International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology (IJCIET)

Volume 8, Issue 4, April 2017, pp. 13651375, Article ID: IJCIET_08_04_154

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ISSN Print: 0976-6308 and ISSN Online: 0976-6316

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SEISMIC ANALYSIS OF HIGH RISE BUILDINGS

WITH PLAN IRREGULARITY
IRREGULARITY
Albert Philip
Post
ost Graduate Student, Structural Engineering,
School of Mechanical and Building Sciences,
VIT University, Chennai, India

Dr. S. Elavenil
Professor,
rofessor, Structural Engineering Division,
School of Mechanical and Building Sciences,
VIT University, Chennai, India

ABSTRACT
A high rise building has to be designed to resist lateral loads due to wind or
earthquake. Interior
nterior structural system or exterior
exterior structural system provides the
lateral load resistance to the structure. The shape, structure and material used also
influence the behaviour of structure
structure against lateral loading. In this study three
dimensional analytical models of G+12 storied buildings
buildings have been generated for
regular and irregular buildings and analysed using CSI ETABS software (2015
version) for earthquake zone III in India. The objective of the project is to carry out
seismic analysis (RSA) of regular and irregular reinforced concrete
concrete buildings and to
carry out the ductility based design using IS 13920. Results of this analysis are
discussed in terms of story displacements, story drifts, story shear and stiffness. From
the results it is concluded that story displacements increases linearly
linearly with height of
the building; maximum storey drift is observed at second floor for irregular structure
and at fourth floor for regular structure; maximum storey shear force was observed
between ground floor and second floor for regular structure and at at ground floor for
irregular structure and the value decreases linearly with height; storey stiffness varies
non - linearly for both the structures with maximum values at ground floor.
Keywords: Response Spectrum Analysis,
Analysis Seismic Analysis, Storey Drifts, Storey
Shear.
Cite this Article: Albert Philip and Dr. S. Elavenil, Seismic Analysis of High Rise
Buildings with Plan Irregularity.
Irregularity International Journal of Civil Engineering and
Technology, 8(4), 2017, pp. 13651375.
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 Albert Philip and Dr. S. Elavenil

1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. General
A high-rise building is a multi-story structure between 35-100 meters tall, or a building of
unknown height having more than 12 floors used mainly as a residential and/or office
building. Advances in construction technology, materials, structural systems and analytical
methods for analysis and design facilitated the growth of high rise buildings. High-rise
buildings became possible with the invention of the elevator and cheaper, more abundant
building materials. The materials used for the structural system of high-rise buildings are
reinforced concrete and steel. A building with fifty or more stories is generally considered as
a skyscraper. High-rise structures pose particular design challenges for structural and
geotechnical engineers, particularly if situated in a seismically active region or if the
underlying soils have geotechnical risk factors such as high compressibility or soft soil.
Meanwhile high-rise buildings have technical and economic advantages in areas of high
population density and in regions where horizontal development is restricted or not possible
and hence have become a distinctive feature of housing accommodation in virtually all
densely populated urban areas around the world.
Structural analysis is mainly concerned with finding out the behaviour of a physical
structure when subjected to force. This action can be in the form of load due to weight of
things such as people, equipment, wind, snow, etc. or some other kind of excitation such as
an earthquake, shaking of the ground due to a blast nearby, etc. In essence all these loads are
dynamic, including the self-weight of the structure because at some point in time these loads
were not there. This distinction is made between the dynamic and the static analysis on the
basis of whether the applied action has enough acceleration in comparison to the structures
natural frequency. If a load is applied sufficiently slowly, the inertia forces (Newtons first
law of motion) can be ignored and the analysis can be simplified as static analysis. Structural
dynamics therefore is a type of structural analysis which covers the behaviour of structures
subjected to dynamic (actions having high acceleration) loading. A dynamic load is one
which changes with time fairly quickly in comparison to the structures natural frequency.
Dynamic loads include people, wind, waves, traffic, earthquakes and blasts. Any structure
can be subjected to dynamic loading. Dynamic analysis can be used to find dynamic
displacements, time history, and modal analysis.
This project is concerned with the study of high rise irregular building. The structural
analysis of G+12 storeyed reinforced concrete regular and irregular frame building is done
with the help of ETABS software. Response Spectrum Analysis (RSA) has also been carried
out in the study. In response spectrum analysis the time evolution of response cannot be
computed. A response spectrum is simply a plot of the peak or steady-state response
(displacement, velocity or acceleration) of a series of oscillators of varying natural frequency
that are forced into motion by the same base vibration or shock. This approach permits the
multiple modes of response of a building to be taken into account. For each mode, a response
is obtained from the design spectrum, corresponding to the modal frequency and the modal
mass, and then they are combined to estimate the total response of the structure. In this the
magnitude of forces in all directions is calculated and then the effects on the building are
observed.

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 Seismic Analysis of High Rise Buildings with Plan Irregularity

1.2. Objectives and Scope

The objective of the study is to study about the variations in building properties with different
floor plans by carrying out response spectrum analysis.
The scope of the study is extended to design and analysis of G+12 storied irregular and
regular RC structures using CSI ETABS (2015 version) software. Two existing structures one
with regular floor plan and other with irregular floor plan has been selected and modelled for
the analysis. Storey displacements, storey drift, storey shear force, storey stiffness and storey
overturning moments are the parameters obtained from the seismic analysis.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW
Advancement in science and technology has made it possible to predict the behaviour of
buildings during earthquake. In the past the buildings were designed just for gravity loads and
recently many works is being carried out in seismic analysis of structures. Earthquake
engineering is a much advanced area of engineering where lot of research works are being
carried out.
Ravindra N. Shelke et.al [1]studied the effects of various vertical irregularities on the
seismic response of a structure. He concluded that, base shear and lateral displacement with
height of the structure as the seismic intensity increases from zone-2 to zone-5 which
indicates more seismic demand the structure should meet.
Krishna G Nair et.al [2] conducted a seismic analysis of reinforced concrete buildings
using static and dynamic analysis methods such as response spectrum method, time history
method and push over analysis. She observed that for accurate and precise results non-linear
dynamic analysis shall be carried out and response spectrum analysis gives better and
accurate results as compared to time history analysis.
Sakshi A. Manchalwar et.al [3] studied the effect of column stiffness, effect of number of
bays and effect of building height by conducting seismic analysis of multistoried building
(upto 14 story) subjected to earthquake force. She observed that as the stiffness of column
increases the moment in the same floor level beam decreases and the moment in same floor
level column increases continuously from negative value towards positive value.
E. Hassaballa et.al [4] analyzed seismic analysis of a multi-story RC frame in Khartoum
city under moderate earthquake loads to investigate the performance of existing buildings if
exposed to seismic loads. He observed that the maximum values of compressive and tensile
stresses in beams are approximately equal and bending moments in beams and columns due
to seismic excitation showed much larger values compared to that due to static loads.
Wakchaure M.R et.al [5] studied the effect of masonry walls on high rise building and
carried out linear dynamic analysis on high rise building with different arrangements.
Heobserved that infill walls reduce displacements, time period and increases base shear and
hence it is essential to consider the effect of masonry infill for the seismic evaluation of
moment resisting reinforced concrete frame
Pardeshi Sameer et.al [6] in this work 3D analytical model of G+15 storied buildings was
generated for symmetric and asymmetric building models and analyzed using structural
analysis tool ETABS software. Finally it was concluded that the plan configurations of
structure has significant impact on the seismic response of structure in terms of displacement,
story drift, story shear.
Sagar R Padol et.al [7] in this study seismic analysis of RCC buildings with mass
irregularity at different floor level was carried out. He concluded that whenever a structure
having different irregularity, it is necessary to analyse the building in various earthquake
zones.

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 Albert Philip and Dr. S. Elavenil

M. S. Aainawala et. al[8] in this paper static analysis for regular buildings up to 90m
height in zone II and III was performed and it was observed that in G+12, G+25, G+38
Storey building constructing building with shear wall at corner location gives minimum drift
and minimum displacement.
Bahador Bagheri et. al [9] this study deals with the effect of the variation of the building
height on the structural response of the shear wall building. It was concluded that the
accuracy and exactness of Time History analysis in comparison with the most commonly
adopted Response Spectrum Analysis and Equivalent Static Analysis.
Romy Mohan et. al [10] in this work dynamic responses under prominent earthquake, El-
Centro have been investigated and it was found that Equivalent Static Method can be used
effectively for symmetric buildings up to 25 m height. For higher and unsymmetrical
buildings Response Spectrum Method should be used. For important structures Time History
Analysis should be performed.

3. DESIGN OF STRUCTURE
3.1. Designs for Shear and Flexure
For design of structures, static earthquake analysis is done according to IS 1893. M30
concrete and Fe500 steel are used. Both models are designed according to IS 456:2000. The
design is carried out using ETABS software. Two existing buildings (Seismic zone - III), one
with regular floor plan and other with irregular floor plan have been modelled for the study.
All beams and columns have cross sectional dimension of 300mm x 450mm and 450mm x
600mm respectively. Wall thickness is 220 mm, cover for beam is taken as 30mm and for
columns 40mm.Approximate floor area of both the buildings is 700 m and overall plan
dimension is 25m x 28m. Foundation design is not done since it is not required. The
following data are considered for the structural design.

Table 3.1 Building Details

PARAMETERS VALUE
Dimension of Beam 300mm x 450mm
Dimension of Column 450mm x 600mm
Thickness of Slab 150mm
Thickness of outside wall 220mm
Height of each storey 3m
Height of bottom storey 3.5m
Total height of Building at Roof level 45m
Dimension of Building 25m x 28m
Approximate Floor Area 700 m
Live Load 4kN/m
Floor Finish 1.5kN/m
Grade of Concrete M30
Grade of Reinforcing Steel Fe500
Density of Concrete 25kN/m
Seismic Intensity Moderate
Importance Factor 1
Zone Factor 0.16
Damping Ratio 5%

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 Seismic Analysis of High Rise Buildings with Plan Irregularity

4. ANALYTICAL INVESTIGATION
The analysis and design of G+12 storeyed regular and irregular high rise reinforced concrete
buildings are done using CSI ETABS software (2015 version). Two analytical models using
one regular floor plan and one irregular floor plan of existing buildingswere developed using
the software. The structure is assumed to be located in seismic zone III in India on a site with
medium soil.

Figure 4.1 Regular Floor Plan

Figure 4.2 Regular Elevation

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 Albert Philip and Dr. S. Elavenil

Figure 4.3 Irregular Floor Plan

Figure 4.4 Irregular Elevation

Floor plans and elevations of regular and irregular buildings are shown in Fig. 4.1, 4.2,
4.3 and 4.4 respectively. Since the height of ground floor is 3.5 m and rest of the floors is 3m,
there is stiffness irregularity as per IS 1893: Part 1. Stiffness of each column = 12EI/L,
therefore (stiffness of ground floor)/(stiffness of other floors) = (3/3.5) = 0.629 < 0.7.

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 Seismic Analysis of High Rise Buildings with Plan Irregularity

4.2. Loading Details

The gravity loads and earthquake loads will be taken for analysis. As per IS 1893 (Part1):
2002 Clause no: 6.3.1.2, the following load cases have to be considered for seismic analysis:
1. 1.5 DL
2. 1.5(DL+ IL)
3. 1.2(DL+IL + EL along X direction)
4. 1.2(DL+IL + EL along Y direction)
5. 1.2(DL+IL - EL along X direction)
6. 1.2(DL+IL - EL along Y direction)
7. 1.5(DL + EL along X direction)
8. 1.5(DL + EL along Y direction)
9. 1.5(DL - EL along X direction)
10. 1.5(DL - EL along Y direction
11. 0.9DL + 1.5EL along X direction
12. 0.9DL + 1.5EL along Y direction
13. 0.9DL - 1.5EL along X direction
14. 0.9DL - 1.5EL along Y direction
Where: DL Dead Load; IL Imposed /Live Load; EL Earthquake Load. Total 14 load
combinations have been taken for the analysis. Wind loads are not considered. Gravity loads
include dead load, live load and floor finish load (assumed as 1.5kN/m).

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

The results of the study are being illustrated using the graphs below (fig5.1 fig5.5) which
explain the structural behaviour of both the structures (regular and irregular) in terms of
storey displacements, storey drifts, storey shears, storey stiffness and storey overturning
moments.

Figure 5.1 Storey Displacements

Fig. 5.1 shows the graph for storey displacements for both the buildings. Storey
displacement is the displacement of one level of a multi-story building relative to the base of
the building. Story displacement is linearly increasing from base to roof as illustrated in the
graph. According to code, maximum or permissible story displacement should be equal to or
less than 0.4% of total building height. Hence here the permissible maximum storey
displacement = (0.4/100 x 45000) = 180 mm. For regular model, it is less than the limit

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 Albert Philip and Dr. S. Elavenil

(163.6 mm at roof level) while for irregular model it is just touching the limit (181.6 mm at
roof level).

Figure 5.2 Storey Drifts

Fig.5.2 illustrates the variation of storey drifts between different floors of both the
models. Storey drift is the drift of one level of a multi-storey building relative to the level
below. Here the storey drifts varies in a similar manner for both regular and irregular
structures. Maximum storey drift is observed at second floor (0.005862) for irregular
structure and at fourth floor for regular structure (0.005019).

Figure 5.3 Storey Shear

Fig. 5.3 shows the shear force acting at different storey levels. Story shear is a force that
acts on any storey in a direction perpendicular to its extension and is measured in kN. For
both the structures it is highest at bottom and it decreases linearly towards top. For regular
structure maximum story shear is 177.21kN (ground floor) and for irregular structure
maximum story shear is 206.65kN (ground floor).

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 Seismic Analysis of High Rise Buildings with Plan Irregularity

Figure 5.4 Storey Stiffness

Fig.5.4 illustrates the variation of storey stiffness at different floor levels of both the
models. Earthquake loads in buildings generally increase with the density of the building.
Yield strength is maximum horizontal load that can be applied to a building. Storey stiffness
is the horizontal force distributed throughout a building divided by resulting lateral shear
strain in the building (usually called drift). Here storey stiffness varies non - linearly for both
the structures. For regular structure maximum story stiffness is 94.27kN/m (first floor and
second floor) and for irregular structure maximum story stiffness is 78.75kN/m (first floor
and second floor).

Figure 5.5 Storey Overturning Moments

Fig.5.5 illustrates the variation of storey overturning moments at different floor levels of
both the models. Storey overturning moment of a building is the moment of energy capable of
upsetting the storey; that is the point where the storey has been subjected to enough
disturbances that it ceases to be stable, it overturns, capsizes, collapses, topples and
eventually the structure fails. Here both the structures are safe, since there are no positive
overturning moments and only negligible negative overturning moment towards base (-
0.0184kN/m for regular structure at ground floor and -0.0279kN/m for irregular structure at
ground floor level) both of which can be approximated to zero. Hence it can be assumed that
both the structures have zero overturning moments and are hence safe.

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 Albert Philip and Dr. S. Elavenil

CONCLUSIONS
On the basis of analytical results of the study, the following conclusions were drawn:
1. The floor plan of the structure has significant impact on the seismic behaviour of the structure
in terms of displacement, storey drift and storey shears.
2. Storey displacement is linearly increasing (approx. by 2%) from bottom to top for both the
structures and is more for irregular structure. The displacement values for both the structures
are within the allowable limits (163.6mm at roof level for regular building and 181.6mm at
roof level irregular building).
3. Maximumstorey drift is observed at second floor for irregular structure (0.005862) and at
fourth floor for regular structure (0.005019).
4. From the seismic analysis, maximum storey shear force was observed at ground floor for both
the structures (177.21kN for regular and 206.65kN for irregular) and the value decreases by
2% with height.
5. Storey stiffness varies non - linearly for both the structures with maximum values at first
and second floor (94.27kN/m for regular and 78.75kN/m for irregular).
6. Overturning moments for all the stories of both the structures are approximately equal to zero
(-0.0184kN/m for regular building and -0.0279kN/m for irregular building), hence making the
structure safe.
7. Compared to regular building, more displacements, storey drifts and storey shears were
observed for the irregular building which implies that building with severe plan irregularity
shows maximum displacement and storey drift.
In general, the displacements increases linearly with height of the building; maximum
storey drift is observed at second floor for irregular structure and at fourth floor for regular
structure; maximum storey shear force was observed between ground floor and second floor
for regular structure and at ground floor for irregular structure and the value decreases
linearly with height; storey stiffness varies non - linearly for both the structures with
maximum values at ground floor. Also there is negligible or zero overturning moments.

REFFERENCES
[1] Ravindra N. Shelke (2017) Seismic Analysis of Vertically Irregular RC Building Frames
International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology (IJCIET) 8(1), January 2017,
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International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) e-ISSN: 2395
0056 Volume: 04 Issue: 02 Feb 2017.
[3] Elavenil S (2015) Analytical Investigation on the Performance of Steel Frame with Solid
and Hollow Sections, Romanian Journal of Social Sciences, Vol.1 No.1, pp 20-30.
[4] Sakshi A. Manchalwar (2014) Seismic Analysis of RC Frame A Parametric Study,
International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT) ISSN: 2278-0181
Vol.3 Issue 9, September-2014.
[5] Hassaballa A. E. (2013) Seismic Analysis of a Reinforced Concrete Building by Response
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 Seismic Analysis of High Rise Buildings with Plan Irregularity

[8] Romy Mohan (2011) Dynamic Analysis of RCC Buildings with Shear Wall
International Journal of Earth Sciences and Engineering ISSN 0974 5904, Volume 04,
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Seismic Forces - Bureau of Indian Standards, New Delhi, India.

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