This study develops an empirical prediction equation of spectral acceleration responses of earthquakes which can induce structural damages. Ground motion records representing hazards of low-to-moderate seismic regions were selected and organized with several influential factors affecting the response spectra. The empirical equation and estimator coefficients for acceleration response spectra were then proposed using a robust nonlinear optimization coupled with a regression analysis. For analytical verification of the prediction equation, response spectra used for low-to-moderate seismic regions were estimated and the predicted results were comparatively evaluated with measured response spectra. As a result, the predicted shapes of response spectra can simulate the graphical shapes of measured data with high accuracy and most of predicted results are distributed inside range of correlation of variation (COV) of 30% from perfectly correlated lines.

Adaptability of a smart top-story isolation system for reduction of seismic responses of tall buildings in regions of low-to-moderate seismicity has been investigated in this study. To this end, 20-story example building structure was selected and an MR damper and low damping elastomeric bearings were used to compose a smart base isolation system. Artificial earthquakes generated based on design spectrum of low-to-moderate seismicity regions are used for structural analyses.