1 Chapter 2

Literature review

2 Pounding
A numerical approach to analyze pounding responses of adjacent buildings on subsoil to
earthquakes is presented. The nonlinear calculation of the soil-structure system is performed
subsequently in the Laplace and the time domain. The adjacent buildings and the subsoil are
described by finite elements and boundary elements, respectively. In the numerical
investigation the effect of Kobe, Northridge and Chi-Chi near-source earthquakes is
considered. The result reveals that both the subsoil and long-period pulses in the ground
motions can increase the pounding potential of buildings. (Chouw, 2002)

In cities and urban areas, building structures located at close proximities inevitably interact
under dynamic loading by direct pounding and indirectly through the underlying soil. Majority
of the previous adjacent building pounding studies that have taken the structure–soil–structure
interaction (SSSI) problem into ac- count have used simple lumped mass–spring–dashpot
models under plane strain conditions. In this research, the problem of SSSI-included pounding
problem of two adjacent symmetric in plan buildings resting on a soft soil profile excited by
uniaxial earthquake loadings is investigated. To this end, a series of SSSI models considering
one-directional nonlinear impact elements between adjacent co-planar stories and using a
method for direct finite element modeling of 3D inelastic underlying soil volume has been
developed to ac- accurately study the problem. (Ghandil, 2016)

The existence or absence of masonry infill panels in steel frame structures on the earthquake-
induced pounding-involved response of adjacent buildings. The study was further extended to
compare the pounding-involved behavior versus the independent behavior of structures without
collisions, focusing much on dynamic behavior of single frames. The effect of SSI was
analyzed by assuming linear springs and dashpots at the foundation level. The infill panels
were modeled using equivalent diagonal compression struts. (Hytham Elwardany, 2019)

Two adjacent three-story structures, modelled as inelastic lumped mass systems with different
structural characteristics, have been considered in the study. The models have been excited
using a suit of ground motions with different peak ground accelerations and recorded at
different soil types. A nonlinear viscoelastic pounding force model has been employed in order
to effectively capture impact forces during collisions. Spring-dashpot elements have been
incorporated to simulate the horizontal and rotational movements of the supporting soil. The
results of the numerical simulations, in the form of the structural nonlinear responses as well
as the time-histories of energy dissipated during pounding-involved vibrations, are presented
in the paper. (Mahmoud, 2013)
Structural pounding occurs when two adjacent buildings collide. Earthquakes can cause
pounding when adjacent buildings have little or no gap providing separation. This paper
examines the dynamic evaluation of a concrete structures and pounding effects with multiple
heights of buildings for time history analysis and response spectrum analysis by using ETABS.
The results were obtained in the form of point displacement and pounding force. The effect of
pounding is more when the structures are kept at extreme levels of setback. The collision force
is developed at the mid height of structure. Proper separation distance was proposed to prevent
the linear pounding and torsional pounding. (S, 2017)

3 What is ponding
Pounding denotes up and down movement or compression. The destructive force in an
earthquake is oscillation or side to side movement caused by the lateral movement of the earth.
Buildings are made to withstand compressive force. The twin towers collapsed because when
the first structural beams were compromised by the heat of the fire, the upper stories, collapsed,
adding a ballistic force that overcame the structure's design parameters and each floor collapsed
as the floors above fell and struck the next like vertical dominos.

Buildings unless they are specifically built to withstand lateral or side to side movement are at
risk. In fill areas, like the Marina District of San Francisco, are areas that were once water or
wetland, filled with earth but remain water saturated. When an earth quake occurs the shake
repeatedly like a slab of jello on a saucer. Buildings are not made to withstand that.
https://www.quora.com/What-is-a-pounding-force-in-a-structure-during-earthquake

4 Pounding force response of adjacent building

Various cases of two adjacent multi-story buildings with different numbers of floors and equal
or unequal foundation levels under earthquake loading and considering soil-structure
interaction (SSI) are investigated. A two-dimensional model for each case of the two adjacent
unequal buildings without separation distance is used and a special arrangement of contact
elements in the contact zone is employed to fulfil all possible deformation contact modes which
take place under seismic loading. The soil is modelled by two-dimensional 4-node elements
which are in contact with the foundations of the two adjacent buildings. (Kontoni, 2018)

Pounding is the impact of the adjacent buildings on each other when they vibrate out of phase
and the separation gap between them is less than the minimum distance required for them to
vibrate freely due to earthquake excitation. This phenomenon has caused building damage
during most destructive earthquakes. For instance, pounding-incurred building damage
happened during the 1985 Mexico City and 1989 Loma Prieta earthquakes, as reported by
Rosenblueth and Meli (1986) and Kasai and Maison (1997), respectively. Even for recent
earthquakes, there are several reports of building damage due to pounding despite great
improvements in building codes. (Naserkhaki, 2012)

5 Effects of Earthquake on Structure

Earthquake is the most dangerous natural phenomenon that generates sizable destruction in
structures. It is reported that two sources of mistakes which would seriously endanger
structures are ignoring the ways an earthquake affects buildings and shoddy construction
practices.

1.1 Inertia Forces in Structures

The generation of inertia forces in a structure is one of the seismic influences that detrimentally
affect the structure. When an earthquake causes ground shaking, the base of the building would
move but the roof would be at rest. However, since the walls and columns are attached to it,
the roof is dragged with the base of the building.

The tendency of the roof structure to remain at its original position is called inertia. The inertia
forces can cause shearing of the structure which can concentrate stresses on the weak walls or
joints in the structure resulting in failure or perhaps total collapse. Finally, more mass means
higher inertia force that is why lighter buildings sustain the earthquake shaking better.

1.2 Deformations in Structures

When a building experiences earthquake and ground shaking occurs, the base of the building
moves with the ground shaking. However, the roof movement would be different from that of
the base of the structure. This difference in the movement creates internal forces in columns
which tend to return the column to its original position.
These internal forces are termed stiffness forces. The stiffness forces would be higher as the
size of columns gets higher. The stiffness force in a column is the column stiffness times the
relative displacement between its ends.

1.3 Horizontal and Vertical Shaking

Earthquake causes shaking of the ground in all the three directions X, Y and Z, and the ground
shakes randomly back and forth along each of these axis directions. Commonly, structures are
designed to withstand vertical loads, so the vertical shaking due to earthquakes (either adds or
subtracts vertical loads) is tackled through safety factors used in the design to support vertical
loads.

However, horizontal shaking along X and Y directions is critical for the performance of the
structure since it generates inertia forces and lateral displacement and hence adequate load
transfer path shall be provided to prevent its detrimental influences on the structure.

And much more

https://theconstructor.org/structural-engg/earthquake-effects-structures/2704/
6 References
Chouw, N. (2002). Influence of soil-structure interaction on pounding response of adjacent
buildings. Journal of Applied Mechanics.

Ghandil, M. (2016). Damage-based seismic planar pounding analysis of adjacent. Earthquake

Engng Struct. Dyn.

Hytham Elwardany. (2019). Influence of soil–structure interaction on seismic pounding.

Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering.

Kontoni, D.-P. N. (2018). Seismic Response of Adjacent Unequal Buildings.

Mahmoud, S. (2013). Earthquake-induced pounding between equal height. Bull Earthquake

Eng.

Naserkhaki, S. (2012). Earthquake induced pounding between adjacent buildings. Earthq Eng
& Eng Vib (2012) 11: 343-358.

S, E. (2017). LINEAR AND NON-LINEAR DYAMIC EVALUATION OF CONCRETE. Jr.

of Industrial Pollution Control 33(S2)(2017) pp 1288-1293.