• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.437-448
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• 2017

Soft or extreme soft storeys in multi-storied buildings cause localized damage (and even collapse) during strong earthquake shaking. The presence of such soft or extremely soft storey is identified through provisions of vertical stiffness irregularity in seismic design codes. Identification of the irregularity in a building requires estimation of lateral translational stiffness of each storey. Estimation of lateral translational stiffness can be an arduous task. A simple procedure is presented to estimate storey stiffness using only properties of fundamental lateral translational mode of oscillation (namely natural period and associated mode shape), which are readily available to designers at the end of analysis stage. In addition, simplified analytical expressions are provided towards identifying stiffness irregularity. Results of linear elastic time-history analyses indicate that the proposed procedure captures the irregularity in storey stiffness in both low- and mid-rise buildings.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.1-23
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• 2016

Numerous buildings have been damaged or destroyed in previous earthquakes by developing soft storey. Almost all the seismic codes have provisions to prevent soft storey in structures, most of them have recommended the ratio of stiffness between adjacent storeys, but none of them has proposed the method to calculate the storey stiffness. On the other hand a great number of previous researches on stiffness have been focused on approximate methods and accurate methods by using analytical softwares have been almost neglected. In this study, six accurate methods for calculating the storey stiffness have been studied on 246 two-bay reinforced concrete frames. It is shown with the results of the statistical study and structural analysis that method 3 in which there is no modification of the original model and the forces with triangular distribution similar to seismic forces are applied to the center of mass of all storeys has acceptable accuracy and desirable efficiency for designing and controlling structures.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.603-619
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• 2014

Soft storey buildings are characterised by having a storey that has a large amount of open space. This soft storey creates a major weak point during an earthquake. As the soft stories are typically associated with retail spaces and parking garages, they are often on the lower levels of tall building structures. Thus, when these stories collapse, the entire building can also collapse, causing serious structural damage that may render the structure completely unusable. The use of special soft storey is predominant in the tall building structures constructed by several local developers, making the issue important for local building structures. In this study, the effect of the incorporation of an isolator on the seismic behaviour of tall building structures is examined. The structures are subjected to earthquakes typical of the local city, and the isolator is incorporated with the appropriate isolator time period and damping ratio. A FEM-based computational relationship is proposed to increase the storey height so as to incorporate the isolator with the same time period and damping ratio for both a lead rubber bearing (LRB) and high-damping rubber bearing (HDRB). The study demonstrates that the values of the FEM-based structural design parameters are greatly reduced when the isolator is used. It is more beneficial to incorporate a LRB than a HDRB.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.2 no.6
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• pp.423-437
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• 2005

In this study two single-bay, three-storey space frames, one with brick masonry infill in the second and third floors representing a soft-storey frame and the other without infill were designed and their 1:3 scale models were constructed according to non-seismic detailing and the similitude law. The models were excited with an intensity of earthquake motion as specified in the form of response spectrum in Indian seismic code IS 1893-2002 using a shake table. The seismic responses of the soft-storey frame such as fundamental frequency, mode shape, base shear and stiffness were compared with that of the bare frame. It was observed that the presence of open ground floor in the soft-storey infilled frame reduced the natural frequency by 30%. The shear demand in the soft-storey frame was found to be more than two and a half times greater than that in the bare frame. From the mode shape it was found that, the bare frame vibrated in the flexure mode whereas the soft-storey frame vibrated in the shear mode. The frames were tested to failure and the damaged soft-storey frame was retrofitted with concrete jacketing and, subjected to same earthquake motions as the original frames. Pushover analysis was carried out using the software package SAP 2000 to validate the test results. The performance point was obtained for all the frames under study, therefore the frames were found to be adequate for gravity loads and moderate earthquakes. It was concluded that the global nonlinear seismic response of reinforced concrete frames with masonry infill can be adequately simulated using static nonlinear pushover analysis.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.523-545
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• 2013

In this study, the effect of presence and distribution of masonry infill walls on the mid-rise steel frame structures having soft ground storey was evaluated by implementing finite element (FE) methods. Masonry infill walls were distributed randomly in the upper storey keeping the ground storey open without any infill walls, thus generating the worst case scenario for seismic events. It was observed from the analysis that there was an increase in the seismic design forces, moments and base shear in presence of randomly distributed masonry infill walls which underlines that these design values need to be amplified when designing a mid-rise soft ground storey steel frame with randomly distributed masonry infill. In addition, it was found that the overstrength related force modification factor increased and the ductility related force modification factor decreased with the increase in the amount of masonry infilled bays and panels. These must be accounted for in the design of mid-rise steel frames. Based on the FE analysis results on two mid-rise steel frames, design equations were proposed for determining the over strength and the ductility related force modification factors. However, it was recommended that these equations to be generalized for other steel frame structure systems based on an extensive analysis.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.433-447
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• 2024

During earthquakes, regular buildings perform better than irregular buildings. In general, seismic design codes define a regular building using estimates of Storey Stiffness and Storey Strength. At present, seismic design codes do not recommend a specific method to estimate these parameters. Consequently, any method described in the literature can be applied to estimate the aforementioned parameters. Nevertheless, research has demonstrated that storey stiffness and storey strength vary depending on the estimation method employed. As a result, the same building can be regular or irregular, depending on the method employed to estimate storey stiffness and storey strength. Hence, there is a need to identify the best method to estimate storey stiffness and storey strength. For this purpose, the study presents a qualitative and quantitative evaluation of nine approaches used to determine storey stiffness. Similarly, the study compares six approaches for estimating storey strength. Subsequently, the study identifies the best method to estimate storey stiffness and storey strength using results of 350 linear time history analyses and 245 nonlinear time history analyses, respectively. Based on the comparison, it is concluded that the Fundamental Lateral Translational Mode Shape Method and Isolated Storey Method - A Particular Case are the best methods to estimate storey stiffness and storey strength of low-to-mid rise buildings, respectively.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.257-277
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• 2011

An evaluation is presented of the response of a 3-storey R/C structure during the destructive Lefkada earthquake of 14/08/2003. Key aspects of the event include: (1) the unusually strong levels of ground motion (PGA = 0.48 g, $SA_{max}$ = 2.2 g) recorded approximately 10 km from fault, in downtown Lefkada; (2) the surprisingly low structural damage in the area; (3) the very soft soil conditions ($V_{s,max}$ = 150 m/s). Structural, geotechnical and seismological aspects of the earthquake are discussed. The study focuses on a 3-storey building, an elongated structure of rectangular plan supported on strip footings, that suffered severe column damage in the longitudinal direction, yet minor damage in the transverse one. Detailed spectral and time-history analyses highlight the interplay of soil, foundation and superstructure in modifying seismic demand in the two orthogonal directions of the building. It is shown that soil-structure interaction may affect inelastic seismic response and alter the dynamic behavior even for relatively flexible systems such as the structure at hand.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.167-186
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• 2007

Ductility based design of reinforced concrete structures implicitly assumes certain damage under the action of a design basis earthquake. The damage undergone by a structure needs to be quantified, so as to assess the post-seismic reparability and functionality of the structure. The paper presents an analytical method of quantification and location of seismic damage, through system identification methods. It may be noted that soft ground storied buildings are the major casualties in any earthquake and hence the example structure is a soft or weak first storied one, whose seismic response and temporal variation of damage are computed using a non-linear dynamic analysis program (IDARC) and compared with a normal structure. Time period based damage identification model is used and suitably calibrated with classic damage models. Regenerated stiffness of the three degrees of freedom model (for the three storied frame) is used to locate the damage, both on-line as well as after the seismic event. Multi resolution analysis using wavelets is also used for localized damage identification for soft storey columns.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.1273-1289
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• 2016

This paper addresses the concept of lateral overstrength; the ratio of actual lateral strength to design base shear force, for both SDOF and MDOF systems considering soil structure interaction. Overstrength factors are obtained with inelastic time history analysis for SDOF systems for period range of 0.1-3.0 s, five different aspect ratios (h/r=1, 2, 3, 4, 5) and five levels of ductility (${\mu}$=2, 3, 4, 5, 6) considering soil structure interaction. Structural overstrength for MDOF systems are obtained with inelastic time history collapse analysis for sample 1, 3, 6, 9, 12 and 15 storey RC frame systems. In analyses, 64 ground motions recorded on different site conditions such as rock, stiff soil, soft soil and very soft soil are used. Also lateral overstrength ratios considering soil structure interaction are compared with those calculated for fixed-base cases.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.1-22
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• 2013

Soft storey failure mechanism is a common collapse mode for masonry-infilled (MI) reinforced concrete (RC) buildings subjected to severe earthquakes. Simple analytical equations correlating global with local ductility demands are derived from pushover (PO) analyses for seismic assessments of regular MI RC frames, considering the critical interstorey drift ratio, number of storeys and lateral loading configurations. The reliability of the equations is investigated using incremental dynamic analyses for MI RC frames of up to 7 storeys. Using the analytical ductility relationship and a coefficient-based method (CBM), the response spectral accelerations and period shift factors of low-rise MI RC frames are computed. The results are verified through published shake table test results. In general applications, the analytical ductility relationships thus derived can be used to bypass the onerous PO analysis while accurately predicting the local ductility demands for seismic assessment of regular MI RC frames.