A Critical Review on the Seismic Behavior of Geometrically Irregular High-Rise Buildings

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6239-650-0_26How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Geometric Irregularity; Seismic Performance; High-Rise Buildings; Dynamic Analysis; Structural Irregularity

Abstract

The rising demand for high-rise buildings has encouraged architects and engineers to adopt unconventional forms that often depart from traditional symmetry and uniformity. These modern configurations—featuring setbacks, re-entrant corners, torsional asymmetry, and uneven distributions of mass and stiffness—introduce geometric irregularities that significantly affect seismic behaviour. Such discontinuities create stress concentrations that intensify under earthquake loading, interrupting the uniform transfer of lateral forces and leading to torsional response, differential floor movement, and localized structural distress. This paper reviews the influence of these irregularities on the seismic performance of tall buildings by examining analytical approaches such as the Equivalent Static Method (ESM), Response Spectrum Analysis (RSA), and Time History Analysis (THA). Earlier studies consistently show that irregular buildings are subjected to higher base shear, increased inter-storey drift, and a greater likelihood of damage than their regular counterparts. The review also compares the seismic response of regular versus irregular structures and highlights gaps in recent research, particularly those relating to nonlinear behaviour, soil–structure interaction, and the role of contemporary damping systems. The findings indicate the importance of addressing geometric configuration at the conceptual design stage and adopting advanced analytical procedures like Performance-Based Seismic Design (PBSD) to achieve more reliable assessments of seismic performance. The discussion further suggests that updates to current seismic codes are necessary to better accommodate the complex geometries prevalent in modern high-rise construction, and that careful consideration of geometric irregularity can lead to improved structural ductility and enhanced seismic safety.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

Download article (PDF)

TY  - CONF
AU  - Shreeshail Panchu Gaikwad
AU  - Karthik Nagarajan
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/04/20
TI  - A Critical Review on the Seismic Behavior of Geometrically Irregular High-Rise Buildings
BT  - Proceedings of the Conference on Technologies for Future Cities (CTFC 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 375
EP  - 382
SN  - 3005-155X
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6239-650-0_26
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6239-650-0_26
ID  - Gaikwad2026
ER  -