Shapes and Irregularities Structure

REGULAR AND IRREGULAR STRUCTURES
According to the IBC, structures are designated as structurally regular or irregular. A regular structure has no significant discontinuities in plan, vertical configuration, or lateral force resisting systems. An irregular structure, on the other hand, has significant discontinuities such as those in ASCE 7 Tables 12.3-1 (horizontal irregularities) and 12.32 (vertical irregularities). Regular and symmetrical structures exhibit more favorable and predictable seismic response characteristics than irregular structures. Therefore, the use of irregular structures in earthquake-prone areas should be avoided if possible. However, the IBC does not prohibit irregular structures. Instead, it contains specific design requirements for each type of irregularity. In some cases of irregularity, the static lateral force procedure as described in this lesson is not permitted, and a dynamic procedure is required. The following is a summary of some recommended design practices concerning structural regularity. 1. Structures should be regular in stiffness and geometry, both in plan and elevation. 2. Abrupt changes of shape, stiffness, or resistance, such as a soft first story, should be avoided. 3. Portions of a building that are different in size, shape, or rigidity should have a seismic separation, as shown in Figure 12.45.
4. Reentrant corners should be avoided. Such corners occur in L-, T-, U-, and cross-shaped plans.
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5. If a reentrant corner is unavoidable, it should be strengthened by using drag struts, or, preferably, a seismic separation should be provided, as shown in Figure 12.46.
6. Torsion should be minimized by making the building symmetrical and regular in geometry and stiffness, and by providing lateral load resisting elements at the building's perimeter as shown in Figure 12.48.
7. Open-front buildings have high torsional stresses because the rear wall, which generally has minimal openings, is very rigid, while the front is very flexible. The most practical solution is to make the front as rigid as possible, by providing a moment-resisting frame, as shown in Figure 12.47.
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8. Complex or asymmetrical building shapes, which may introduce stress concentrations and/or torsion, should be avoided. If necessary, seismic separations should be provided. 9. There should be a direct path for force transfer. Shear walls or other lateral load resisting elements should be continuous to the foundation. In-plane or out-of-plane offsets should be avoided.
10. Diaphragms with abrupt discontinuities, as shown below in Figure 12.49, should be avoided.
11. Column stiffness variation, as shown in Figure 12.51, should be avoided, if possible.
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BASE ISOLATION In all of the preceding discussion, the structure is in direct contact with the ground. Therefore, during an earthquake, the ground motion is transmitted directly to the structure. A more recent approach, which has been used on numerous buildings, is base isolation. In this method, the structure is isolated from the ground by specially designed bearings and dampers that absorb earthquake forces, thus reducing the building's acceleration from earthquake ground motion. The acceptance of base isolation as an alternative design approach is continuing to increase as we gain more experience in its use.
TUBULAR CONCEPT As previously discussed, special momentresisting frames have generally performed well in earthquakes because of their ductility. However, for very tall buildings, this system may not be economical. A relatively recent development, pioneered by the late Fazlur Khan of S.O.M., is the concept of tubular behavior for tall buildings subject to lateral loads from earthquake or wind. This consists of closely spaced columns at the perimeter of the building connected by deep spandrel beams at each floor to form, in effect, a perforated wall at each facade. This system behaves like a tube, or box beam, that cantilevers from the ground when subject to lateral earthquake or wind forces. Tubular systems can provide strength and stiffness economically, particularly for tall buildings. Some of the tallest buildings constructed in the United States employ tubular systems, including the John Hancock Building and Sears Tower, both in Chicago, and the former Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York.
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should be provided at least equal to the sum of the expected drifts of the two buildings.
DEFLECTION AND DRIFT

When a building vibrates with the earthquake motion, the structure deflects and the stories move horizontally relative to each other. The story-to-story horizontal movement is called the STORY DRIFT. Stiff systems, such as shear walls and braced frames, have relatively small drifts, while more flexible moment-resisting frames typically have larger drifts. The code limits the amount of this movement in order to insure structural integrity, minimize discomfort to the building's occupants, and restrict damage to brittle nonstructural elements such as glass, plaster walls, etc. Two buildings next to each other may move differently during an earthquake, and may therefore collide. This collision, called pounding, has occurred in many earthquakes and can be disastrous. To minimize the possibility of pounding, a seismic separation between the buildings
Another phenomenon caused by story drift is the P-Delta effect. If the story drift due to seismic forces is (delta), and the vertical load in a column is P, then the bending moments in the story are increased by an amount equal to P times A or P-Delta. This effect must be taken into account unless it is very low relative to the story bending moments.
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REGULAR AND IRREGULAR STRUCTURES

DEFLECTION AND DRIFT

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