###### Abstract  
This study presents a novel method for accurately predicting the dynamic behavior of multistory frame buildings under earthquake ground motion. The proposed method allows approximately estimating the inter-story drift ratio, a crucial parameter strongly associated with building damage, its distribution along the building height, and its maximum value location. An equivalent continuous beam model with a rotation at the base, consisting of a combination of a shear beam and a flexural beam, is proposed to achieve this. This model derives closed-form solutions for the building's dynamic characteristics. The lateral deformations along the height of frame buildings subjected to a given earthquake load, particularly the inter-story drift ratio profiles, and the maximum inter-story drift ratio parameter, are investigated. The proposed continuous model requires two dimensionless parameters: the lateral stiffness ratio (\(\alpha\)) and the rotation at the base (\(\theta\)), representing the drift ratio of the first story. For the expression of the lateral stiffness ratio (\(\alpha\)) coefficient, a simple equation is also proposed using the beam-to-column stiffness ratio (\(\rho\), or Blume coefficient) associated with the framed (discrete) system. Various building models are employed to validate the proposed method, demonstrating its applicability to both high-rise and low-rise building configurations. With the results obtained, it is shown that the proposed continuous model can be used not only for high-rise or multistory building models but also for low-rise building models. continuous beam model; lateral stiffness ratio; inter-story drift; Blume coefficient +
Footnote †: journal:  
Article  
Accurate Estimation of Inter-Story Drift Ratio in Multistory Framed Buildings Using a Novel Continuous Beam Model  
[PERSON], [PERSON], [PERSON], [PERSON], H.  
and demonstrated that, unless there are abrupt and significant stiffness changes, they do not significantly impact the structural behavior. Similarly, [PERSON] and [PERSON] [5] and [PERSON] and [PERSON] [6; 17] investigated floor acceleration demands using a continuous shear-flexural beam model with nonuniform stiffness for low and medium-height buildings. [PERSON] and [PERSON] [18] focused on acceleration demands in tall buildings. [PERSON] and [PERSON] [6] derived the generalized inter-story drift spectrum for buildings under earthquake ground motions. [PERSON] and [PERSON] [10] analyzed the continuous shear-flexural beam model with a shear beam featuring a parabolic variable stiffness and a Bernoulli beam with fourth-order flexural stiffness. In a recent study, [PERSON] and [PERSON] [12] investigated the effects of rotational inertia on the structural behavior of the continuous shear-flexural beam model. [PERSON] et al. [19] employed a continuous shear-flexural beam model with nonuniform mass and stiffness distributions along the height to estimate the elastic inter-story drift demands in super high-rise buildings. In addition to developing the continuous shear-flexural beam model by considering mass and stiffness variations, there have been studies on the capabilities of and their applications in structural response prediction of this approximate model in recent years. [PERSON] and [PERSON] [20; 21] investigated tall buildings' dynamic analysis and soil-structure interaction with tuned mass dampers (TMDs) using the continuous shear-flexural beam model. [PERSON] et al. [22] investigated the self-similar inter-story drift and response distribution using a shear-flexural beam model with nonuniform lateral stiffness. [PERSON] et al. [23] presented a method for quantifying modeling uncertainty in approximate methods used in building response prediction and applied it to a coupled shear-flexural beam model. [PERSON] et al. [24] estimated the seismic inter-story drift in tall buildings by applying mode acceleration instead of mode displacement to a shear-flexural beam model.