Dual‐Level Approach for Seismic Design of Asymmetric‐Plan Buildings

Abstract

Buildings should be designed to resist moderate ground motion without structural damage and resist intense ground motion with controlled damage. However, most codes do not consider both these requirements explicitly and specify a single design earthquake that generally corresponds to intense ground motion. Investigated in this study is the response of one‐story, asymmetric‐plan systems designed according to torsional provisions of seismic codes to the two levels of ground motions with the objective of evaluating whether such systems satisfy these requirements. The presented results demonstrate that such systems may not remain elastic during moderate ground motion resulting in structural damage and may experience ductility demand in excess of the design ductility, causing excessive damage during intense ground motion. Therefore, the dual‐design approach, proposed earlier for symmetric‐plan systems, is extended to asymmetric‐plan systems. In this approach, the design earthquakes and the design eccentricitie...