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In recent years, super high-rise buildings (>500 m) are developing very quickly and become an important frontier of civil engineering. The collapse resistance of super high-rise buildings subjected to extremely strong earthquake is a critical problem that must be intensively studied. This paper builds up a nonlinear finite element model of the tallest building in China, Shanghai Tower (632 m), and proposes the modeling method and failure criteria for different structural elements. The dynamic characters of this building are then analyzed, and the possible failure modes and collapse processes due to earthquakes are predicted, as well as the corresponding collapse mechanism. This work will be helpful in collapse prevention and the seismic design of super high-rise buildings.

Ground motion intensity measure (IM) is an important part in performance-based seismic design. A reasonable and efficient IM can make the prediction of the structural seismic responses more accurate. Therefore, a more reasonable IM for super high-rise buildings is proposed in this paper. This IM takes into account the significant characteristic that higher-order vibration modes play important roles in the seismic response of super high-rise buildings, as well as the advantages of some existing IMs. The key parameter of the proposed IM is calibrated using a series of time-history analyses. The collapse simulations of two super high-rise buildings are used to discuss the suitability of the proposed IM and some other existing IMs. The results indicate that the proposed IM yields a smaller coefficient of variation for the critical collapse status than other existing IMs and performs well in reflecting the contribution of higher-order vibration modes to the structural response. Hence, the proposed IM is more applicable to seismic design for super high-rise buildings than other IMs.

Composite slabs with profiled steel sheet are widely applied in practical structures now. Plenty of literatures can be available about simply supported composite slabs with single span. However, continuous slabs always exist in high-rise building structures. In order to obtain the ultimate loading capacity of continuous composite slabs, the full scale test on slab specimens with high cost need to be carried out. This paper presented an analytical model for calculating the ultimate loading capacity of continuous composite slabs. Only the small-scale slide block test needed to be carried out for determining some mechanical parameters, resulting in less cost, compared with the conventional m-k test method. Various load conditions and parameters were considered in the analytical model. The comparison between test results and predicted results showed that the proposed method had enough precision. Furthermore, the simplified method was also proposed for practical design.

This paper presents a new concept for enhancing the seismic ductility and damping capacity of diagrid structural frames by using shear-link fuse devices and its seismic performance is assessed through nonlinear static and dynamic analysis. The architectural elegancy of the diagrid structure attributed to its triangular leaning member configuration and high structural redundancy make this system a desirable choice for tall building design. However, forming a stable energy dissipation mechanism in diagrid framing remains to be investigated to expand its use in regions with high seismicity. To address this issue, a diagrid framing design is proposed here which provides a competitive design option in highly seismic regions through its increased ductility and improved energy dissipation capacity provided by replaceable shear links interconnecting the diagonal members at their ends.The structural characteristics and seismic behavior （capacity, stiffness, energy dissipation, ductility） of the diagrid structural frame are demonstrated with a 21-story building diagrid frame subjected to nonlinear static and dynamic analysis. The findings from the nonfinear time history analysis verify that satisfactory seismic performance can be achieved by the proposed diagrid frame subjected to design basis earthquakes in California. In particular, one appealing feature of the proposed diagrid building is its reduced residual displacement after strong earthquakes.

Flat slab system is becoming widely popular for multistory buildings due to its several advantages. However, the performance of flat slab buildings under earthquake loading is unsatisfactory due to their vulnerability to punching shear failure. Several national design codes provide guidelines for designing flat slab system under gravity load only. Nevertheless, flat slab buildings are also being constructed in high seismicity regions. In this paper, performance of flat slab buildings of various heights, designed for gravity load alone according to code, is evaluated under earthquake loading as per ASCE/SEI 41 methodology. Continuity of slab bottom reinforcement through column cage improves the performance of flat slab buildings to some extent, but it is observed that these flat slab systems are not adequate in high seismicity areas and need additional primary lateral load resisting systems such as shear walls. A displacement-based method is proposed to proportion shear walls as primary lateral load resisting elements to ensure satisfactory performance. The methodology is validated using design examples of flat slab buildings with various heights.

After nearly a decade of application and investigation, a motion amplification device with viscous dampers for energy dissipation has been recognized as an effective solution to mitigate wind or seismic excitation, especially for stiff structural systems. As a result of compensation of amplified motion, it has been proved that the efficiency of viscous damper largely depends on the motion amplification device configuration, particularly for device stiflhess. In this paper, a ＂scissor-jack＂ type of motion amplification device, called a ＂toggle brace damper＂ system, is studied. It is demonstrated that the efficiency of such a device reflected by its amplification factor is not merely a function of its geometric configuration, but is highly dependent on the support elements＇ stiffness as well, similar to the mechanism of a leverage arm. Accordingly, a mathematical model in terms of complex modulus of the viscous damper with consideration of the support brace＇s stiffness is established. The results indicate that the efficiency of the motion amplification device with viscous dampers significantly depends on the stiffness of the support elements. Other parameters, such as toggle brace configuration and damping values of the viscous damper, are studied and compared. As an application example, numerical analyses are conducted to study the dynamic performance of a 39-story office tower installed with toggle brace dampers constructed on soft soil in a reclaimed area, under a combined effect of the vortex shedding of an adjacent existing 52-story building and earthquakes. The results show that viscous dampers with a motion amplification system using a properly designed toggle brace device proved to be an effective solution to alleviate the external excitations.

Performance based design becomes an effective method for estimating seismic demands of buildings. In asymmetric plan tall building the effects of higher modes and torsion are crucial. The consecutive modal pushover （CMP） procedure is one of the procedures that consider these effects. Also in previous studies the influence of soil-structure interaction （SSI） in pushover analysis is ignored. In this paper the CMP procedure is modified for one-way asymmetric plan mid and high-rise buildings considering $SI. The extended CMP （ECMP） procedure is proposed in order to overcome some limitations of the CMP procedure. In this regard, 10, 15 and 20 story buildings with asymmetric plan are studied considering SSI assuming three different soil conditions. Using nonlinear response history analysis under a set of bidirectional ground motion; the exact responses of these buildings are calculated. Then the ECMP procedure is evaluated by comparing the results of this procedure with nonlinear time history results as an exact solution as well as the modal pushover analysis procedure and FEMA 356 load patterns. The results demonstrate the accuracy of the ECMP procedure.

Across-wind loads and effects have become increasingly important factors in the structural design of super-tall buildings and structures with increasing height. Across-wind loads and effects of tall buildings and structures are believed to be excited by inflow turbulence, wake, and inflow-structure interaction, which are very complicated. Although researchers have been focusing on the problem for over 30 years, the database of across-wind loads and effects and the computation methods of equivalent static wind loads have not yet been developed, most countries having no related rules in the load codes. Research results on the across-wind effects of tall buildings and structures mainly involve the determination of across-wind aerodynamic forces and across-wind aerodynamic damping, development of their databases, theoretical methods of equivalent static wind loads, and so on. In this paper we first review the current research on across-wind loads and effects of super-tall buildings and structures both at home and abroad. Then we present the results of our study. Finally, we illustrate a case study in which our research results are applied to a typical super-tall structure.

Nonlinear response history analyses and use of strong ground motion data including near-field effects has become a common practice in both performance based design of tall buildings and design of base-isolated buildings. On the other hand, ordinary buildings are commonly analysed via response spectrum analysis following the rules of conventional seismic codes, most of which do not take near-field effects into account. This study evaluates the necessity and the adequacy of near-source factors for ordinary fixed-base buildings that are not specifically classified as tall, by comparing dynamic responses of 3, 8, and 15-story benchmark buildings obtained via （1） linear time history analyses using 220 record components from 13 historical earthquakes and 45 synthetic earthquake records of different magnitudes and fault distances and （2） response spectrum analyses in accordance with the Turkish Earthquake Code 2007 -representing seismic codes not taking near-field effects into account- and the Uniform Building Code 1997 which takes near-field effects into account via near-source factors that amplify design response spectrum. It is shown that near-source factors are crucial for the safe design of not-so-tall ordinary fixed-base buildings but those defined in UBC97 may still not be adequate for those located in the vicinity of the fault.

Most previous investigations on interference effects of tall buildings under wind actions focused on the wind induced interference effects between two buildings, and the interference effects of three or more buildings have seldom been studied so far due to the huge workload involved in experiments and data processing. In this paper, mean and dynamic force/response interference effects and peak wind pressure interference effects of two and three tall buildings, especially the three-building configuration, are investigated through a series of wind tunnel tests on typical tall building models using high frequency force balance technique and wind pressure measurements. Furthermore, the present paper focuses on the effects of parameters, including breadth ratio and height ratio of the buildings and terrain category, on the interference factors and derives relevant regression results for the interference factors.