Analysis of earthquake-induced pounding between adjacent buildings in a row

In previous earthquakes, a significant number of adjacent buildings in a series have been damaged due to collisions. Pounding between adjacent structures in a series causes them to inflict multiple blows on one another, which is a complex type of collision. Previous studies have produced inconsistent or conflicting research conclusions due to various parameters of buildings and excitation. It is challenging to determine a universal law of collision reactions between adjacent buildings in a row. To address the complexity of these parameters, the dimensional analysis method is used. This work establishes a mathematical model for the dimensionless collision response of adjacent structures in a row. The layout of the structures is considered through three different configurations, and the effects of unilateral and bilateral collisions are compared. The analysis also considers the impacts of the frequency ratio, mass ratio and gap size of the oscillators. According to the impact of pounding, the displacement and velocity responses of the outer structures with low mass and stiffness can be divided into multiple spectral regions based on the frequency ratio of the structure and excitation. The effects of the mass ratio and frequency ratio on the responses of the outer flexible structures are correlated with the spectral regions. The results indicate that placing a structure with a small mass and stiffness outside is dangerous, since it causes a much larger pounding force and displacement of the outer structure. Compared with the unilateral impact response, the bilateral impact response induces a smaller displacement of the middle structure with a slight mass and stiffness.