IRREGULARITY EFFECTS ON THE SEISMIC PERFORMANCE OF L-SHAPED MULTI-STORY BUILDINGS

Abstract

Past and recent earthquakes events demonstrate that buildings with configuration irregularity are more vulnerable to earthquake damages. So it's essential to investigate the seismic response of these structures in active seismic zones to reduce the potential seismic damages. The configuration irregularities introduce major challenges in the seismic design of building structures. One such form of irregularity is the presence of re-entrant corners that causes stress concentration due to sudden changes in stiffness and torsion amplification in the buildings; hence causes early collapse. This, the conventional design codes have not recommendations for proper evaluation of these buildings yet. Thus, a constructive research into re-entrant corner irregularity problems is essentially needed greater than ever. The objective of this study is to grasp the seismic behavior of the buildings with irregular plan of L-shape floor plan through the evaluation of the configuration irregularity of re-entrant corners effects on measured seismic response demands. The measured responses include inter-story drift; story shear force; overturning moment; torsion moment at the base and along the building height; top floor displacement; and torsional Irregularity Ratio. Three dimensional finite element model of nine stories moment resisting frame buildings as reference model is developed; six L-shaped models are formulated with gradual reduction in the plan of the reference model. The models are analyzed with ETABS using Equivalent Static Load (ESL) and Response Spectrum (RS) Methods. The results prove that buildings with severe irregularity are more vulnerable than those with regular configuration resulting from torsion behavior, and the additional shear force produced in the perpendicular direction to the earthquake input. Also, in the codal empirical equation for the calculation of fundamental period of vibration could not grasp significant higher vibration modes such as torsional vibration of irregular buildings that could significantly affect seismic demands.