Theoretically-based and practice-oriented formulations for the floor spectra evaluation

This paper proposes a new analytical formulation for computing the seismic input at various levels of a structure in terms of floor response spectra. The approach, which neglects the dynamic interaction between primary structure and secondary element, is particularly useful for the seismic assessment of secondary and non-structural elements. The proposed formulation has a robust theoretical basis and it is based on few meaningful dynamic parameters of the main building. The method has been validated in the linear and nonlinear behavior of the main building through results coming from both experimental tests (available in literature) and parametric numerical analyses. The conditions, for which the Floor Spectrum Approach and its simplified assumptions are valid, have been derived in terms of specific interval ratios between the mass of the secondary element and the participant mass of the main structure. Finally, a practice-oriented formulation has been derived, which could be easily implementable also at code level.