Seismic response of nonstructural components considering the near-fault pulse-like ground motions

Abstract

This paper investigates the response of nonstructural components in the presence of nonlinear behavior of the primary structure considering the near-fault pulse-like ground motions. A database of 81 near-fault pulse-like ground motions is used to examine the effect of these ground motions on the response of nonstructural components. For comparison, a database of 573 non-pulse-like ground motions selected from the PEER database is also employed. The effects of peak ground velocity (PGV), maximum incremental velocity (MIV), primary structural degrading behavior and damping of nonstructural components are evaluated and discussed statistically. Results are presented in terms of amplification factor which quantifies the effect of inelastic deformations of the primary structure on subsystem responses. The results indicate that the near-fault pulse-like ground motions can significantly increase the amplification factors of nonstructural components with primary structural period and the magnitude of increase can reach 17%. The effect of PGV and MIV on amplification factors tends to increase with the increase of primary structural ductility. The near-fault pulse-like ground motions are more dangerous to components supported by structures with strength and stiffness degrading behavior than ordinary ground motions. A new simplified formulation is proposed for the application of amplification factors for design of nonstructural components for near-fault pulse-like ground motions.