Pounding between adjacent buildings: Comparison of codal provisions

摘要

It is not uncommon to find buildings in seismically active regions built adjacent to each other without following the prescribed codal separation distance. If the separation distance is insufficient, in the event of an earthquake, pounding may cause severe architectural and structural damage, and may even lead to the collapse of the structure. Seismic design codes suggest minimum separation distance between two adjacent structures; however, the spacing has to be enough to withstand earthquake excitations. To understand the effect of codal provisions on pounding, two buildings were idealised as linear single degree of freedom oscillators. The separation distance between them was provided following the codal provisions of select countries. By subjecting the buildings to five different ground motions the first impact force due to collision was calculated and the results were analysed to compare the codal provisions.