Seismic loading for buildings with setbacks

Abstract

Dynamic analysis is in general accepted as the best method to obtain the seismic load distribution for buildings with a setback. However, most building codes require the base shear obtained by dynamic analysis to be calibrated by the static base shear obtained using the code's equivalent static load procedure. In obtaining the code static base shear, two issues often arise among the design professionals. First, it is unclear whether the code static base shear is applicable for buildings with setbacks because the period prescribed by the code to be used in the base shear formula is in general not pertinent to buildings with setbacks. Second, it is uncertain whether the higher mode period should be used in computing the base shear when the modal weight of a higher mode is larger than that of the fundamental mode — a case often encountered in designing buildings with setbacks. This paper is an attempt to resolve the above issues. For the first issue, modification factors were derived for adjusting the code period formula so that it can provide a more reasonable estimate for the period of a building with a setback. For the second issue, it was demonstrated in this paper that for cases where the modal weight of a higher mode is larger than that of the fundamental mode, using the higher mode period for base shear calculation will result in unnecessarily conservative design. Key words: earthquake, seismic, irregular buildings, setback, dynamic analysis.