| Earthquakes and Structures Volume 9, Number 2, August 2015, pages 353-373 DOI: https://doi.org/10.12989/eas.2015.9.2.353 | |
Seismic evaluation of vertically irregular building frames
with stiffness, strength, combined-stiffness-and-strength
and mass irregularities | |
Moosa Ebrahimi Nezhad and Mehdi Poursha
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| Abstract [Buy Article] | |
| In this paper, the effects of different types of irregularity along the height on the seismic responses of moment resisting frames are investigated using nonlinear dynamic analysis. Furthermore, the applicability of consecutive modal pushover (CMP) procedure for computing the seismic demands of vertically irregular frames is studied and the advantages and limitations of the procedure are elaborated. For this purpose, a special moment resisting steel frame of 10-storey height was selected as reference regular frame for which the effect of higher modes is important. Forty vertically irregular frames with stiffness, strength, combined-stiffness-and-strength and mass irregularities are created by applying two modification factors (MF=2 and 4) in four different locations along the height of the reference frame. Seismic demands of irregular frames are computed by using the nonlinear response history analysis (NL-RHA) and CMP procedure. Modal pushover analysis (MPA) method is also carried out for the sake of comparison. The effect of different types of irregularity along the height on the seismic demands of vertically irregular frames is investigated by studying the results obtained from the NL-RHA. To demonstrate the accuracy of the enhanced pushover analysis methods, the results derived from the CMP and MPA are compared with those obtained by benchmark solution, i.e., NL-RHA. The results show that the CMP and MPA methods can accurately compute the seismic demands of vertically irregular buildings. The methods may be, however, less accurate especially in estimating plastic hinge rotations for weak or weak-and-soft top and middle storeys of vertically irregular frames. | |
| Key Words | |
| vertically irregular frame; stiffness irregularity; strength irregularity; combined-stiffness-and-strength irregularity; mass irregularity; nonlinear response history analysis (NL-RHA); consecutive modal pushover analysis | |
| Address | |
| Moosa Ebrahimi Nezhad and Mehdi Poursha: Faculty of Civil Engineering, Sahand University of Technology, Tabriz, Iran | |
