Dynamic Analysis of Sloped Buildings: Experimental and Numerical Studies

Abstract

The buildings situated in hilly areas are much more prone to seismic environment in comparison to the buildings that are located in flat regions. Structures on slopes differ from other buildings since they are irregular both vertically and horizontally hence torsionally coupled and are susceptible to severe damage when subjected to seismic action. The columns of ground storey have varying height of columns due to sloping ground. In this study, behaviour of two storied sloped frame having step back configuration is analyzed for sinusoidal ground motion with different slope angles i.e., 15°, 20° and 25° with an experimental set up and are validated by developing a Finite Element code executed in MATLAB platform and using structural analysis tool STAAD Pro. by performing a linear time history analysis. From the above analysis, it has been observed that as the slope angle increases, stiffness of the model increases due to decrease in height of short column and that results in increase of earthquake forces on short column which is about 75% of total base shear and chances of damage is increased considerably due to the formation of plastic hinges therefore proper analysis is required to quantify the effects of various ground slopes.