Papua New Guinea is experiencing a vast increase in infrastructure in building industry as a result of rapid urbanization development and population density. Therefore, one of the major growing cities which is located in the high seismic zone of PNG is prone to earthquake activities and this study presents several analytical procedures to determine and evaluate the performance of an existing three-story building which is subjected to seismic forces. After completion of this study recommendation can be made to include detail specification in the code for building heights in high seismic regions of PNG. This study includes the comparison of the Japanese building code and PNG building code by vital parameters which directly affect the behavior of the building in high seismic zone region. To effectively evaluate the performance of the behavior of the building, a three-story typical building in high seismic zone of PNG is taken as a study model. The behavior of the model building has been analyzed using equivalent static method (Pushover Analysis) and Nonlinear Dynamic Analysis (Time History Analysis) by using strong ground motion. However, from the code comparison, it seems that there is no much difference in building behavior regarding lower story buildings in the high seismic zone (zone 1) of PNG, however, as height increases, the building becomes more vulnerable to an earthquake. Furthermore, regarding the analysis, the building is strong for earthquakes occurring in PNG but not strong enough for severe earthquakes like those in Japan, and the buildings in zone 1 of PNG will probably face very severe damage or collapse of a first story according to the current PNG code specification. In conclusion, the current PNG code needs to be revised to cater for high-rise buildings that will be constructed in zone 1 of PNG.
Keywords: Response Spectrum, High Seismic zone, Shear Coefficient.