Interview questions for G+12 Exam -Sohail Ahmed

Static linear- equivalent method

The seismic actions on the portion of structure are evaluated by equivalent static
analysis by considering a design seismic coefficients (zone factor soil
foundation factor, importance factor etc..)
It doesn’t consider dynamic characteristics of ground and effects of higher
modes and this method used for small and uniform structures with limited
height.
A linear static analysis is an analysis where a linear relation holds between
applied forces and displacements.

Static non linear- push over analysis

It is a static non linear analysis under permanent vertical loads and gradually
increasing lateral loads, a plot of total base shear verses to displacement in a
structure is obtained by this analysis that would be indicate any failure or
weakness and the analysis carried out up to failure thus it enables determination
of collapse load and futility capacity.

Dynamic linear- Response spectrum analysis.

The peak response of a structure during an earthquake is obtained directly from
the EQ response spectrum, this method gives an approximate peak response
,which is quite accurate for structural design in this approach the multiple
modes of response of a building to an earthquake are taken into account for each
mode a response is read from the design spectrum based on model frequency
and model mass.
Dynamic nonlinear – Time history analysis
This method applicable for both elastic and inelastic analysis, it represents the
most sophisticated method of dynamic analysis.
The mathematical model of the building is subjected to acceleration from
earthquake records that represents the expected earthquake at the base of
structure.
The use of this, method is restricted to design of special structure such as
nuclear and military facilities.
Zone factor
The factor to obtain the design spectrum depending on the perceived seismic
hazard in the zone in which the structure is located.
Importance factor
It is a factor used to obtain the design seismic force depending upon the
functional use of structure.
All building 1
Community building, hospitals schools -1.5.
Response reduction factor
Response reduction factor is the factor by which the actual base shear force
should be reduced, to obtain the design lateral force during design basic
earthquake (DBE) shaking.
The response reduction factor or force modification factor R reflects the
capacity of structure to dissipate energy through inelastic behavior. It is a
combined effect of over strength, ductility and redundancy. Response
modification factors play a key, but controversial, role in the seismic design
process
Response factor
It is factor denoting the acceleration response of structure subjected to EQ
ground vibrations and depends on natural period and damping of structure. Sa/g
.
Model participation factor
When structure vibrates each mode has its own impact on overall deformation
of the system, some modes impact more than others.
A mode with lowest frequency or the highest time period is the one which
impacts the most, this is called model mass participation which shows how
much a particular mode is contributing to the overall deformation of the system.
Soft story: If the lateral stiffness of a story is less than 70% of the above story.
Weak story: If the story strength is less than 80% of the above story.
Story shear: It is the summation of design lateral forces above the story under
consideration

Dual system. A structural system with the following features:

1. An essentially complete space frame that provides support for gravity loads.
2. Resistance to lateral load is provided by shear walls or braced frames and
moment-resisting frames (SMRF, IMRF, MMRWF or steel OMRF). The
moment-resisting frames shall be designed to independently resist at least 25
percent of the design base shear.
Base shear is an estimate of the maximum expected lateral force that will occur
due to seismic ground motion at the base of a structure.
Design base shear. The total design base shear in a given direction shall be
determined from the following formula:
V = Cv I /RT * W
The total design base shear need not exceed the following:
V = 2.5 Ca I/ R * W
The total design base shear shall not be less than the following:
V = 0.11 Ca IW
Mode shape
In simple language mode shape is deformed pattern (mode) of object at that
frequency.
The pattern of vibration, in quantitative terms, is the mode shape of that
structure; number of possible mode shapes depends upon the degrees of
freedom we have considered. Higher the DOFs considered, more are the
possible mode shapes.

Mass source
Its the seismic weight according to code. The load you put here will be used for
seismic calculations. This is w in ibc, ubc or other American codes...
Select "from loads" option and put all dead loads with factor = 1 and all live
loads with factor = 0.25

This is to consider 100%dead loads + 25%live loads for seismic calculations....

Mass source command is used for calculating center of mass of the diaphragm.
Drift
The lateral displacement of one level relative to the other level above or below.
Story drift is the difference of displacements between two consecutive stories
divided by the height of that story. Story displacement is the absolute value of
displacement of the story under action of the lateral forces.

Story drift ratio is the story drift divided by the story Height.

limit for wind drift is "on the order of l/600 to l/400" for "common usage". This
is common thing, however, this
figure can be up or down depending upon the ductility of cladding material and
finishes. However, for common usage value of l/400 is thought to be well
satisfactory.

Delta m shall not exceed 0.025 x story ht (if building seismic period is less than 0.7)
delta m shall not exceed 0.020 x story ht (if building seismic period is equal or greater
than 0.7)
important to note here is that it talks about seismic drift so seismic building
period not the wind period.

Now delta m = max inelastic response displacement = 0.7r delta s

P-delta
It generates additional shear forces and bending moments in columns because of
the deformed shape now we have to check the column capacity particularly in
case of slender columns so that they do not fail in case of these additional
moments along with the axial loads. This can be checked with p-m interaction
diagram of the column cross section.
Secondary effect on shear and moments of frame members due to action of
vertical loads interacting with lateral displacement of building resulting from
seismic force
-Define P-Delta*:
Iterative-Based on loads--> Dead loads = 1.2, Live Loads=0.5

Diaphragm
is a structural element that transmits lateral loads to the vertical resisting
elements of a structure (such as shear walls or frames). Diaphragms are
typically horizontal but can be sloped such as in a gable roof on a wood
structure or concrete ramp in a parking garage. The diaphragm forces tend to be
transferred to the vertical resisting elements primarily through in-plane shear
stress. The most common lateral loads to be resisted are those resulting
from wind and earthquake actions, but other lateral loads such as lateral earth
pressure or hydrostatic pressure can also be resisted by diaphragm action.
Concept of model analysis
The concept of model analysis is converting the multi degree of freedom to series of
single degree of freedom with different period and calculating the response for each of
these single degree of freedoms

Special Moment-Resisting Frame (SMRF) is a moment-resisting frame

specially detailed to provide ductile behavior and comply with the requirements
given in Chapter 19 or 22
Time period
METHOD A
T = Ct (hn)^3/4
Ct = 0.035 (0.0853) for steel moment-resisting frames.
Ct = 0.030 (0.0731) for reinforced concrete moment-resisting frames and eccentrically
braced frames.
Ct = 0.020 (0.0488) for all other buildings.
Program calculated

Torsion Irregularity
EQ load combinations

Wind load combination ASCE-07

Wind Drift = DL+0.5LL+0.7 WIND --> X direction
= DL+0.5LL-0.7 WIND --> Y direction

There are three Solving Method Options:

1- Standard Solver: this option is very useful for cases where model fails
under p-delta analysis. Using this option will show you the nodes that are free
or not connected to the mesh or wall. Such warnings will cause instabilities in
the structure and thus fails in p delta.
2- Advanced Solver: this is the program default solver option however it
doesn't show the lost of digits or free nodes.
3- Multi-threaded Solver: Provide no accuracy of the computation

The Main analysis results to be checked are:

Story Base Shear
Once you have run the analysis, go to > Display > story Response plots >
Display type: Story Shear
Modal Mass Participation Ratio
Go to Display --> Table --> Analysis --> Results --> Modal Results --> Modal Mass
Participation Ratios.
Go to the last Mode number --> Sum Ux, Sum Uy & Uz = 90% or more according to
ASCE 7-10, Section 12.9.
Torsion Irregularity
Since we are studying the structure due to earthquake load, it is important to check the
modal against torsional behavior during an earthquake. It is a result of eccentricity of
seismic forces. Torsional Irregularity mainly exists if structural building undergoes
earthquake and wind force (horizontal forces) which means that the building should be
checked if any torsional irregularity appears. According to ASCE 7-10 & UBC 97,
torsional irregularity appears when maximum story drift over average story drift is
more than 1.2 {(𝑚𝑎𝑥 𝑎𝑣𝑔) > 1.2}.
To check if the Ratio is more than 1.2 or less, Go to Display --> Show Table -
> Results --> Displacement--> Diaphragm Max/ Avg Drifts --> Choose load
Case Spec x or y --> check the Ratio
To check from Etabs the period of the structure:
Go to Display--> Show Table-->Results--> Modal Results --> Modal Periods and
Frequencies:
Displacement & Story Drift
To check Story Drift from Etabs:
Go to--> Display--> Show Table --> Results-->Displacement--> Story Drift--> choose
load combo "Envelope SPECx" --> Choose Direction X
Auto Construction Sequence Load Case: It is used when we have a planted column or
a transfer Slab--> Go to Define--> Auto construction sequence case--> Check "Case is
active" --> Load applied: add only DEAD load as Live load will be applied after the
Structure is complete. Deal Load factor = 1.
Now Etabs will automatically generate a load case called Autoseq, you can check by
going to the load case in the Define menu

Response Spectrum analysis or (Multiple Model Response Spectrum analysis) is a

linear dynamic statistical analysis method which measures from each mode of
vibration to indicate maximum seismic response of an elastic structure. For High rise
buildings it's not possible to predict seismic behavior with single mode that is why we
consider multiple mode cases which is used for dynamic analysis.
DOF of a structure means in how many directions a structure or an element can generate
displacement.
EQ load combination for vertical components
Structural irregularities
Plan irregularity
Torsional irregularity
Diaphragm irregularity
Out of plane offsets
Non parallel systems
vertical irregularity
mass irregularity
vertical geometry
in plane discontinuity
weak story
when diaphragm is flexible
when diaphragm is flexible the lateral deformation of the diaphragm is more than two
times the average story drift of the associated story.
The Seismic Coefficients are dimensionless coefficients which represent the
(maximum) earthquake acceleration as a fraction of the acceleration due to gravity.
Typical values are in the range of 0.1 to 0.3
What is seismic force?

This approach defines a series of forces acting on a building to represent the effect of
earthquake ground motion, typically defined by a seismic design response spectrum. It
assumes that the building responds in its fundamental mode