The effect of design drift limit on the seismic performance of RC dual high‐rise buildings

Current building codes aim to ensure the acceptable performance of structures implicitly. Because these provisions are empirically developed for low‐ to medium‐rise buildings, their applicability to high‐rise building warrants further investigation. In this paper, the effect of design drift limit on the seismic performance of reinforced concrete dual high‐rise buildings is considered. Nine buildings are designed for 3 drift limits: the code limit (i.e., 2%), one that is lower than the code limit (i.e., 1.5%), and one that is higher than the code limit (i.e., 3%). For each drift limit, buildings of 3 heights (20, 25, and 30 stories) are designed. Finite element models are constructed in OpenSees, and incremental dynamic analysis is performed. The results are used to develop probabilistic seismic demand models, where model parameters are determined using maximum likelihood estimation to incorporate equality and censored data. Reliability analysis using probabilistic demand models is conducted to derive seismic fragility and demand hazard curves. In addition, the collapse performance of the drift limits is evaluated using the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) P695 procedure. The study results show that the design drift limit affects the building's seismic performance, and the effect depends on the performance level considered. Moreover, from a structural integrity perspective, a larger design drift limit does not induce a significantly higher risk and might yield a more cost‐effective design.