Structural performance assessment under near‐source pulse‐like ground motions using advanced ground motion intensity measures

This paper demonstrates the effectiveness of utilizing advanced ground motion intensity measures (IMs) to evaluate the seismic performance of a structure subject to near‐source ground motions. Ordinary records are, in addition, utilized to demonstrate the robustness of the advanced IM with respect to record selection and scaling. To perform nonlinear dynamic analyses (NDAs), ground motions need to be selected; as a result, choosing records that are not representative of the site hazard can alter the seismic performance of structures. The median collapse capacity (in terms of IM), for example, can be systematically dictated by including a few aggressive or benign pulse‐like records into the record set used for analyses. In this paper, the elastic‐based IM such as the pseudo‐spectral acceleration (S_a) or a vector of S_a and epsilon has been demonstrated to be deficient to assess the structural responses subject to pulse‐like motions. Using advanced IMs can be, however, more accurate in terms of probabilistic response prediction. Scaling earthquake records using advanced IMs (e.g. inelastic spectral displacement, S_di, and IM _1I&2E; the latter is for the significant higher‐mode contribution structures) subject to ordinary and/or pulse‐like records is efficient, sufficient, and robust relative to record selection and scaling. As a result, detailed record selection is not necessary, and records with virtually any magnitude, distance, epsilon and pulse period can be selected for NDAs. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A probabilistic performance‐based approach for mitigating the seismic pounding risk between adjacent buildings

Existing design procedures for determining the separation distance between adjacent buildings subjected to seismic pounding risk are based on approximations of the buildings' peak relative displacement. These procedures are characterized by unknown safety levels and thus are not suitable for use within a performance‐based earthquake engineering framework. This paper introduces an innovative reliability‐based methodology for the design of the separation distance between adjacent buildings. The proposed methodology, which is naturally integrated into modern performance‐based design procedures, provides the value of the separation distance corresponding to a target probability of pounding during the design life of the buildings. It recasts the inverse reliability problem of the determination of the design separation distance as a zero‐finding problem and involves the use of analytical techniques in order to evaluate the statistics of the dynamic response of the buildings. Both uncertainty in the seismic intensity and record‐to‐record variability are taken into account. The proposed methodology is applied to several different buildings modeled as linear elastic single‐degree‐of‐freedom (SDOF) and multi‐degree‐of‐freedom (MDOF) systems, as well as SDOF nonlinear hysteretic systems. The design separation distances obtained are compared with the corresponding estimates that are based on several response combination rules suggested in the seismic design codes and in the literature. In contrast to current seismic code design procedures, the newly proposed methodology provides consistent safety levels for different building properties and different seismic hazard conditions. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Probability analysis of seismic pounding of adjacent buildings

The need to investigate the level of seismic pounding risk of buildings is apparent in future building code calibrations. In order to provide further insight into the pounding risk of adjacent buildings, this study develops a numerical simulation approach to estimate the seismic pounding risk of adjacent buildings separated by a minimum code‐specified separation distance during a certain period of time. It has been demonstrated that the period ratio of adjacent buildings is an important parameter that affects the pounding risk of adjacent buildings. However, there is no specific consideration for the period ratio in the related seismic pounding provisions of the 1997 Uniform Building Code. Results also reveal that, for two adjacent buildings, the probability distribution of required distance to avoid seismic pounding fits very well with the type I extreme value distribution. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Earthquake induced pounding between adjacent buildings considering soil-structure interaction

Many closely located adjacent buildings have suffered from pounding during past earthquakes because they vibrated out of phase.Furthermore,buildings are usually constructed on soil;hence,there are interactions between the buildings and the underlying soil that should also be considered.This paper examines both the interaction between adjacent buildings due to pounding and the interaction between the buildings through the soil as they affect the buildings’ seismic responses.The developed model consists of adjacent shear buildings resting on a discrete soil model and a linear viscoelastic contact force model that connects the buildings during pounding.The seismic responses of adjacent buildings due to ground accelerations are obtained for two conditions:fixed-based(FB) and structure-soil-structure interaction(SSSI).The results indicate that pounding worsens the buildings’ condition because their seismic responses are amplified after pounding.Moreover,the underlying soil negatively impacts the buildings’ seismic responses during pounding because the ratio of their seismic response under SSSI conditions with pounding to those without pounding is greater than that of the FB condition.     

A simulation‐based framework for risk assessment and probabilistic sensitivity analysis of base‐isolated structures

A versatile, simulation‐based framework for risk assessment and probabilistic sensitivity analysis of base‐isolated structures is discussed in this work. A probabilistic foundation is used to address the various sources of uncertainties, either excitation or structural, and to characterize seismic risk. This risk is given, in this stochastic setting, by some statistics of the system response over the adopted probability models and stochastic simulation is implemented for its evaluation. An efficient, sampling‐based approach is also introduced for establishing a probabilistic sensitivity analysis to identify the importance of each of the uncertain model parameters in affecting the overall risk. This framework facilitates use of complex models for the structural system and the excitation. The adopted structural model explicitly addresses nonlinear characteristics of the isolators and of any supplemental dampers, and the effect of seismic pounding of the base to the surrounding retaining walls. An efficient stochastic ground motion model is also discussed for characterizing future near‐fault ground motions and relating them to the seismic hazard for the structural site. An illustrative example is presented that emphasizes the results from the novel probabilistic sensitivity analysis and their dependence on seismic pounding occurrences and on addition of supplemental dampers. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Relative displacement response spectra with pounding effect

To avoid unseating of a deck, an adequate seat width must be provided. The seat width is basically determined from maximum relative displacement between two bridge segments. Under a strong ground excitation, pounding between two decks may occur at a joint. The pounding will affect the response of two bridge segments. This research is conducted to investigate the effect of pounding on the relative displacement between two adjacent bridge segments. A simplified analytical model of two linear single‐degree‐of‐freedom systems is employed. To take into account the pounding, the laws of conservation of momentum and energy are applied. The analytical results are represented in the form of relative displacement response spectra with pounding effect. It is found that due to the pounding the relative displacement can be amplified, resulting in the requirement of a longer seat width to support a deck. The formulation of normalized relative displacement response spectra is presented together with an application example. It is found that the seat width determined from the relative displacement response spectra with pounding effect becomes close to the value specified in the Japanese design specifications for structures with large difference of natural periods. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Damage‐based seismic planar pounding analysis of adjacent symmetric buildings considering inelastic structure–soil–structure interaction

In cities and urban areas, building structures located at close proximities inevitably interact under dynamic loading by direct pounding and indirectly through the underlying soil. Majority of the previous adjacent building pounding studies that have taken the structure–soil–structure interaction (SSSI) problem into account have used simple lumped mass–spring–dashpot models under plane strain conditions. In this research, the problem of SSSI‐included pounding problem of two adjacent symmetric in plan buildings resting on a soft soil profile excited by uniaxial earthquake loadings is investigated. To this end, a series of SSSI models considering one‐directional nonlinear impact elements between adjacent co‐planar stories and using a method for direct finite element modeling of 3D inelastic underlying soil volume has been developed to accurately study the problem. An advanced inelastic structural behavior parameter, the seismic damage index, has been considered in this study as the key nonlinear structural response of adjacent buildings. Based on the results of SSSI and fixed base case analyses presented herein, two main problems are investigated, namely, the minimum building separation distance for pounding prevention and seismic pounding effects on structural damage in adjacent buildings. The final results show that at least three times, the International Building Code 2009 minimum distance for building separation recommended value is required as a clear distance for adjacent symmetric buildings to prevent the occurrence of seismic pounding. At the International Building Code‐recommended distance, adjacent buildings experienced severe seismic pounding and therefore significant variations in storey shear forces and damage indices. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Relaxation method for pounding action between adjacent buildings at expansion joint

Earthquake‐induced structural pounding frequently causes serious damage to buildings, particularly at the expansion joint (hereafter, EXPJ) between adjacent buildings. Because the EXPJ width in existing reinforced concrete buildings is usually very small, typically about 5 cm for school buildings in Japan, collision avoidance cannot be achieved by seismic retrofitting. This paper presents an experimental investigation into an effective method for reducing severe structural damage due to pounding at the EXPJ between narrowly separated buildings. The method involves inserting a shock‐absorbing material such as rubber into the EXPJ gap. The efficiency of the proposed method is evaluated by laboratory shaking tests using two model buildings. Furthermore, a lumped mass model is used to carry out a collision analysis in order to numerically investigate the influence of such a shock‐absorbing material. Both the numerical and experimental results confirm the effectiveness of the proposed approach. The validity of the proposed method is also demonstrated by numerical simulation of adjacent 10‐story steel buildings with an EXPJ width of 5 cm. The force, acceleration and velocity produced by earthquake‐induced structural pounding are found to be remarkably mitigated by inserting a soft shock‐absorbing material into the EXPJ gap. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Spatial seismic modeling of base‐isolated buildings pounding against moat walls: effects of ground motion directionality and mass eccentricity

Structural impact between adjacent buildings may induce local and, in some extreme cases, severe damage, especially in the case of seismically isolated buildings. This study parametrically investigates in the three‐dimensional domain the effect of pounding on the peak response of base‐isolated buildings, which are simulated as nonlinear three‐dimensional multi‐degree‐of‐freedom systems. Firstly, it is shown that considering unidirectional, instead of bidirectional, excitations may lead to underestimation of the base drift demands. Subsequently, the peak responses of seismically isolated buildings utilizing lead rubber bearings are studied while varying important parameters, such as the incidence angle of seismic excitations, the available seismic clearance, and mass eccentricities, under the action of bidirectional horizontal excitations. A large number of numerical simulations are performed using a specially developed software that implements an efficient approach to model impacts, taking into account arbitrary locations of contact points. It is found that the peak interstory drift ratio is significantly influenced by the directionality of the ground motion. Therefore, the seismic performance of structures should ideally be assessed examining the peak structural response while bidirectional ground motions are imposed at various incident angles. Furthermore, it is also observed that the interstory drift ratios increase while decreasing the available gap size, up to a certain value. Finally, the parametric analyses indicate that the effects of impact are more severe for structures with mass eccentricities, and in which case, the estimation of the critical incidence angle becomes more laborious. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Mitigation measures for earthquake induced pounding effects on seismic performance of adjacent buildings

Post-earthquake damages investigation in past and recent earthquakes has illustrated that the building structures are vulnerable to severe damage and/or collapse during moderate to strong ground motion. Among the possible structural damages, seismic induced pounding has been commonly observed in several earthquakes. A parametric study on buildings pounding response as well as proper seismic hazard mitigation practice for adjacent buildings is carried out. Three categories of recorded earthquake excitation are used for input excitations. The effect of impact is studied using linear and nonlinear contact force model for different separation distances and compared with nominal model without pounding consideration. The severity of the impact depends on the dynamic characteristics of the adjacent buildings in combination with the earthquake characteristics. Pounding produces acceleration and shear forces/stresses at various story levels that are greater than those obtained from the no pounding case, while the peak drift depends on the input excitation characteristics. Also, increasing gap width is likely to be effective when the separation is sufficiently wide to eliminate contact. Furthermore, it is effective to provide a shock absorber device system for the mitigation of impact effects between adjacent buildings with relatively narrow seismic gaps, where the sudden changes of stiffness during poundings can be smoothed. This prevents, to some extent, the acceleration peaks due to impact. The pounding forces exerted on the adjacent buildings can be satisfactorily reduced.     

An efficient methodology for simulating earthquake‐induced 3D pounding of buildings

The current paper presents an efficient methodology for numerically simulating in three dimensions adjacent buildings that may experience pounding during strong earthquakes. In particular, a new approach to the numerical problem of spatial impact modeling that does not require the ‘a priori’ determination of the contact points is presented, taking also into account the geometry at the vicinity of an impact. In the current study, the buildings are simulated as linear multi‐degree‐of‐freedom‐systems, but the methodology can be easily extended to consider nonlinear behavior as well. A software application has been specifically developed to implement the proposed methodology, using modern object‐oriented design and programming. The developed software is utilized in a simple example, and the computed results are compared with the corresponding analysis results obtained from a commercial general‐purpose software application that uses typical contact elements for the simulation of impacts. A discussion follows on the advantages and capabilities of the proposed methodology and the developed software. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Dimensional analysis of earthquake-induced pounding between adjacent inelastic MDOF buildings

In this study the seismic pounding response of adjacent multi-degree-of-freedom(MDOF) buildings with bilinear inter-story resistance characteristics is investigated through dimensional analysis. The application of dimensional analysis leads to a condensed presentation of the response, and the remarkable self-similarity property for bilinear MDOF buildings with inelastic collision is uncovered. It is shown that when the response is expressed in the appropriate dimensionless form, response spectra for any intensity of the excitation collapse to a single master curve. The reduced Π set explicitly describes the interaction between the colliding structures. The effect of pounding on the MDOF building's response is illustrated using three well-divided spectral regions(amplifi ed, de-amplifi ed and unaffected regions). Parametric studies are conducted to investigate the effects of the story stiffness of structures, the story stiffness ratio and mass ratio of adjacent buildings, the structural inelastic characteristics and the gap size values. Results show that(i) the infl uence of system stiffness ratio to the lighter and more fl exible building is more signifi cant in the fi rst spectral region, where the maximum response of the building is amplifi ed because of pounding; and(ii) the velocity and pounding force of the heavier and stiffer building is unexpectedly sensitive to the mass ratio of adjacent buildings.     

Evaluation of a recently proposed record selection and scaling procedure for low‐rise to mid‐rise reinforced concrete buildings and its use for probabilistic risk assessment studies

This paper evaluates a recent record selection and scaling procedure of the authors that can determine the probabilistic structural response of buildings behaving either in the elastic or post‐elastic range. This feature marks a significant strength on the procedure as the probabilistic structural response distribution conveys important information on probability‐based damage assessment. The paper presents case studies that show the utilization of the proposed record selection and scaling procedure as a tool for the estimation of damage states and derivation of site‐specific and region‐specific fragility functions. The method can be used to describe exceedance probabilities of damage limits under a certain target hazard level with known annual exceedance rate (via probabilistic seismic hazard assessment). Thus, the resulting fragility models can relate the seismicity of the region (or a site) with the resulting building performance in a more accurate manner. Under this context, this simple and computationally efficient record selection and scaling procedure can be benefitted significantly by probability‐based risk assessment methods that have started to be considered as indispensable for developing robust earthquake loss models. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On poundings of a seismically isolated building with adjacent structures during strong earthquakes

This paper presents selected indicative results from an extensive parametric investigation that has been performed in order to assess the effects of potential earthquake‐induced poundings on the overall dynamic response of seismically isolated buildings. In particular, a seismically isolated building and its adjacent fixed‐supported buildings are subjected to various earthquake excitations that induce structural impact among the buildings in series. The results indicate that the seismically isolated building may hit against the adjacent buildings at the upper floor levels before the occurrence of any pounding at the isolation level with the surrounding moat wall. The severity of the impact depends on the dynamic properties of the adjacent buildings, in combination with the earthquake characteristics. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Use of a shared tuned mass damper (STMD) to reduce vibration and pounding in adjacent structures

The dynamic response of tall civil structures due to earthquakes is very important to civil engineers. Structures exposed to earthquakes experience vibrations that are detrimental to their structural components. Structural pounding is an additional problem that occurs when buildings experience earthquake excitation. This phenomena occurs when adjacent structures collide from their out‐of‐phase vibrations. Many energy dissipation devices are presently being used to reduce the system response. Tuned mass dampers (TMD) are commonly used to improve the response of structures. The stiffness and damping properties of the TMD are designed to be a function of the natural frequency of the building to which it is connected. This research involves attaching adjacent structures with a shared tuned mass damper (STMD) to reduce both the structures vibration and probability of pounding. Because the STMD is connected to both buildings, the problem of tuning the STMD stiffness and damping parameters becomes an issue. A design procedure utilizing a performance function is used to obtain the STMD parameters to result in the best overall system response. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Pounding of structures modelled as non‐linear impacts of two oscillators

A new formulation is proposed to model pounding between two adjacent structures, with natural periods T₁ and T₂ and damping ratios ζ₁ and ζ₂ under harmonic earthquake excitation, as non‐linear Hertzian impact between two single‐degree‐of‐freedom oscillators. For the case of rigid impacts, a special case of our analytical solution has been given by Davis (‘Pounding of buildings modelled by an impact oscillator’ Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics, 1992; 21 :253–274) for an oscillator pounding on a stationary barrier. Our analytical predictions for rigid impacts agree qualitatively with our numerical simulations for non‐rigid impacts. When the difference in natural periods between the two oscillators increases, the impact velocity also increases drastically. The impact velocity spectrum is, however, relatively insensitive to the standoff distance. The maximum relative impact velocity of the coupled system can occur at an excitation period T_n^* which is either between those of the two oscillators or less than both of them, depending on the ratios T₁/T₂ and ζ₁/ζ₂. Although the pounding force between two oscillators has been primarily modelled by the Hertz contact law, parametric studies show that the maximum relative impact velocity is not very sensitive to changes in the contact parameters. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A Hertz contact model with non‐linear damping for pounding simulation

This paper investigates the cogency of various impact models in capturing the seismic pounding response of adjacent structures. The analytical models considered include the contact force‐based linear spring, Kelvin and Hertz models, and the restitution‐based stereomechanical approach. In addition, a contact model based on the Hertz law and using a non‐linear hysteresis damper (Hertzdamp model) is also introduced for pounding simulation. Simple analytical approaches are presented to determine the impact stiffness parameters of the various contact models. Parameter studies are performed using two degree‐of‐freedom linear oscillators to determine the effects of impact modelling strategy, system period ratio, peak ground acceleration (PGA) and energy loss during impact on the system responses. A suite of 27 ground motion records from 13 different earthquakes is used in the analysis. The results indicate that the system displacements from the stereomechanical, Kelvin and Hertzdamp models are similar for a given coefficient of restitution, despite using different impact methodologies. Pounding increases the responses of the stiffer system, especially for highly out‐of‐phase systems. Energy loss during impact is more significant at higher levels of PGA. Based on the findings, the Hertz model provides adequate results at low PGA levels, and the Hertzdamp model is recommended at moderate and high PGA levels. Copyright © 2006 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.