Dynamic Response and Reliability Analysis of Stochastic Multi-Story Frame Structures under Random Excitation

In earthquake engineering problems, uncertainty exists not only in the seismic excitations but also in the structure's parameters. This study investigates the influence of structural geometry, elastic modulus, mass density, and section dimension uncertainty on the stochastic earthquake response of a multi-story moment resisting frame subjected to random ground motion. The North-south component of the Ali Gharbi earthquake in 2012, Iraq, is selected as ground excitation. Using the power spectral density function (PSD), the two-dimensional finite element model of the moment resisting frame's base motion is modified to account for random ground motion. The probabilistic study of the moment resisting frame structure using stochastic finite element utilizing Monte Carlo simulation was presented using the finite element program ABAQUS. The dynamic reliability and probability of failure of the stochastic and deterministic structure based on the first passage failure were checked and evaluated. Results revealed that the probability of failure increased due to randomness in stiffness and mass of the structure. Generally, natural frequencies for the lower modes of vibration and relative displacements for the lower stories were more sensitive to the randomness in system parameters.