COMPARISON OF LINEAR AND NONLINEAR SEISMIC DRIFT HISTORIES FOR MIDRISE STEEL FRAMES

The linear and nonlinear seismic responses for two midrise office buil dings of five- and 24-storeys were generated by two independent resear ch groups using three commercial analysis packages, ABAQUS, SAP90 and DRAIN-2DX. The results indicate that a variability of up to 25% occurr ed between the independent research groups' seismic responses. Origina lly, these models and analyses were generated for the purpose of aidin g in the development of load histories for the seismic testing of arch itectural glass at the University of Missouri-Rolla. The independent r esearchers were provided with the same structures, accelerograms and b asic modelling assumptions and were directed to perform both linear an d nonlinear seismic analyses. The variability in the results is of int erest since it is indicative of the differences that may be seen betwe en two independent consulting firms' analyses. The linear analysis res ults using ABAQUS and SAPSO, the nonlinear analysis results using ABAC US and DRAIN-2DX and the linear and nonlinear results using ABAQUS and DRAIN-2DX are compared and contrasted. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Sc ience Ltd.