Determination of Optimum Height/Width Ratios of Slender Buildings on Different Soils Against Overturning During Earthquakes

Abstract In many parts of the world, it has been observed that many narrow-fronted and high (slender) buildings overturn in one piece without any structural damage during earthquakes. The reason for this overturning is the increase in relative story displacements and second-order moments due to the rotation of foundation which is known as differential settlement that will occur at the base of the building as a result of exceeding the soil bearing capacity and elastic bearing coefficient depending on the earthquake load. In this study, a reference building with the smallest H/B ratio of 1.80 among the buildings overturned in the 1999 Kocaeli earthquake in the Adapazarı city center was modeled together with the soil using the ETABS 18.1.1 program. The linear analysis of the building was carried out according to the finite element method for 20 different soils and earthquake zones, with the approach that the ground does not resist tension. In order to stay on the safe side, considering the peak displacements for the H/B ratio of 1.50, the H/B ratios against overturning depending on the K of the soil and the PGA of the earthquake were determined with 99% regression for 20 different conditions, and a reasonable linear correlation was also obtained.