Unified equivalent frame method for flat plate slab structures under combined gravity and lateral loads - Part 2: verification

In the previous paper, authors proposed the unified equivalent frame method (UEFM) for the lateral behavior analysis of the flat plate structure subjected to the combined gravity and lateral loads, in which the rotations of torsional members were distributed to the equivalent column and the equivalent slab according to the relative ratio of gravity and lateral loads. In this paper, the lateral behavior of the multi-span flat plate structures under various levels of combined gravity and lateral loads were analyzed by the proposed UEFM, which were compared with test results as well as those estimated by existing models. In addition, to consider the stiffness degradation of the flat plate system after cracking, the stiffness reduction factors for torsional members were derived from the test results of the interior and exterior slab-column connection specimens, based on which the simplified nonlinear push-over analysis method for flat plate structures was proposed. The simplified nonlinear analysis method provided good agreements with test results and is considered to be very useful for the practical design of the flat plate structures under the combined gravity and lateral loads.ope