Simplified analysis of mid‐story seismically isolated buildings

The mid‐story isolation design method is recently gaining popularity for the seismic protective design of buildings located in the areas of high population. In a mid‐story isolated building, the isolation system is incorporated into the mid‐story rather than the base of the building. In this paper, the dynamic characteristics and seismic responses of mid‐story isolated buildings are investigated using a simplified three‐lumped‐mass structural model for which equivalent linear properties are formulated. From the parametric study, it is found that the nominal frequencies of the superstructure and the substructure, respectively, above and below the isolation system have significant influences on the isolation frequency and equivalent damping ratio of a mid‐story isolated building. Moreover, the mass and stiffness of the substructure are of greater significance than the superstructure in affecting the dynamic characteristics of the isolated building. Besides, based on the response spectrum analysis, it is noted that the higher mode responses may contribute significantly to the story shear force of the substructure. Consequently, the equivalent lateral force procedure of design codes should carefully include the effects of higher modes. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Seismic response of 20‐story base‐isolated and fixed‐base reinforced concrete structural wall buildings at a near‐fault site

This paper investigates numerically the seismic response of six seismically base‐isolated (BI) 20‐story reinforced concrete buildings and compares their response to that of a fixed‐base (FB) building with a similar structural system above ground. Located in Berkeley, California, 2 km from the Hayward fault, the buildings are designed with a core wall that provides most of the lateral force resistance above ground. For the BI buildings, the following are investigated: two isolation systems (both implemented below a three‐story basement), isolation periods equal to 4, 5, and 6 s, and two levels of flexural strength of the wall. The first isolation system combines tension‐resistant friction pendulum bearings and nonlinear fluid viscous dampers (NFVDs); the second combines low‐friction tension‐resistant crosslinear bearings, lead‐rubber bearings, and NFVDs. The designs of all buildings satisfy ASCE 7‐10 requirements, except that one component of horizontal excitation, is used in the 2D nonlinear response history analysis. Analysis is performed for a set of ground motions scaled to the design earthquake and to the maximum considered earthquake (MCE). At both the design earthquake and the MCE, the FB building develops large inelastic deformations and shear forces in the wall and large floor accelerations. At the MCE, four of the BI buildings experience nominally elastic response of the wall, with floor accelerations and shear forces being 0.25 to 0.55 times those experienced by the FB building. The response of the FB and four of the BI buildings to four unscaled historical pulse‐like near‐fault ground motions is also studied. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Optimal energy‐based seismic design of non‐conventional Tuned Mass Damper (TMD) implemented via inter‐story isolation

Inter‐story isolation, an effective strategy for mitigating the seismic risk of both new and existing buildings, has gained more and more interest in recent years as alternative to base isolation, whenever the latter results to be impractical, technically difficult or uneconomic. As suggested by the name, the technique consists in inserting flexible isolators at floor levels other than the base along the height of a multi‐story building, thus realizing a non‐conventional Tuned Mass Damper (TMD). Consistent with this, an optimal design methodology is developed in the present paper with the objective of achieving the global protection of both the structural portions separated by the inter‐story isolation system, that is, the lower portion (below the isolation system) and the isolated upper portion (above the isolation system). The optimization procedure is formulated on the basis of an energy performance criterion that consists in maximizing the ratio between the energy dissipated in the isolation system and the input energy globally transferred to the entire structure. Numerical simulations, performed under natural accelerograms with different frequency content and considering increasing isolation levels along the height of a reference frame structure, are used to investigate the seismic performance of the optimized inter‐story isolation systems. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Optimal cost‐effective topology of column bearings for reducing vertical acceleration demands in multistory base‐isolated buildings

Base‐isolation is regarded as one of the most effective methods for protecting the structural and nonstructural building elements from design level horizontal earthquake ground shaking. However, base‐isolation as currently practiced does not offer unlimited protection for these buildings, especially when the ground shaking includes a strong vertical component. The vulnerability of nonstructural systems in a base‐isolated building was made evident during recent shake table testing of a full‐scale five‐story base‐isolated steel moment frame where nonstructural system damage was observed following tests including vertical excitation. Past research efforts have attempted to achieve 3D isolation of buildings and nuclear structures by concentrating both the horizontal and vertical flexibility at the base of the building that are either quite limited or not economically viable. An approach whereby the vertical flexibility is distributed up the height of the building superstructure to passively reduce vertical acceleration demands in base‐isolated buildings is presented. The vertical flexibility is achieved by placing laterally restrained elastomeric ‘column’ bearings at one or more floor levels along the height of the building. To broadly investigate the efficacy of the vertically distributed flexibility concept and the trade‐off between mitigation and cost, a multi‐objective optimization study was conducted considering 3‐story, 9‐story, and 20‐story archetype buildings that aimed to minimize the median peak vertical floor acceleration demands and to minimize the direct cost of column bearings. Based on the results of the optimization study, a practical rule for determining the number of levels and locations of column bearings is proposed and evaluated. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Seismic evaluation of 1940s asymmetric wood‐frame building using conventional measurements and high‐definition laser scanning

This study presents results from shake table experiments of a wood‐frame building conducted at the University of California, Berkeley. A 13.5‐ft × 19.5‐ft two‐story wood‐frame building representing San Francisco 1940s design of a residential building with a garage space on the first story (house‐over‐garage) was tested. The test building was subjected to scaled ground motion based on Los Gatos record from Loma Prieta 1989 earthquake. The strong motion time history was scaled to match design spectra of a site in Richmond district of San Francisco. The test results demonstrated the seismic vulnerability of the test building due to soft story mechanism and significant twisting when shaken in two horizontal directions. In addition to conventional instrumentation for measuring acceleration and position of selected points of the test building, high‐definition laser scanning technology was employed to assess global and local anomalies of the building after the shake table tests. The analysis conducted in this study showed very good correlation between conventional data recorded from position transducers and the laser scans. These laser scans expanded limits of conventional data at discrete points and allowed analyzing the whole building after shaking. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effects of torsion on the behavior of peripheral steel‐braced frame systems

In this study, the torsional response of buildings with peripheral steel‐braced frame lateral systems is evaluated. A three‐dimensional model of a three story braced frame with various levels of eccentricity is created and the effects of torsion on the seismic response is assessed for four hazard levels. The response history analysis results indicate that, unlike frame structures, the torsional amplifications in the inelastic systems exceed those of corresponding elastic systems and tend to increase with an increase in the level of inelasticity. The ability of two simplified procedures, elastic response spectrum analysis and pushover analysis, to capture the torsional amplifications in steel‐braced frames is evaluated. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Appropriate viscous damping for nonlinear time‐history analysis of base‐isolated reinforced concrete buildings

There is no consensus at the present time regarding an appropriate approach to model viscous damping in nonlinear time‐history analysis of base‐isolated buildings because of uncertainties associated with quantification of energy dissipation. Therefore, in this study, the effects of modeling viscous damping on the response of base‐isolated reinforced concrete buildings subjected to earthquake ground motions are investigated. The test results of a reduced‐scale three‐story building previously tested on a shaking table are compared with three‐dimensional finite element simulation results. The study is primarily focused on nonlinear direct‐integration time‐history analysis, where many different approaches of modeling viscous damping, developed within the framework of Rayleigh damping are considered. Nonlinear direct‐integration time‐history analysis results reveal that the damping ratio as well as the approach used to model damping has significant effects on the response, and quite importantly, a damping ratio of 1% is more appropriate in simulating the response than a damping ratio of 5%. It is shown that stiffness‐proportional damping, where the coefficient multiplying the stiffness matrix is calculated from the frequency of the base‐isolated building with the post‐elastic stiffness of the isolation system, provides reasonable estimates of the peak response indicators, in addition to being able to capture the frequency content of the response very well. Furthermore, nonlinear modal time‐history analyses using constant as well as frequency‐dependent modal damping are also performed for comparison purposes. It was found that for nonlinear modal time‐history analysis, frequency‐dependent damping, where zero damping is assigned to the frequencies below the fundamental frequency of the superstructure for a fixed‐base condition and 5% damping is assigned to all other frequencies, is more appropriate, than 5% constant damping. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Studies on seismic reduction of story‐incresed buildings with friction layer and energy‐dissipated devices

A new type of energy‐dissipated structural system for existing buildings with story‐increased frames is presented and investigated in this paper. In this system the sliding‐friction layer between the lowest increased floor of the outer frame structure and the roof of the original building is applied, and energy‐dissipated dampers are used for the connections between the columns of the outer frame and each floor of the original building. A shaking table test is performed on the model of the system and the simplified structural model of this system is given. The theory of the non‐classical damping approach is introduced to the calculation analyses and compared with test results. The results show that friction and energy‐dissipated devices are very effective in reducing the seismic response and dissipating the input energy of the model structure. Finally, the design scheme and dynamic time‐history analyses of an existing engineering project are investigated to illustrate the application and advantages of the given method. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Seismic analysis of two‐way asymmetric building systems under bi‐directional seismic ground motions

An approximation approach of seismic analysis of two‐way asymmetric building systems under bi‐directional seismic ground motions is proposed. The procedures of uncoupled modal response history analysis (UMRHA) are extended to two‐way asymmetric buildings simultaneously excited by two horizontal components of ground motion. Constructing the relationships of two‐way base shears versus two‐way roof translations and base torque versus roof rotation in ADRS format for a two‐way asymmetric building, each modal pushover curve bifurcates into three curves in an inelastic state. A three‐degree‐of‐freedom (3DOF) modal stick is developed to simulate the modal pushover curve with the stated bifurcating characteristic. It requires the calculation of the synthetic earthquake and angle β. It is confirmed that the 3DOF modal stick is consistent with single‐degree‐of‐freedom modal stick in an elastic state. A two‐way asymmetric three‐story building was analyzed by UMRHA procedure incorporating the proposed 3DOF modal sticks. The analytical results are compared with those obtained from nonlinear response history analysis. It is shown that the 3DOF modal sticks are more rational and effective in dealing with the assessment of two‐way asymmetric building systems under two‐directional seismic ground motions. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An improvement to linear‐elastic procedures for seismic performance assessment

An improved linear‐elastic analysis procedure is developed in this paper as a simple approximate method for displacement‐based seismic assessment of the existing buildings. The procedure is mainly based on reducing the stiffness of structural members that are expected to respond in the inelastic range in a single global iteration step. Modal spectral displacement demands are determined from the equal displacement rule. Response predictions obtained from the proposed procedure are evaluated comparatively by using the results of benchmark nonlinear response history analysis, and both the conventional and the multi‐mode pushover analyses. In comparative evaluations, a twelve‐story RC plane frame and a six‐story unsymmetrical‐plan RC frame are employed by using 91 ground motion components. It is observed that the proposed procedure estimates the flexural deformation demands in deformation‐controlled members and the shear forces in force‐controlled members with reasonable accuracy. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The cause of unproportionately large higher mode contributions in the inelastic seismic responses of high‐rise core‐wall buildings

In the conventional seismic design of high‐rise reinforced concrete core‐wall buildings, the design demands such as design shear and bending moment in the core wall are typically determined by the response spectrum analysis procedure, and a plastic hinge is allowed to form at the wall base to limit the seismic demands. In this study, it is demonstrated by using a 40‐story core‐wall building that this conventional approach could lead to an unsafe design where the true demands—the maximum inelastic seismic demands induced by the maximum considered earthquake—could be several times greater than the design demands and be unproportionately dominated by higher vibration modes. To identify the cause of this problem, the true demands are decomposed into individual modal contributions by using the uncoupled modal response history analysis procedure. The results show that the true demands contributed by the first mode are reasonably close to the first‐mode design demands, while those contributed by other higher modes are much higher than the corresponding modal design demands. The flexural yielding in the plastic hinge at the wall base can effectively suppress the seismic demands of the first mode. For other higher modes, however, a similar yielding mechanism is either not fully mobilized or not mobilized at all, resulting in unexpectedly large contributions from higher modes. This finding suggests several possible approaches to improve the seismic design and to suppress the seismic demands of high‐rise core‐wall buildings. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Shake table testing of un‐reinforced brick masonry building test model isolated by U‐FREI

This paper presents a detailed study on feasibility of un‐bonded fiber reinforced elastomeric isolator (U‐FREI) as an alternative to steel reinforced elastomeric isolator (SREI) for seismic isolation of un‐reinforced masonry buildings. Un‐reinforced masonry buildings are inherently vulnerable under seismic excitation, and U‐FREIs are used for seismic isolation of such buildings in the present study. Shake table testing of a base isolated two storey un‐reinforced masonry building model subjected to four prescribed input excitations is carried out to ascertain its effectiveness in controlling seismic response. To compare the performance of U‐FREI, same building is placed directly on the shake table without isolator, and fixed base (FB) condition is simulated by restraining the base of the building with the shake table. Dynamic response characteristic of base isolated (BI) masonry building subjected to different intensities of input earthquakes is compared with the response of the same building without base isolation system. Acceleration response amplification and peak response values of test model with and without base isolation system are compared for different intensities of table acceleration. Distribution of shear forces and moment along the height of the structure and response time histories indicates significant reduction of dynamic responses of the structure with U‐FREI system. This study clearly demonstrates the improved seismic performance of un‐reinforced masonry building model supported on U‐FREIs under the action of considered ground motions. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Seismic response of a case study soft story frame retrofitted using a GIB system

This paper presents results from a numerical investigation into the seismic retrofit of a soft story frame using a novel gapped‐inclined brace (GIB) system. The GIB system consists of a pinned brace and a gap element that is added to the first story columns of the frame. The inclusion of GIB elements in addition to increasing the lateral capacity of columns at the first story increases the post‐yield stiffness ratio of the system and reduces the P‐delta effects on the columns, while not increasing the first story lateral resistance or stiffness. This allows for the isolating benefits of the soft story to protect the upper floors of the structure from damage while avoiding excessive deformations and reducing the propensity for collapse. A six‐story RC frame with masonry infills on all floors except for the first floor is studied. The dynamic response of the retrofitted building using the GIB system is investigated numerically and is compared with the response of the original un‐retrofitted building and the same building in which masonry infills are added to the first story to mitigate the soft story response. Results from the nonlinear time‐history analyses indicate that the GIB system could provide a reliable seismic retrofit mechanism for soft story buildings, which greatly reduces the likelihood of collapse by increasing the displacement capacity of the soft storey and by reducing P‐delta effects, while minimizing the overall damage and losses in the building by taking advantages of the isolation that is provided by the soft story to the rest of the structure located above. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Performance of base‐isolated reinforced concrete buildings under bidirectional seismic excitation considering pounding with retaining walls including friction effects

Seismic pounding of base‐isolated buildings has been mostly studied in the past assuming unidirectional excitation. Therefore, in this study, the effects of seismic pounding on the response of base‐isolated reinforced concrete buildings under bidirectional excitation are investigated. For this purpose, a three‐dimensional finite element model of a code‐compliant four‐story building is considered, where a newly developed contact element that accounts for friction and is capable of simulating pounding with retaining walls at the base, is used. Nonlinear behavior of the superstructure as well as the isolation system is considered. The performance of the building is evaluated separately for far‐fault non‐pulse‐like ground motions and near‐fault pulse‐like ground motions, which are weighted scaled to represent two levels of shaking viz. the design earthquake (DE) level and the risk‐targeted maximum considered earthquake (MCE_R) level. Nonlinear time‐history analyses are carried out considering lower bound as well as upper bound properties of isolators. The influence of separation distance between the building and the retaining walls at the base is also investigated. It is found that if pounding is avoided, the performance of the building is satisfactory in terms of limiting structural and nonstructural damage, under DE‐level motions and MCE_R‐level far‐fault motions, whereas unacceptably large demands are imposed by MCE_R‐level near‐fault motions. In the case of seismic pounding, MCE_R‐level near‐fault motions are found to be detrimental, where the effect of pounding is mostly concentrated at the first story. In addition, it is determined that considering unidirectional excitation instead of bidirectional excitation for MCE_R‐level near‐fault motions provides highly unconservative estimates of superstructure demands. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Improved performance‐based seismic assessment of buildings by utilizing Bayesian statistics

This paper addresses two important issues of concern to practicing engineers and researchers alike in application of performance‐based seismic assessment (PBSA) methodology on buildings: (i) the number of ground motion records required to exercise PBSA—current practice (FEMA P‐58‐1) requires eleven or more pairs of motions for this purpose, and (ii) the time and effort associated with performing the number of nonlinear response history analyses required to exercise PBSA. We present a method for exercising of PBSA that employs classical linear modal analysis to develop a first estimate (i.e., a priori) of probability distribution of loss, followed by utilizing Bayesian statistics to update this estimate using estimates of loss obtained by utilizing a small number of nonlinear response history analyses of a detailed model of the building (i.e., posterior). The proposed technique is used to assess the distribution of monetary loss of two case studies, a 4‐story reinforced concrete moment‐resisting frame building and a 20‐story steel moment‐resisting frame building, both located in Los Angeles, for a ground motion hazard with 10% probability of exceedance in 50 years. The efficiency of the proposed PBSA method is demonstrated by showing the similarity between the distribution of monetary loss at each story of case study buildings obtained from the traditional/sophisticated PBSA methodology and the proposed PBSA method in this study. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Uniform hazard versus uniform risk bases for performance‐based earthquake engineering of light‐frame wood construction

This paper investigates the implications of designing for uniform hazard versus uniform risk for light‐frame wood residential construction subjected to earthquakes in the United States. Using simple structural models of one‐story residences with typical lateral force‐resisting systems (shear walls) found in buildings in western, eastern and central regions of the United States as illustrations, the seismic demands are determined using nonlinear dynamic time‐history analyses, whereas the collapse capacities are determined using incremental dynamic analyses. The probabilities of collapse, conditioned on the occurrence of the maximum considered earthquakes and design earthquakes stipulated in ASCE Standard 7‐05, and the collapse margins of these typical residential structures are compared for typical construction practices in different regions in the United States. The calculated collapse inter‐story drifts are compared with the limits stipulated in FEMA 356/ASCE Standard 41‐06 and observed in the recent experimental testing. The results of this study provide insights into residential building risk assessment and the relation between building seismic performance implied by the current earthquake‐resistant design and construction practices and performance levels in performance‐based engineering of light‐frame wood construction being considered by the SEI/ASCE committee on reliability‐based design of wood structures. Further code developments are necessary to achieve the goal of uniform risk in earthquake‐resistant residential construction. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Damage detection of base‐isolated buildings using multi‐input multi‐output subspace identification

A damage detection algorithm of structural health monitoring systems for base‐isolated buildings is proposed. The algorithm consists of the multiple‐input multiple‐output subspace identification method and the complex modal analysis. The algorithm is applicable to linear and non‐linear systems. The story stiffness and damping as damage indices of a shear structure are identified by the algorithm. The algorithm is further tuned for base‐isolated buildings considering their unique dynamic characteristics by simplifying the systems to single‐degree‐of‐freedom systems. The isolation layer and the superstructure of a base‐isolated building are treated as separate substructures as they are distinctly different in their dynamic properties. The effectiveness of the algorithm is evaluated through the numerical analysis and experiment. Finally, the algorithm is applied to the existing 7‐story base‐isolated building that is equipped with an Internet‐based monitoring system. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Inelastic response of RC frame buildings with seismic isolation

A comprehensive parametric study on the inelastic seismic response of seismically isolated RC frame buildings, designed for gravity loads only, is presented. Four building prototypes, with 23 m × 10 m floor plan dimensions and number of storeys ranging from 2 to 8, are considered. All the buildings present internal resistant frames in one direction only, identified as the strong direction of the building. In the orthogonal weak direction, the buildings present outer resistant frames only, with infilled masonry panels. This structural configuration is typical of many existing RC buildings, realized in Italy and other European countries in the 60s and 70s. The parametric study is based on the results of extensive nonlinear response‐time history analyses of 2‐DOF systems, using a set of seven artificial and natural seismic ground motions. In the parametric study, buildings with strength ratio (F_y/W) ranging from 0.03 to 0.15 and post‐yield stiffness ratio ranging from 0% to 6% are examined. Three different types of isolation systems are considered, that is, high damping rubber bearings, lead rubber bearings and friction pendulum bearings. The isolation systems have been designed accepting the occurrence of plastic hinges in the superstructure during the design earthquake. The nonlinear response‐time history analyses results show that structures with seismic isolation experience fewer inelastic cycles compared with fixed‐base structures. As a consequence, although limited plastic deformations can be accepted, the collapse limit state of seismically isolated structures should be based on the lateral capacity of the superstructure without significant reliance on its inherent hysteretic damping or ductility capacity. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Evaluation of Rayleigh damping and its influence on engineering demand parameter estimates

The effects of Rayleigh damping model on the engineering demand parameters of two steel moment‐resisting frame buildings were evaluated. Two‐dimensional models of the buildings were created and response history analysis were conducted for three different hazard levels. The response history analysis results indicate that mass‐proportional damping leads to high damping forces compared with restoring forces and may lead to overestimation of floor acceleration demands for both buildings. Stiffness‐proportional damping, on the other hand, is observed to suppress the higher‐mode effects in the nine‐story building resulting in lower story drift demands in the upper floors compared with other damping models. Rayleigh damping models, which combine mass‐proportional and stiffness‐proportional components, that are anchored at reduced modal frequencies lead to reasonable damping forces and floor acceleration demands for both buildings and does not suppress higher‐mode effects in the nine‐story building. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Probabilistic collapse resistance and residual drift assessment of buildings with fluidic self‐centering systems

The seismic performance of three‐ and six‐story buildings with fluidic self‐centering system is probabilistically assessed. The fluidic self‐centering systems consist of devices that are based on the technology of fluid viscous dampers but built in a way that pressurization of the devices results in preload that is explored to reduce or eliminate residual drift. The design of these buildings followed a procedure that parallels the design for structures with damping systems in ASCE 7 but modified to include the preload effect. Reference conventional buildings were also designed per ASCE 7 for comparison. These buildings were then analyzed to examine and compare their seismic collapse resistance and residual drift, where the residual drift limits of 0.2, 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0% of story height were selected as important thresholds. The study further calculated the mean annual frequency of collapse and corresponding exceedance probability over 50 years, and the mean annual frequency of exceeding the threshold residual story drift limits and the corresponding exceedance probability over 50 years. Variations in the design procedures by considering increased displacement capacity or damping or preload of the devices, different types of damping, increased ultimate strength of the self‐centering device–brace systems and increased frame strength were considered. It was found that increasing either the ultimate force capacity of the self‐centering device–brace system or the frame strength results in important improvements in the collapse resistance and in minimizing residual drift, whereas the variation of other design parameters has minor effects. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.