• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.3 no.3_4
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• pp.611-628
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• 2012

The inelastic earthquake response of existing, reinforced concrete buildings with an open ground story, designed according to the old Greek codes, is investigated before and after their seismic strengthening with steel braces restricted to the open ground stories. The seismic performance evaluation is based on Part 3 of Eurocode 8 for assessment and retrofitting of buildings. Three and five-story, symmetric and non-symmetric buildings are subjected to a set of seven pairs of synthetic accelerograms, compatible with the design spectrum, and conclusions are drawn regarding the effectiveness of the strengthening solutions. Seismic behavior of the selected models confirms results of previous work regarding the insufficient capacity of the open ground stories for design level earthquakes. It is also shown that strengthening only the weak ground story, a choice having the substantial advantage of low cost and continued usage of the building during its seismic retrofitting, can remove the inherent weakness without shifting the problem to the stories above and thus making such buildings at least as strong as those without a weak first story. This partial strengthening is possible for symmetric as well as eccentric buildings, in which torsion plays a further detrimental role.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.277-296
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• 2013

Margin of safety against potential of progressive collapse is among important features of a structural system. Often eccentricity in plan of a building causes concentration of damage, thus adversely affects its progressive collapse safety margin. In this paper the progressive collapse of symmetric and asymmetric 3-story reinforced concrete ordinary moment resisting frame buildings subjected to the earthquake ground motions are studied. The asymmetric buildings have 5%, 15% and 25% mass eccentricity. The distribution of the damage and spread of the collapse is investigated using nonlinear time history analyses. Results show that potential of the progressive collapse at both stiff and flexible edges of the buildings increases with increase in the level of asymmetry in buildings. It is also demonstrated that "drift" as a more easily available global response parameter is a good measure of the potential of progressive collapse rather than much difficult-to-calculate local response parameter of "number of collapse plastic hinges".

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.109-126
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• 2011

The inelastic earthquake response of non-symmetric, braced steel buildings, designed according to the EC3 (steel structures) and EC8 (earthquake resistant design) codes, is investigated using 1, 3 and 5-story models, subjected to a set of 10, two-component, semi-artificial motions, generated to match the design spectrum. It is found that in these buildings, the so-called "flexible" edge frames exhibit higher ductility demands and interstory drifts than the "stiff" edge frames. We note that the same results were reported in an earlier study for reinforced concrete buildings and are the opposite of what was predicted in several other studies based on the over simplified, hence very popular, one-story, shear-beam type models. The substantial differences in such demands between the two sides suggest a need for reassessment of the pertinent code provisions. In a follow up paper, a design modification will be introduced that can lead to a more uniform distribution of ductility demands in the elements of all building edges. This investigation is another step towards more rational design of non-symmetric steel buildings.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.333-350
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• 2013

This paper deals with the development of expressions relating structural seismic response parameters to the epicentral distances of an earthquake and the natural period of several reinforced concrete buildings (6, 9 and 12 storey), with three floor plans: symmetric, monosymmetric, and unsymmetric. These structures are subjected to seismic spectrum of accelerations collected during the Boumerdes earthquake (Algeria, May $21^{st}$, 2003, Mw=6.8) at different epicentral distances. The objective of this study is to develop relations between structural responses namely: base shear, storey displacements, interstory drifts and epicentral distance and fundamental period for a given earthquake. The seismic response of the buildings is carried out in both longitudinal transverse and directions by the response spectrum method (modal spectral approach).

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.127-147
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• 2011

In a companion paper as well as in earlier publications, it has been shown that in asymmetric frame buildings, designed in accordance with modern codes and subjected to strong earthquake excitations, the ductility demands at the so called "flexible" edges are consistently and substantially higher than the ductility demands at the "stiff" edges of the building. In some cases the differences in the computed ductility factors between elements at the two opposite building edges exceeded 100%. Similar findings have also been reported for code designed reinforced concrete buildings. This is an undesirable behavior as it indicates no good use of material and the possibility for overload of the "flexible" edge members with a consequent potential for premature failure. In the present paper, a design modification will be introduced that can alleviate the problem and lead to a more uniform distribution of ductility demands in the elements of all building edges. The presented results are based on the steel frames detailed in the companion paper. This investigation is another step towards more rational design of non-symmetric steel buildings.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2001.11a
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• pp.185-190
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• 2001

The severe shortage of the available sites in the highly developed downtown area in Korea necessitates the construction of high-rise buildings which meet the need of residence and commercial activity simultaneously. The objective of this study is to investigate the seismic performance of this type of building structures. For this purpose, two 1:12 scale 17-story reinforced concrete model structures were constructed according to the similitude law, in which the upper 15 stories have a bearing-wall system while the lower 2-story frames with infilled shear wall have two different layouts of the plan : The one has symmetric plan and the other has unsymmetric plan. Then, this model was subjected to a series of earthquake excitations. The test results show that the layout of shear wall has the negligible effect on the natural period and the base shear coefficient, but great effect on the failure mode of beam-column joint at flexible side frame.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.6 no.5
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• pp.473-494
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• 2014

Progressive collapse, which is referred to as the collapse of the entire building under local damages, is a common failure mode happened by earthquakes. The collapse process highly depends on the whole structural system. Since, asymmetry of the building plan leads to the local damage concentration; it may intensify the progressive collapse mechanism of asymmetric buildings. In this research the progressive collapse of regular and irregular 6-story RC ordinary moment resisting frame buildings are studied in the presence of the earthquake loads. Collapse process and collapse propagation are investigated using nonlinear time history analyses (NLTHA) in buildings with 5%, 15% and 25% mass asymmetry with respect to the number of collapsed hinges and story drifts criteria. Results show that increasing the value of mass eccentricity makes the asymmetric buildings become unstable earlier and in the early stages with lower number of the collapsed hinges. So, with increasing the mass eccentricity in building, instability and collapse of the entire building occurs earlier, with lower potential of the progressive collapse. It is also demonstrated that with increasing the mass asymmetry the decreasing trend of the number of collapsed beam and column hinges is approximately similar to the decreasing trend in the average story drifts of the mass centers and stiff edges. So, as an alternative to a much difficult-to-calculate local response parameter of the number of collapsed hinges, the story drift, as a global response parameter, measures the potential of progressive collapse more easily.

• Coupled systems mechanics
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• v.7 no.6
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• pp.731-753
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• 2018

The recent seismic events have led to concerns on safety and vulnerability of Reinforced Concrete Moment Resisting Frame "RC-MRF" buildings. The seismic design demands are greatly dependent on the computational tools, the inherent assumptions and approximations introduced in the modeling process. Thus, it is essential to assess the relative importance of implementing different modeling approaches and investigate the computed response sensitivity to the corresponding modeling assumptions. Many parameters and assumptions are to be justified for generation effective and accurate structural models of RC-MRF buildings to simulate the lateral response and evaluate seismic design demands. So, the present study aims to develop reliable finite element model through many refinements in modeling the various structural components. The effect of finite element modeling assumptions, analysis methods and code provisions on seismic response demands for the structural design of RC-MRF buildings are investigated. where, a series of three-dimensional finite element models were created to study various approaches to quantitatively improve the accuracy of FE models of symmetric buildings located in active seismic zones. It is shown from results of the comparative analyses that the use of a calibrated frame model which was made up of line elements featuring rigid offsets manages to provide estimates that match best with estimates obtained from a much more rigorous modeling approach involving the use of shell elements.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.83 no.1
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• pp.45-51
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• 2022

The need to account for accidental torsion in seismic design is no longer debatable, however, the seismic codes' requirement for accidental eccentricity has recently faced criticism. In order to get as close to real conditions as possible, this study investigated the impact of accidental torsion in symmetric RC multistory buildings caused by one of its many sources, the torsional earthquake component, and compared the results to those obtained by using the accidental eccentricity recommended by the codes (shifting the center of mass). To cover a wide range of frequencies and site conditions, two types of torsion seismic components were used: a recorded torsion accelerogram and five others generated using translation accelerograms. The main parameters that govern seismic responses, such as the number of stories (to account for the influence of all modes of vibration) and the frequency ratio (Ω) variation, were studied in terms of inter-story drift and displacement responses, as well as torsional moment. The results show that the eccentricity ratio of 5% required by most codes for accidental torsion should be reexamined and that it is prudent for computer analysis to use the static moment approach to implement the accidental eccentricity while waiting for new seismic code recommendations on the subject.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.31-42
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• 2019

In this study, the results of an analytical investigation on the seismic behavior of two residential 4-story bearing wall buildings with pilotis, each of which has symmetric or unsymmetric wall arrangement at their piloti level, are presented. The dynamic characteristics and lateral resistance of the piloti buildings were investigated through linear elastic and nonlinear static analyses. According to the results, the analytical natural period of vibration of the piloti buildings were significantly shorter than the fundamental period calculated in accordance with KBC 2016. In the initial elastic behavior, the walls resisting in-plane shear contributed to the lateral stiffness and strength, while the contribution of columns resisting flexural moments in double curvature was limited. However, after the shear cracking and yielding of the walls occurred, the columns significantly contributed to the residual strength and ductility. Based on those investigations, design recommendations of low-rise bearing wall buildings with piloti configuration are given.