ETS CAMINOS, CANALES Y PUERTOS DE BARCELONA

Diseo y Evaluacin Ssmica de Estructuras

METHODS OF
SEISMIC ANALYSIS

Luca Pel
Universidad Politcnica de Catalunya
luca.pela@upc.edu

ETCECCPB-UPC Methods of Seismic Analysis

CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION
TYPES OF ANALYSIS

2.

RESPONSE SPECTRUM ANALYSIS

3.

MULTI-MODAL RSA FOR BUILDINGS WITH SYMMETRIC PLAN

4. EQUIVALENT STATIC ANALYSIS OF LINEAR MDOF SYSTEMS

5. PUSHOVER ANALYSIS (INTRODUCTION)

4. NONLINEAR DYNAMIC ANALYSIS (INTRODUCTION)

ETCECCPB-UPC Methods of Seismic Analysis

1.

INTRODUCTION

Because elastic and damping forces are related to the relative displacements
and velocities between the masses and the base, respectively, and inertial
forces are related to the total accelerations of the masses, the equation of
motion of a MDOF system subject to an earthquake reads

The vector ut is given by

By substitution one gets

ETCECCPB-UPC Methods of Seismic Analysis

The modal expansion of displacements can be expressed as

Modal equations:

the system of coupled modal equations is transformed into a system of

uncoupled equations.

ETCECCPB-UPC Methods of Seismic Analysis

The n-th modal equation can be finally expressed as:

ETCECCPB-UPC Methods of Seismic Analysis

TYPES OF ANALYSIS
Depending on the structural characteristics of the system, the following types of
analysis are used:
1.Linear elastic analysis
a) response history analysis: calculation of structural response as a
function of time when the system is subjected to a given ground
acceleration.
b) response spectrum analysis: computation of the peak response of
a structure during an earthquake directly from the earthquake
response or design spectrum.
c) equivalent static analysis: single-mode spectral and uniform-load
method.
2. Nonlinear methods
d) nonlinear static analysis (pushover analysis)
e) nonlinear time-history analysis (dynamic analysis)

ETCECCPB-UPC Methods of Seismic Analysis

2. RESPONSE SPECTRUM ANALYSIS (RSA)

Structural design is usually based on the peak values of forces and
deformations over the duration of the earthquake-induced response.
For SDOF systems, the peak response can be determined directly from the
response spectrum for the ground motion.

The modal equations of motion of a damped MDOF system subjected to

earthquake are given by:

Therefore, the maximum value of qn(t), denoted as Qn, is given by

spectral
acceleration

ETCECCPB-UPC Methods of Seismic Analysis

The maximum modal response un(t), i.e. the maximum displacement for mode
n, reads

Summary of maxima values per mode n and component j

ETCECCPB-UPC Methods of Seismic Analysis

Once evaluated the peak modal responses un,max for each node, it is not
possible to determine the exact peak value of the total response umax, because
in general the modal responses un(t), or qn(t), attain their peaks at different time
instants.
The rules suggested by EC8 to compute the peak total response are the
square root of sum of squares (SRSS), if natural frequencies are wellseparated.

or the complete quadratic combination (CQC)

mn is the correlation coefficient for the m-th and n-th modes

ETCECCPB-UPC Methods of Seismic Analysis

MODAL PARTICIPATION FACTORS AND EFFECTIVE MODAL MASS

The effective modal mass provides a method for judging the significance of a
vibration mode. Modes with relatively high effective masses can be readily
excited by base excitation. Using modal analysis, it is possible to define:

The base shear of a SDOF system with mass Mneff and frequency n is the
same as the nth mode base shear in a multi-storey system with mass
distributed along the height.
The sum of the effective modal masses over all the
N modes is equal to the total mass of the system:

ETCECCPB-UPC Methods of Seismic Analysis

For the 3D analysis of buildings with in-plane rigid floor diaphragms, the influence
vector can have different forms:
Therefore, the modal participation factor and the effective modal mass has to be
defined by mode and by direction

total mass
Within the modal analysis, the contribution of all modes must be included to
obtain the exact value of the response. The EC8 suggests to include in modal
analysis all the modes with effective modal masses greater than 5% of the total
mass or to sum the effective modes until reaching at least 90% of the total mass.

M eff
M 5%
j

ETCECCPB-UPC Methods of Seismic Analysis

Example

M 1eff + M 2eff =3m =M structure

ETCECCPB-UPC Methods of Seismic Analysis

3. MULTI-MODAL RSA FOR BUILDINGS WITH SYMMETRIC PLAN

Multistory buildings with symmetric plan:
- rigid floor diaphragms, plans with 2 orthogonal axes of symmetry
- subjected to horizontal ground motion along one of axis of symmetry

maximum modal
horizontal force
maximum modal
base shear

ETCECCPB-UPC Methods of Seismic Analysis

Procedure:
1) Solve eigenvalue problem (N*N) to obtain a number p<N of eigenvalues
2) For the p modes considered, use jn to define modal participations factors

3) For a number of modes considered, read off values for

4) For a number of modes considered, evaluate modal maxima responses

5) Combine modal responses into a design maximum, e.g. SRSS rule

Remark: Number of modes

p<N can be estimated by
effective modal masses

ETCECCPB-UPC Methods of Seismic Analysis

Example: 2DOF shear frame

ETCECCPB-UPC Methods of Seismic Analysis

Modal masses and participation factors:

Maximum modal displacements and forces:

ETCECCPB-UPC Methods of Seismic Analysis

ETCECCPB-UPC Methods of Seismic Analysis

4. EQUIVALENT STATIC ANALYSIS OF LINEAR MDOF SYSTEMS

Conditions of applicability according to EC8 - Regularity in plan and elevation
1. With respect to the lateral stiffness and mass distribution, the structure is
approximately symmetrical in plan with respect to two orthogonal axes
2. The plan configuration is compact, i.e., each floor shall be delimited by a
polygonal convex line.
3. In-plan stiffness of the floors shall be sufficiently large in comparison with the
lateral stiffness of the vertical structural elements, so that the rigid diaphragm
condition is satisfied.
4. The slenderness =Lmax/Lmin of the building in plan shall be not higher than 4,
where Lmax and Lmin are respectively the larger and smaller in plan dimension of
the building, measured in orthogonal directions.
1. All lateral load resisting systems, such as cores, structural walls, or frames,
shall run without interruption from their foundations to the top of the building.
2. The lateral stiffness and the mass of the individual storeys shall remain
constant or reduce gradually from the base to the top of the building.
When setbacks are present, there are special additional conditions (made
available to limit the unfavourable effects of setbacks) that must be satisfied.

ETCECCPB-UPC Methods of Seismic Analysis

The method assumes that seismic load can be considered as an equivalent

static horizontal force applied to an individual frame.
The method is based on the natural period of a SDOF system (normally the
fundamental period) and code-specified response or design spectra.
Procedure:
1. Estimate the period of the fundamental mode T1 usually by some simplified
approximate method. In EC8:

2. Find the corresponding spectral acceleration Sa from the design response

spectra.
3. Calculate the base shear in the dominant mode:

ETCECCPB-UPC Methods of Seismic Analysis

4. Distribute the horizontal load up the building in proportion to mass mj and

estimated mode shape j
(Single-mode
distribution
of
loads)

if the mode shape is estimated as s straight line,

zj is the height of the jth storey above the base

(Linear
distribution
of loads)

5. Calculate member forces and displacements de by static analysis. If the

forces were calculated assuming a structure ductility q, then the actual
structural displacements are

ETCECCPB-UPC Methods of Seismic Analysis

EXAMPLE: 2DOF shear frame

Single-mode distribution of loads

ETCECCPB-UPC Methods of Seismic Analysis

Linear distribution of loads

ETCECCPB-UPC Methods of Seismic Analysis

5. PUSHOVER ANALYSIS (INTRODUCTION)

The pushover analysis (nonlinear static analysis) evaluates the capacity of the
structure to resist a system of lateral forces, that simulates the actions during
the earthquake.
The lateral forces are increased monotonically until reaching the failure of the
model, that includes the description of nonlinearities (material, geometric, etc.).

ETCECCPB-UPC Methods of Seismic Analysis

Examples of pushover analysis developed using FEM softwares

ETCECCPB-UPC Methods of Seismic Analysis

6. NONLINEAR DYNAMIC ANALYSIS (INTRODUCTION)

The nonlinear dynamic analysis is a step-by-step analysis in the time domain,
that evaluates the response at each step of the structure subjected to a timedependent action.
The structure is analysed in the time domain including the inertial effects.
The input earthquake is defined by a time-history function (accelerogram).
The model includes the material nonlinearity, the geometric nonlinearity, the
hysteretic behaviour of structural members, etc.
It requires sophisticated computational programs (e.g. FEM).
The computational cost is high.

ETCECCPB-UPC Methods of Seismic Analysis

Examples of nonlinear dynamic analysis

ETCECCPB-UPC Methods of Seismic Analysis

REFERENCES
Chopra A.K. Dynamics of Structures. Prentice Hall, 1995.

Petrini L.; Pinho R.; Calvi G. M. Criteri di progettazione antisismica degli edifici
(in Italian). IUSS Press, 2004.

EN 1998-1. Eurocode 8: Design of structures for earthquake resistance - Part 1:

General rules, seismic actions and rules for buildings.