International Journal of Structural Stability and Dynamics

Vol. 10, No. 2 (2010) 187
203

#.c World Scienti¯c Publishing Company
DOI: 10.1142/S0219455410003488

GRAVITY EFFECTS ON EARTHQUAKE

RESPONSE OF A FLEXURE BUILDING: A SHEAR
BUILDING COMPARISON

ERIC AUGUSTUS TINGATINGA

Institute of Civil Engineering, University of the Philippines
Diliman, Quezon City 1101, Philippines
eatingatinga@gmail.com

HIDEJI KAWAKAMI
Geosphere Research Institute, Saitama University
255 Shimo-Ohkubo, Sakura-ku, Saitama, 338-8570, Japan
kaw@kiban.civil.saitama-u.ac.jp

HIDENORI MOGI
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Saitama University, 255 Shimo-Ohkubo
Sakura-ku, Saitama, 338-8570, Japan
hm@kiban.civil.saitama-u.ac.jp

Received 14 March 2008

Accepted 18 May 2009

An analytical building model including the nonlinear e®ects caused by gravity is presented in
this paper. Governing equations are derived for both single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) and
multi-degree-of-freedom (MDOF) models with large displacements taken into account, and
solutions are obtained by direct integration and modal analysis. The response of typical
structures subjected to harmonic ground excitation was expressed in exact and approximate
forms, compared with the response of an equivalent shear building. Numerical examples show
that while gravity generally decreases the natural frequency of elastic SDOF systems with small
displacement approximations, actual natural frequency increases with ground motion. The
di®erence in the natural frequency and response of MDOF systems to the equivalent shear
building is not only due to gravity, but also caused by the geometry of the structure. Exact
solution shows that the frequency varies with ground motion amplitude.

Keywords: Flexure building; gravity e®ect; nonlinearity; analytical building; building model.

1. Introduction
It is an established fact in earthquake engineering that gravity is important when
structures undergo large displacements due to strong ground motions. When yielding
occurs, gravity becomes the dominant force in causing the structure to collapse.1
9

187
188 E. A. Tingatinga, H. Kawakami & H. Mogi

The dynamics of structures, however, is usually studied using the shear building
model that is based on the assumption that displacements are small and the gravity
e®ect is negligible. In light of this fact, the authors propose a model that can be used
to describe more realistic response of structures undergoing large displacements
during the earthquake.
The study of gravity e®ects on the seismic response of engineering structures can be
traced back to the work of Ruge.10 He ¯rst noted the change in period and de°ection
of a simple vertical cantilever supporting a weight. Jennings and Husid,1 in their study
on the collapse of yielding structures using an inverted pendulum model, also reported
the increase in natural period due to gravity. Their study later inspired other
researchers to investigate the e®ect of gravity on the response of elastic7
9 and
yielding2
6 structures subjected to earthquake-induced ground motion. Because of
the assumption that elastic response and yielding occurs when displacements or
rotations are generally small, the governing equations of motion are linearized and
take the form of Du±ng11 equation. Du±ng reported the jump phenomenon on
amplitude response curves by exhaustively studying a nonlinear di®erential equation
of the form m€ x þ rx_ þ
x þ x 3 ¼ F0 cos !t. Physically, this equation can be
thought of as the governing equation for the motion of a damped, forced, mechanical
oscillator of mass m having a nonlinear spring. Whether this equation can be used to
predict the motion of the analytical building model studied here will be investigated
later.
In this paper, the response of the aforementioned models undergoing large dis-
placements will be thoroughly studied. The seismic response of typical buildings is
presented in exact form using the small displacement approximation. Also, the result
is compared with that obtained by an equivalent shear building model. The for-
mulation is also extended to multi-degree-of-freedom (MDOF) systems to investigate
how gravity a®ects the response of tall, multi-story buildings.

2. Analytical Building Model

A simple structural model that takes into account the e®ect of gravity is shown in
Fig. 1. The model is subject to three assumptions: (1) the mass of the building is
concentrated at the °oor levels; (2) the columns of the building are inextensible
axially and do not exhibit shear deformations; and (3) the e®ects of axial and shear
forces on the column's °exural rigidity are negligible. The circular path of the masses
simpli¯es the complex horizontal and vertical motions of the deformed columns of a
building. For convenience, the term \°exure building" will be used to refer to the
inverted pendulum building model wherein each °oor consists of a mass and rigid bar
with torsional spring and damper at the base. This model may exhibit signi¯cant
vertical accelerations because of large displacements that are ignored in the shear
building. The single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) building shown in Fig. 1(a) has been
used by researchers1
6 to investigate the e®ect of gravity in the response of structures
subjected to earthquake ground motions.
 Gravity E®ects on Earthquake Response of a Flexure Building 189

(a) (b)
Fig. 1. Flexure building subjected to lateral forces P(t) and earthquake-induced ground motion xg ðtÞ: (a)
SDOF system (b) MDOF system.

In this paper, rotations and displacements will be used interchangeably when

comparing motions with shear buildings.

3. SDOF Systems
The SDOF °exure building model similar to the analytical model reported by
Jennings and Husid1 is shown in Fig. 1(a). This idealized lumped mass model can be
used to study the response of buildings, towers, and other similar types of structures
which support a heavy weight at the top.

3.1. Motion equation and vibration properties

The absolute position of the mass with respect to the given coordinate system shown
in Fig. 1(a) can be expressed as
x ¼ xg þ h sin ; y ¼ h cos ; ð1Þ
and the components of acceleration of the mass can be written as
:: :2
x€ ¼ x€g þ hðcos 
sin  Þ; ð2Þ
:: :2
y€ ¼
hðsin  þ cos  Þ: ð3Þ
The dynamic equilibrium of the mass suggests that summation of forces along the
x- and y-axes gives
:: :2
S ¼ m€
x g þ mhðcos  
sin   Þ
P ; ð4Þ
:: :2
T ¼
mhðsin   þ cos   Þ þ mg; ð5Þ
190 E. A. Tingatinga, H. Kawakami & H. Mogi

and that summation of moments about the mass center gives

:
~ ¼ 0:
Sðh cos Þ
T ðh sin Þ þ ~c  þ k ð6Þ
Substitutions and algebraic manipulations yield the governing equation for the
motion of a SDOF °exure building subjected to earthquake-induced ground motion
x€g and a lateral force P as
:: :
~
mgh sin  ¼
mh cos  x€g þ h cos  P :
mh 2 þ ~c  þ k ð7Þ
When rotations are relatively small, i.e. sin  ffi , this equation can be simpli¯ed as
:: :
~
mghÞ  ¼
mh€
mh 2 þ ~c  þ ðk x g þ hP : ð8Þ
The natural frequency of the system can be obtained from the equation for the
corresponding free-undamped system as
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
~
mgh
k
!n ¼ : ð9Þ
mh 2
Equations (7)
(9) are similar to the equations reported by Jennings and Husid.1 For
~ is always greater than mgh because equivalence of these
a stable physical structure, k
two terms suggests an unstable structure that will fail by elastic buckling. If we
de¯ne the gravity e®ect parameter  as
~
mgh
k
¼ ; 0   < 1; ð10Þ
~
k
then we can write the natural frequency as
pffiffiffi
!n ¼   !0 ; ð11Þ
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
~
where !0 ¼ k=ðmh 2 Þ is the frequency when gravity is ignored. Sun et al. used a
2

dimensionless parameter similar to  to describe the increase in elastic natural period

due to gravity.

3.2. Earthquake response of SDOF systems

The governing equation for the motion of SDOF system subjected to earthquake-
induced ground motion is given by Eqs. (7) and (8) with P ¼ 0. When subjected to
harmonic ground motion
xg ¼ xg0 sinð!tÞ: ð12Þ
Equations (7) and (8) become
:: :
~
mgh sin  ¼ mh cos ! 2 xg0 sinð!tÞ;
mh 2 þ ~c  þ k ð13Þ
:: : 1 2
 þ 2!n  þ ! 2n  ¼ ! xg0 sinð!tÞ; ð14Þ
h
respectively; where  ¼ ~c =ð2mh 2 !n Þ is the damping ratio.
 Gravity E®ects on Earthquake Response of a Flexure Building 191

Before we proceed with solution of Eqs. (13) and (14), we ¯rst take note of a few
important concepts. First, it should be realized that Eq. (13) is nonlinear because of
the gravity term
mgh sin . If this expression is linearized to include a third-order
term, then this equation reduces to the Du±ng11 equation. However, since Eq. (13) is
expressed in terms of angle, then we can say that the solution presented by Du±ng is
good only for relatively small values of rotation angles, say, less than 15  . Thus, a
more accurate elastic response of a °exure building undergoing large displacements
can only be obtained by integrating Eq. (13).
The solution of the linear equation in Eq. (14) can be obtained analytically. The
steady-state response of the model undergoing small rotations can be expressed as
 ¼ 0 sinð!t
r Þ; ð15Þ

where
xg0 2
0 ¼  qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi ; ð16Þ
h 2
ð1
 Þ 2 þ ð2Þ 2
 
2
r ¼ tan
1 : ð17Þ
1
2

Here,  ¼ !=!n is the tuning ratio. The displacement of the mass relative to the
ground is u ¼ h and the absolute displacement of the mass is
x ¼ xg þ u ¼ xg0 d sinð!t
a Þ; ð18Þ

where d is the transmissibility12 for displacement and a is the phase angle

de¯ned by
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
1 þ ð2Þ 2
d ¼ 2
; ð19Þ
ð1
 Þ 2 þ ð2Þ 2
 

1  2 ð2Þ
a ¼ tan ; ð20Þ
ð1
 2 Þ þ ð2Þ 2

respectively.
We note here that when the structure is subjected to large amplitude ground
motions, the magnitude of steady-state response angle 0 may exceed =2 but the
maximum absolute displacement is limited to xg0 þ h.

3.3. E®ects of gravity on SDOF systems

To investigate the e®ects of gravity on the response of elastic structures, we compare
the responses of this simple model and its equivalent shear building whose motion is
governed by the equation
:
u þ cu þ ku ¼
m€
m€ x g; ð21Þ
192 E. A. Tingatinga, H. Kawakami & H. Mogi

where k and c are estimated from the response of the two systems undergoing small
displacements. The equivalent damping for the same damping ratio  is c ¼ ~c =h 2 and
the equivalent sti®ness for the same restoring moment is equal to
~
k mg
k¼
; ð22Þ
h2 h
if gravity is taken into account. The value of k so obtained provides a ¯rst com-
parison of the shear building with the °exure building, because their natural
frequencies and the governing equations are the same, namely, Eq. (21) will be the
same as Eq. (8). If gravity is ignored, however, the elastic sti®ness will be
~ 2;
k ¼ k=h ð23Þ
and its natural frequency is equal to !0 .

3.4. Numerical comparison with shear building

Consider a building whose mass m is 10 4 kg and height h is 5 m subjected to a ground
~ will be
motion xg ðtÞ ¼ xg0 sin(!t), where xg0 ¼ 0.1, 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 m. The value of k
calculated from typical values of , e.g. 0.4 and 0.9 ( ¼ 0:4 is only used here for
comparison). A 5% damping ratio will be assumed.
The exact equation of motion of the system given in Eq. (13) will be solved
numerically and its steady-state response will be estimated after several cycles. The
response in terms of rotation angle, relative and absolute displacements and their
corresponding phase lags will be compared with the solution of Eq. (14) for small
displacements, i.e. Eqs. (16)
(20). Finally, we compare the response to the steady-
state response of the shear building with sti®ness given by Eq. (23). The frequency
response curves are plotted in Fig. 2.
Figure 2 shows that the natural frequency of the SDOF °exure building implied
by Eq. (14) decreases with , indicating that Eq. (11) is more reasonable compared
with the natural frequency implied by the equivalent shear building in Eq. (21). The
actual natural frequency of the system, whose equation is de¯ned by Eq. (13) and
shown by the marked lines in Fig. 2, however, increases with the ground motion
amplitude.
If we rewrite Eq. (13) such that the restoring force is ~k
mgh sin , then the
e®ective sti®ness as a function of  can be approximated as
~
mgh sin 
k
KðÞ ffi : ð24Þ

The resulting natural frequency as a function of the steady-state amplitude 0 can be
approximated by
rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
Kð0 Þ
!n ð0 Þ ffi : ð25Þ
mh 2
 Gravity E®ects on Earthquake Response of a Flexure Building 193

90 90
(deg)

m n
θ0

60 60
Rotation angle,

30 30

0 0
8 8
Relative displacement (m)

6 6
m n
4 4

2 2

0 0
π π
Phase, φ r

n
π/2 π/2
m
0 0
8 8
Absolute displacement (m)

6 m 6

4 4
n
2 2

0 0
π π
Phase, φ a

π/2 n π /2
m
0 0
0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3
ω (rad/s) ω (rad/s)
η =0.4 η =0.9

xg0, m Flexure Building Shear Building

Exact Small displacements
2.0
1.0
0.5
0.1

Fig. 2. Frequency response of SDOF °exure building with m ¼ 10 4 kg, h ¼ 5 m, and gravity-e®ect para-
meter  equal to (a) 0.4 and (b) 0.9. The building is subjected to a harmonic ground motion xg ¼ xg0 sin(!t)
with xg0 equal to 0.1, 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 m, and the response is compared with the response of an equivalent
shear building. Damping ratio is assumed to be 5% for all models.
194 E. A. Tingatinga, H. Kawakami & H. Mogi

5
η =0.9 η =0.9 elastic

4 xg0=0.01
0.025
ωn 3 φ y=0.1 0.05
0.1
0.5
2 φ y=0.03
η =0.4
φ y=0.01
1
0 π/2 0 0.5
θ 0, rad θ 0, rad

Fig. 3. Variation in frequency with steady-state response amplitude for (a) elastic ( ¼ 0:4 and  ¼ 0:9),
and (b) inelastic SDOF systems (with  ¼ 0:9).

The amplitude-dependent natural frequency or the e®ective sti®ness increases when

undergoing large rotations, which is shown as dark-solid lines in Fig. 3(a). In this
¯gure, the actual natural frequencies estimated using the solution of Eq. (13) (shown
as peaks in the plots of Fig. 2) are plotted as discrete points for di®erent values of
ground displacements.
Finally, if yielding were taken into account and an elastoplastic restoring
moment-rotation relation P ðk;~ Þ is assumed, then the e®ective sti®ness is estima-
ted as
~ Þ
mgh sin 
P ðk;
Kp ðÞ ffi : ð26Þ

The natural frequency predicted by Eq. (25) will decrease with the increase in
ground motion amplitude depending on the value of yield angle y , as shown by the
dark lines in Fig. 3(b). The actual natural frequencies are plotted as points for
di®erent values of ground motion amplitude xg0 .
We also observe from Fig. 2 that the sudden drop of approximately 2xg0 in the
plots of absolute displacement is due to the superposition of ground motion. And
hence for the same rotation angle, the absolute displacement of the mass is larger
when the motion is in phase with the ground displacement than when it is out of
phase with the ground motion. The e®ect of the superposition of ground displace-
ment is shown in Fig. 4 for points m and n in Fig. 2(a).

4. MDOF Systems
4.1. Motion equations
The fundamental equations of an N-story °exure building, shown in Fig. 1(b), will
be derived when it is subjected to lateral forces P ¼ fPi g and earthquake-induced
ground motion xg . Linear rotational dampers, not shown in Fig. 1(b), are also
installed in each story.
 Gravity E®ects on Earthquake Response of a Flexure Building 195

6 2 4 8
1 5
1 5
7 3 7
3

8 2 6
4

-1 +1 -1 +1
(a) (b)
Fig. 4. Steady-state response of SDOF °exure building with m ¼ kg, h ¼ 5 m, and  ¼ 0:4 to ground
10 4
motion xg ¼ 1:0sin(!t) at forcing frequencies equal to (a) 1.175 rad/s and (b) 1.32 rad/s. Numbers indicate
sequence of response to one cycle of ground motion.

The absolute positions of the masses can be expressed as

Xn X
n
xn ¼ xg þ hi sin i ; yn ¼ hi cos i : ð27Þ
i¼1 i¼1

By considering the dynamic equilibrium of the °oors, one can apply the D'Alembert's
principle to obtain the following equations:
Sn
Snþ1 þ Pn
mn x€n ¼ 0; ð28Þ
Tn
Tnþ1
mn g
mn y€n ¼ 0; ð29Þ
: : : :
~ n ðn
n
1 Þ
k
k ~ nþ1 ðnþ1
n Þ þ ~c n ðn
n
1 Þ
~c nþ1 ðnþ1
n Þ

þ Sn hn cos n
Tn hn sin n ¼ 0; ð30Þ

~ Nþ1 ¼ ~c Nþ1 ¼ 0 and SNþ1 ¼ TNþ1 ¼ 0. The components
for n ¼ 1; . . . ; N; such that k
of the acceleration of the center of each mass can be obtained by di®erentiating
Eq. (27) twice, which can then be substituted into Eqs. (28) and (29) to give
X
N X
N X
N X
i :: :2
Sn ¼ x€g mi
Pi þ mi hj ð j cos j
 j sin j Þ; ð31Þ
i¼n i¼n i¼n j¼1

X
N X
N X
i :: :2
Tn ¼ g mi
mi hj ð j sin j þ  j cos j Þ: ð32Þ
i¼n i¼n j¼1

Substituting these expressions for Sn and Tn into Eq. (30), we have

X
N :

k ~n þ k
~ n n
1 þ ðk ~ nþ1 Þn
k
~ nþ1 nþ1
ghn sin n mi
~c n n
1
i¼n
: :
þ ð~c n þ ~c nþ1 Þn
~c nþ1 nþ1
X
N X
i :: :2
þ hn mi hj ½cosðn
j Þ j
sinðn
j Þ j 
i¼n j¼1

X
N X
N
¼
hn cos n x€g mi þ hn cos n Pi : ð33Þ
i¼n i¼n
196 E. A. Tingatinga, H. Kawakami & H. Mogi

If we let the total mass supported by the ith column, Mi as

X
N
Mi ¼ mk ; ð34Þ
k¼i

then we can write Eq. (33) for n ¼ 1; . . . ; N such that the governing equation of the
N-story °exure building can be written in matrix form as
::
¤µ µ þ "µ;µ: þ rµ ¼
®µ x€g þ N µ P ; ð35Þ
where
µ ¼ fi g; ð36Þ
(
Mi ji
¤µ ¼ ½ ij ; ij ¼ hi hj cosði
j Þ  ; ð37Þ
Mj j > i

: : : : X
N X
k :2
"µ;µ: ¼ f"i g; "i ¼ ~c i ði
i
1 Þ
~c iþ1 ðiþ1
i Þ
hi mk hr sinði
r Þ r ;
k¼i r¼1
ð38Þ

~
g¿ µ ;
rµ ¼ Kµ ¿ µ ¼ f
i g;
i ¼ hi Mi sin i ; ð39Þ
®µ ¼ f
i g;
i ¼ hi Mi cos i ; ð40Þ
(
0 j<i
N µ ¼ ½ ij ;  ij ¼ ; ð41Þ
hi cos i j  i
for i ¼ 1; . . . ; N and j ¼ 1; . . . ; N. Here,
2 3
~1 þ k
k ~2
k~2  0
6 7
6 ~2 ~2 þ k~3    7
6
k k 0 7
~ 6 7
K ¼6 7: ð42Þ
6 .. .. .. .. 7
6 . . . . 7
4 5
0 0  ~
kN

4.2. Exact solution

The exact solution to the motion of an N-story °exure building subjected to earth-
quake-induced ground motion and lateral forces can be obtained by rewriting Eq. (35)
in terms of the angular velocity ­ to form 2N ordinary di®erential equations as
:
µ ¼ ­; ð43Þ
:
­¼
¤
1
µ ð"µ;­ þ rµ þ ®µ x€g
N µ P Þ: ð44Þ
 Gravity E®ects on Earthquake Response of a Flexure Building 197

These equations can be solved using any practical numerical method for solving the
initial value problems. In this paper, a fourth-order Runge
Kutta method with an
integration step width equal to 10
3 is used.

4.3. Small displacement approximations

When masses undergo small displacements, i.e. sin  ffi  and cos  ffi 1, the governing
equation in Eq. (35) becomes
:: :
¤µ þ E µ þ V µ ¼
® x€g þ NP ; ð45Þ
where
2 3
h 21 M1 h1 h2 M2    h1 hN M N
6 7
6 h 22 M2  h2 hN M N 7
6 7
6 7
¤¼6 7; ð46Þ
6 .. .. 7
6 . . 7
4 5
sym  h 2N MN
2 3
~c 1 þ ~c 2
~c 2  0
6 7
6
~c 2 ~c 2 þ ~c 3    0 7
6 7
E¼6
6
7; ð47Þ
6 .. .. .. .. 7
4 . . . . 7
5
0 0  ~c N
2 3
~1 þ k
k ~ 2
M1 gh1 ~2

k  0
6 7
6 ~2 ~ 3
M2 gh2   
~2 þ k 7
6
k k 0 7
6 7
V ¼6 7; ð48Þ
6 .. .. .. .. 7
6 . . . . 7
4 5
0 0  ~ N
MN ghN
k
8 9
>
> M 1 h1 >
>
>
> >
>
>
> >
< 2 2 >
M h =
®¼ ; ð49Þ
>
> .. >
>
>
> . >
>
>
> >
>
: ;
MN hN
(
0 j<i
N ¼ ½ ij ;  ij ¼ : ð50Þ
hi j  i
198 E. A. Tingatinga, H. Kawakami & H. Mogi

The natural vibration frequencies !n and modes Ãn of the system can be obtained
from Eq. (45) with the right-hand side set equal to zero and E ¼ 0. The dynamic
response of the system can be obtained using the numerical method outlined in
Eqs. (43) and (44). Equation (45) can also be solved by the well-known modal
analysis such that the dynamic response of the system can be expressed in terms of
the modal coordinates as
X
N
µ¼ Ãn qn ; ð51Þ
n¼1

where
:: :
q n þ 2n !n qn þ ! 2n qn ¼

n x€g : ð52Þ
Here,
n is the modal participation factor.

4.4. E®ects of gravity on MDOF systems

It is not evident in Eqs. (35) and (45) how the gravity or ground motion amplitude
a®ect the natural frequency and the response of the °exure building. To resolve this
issue, we shall investigate a N-story °exure building with equal story heights h.

4.4.1. Natural frequencies and modes

The frequency and modes shapes of the N-story °exure building can be obtained using
Eq. (45). In terms of the inter-story rotation angle ' (from Fig. 1(b), µ ¼ G' where
G is a lower triangular transformation matrix whose nonzero elements are all 1),
Eq. (45) becomes
^'::
¤ þ V^ ' ¼
® x€g ; ð53Þ
when E ¼ 0 and P ¼ 0, where
8
>
> XN
>
> M ði
jÞ þ Mk j < i;
>
< i
^ ¼ ½ ^ij ;
¤ ^ij ¼ h 2 
k¼i
ð54Þ
>
> X
N
>
> j  i;
>
: Mk
k¼j

8
>
ghMi j < i;
>
>
>
>
<k~ i
ghMi j ¼ i;
V^ ¼ ½^
v ij ; v^ij ¼ ð55Þ
>
> ~j

k j ¼ i þ 1;
>
>
>
:
0 otherwise;

® ¼ f
i g;
i ¼ hMi : ð56Þ

 Gravity E®ects on Earthquake Response of a Flexure Building 199

On the other hand, the governing equation of the shear building in terms of the
displacement of the ith °oor with respect to the ground ui can be expressed in terms of
the inter-story drifts j ,
X
i
ui ¼ j or u ¼ G±; ð57Þ
j¼1

and can be written as

8 :: 9
2 3> >
1 > 2 38 9 8 9
m1 0  0 >
> > k1
k2    0 > 1 > > m >
>
> >
> >
> >
> >
> 1 >
>
6 7> :: > 6 7> > > >
6 7>
> >
2 > 6  7>> >
2 >
>
> >
>
6 m2 m2  0 7>
< >
= 6 0 k2 0 7>< >
= >
< m2 >
=
6 7 6 7
6 7 þ6 7 ¼
x€g :
6 .. .. .. .. 7> .. > 6 .. .. .. .. 7> .. > > >
.. >
6 7>
> >
> 6 . . . . 7>> .
>
> >
> . >
4 . . . . 5>
>
>
. >
>
> 4 5>>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> >
> >
: >
; >
: >
;
 >
: :: >
;
mN mN mN
N 0 0  kN N mN

ð58Þ

And when the shear forces exerted by the °oor above is expressed in terms of the
inertia forces of the upper °oors,

X
N X
N X
N X
i ::
S n ¼ kn  n ¼
x g þ u€i Þ ¼
€
mi ð€ xg mi
mi  j; ð59Þ
i¼n i¼n i¼n j¼1

then Eq. (58) can be written as

8 :: 9
2 3 2 38 9 8 9
M1 M2    MN > >
>
1 >
>
> k1 0  0 > 1 > > M1 >
> > > > > >
6 7>
>
>
>
>
:: > 6 7>
> >
> >
> >
>
6 M2    MN 7>
7> 2 >
> 6 k2    7>
> >
2 >
>
> >
>
6 < = 6 0 0 7>
< >
= >
< M2 >
=
6 7 6 7
6 7 þ6 7 ¼
x€g :
6 .. .. 7>
> .. >
> 6 .. .. .. .. 7> .. > > .. >
6 . . 7> > 6 . . . . 7>
> .
>
> >
> >
. >
4 5>
>
>
. >
>
> 4 5>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> >
> >
: >
; >
: >
;
> :: >
sym MN : N
; 0 0  kN N MN
ð60Þ

Or, simply, we can pre-multiply both sides of Eq. (58) by G T to obtain Eq. (60).

4.4.2. Numerical example

We consider a two-story building with mn ¼ m, kn ¼ k, and k ~ n ¼ k.
~ If we are to
compare the frequency of the °exure building with that of an equivalent shear
building, then we write the equations of a °exure building with g ¼ 0. The governing
equations of the two-story °exure building for g ¼ 0 may be written using Eqs. (45)
200 E. A. Tingatinga, H. Kawakami & H. Mogi

and (53) as
" #8 :: 9 " #( ) ( )
2 1 < 1 = 2
1 1 2
mh 2 ~
þk ¼
mh x€g ; ð61Þ
::
1 1 : ;
1 1 2 1
2

" #( :: ) " #  ( )
3 1 ’1 1
1 ’1 2
mh 2 ~
þk ¼
mh x€g ; ð62Þ
:: ’2
2 1 ’2 0 1 1
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
with natural frequencies equal to 0:414 k=ðmh ~ ~
2 Þ and 2:414 k=ðmh 2 Þ.

The governing equations of a two-story shear building in Eqs. (60) and (58)
reduces to
" #8 :: 9 " #( ) ( )
2 1 <  1= 1 0 1 2
m :: þk ¼
m x€g ; ð63Þ
1 1 : ; 0 1 2 1
2
" #8 :: 9 " #( ) ( )
1 0 <  1= 1
1 1 1
m :: ; þ k ¼
m x€g ; ð64Þ
1 1 : 0 1 2 1
2
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
and have natural frequencies equal to 0:618 k=m and 1:618 k=m. Comparison of
Eqs. (61) and (63) or Eqs. (62) and (64) with k ~ ¼ h 2 k account for the di®erence in the
natural frequencies of the systems even when gravity is ignored. That is, for the same
restoring force, i.e. values of sti®ness matrix in Eqs. (62) and (64), the motions di®er
for both models (i.e. values of mass matrix). Conversely, when masses undergo similar
accelerations, the restoring forces are di®erent, e.g. by comparing Eqs. (61) and (63).
Finally, if we let m ¼ 10 4 kg, h ¼ 5 m, and k ~ ¼ 4:905  10 6 Nm/rad, then the
di®erence in the natural frequencies due to the combined e®ect of gravity and geo-
metry of the two building models are shown in Fig. 5(a), even though each layer
model (i.e. one-story) is equivalent.
Figure 5(b) shows the di®erence in the mode shapes of the two models, which
illustrates that the response at the top of the °exure building (both when g ¼ 9:81 m/s 2
and g ¼ 0) according to the fundamental frequency is greater than that of its equiv-
alent shear building.

4.4.3. Frequency response

To investigate the e®ect of ground motion amplitude on the natural frequency, we use
an example of the response of a typical two-story building to harmonic ground motion.
The frequency response of the same two-story °exure building with m ¼ 10 4 kg,
hn ¼ 5 m, and k~ ¼ 4:905  10 6 Nm/rad subjected to ground motion amplitudes equal
to 0.1 and 0.5 m will be investigated for a damping ratio equal to 5%.
Figure 6 shows the response of the 2DOF system in terms of the amplitudes of
steady-state rotation angle, displacement relative to the ground and its phase, and
 Gravity E®ects on Earthquake Response of a Flexure Building 201

15

12
3rd mode
9
2nd mode
ω
6
1st mode
3

0
1 2 3
Number of floors, N
(a) Markers § and ¤ denote the frequencies estimated from the solution
of Eq. (35) with P ¼ 0 for x g0 ¼ 0:1 and 0.5 m, respectively.

2nd 1st

3rd

2nd
1st

-1 +1 -1 +1
N=2 N=3
Marked lines
Flexure Building (Small displacements, g=9.81 m/s2)
Flexure Building (Small displacements, g=0)
Shear Building
(b)
Fig. 5. Comparison of (a) natural frequencies and (b) mode shapes of °exure building (with g ¼ 0 and
g ¼ 9:81 m/s 2 ) and the equivalent shear building.

absolute displacement and the corresponding phase angle of each °oor. The response
of the equivalent shear building model with kn ¼ k~ n =h 2 is also computed and shown
with light lines.
Figure 6 clearly shows the di®erence in the natural frequencies and displacement
amplitude of the two models. The peak response of the shear building appears to be
di®erent when compared with the peak response of the °exure building. It is also worth
noting that similar to the SDOF system, the fundamental frequency estimated using
Eq. (35) with P ¼ 0 increases with the ground motion amplitude, when compared
202 E. A. Tingatinga, H. Kawakami & H. Mogi

60 60
Rotation angle θ0 (deg)

40 40

20 20

0 0
5 5
Relative displacement (m)

4 4

3 3

2 2

1 1

0 0
π π
Phase, φr

π/2 π /2

0 0
5 5
Absolute displacement (m)

4 4

3 3

2 2

1 1

0 0
π π
Phase, φ a

π/2 π/2

0 0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
ω (rad/s) ω (rad/s)

xg0, m Flexure Building

Exact Small displacements Shear Building
0.5
0.1

Fig. 6. Frequency response of 2DOF °exure building with mn ¼ 10 4 kg, hn ¼ 5 m, k ~ n ¼ 4:905  10 6 Nm/
rad. The building is subjected to harmonic ground motion xg ¼ xg0 sin(!t) with ground motion amplitudes
xg0 ¼ 0:1, 0.5 m.

with the frequency of small displacement approximations of Eq. (45). The second
natural frequency decreases with the ground motion amplitude. The natural
frequencies estimated using the peaks of plots in Fig. 6 are plotted as discrete points in
Fig. 5 to show the e®ect of ground motion amplitude (xg0 ¼ 0:1 and 0.5 m).
 Gravity E®ects on Earthquake Response of a Flexure Building 203

5. Concluding Remarks
The fundamental equations governing the motion of a °exure building subjected to
earthquake-induced ground motion and lateral loads are presented in this paper. To
understand how gravity a®ects the response of structures, the natural frequencies
and response to harmonic ground motions of typical structures modeled as °exure
building are compared with an equivalent shear building. Numerical examples show
that while gravity generally decreases the natural frequency of elastic SDOF systems
subject to small displacement approximations, actual natural frequency increases
with the ground motion. The di®erence in the natural frequency and response of
MDOF systems to the equivalent shear building is not only due to gravity, but also
caused by (using Eqs. (61)
(64) and Fig. 5) the geometry of the structure. Exact
solution shows that the frequency varies with the ground motion amplitude.

Acknowledgments
Mr. Tingatinga would like to acknowledge the support from Japanese Government
(Monkasho) during his three-year doctoral studies in Saitama University.

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