Evaluation of Modal and Traditional Pushover Analyses in Frame-Shear-Wall Structures

Abstract

Nonlinear static analysis (or pushover analysis) has been widely used in the last decade as a simplified and approximate method to evaluate the structural seismic performance and to estimate inelastic structural responses under severe ground motions. However most currently used pushover procedures with invariant lateral load patterns cannot fully reflect the effect of higher-order modes on structural dynamic responses. To overcome such a problem, a so-called Modal Pushover Analysis (MPA) was proposed based on the modal decoupling response spectrum method where the effect of higher modes was considered. To date, most research on MPA has been focused on frame structures. In engineering practice, however, most medium-to high-rise building structures are in the form of frame-shear-wall. Therefore it is necessary to extend the current research activity to implement the MPA to frame-shear-wall structures. In this study, two reinforced concrete frame-shear-wall structures of 10 and 18 stories are analyzed to evaluate the performance of the MPA method and the pushover procedures with invariant load patterns. The evaluation is based on the “exact” solutions of a nonlinear dynamic time-history analysis. The results show that the MPA method including higher-order modes is more accurate than the other pushover procedures. This is more evident when estimating structural responses for high-rise structures than the medium-rise counterparts.