SEISMIC RESPONSE OF IRREGULAR BUILDING
Ajay Kumar T M
School of mechanical and building sciences
VIT UNIVERSITY Chennai
Chennai, India
ajaykumartm7@gmail.com
Abstract— The greatest challenge for any structural engineer in
today’s scenario is to design seismic-resistant structures. The
presence of vertical irregular frame subject to devastating
earthquakes is a matter of concern. For the design of safe irregular
buildings it is necessary to study the effect of irregularity on the
response of buildings to lateral loads. We study the proportional
distribution of lateral forces evolved through seismic action in each
storey level due to changes in mass and stiffness of frame on
vertically irregular structures. The behavior of a building during
earthquakes depends on its overall shape, size and geometry. Points
of sudden change in stiffness, mass and strength in buildings are
weak points in the building which has to be taken care. The
parametric study will be carried out in which seismic response of few
irregular buildings models will be analyzed through the software. The
few models with stiffness and mass irregularity will be analyzed.
Seismic methods of anlysis will be used to evaluate the response
structure of the few irregular building models. The seismic response
of few irregular building models will be compared with regular
building model.
Keywords— seismic response, plan irregularity, torsion,
linear analysis.
I. INTRODUCTION
Experience in the past earthquake has shown that the
buildings with simple and uniform configurations are subjected
to less damage. A building with discontinuity is subjected to
concentration of forces and deformations at the point of
discontinuity which may leads to the failure of members at the
junction and collapse of building. The greatest challenge for
any structural engineer in today’s scenario is to design seismic
resistant structures. The behavior of a building during an
earthquake depends on several factors, stiffness, and adequate
lateral strength, and ductility, simple and regular
configurations. The buildings with regular geometry and
uniformly distributed mass and stiffness in plan as well as in
elevation suffer much less damage compared to ir-regular
configurations. But nowadays need and demand of the latest
generation and growing population has made the architects or
engineers inevitable towards planning of irregular
configurations. A building that lacks symmetry and has
A Akshay A Bhagat
School of mechanical and building sciences
VIT UNIVERSITY Chennai
Chennai, India
aksbhagat.20@gmail.com
discontinuity in geometry, mass, or load resisting elements is
called irregular building. For the design of safe irregular
buildings it is necessary to study the effect of the irregularity of
the seismic response on buildings due to lateral loads. Hence
we study the proportional distribution of lateral forces evolved
through seismic action
II. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The seismic response of buildings with horizontal
irregularity due to asymmetrical shape like L , T , H, + or
combination of these will be studied. Few building models
with plan irregularities are analyzed in software. The seismic
response of few irregular building models will be compared
with regular building model.To compare the behaviour of a
regular building and plan irregular building in terms of
response spectrum analysis.To compare the base shear and
node displacement, time period, frequencies of different types
plan irregular buildings.To check the Torsional Irregularity.To
identify the best building configuration from this analysis.
III. SCOPE OF STUDY
Regular and plan irregular shaped RC buildings are
considered.Dynamic linear anlaysis is carried out.(Response
spectrum analysis).Slabs are considered as solid structures.
Sesmic zone IV is considered .Medium type soil is considered.
IV. METHODOLOGY
Here the study is carried out for the behaviour of G+5 Storied
Buildings, Floor height provided as 3.5m and also properties
are defined for the building structure. The model of buildings is
created in ETABS software. The seismic zone considered is
zone IV and soil type is medium. Three models of buildings are
prepared. The regular building of correct plan is considered for
analysis. Few plan irregular building such as L, +, T, U shaped
buildings of same plan area as of regular is taken for
analysis.The modelling of building is done for Indian Seismic
Zone IV, IS 1893-2002.For given structure, loading with
applied loads includes dead load, live load and seismic load are
according to IS 875 part I, part II and IS1893-2002
respectively. Analysis is carried out by Response Spectrum
Analysis using Etabs software. The analysis is carried out to
determine maximum node displacement,base shear,maximum
story drifts, maximum story shears, maximum displacement,
torsional frequency. After analysis, results are obtained in the
form of graphs which are in turn observed to form conclusions.
Table -1: Dimensional Details of the Building

Plan dimension 25.5m x 18m

Type of building special RC moment resisting Fig. 3 -Plan of irregular T shaped Building
frame Table – 2:Details of Dead Load and Live Load
Specific wt. of infill 20 KN/m3 The dead load, live load are assigned according to IS 875 part
Number of storeys 5 I, part II respectively.
Floor height 3.5m
Loads Value
Grade of concrete M35
Floor load 1.5 KN/m2
Grade of steel HYSD 500
Beam dimension 300mm x 600mm Live load 3.0 KN/m2

Column dimension 300mm x 600mm

Table -3: Details of Seismic Load
Slab depth 125mm
Zone IV
Soil Type Medium
Zone Factor, Z 0.24
Importance Factor, I 1.0
Response Reduction Factor, R 5.0

All the buildings are assigned with the above values.

Fig. 1 -Plan of Regular Building
Building No. 1 is a regular five-story building with 3.50 m
interstory height for each level; the dimensions of the sections
of all the columns and beams, expressed in mm, are 300×600.
Concrete average cubic strength, equal to 35N/mm2, and steel
average strength, equal to 500 N/mm2, is adopted.
Building No. 2 is an L plan shape regular five-story
building with 3.50 m interstory height for each level; the
dimensions of the sections of all the columns and beams,
expressed in mm, are 300×600. Concrete average cubic
strength, equal to 35N/mm2, and steel average strength, equal
to 500 N/mm2, is adopted.
Building No. 3 is an T plan shape regular five-story
building with 3.50 m interstory height for each level; the
dimensions of the sections of all the columns and beams,
expressed in mm, are 300×600. Concrete average cubic
strength, equal to 35N/mm2, and steel average strength, equal
to 500 N/mm2, is adopted.

Fig. 2 -Plan of irregular L shaped Building

 V. MODELLING VI. ANALYSIS RESULTS

Fig. 4 – Model of Regular Building

Fig. 7 – Graph for Storey displacement of Regular Building

Fig. 5 – Model of Irregular L Shaped Building Fig. 8 – Values of Storey displacement of Regular Building

Fig. 6 – Model of Irregular T Shaped Building

Fig. 9 – Graph for Storey drift of Regular Building
 Fig. 13 – Graph for Storey drift of Irregular L Shape
Fig. 10 – Values of Storey drift of Regular Building Building

Fig. 11 – Graph for Storey displacement of Irregular L Shape

Building
Fig. 14 – Values of Storey drift of Irregular L Shape
Building

Fig. 12 – Values of Storey displacement of Irregular L Shape

Building Fig. 15 – Graph for Storey displacement of Irregular T
Shape Building

Fig. 16 – Values of Storey displacement of Irregular T
Shape Building
Fig. 17 – Graph for Storey drift of Irregular T Shape
Building
Fig. 18 – Values of Storey drift of Irregular T Shape
Building
VII . METHOD OF ANALYSIS OF STRUCTURES
The seismic analysis should be carried out for the buildings
that have lack of resistance to earthquake forces. Seismic
analysis will consider dynamic effects hence the exact analysis
sometimes become complex. However for simple regular
structures equivalent linear static analysis is sufficient one.
This type of analysis will be carried out for regular and low rise
buildings and this method will give good results for this type of
buildings. Dynamic analysis will be carried out for the building
as specified by code IS 1893-2002 (part1). Dynamic analysis
will be carried out either by Response spectrum method or site
specific Time history method.
Response spectrum method The representation of
maximum response of idealized single degree freedom system
having certain period and damping, during earthquake ground
motions. This analysis is carried out according to the code IS
1893-2002 (part1). Here type of soil, seismic zone factor
should be entered from IS 1893-2002(part1). The standard
response spectra for type of soil considered is applied to
building for the analysis in ETABS software. Following
diagram shows the standard response spectrum for medium soil
type and that can be given in the form of time period versus
spectral acceleration coefficient (Sa/g).
Fig.19 – Response spectrum for medium soil type for 5%
damping
Time history analysis In this analysis dynamic response of
the building will be calculated at each time intervals. This
analysis can be carried out by taking recorded ground motion
data from past earthquake database. This analysis overcomes
all disadvantages of response spectrum analysis if there is no
involvement of nonlinear behavior. Hence this method requires
greater efforts in calculating response of buildings in discrete
time intervals.
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