Decoupling of equations of equilibrium in lateral load analysis of multistory buildings

Abstract A procedure is presented to decouple the 37V equations of equilibrium in the lateral load analysis of eccentric multistory buildings. By referring the floor displacements to the center of twist at each floor, the coupled equations can be simplified into three sets of equations governing the translational and torsional equilibrium of the building separately. There are two advantages to the proposed procedure. First, it proves to be a more efficient computation procedure. Second, it separates the translational and torsional effects, thereby providing a better insight of the structural behaviour of eccentric multistory buildings under lateral loading.