Review of the torsional coupling of asymmetrical wall-frame buildings

Abstract

Significant dynamic torsional amplifications are known to occur in asymmetrical buildings when subject to earthquake excitations. The torsional effects are commonly taken into account in design by applying an eccentric triangularly distributed horizontal force in the static analysis of the building. To determine suitable effective eccentricities of such a quasi-static load, extensive studies have been carried out on the torsional response characteristics of single-storey building models. For uniform multi-storey buildings which have the centre of mass (CM) and centre of stiffnesses (CS) vertically aligned, the quasi-static procedure is generally considered to be very reliable in estimating t..