| dc.creator | Pledger, Liam | en |
| dc.creator | Pujol, Santiago | en |
| dc.creator | Chandramohan, Reagan | en |
| dc.date | 2026-03-04 | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2026-07-14T20:44:52Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2026-07-14T20:44:52Z | |
| dc.identifier | https://bulletin.nzsee.org.nz/article/view/1741 | |
| dc.identifier | 10.5459/bnzsee.1741 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://repo.nzsee.org.nz/xmlui/handle/nzsee/2891 | |
| dc.description | This study outlines a robust method to approximate the dynamic properties of wall-frame structures with a reasonable degree of reliability based on simple mechanics. The seismic response and drift demand of a structure are largely influenced by its first translational period and mode-shape. This study develops a method to estimate the storey stiffness of a wall, which can be combined with the storey stiffness of a frame to estimate the fundamental period and mode-shape for wall-frame structures. The fundamental period and mode-shape are calculated using this effective storey stiffness and Rayleigh’s principle. A total of 301 wall-frame structures were sized to evaluate the reliability of the proposed method. Structures ranged from 2 to 25 storeys tall. The fundamental period and mode-shape estimated using the proposed method were compared with results from eigenvalue analysis of a detailed linear structural model. The proposed method leads to approximately 4% error on average for estimating the fundamental period of regular structures. The proposed method leads to 5% error on average for irregular structures with partial height walls, as well as variations in storey height, and lateral stiffness. For regular wall-frame structures, the proposed method led to average errors of 4% when estimating the roof mode-shape factor and 2% when estimating the maximum difference in mode-shape factor from one floor to the next, a proxy for storey drift. These errors were 5% and 15% for irregular structures with partial height walls. Results were also compared with estimates obtained from existing empirical equations to approximate the period of wall-frame structures, highlighting that empirical equations lead to greater error, between 15 and 70% depending on the equation. The method outlined in this paper enables users to estimate or corroborate the fundamental period, mode-shape, and lateral displacement for a dual wall-frame structure with a reasonable degree of reliability, suitable for preliminary design and linear analysis. Tools have been developed in MathCAD and python to automate the procedure for estimating the dynamic properties of wall-frame structures and are available here. | en |
| dc.format | application/pdf | |
| dc.language | en | |
| dc.publisher | New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering | en |
| dc.relation | https://bulletin.nzsee.org.nz/article/view/1741/1528 | |
| dc.rights | Copyright (c) 2026 Liam Pledger, Santiago Pujol, Reagan Chandramohan | en |
| dc.rights | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 | en |
| dc.source | Bulletin of the New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering; Vol. 59 No. 1 (2026); 39-50 | en |
| dc.source | 2324-1543 | |
| dc.source | 1174-9857 | |
| dc.title | Estimating the dynamic properties of wall-frame structures | en |
| dc.type | info:eu-repo/semantics/article | |
| dc.type | info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion | |
| dc.type | Article | en |
