Simplified nonlinear modeling for estimating the seismic response of buildings

Abstract

Simplified nonlinear modeling for estimating the seismic response of buildings has the advantages of providing structural perception and computational efficiency. Therefore, such modeling is useful for preliminary structural design and seismic simulation of large numbers of buildings. The generalized building model (GBM), which consists of a pure shear stick, a pure flexural stick, and N lumped masses, has been satisfactorily used for elastic seismic analyses of N-story buildings in previous research. The present study develops the inelastic properties of the sticks of all stories in the GBM so that the enhanced GBM can be used for nonlinear response history analysis of buildings. The effectiveness of the enhanced GBM is verified by comparing the seismic responses of a three-story reinforced concrete building and a nine-story steel building estimated using the GBM with those obtained from corresponding finite element models.