Application and Distinction of Current Approaches for the Evaluation of Earthquake-Response of Secondary Systems

Abstract

The generation of synthetic earthquakes is an important point in earthquake design in order to have representative earthquake time histories for a given response spectrum. Different possibilities like amplitude modification and wavelet modification exist to match the synthetic earthquake with the target response spectrum as closely as possible and hence to allow for a design of secondary systems using direct time integration methods. However, for the design of secondary systems within a building against earthquake excitation, other methods are also applicable. Besides a calculation using direct time integration with a complete FE-model of the building including the secondary system, the floor response spectrum method or a simplified method, as given e.g. within the EC 8, may also be used. The applicability of these approaches, however, depends on their validity compared to the direct time integration method. This paper compares and discusses the known methods for the generation of earthquake time histories and checks the design methods for secondary systems within a large reinforced concrete structure to enable a reliable design of secondary systems against earthquake excitation.