Effective Gap Size Index for Determination of Optimum Separation Distance Preventing Pounding between Buildings during Earthquakes

Seyed Mohammad Khatami,Seyed Mohammad Nazem Razavi,Natalia Lasowicz,Alireza Mortezaei,Hosein Naderpour,Robert Jankowski

doi:10.3390/app11052322

Abstract

Seismic excitations may lead to collisions between adjacent civil engineering structures, causing major damage. In this paper, an effective equation for calculating the gap size index is proposed so as to provide the optimum separation distance preventing structural pounding during different earthquakes. Evaluation of the best prediction of the required separation distance between two adjacent buildings was carried out by using the lumped mass multi-degrees of freedom models of structures. A special computer program was used to perform dynamic analyses in order to confirm the accuracy of the proposed formula. For this purpose, several different models of buildings with various properties under different earthquake excitations were analyzed. The results of the study clearly show that the proposed formula for the gap size index (based on vibration periods and damping ratios of buildings) is effective and it allows us to calculate the optimum separation between adjacent structures preventing their pounding during different earthquakes.

Highlights

Seismic excitations are often considered as the most dangerous and, at the same time, the most unpredictable loads that can act on civil engineering structures [1,2,3,4]
The aim of this study is to propose an effective equation that can be used to calculate the gap size index ρop based on the building vibration period and damping ratio so as to provide the optimum separation distance that allows us to avoid structural pounding under different earthquakes
The structural considered to considered be fully fixed to the ground and soil–structure interaction effects were effects were to be fully fixed to thethe ground and the soil–structure interaction not taken intonot consideration

Summary

Introduction

Seismic excitations are often considered as the most dangerous and, at the same time, the most unpredictable loads that can act on civil engineering structures [1,2,3,4]. It is a common situation that collisions between two adjacent structures occur during earthquakes [5,6,7]. One of the methods that can be used to avoid such situations is filling the in-between gap by using viscoelastic materials (see [19,20,21]). Another approach is to increase the gap size so as to avoid structural interactions during earthquakes. A number of scientists have focused their studies on different methods devoted to estimation of the sufficient gap that provides the safety zone [22]

Objectives

Methods

Results