UBC Theses and Dissertations

UBC Theses Logo

UBC Theses and Dissertations

Seismic response of tall buildings using ground motions based on National Building Code Canada 2015 Galaviz Gonzalez , Marco Antonio

Abstract

The seismic analysis of tall buildings requires nonlinear analysis in order to determine their behaviour in a more realistic manner. Nonlinear analysis necessitates the input of suitable ground motions records that represent the hazard at the site of the building. Finding appropriate ground motions is an arduous task, mainly because there are not enough records that are compatible with the hazard level prescribed in the codes for the site of the building. Therefore, existing records must be modified somehow to match the target hazard. The National Building Code of Canada (NBCC) provides guidelines for selecting and scaling ground motions to a target spectrum. This research includes the nonlinear seismic evaluation of a 44-storey concrete building. The structure resembles the characteristics of a typical high-rise in downtown Vancouver. A Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Analysis (PSHA) was performed to determine the governing sources of the site. These seismic sources include crustal, subcrustal and subduction ground motions. The selection and scaling for the three types of earthquakes (crustal, subcrustal and subduction) was performed per the National Building Code Canada 2015. The input of ground motions consisted of 33 pairs of records, 11 of each source. Spectral matching techniques were also employed to match the ground motions to the target spectrum, and the responses between both scaling procedures were compared. The results showed that the subduction records mainly governed the responses of the building. But the responses from the crustal and subcrustal records were also significant and cannot be discarded. It was observed that spectral matching and the code based scaling procedure generated similar responses. In addition, issues with the Code based scaling procedure were addressed.

Item Citations and Data

Rights

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International