IJSTE - International Journal of Science Technology & Engineering | Volume 2 | Issue 12 | June 2016

ISSN (online): 2349-784X

Analysis the Behavior of Building with Different

Soft Story
Avinash Mishra
Department of Civil Engineering
Government Engineering College Azamghar

Mrinank Pandey
Department of Civil Engineering
Madan Mohan Malaviya University of Technology,
Gorakhpur

Abstract
Recent earthquakes have shown that the soft storey in building possess adverse effect on stability of structure. Heavy destruction
of buildings with soft storey during the earthquakes has prompted research and analysis of the effects and stability of such
buildings under earthquake condition .To analyze the effect of soft storey in seismic condition for multi-storeyed reinforced
concrete building frame, building models (12 storeys) with identical building plan were analyzed. Soft storey level was changed
from stilt floor to top floor for each model including a bare frame and a full infill. Equivalent static analysis was carried away using
STADD-PRO Analysis. Results shows that the presence of soft storey at the top level does not significantly affect the structural
performance of fully infill frame. While the presence of soft storey at the lower level greatly affects the structural performance.
Keywords: Earthquakes, Soft story, High-rise building, STADD-PRO
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I.

INTRODUCTION

Due to urbanization and less availability of space multistory buildings in India have open first storey (soft storey). According to
Indian seismic a soft story is one whose lateral stiffness is less than 50% of the story above or below. During EQ total seismic base
shear imposed on a building is depend upon its natural period. The mass along the height and stiffness distribution is the main
factor to affect the seismic force distribution. In soft first storey buildings the upper storeys experienced smaller inter-story drift
in comparison of first storey due to stiffness. Due to maximum shear force at soft storey level the strength requirement at soft
storey level is maximum. The soft storeys are especially dangerous in earthquakes because they cannot cope with the lateral forces
due to sway mechanism of building. The study suggests that the presence of soft storey at the first storey level is most undesirable
as it attracts large lateral forces that cannot be resisted alone by soft storey columns
II. PRELIMINARIES
A soft story is characterized by vertical discontinuity in stiffiness. When an individual storey in a building (often the ground level
story) is made taller and more open in construction it is called soft storey. The beam and column of soft storey are designed to
withstand two and half times the storey shears and moments calculated for specified seismic loads.
In case of tall, relatively open ground floor is necessary, any of the following additional arrangement may be provided to reduce
the effect of soft storey.
1) Some of the open bays of the buildings may be braced.
2) The building plan periphery may be kept open while the interior frames may be braced.
3) The numbers of ground columns are increased.
4) The ground floor columns may be made of the shape of frustum of cone.

Fig. 1: Soft storey behavior of a building structure under lateral loading

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Analysis the Behavior of Building with Different Soft Story

(IJSTE/ Volume 2 / Issue 12 / 010)

III. DESCRIPTION OF STRUCTURAL MODELS

The research work so far is focused on the behavior of building with soft storey. it is observed that the designed forces in the
buildings with open ground storey has not been has not been addressed adequately in the existing design codes. The amplification
factor for the design forces in the open ground storey depends upon the number of stories, type and number of infill walls. They
proposed an amplification factor to consider the nonlinear effects, for the design base shear based on liner analysis. The presence
of soft storey either in ground story or in the upper storey, may lead to a dangerous sway mechanism in the soft story due to the
formation of plastic hinges at the top and bottom end of the columns as these columns are subjected to relatively large cyclic
deformation. The Indian standard recommend that the dynamic analysis of the structure is to be carried out considering the strength
and stiffness contribution of infill frames, the inelastic deformation of the members, particularly those in the soft story and the
members, particularly those in the soft storey and the members designed accordingly
IV. BUILDING DESCRIPTION
Here the model is of a twelve story moment resisting framed building having the plan dimensions of 15Mx20m with the bay of
length of 5m in both direction and floor height of 3.2m is considered in the study.
The structure is modeled as 3D frame using Staad Pro, and the masonry infill is modeled as quadrilateral shell element of uniform
thickness of 0.23mm.The 14 models of 12 storied RC frame structure are prepared, the bare frame model considering the mass of
the brick infill but neglecting its stiffness contribution of the brick infill are the basic models considered in the study .the sectional
properties of building elements are given.
Size of Elements
Size of column
Size of Beam
Thickness of slab

600mmX600mm
300mmX600mm
125mm

Properties of material
Concrete
Steel
Masonry

Modulus of Elasticity
285000 MPa
210000 MPa
3500 MPa

Poissons Ratio
0.2
0.3
0.2

Grade
M25
Fe 415
-

Load Consideration
Seismic Zone
5

Importance Factor
1

Soil Type
2

Live Load
3.5KN/m2

STADD- Pro Designing

BARE FRAME

FULL INFLL

1ST Storey Soft

2nd Story Soft

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48

Analysis the Behavior of Building with Different Soft Story

(IJSTE/ Volume 2 / Issue 12 / 010)

3rd Storey Soft

5 Storey Soft

7 Storey Soft

9 Storey Soft

11 Storey Soft

4 Storey Soft

6 Storey Soft

8 Storey Soft

10 Storey Soft

12 Storey Soft

V. ANALYSIS AND RESULTS

Storey

Bare Frame

Infill

12
11
10
9
8

30.06
38.6
60.33
56.69
116

2.17
2.51
4.16
5.02
6.41

Table 6
Maximum Bending Moment in Columns
Different storey level
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
4.47 3.27 4.51 4.53
4.9 4.6 4.65 4.69
4.89 5.12 6.79 5.18
6.8 7.8 7.21 7.06
5.41 4.04 6.95 6.26
7.7 7.1 7.63 7.41
5.5 5.54 5.59 6.44
8.8 8.6 7.86 129
5.62 6.12 6.13 7.06
9.2
7
142 282

9
4.3
7.9
117
246
122

10
9.89
93.8
206
90
5.03

11
58
139
63
4.9
8.7

12
56
29
5.3
7.2
7.7

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Analysis the Behavior of Building with Different Soft Story

(IJSTE/ Volume 2 / Issue 12 / 010)

7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0

140.03
161
178.73
196.81
217
256.13
343.02
0

7.61
8.6
10.51
10.02
10.61
8.14
42.62
0

Storey

Bare Frame

Infill

12
11
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1

140
132
110
98.7
79.6
60
48.05
33.8
25.4
11.2
4.8
2.32

13.82
12.76
11.6
10.2
9.05
7.89
6.65
5.44
4.18
3.13
2.2
1.16

6.79
7.63
7.95
8
8.63
223
473
0

1
22.32
21.15
19.98
18.75
17.49
16.22
14.97
13.74
12.58
11.5
10.15
2.78

Storey

Bare Frame

Infill

12
11
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1

402
373
311
255
205
161
121
87
59
36
19
7

824
857
716
588
472
368
278
201
136
83
44
17

7.24
7.69
6.86
5.89
191
389
166
0

7.6
6.59
6.49
189
387
69.2
55
0

7.78
9.8 152 303 136 5.6 8.12 8.5 8.2
7.02 174 333 146 6.33 9.2 9.35 8.9 8.8
162.3 355 160 7.68 9.89 10 10.1 9.7 9.9
364
190 8.7 10.2 10.4 11 10.2 10
10
203
8.8
10 10.4 10.4 10 10.2 10
10
11.57 6.1 6.2 7.77 7.78 7.8 7.77 7.8 7.7
41.17 49
41 48.8 48.8 38
40
38
38
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Table 7
Lateral Displacement (mm) at Storey Level
Different storey level
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
18.64 18.4 18.23 18.03 17.8 17.4
17
16.3 15.5 14.39 13.72
17.55 17.32 17.15 16.96 16.7 16.4 15.9 15.3 14.3 12.03 11.76
16.37 16.15 15.94 15.8 15.5 15.2 14.8
14
11.1 10.89 10.75
15.14 14.92 14.76 14.58 14.3
14
13.3 10.1 9.84 9.78
9.67
13.87 13.65 13.5 13.32 13.2 12.5 8.95 8.7 8.68 8.63
8.54
12.59 12.38 12.23 12.52 11.5 7.78 7.52 7.51 7.49 7.45
7.39
11.32 11.11 10.97 10.52 6.6 6.33 6.33 6.33 6.32 6.29
6.24
10.08 9.88
9.47
5.45 5.16 5.18 5.18 5.18 5.17 5.15
5.12
8.91
8.43
4.34
4.05 4.07 4.07 4.08 4.08 4.07 4.06
4.04
7.53
3.32
3.02
3.03 3.04 3.04 3.05 3.05 3.05 3.04
3.03
2.42
2.07
2.08
2.09 2.09 2.1
2.1
2.1
2.1
2.1
2.1
1.14
1.11
1.12
1.12 1.12 1.12 1.12 1.13 1.13 1.13
1.13
Table 8
Lateral Force (KN) At the Storey Level
Different storey level
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
788 790 794 799 805 812 821 832 844 858 874 446
820 823 826 831 838 845 855 866 878 892 540 793
686 687 690 695 700 706 714 723 734 423 648 775
562 564 567 570 574 580 586 593 357 522 624 636
451 453 455 458 461 465 470 283 413 491 500 511
353 354 356 358 360 364 219 318 378 384 391 399
266 267 268 270 272 163 237 281 285 290 295 301
193 193 194 195 116 169 200 203 206 209 213 217
130 130 131 78 113 134 135 137 139 141 144 147
80
80
48
69
81
82
83
84
85
87
88
90
42
25
36
42
43
43
44
44
45
46
46
47
10
14
16
16
16
17
17
17
17
17
18
18

The following observations are made, based on the results presented in Table 1to 3 that in MI-RC frame in comparison to the bare
frame indicates large increase in lateral stiffness due to substantial stiffness contribution of masonry infill.
VI. GRAPHICAL PRESENTATION

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Analysis the Behavior of Building with Different Soft Story

(IJSTE/ Volume 2 / Issue 12 / 010)

Fig. 2: Maximum Bending Moment in Columns (KN/M) At Storey Level

Fig. 3: Lateral Displacements (In Mm) At The Storey Level

Fig. 4: Lateral Forces (In KN) At the Storey Level

VII. CONCLUSIONS
The presence of soft storey at the lower levels of the building structure , especially at the first storey level is most undesirable, as
it attracts larger storey force with greater storey drift in comparison to fully infill frame
The stiffness contribution of masonry infill in the lower stories (specially the first storey) is very large compared to the stiffness
contribution of the upper storey.
The amplification factor of the seismic action effects in the vertical structural elements of soft storey needs to be scaled down,
factor provided depends upon storey height, thats the soft storey is in lower portion or in upper portion.
The presence of soft storey at the top level does not significantly affect the structural performance of fully infill frame. While
the presence of soft storey at the lower level greatly affects the structural performance.
All of the building structures, especially buildings having soft stories containing only frames as lateral load resisting systems
are vulnerable during the earthquakes
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This work has been carried out in civil engineering department of Madan Mohan Malaviya University of Technology, Gorakhpur,
and Government engineering college Azamghar India. The authors present its heartiest gratitude towards the entire faculty
members for their constant encouragements, guidance and supports.

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Analysis the Behavior of Building with Different Soft Story

(IJSTE/ Volume 2 / Issue 12 / 010)

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Association of Bay Area Governments, ABAG Earthquake and Hazards Program-Mitigation Policy Review, 2005.
Athanassiadou C.J., Seismic Performance of RC Plane Frames Irregular in Elevation, Engineering Structures, doi:10.1016/j.engstruct.2007.07.015, 2007.
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Chintanapakdee C. and Chopra A.K., Evaluation of Modal Pushover Analysis Using Generic Frames, Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics, Vol.
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