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Abstract

Adjacent buildings during an earthquake may collide against each other when, owingto their different dynamic characteristics, the buildings vibrate out of phase and the at-rest separationdistance is inadequate to accommodate their relative motions. Seismic pounding can cause severe damage to the structures. Such buildings are usually separated by an expansion joint which is insufficient to accommodate the lateral movements of buildings under earthquakes. While seismic pounding can be prevented by providing adequate safe code specified separation distances, sometimes getting of required safe separations is not possible in metropolitan areas because buildings are built very close to each other due to high land value, limited availability of land space, the need for centralized facilities under one roof and/or often ignoring the likelihood of seismic pounding between adjacent buildings during design. If building separations in metropolitan areas found to be deficient to prevent pounding, then there should be some secure and cost-effective retrofitting methods to mitigatestructural pounding. This research work covers the mitigation techniques of pounding between adjacent buildings due to earthquakes. Use of shear wall, bracing system and friction dampers are proposed as possible mitigation techniques