Earthquake response of steel‐framed multistorey buildings with set‐backs

A study is made of the dynamic behaviour of multistorey steel rigid-frame buildings with set-back towers. The effects of set-backs upon the building frequencies and mode shapes are examined. Then the effects of set-backs on seismic response are investigated by analysing the response of a series of set-back building frame models to the El Centro ground motion. Finally, the computed responses to the El Centro earthquake are compared with some code provisions dealing with the seismic design of set-back buildings. The conclusions derived from the study include the following: 1.The higher modes of vibration of a set-back building can make a very substantial contribution to its total seismic response; this contribution increases with the slenderness of the tower. 2.Some of the important response parameters for the tower portion of a set-back building are substantially larger than for a related uniform building. 3.For very slender towers, the transition region between the tower and the base may be subjected to very large storey shears.