The Earthquake Engineering Online Archive

Inelastic seismic analysis of large panel buildings

Schricker, Vahid; Powell, Graham H.

UCB/EERC-80/38, Earthquake Engineering Research Center, University of California, Berkeley, 1980-09-01, 292 pages (515/S33/1980)

Large-panel structures behave differently from frame and monolithic wall structures because of the distinct planes of weakness in the horizontal and vertical joints between panels. These joints may slide and open during shaking, producing large localized changes in the bending and shear stiffnesses. Special modeling techniques are thus needed for analysis of the inelastic dynamic response. A mathematical model for inelastic seismic analysis of two-dimensional large panel structures is described. The wall panels are idealized either by elastic beam-type elements or by two-dimensional finite elements. The joints are idealized by nonlinear spring elements, with a variety of possible force-deformation relationships. FORTRAN subroutines for several panel and joint elements have been developed and incorporated into the computer program DRAIN-2D. To account for the large, sudden changes in stiffness in the mathematical model, a modified step-by-step integration strategy has also been incorporated into the DRAIN-2D program. Using DRAIN-2D, a parameter study has been carried out on a multistory, single-bay large panel wall to determine the influence of design and analysis assumptions on the computed nonlinear response, considering both slip and opening at the joints. This report contains a review of the behavior of joints in large-panel structures, a description of the modeling procedure and the DRAIN-2D elements, and a detailed discussion of the parametric study.

Available online: http://nisee.berkeley.edu/documents/EERC/EERC-80-38.pdf (18 MB)