Improvement of Seismic Performance of SMRFs by Using a New Distribution of Lateral Load Pattern

This paper proposes a new distribution of lateral loading pattern for designing Steel Moment Resisting Frames (SMRF) using the uniform distribution of damage over the height of structures. Evaluation of the seismic behavior of SMRF shows that these structures have acceptable performance when compared with other types of frames Although pervious studies showed that utulizing these types of structures the formation of the soft-storey mechanism can be prevented, the structural capacity are not entirely exploited over the height of buildings. Based on the theory of uniform distribution of deformations, lateral- resistant properties of a structure can be distributed over the height in such a way that they can exhibit more uniform deformation. In this study, two Steel Moment Resisting Frames of 5 and 7 stories have been designed subjected to several ground motions. Using the theory of uniform damage distribution an optimization technique leading to more uniform damage distribution over the height of the structure is developed.

Keywords:

Steel Moment Resisting Frames , Uniform distribution of deformation , Lateral load pattern , Nonlinear analysis