Development of Benchmark Model for Irregular Structures (2001-2002)

10 Development of a Benchmark Model for Irregular Structures Dyah Kusumastuti Department of Civil, Structural & Environmental Engineering, University at Buffalo Research Supervisor: Andrei M. Reinhorn, Clifford C. Furnas Professor Summary Many building structures have non-symmetric floor plans or multiple towers and setback floors. Such buildings are prone to earthquake damage due to coupled lateral and torsional movements producing non-uniform displacement demands in building elements and concentrations of stresses and forces on structural members. Current codes fall short of providing recommendations for irregular structures. Thus, there is an apparent need to develop a simple analysis procedure based on rigorous analytical and experimental information on the inelastic seismic response of irregular structures. An experiment was designed and carried out to better understand the nonlinear inelastic seismic response of irregular structures. A new structural (benchmark) model was designed in such a way that damage affects sacrificial elements only while most parts are retained for further use. The model was also designed for easy reconfiguration. Test results show that permanent deformations and asymmetric mode shapes are visible and that damage occurs due to irregularities. Results from a recent shaking table experiment are used to develop a simplified analytical tool for irregular structures based on the spectral capacity analysis concept. ...