Analytical Study of Braced Unsymmetrical RCC Building

The field of Earthquake Engineering has existence from many years. Earthquake Engineers have made significant contributions to the seismic safety of several important structures in the country. However, as the recent earthquakes have shown, the performance of normal structures during past earthquakes has been less satisfactory. This is mainly due to the lack of awareness amongst most practicing engineers of the special provisions that need to be followed in Earthquake Resistant Design and thereafter in construction. Braced frames, besides other structural systems, such as moment resisting frames or shear walls, have been an effective and valuable method to enhance structures against lateral loads. In seismic excitations, inclined elements react as truss web elements which would bear compression or tension stresses. This axial reaction results in less moments and therefore smaller sizes in beam and column sections with respect to members in similar moment resisting frame. So, in this report two separate Unsymmetrical RCC framed buildings one braced and another unbraced subjected to lateral loads are analyzed. Seismic analysis is carried out using software SAP2000 for both the buildings. Different bracing sections along with different bracing systems are employed to study the seismic response of the building. The building is analyzed for different load combinations as per IS 18932002. The comparison is done between the braced and unbraced building on the basis of floor displacements, storey drifts, base shear, axial force and bending moments. It was observed that seismic performance of the braced building is improved as compared to unbraced building.