Modelling of Structural Damage Caused by Seismic Pounding of Multi-Degree of Freedom Inelastic Structures

The estimation of pounding effects between adjacent buildings in dense urban areas during strong ground motions is highly significant for practitioners. In this paper, the pounding-induced effects and the associated seismic damage states are evaluated for two colliding 6-story reinforced concrete (RC) frame structures. The nonlinear-induced behavior and the associated damage state are described using the force analogy method (FAM) coupled with a numerically efficient state-space formulation of the equations of motion. The pounding forces are computed using the nonlinear viscoelastic impact element. The force analogy method coupled with the state-space formulation conducts to an explicit integration scheme. Finally, the nonlinear time-history analyses and the damage evaluation are performed using three seismic accelerations recorded in the same site during the 1977, 1986 and 1990 earthquakes that took place in Romania.