Effect of Floating Columns on Seismic Response of Multi-Storeyed RC Framed Buildings

Abstract

Various factors which govern in contributing damage to the structure during an earthquake are vertical irregularities, irregularity in stiffness and strength, mass irregularity, torsional irregularity, etc... One such irregularity is a floating column. In this study the influence of floating columns in different storey levels in multi-storey building is studied. It is basically a stubbed column which is stopped at a particular storey and don't have any continuity to the lower adjacent storey. They use in building for parking space and aesthetics, but when such column become active member in resisting and dissipating the lateral forces due to seismicity, a hindrance is created in the clear load path and thereby generating a weak link in the structure. The soft storey is also undesirable in building built in seismically active areas. In this study infill walls have considered to reduce the lateral load on the structure. For floating column bending moment parameter studied and for soft storey Lateral Displacement and Storey drift, Storey stiffness, time period considered. It is observed that by introducing floating column and soft storey at different storey locations in the building the criticality of the structure increases in terms of bending moment, storey drift, and Storey displacement. Conclusions drawn from the study stipulates that introducing Floating Columns and Soft storey increases the criticality of the structure under seismic forces.