Transient and permanent shear strains in a building excited by strong earthquake pulses

Nonlinear waves in a building with bi-linear constitutive law are described for excitation by vertically propagating S-wave pulses. Conditions that lead to the nonlinear deformation are described in terms of dimensionless amplitudes and wavelengths of these pulses. It is shown that a building can fail during the first passage of the incident wave (during a time shorter than the travel time from the bottom to the top of the building). Peak amplitudes of (1) transient strains, (2) permanent strains, and (3) the peak ductility in the building are described in terms of (a) the amplitudes of incident pulses and (b) the places where the pulses occur in the building.