Assessment of the response reduction factors of plan-irregular RC buildings

Lessons learned in past earthquakes show that the catastrophic failure of many buildings has been due to their irregularity. For this reason, most seismic-resistant design codes prescribe a series of recommendations that attempt to limit the irregularity of structures. One of the most common types of irregularities in buildings is plan irregularity especially that which occurs when there are plan re-entrant, for reasons of architectural design. In this work the evaluation of the response reduction factor of low-rise buildings, located in a zone of high seismic hazard, is carried out. The methodology applied is the adaptation of the FEMA P695 which requires the use of dynamic non-linear analysis for the assessment of the response reduction factors. The results show that the response reduction factors prescribed by the code provide a safe design, because the calculated coefficients satisfy the minimum acceptable values obtained by applying the FEMA P695 methodology.