Effect of Ground Motion Characteristics and Structural Properties on Energy Components of a Structure

Abstract

Effect of ground motion characteristics and structural properties on energy components of a structure is presented. The energy-based criterion for design of seismic resistant structures envisages that a structure collapses or experiences significant damage when the amount of energy it can absorb and dissipate is less than energy demand of the structure. This follows that a structure would be seismic resistant if energy absorption capacity is greater than seismic input energy or seismic energy demand. The factors that influence the input energy and its components quantitatively are investigated. The result of the investigations shows that as the peak ground acceleration increases, the input energy also increases indicating that the input energy is related to the intensity of ground motion. It is shown that for a given peak ground acceleration, the effect of strong motion duration on the input energy is as significant as the influence of frequency content even for records with the same intensity and duration of strong motion. And all small damping ratios less than 5% have a minor influence on the input energy, but a major effect on the damage potentials of structures.