# Seismic Response of a Three-Dimensional Asymmetric Multi-Storey Reinforced Concrete Structure
## 1 Introduction  
The evaluation of the inelastic response of reinforced concrete (RC) structures is essential for estimating the strength and damage of the structure under extreme loads such as earthquake, impact, and blast. In recent years, predicting the large deformation of RC structures has become more practicable, due to the advance of state-of-the-art numerical algorithms and computational power [1; 2; 3; 4; 5; 6; 7; 8; 9]. In recent decades, the feasibility of numerical methods for predicting the nonlinear behavior of RCstructures have been assessed through many benchmark campaigns conducted on RC shear walls, columns, and buildings. In 1997, the Nuclear Power Engineering Corporation of Japan organized a series of shaking table tests on regular and U-shaped low-span RC shear walls [10; 11]. The results demonstrated the necessity of improving the nonlinear analysis methods for shear walls when dealing with beyond design basis earthquake. From 1997 to 1998, the Commissariat a l'energie atomique et aux energies alternatives (CEA) of France performed SAFE (Structure Armees Faiblement Elancees) tests for the experimental characterization of the dynamic behavior of low-span shear walls [12; 13]. The SAFE tests were pseudodynamic tests where shear cracking, failure modes, nonlinear load versus displacement diagrams, and wall ductility were confirmed under various earthquake loadings beyond the design level. Other experimental campaigns were conducted by the CEA, such as Conception et Analyse Sismique des Structures en Beton Arme (CASSBA) tests from 1990 to 1993 [14] and CAMUS tests from 1996 to 2002 [15]. These tests were shaking table tests that were conducted on multi-storey mock-ups with lightly reinforced concrete walls. These campaigns helped improve knowledge on the seismic behavior of RC structural systems and provided reference data for model development and validation [16; 17]. In 2006, the Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES) launched a blind prediction contest on the seismic response of a seven-storey full-scale RC building with cantilever structural walls [18]. The contest program examined the seismic behavior of RC structural systems with particular emphasis on the interaction among walls, slabs, and other gravity systems [19; 20; 21; 22]. To improve on the previous development of benchmark campaigns for RC structures, a new benchmark project named SMART 2013 (Seismic design and best-estimate Methods Assessment for Reinforced concrete buildings subjected to Torsion and nonlinear effects) was carried out by the CEA from 2011 to 2015. This project consisted of shaking table tests and an international benchmark analysis on a reduced-scale model (\(\frac{1}{4}\) scale) that was representative of a typical half part of a nuclear facility building. The objective of the experimental campaign and benchmark analysis was to evaluate the conventional design method of RC structures for seismic loadings and compare the structural dynamic responses, as well as the floor response spectra, from various benchmark participants. The SMART 2013 campaign used a real high-intensity seismic load that was composed of a series of Northridge earthquakes followed by aftershocks. The benchmark participants used the load data at eight actuator locations of a three-dimensional shaking table to calculate the numerical response of the RC structure and compare it with the experimental result. Before SMART 2013, there was a SMART 2008 benchmark organized by the CEA with similar projects. However, SMART 2013 has the following new features compared to SMART 2008: (i) input signals are real ones and not synthetic ones; (ii) aftershock seismic loading is considered; and (iii) additional load data at the actuator location are provided to benchmark participants. This study aims to investigate the seismic behavior of the asymmetric SMART 2013 RC building structure, considering torsional effect and material nonlinearity.