The Effect of Earthquake Characteristics on the Seismic Performance of Steel Moment Resisting Frames

Abstract

The magnitude, distance from the epicenter, effective duration, fault mechanism, and soil conditions influence the structural consequences of earthquakes. Variations in these characteristics cause structures to behave differently during seismic events. This study investigated the influence of some of these parameters on the seismic performance of moment-resistant frames. This was accomplished by simulating various well-known structures while accounting for panel zone and nonlinear component behaviour. Following that, these structures were exposed to several classified earthquake records. The distance from the fault, the soil type, and the fault mechanism were considered while classifying earthquakes. The findings revealed that the median value of story drift in strike-slip fault mechanism holds a greater level of significance when compared to reverse fault mechanism specifically in the context of far-field records. Also applying the near-field records has a greater impact on drifts in taller frames on stiff soils, and increasing the height of the frame has less impact on the fault mechanism effect on structures built on soft soils.