Assessment of minimum required separation distance between adjacent reinforced concrete buildings

The aim of this study investigates the minimum required gap distance to prevent collision of three dimensional-(3D) adjacent reinforced concrete buildings considering torsional irregularity. In the scope of this study, four individual buildings are designed without torsional irregularity (regular) and four individual buildings are also designed with torsional irregularity. 24 different adjacent buildings model are derived from these individual buildings. Nonlinear behavior is considered with plastic hinges which are assigned to both ends of structural members. Bidirectional nonlinear time history analyses are carried out using spectrum compatible 11 ground motion pairs. As a result of the analyses, the required gap distance to prevent collision of adjacent buildings is calculated. These results shows that the minimum gap distances recommended in Turkish Building Earthquake Code-2018(TBEC-2018) is average 45% less compared to the analysis results. For this reason, it is proposed that a constant coefficient () in TBEC-2018 be revised to 2.89 for calculating gap distances more compatible with nonlinear analyses.