Seismic response of frames with building cladding elements

Abstract

This paper presents the concept, methodology and findings of the analysis of frames with building cladding elements exposed to seismic events. Inelastic nonlinear push-pull analyses, and hand analyses, are conducted to verify the consistency between the two types of analysis and to demonstrate the cladding self-centring effect. The effect of mass ratio between the frame and cladding, is then investigated. Inelastic time history analyses with a suite of records are conducted to evaluate the dynamic effect of the different weight cladding elements on the structure in terms of maximum and residual displacement both ignoring and considering P-delta effects.

It was shown that, for the cases investigated, explicit consideration of the cladding elements caused an increase in frame initial stiffness and lateral strength, and this was modelled consistently with the hand and numerical pushover analyses. The strength increased as more of the floor weight was placed in the cladding elements. Also, during the inelastic time history analyses, the decrease in both building peak and residual displacements was quantified for the cases with and without P-delta effects consideration. Using the methods proposed, it is possible to consider the cladding effects for new or existing construction.