Η ΒΥΠ διαθέτει αντίτυπο της διατριβής σε έντυπη μορφή στο βιβλιοστάσιο διδακτορικών διατριβών που βρίσκεται στο ισόγειο του κτιρίου της. / Εκτελώντας δυναμικές αναλύσεις με χρήση πεπερασμένων στοιχείων, αναλύεται η σεισμική απόκριση τεσσάρων τοίχων αντιστήριξης οπλισμένου εδάφους στην Ταϊβάν με στοιχεία πρόσοψης κυβόλιθους. Οι τοίχοι, των οποίων τα ύψη κυμαίνονται από 3.20 m έως 5.60 m και έχουν ως οπλισμούς στρώσεις γεωπλέγματος, υποβλήθηκαν στο σεισμό Chi-Chi (1999) και η συμπεριφορά τους κρίθηκε από επιτυχής έως ανεπιτυχής: δύο από αυτούς κατέρρευσαν, ένας υπέστη μόνο ελαφρές βλάβες, ενώ ο τέταρτος τοίχος παρέμεινε πρακτικά ανέπαφος. Η μη-γραμμική ανάλυση βασίσθηκε στα γνωστά γεωμετρικά και μηχανικά χαρακτηριστικά του κάθε τοίχου, του γεωπλέγματος, των γεωτεχνικών συνθηκών σε κάθε θέση, του είδους και των ιδιοτήτων του υλικού επίχωσης. Η συμπεριφορά του εδαφικού υλικού προσομοιώθηκε κάνοντας χρήση του κριτηρίου Mohr-Coulomb, ενώ ως διέγερση βάσης στις δυναμικές αναλύσεις πεπερασμένων στοιχείων χρησιμοποιήθηκαν τα καταγεγραμμένα επιταχυνσιογραφήματα κοντά στις θέσεις των τοίχων. Τα αποτελέσματα των αναλύσεων (και ειδικά η εκτιμώμενη παραμορφωμένη μορφή των τοίχων) επαλήθευσαν την παρατηρούμενη συμπεριφορά των τοίχων. Βασιζόμενοι στα αποτελέσματα, βρέθηκαν οι λόγοι της ανεπιτυχούς συμπεριφοράς των δύο τοίχων που κατέρρευσαν, ενώ εξηγήθηκε η διαφοροποίηση της συμπεριφοράς των δύο τοίχων που δεν υπέστησαν βλάβες. Επιπροσθέτως, πραγματοποιήθηκαν παραμετρικές αναλύσεις για να ευρεθεί η επίδραση σημαντικών παραμέτρων σχεδιασμού, όπως το βάθος θεμελίωσης του τοίχου, η απόσταση και το μήκος των οπλισμών, η συνεισφορά των ράβδων σύνδεσης στην ευστάθεια των στοιχείων πρόσοψης και η συνεισφορά της ανώτατης στρώσης οπλισμού στην ευστάθεια του τοίχου. Επίσης αναλύθηκε η ευστάθεια των τοίχων χρησιμοποιώντας ένα εμπορικά διαθέσιμο λογισμικό οριακής ισορροπίας, το οποίο βρέθηκε ικανό να προβλέψει την παρατηρούμενη επιτυχή και ανεπιτυχή συμπεριφορά των τεσσάρων τοίχων. / The seismic response of four reinforced soil segmental retaining walls in Taiwan, is analyzed using the dynamic finite element method. The walls – whose heights ranging from 3.20 m to 5.60 m and layers of geogrid reinforcement – were subjected to the Chi-Chi earthquake (1999) and their performance ranged from successful to unsuccessful: two of them were collapsed, one suffered only minor damage whereas the fourth wall remained practically intact. The non-linear analyses were based on the known geometrical and mechanical characteristics of each wall and of the geogrid reinforcement, the geotechnical conditions at each site and the type and properties of backfill material. The soil material behavior was modeled by using the Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion whereas recorded accelerograms in the vicinity of the sites of the walls were used as base excitation in the dynamic finite analyses. The results of the analyses (and especially the estimated deformed shape of the walls) showed a remarkable agreement with the observed performance of the walls. Based on these results the reasons for the unsuccessful performance of the two failed walls were identified whereas the differentiation of the behavior of the two undamaged walls was explained. Furthermore, parametric analyses were conducted to identify the effects of such important design parameters as the depth of the foundation of the wall, the spacing and length of reinforcement, the contribution of connecting pins to the stability of the facing elements as well as the contribution of the top layer of reinforcement to the stability of the wall. The stability of the walls were also analyzed by using a commercially available limit equilibrium software which was found to be able to predict the observed successful and unsuccessful performance of the four walls.

Στη παρούσα εργασία, δημιουργήθηκε ένα εκπαιδευτικό περιβάλλον εικονικής πραγματικότητας για προσομοίωση σεισμού σε σχολική τάξη. Πρόκειται για ένα ασφαλές περιβάλλον, εφικτού κόστους, που προσομοιώνει αρκετά καλά το φυσικό. Παρουσιάζεται ο τρόπος κατασκευής των αντικειμένων της τάξης με τη χρήση λογισμικού μοντελοποίησης και η δημιουργία διαφόρων συμβάντων που λαμβάνουν χώρα κατά τη διάρκεια του σεισμού, με τη χρήση λογισμικού εικονικής πραγματικότητας. Η εφαρμογή δίνει τη δυνατότητα στο μαθητή να αποκτήσει ψυχολογική εξοικείωση και να ενισχύσει την αντιληπτικότητά του σχετικά με το φαινόμενο, να βελτιώσει την απόδοσή του αποκομίζοντας καινούργιες εμπειρίες και ταυτόχρονα να εφαρμόζει όσα έχει μάθει για τους τρόπους αντίδρασης σε περίπτωση σεισμού σε συνθήκες πραγματικού γεγονότος. / An educational environment of virtual reality was designed in order to simulate an earthquake occurring while students are present in a classroom. Such a virtual environment has many advantages: it is secure for students, not costly and very similar to the real life one that is to the actual classroom in the sense that students are free to interact within its confines. The present dissertation attempts to present the ways through which school elements can be produced using a modelling tool. Additionally, we have created a variety of incidents taking place while the earthquake is occurring using a virtual reality software. Summing up, this application offers students the opportunity to psychologically familiarize themselves with the phenomenon of an earthquake while at the same time reinforces their awareness of it. It offers students the possibility to acquire new experiences and improve their performance in crisis management (e.g. earthquake), and it simultaneously sets while an example-environment to apply their theoretical knowledge in real life situations.

This dissertation proposes an analysis of representative texts that portray the earthquake that hit Mexico City in 1985 as a historical event that contributed to forging new ways of interaction among the people itself, as well as between the community as a whole and its government. By examining the representations of this historically important episode in the life of the city, this project compensates for a significant omission of literary criticism—that has relegated the substantial corpus of texts about this catastrophe to brief comments or footnotes on other topics. Through analysis of testimonial chronicles, newspaper articles, political cartoons, music videos, poetry, drama, and narratives, this dissertation investigates the process through which intellectuals created discursive constructions of a new relationship between Mexican society and its government. The following pages give an account of the debate to shape the historical interpretation of the catastrophe: some texts challenged the patrimonialism institutionalized by the government bureaucracy of the PRI State, while others supported the structures in place even though they acknowledged the need for a nimbler bureaucracy. Therefore, this study is focused on texts that incorporate previous discursive traditions to propose new symbolic ways to understand the nation after the earthquake. This discussion engages texts by authors committed to diverse perspectives—such as Elena Poniatowska, Carlos Monsiváis, José Emilio Pacheco, Carlos Olmos, Enrique Serna, and Rodrigo Fresán, among others—to offer a panorama on the arguments presented on the cultural field. This dissertation considers four specific moments in the construction of the new national narrative: (1) the call for solidarity with the victims of the disaster; (2) the redefinition of the idea of civil society; (3) the debate within mass media to impose a particular meaning to both solidarity and civil society; and (4) the questioning of the main discourses related to the earthquake. This study illuminates the ways that the earthquake narratives have been deployed to challenge political inequities and injustices and to attempt political change towards a modern Mexican State.

Earthquakes form by sudden brittle failure of rock mostly as shear ruptures along a rupture plane. Beside this, mechanisms other than pure shearing have been observed for some earthquakes mainly in volcanic areas. Possible explanations include complex rupture geometries and tensile earthquakes. Tensile earthquakes occur by opening or closure of cracks during rupturing. They are likely to be often connected with fluids that cause pressure changes in the pore space of rocks leading to earthquake triggering. Tensile components have been reported for swarm earthquakes in West Bohemia in 2000. The aim and subject of this work is an assessment and the accurate determination of such tensile components for earthquakes in anisotropic media. Currently used standard techniques for the retrieval of earthquake source mechanisms assume isotropic rock properties. By means of moment tensors, equivalent forces acting at the source are used to explain the radiated wavefield. Conversely, seismic anisotropy, i.e. directional dependence of elastic properties, has been observed in the earth's crust and mantle such as in West Bohemia. In comparison to isotropy, anisotropy causes modifications in wave amplitudes and shear-wave splitting. In this work, effects of seismic anisotropy on true or apparent tensile source components of earthquakes are investigated. In addition, earthquake source parameters are determined considering anisotropy. It is shown that moment tensors and radiation patterns due to shear sources in anisotropic media may be similar to those of tensile sources in isotropic media. In contrast, similarities between tensile earthquakes in anisotropic rocks and shear sources in isotropic media may exist. As a consequence, the interpretation of tensile source components is ambiguous. The effects that are due to anisotropy depend on the orientation of the earthquake source and the degree of anisotropy. The moment of an earthquake is also influenced by anisotropy. The orientation of fault planes can be reliably determined even if isotropy instead of anisotropy is assumed and if the spectra of the compressional waves are used. Greater difficulties may arise when the spectra of split shear waves are additionally included. Retrieved moment tensors show systematic artefacts. Observed tensile source components determined for events in West Bohemia in 1997 can only partly be attributed to the effects of moderate anisotropy. Furthermore, moment tensors determined earlier for earthquakes induced at the German Continental Deep Drilling Program (KTB), Bavaria, were reinterpreted under assumptions of anisotropic rock properties near the borehole. The events can be consistently identified as shear sources, although their moment tensors comprise tensile components that are considered to be apparent. These results emphasise the necessity to consider anisotropy to uniquely determine tensile source parameters. Therefore, a new inversion algorithm has been developed, tested, and successfully applied to 112 earthquakes that occurred during the most recent intense swarm episode in West Bohemia in 2000 at the German-Czech border. Their source mechanisms have been retrieved using isotropic and anisotropic velocity models. Determined local magnitudes are in the range between 1.6 and 3.2. Fault-plane solutions are similar to each other and characterised by left-lateral faulting on steeply dipping, roughly North-South oriented rupture planes. Their dip angles decrease above a depth of about 8.4km. Tensile source components indicating positive volume changes are found for more than 60% of the considered earthquakes. Their size depends on source time and location. They are significant at the beginning of the swarm and at depths below 8.4km but they decrease in importance later in the course of the swarm. Determined principle stress axes include P axes striking Northeast and Taxes striking Southeast. They resemble those found earlier in Central Europe. However, depth-dependence in plunge is observed. Plunge angles of the P axes decrease gradually from 50° towards shallow angles with increasing depth. In contrast, the plunge angles of the T axes change rapidly from about 8° above a depth of 8.4km to 21° below this depth. By this thesis, spatial and temporal variations in tensile source components and stress conditions have been reported for the first time for swarm earthquakes in West Bohemia in 2000. They also persist, when anisotropy is assumed and can be explained by intrusion of fluids into the opened cracks during tensile faulting. / Erdbeben entstehen durch plötzlichen Sprödbruch des Gesteins, meist als Scherbruch entlang einer Bruchfläche. Daneben werden für einige Beben v.a. in vulkanischen Gebieten auch Mechanismen beobachtet, die scheinbar vom Modell des Scherbruches abweichen. Ursachen dafür beinhalten komplexe Bruchgeometrien und tensile Erdbeben. Bei tensilen Erdbeben kommt es während des Bruchs zum Öffnen oder Schließen der Bruchfläche und damit zu Volumenänderungen. Erdbeben mit tensilen Anteilen stehen wahrscheinlich oft im Zusammenhang mit Fluiden, welche zur Durckänderung im Porenraum von Gesteinen und damit zum Auslösen des Bebens führen. Sie wurden auch im Vogtland während eines Erdbebenschwarms im Jahr 1997 beobachtet. Die Beurteilung und sichere Bestimmung tensiler Anteile von Erdbeben sind Ziel und Gegenstand dieser Arbeit. Bei Standardverfahren zur Bestimmung von Erdbebenmechanismen werden isotrope Gesteinseigenschaften angenommen. Momententensoren beschreiben dabei Kräfte, die das abgestrahlte Wellenfeld erklären. Allerdings wird seismische Anisotropie, d.h. Richtungsabhängigkeit elastischer Eigenschaften, in der Erdkruste und im Mantel wie z.B. im Vogtland beobachtet. Anisotropie bewirkt im Vergleich zu isotropen Medien Veränderungen der Wellenamplituden und -polariserungen sowie das Aufspalten von Scherwellen. In der vorliegenden Arbeit werden daher der Einfluss seismischer Anisotropie auf wahre oder scheinbar auftretende tensile Quellanteile untersucht und Erdbebenmechanismen unter Berücksichtigung seismischer Anisotropie bestimmt. Es wird gezeigt, dass Momententensoren und Abstrahlmuster von Scherbrüchen in anisotropen Medien denen von tensilen Brüchen in isotropen Medien ähneln können. Umgekehrt treten Ähnlichkeiten tensiler Beben in anisotropen Gesteinen mit Scherbrüchen in isotropen Medien auf. Damit existieren Mehrdeutigkeiten beobachteter tensiler Quellanteile. Die Effekte von Anisotropie hängen von der Orientierung des Bruches und vom Grad der Anisotropie ab. Außerdem beeinflusst Anisotropie das Moment eines Bebens. Herdflächenorientierungen können auch dann verlässlich bestimmt werden, wenn man Isotropie statt Anisotropie annimmt und die Spektren von Kompressionswellen verwendet. Bei Hinzunahme der Spektren von Scherwellen können Uneindeutigkeiten auftreten. Abgeleitete Momententensoren zeigen systematische Artefakte. Beobachtungen tensiler Quellanteile von Beben im Vogtland im Jahr 1997 können nicht allein durch moderate Anisotropie erklärt werden. Weiterhin wurden früher bestimmte Momententensoren induzierter Beben nahe der Kontinentalen Tiefbohrung, Bayern, unter Annahme anisotroper Parameter reinterpretiert. Die Beben werden einheitlich als Scherbrüche charakterisiert, obwohl deren Momententensoren tensile Bestandteile enthalten, die als scheinbar angesehen werden. Die Resultate unterstreichen die Notwendigkeit, seismische Anisotropie zu berücksichtigen, um tensile Komponenten von Erdbeben eindeutig zu bestimmen. Ein daher neu entwickelter Inversionsalgorithmus wurde getestet und erfolgreich auf 112 Erdbeben der letzten intensiven Schwarmepisode im Jahr 2000 im Vogtland an der deutsch-tschechischen Grenze angewandt. Die Herdparameter wurden unter Verwendung isotroper und anisotroper Geschwindigkeitsmodelle ermittelt. Die Beben zeigen Lokalmagnituden zwischen 1,6 und 3,2. Sie weisen zueinander ähnliche Herdflächenlösungen mit linkslateralem Versatz auf steil einfallenden, etwa Nord-Süd orientierten Bruchflächen auf. Die Fallwinkel nehmen oberhalb 8,4km Tiefe ab. Für über 60% der betrachteten Erdbeben werden tensile Quellanteile mit Volumenvergrößerung beobachtet. Die tensilen Komponenten zeigen Abhängigkeiten von Herdzeit und -ort. Sie sind zu Beginn des Schwarms sowie in Tiefen unterhalb 8,4km besonders signifikant und nehmen später an Bedeutung ab. Abgeleitete Hauptspannungsachsen enthalten P Achsen mit nordwestlicher und T Achsen mit südwestlicher Streichrichtung. Sie ähneln denen in Mitteleuropa. Es werden tiefenabhängige Fallwinkel beobachtet. Die Änderungen erfolgen für die P Achsen graduell von 50° hin zu flacheren Fallwinkeln bei tieferen Beben. Sie erfolgen jedoch abrupt für die T Achsen von etwa 8° oberhalb einer Tiefe von etwa 8,4km zu 21° einfallend unterhalb dessen. Mit dieser Arbeit werden erstmals zeitliche und räumliche Veränderungen tensiler Quellanteile und Spannungszustände im Vogtland für Erdbeben im Jahr 2000 beobachtet. Diese haben auch dann Bestand, wenn seismische Anisotropie berücksichtigt wird. Sie können durch Fluide erklärt werden, die in die Bruchflächen eindringen.

The world has experienced multiple disasters in recent years that have highlighted the importance of effective disaster preparedness and response initiatives. One prominent example is the January 12, 2010, 7.0 magnitude earthquake that shook Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The massive disaster made it difficult for local Haitian community officials to respond immediately, leaving the country reliant on foreign aid and international and non-governmental relief organizations. Within days, hundreds of organizations and volunteers mobilized to send physicians and medical specialists, nurses, physiotherapists, psychologists and social workers to the affected area. However, the political and financial instability of Haiti, in conjunction with limited resources and severe destruction from the earthquake, made it difficult to coordinate response efforts between hundreds of responding organizations. The literature indicates that when health professionals are disorganized and unprepared, they are at risk physically, emotionally and mentally which could hinder their effectiveness as first responders. While these risks have been made known, there is little literature that explores the effectiveness of the supports, as perceived by Canadian health and social service providers in Haiti. In order to address this gap, this qualitative study explores various supports that were available to health and social service providers in Haiti by focusing on their lived experiences pre-deployment, on-site and post-deployment. These findings provide evidence to inform policy development regarding future disaster relief and the supports available to health and social service workers assisting with international disaster response.

Performance of buildings and bridges during past earthquakes has indicated that many of these structures are vulnerable to seismic damage and structural collapse. The deficiencies in pre-1970s design codes have resulted in poor performance of reinforced concrete structures during seismic excitations. The Richter Magnitude 6.6 - 1971 San Fernando Earthquake raised awareness for seismic retrofit needs of existing buildings for the first time. The majority of deficiencies of vulnerable concrete columns can be overcome through seismic retrofits that involve additional transverse reinforcement. This can be done either by providing reinforced concrete, steel, or fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) jackets around existing columns; or by applying transverse prestressing to columns (RetroBelt System). The research project presented in this thesis involves a seismic retrofit methodology for seismically deficient building and bridge columns, utilizing the use of high-strength packaging straps as external reinforcement for transverse prestressing. The emphasis in the project is placed on experimental research. Three seismically deficient full-size reinforced concrete columns, with a circular, a square and a rectangular cross- section, either critical in shear or flexure, were designed, built and tested under simulated seismic loading. The results indicate that external prestressing of columns in transverse direction with high-strength steel straps improves ductility and energy dissipation capacity of seismically deficient columns. They further indicate that current analytical techniques can be used to predict the force-displacement relationships of columns. A design approach is presented for the retrofit methodology investigated.

The dynamic behaviour of high-rise buildings has become a critical design consideration as buildings are built taller and more slender. Large wind vibrations cause an increase in the lateral wind loads, but more importantly, they can be perceived by building occupants creating levels of discomfort ranging from minor annoyance to severe motion sickness. The current techniques to address these issues include stiffening the lateral load resisting system, reducing the number of stories, or incorporating a vibration absorber at the top of the building. All of which have consequences on the overall project cost. The dynamic response of high-rise buildings is highly dependent on damping. Full-scale measurements of high-rise buildings have shown that the inherent damping decreases with height and recent in-situ measurements have shown that the majority of buildings over 250 meters have levels of damping less than 1% of critical. Studies have shown that small increases in the inherent damping can lead to vast improvement in dynamic response. A new damping system, the viscoelastic (VE) Fork Configuration Damper (FCD), has been developed at the University of Toronto to address these design challenges. The proposed FCDs are introduced in lieu of coupling beams in reinforced concrete (RC) coupled wall buildings and take advantage of the large shear deformations at these locations when the building is subjected to lateral loads. An experimental study was conducted on 5 small-scale VE dampers to characterize the VE material behaviour and 6 full-scale FCD samples in an RC coupled wall configuration (one designed for areas where low to moderate ductility is required and one with built-in ductile structural “fuse” for areas where high ductility is required). The VE material tests exhibited stable hysteretic behaviour under expected high-rise loading conditions and the full-scale tests validated the overall system performance based on the kinematic behaviour of coupled walls, wall anchorage and VE material behaviour. Analytical models were developed that capture the VE material behaviour and the FCD system performance well. An 85-storey high-rise building was studied analytically to validate the design approach and to highlight the improvements in building response resulting from the addition of FCDs.

The dynamic behaviour of high-rise buildings has become a critical design consideration as buildings are built taller and more slender. Large wind vibrations cause an increase in the lateral wind loads, but more importantly, they can be perceived by building occupants creating levels of discomfort ranging from minor annoyance to severe motion sickness. The current techniques to address these issues include stiffening the lateral load resisting system, reducing the number of stories, or incorporating a vibration absorber at the top of the building. All of which have consequences on the overall project cost. The dynamic response of high-rise buildings is highly dependent on damping. Full-scale measurements of high-rise buildings have shown that the inherent damping decreases with height and recent in-situ measurements have shown that the majority of buildings over 250 meters have levels of damping less than 1% of critical. Studies have shown that small increases in the inherent damping can lead to vast improvement in dynamic response. A new damping system, the viscoelastic (VE) Fork Configuration Damper (FCD), has been developed at the University of Toronto to address these design challenges. The proposed FCDs are introduced in lieu of coupling beams in reinforced concrete (RC) coupled wall buildings and take advantage of the large shear deformations at these locations when the building is subjected to lateral loads. An experimental study was conducted on 5 small-scale VE dampers to characterize the VE material behaviour and 6 full-scale FCD samples in an RC coupled wall configuration (one designed for areas where low to moderate ductility is required and one with built-in ductile structural “fuse” for areas where high ductility is required). The VE material tests exhibited stable hysteretic behaviour under expected high-rise loading conditions and the full-scale tests validated the overall system performance based on the kinematic behaviour of coupled walls, wall anchorage and VE material behaviour. Analytical models were developed that capture the VE material behaviour and the FCD system performance well. An 85-storey high-rise building was studied analytically to validate the design approach and to highlight the improvements in building response resulting from the addition of FCDs.

This dissertation proposes an analysis of representative texts that portray the earthquake that hit Mexico City in 1985 as a historical event that contributed to forging new ways of interaction among the people itself, as well as between the community as a whole and its government. By examining the representations of this historically important episode in the life of the city, this project compensates for a significant omission of literary criticism—that has relegated the substantial corpus of texts about this catastrophe to brief comments or footnotes on other topics. Through analysis of testimonial chronicles, newspaper articles, political cartoons, music videos, poetry, drama, and narratives, this dissertation investigates the process through which intellectuals created discursive constructions of a new relationship between Mexican society and its government. The following pages give an account of the debate to shape the historical interpretation of the catastrophe: some texts challenged the patrimonialism institutionalized by the government bureaucracy of the PRI State, while others supported the structures in place even though they acknowledged the need for a nimbler bureaucracy. Therefore, this study is focused on texts that incorporate previous discursive traditions to propose new symbolic ways to understand the nation after the earthquake. This discussion engages texts by authors committed to diverse perspectives—such as Elena Poniatowska, Carlos Monsiváis, José Emilio Pacheco, Carlos Olmos, Enrique Serna, and Rodrigo Fresán, among others—to offer a panorama on the arguments presented on the cultural field. This dissertation considers four specific moments in the construction of the new national narrative: (1) the call for solidarity with the victims of the disaster; (2) the redefinition of the idea of civil society; (3) the debate within mass media to impose a particular meaning to both solidarity and civil society; and (4) the questioning of the main discourses related to the earthquake. This study illuminates the ways that the earthquake narratives have been deployed to challenge political inequities and injustices and to attempt political change towards a modern Mexican State.

The amount of total and relative sway of a framed or a composite (frame-shear wall) building is of utmost importance in assessing the seismic resistance of the building. Therefore, the design engineer must calculate the sway profile of the building several times during the design process. However, it is not a simple task to calculate the sway of a three-dimensional structure. Of course, computer programs can do the job, but developing the three-dimensional model becomes necessary, which is obviously tedious and time consuming. An easy to apply analytical method is developed, which enables the determination of sway profiles of framed and composite buildings subject to seismic loading. Various framed and composite three-dimensional buildings subject to lateral seismic loads are solved by SAP2000 and the proposed analytical method. The sway profiles are compared and found to be in very good agreement. In most cases, the amount of error involved is less than 5 %. The analytical method is applied to determine sway magnitudes at any desired elevation of the building, the relative sway between two consecutive floors, the slope at any desired point along the height and the curvature distribution of the building from foundation to roof level. After sway and sway-related properties are known, the requirements of the Turkish Earthquake Code can be evaluated and / or checked. By using the analytical method, the amount of shear walls necessary to satisfy Turkish Earthquake Code requirements are determined. Thus, a vital design question has been answered, which up till present time, could only be met by rough empirical guidelines. A mathematical derivation is presented to satisfy the strength requirement of a three-dimensional composite building subject to seismic loading. Thus, the occurrence of shear failure before moment failure in the building is securely avoided. A design procedure is developed to satisfy the stiffness requirement of composite buildings subject to lateral seismic loading. Some useful tools, such as executable user-friendly programs written by using &ldquo / Borland Delphi&rdquo / , have been developed to make the analysis and design easy for the engineer. A method is also developed to satisfy the ductility requirement of composite buildings subject to lateral seismic loading based on a plastic analysis. The commonly accepted sway ductility of &amp / #956 / &amp / #916 / =5 has been used and successful seismic energy dissipation is thus obtained.