Three dimensional non-linear analysis of building pounding during earthquakes

The three dimensional pounding phenomenon of two adjacent buildings during earthquakes with aligned and non aligned rigid horizontal diaphragms is investigated for linear and non linear structural response. The developed formulation takes into account the dynamic contact condition for the velocities and accelerations in three dimensions. The contact points are determined geometrically from the displacements of the diaphragms' centre of mass. The results of the proposed formulation are compared with those based on the Lagrange multipliers approach. Test results are performed for two adjacent buildings with five storeys subjected to real earthquake motions, with elastic and inelastic structural response.