Numerical and experimental evaluation of seismic capacity of high-rise steel buildings subjected to long duration earthquakes

Occurrences of large earthquakes having a magnitude larger than eight along subduction zones have been reported worldwide. Due to large number of load reversals the effect of cumulative damage on structural components due to deterioration becomes critical for steel buildings of old construction but may also become critical for buildings designed based on current seismic provisions. A state-of-the-art analytical model that simulates component deterioration and fracture due to low cycle fatigue has been developed and implemented in the OpenSees computational framework. The model serves for seismic evaluation of steel moment frame structures subjected to long duration records. The effectiveness of the numerical model in quantification of the seismic capacity of high rise steel structures is demonstrated through validation with a full scale shaking table test of a high-rise steel building subjected to a long duration record at the world’s largest shaking table facility (E-Defense). Limitations of the proposed numerical model are also discussed.