Performance of Mid-rise Buildings with Tubular Structure Under the Effect of Near Field Earthquakes

The aim objective of this study is to investigate the effects of near-field earthquakes on the response of mid-rise buildings with tubular structure.  For this purpose, a 20-story building with a square plan of six by six bays, all with 6 m span, and story height of 3.70 m is considered.  Axial force of columns, shear lag, and inter-story drift values are used as the main response parameters. Nonlinear time history analyses (NLTHA) of the considered building were conducted by using once the two-component, and once more three-component accelerograms of both far- and near-field selected earthquakes for comparison. Numerical results of NLTHA show that inclusion of a vertical component of ground motion leads to around 17% and 32% increase, in average, in axial forces of side and corner columns respectively in case of far-field earthquakes. These increases were respectively 22% and 37% in case of near-field earthquakes. The vertical ground motion also leads to around 11% and 15% increase, in average, in shear lag of side and corner columns respectively in case of far-field earthquakes, and 13% and 19% increase in case of near-field earthquakes. The amount of increase in inter-story drift values due to the vertical ground motion was observed in range of 24% and 27% for far- and near-field earthquakes respectively.