Seismic reliability analysis of buildings with torsional eccentricities

A study is presented of the influence of stiffness and strength eccentricities on the inelastic torsional response of buildings under the action of two simultaneous orthogonal horizontal ground motion components. Asymmetric buildings were obtained from their respective symmetric systems and were characterized by their stiffness and strength torsional eccentricities in both orthogonal directions. Based on the results of inelastic response of both building types (symmetric and asymmetric), the seismic reliability functions are determined for each system, and their forms of variation with different global system parameters are evaluated. Illustrative examples are presented about the use of this information for the formulation of seismic design criteria for in-plan asymmetric multistory systems, in order to attain the same reliability levels implicit for symmetric systems designed in accordance with current seismic design codes. Copyright (c) 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.