Effect of damping and yielding on the seismic response of 3D steel buildings with PMRF.

The effect of viscous damping and yielding, on the reduction of the seismic responses of steel buildings modeled as three-dimensional (3D) complex multidegree of freedom (MDOF) systems, is studied. The reduction produced by damping may be larger or smaller than that of yielding. This reduction can significantly vary from one structural idealization to another and is smaller for global than for local response parameters, which in turn depends on the particular local response parameter. The uncertainty in the estimation is significantly larger for local response parameter and decreases as damping increases. The results show the limitations of the commonly used static equivalent lateral force procedure where local and global response parameters are reduced in the same proportion. It is concluded that estimating the effect of damping and yielding on the seismic response of steel buildings by using simplified models may be a very crude approximation. Moreover, the effect of yielding should be explicitly calculated by using complex 3D MDOF models instead of estimating it in terms of equivalent viscous damping. The findings of this paper are for the particular models used in the study. Much more research is needed to reach more general conclusions.

Seismic response of 3D steel buildings considering the effect of PR connections and gravity frames.

The nonlinear seismic responses of 3D steel buildings with perimeter moment resisting frames (PMRF) and interior gravity frames (IGF) are studied explicitly considering the contribution of the IGF. The effect on the structural response of the stiffness of the beam-to-column connections of the IGF, which is usually neglected, is also studied. It is commonly believed that the flexibility of shear connections is negligible and that 2D models can be used to properly represent 3D real structures. The results of the study indicate, however, that the moments developed on columns of IGF can be considerable and that modeling buildings as plane frames may result in very conservative designs. The contribution of IGF to the lateral structural resistance may be significant. The contribution increases when their connections are assumed to be partially restrained (PR). The incremented participation of IGF when the stiffness of their connections is considered helps to counteract the no conservative effect that results in practice when lateral seismic loads are not considered in IGF while designing steel buildings with PMRF. Thus, if the structural system under consideration is used, the three-dimensional model should be used in seismic analysis and the IGF and the stiffness of their connections should be considered as part of the lateral resistance system.