Shake table tests on story-to-story pounding between adjacent RC buildings

Pounding between adjacent buildings and their devastating effects have been frequently reported during numerous major earthquakes. Although poundings exhibit more destructive effects on RC buildings compared to steel buildings, the majority of previous experimental studies have mainly concentrated on steel specimens. Furthermore, there has been a notable scarcity of extensive large-scale experimental studies on this subject. Therefore, the primary objective of this study is to experimentally determine the effects of different types of pounding on the seismic responses of RC buildings. To this aim, three half-scaled two-story RC specimens were constructed and were tested. In the tests, three cases were considered: (i) without pounding, (ii) pounding between taller and shorter buildings (slab-to-slab interaction at one floor), and (iii) pounding between buildings with equal heights (slab-to-slab interaction at the two floors). The experimental results showed that pounding and its types played a critical role in structural responses such as floor accelerations, displacements, hysteretic responses, and dynamic characteristics. Additionally, each pounding type led to different damage mechanisms in the specimens.