• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.239-260
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• 2021

Torsional response of buildings is attributed to poor structural configurations in plan, which arises due to two factors - torsional eccentricity and torsional flexibility. Usually, building codes address effects due to the former. This study examines both of these effects. Buildings with torsional eccentricity (e.g., those with large eccentricity) and with torsional flexibility (those with torsional mode as a fundamental mode) demand large deformations of vertical elements resisting lateral loads, especially those along the building perimeter in plan. Lateral-torsional responses are studied of unsymmetrical buildings through elastic and inelastic analyses using idealised single-storey building models (with two degrees of freedom). Displacement demands on vertical elements distributed in plan are non-uniform and sensitive to characteristics of both structure and earthquake ground motion. Limits are proposed to mitigate lateral-torsional effects, which guides in proportioning vertical elements and restricts amplification of lateral displacement in them and to avoid torsional mode as the first mode. Nonlinear static and dynamic analyses of multi-storey buildings are used to validate the limits proposed.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.129-145
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• 2014

In order to investigate the characteristics of torsional wind loads on rectangular tall buildings, five models with different rectangular cross-sections were tested in a boundary wind tunnel. Based on the test results, the RMS force coefficients, power spectrum densities as well as vertical correlation functions of torsional wind loads were analyzed. Formulas that took the side ratio as parameters were proposed to fit the test results above. Comparisons between the results calculated by the formulas and the wind tunnel measurements were made to verify the reliability of the proposed formulas. An simplified expression to evaluate the dynamic torsional wind loads on rectangular tall buildings in urban terrain is presented on basis of the above formulas and has been proved by a practical project. The simplified expressions as well as the proposed formulas can be applied to estimate wind-induce torsional response on rectangular tall buildings in the frequency domain.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.405-417
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• 2014

The poor seismic performance of reinforced concrete buildings during the latest earthquakes has become a serious issue in the building industry in Turkey. This case, designing new buildings without structural irregularities against earthquake loads reveals to be quite significant. This study mainly is focused on the effects of different torsional irregularities on construction costs and earthquakes performance of reinforced concrete buildings. In that respect, structural torsional irregularities are investigated based on the Turkish Earthquake Code. The study consists of major eight main parametric models. In this models consist of totally 49 models together with the variations in the number of storey. With this purpose, the earthquake performances and construction costs (especially steel quantities) of reinforced concrete buildings which having different structural torsional irregularities were obtained with the help of Sta4-CAD program. Each model has been analyzed by both the methods of equivalent earthquake loading and dynamic analysis. The obtained results reveal that the model-1 which has lower torsional irregularity coefficient shows the best earthquake performance owing to its regular plan geometry. Also, economical comparisons on costs of the torsional irregularity are performed, and results-recommendations are given.

• Journal of the Architectural Institute of Korea Structure & Construction
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• v.35 no.12
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• pp.137-148
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• 2019

Korean piloti-type buildings are comprised of pilotis in the first story and shear walls in the upper stories. This vertical irregularity causes excessive lateral plastic deformation on the first story while the upper stories stay elastic. Meanwhile, asymmetric position of structural components such as core walls and columns of RC piloti-type buildings tends to produce torsional irregularities of the structures. Korean Building Code(KBC2016) requires the special seismic load and torsional amplification factor to apply to the piloti-type buildings lower than six-story or 20m if it has vertical and torsional irregularities when the building corresponds to seismic design category C or D. Many Korean low-rised RC buildings fall into the class. Therefore, the special earthquake load and torsional amplification factor are often applied to a building simultaneously. However, it has not been studied enough how much influence each parameter has on buildings with vertical and torsional irregularities at the same time. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of factor special seismic load and torsional amplification on seismic performance of irregular buildings. In this study, a damaged 4^th story piloti-type building by the Pohang earthquake was selected and the earthquake response analysis was carried out with various seismic design methods by the KBC 2016. The effect of the design parameters on seismic performance was analyzed by the dynamic analysis of models with special seismic load and torsional amplification factor based on the selected building. It was concluded that the application of the torsional amplification factor to the reference model to which special seismic design was applied, does not significantly affect the seismic performance.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.153-178
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• 2008

Based on the empirical formulas for power spectra of generalized modal forces and local fluctuating wind forces in across-wind and torsional directions, the wind-induced lateral-torsional coupled response analysis of a representative rectangular tall building was conducted by setting various parameters such as eccentricities in centers of mass and/or rigidity and considering different torsional to lateral stiffness ratios. The eccentricity effects on the lateral-torsional coupled responses of the tall building were studied comprehensively by structural dynamic analysis. Extensive computational results indicated that the torsional responses at the geometric center of the building may be significantly affected by the eccentricities in the centers of mass and/or rigidity. Covariance responses were found to be in the same order of magnitude as the along-wind or across-wind responses in many eccentricity cases, suggesting that the lateral-torsional coupled effects on the overall wind-induced responses can not be neglected for such situations. The calculated results also demonstrated that the torsional motion contributed significantly to the total responses of rectangular tall buildings with mass and/or rigidity eccentricities. It was shown through this study that the framework presented in this paper provides a useful tool to evaluate the wind-induced lateral-torsional coupled responses of rectangular buildings, which will enable structural engineers in the preliminary design stages to assess the serviceability of tall buildings, potential structural vibration problems and the need for a detailed wind tunnel test.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.283-295
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• 2022

Seismic design codes permit the use of Equivalent Static Analysis of buildings considering torsional eccentricity e with dynamic amplification factors on structural eccentricity and some accidental eccentricity. Estimation of e in buildings is not addressed in codes. This paper presents a simple approximate method to estimate e in RC Moment Frame and RC Structural Wall buildings, which required no detailed structural analysis. The method is validated by 3D analysis (using commercial structural analysis software) of a spectrum of building. Results show that dynamic amplification factor should be applied on torsional eccentricity when performing Response Spectrum Analysis also. Also, irregular or mixed modes of oscillation arise in torsionally unsymmetrical buildings owing to poor geometric distribution of mass and stiffness in plan, which is captured by the mass participation ratio. These irregular modes can be avoided in buildings of any plan geometry by limiting the two critical parameters (normalised torsional eccentricity e/B and Natural Period Ratio 𝜏 =T_𝜃/T, where B is building lateral dimension, T_𝜃 uncoupled torsional natural period and T uncoupled translational natural period). Suggestions are made for new building code provisions.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.349-361
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• 2024

Excessive torsional behaviour is one of the major reasons for failure of buildings, as inferred from past earthquakes. Numerous seismic codes across the world specify a displacement-based or drift-based criterion for classifying buildings as torsionally irregular. In recent years, quite a few researchers have pointed out some of the inherent deficiencies associated with the current codal guidelines on torsional irregularity. This short communication paper aims to envisage the need for a revision of the displacement-based guidelines on torsional irregularity, and further highlight the appropriateness of a rotation-based criterion. A set of 6 reinforced concrete building models with asymmetric shear walls are analysed using ETABS v18.0.2, by varying the number of stories from 1 to 9, and the torsional irregularity coefficient of various stories is calculated using the displacement-based formula. Since rotation about the vertical axis is a direct indication of the twist experienced by a building, the calculated torsional irregularity coefficients of all stories are compared with the corresponding floor rotations. The conflicting results obtained for the torsional irregularity coefficients are projected through five categories, namely mismatch with floor rotations, inconsistency in trend, lack of clarity in incorporation of negative values, sensitivity to low values of displacement and error conceived in the mathematical formulation. The findings indicate that the irregularity coefficient does not accurately represent the torsional behaviour of buildings in a realistic sense. The Indian seismic code-based values of 1.2 and 1.4, which are used to characterize buildings as torsionally irregular are observed to be highly sensitive to the numerical values of displacements, rather than the actual degree of rotation. The study thus emphasizes the revision of current guidelines based on a more relevant rotation-based or eccentricity-based approach.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.193-207
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• 2000

The possible application of a spatially placed passive tuned liquid column damper system for suppressing coupled lateral-torsional responses of tall buildings is investigated in this paper. The wind loads acting on rectangular tall buildings are analytically expressed as 3-D stochastic model. Meanwhile, the 3-D responses of tall buildings may be coupled due to eccentricities between the stiffness and mass centers of the buildings. In these cases, torsional responses of the buildings are rather larger, and a TLCD system composed of several TLCD located near the sides of the buildings is more effective than the same TLCD placed at the building center in reducing both translational and torsional responses of the buildings. In this paper, extensive analytical and numerical work has been done to present the calculation method and optimize the parameters of such TLCD systems. The numerical examples show that the spatially placed TLCD system can reduce coupled along-wind, across-wind and torsional responses significantly with a fairly small mass ratio.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2000.10a
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• pp.249-256
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• 2000

The visco-elastic dampers were used to improve the torsional responses of an asymmetric buildings. The modal characteristic equation of an asymmetric structure with added viscoelastic dampers were derived using the complex modal analysis method. Parametric study has been performed based on the modal characteristics, and the appropriate condition for compensating the stiffness eccentricity was investigated. According to the results the torsional response of the asymmetric buildings could be improved significantly once the dampers were properly placed

• Wind and Structures
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.279-289
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• 2000

The main purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the necessity of considering wind load combinations even for low-rise buildings. It first discusses the overall quasi-static wind load effects and their combinations to be considered in structural design of low-rise buildings. It was found that the maximum torsional moment closely correlates with the maximum along-wind base shear. It was also found that the instantaneous pressure distribution causing the maximum along-wind base shear was quite similar to that causing the maximum torsional moment, and that this asymmetric pressure pattern simultaneously accompanies considerable across-wind and torsional components. Secondly, the actual wind pressure distributions causing maximum quasi-static internal forces in the structural frames are conditionally sampled and their typical pressure patterns are presented.