Seismic response of steel frame buildings to near-source ground motions

Simulated ground motions from the M-W 6.7 Northridge earthquake and a simulated M-W 7.0 Elysian Park event are generated over a large grid of sites and used as input to mathematical models of six-storey and 20-storey steel-frame buildings. Purpose of the study is to quantify effects of strong near-source ground motion on frame buildings of different height and strength (UBC vs. Japanese design) and with welded connections prone to fracture. Best performance is achieved by the six-storey building which meets the stronger Japanese design provisions. The detrimental effect of connection fracture is significant, especially for the larger earthquake. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.