Experimental formula for the fundamental period of RC buildings with shear-wall dominant systems

This study focused on evaluating the reliability of code formulas such as t hose of the current Korean Building Code, UBC 1997, NBCC 1995 and BSLJ 1994 for estimating the fundamental period of RC buildings with shear-wall domi nant systems, representative of typical residential building in South-East Asia. For this purpose, full-scale measurements were carried out on fifty R C apartment buildings, and these results were compared with those obtained by code formulas and also by dynamic analysis. Although these code formulas are based on the measured periods of buildings during various earthquakes and building period varies with the amplitude of structural deflection or s train level, ambient surveys should provide an effective tool for experimen tally verifying the design period of the completed building. This compariso n shows that comparatively large errors are likely to occur when the code f ormula of KBC, which is based on UBC 1988, is used, and none of the other c ode formulas examined in this study are sufficient for estimating the funda mental period of apartment buildings with shear-wall dominant systems. An i mproved formula is proposed by regression analysis on the basis of the meas ured period data. Copyright (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.