Dynamic Characteristics and Seismic Performance of an Aseismically Designed Reinforced Concrete Building for Sustainability

As the next probable earthquake is predicted to hit Lahad Datu, Malaysia in near future, it is vital to assess the seismic performance of existing buildings. Up to the implementation of present study, there is a paucity of research carried out to measure the dynamic properties of the building in Lahad Datu. Therefore, the resistance of existing buildings to withstand earthquake is still unknown. This paper presents the results on the dynamic characteristics of a reinforced concrete building using microtremor observation. The modal frequencies of every floor of the studied building show a remarkable agreement between each other. This clarifies that the floors of the building vibrate at almost similar modal frequencies for the corresponding vibration mode shapes. The predominant frequencies of the building are 2.148 Hz and 2.971 Hz in X-axis and Y-axis, respectively. The critical axis of the building, X-axis tends to undergo larger deformation when it is subjected to dynamic loading. Both the absolute maximum storey displacement and maximum interstorey drift are within the allowable limitation as specified in Eurocode 8. The largest interstorey drift occurs at the first floor of the building due to soft story effect.