An investigation of torsionally irregular multi-story buildings under earthquake loading

It is well known that torsionally unbalanced buildings are more vulnerable to earthquake hazards than are the regular structural systems. In this paper, a parametric investigation is presented, in order to observe the amplification in the internal forces, when increased eccentricities are used instead of the ones corresponding to the 5% accidental eccentricity. A series of five, ten-story framed and walled structures, with rather high torsional irregularity coefficients, are selected and a numerical test procedure is applied. Numerical results show that the maximum amplification in the internal forces at the most critical beams and columns at the flexible sides of the structures is about 10%. It is concluded that, more serious measures in the codes are needed in the case of this rather dangerous type of irregularity.