far-field earthquakes. The results indicated that the recommended minimum separation gap based on the Australian Standard is inaccurate if low-rise structure in a coupled case is utilised under both near and far field earthquakes. The standard is adequate if a tall building is involved but only when a far-field earthquake happens. The research likewise presents results derived by using the ABS and SRSS methods.

• Coupled systems mechanics
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• 제12권3호
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• pp.277-295
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• 2023

Unsymmetrical high-rise buildings (HRBs) subjected to earthquake represent a difficult challenge to structural engineering, especially taking into consideration the effect of soil-structure interaction (SSI). L-shape in plan HRBs suffer from big straining actions when are subjected to an earthquake (in x- or y-direction, or both x- and y- directions). Additionally, the disastrous effect of seismic pounding may appear between two adjacent unsymmetrical HRBs. For two unsymmetrical L-shape in plan HRBs subjected to earthquake in three different direction cases (x, y, or both), including the SSI effect, different methods are investigated to mitigate the seismic pounding and thus protect these types of structures under the earthquake effect. The most effective technique to mitigate the seismic pounding and help in seismically protecting these adjacent HRBs is found herein to be the use of a combination of pounding tuned mass dampers (PTMDs) all over the height (at the connection points) together with tuned mass dampers (TMDs) on the top of both buildings.

• 한국지진공학회논문집
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• 제18권4호
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• pp.193-200
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• 2014

This paper examines the pounding problem between adjacent decks subjected to strong earthquakes. The elastomeric bearings in an isolated bridge reduce the stresses on the superstructure and cushion the impact by transferring smaller seismic forces to the substructure. On the other hand, these bearings also allow large horizontal displacement of the superstructure due to seismic forces. Bridges having various supporting soil conditions and different frequency ratios between adjacent decks are investigated by numerical analysis. In the analysis, decision making is conducted whether the collision took place or not and, the magnitude of pounding force and the duration time of collision are obtained and the results are discussed.

• Coupled systems mechanics
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• 제2권2호
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• pp.175-190
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• 2013

Pounding damage has been observed frequently in major earthquakes in the form of aesthetic, minor or major structural cracks and collapse of buildings. Studies have identified a building located at one end of a row of buildings as very vulnerable to pounding damage, while buildings in the interior of the same row are assumed to be safer. This study presents the results of a shake table investigation of pounding between two and three buildings in a row. Two steel portal frames, one stiffer and another more flexible, were subjected to pounding against a frame with eight other configurations. Three pounding arrangements were considered, i.e., the reference frame (1) on the right of the second frame, (2) in the middle of two identical frames, and (3) on the right of two identical frames. Zero seismic gap was adopted for all tests. Five different ground motions are applied from both directions (right to left and left to right). The amplification of the maximum deflection due to pounding was calculated for each configuration. The results showed that, for the stiffer building in a row, row building pounding is more hazardous than pounding between only two buildings. The location of the stiffer frame, whether at the end or the middle of the row, did not have much effect on the degree of amplification observed. Additionally, for all cases considered, pounding caused less amplification for stronger ground motions, i.e., the ground motions that produced higher maximum deflection without pounding than other ground motions.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제52권3호
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• pp.573-593
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• 2014

Pounding between adjacent buildings is a significant challenge in metropolitan areas because buildings of different heights collide during earthquake excitations due to varying dynamic properties and narrow separation gaps. The seismic responses of adjacent buildings of varying height, coupled through soil subjected to earthquake-induced pounding, are evaluated in this paper. The lumped mass model is used to simulate the buildings and soil, while the linear visco-elastic contact force model is used to simulate pounding forces. The results indicate while the taller building is almost unaffected when the shorter building is very short, it suffers more from pounding with increasing height of the shorter building. The shorter building suffers more from the pounding with decreasing height and when its height differs substantially from that of the taller building. The minimum required separation gap to prevent pounding is increased with increasing height of the shorter building until the buildings become almost in-phase. Considering the soil effect; pounding forces are reduced, displacements and story shears are increased after pounding, and also, minimum separation gap required to prevent pounding is increased.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• 제24권3호
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• pp.155-163
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• 2023

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the coupled effect of SSI and pounding on dynamic responses of unequal height adjacent buildings with insufficiently separation distance subjected to seismic loading. Numerical investigations were conducted to evaluate effect of the pounding coupling SSI on a Reinforced Concrete Frame Structure system constructed on different soil fields. Adjacent buildings with unequal height, including a 9-storey and a 3-storey reinforced concrete structure, were considered in numerical studies. Pounding force response, time-history and root-mean-square (RMS) of displacement and acceleration with different types of soil and separations were presented. The numerical results indicate that insufficient separation could lead to collisions and generate severe pounding force which could result in acceleration and displacement amplifications. SSI has significant influence of the seismic response of the structures, and higher pounding force were induced by floors with stiffer soil. SSI is reasonable neglected for a structure with a dense soil foundation, whereas SSI should be taken into consideration for dynamic analysis, especially for soft soil base.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• 제22권3호
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• pp.289-304
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• 2022

During strong ground motions, adjacent structures with insufficient separation distances collide with each other causing considerable architectural and structural damage or collapse of the whole structure. Generally, existing design procedures for determining the separation distance between adjacent buildings subjected to structural pounding are based on approximations of the buildings' peak relative displacement. These procedures are based on unknown safety levels. This paper attempts to evaluate the influence of foundation flexibility on the structural seismic response by considering the variability in the system and uncertainties in the ground motion characteristics through comprehensive numerical simulations. Actually, the aim of this study is to evaluate the influence of foundation flexibility on probabilistic evaluation of structural pounding. A Hertz-damp pounding force model has been considered in order to effectively capture impact forces during collisions. In total, 5.25 million time-history analyses were performed over the adopted models using an ensemble of 25 ground motions as seismic input within OpenSees software. The results of the study indicate that the soil-structure interaction significantly influences the pounding-involved responses of adjacent structures during earthquakes and generally increases the pounding probability.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제33권2호
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• pp.113-136
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• 2009

The seismic induced interaction between multistory structures with unequal story heights (inter-story pounding) is studied taking into account the local response of the exterior beam-column joints. Although several parameters that influence the structural pounding have been studied sofar, the role of the joints local inelastic behaviour has not been yet investigated in the literature as key parameter for the pounding problem. Moreover, the influence of the infill panels as an additional parameter for the local damage effect of the joints on the inter-story pounding phenomenon is examined. Thirty six interaction cases between a multistory frame structure and an adjacent shorter and stiffer structure are studied for two different seismic excitations. The results are focused: (a) on the local response of the critical external column of the multistory structure that suffers the hit from the slab of the adjacent shorter structure, and (b) on the local response of the exterior beam-column joints of the multistory structure. Results of this investigation demonstrate that the possible local inelastic response of the exterior joints may be in some cases beneficial for the seismic behaviour of the critical column that suffers the impact. However, in all the examined cases the developing demands for deformation of the exterior joints are substantially increased and severe damages can be observed due to the pounding effect. The presence of the masonry infill panels has also been proved as an important parameter for the response of the exterior beam-column joints and thus for the safety of the building. Nevertheless, in all the examined inter-story pounding cases the presence of the infills was not enough for the total amelioration of the excessive demands for shear and ductility of the column that suffers the impact.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제10권6호
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• pp.621-633
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• 2000

Dynamic responses of a bridge system with several simple spans under longitudinal seismic excitations are examined. The bridge system is modeled as the multiple oscillators and each oscillator consists of four degrees-of-freedom system to implement the poundings between the adjacent oscillators and the friction at movable supports. Pounding effects are considered by introducing the impact elements and a bi-linear model is adopted for the friction force. From the parametric studies, the pounding is found to induce complicated seismic responses and to restrain significantly the relative displacements between the adjacent units. The smaller gap size also restricts more strictly the relative displacement. It is found that the relative displacements between the abutment and adjacent pier unit became much larger than the responses between the inner pier units. Consequently, the unseating failure could take a place between the abutment and nearby pier units. It is also found that the relative displacements of an abutment unit to the adjacent pier unit are governed by the pounding at the opposite side abutment.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• 제20권1호
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• pp.55-70
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• 2021

In urban cities, buildings were built in the neighborhood, these buildings influence each other through structure-soilstructure interaction (SSSI) and seismic pounding due to limited separation distance in-between. Generally, the effects of the interaction between soil and structure are disregarded during seismic design and analysis of superstructure. However, the system of soil-base adversely changes structural behavior and response demands. Thus, the vibration characteristics plus the seismic response of a building are not able to be independent of those in adjacent buildings. The interaction between structure, soil, and structure investigates the action of the attendance of adjacent buildings to the others by the interaction effect of the sub-soil under dynamic disturbances. The main purpose of this research is to analyze the effects of SSSI and seismic pounding on the behavior of adjacent buildings. The response of a single structure or two adjacent structures with shallow raft base lying on soft soil are studied. Three dimensions finite element models are developed to investigate the effects of pounding; gap distance; conditions of soil; stories number; a mass of adjacent building and ground excitation frequency on the seismic responses and vibration characteristics of the structures. The variation in the story displacement, story shear, and story moment responses demands are studied to evaluate the presence effect of the adjacent buildings. Numerical results acquired using conditions of soil models are compared with the condition of fixed support and adjacent building models to a single building model. The peak responses of story displacement, story moment, and story shear are studied.