Free vibration analysis of asymmetric shear wall-frame buildings using modified finite element-transfer matrix method

In this study, the modified finite element-transfer matrix methods are proposed for free vibration analysis of asymmetric structures, the bearing system of which consists of shear wall-frames. In the study, a multi-storey structure is divided into as many elements as the number of storeys and storey masses are influenced as separated at alignments of storeys. The shear walls and frames are assumed to be flexural and shear cantilever beam structures. The storey stiffness matrix is obtained by formulating the governing equation at the center of mass for the shear walls and the frames in the i.th floor. The system transfer matrix is constructed in the dimension of 6x6 by transforming the obtained stiffness matrix. Thus, the dimension, which is 12nx12n in classical finite elements, is reduced to the dimension of 6x6. To study the suitability of the method, the results are assessed by solving two examples taken from the literature.