Ain Shams Engineering Journal 10 (2019) 227–241

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Ain Shams Engineering Journal

journal homepage: www.sciencedirect.com

Civil Engineering

Horizontally connected high-rise buildings under earthquake loadings

Sayed Mahmoud
Department of Civil and Construction Engineering, College of Engineering, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Saudi Arabia

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Responses to lateral loads induced by wind and earthquakes are among the governing factors in the
Received 30 September 2018 structural design of these structures. In the current trend, adjacent tall buildings are being horizontally
Revised 14 December 2018 connected for different purposes. However, such horizontal linkages potentially change the behavior of
Accepted 28 December 2018
the structure, which limits the applicability of design codes. This research comprehensively assesses
Available online 13 February 2019
the response of linked high-rise buildings under earthquake loads, following design-code requirements.
The effect of sky-bridge location on the induced responses is examined as well. The building configura-
Keywords:
tions were excited by a set of ground-motion records with different peak ground accelerations. The
High-rise buildings
Sky-bridge
lateral dynamic earthquake loads were separately applied in two orthogonal directions (the sky-bridge
Earthquake loadings and perpendicular directions) and the responses to each load were investigated. The connecting
Time-history analysis bridge location affected the predicted dynamic load-induced responses of the building structures slightly
Three-dimensional models in some scenarios, but dramatically in one scenario.
Dynamic response Ó 2019 The Author. Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Faculty of Engineering, Ain Shams University.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-
nd/4.0/).

1. Introduction significantly under lateral dynamic earthquake loads. Besides the

Modern tall and super-tall buildings are usually more light-
weight, more flexible, and more lightly damped than their prede-
cessors, because the proposed innovative structural systems
require high-strength materials. Recent construction materials also
have lighter cladding, and the availability of modern construction
techniques has facilitated and increased the trend of ever-taller
buildings (see Fig. 1). Moreover, in highly populated cities with
limited land, the number of stories in modern buildings has
increased. Consequently, modern buildings are more sensitive to
dynamic excitation under strong wind and severe earthquake loads
than previous structures.
Many engineered structures, especially tall structures, are
susceptible to dynamic loads and earthquake and wind-induced
vibrations. Such load-sensitive structures must be appropriately
designed by structural engineers. The most relevant dynamic
characteristics of a high-rise building are its natural oscillatory
period, mass, stiffness, and damping coefficient. Tall buildings are
characterized by low natural frequency; hence they can vibrate
E-mail address: elseedy@hotmail.com, smabdein@iau.edu.sa
Peer review under responsibility of Ain Shams University.
Production and hosting by Elsevier
aforementioned structural characteristics, the oscillation of high-
rise buildings depends on the applied dynamic load characteristics
[1]. The design response of a structure under lateral loads is a gov-
erning factor when designing modern tall buildings and structures.
Robustness against wind and earthquake loads is necessary to
ensure the structural safety, serviceability, and occupational com-
fort of the building. Structural engineers rely on design codes to
design tall buildings subjected to such lateral loads.
Several researchers have assessed the dynamic response
behaviors of tall buildings under wind and earthquake loadings
in finite-element models. One of the tallest buildings in the world,
the Taipei Financial Center, has been investigated seismically [2].
In that study, the tall building was created as a mega-frame system
in a finite-element model. Together with a shaking-table test, they
determined the constitutive relationships and finite-element types
for the concrete-filled steel tube columns and steel members. The
elastic and inelastic responses were determined in time-history
analyses. Li et al. [3] carried out a computational finite-element
analysis and field measurements of four super-tall buildings during
the passage of three typhoons. They selected the Center Tower, the
Di Wang Tower, the CITIC Plaza Tower, and the Jin Mao Tower,
respectively located in Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and
Shanghai. Their finite-element analysis was based on a developed
super-tall model representing the real towers. From the field data
and the computational results, they detailed the characteristic
wind-induced response of these super-tall buildings under
typhoon conditions. Lu et al. [4] simulated the collapse process of

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asej.2018.12.007
2090-4479/Ó 2019 The Author. Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Faculty of Engineering, Ain Shams University.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
228 S. Mahmoud / Ain Shams Engineering Journal 10 (2019) 227–241
Fig. 1. Real structures with horizontal connection.
reinforced concrete high-rise buildings in a time-history analysis,
modeling the horizontal structural elements as fiber-beam ele-
ments and multi-layer shear elements. They analyzed the effi-
ciency and applicability of their proposed collapse mechanism on
building structures with 18 and 20 stories.
Rajmani and Guha [5] introduced design guidelines and
response evaluations for differently shaped high-rise buildings
under wind excitations and earthquake loads. They constructed
circular, triangular, square, and rectangular tall-building models.
However, the above-cited studies considered only the dynamic
load on isolated buildings with no sky-bridge connection to a sur-
rounding building. The structural performance of such one-tower
structural systems depends on that of the primary components,
namely, the structural walls or moment-resistant frames. In reality,
some tall buildings are linked to a surrounding structure which is
normally similar to or even identical to the building. Because the
sky-bridge can significantly interfere with the dynamic load-
induced responses of the linked structures, it should be considered
when evaluating the overall structure response.
The applied lateral loads and basics of design considerations
have also been considered. Investigating the response under
dynamic earthquake and wind loads become more complex for
multi-tower connected structures. Xie and Irwin [6] presented a
general approach for investigating the dynamic response of several
building towers connected by a sky-bridge or a common podium.
Subsequently, Luco et al. [7] investigated whether the induced
response of high-rise buildings under earthquake excitations could
be controlled through stiff links. They also explored the possibility
of installing flexible links between the internal and external struc-
tures to moderate the required stiffness reduction in the internal
structure. To demonstrate the advantages of their system under
seismic excitation, they presented their numerical results in both
time and frequency domains. Lu et al. [8] investigated the seismic
response of a well-known high-rise building (the Shanghai Interna-
tional Design Center), featuring two towers of different heights
connected by trusses. They conducted shaking-table tests on a
1:15-scale structural model of the building under a suite of
earthquake-ground motions. The structural system of the con-
nected towers constitutes steel frame, reinforced concrete (RC)
core walls and shear walls. Lim and Bienkiewicz [9] investigated
the effect of dynamic wind load on the response of twin tall build-
ings horizontally connected by a sky-bridge. They compared the
induced dynamic responses of structurally coupled and uncoupled
twin buildings. Lim et al. [10] investigated the dynamic response of
structurally connected twin tall buildings with a generic configura-
tion. The structural system of the twin tall buildings and the con-
necting sky-bridge was replaced with a six-degree-of-freedom
model at the level of the sky-bridge. The effects of sky-bridge axial
and bending stiffness on the natural frequencies and modes of con-
nected structures have been described by empirical formulas.
Nishimura [11] investigated a trio of structurally connected similar
towers in Fukuoka City, Japan. The towers are connected at three
different levels by aerial gardens, and contain various vibration
control devices to assure their safety. The complex structural
 S. Mahmoud / Ain Shams Engineering Journal 10 (2019) 227–241
system that performs the seismic response analysis was replaced
by a simplified lumped-mass model. Each of the connected towers
was also represented by a lumped-mass model, with springs at
each floor level for shearing and bending. The connecting
sky-bridges were represented by rod elements. Zhou et al. [12]
experimentally and numerically studied the seismic response of a
high-rise, connected, multi-tower hybrid structure. They per-
formed a detailed shake-table model test under minor, moderate,
and major earthquake levels, and compared their experimental
results with those of a three-dimensional finite-element model.
A review of the above cited papers indicates that most of the
conducted research works considered only the dynamic response
of separate super-tall or high-rise buildings without the use of
linking-bridges. The performed studies to investigate seismic
response of connected structures considered the twin buildings
either linked through a common podium or through a sky-bridge
at a fixed level. Some of the cited research works investigated
the dynamic response of structurally connected towers at different
levels simultaneously with the aid of vibration control devices.
Some other used lumped mass models to perform the seismic anal-
ysis in order to overcome the problems of three-dimensional mod-
elling of such complicated connected high-rise structures. The
majority of the conducted studies on structurally connected towers
are wind-excited.
The present research aims to understand the effect of dynamic
earthquake loads on the behavior of horizontally connected high-
rise buildings. To accurately estimate the best- and worst-case sce-
narios of structural response to dynamic loads, we vary the posi-
tion of the horizontally linking sky-bridge. Finite-element models
of the high-rise RC buildings with horizontal connections were
developed in ETABS. In this software package, separate dynamic
earthquake loads can be applied to the twin high-rise buildings.
The earthquake loads were applied separately in two directions;
the linking-bridge direction and the orthogonal direction.
2. Twin-building models
One twin building investigated in this study is the Capital
Tower, an administrative building with a basement, ground, mez-
zanine, three podiums and twenty-four floors (including the roof).
Structural design and analysis are in accordance with the ACI code.
The types of loads considered in the structural design are dead, live
and seismic loads. All structural elements and components are
designed in accordance with the associated seismic zone and an
importance factor of (1.00) is used. The various loads are applied
to the building in combination with factors as indicated in the
employed code of design. All reinforced concrete elements are
designed by the ultimate strength method as defined in ACI. Struc-
tural design and analysis are created by Sap2000, CSI columns and
Safe structural software packages. Compressive strength fc’ = 30
Mpa for all footings, suspended slabs, beams and stairs are used
in the study. fc’ = 40 Mpa for columns and walls. Yield stress
fy = 415 Mpa for deformed main reinforcing bars, stirrups and col-
umn ties is used.
The floor framing system varies between two main systems: RC
flat slabs and RC hollow core slabs. In the floor plans of the ground
and podiums, the main system comprises 350 mm-thick slabs sup-
ported on dropped beams. To prevent deflection of the long-
spanning slabs in the ground and podiums floors, 500 mm-thick
banded beams are applied over the mid-columns. From the 2nd
to the 15th floors, the long spans are covered by hollow core slabs
with thicknesses of 350 or 500 mm. From the 16th floor to the roof,
the slab areas are gradually reduced, and some columns are
stopped and replaced with planted ones that are sufficient for
the reduced areas. Lightweight slabs are required to reduce the
229
load on these planted columns. Steel open-web joists are the best
choice for these floors, because they are lightweight, shallow and
can be supported on the dropped RC beams by simple techniques.
The dimensions of the drooped beams vary with the location and
architectural allowance of the beams, but most of the beams are
categorized as edge beams (of width 600 mm and depth
1000 mm) or internal beams (of width 600 mm and depth
600 mm). All floors are constructed mainly from edge and internal
beams, plus small number of beams with different dimensions to
meet the architectural requirements. The vertical structural system
consists of huge rectangular and circular RC columns combined
with cores and shear walls. The wall thickness is 800 mm at the
lower floors, gradually reducing to 300 mm at the top of the tower.
The columns and roof beams at the top of the tower support a
huge, 34 m-high steel structure with a glass coating on all sides.
The weight of this structure was considered in the vertical and hor-
izontal analysis calculations. The two towers are connected by a
33.60 m-long RC-sky-bridge supported on the columns of both
towers. The framing system of the sky-bridge comprises 60-cm
square columns connected by 60 cm square beams, forming a RC
N-truss. The lower slab of the sky-bridge is divided into 6 equal
spans with intermediate beams (each of width 60 cm and depth
60 cm) connected by a 30 cm RC slab. These intermediate beams
are repeated in the upper plan of the N-truss, but without an inter-
connecting slab (see Fig. 2). Horizontally connected twin-building
models with different configurations were constructed in the
structural package software ETABS, and are displayed in Fig. 3.
In order to oppose axial and bending stiffness, the frame ele-
ment was used to model both horizontal and vertical elements in
terms of beams and columns respectively. Similarly, the slabs as
horizontal elements and shear walls and cores as vertical elements
were modelled using shell element which combines both mem-
brane and plate-bending behavior. In order to accelerate the com-
putation process, each floor level was assigned to act as a semi-
rigid diaphragm to simulate the actual in-plane stiffness properties
and slab behavior. It is worth noting that both rigid and semi-rigid
produces almost similar results because the membrane deforma-
tion under seismic excitation is insignificant. The slabs and shear
walls of the developed models were automatically meshed with
approximate 0.5
0.5 m for each mesh. Connections and supports
of the created models were assigned to have the appropriate
restraints. In particular, the base of the model were modeled as
fixed supports.
3. Earthquake modelling
The building models shown in Fig. 3 were excited by a set of 8
earthquake ground-motion records collected during the 1987
WhittierNarrows, 1940 El-Cenro, 1999 Kocaeli, 1989 LomaPrieta,
1995 Kobe, 1994 Northridge, 1999 Duzce, and 1992 Cape Mendo-
cino earthquakes. Table 1 summarizes the important information
on these ground-motion records; the recording station, soil class,
magnitude (M), peak ground acceleration (PGA), and site-to-
source distance (Dss). The selected ground-motion records differ
in their PGAs, magnitudes and site–source distances.
Fig. 4 plots the acceleration time histories, Fourier transform
signals and acceleration response spectra at 5% critical damping
for the 8 earthquake ground-motion records listed in Table 1.
The durations of the time histories range from 10 to 40 s. The
Whittier Narrows and Cape Mendocino earthquakes exhibit the
smallest and largest acceleration amplitudes, respectively.
The selected records are close to the fault rupture to ensure
near-field earthquake motions. It is worth noting that the earth-
quake motions recorded in the vicinity of the fault rupture displays
a long period pulse in the acceleration time-history which also
230 S. Mahmoud / Ain Shams Engineering Journal 10 (2019) 227–241

Fig. 2. Lower and upper plan views show the structural elements of the skybridge.

Fig. 3. Horizontally connected twin-building models with different configurations.

 S. Mahmoud / Ain Shams Engineering Journal 10 (2019) 227–241 231

Table 1
Ground-motion records input to the linked model structures.

Earthquake (record) Date Station PGA (g) Mw Dss (km) Soil class
Whittier Narrows 1987 Glendora-N. Oakbank 0.11 6.0 9.0 A, A
El Centro 1940 117 El Centro 0.34 7.2 8.3 D, C
Kocaeli (Izmit) 1999 Sakarya 0.37 7.4 13 B, B
Loma Prieta 1989 Corralitos 0.48 7.1 5.1 B, B
Kobe 1995 KJMA 0.82 6.9 0.6 B, B
Northridge RRS 1994 77 Rinaldi Receiving Sta 0.84 6.7 7.1 C, C
Duzce 1999 375 Lamont Station 0.97 7.1 17.6 D, C
Cape Mendocino 1992 Petrolia 1.04 7.1 8.5 A, A

PGA = Peak Ground Acceleration; Mw = Magnitude; Dss = Site–source distance.

appear as a coherent pulse in the velocity and displacement time-
histories. Such characteristics of near-fault records may cause
extensive damage to structures and do not exist in the earthquake
motions recorded at locations away from the near-fault region.
From energy point of view and based on Arias intensity (Arias,
1970), the selected records ensures different estimated energy val-
ues range from 1.81 m2/s15 to 433 m2/s15. In addition, the cho-
sen records represent different soil classes in terms of A, B, C and D
according to the geomatrix soil class USGS.
Some of the earthquakes (the Whittier Narrows, Kocaeli and
Loma Prieta events) were characterized by many low-frequency
components; others (the El-Centro, Kobe, Northridge and Duzce
events) were rich in high-frequency components. The main fre-
quency components range from 0.20 to 4.0 Hz in the high-
frequency records, and from 0.10 to 2.0 Hz in the low-frequency
records. The Cape Mendocino and Loma Prieta events exhibit a
wide range of main frequency components (0.20–8.0 Hz and
0.20–12.0 Hz, respectively). The ground-motion records were
obtained from the PEER Strong Motion Database (http://peer.
berkeley.edu/smcat/).
The input ground motion spectra curves against the spectral
acceleration curve recommended by the seismic design code are
presented in Fig. 5. The construction of spectral acceleration curve
is based on the assigned mapped maximum considered earthquake
spectral response acceleration at a period of 1-sec S1 = 0.11 and the
assigned mapped maximum considered earthquake spectral
response acceleration at a short period Ss = 0.30.
4. Time-history analysis method
Time-history analysis computes the structural response of a
structure under time-function loadings at various time steps. A full
time-history provides a linear or nonlinear evaluation of the struc-
ture’s response during and after the application of the load. The full
time-history is obtained by incrementally solving the structure’s
equation of motion. When solving the equation by direct-
integration techniques, the response results are highly sensitive
to the defined time-step, requiring careful choice of the time-
step size. On the other hand, nonlinear direct-integration tech-
niques require a slightly negative Hilber–Hughes–Taylor (HHT)
alpha value to dampen the higher frequency modes, and to encour-
age convergence.
The material and geometric nonlinearities, including the P-delta
and large-displacement effects, may be simulated in a nonlinear
direct-integration time-history analysis. Alternatively, the
dynamic equation of motion can be solved by linear and nonlinear
modal analysis (FNA). It is worth noting that in FNA applications,
the linked objects capture the nonlinear behavior. The present
study conducts a nonlinear time-history analysis, which better
simulates a structure’s behavior during severe earthquakes than
other methods. Direct integration is performed by the HHT
method, and the response is subjected to Rayleigh damping with
coefficients defined by the structure’s natural period. The analysis
also includes the nonlinear P-D effect. The analysis starts after
loading the structure dead load.
By solving the dynamic equation of motion (Eq. (1)), the analy-
sis determines the time-dependent displacements, shear forces,
moments, energies, and restoring forces under the applied
dynamic earthquake loads presented in Table 1.
€ þ C UðtÞ
MUðtÞ _ € g ðtÞ
þ KUðtÞ ¼ M U ð1Þ
where M, C, and K are the mass, damping, and stiffness matrices
respectively. The symbols U, U_ and U
€ respectively denote the dis-
placement, velocity and accelerations vectors, and U € g is the
€gU
ground acceleration vector. These vectors and matrices can be cal-
culated in a one-dimensional element by defining a proper interpo-
lation function [13]. In incremental form, Eq. (1) becomes
€ þ CðtÞDUðtÞ
_
MDUðtÞ þ KðtÞDUðtÞ ¼ DPðtÞ ð2Þ
_ €
where DUðtÞ, DUðtÞ, DUðtÞ and DUðtÞ respectively denote the incre-
mental displacement, velocity, and acceleration vectors. DPðtÞ is the
incremental vector of the external earthquake load. To accurately
represent the rapidly varying time function, conventional methods
require a sufficiently short time-step. The method of Chen and
Robinson [14] removes this limitation and allows longer time inter-
vals. The equations of motion can also be solved by explicit and
implicit Runge–Kutta methods [15,16].
The nonlinear analysis also requires the stress–strain curves of
concrete and steel and the limit states. This information must be
defined in the ETABS computer model. The P-Delta effect of the
vertical elements is determined by the Takeda hysteretic model,
which delivers high performance in nonlinear time-history analy-
ses. The hysteretic rules of Takeda’s model nonlinearly relate the
applied force to the corresponding deformation of the structural
members. The initial stiffness in the building model is defined as
k0 (see Fig. 6). Under incremental increase of the applied loads,
the computer model eventually reaches its linearity limits. With
further increase of the applied loads, the building model exceeds
its elastic limits and reaches the post-yield stiffness kp, which
marks the nonlinear zone. At this stage, the iteration process
begins calculating the strains, deflections, and stiffness. The peak
and yield displacements of the concrete elements are defined as
Umax and Uy, respectively, and fy is the yield force. During the anal-
ysis, the unloading and reloading stiffness parameters a and b have
been set to be of 0.5 and 0 respectively [17].
5. Numerical results and discussion
The behavior and response of horizontally connected buildings
to earthquake loadings are important aspects of structural engi-
neering. This study analyzed the time-history response of two
adjacent RC buildings connected by a sky-bridge at different story
levels (see Fig. 3) under the ground-motion records presented in
232 S. Mahmoud / Ain Shams Engineering Journal 10 (2019) 227–241

Fig. 4. Acceleration time histories (left column), Fourier transform signals (center column) and acceleration response spectra at 5% critical damping (right column) for the set
of 8 earthquake ground motion records listed in Table 1.

Table 1. The buildings were horizontally connected at (i) the scenario was simulated in the dynamic software package ETABS,
quarter-height, (ii) the mid-height, (iii) the three-quarter -height, which enables excitation in the parallel or orthogonal directions
and (iv) the top of the adjacent buildings. The time-history of each to the linking bridge.
 S. Mahmoud / Ain Shams Engineering Journal 10 (2019) 227–241
Fig. 5. Input ground motion spectra against design code spectra.
Fig. 6. Schematic representation of the force–deformation relationship.
Fig. 7 presents the first and fourth mode shapes of the twin
buildings connected by a linking bridge at quarter. Similar results
have been obtained for the other levels of connecting bridge. It
can be seen from the first mode that the connecting bridge just
sways simultaneously with the two towers and the stiffness of
the link has no effect on the first mode shape. However, the cap-
tured next mode shapes indicate that the twin buildings are oppos-
ing due to the linking effect.
The response of interest is found by exploring the story dis-
placements, story moments, story shears, and accumulative ener-
gies in terms of the potential, modal damping, and kinetic
energies. The responses of the connected building structures to dif-
ferent ground-motion records were explored in realistic scenarios.
This section plots and tabulates the displacement responses, base
shear responses and story overturning moments along the longitu-
dinal direction (the x-direction, along the linking bridge) and the
transverse direction (the y-direction, perpendicular to the linking
233
bridge). The accumulative energies and restoring forces obtained
in the time-history analysis are also presented.
5.1. Displacement responses
Story displacement, which is related to inter-story drift, is an
important damage indicator in high-rise buildings exposed to
earthquake excitations. Moreover, displacement is an important
response parameter (as it can damage neighboring buildings) and
directly reduces the comfort in certain locations of the building,
especially in the upper floors. The story displacements in the x-
and y-directions at the height of the structure are plotted in Figs. 8
and 9, respectively. Results are presented for different scenarios of
the linking bridge (see Fig. 3) under different earthquake records
(the El-Centro, LomaPrieta, Duzce and CapeMendocino earth-
quakes in Fig. 8, and the WhittierNarrows, Kocaeli, Kobe, and
Northridge earthquakes in Fig. 9).
As expected, the displacements of the connected buildings
increased with height, regardless of the applied direction of the
seismic loads. Under the horizontal loads, the peak displacements
of the stories were similar (see Fig. 8), and were maximized at the
top of the building for all locations of linking bridge. Moreover, at
each story level, varying the location of the linking bridge only
slightly affected the induced peak story displacement. However,
the peak displacement was lower for the top location of the linking
bridge than in the other scenarios (Fig. 8). Percentage-wise, fixing
the connecting bridge at the top floors reduced the peak displace-
ments (relative to the other scenarios) by approximately 2.80%,
25.80%, 7.20%, 7.50%, 29.00%, 14.70%, 18.70%, and 10.80% in the
Whittier Narrows, El-Centro, Kocaeli, LomaPrieta, Kobe, North-
ridge, Duzce, and Cape Mendocino events, respectively. The role
of linking bridge in reducing the induced peak displacements is
highly significant under the near fault earthquake Kobe which
shows the closest epicenter distance of about 0.6 km as well as
the rich frequency contents of the records. Although the epicenter
distances differed between the Kocaeli and LomaPrieta events, the
percentage reduction in peak displacement at the upper-floor link-
age was almost identical under the two earthquake records. This
result might be explained by the similar magnitudes, soil classes,
frequency components, and spectral curves of the induced acceler-
ation responses of the two earthquakes. Although the PGA of the
234 S. Mahmoud / Ain Shams Engineering Journal 10 (2019) 227–241

Fig. 7. Captured 1st and 4th mode shapes of the twin buildings with linking bridge at quarter showing in phase and out of phase movements.

Fig. 8. Peak displacements of two buildings linked by a bridge placed at different heights, induced by a suite of earthquakes in the x-direction (parallel to the linking bridge).
 S. Mahmoud / Ain Shams Engineering Journal 10 (2019) 227–241
Fig. 9. Peak displacements of two buildings linked by a bridge placed at different heights, induced by a suite of earthquakes in the y-direction (perpendicular to the linking
bridge).
Northridge earthquake was lower than in the Duzce and Cape
Mendocino earthquakes, the Northridge event generated the lar-
gest peak displacement in the considered scenarios. This might
be attributable to the smaller epicenter distance of the Northridge
earthquake than the Duzce and Cape Mendocino earthquakes. In
addition, the soil class was weaker in the Northridge than in the
Duzce and Cape Mendocino events.
In Fig. 9, the building structures were displaced in the y-
direction under the Whittier Narrows, Kocaeli, Kobe, and North-
ridge earthquake records. The simulated peak displacements
insignificantly differed from those in the x-direction. Again, the
Northridge earthquake generated the highest peak displacement,
and the peak displacements at each story only slightly depended
on the linking-bridge location. In addition, placing the linking
bridge at the top floors reduced the peak displacement (relative
to the other cases) by approximately 9.30%, 12.50%, 2.90%, 4.40%,
10.20%, 11.30%, 10.30%, and 7.70% under the Whittier Narrows,
El-Centro, Kocaeli, LomaPrieta, Kobe, Northridge, Duzce, and Cape
Mendocino events, respectively. In the y-direction, the peak dis-
placement reduction in the upper-linkage scenario was similar
under most of the applied ground-motion records; the exceptions
were the Kocaeli and LomaPrieta earthquakes, for which the reduc-
tion was smaller due to the low-frequency contents of these events.
235
Similarly to loading in the x-direction, the Kobe earthquake
gave the largest displacement response among the seismic load
cases. The peak displacement response under the Whittier Narrows
earthquake load (with the lowest PGA) is considerably lower than
the responses from the other excitation records applied in the
analysis.
5.2. Story shear response
The shear forces at the base and stories of adjacent buildings
linked at different heights under horizontally applied earthquake
loadings in x-direction are presented in Fig. 10 and Table 2. The
corresponding shear forces at base and stories under earthquake
loadings in the y-direction are presented in Fig. 11 and Table 3.
Under loading in the x-direction, changing the location of the
link bridge insignificantly altered the induced peak shear at the
base and stories of the building, unless the bridge was placed at
the top (Fig. 10 and Table 2). Under all earthquake records, the
uppermost-link scenario produced larger shear force at the base
than the other scenarios. Additionally, earthquakes with higher
PGA induced higher peak shear at the base than those with lower
PGA. When the linking bridge was placed at the top of the building,
the peak shear at base was 50,584 kN in the Cape Mendocino quake
236 S. Mahmoud / Ain Shams Engineering Journal 10 (2019) 227–241

Fig. 10. Peak story shear forces on two buildings linked by a bridge placed at different heights, induced by a suite of earthquakes. Loading is applied in the x-direction (parallel
to the linking bridge).

Table 2
Induced peak shear at base in the x-direction for different scenarios of linking-bridge locations under the set of 8 earthquake records.

Earthquake Peak shear (tonf) – X-direction

Without L.B. L.B. at quarter L.B. at middle L.B. at 3-quarter L.B at top
WhittierNarrows 6271 5819 5741 5686 9063
El Centro 19,947 18,132 19,556 18,892 20,734
Kocaeli (Izmit) 18,720 19,806 19,349 20,624 29,071
LomaPrieta 21,260 23,690 21,222 21,927 19,987
Kobe 31,774 32,901 31,627 32,962 37,558
Northridge RRS 46,546 48,375 46,529 48,375 47,338
Duzce 34,777 36,644 34,843 37,410 46,955
CapeMendocino 32,785 32,962 32,622 32,246 50,584

(PGA = 1.04 g), 46,955 kN in the Duzce quake (PGA = 0.97 g) and
47,338 kN in the Northridge quake (PGA = 0.84 g) (see Table 2).
The only exception was the LomaPrieta earthquake load, possibly
because this earthquake record contained more low-frequency
components than the other earthquakes with lower PGAs. The El-
Centro and LomaPrieta earthquake records yielded fairly similar
peak shears at base (Table 2). Therefore, the base shear response
is highly sensitive to the PGA level (low, moderate, or high). This
is an important observation.
When the linking bridge is omitted, the peak shear values at
base are lower than in the scenarios considered here. To investi-
gate the difference between the lowest and highest peak shears
induced at base in the different scenarios, the percentage increases
in the values were statistically analyzed. Under the Cape Mendo-
cino and Kocaeli earthquake records, fixing the linking bridge at
the top floors increased the peak shear value at base by over
50%, relative to the other scenarios. Under the Duzce and Whittier
Narrows earthquakes, the percentage increase was 35–45%, and
 S. Mahmoud / Ain Shams Engineering Journal 10 (2019) 227–241 237

Fig. 11. Peak story shear forces on two buildings linked by a bridge placed at different heights, induced by a suite of earthquakes. Loading is applied in the y-direction
(perpendicular to the linking bridge).

Table 3
Induced peak shear at base in the y-direction for different scenarios of linking-bridge locations under the set of 8 earthquake records.

Earthquake Peak shear (tonf) – Y-direction

Without L.B. L.B. at quarter L.B. at middle L.B. at 3- quarters L.B at top
WhittierNarrows 6085 6131 6117 6160 9422
El Centro 20,639 20,635 20,587 20,531 20,693
Kocaeli (Izmit) 20,110 20,506 19,926 19,935 38,017
LomaPrieta 20,528 20,613 20,385 20,216 21,378
Kobe 38,543 37,688 38,480 38,532 37,706
Northridge RRS 48,474 47,638 48,355 47,995 51,216
Duzce 37,577 36,286 38,125 36,720 56,372
CapeMendocino 36,863 37,144 37,774 37,658 62,103

under the remaining records, it was 4–18%. The higher peak base
shear in the uppermost-link scenario than in the other scenarios
can be explained as follows. When the two buildings are horizon-
tally connected at the top, they move in the same phase, so the first
mode dominates.
In the direction perpendicular to the linking bridge (the y-
direction), the shear response to loading trended similarly to that
of x-directional loading (see Fig. 11 and Table 3), but the peak
shears induced at the base of the buildings were greater than in
the x-direction. However, the respective ratios of increase when
the link was affixed at the top of the buildings (relative to the other
scenarios) were almost identical in the x- and y-directions.
From a design viewpoint, fixing the linking bridge at the top of
the buildings enlarges the shear forces at base under the applied
earthquake loads in either direction. Consequently, this scenario
will lead to a cost effective earthquake-resistant design.
238 S. Mahmoud / Ain Shams Engineering Journal 10 (2019) 227–241

5.3. Story moment response
The peak story moments for different heights of the linking
bridge under the selected ground-motion records were plotted in
the x- and y-directions. The results are presented in Figs. 12 and
13, respectively.
The overturning moments along the entire building height were
similar under the different earthquake records, and were insensi-
tive to bridge location. The exceptions were the peak moments at
the base floors, which varied significantly with bridge location.
The base moment was largest when the two buildings were hori-
zontally connected at the top. The difference between the peak
moments in the uppermost-link scenario and the other scenarios
was large under all of the applied ground motions. In the x-
direction, the moments at base ranged from 94,433 tonf.m under
low-PGA loading to 913,175 tonf.m under high-PGA loading. The
sensitivity of the peak base- moment response was evaluated for
all scenarios, and under all ground motions with different PGA
levels. Placing the connecting bridge at the top of the buildings lar-
gely increased the peak moments at base, relative to the other loca-
produced base moments between 49,840 tonf (at low-PGA levels)
and 680,433 tonf (at high-PGA levels). Similarly to loading in the
x-direction, the base moments were higher in the uppermost-link
scenario than in the other scenarios.
5.4. Energy response
When a ground excitation strikes a structure, it imparts energy
to the structure. The dynamic motion of the excited structure is
described by Eq. (1) (see Section 4). Part of the absorbed energy
is temporarily stored as kinetic and strain energies; the remainder
is dissipated through damping and inelastic deformation.
As is well-known, integrating a dynamic equation of motion
with respect to time yields an energy balance equation of the form
EK þ ED þ ES þ EP ¼ EI : ð3Þ
Rt
In Eq. (3), the input energy term EI ¼  U_ M U€ g dt, the kinetic
T
R _T €
t 0

tions of connecting bridge. Despite registering a slightly lower PGA energy term EK ¼ U M Udt and the damping energy term
Rt T 0
than the Cape Mendocino earthquake, the Duzce earthquake _
ED ¼ U_ C Udt. The remaining terms ES and EP refer to the elastic
almost induced the largest overturning moment response at base. 0

This result is attributed to the weaker soil class of the Duzce than and plastic strain energies, respectively. Their sum represents the
Rt T
the Cape Mendocino event. In the y-direction, the earthquake loads total deformation energy, namely, ES þ EP ¼ U_ KUdt.
0

Fig. 12. Peak story moments of two buildings linked by a bridge placed at different heights, induced by a suite of earthquakes. Loading is applied in the x-direction (parallel to
the linking bridge).
 S. Mahmoud / Ain Shams Engineering Journal 10 (2019) 227–241
Fig. 13. Peak story moments of two buildings linked by a bridge placed at different heights, induced by a suite of earthquakes. Loading is applied in the y-direction
(perpendicular to the linking bridge).
Figs. 14 and 15 plot the time-histories of the energy
responses of the horizontally connected high-rise buildings for
different heights of the linking bridge, subjected to the North-
ridge and Kobe earthquakes, respectively. Shown are the ener-
gies imparted to the structure and the energies dissipated by
damping and inelastic deformations over time. The kinetic
energy curves are jagged, presenting approximately the same
number of peaks for all heights of the linking bridge. However,
in the uppermost-link scenario, the values of the induced peaks
are slightly higher than in the other cases (see Figs. 14 and 15).
These peaks might result from the large natural period of the
considered building structures. A large amount of the imparted
energy is stored as kinetic and strain energy, and each of the
captured peaks corresponds to a strong cycle of the ground-
motion input excitation. In addition, the kinetic energy plots
(representing the stored energy) suggest that a small amount
of the imparted energy is conveyed to the horizontally con-
nected structures. Note that the energy peaks at the approximate
time of the PGA. Moreover, most of the energy conveyed to the
connected structures is dissipated by modal damping. As shown
in the figures, the amount of energy imparted to the linked
building structures under earthquake motions slightly depends
on the location of the linking bridge.
239
5.5. Restoring force response
Fig. 16 illustrates the restoring force characteristics in build-
ing systems connected by a linking bridge placed at different
heights, and subjected to Cape Mendocino earthquake vibra-
tions. The restoring force characteristics exhibit hysteretic
behaviors. In addition, the induced maximum drift is very sim-
ilar in the different scenarios. On the other hand, the maximum
story shear force induced by the Cape Mendocino ground
motion appears significantly large at low displacements, espe-
cially when the connecting bridge is placed at the top floors.
The figure confirms that two buildings horizontally connected
at different heights produce similar hysteretic loops, and that
the dissipated hysteretic energies are insensitive to bridge loca-
tion. These observations are supported by the displacements and
shear forces of the buildings under the remaining suite of earth-
quake records.
6. Conclusions
This paper explored the dynamic performances of horizontally
connected tall buildings under a suit of ground-motion records
240 S. Mahmoud / Ain Shams Engineering Journal 10 (2019) 227–241

Fig. 14. Kinetic (green), potential (red) and damping (blue) energies of two buildings linked by a bridge placed at different heights, induced by the Northridge earthquake in
the x-direction.

Fig. 15. Kinetic (green), potential (red) and damping (blue) energies of two buildings linked by a bridge placed at different heights, induced by the Kobe earthquake in the x-
direction.

with different characteristics. The effect of sky-bridge height on
the induced dynamic responses of connected twin tall buildings
was investigated and analysed in both longitudinal and transverse
directions. Different configurations of the connected twin buildings
were generated by the software application ETABS, which simu-
lates complicated three-dimensional structures by a simple and
efficient methodology. The displacements, shear forces and
moments at base, and the accumulative energies of the structure
appreciably changed over time. Such changes in the induced
responses were much more pronounced when the linking bridge
was affixed at the top storeys. The following conclusions were
drawn from the study.
 S. Mahmoud / Ain Shams Engineering Journal 10 (2019) 227–241
Fig. 16. Restoring force characteristics in horizontally connected building structures for different heights of the linking bridge. All structures were subjected to a Cape
Mendocino earthquake in the x-direction (parallel to the linking bridge).
(1) Regarding the induced dynamic responses of twin tall build-
ings horizontally connected at different heights under earth-
quake loads, the most unfavourable location of the sky-
bridge is the top of the building structure. Fastened the
sky-bridge at lower heights from the top slightly affects
the induced dynamic response demands of the twin
buildings.
(2) When the linking bridge was placed at the top of the twin
buildings, the peak displacements were lower than in the
other scenarios. Contrary to displacements, the basal shear-
ing forces were remarkably higher than at other sky-bridge
location scenarios, regardless of loading direction and earth-
quake motion.
(3) The shear force induced at the building base was sensitive to
the PGA level of the earthquake motion. Specifically, the
higher the PGA of the ground motion, the higher the basal
shear force.
(4) The story moments along the building height were insensi-
tive to sky-bridge height under the whole set of earthquake
records. However, the moments induced at the bases
appeared to vary significantly with sky-bridge location.
(5) The amount of energy imparted to the linked building struc-
tures under earthquake motions was slightly affected by
sky-bridge height. Most of the energy imparted to the con-
nected structures was dissipated by modal damping.
References
[1] Liu H. Wind engineering – a handbook for structural engineers. New
Jersey: Prentice-Hall; 1990.
[2] Fan H, Li QS, Tuan AY, Xu L. Seismic analysis of the world’s tallest building. J
Constr Steel Res 2009;65(5):1206–15. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
jcsr.2008.10.005.
[3] Li Q, Xiao Y, Wu J, Fu Y, Li Z. Typhoon effects on super-tall buildings. J Sound
Vib 2008;313(3–5):581–602. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsv.2007.11.059.
241
[4] Lu X, Guan H, Ye L. Collapse simulation of RC high-rise building induced by
extreme earthquakes. Earthquake Eng Struct Dyn 2013;42(5):705–23. doi:
https://doi.org/10.1002/eqe.2240.
[5] Rajmani A, Guha P. Analysis of wind & earthquake load for different shapes of
high rise buildings. Int J Civil Eng Technol 2015;6(2):38–45. doi: https://doi.
org/10.1002/suco.201100011.
[6] Xie J, Irwin PA. Application of the force balance technique to a building
complex. J Wind Eng Indust Aerodyn 1998;77–78(1):579–90. doi: https://doi.
org/10.1016/S0167-6105(98), 00174-3.
[7] Luco JE. Control of the seismic response of a composite tall building modelled
by two interconnected shear beams. Earthquake Eng Struct Dyn 1998;27
(3):205–23. doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1096-9845(199803)27:3<205::
AID EQE712>3.0.CO;2-X.
[8] Lu X, Chen X, Zhou Y, Huang Z. Shaking table model tests on a complex high-
rise building with two towers of different height connected by trusses. Struct
Des Tall Special Build 2008;18(7):765–88. doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/tal.460.
[9] Lim J, Bienkiewicz B. Wind-induced response of structurally coupled twin tall
buildings. Wind Struct 2007;10(4):383–98. doi: https://doi.org/10.12989/
was.2007.10.4.383.
[10] Lim J, Bienkiewicz B, Richards E. Modeling of structural coupling for
assessment of modal properties of twin tall buildings with a sky-bridge. J
Wind Eng Ind Aerodyn 2011;99(5):615–23. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
jweia.2011.02.010.
[11] Nishimura A. Base-isolated super high-rise RC building composed of three
connected towers with vibration control systems. Struct Concr 2011;12
(2):94–108. doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/suco.201100011.
[12] Zhou Y, Lu X, Lu W, Qian J. Study on the seismic performance of a multi-tower
connected structure. Struct Des Tall Special Build 2009;20(3):387–401. doi:
https://doi.org/10.1002/tal.533.
[13] Clough RW, Penzien J. Dynamics of structures. Berkely, USA: Computers and
Structures; 2003.
[14] Chen CC, Robinson AR. Improved time history analysis of structural dynamics.
I: Treatment of rapid variation of excitation and material nonlinearity. J Eng
Mech 1993;119(12):2496–513. doi: https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9399
(1993)119:12(2496).
[15] Chen X, Mahmoud S. Implicit ‘‘Runge-Kutta Methods for Lipschitz Continuous
Ordinary Differential Equations”. SIAM J Numer Anal 2008;46(3):1266–80.
doi: https://doi.org/10.1137/070688699.
[16] Mahmoud S, Chen XA. Verified inexact implicit Runge-Kutta method for
nonsmooth ODEs. Numer Algor 2008;47(3):275–90. doi: https://doi.org/
10.1007/s11075-008-9180-0.
[17] Takeda T, Sozen MA, Neilsen NN. Reinforced concrete response to simulated
earthquakes. ASCE J Struct Division 1970;96(ST12):2557–73.