Determining Bidirectional Ground Motions for Nonlinear Response History Analysis of Buildings at Far-Field Sites

Abstract

The current practice for selecting bidirectional ground motions (GM pairs) to conduct nonlinear response history analysis (RHA) of multistory buildings is restricted to those with a symmetric plan. To overcome such limitations, we propose selecting GM pairs to be consistent with a pair of target spectra defined along the structural axes, enabling a unique azimuth to be determined for each GM pair. We develop two new target spectra: (1) the s-GCMS for two horizontal components of GM and (2) the CMS-UHS Composite Spectrum. Based on nonlinear RHAs of buildings with both symmetric and unsymmetric plans, the CMS-UHS Composite Spectrum is shown to be the best alternative to the current practice of utilizing multiple CMSs, because it provides accurate demands with minimal computational effort and can be easily constructed using existing PSHA tools.