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The nonlinear static procedures (NSPs) proposed by design codes do not lead to reliable results especially for tall buildings.

They generally provide inconsistent estimates of inelastic seismic demands, especially for the top floors due to their inabilities in

considering the higher modes effects. In this paper, a new enhanced pushover procedure is proposed which is based on the

envelope of the structural responses resulting from two separate pushover analyses as a combination rule. Also, the suggested

pushover analyses are performed using a newly proposed modal load pattern, i.e., the Modal Spectra Combination (MSC), and

the ASCE41-06 required first mode load pattern. The MSC load pattern is consisted of a number of mode shapes combined with

appropriate weighting factors that depend on their modal participation factors, modal frequencies and design spectral values. A

number of 2-D steel moment resisting frame models with different number of stories are used to investigate the efficiency of the

proposed method. The inter-story drifts and the maximum plastic beam moment and curvature responses are used as a measure

to compare the results obtained from the nonlinear time-history analyses (NL-THA) and some other NSPs. The results obtained

through rigorous nonlinear dynamic analyses show that the application of the proposed method leads to acceptable results for

steel MRF systems in comparison to other available enhanced NSPs. The OpenSees program is used for numerical analysis.

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Piles or drilled shafts used in bridge foundation, waterfronts, and high rise buildings are generally subjected to lateral loads. In order to study the effect of concrete pile geometry on the structural behavior in layered soils, several models with different shapes and dimensions for piles and different properties for two soil layers with variable thickness were selected and analyzed using the finite difference method. The performance of piles situated in layered granular soil with different compaction and thicknesses were studied in two cycles of lateral loading and unloading. The applied finite difference procedure is also validated based on experimental and published results. The pile head displacement of different models due to their overall deformation and rotation were calculated under maximum loading. For a comparison of pile head displacement due to their overall deformation and rotation in different models, the "performance index” is defined as the ratio of “displacement due to deformation” to the “total displacement”.

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This study investigated the structural behaviors of reinforced concrete shear walls containing opening and slab. A series of three half-scale shear wall specimens were tested: a solid wall (WS-Solid), a wall with opening and slab (WS-023), and a wall with opening but no slab (WB-0.23). Using the experimental results, the reduction in the load-carrying capacity of the wall due to the loss of cross section was evaluated. Its contribution to the moment resisting capacity of the total system of coupling elements and its structural behavior was also examined. The results of experiments conducted on the WS-0.23 specimen with artificial damage due to installation of the opening, showed that the load-carrying capacity of the wall decreased as a result of the opening. It is apparent that the influence of cutting reinforcing bars and reduction of effective sectional area lead to early first yield of the reinforcing bars before the allowable limit of the drift ratio of the shear walls is reached. This decrease in the load-carrying capacity of the shear wall because of installation of openings is significantly different from the results of previous studies. This is because slabs and the remaining wall function as coupling elements for the shear wall. The contribution of slabs and residual wall to the lateral load resisting system was investigated via an empirical test and finite element analysis. During the experiment, a U-shaped critical section of coupling slab was observed and its effective width and the total length of the critical section examined. The critical section of coupling slab that functions as a coupling element for shear wall varied marginally from the results of previous studies. The results of the analysis conducted show that slabs and residual walls contribute approximately 30% to the lateral load resisting system.