Seismic Behavior Factors of RC Staggered Wall Buildings

In this study seismic performance of reinforced concrete staggered wall system structures were investigated and their behavior factors such as overstrength factors, ductility factors, and the response modification factors were evaluated from the overstrength and ductility factors. To this end, 5, 9, 15, and 25-story staggered wall system (SWS) structures were designed and were analyzed by nonlinear static and dynamic analyses to obtain their nonlinear force–displacement relationships. The response modification factors were computed based on the overstrength and the ductility capacities obtained from capacity envelopes. The analysis results showed that the 5- and 9-story SWS structures failed due to yielding of columns and walls located in the lower stories, whereas in the 15- and 25-story structures plastic hinges were more widely distributed throughout the stories. The computed response modification factors increased as the number of stories decreased, and the mean value turned out to be larger than the value specified in the design code.