Seismic Performance Evaluation of Reinforced Concrete Buildings on Sloping Ground with Optimized Shear Wall Placement

¹ Research Scholar, Department of Civil Engineering, G H Raisoni College of Engineering, Nagpur, India
² Faculty, Department of Civil Engineering, G H Raisoni College of Engineering, Nagpur, India.
³ Structural Designer, Sagar Balani Structural Consultants Nagpur, India.

^* Corresponding author: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Published online: 1 July 2026

Abstract

Rapid city growth in the hilly regions has really pushed up the demand for reinforced concrete buildings built on sloping terrain, where structural weirdness tied to uneven foundation levels tends to shift the seismic performance in a big way. Buildings set on inclined ground can show stiffness asymmetry, unequal column heights, and even torsional response when earthquakes shake the structure, and this could reduce safety if the structural layout is not thoughtfully planned. In this work the influence of shear wall placement on the seismic response of a multi storey reinforced concrete building on the sloping ground is looked at. The G+10 model was prepared in ETABS, and the structural checks were done with the response spectrum approach in line with IS 1893 (Part 1):2016 provisions. Four different structural setups were considered, including a bare frame model, plus three shear wall arrangements located at the central core, the building corners, and along the building perimeter. The analytical results show that bringing in the shear walls considerably improves the structural performance, where the reduction in lateral deformation and also the torsional response was clearly observed. The maximum roof displacement in Seismic Zone V dropped from 118.6 mm for the bare frame setup to 74.5 mm for the peripheral shear wall configuration, that is nearly a 37% reduction. Likewise, the maximum storey drift decreased from 11.3 mm to 7.1 mm, and the torsional irregularity ratio was reduced from 1.28 to 1.07. Overall, these outcomes suggest that a peripheral arrangement of shear walls gives the most effective layout for enhancing seismic stability of reinforced concrete buildings, even when the building is constructed on sloping terrain.