Establishing empirical period formula for RC buildings in Lima, Peru: evidence for the impact of both the 1974 Lima earthquake and the application of the Peruvian seismic code on high-rise buildings

Abstract

The easiest building parameter to determine is the elastic fundamental resonance period, or its inverse, the fundamental frequency, preferentially used in seismological studies. This period/frequency is directly related to the building stiffness and can be linked to external inputs (acceleration, soil response, etc.), internal history (construction material and quality, struc- tural design, seismic history, etc.), and more complicated factors such as soil–structure interaction. This frequency is generally obtained through building modeling for the most recent structures but is much more complicated or even impossible to de- termine for old buildings, the blueprints of which are generally not available.