Experimental and Numerical Study on Pounding Effects and Mitigation Techniques for Adjacent Structures

Abstract

Pounding of adjacent buildings has been a major cause of building damages in the past earthquakes. In this study, two series of shaking table experiments on small scale moment resisting one-bay frames subjected to harmonic excitation and seismic time histories are described. A series of tests on techniques of reduction the effects of pounding are also presented. They are increase in distance of the buildings, application of impact absorbing material and connecting the two buildings together. The results of experiments and analyses indicate both the effectiveness and problems associated with each method of reducing pounding effects. It was found that the impacts absorbing materials were found to be very effective in reducing pounding effect and the responses of frames were very sensitive to the gap between them.