The Earthquake Engineering Online Archive

Seismic performance of an instrumented six-story steel building

Anderson, James C.; Bertero, Vitelmo V.

UCB/EERC-91/11, Earthquake Engineering Research Center, University of California, Berkeley, 1991-11, 134 pages (520/A52/1991)

This study investigates the seismic performance of a six-story steel building, instrumented with 13 accelerometers, which withstood the October 1987 Whittier Narrows earthquake. The lateral force system is a moment-resistant perimeter frame. System identification techniques are used to identify the periods of vibration from the recorded response. Recorded data are also used to evaluate the finite element model of the structure and to evaluate the contributions of gravity, framing, and nonstructural components to the dynamic properties. A detailed stress check of all members is performed for the design loading. A three-dimensional elastic model of the structure is used in which the effect of the direction of the earthquake input is evaluated by considering the developed stress ratios. Static nonlinear analyses are used to identify the potential failure mechanism and regions of increased ductility demand. Relations between global and local ductility are investigated together with the distribution of inelastic behavior throughout the frame. Nonlinear dynamic analyses are used to evaluate the behavior of the building under stronger motions, which have been recorded on similar sites during recent earthquakes. The structural system coefficient, R subscript W, is evaluated by using these results.

Available online: http://nisee.berkeley.edu/documents/EERC/EERC-91-11.pdf (5 MB)