Evaluation of IBC Equivalent Static Procedure for Base Shear Distribution of Seismic Isolated Structures

Abstract

It has been pointed out that the static lateral response procedure for base isolated structures presented in IBC somewhat overestimates the seismic story force [Lashkari and Kircher, 1993; Constantinou et al., 1993]. In this article IBC equivalent static method for base shear distribution of seismic isolated structures is evaluated. For this purpose one-story to six-story building models are designed according to equivalent lateral response procedure for different elastomeric isolation systems. The results of equivalent lateral response procedure in parameters such as base shear and vertical distribution of base shear are compared with results obtained from dynamic nonlinear analysis and the efficiency and limitations of its application are investigated. In general, the results of equivalent lateral response procedure in base shears are acceptable within the scope of this procedure, but the proposed triangular distribution of base shear is somewhat conservative. So a new formulation for vertical distribution of base shear is proposed which results in a more realistic distribution of shear over the height of isolated buildings. The accuracy of the new formulation is examined by comparing the resulting responses obtained from this study with those calculated by nonlinear time history analysis.