Pounding force response spectrum for near-field and far-field earthquakes

Inadequate separation distance between neighboring buildings with out-of-phase response would increase the probability of pounding during an earthquake and may cause severe damages to the structures. A rational estimation of the maximum impact force would help us to control the extent of damages in different structures. As a practical tool, the pounding force response spectrum, which shows the value of maximum impact force as a function of the structural vibration periods, is considered in this paper. It is well-known that strong ground motion in the near-field area has different characteristics from far-field ones. In this paper, pounding force response spectra for elastic structures subjected to near-field and far-field ground motions are presented. Both of the adjacent buildings were modeled simply as Single-Degree-Of-Freedom (SDOF) systems and pounding effect has been simulated by applying the nonlinear viscoelastic model. In the analysis, the effect of different parameters, such as mass, damping ratio has been studied. The effects of gap distance on maximum pounding force due to near- and far-field earthquake ground motions were investigated comprehensively. As a result, the characteristics of earthquake ground motions along with the properties of structures should be considered in gap distance controlling between adjacent buildings.