INSIGHT INTO THE DAMAGE OF HIGH-RISE BUILDINGS USING FIELD DATA AND NONLINEAR TIME-HISTORY ANALYSES

This paper discusses the numerical simulation of the seismic response of two adjacent high-rise buildings which developed considerably different damage patterns during the 2015 Gorkha earthquake in Nepal. During a reconnaissance trip following the earthquake, the two buildings were instrumented, and their ambient vibrations were recorded. In this study, the seismic response of the buildings is simulated with three-dimensional nonlinear models developed following a novel modeling framework, to shed light into the different damage patterns of the two structures. The numerical and field data are compared to evaluate the ability of the models to capture the dynamic properties of the damaged buildings, and, more importantly, the distinct damage patterns of the two structures.