Abstract:
A set of mid-rise bare and uniformly infilled reinforced-concrete frame buildings are analyzed for two different
seismic intensities of ground-motions (i.e., „Design Basis Earthquake‟ and „Maximum Considered Earthquake‟) to study their
floor response. The crucial parameters affecting seismic design force for acceleration-sensitive non-structural components are
studied and compared with the guidelines of the European and the United States standards, and also with the recently developed
NIST provisions. It is observed that the provisions of both the European and the United States standards do not account for the
effects of the period of vibration of the supporting structure and seismic intensity of ground-motions and thereby provides
conservative estimates of the in-structure amplification. In case of bare frames, the herein derived component amplification
factors for both the design basis earthquake and the maximum considered earthquake exceeds with their recommended values in
the European and the United States standards for non-structural components having periods in vicinity of the higher modes of
vibration, whereas, in case of infilled frames, component amplification factors exceeds with their recommended value in the
European standard for non-structural components having periods in vicinity of the fundamental mode of vibration, and only for
the design basis earthquake. As a consequence of these observations, as well as capping on the design force (in case of United
states standard and NIST provisions), in case of the design basis earthquake, the combined amplification factor is underestimated
for non-structural components having periods in vicinity of the higher modes of vibration of bare frames, and also for nonstructural
components having periods in vicinity of the fundamental mode of vibration of infilled frames. At the maximum
considered earthquake demand, excepting non-structural components having periods in vicinity of the higher modes of vibration
of bare frames, all provisions generally provide conservative estimates of the design floor accelerations.
