Structural response analysis of base isolated adjacent buildings having dissimilar height

In populous cities, construction of multi-story buildings closed to each other due to space limitation and increase land cost is a dire need. Such construction methods arise several problems during earthquake excitation. In this regard, the most challenge is structural pounding between closely spaced buildings. The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of Seismic Base Isolation (SBI) considering pounding forces on structural responses of Base Isolated (BI) adjacent buildings with different heights. Therefore, the responses of BI adjacent buildings are compared to similar adjacent buildings having Fixed Base (FB) supports. To aid the aim, Lead Rubber Bearings (LRB) are designed based on the physical properties and regional characteristic of buildings. The results show that, however the acceleration increases at pounding level, but this value for BI buildings is impressively smaller than those with FB. Moreover, the pounding force is reduced significantly for BI buildings compared to FB buildings as well as relative displacement, story drift, torsional effect and base shear.

Keywords:

Adjacent buildings , Seismic Base Isolation , Structural pounding , Earthquake , Separation gap