• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• v.13 no.1
• /
• pp.9-15
• /
• 2017

In this paper, the influence of the rotational component, about a vertical axis, of earthquake ground motion on the response of building structures subjected to seismic action is considered. The torsional component of ground motion is generated from the records of translational components. Torsional component of ground motion is then, together with translational components, applied in numerical linear dynamic analysis of different reinforced concrete framed structure of three stories buildings. In total, more than 40 numerical models were created and analyzed. The obtained results show clearly the dependence of the effects of the torsional seismic component on structural system and soil properties. Thus, the current approach in seismic codes of accounting for the effects of accidental torsion due to the torsional ground motion, by shifting the center of mass, should be reevaluated.

• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• v.11 no.6
• /
• pp.1027-1041
• /
• 2016

Different incident angles of ground motions have been considered to evaluate the relationship between floor rotation and torsional irregularity coefficient. The issues specifically addressed are (1) variability in torsional irregularity coefficient and floor rotations with varying incident angles of ground motion (2) contradictory relationship between floor rotation and torsional irregularity coefficient. To explore the stated issues, an evaluation based on relative variation in seismic response quantities of linear asymmetric structure under the influence of horizontal bi-directional excitation with varying seismic orientations has been carried out using response history analysis. Several typical earthquake records are applied to the structure to demonstrate the relative variations of floor rotation and torsional irregularity coefficient for different seismic orientations. It is demonstrated that (1) Torsional irregularity coefficient (TIC) increases as the story number decreases when the ground motion is considered along reference axes of the structure. For incident angles other than structure's reference axes, TIC either decreases as the story number decreases or there is no specific trend for TIC. Floor rotation increases in proportion to the story number when the ground motion is considered along reference axes of structure. For incident angles other than structure's reference axes, floor rotation either decreases as the story number increases or there is no specific trend for floor rotation and (2) TIC and floor rotation seems to be approximately inversely proportional to each other when the ground motion is considered along reference axes of the structure. For incident angles other than structure's reference axes, the relationship can even become directly proportional instead of inversely proportional.

• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• v.20 no.3
• /
• pp.239-260
• /
• 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
• /
• v.66 no.5
• /
• pp.637-648
• /
• 2018

When the centers of mass and stiffness of a building do not coincide, the structure experiences torsional responses. Such systems can consist of the underlying soil and the super-structure. The underlying soil may modify the earthquake input motion and change structural responses. Specific effects of the input motion shall also not be ignored. In this study, seismic demands of asymmetric buildings considering soil-structure interaction (SSI) under near-fault ground motions are evaluated. The building is modeled as an idealized single-story structure. The soil beneath the building is modeled by non-linear finite elements in the two states of loose and dense sands both compared with the fixed-base state. The infinite boundary conditions are modelled using viscous boundary elements. The effects of traditional and yield displacement-based (YDB) approaches of strength and stiffness distributions are considered on seismic demands. In the YDB approach, the stiffness considered in seismic design depends on the strength. The results show that the decrease in the base shear considering soft soil induced SSI when the YDB approach is assumed results only in the center of rigidity to control torsional responses. However, for fixed-base structures and those on dense soils both centers of strength and rigidity are controlling.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.40 no.4
• /
• pp.489-500
• /
• 2011

The elastic seismic response of plan-asymmetric multi storey steel-frame buildings is investigated under earthquake loading with particular emphasis on forward-rupture directivity and fling records. Three asymmetric building systems are generated with different torsional stiffness and varying static eccentricity. The structural characteristic of these systems are designed according to UBC 97 code and their seismic responses subjected to a set of earthquake records are obtained from the response history analysis (RHA) as well as the linear static analysis (LSA). It is shown that, the elastic torsional response is influenced by the intensity of near-fault ground motions with different energy contents. In the extreme case of very strong earthquakes, the behaviour of torsionally stiff buildings and torsionally flexible buildings may differ substantially due to the fact that the displacement envelope of the deck depends on ground motion characteristics.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
• /
• v.11 no.1
• /
• pp.25-35
• /
• 2001

For the ground resrxmse analysis, both in-situ and laboratory testing techniques such as downhole, SASW, resonant column and torsional shear tests were perlormed for Hong-Seong area. The grOlmd upper 30m is classified as SD since it has an average shear wave velocity as 209m/s. The response specLrums obtained by site-specific analyses generally satisfied the seismic code, but near the resonance period the motion was evaluated to be higher than the code.

• International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials
• /
• v.11 no.1
• /
• pp.45-58
• /
• 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
• /
• v.16 no.1
• /
• pp.119-127
• /
• 2019

When a structural wall is subjected to multi-directional ground motion, torsion-induced cracks degrade the stiffness of the wall. The effect of torsion should not be neglected. As a main lateral load resisting member, reinforced concrete (RC) structural wall has been widely studied under the combined action of bending and shear. Unfortunately, its seismic behavior under a combined action of torsion, bending and shear is rarely studied. In this study, torsional performances of the RC structural walls under the combined action is assessed from a comprehensive parametrical study. Finite element (FE) models are built and calibrated by comparing with the available experimental data. The study is then carried out to find out the critical design parameter affecting the torsional stiffness of RC structural walls, including the axial load ratio, aspect ratio, leg-thickness ratio, eccentricity of lateral force, longitudinal reinforcement ratio and transverse reinforcement ratio. Besides, to facilitate the application in practice, an empirical equation is developed to estimate the torsional stiffness of RC rectangular structural walls conveniently, which is found to agree well with the numerical results of the developed FE models.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
• /
• v.14 no.6
• /
• pp.67-74
• /
• 2010

Because of the difference between the actual and computed eccentricity of buildings, symmetrical buildings will be affected by torsion. In provisions, accidental eccentricity is intended to cover the effect of several factors, such as unfavorable distributions of dead- and live-load masses and the rotational component of ground motion about a vertical axis. The torsional amplification factor is introduced to reduce the vulnerability of torsionally imbalanced buildings. The effect of the torsional amplification factor is observed for a symmetric rectangular building with various aspect ratios, where the seismic-force-resisting elements are positioned at a variable distance from the geometrical center in each direction. For verifying the torsional amplification factor in provisions, nonlinear reinforced concrete models with various eccentricities and aspect ratios are used in rock. The difference between the maximum displacements of the flexible edge obtained between using nonlinear static and time-history analysis is very small but the difference between the maximum torsional angles is large.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.45 no.2
• /
• pp.233-257
• /
• 2013

Given the yield shear of a single-story inelastic structure with simple eccentricity, the problem of strength distribution among the resisting elements is investigated, with respect to minimize its torsional response during a ground motion. Making the hypothesis that the peak accelerations, of both modes of vibration, are determined from the inelastic acceleration spectrum, and assuming further that a peak response quantity is obtained by an appropriate combination rule (square root of sum of squares-SRSS or complete quadratic combination-CQC), the first aim of this study is to present an interaction relationship between the yield shear and the maximum torque that may be developed in such systems. It is shown that this torque may be developed, with equal probability, in both directions (clockwise and anticlockwise), but as it is not concurrent with the yield shear, a rational design should be based on a combination of the yield shear with a fraction of the peak torque. The second aim is to examine the response of such model structures under characteristic ground motions. These models provide a rather small peak rotation and code provisions that are based on such principles (NBCC-1995, UBC-1994, EAK-2000, NZS-1992) are superiors to EC8 (1993) and to systems with a stiffness proportional strength distribution.