Seventh International Congress on Advances in Civil Engineering, October11-13, 2006

Yildiz TechnicalUniversity, Istanbul, Turkey

Analysis and Assessment of Seismic Drift of Concrete Framed

Structures

Ahmet TKEN*, Ergin ATIMTAY**

* State Planning Organization, Ankara, Turkey
** Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey

Abstract
An analytical method is proposed to determine the sway of a totally framed building
subject to seismic forces. The validity of the analytical method is tested on 3-D frame
buildings of different heights. The sway results obtained by the analytical method and
computer agree well. The implementation of the proposed analytical method to framed
buildings in regions of high seismic risk is emphasized. The determination of which
building is earthquake prone and should be strengthened can easily be done by the
analytical method proposed.

Keywords: Earthquake, Reinforced concrete, Framed structures, Story drift, Analytical

method,

Introduction
The total and relative sway of a framed structure are very important factors in assessing
the seismic performance of a concrete structure. Observations of four major earthquakes
in Turkey from 1992 to 1999 have indicated that uncontrolled sway is a significant
contributor to collapse due to the occurrence of uncontrolled second order moments.

Being in full appreciation of the importance of storey drift, particularly during a seismic
attack, building codes (UBC, ACI and others) require the calculation of seismic drift
and impose restrictions on its maximum or relative values.

Calculation of sway of a concrete structure is an effort easier said than done. Of

course, computer programs can do the job. However, to be able to calculate the sway of
a 3-dimensional structure under acting seismic loads, all the geometric properties must
be known. However, in the process of design, cross-sectional properties are generally
what the design engineer is after. Additionally, the volumetric and time-consuming
effort involved in the computer modeling and analysis of a three dimensional structure,
considering the floor diaphragm, cannot be overlooked.

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An analytical method is presented to calculate the sway of a 3-dimensional structure
subject to any type of lateral load. This enables the design engineer to evaluate the sway
at any vertical level of the building, thus enabling the calculation of relative as well as
the maximum sway.

The validity of the proposed analytical method is shown by comparing analytical sway
results of a 3-D framed building with those obtained by computer. The proposed
analytical method can be applied to satisfy drift requirements of UBC and ACI, and
illustrate how it can facilitate and improve the seismic design process.

Analytical Model of Framed Structures

Consider a multi-bay multi-storey framed structure subject to a lateral load of F=1 as
shown in Figure 1.

All storey heights = lc

Figure 1. Framed structure subject to a lateral load of F=1 and relative sway.

The relative sway () that occurs between two consecutive stories can be calculated as
follows:
n
1
= (1)
i =1


12 EI c 1
3 2I c
lc
1+
I b1 I b 2
l c +
l1 l 2
where n = number of columns in the storey; Ib1 = moment of inertia of beam to the left
of the column considered; Ib2 = moment of inertia of beam to the right of the column
considered (Baikov, 1974).

In the case that F=1.0 acts at all floor levels, the total relative storey sway becomes
i = ( ).(Vi ) (2)
where Vi = total shear force at storey level (i) considered.

The total sway of (k) th storey is obtained by summing up all relative storey sways up to
the storey (k).

2
 k k
y = i = . Vi (3)
i =1 i =1

Considering the framed structure as a continuous shear beam subject to a continuous

lateral force along its height, Equation (2) can be expressed as a differential equation
(Baikov, 1974).
x
y=
lc V ( x)dx
0
(4)

x
1
GA 0
y= V ( x)dx (5)

where GA = equivalent shear stiffness of the continuous shear beam model.

Figure 2 presents the continuous shear beam model of a framed structure, subject to
continuous lateral load.

Figure 2. The continuous shear beam model of a framed structure

The solution of the differential equation is as follows:

[ M ( x) M (0)]
x
1
y=
GA 0 V ( x)dx =
GA
(6)

where M(x) = moment due to the external lateral load at any level (x) of the shear beam.

For a distributed triangular load, which simulates lateral seismic forces, lateral sway at
any height of the building can be expressed as follows (Atimtay, 2001):
pH 2 k3
y= (k ) (7)
2GA 3
x
where p = intensity of distributed triangular load at top and k =
H

Equivalent Shear Stiffness of a 3-D Frame

The equivalent shear stiffness, GA, for a single column is given by Equation 8 (Baikov,
1974).

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 12 E c I c 1
GA = . (8)
l c2 2I c
1+
I I
l c b1 + b 2
l1 l2

To find the equivalent shear stiffness of a 3-D framed building, Equation 8 must be
applied to all columns within the story and GA must be evaluated.

An ambiguity exists in the evaluation of Ib1 and Ib2 of the flanged beam. What should
the effective flange width be taken?

To determine the effective flange width, a systematic study was done to correlate sways
obtained by computer and the developed analytical equation.

The moment of inertia of the flanged beam was expressed as

1
I b = . bh 3 (9)
12
where b = width of the rectangular beam; h = height of the rectangle that can be fit in
the flanged beam cross-section.

The correlation of computer sways with those found analytically, yielded the values of
as shown in Figure 3. It is interesting to note that varies along the building height,
which is expressed as a parameter of the number of storey, in lateral displacement
calculations. Only for relative storey drift calculations, is taken as 1.25 for all stories.

Figure 3. Expressing the stiffness of the flanged beam as a multiple () of the

rectangular beam

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 Assessing the Validity of the Analytical Model
The validity of the analytical model developed is tested on a 3D-framed structure shown
in Figure 4 by comparing the sways, which are determined by computer and Equation 7.

5m

5m
3m
3m
5m

5m

10x5=50m

All columns : 400x400 mm

All beams : 250x450 mm
Slab thickness : 120 mm
All storey heights : 3 m
g (additional) : 0.20 t/m2
q (additional) : 0.35 t/m2
(a)

(b)

Figure 4. The framed structure used to test the validity of the analytical method:
(a) typical floor plan, (b) 3-D view of a sample 4-storey framed structure.

The total lateral force was determined by the computer using the dynamic analysis of
the Response Spectrum Method. The seismic force thus obtained is converted to an
equivalent distributed static force having an inverted triangular shape. This equivalent
lateral static force was applied to the structure and solved by the computer using
SAP2000 and the analytical equation. The comparison of results is shown in Table 1.

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 Table 1. Comparison of storey drift and top sway as determined by computer and
analytical model.

Seismic Design Implementation

A major requirement of seismic design is the control of storey drift. The Uniform
Building Code (1999) states: Calculated storey drift shall not exceed (0.04 / Rw) or
0.005 times the storey height for structures having a fundamental period of less than 0.7
seconds. For structures having a fundamental period of 0.7 second or greater, the
calculated storey drift shall not exceed (0.03 / Rw) or 0.004 times the storey height

The implementation of the requirement stated above necessitates the calculation of the
sway of a building at every storey level.

Of course, the computer can do the job, but the amount of effort and time requirements
cannot be overlooked. The analytical model proposed can perform the task in a fraction
of time compared to the time demanded by the computer.

The developing state of the art of seismic design is that structures should have shear
walls to be earthquake safe. This requirement should not be compromised for planned
and to-be-built structures. However, countless number of totally framed buildings exist
in regions of high seismic risk. A fundamental question has to be answered: Is this
building earthquake resistant or does it has to be strengthened? Of course, one main
criterion is to determine whether the building under investigation satisfies the storey

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drift requirements or not. In this process, the proposed analytical method saves time and
effort and gains utmost design importance.

Conclusions
The following conclusions seem to be in order:

To determine the sway of a 3-D totally framed structure subject to seismic

loading, a simple analytical formula is introduced.

The validity of the analytical formula is tested on 3-D framed structures, which
have been solved by computer. The sway values obtained by the formula agree
very well with those found by the computer.

The analytical procedure, which is very simple and easy to apply, can be used
to determine the seismic strength and safety of existing structures. If the existing
structure does not meet the storey sway requirements of seismic codes,
rehabilitation measures may be in order.

References
ACI Committee Report (1973), Multistory Structures Lateral Forces, SP 36.

ACI Committee Report (1982), Response of Building to Lateral Forces, 442 R-71,
Revised.

Atimtay, E. (2001), Design of Framed and Composite Reinforced Concrete Structures,

Vol.2, Bizim Bro, Ankara, (in Turkish).

Baikov, V. N. (1974), Reinforced Concrete Structures, Mir Publishers, Moscow.

Bilyap, Siracettin (1979), Betonarme Yksek Yaplarda Perde ereve Sistemlerin

Yatay Kuvvetlere Gre Hesab, Ege niversitesi, No: 2, zmir.

International Conference of Building Officials (1999), Uniform Building Code, USA.

Murashev, V., Sigalov, E., and Baikov, V. N. (1976), Design of Reinforced Concrete
Structures, Mir Publishers, Moscow.

Rosman, R. (January 1964), An Approximate Method of Analysis of Walls of

Multistory Buildings, Civil Engineering and Public Works Review, Vol. 59.

SAP2000, Computers and Structures, Berkeley, USA, 2000.

Tuken, A. (2004), Quantifying seismic design criteria for concrete buildings. Ph.D.
Thesis, Middle East Technical University, Turkey.