Maximum relative displacement of adjacent buildings during ground motions

In order to give the reasonable width of seismic gaps to prevent the structural pounding during ground motions, the maximum relative displacement of adjacent structures is studied in this paper. The factors that may have effects on the maximum relative displacement are discussed. As for multi-degree-of-freedom (MDOF) systems, they can be equivalent to single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) systems with the influences of high modes neglected. The results show that the period ratio, height ratio and peak ground acceleration are the main factors that have great effects on the maximum relative displacement of adjacent structures. The maximum relative displacement of MDOF systems can be obtained from calculating the maximum relative displacement of the equivalent SDOF systems.