Abstract
Here is presented a technique to estimate earthquake response of the lumped mass system with poly-linear hysteretic characteristics, whose availability is ascertained for the case of known stationary responses of some nonlinear systems. Vibration tests of one story and one bay steel frame structural models subjected to sinusoidal base motions are carried out, and from these test results the parameters associated with poly-linear hysteretic characteristics prescribing the dynamical collapsing processes of models are determined. Compartive discussions on the results of displacement time history responses and displacement-restoring force relationships lead to the conclusion that the technique presented herein seems to have a fairly well capability of predicting the dynamical collapsing process of building structures.
