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An attempt has been made to explore the general trends in the seismic response of planasymmetric structures when subjected to near-fault and far-fault ground motions. Systems with structural wall elements in both orthogonal directions considering actual and common nonlinear behavior under bi-directional excitation were studied. Idealized single-storey models with uni-axial eccentricity were employed. The main findings are: The rotational response trend considering actual behavior method would be different from common behavior method assumption, when the system subjected to near-fault motions. In the former case, the minimum rotational response could be achieved, when stiffness and strength centers are located on opposite side of the mass center. In the latter case, stiffness eccentricity determines the minimum and maximum rotational response. General trends in the rotational demand for far-fault motions, considering two type behavior assumptions, are similar to the last case. Moreover, in near-fault motions, when stiffness and strength centers are located on opposite side of the mass center, stiff side displacement demand would be greater than that soft side which is contrary to the conventional guidelines. While, in farfault motions similar to near-fault motions which stiffness and strength centers are located on one side of the mass center, displacement demand would be according to conventional guidelines.

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Elevated water tanks as one of the main lifeline elements are the structures of high importance. Since they are extremely vulnerable under lateral forces, their serviceability performance during and after strong earthquakes is a matter of concern. As such, in recent years, the seismic behavior of water tanks has been the focus of a significant amount of studies. In the present work, three reinforced concrete elevated water tanks, with a capacity of 900 cubic meters and height of 25, 32 and 39 m were subjected to an ensemble of earthquake records. The behavior of concrete material was assumed to be nonlinear. Seismic demand of the elevated water tanks for a wide range of structural characteristics was assessed. The obtained results revealed that scattering of responses in the mean minus standard deviation and mean plus standard deviation are approximately 60% to 70 %. Moreover, simultaneous effects of mass increase and stiffness decrease of tank staging led to increase in the base shear, overturning moment, displacement and hydrodynamic pressure equal to 10 - 20 %, 13 - 32 %, 10 - 15 % and 8 - 9 %, respectively.

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An approach was formulated for the nonlinear analysis of three-dimensional dynamic soil-structure interaction (SSI) of asymmetric buildings in time domain in order to evaluate the seismic response behavior of torsionally coupled wall-type buildings. The asymmetric building was idealized as a single-storey three-dimensional system resting on different soil conditions. The soil beneath the superstructure was modeled as nonlinear solid element. As the stiffness of the reinforced concrete flexural wall is a strength dependent parameter, a method for strength distribution among the lateral force resisting elements was considered. The response of soil-structure interaction of the system under the lateral component of El Centro 1940 earthquake record was evaluated and the effect of base flexibility on the response behavior of the system was verified. The results indicated that the base flexibility decreased the torsional response of asymmetric building so that this effect for soft soil was maximum. On the other hand, the torsional effects can be minimized by using a strength distribution, when the centre of both strength CV and rigidity CR is located on the opposite side of the centre of mass CM, and SSI has no effect on this criterion.

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In this paper, the probabilistic seismic performance of vertically irregular steel buildings, considering soil-structure interaction effects, is evaluated. Various irregular distributions of structural properties, including mass, stiffness and strength along the height of three-dimensional moment resisting steel frames were intended. The finite element model of soil medium was created with solid elements below the structure. The nonlinear material behavior of soil was considered as well. Nonlinear incremental dynamic analysis was performed to evaluate the flexible-base structural performance in the framework of probabilistic performance-based earthquake engineering. According to the median curves of intensity-demand of structures, it is concluded that non-uniform height-wise distribution of lateral resistance properties of steel structures varies the displacement demand and the seismic capacity of the irregular frames, compare to the regular structure. The capacity variation of most irregular frames is more obvious at the nonlinear phase of structural behavior. Due to the foundation flexibility, the damage concentration raises in the bottom floor and the irregularity increase the seismic demands of the lower floors of the system. Among all the irregular steel frames, the average increase of the displacement demand and reduction of the seismic capacity are maximal for the strength and concurrent variation of stiffness and strength irregularity models, respectively. Additionally, mass irregularity shows minor influence in the seismic demand and capacity variations of the steel frames. The predominant influence of stiffness and strength irregularities (soft and weak story) is observed in reduction of the structural ductility factor and the mean annual frequency of exceeding limit states.