Significance of post-shaking response of SDOF systems

The present study reveals for the first time that some real earthquake ground motions would induce the absolute maximum response (AMR) of structural systems posterior to the end of the excitation. Under these ground motions, illustrated using single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) systems, the peak responses calculated within the during-shaking phase might be significantly lower than the actual AMR. Extending the dynamic analysis to the post-shaking phase by half of the structural period is recommended when conducting response history analyses or calculating the response spectra of these ground motions.