For the beam, it was found that the compressive, bending and shear strengths of cold formed section are higher than tubular steel section. It was further observed that the strength comparison for section under compression, bending and shear as per American standard is lesser than those calculated using British standards. It is felt that the Effective Width Method (EWM) is more cumbersome than Direct Strength Method (DSM) in design of portal frame which is under investigation. The authors have prepared ready-to-use table of load bearing capacities for different cold formed studs under compression, bending and shear. It is stated that such tables could be used by practicing engineers using EWM for strength calculations.

The second paper, "Soil-Structure Interaction of RC Building with Homogeneous and Non-Homogeneous Soil Condition: A Comparative Study" by Pavan Kumar C S and C M Ravi Kumar, investigates the effect of Soil Structure Interaction (SSI) of RC building. The authors have considered homogeneous and non-homogeneous types of soil under the structure foundation system. It should be realized that SSI effect may be small on dynamic response of many structures, but it may be quite significant in some cases. To consider soil effects, two methods are common, viz., direct and substructure approaches. In direct approach, soil and structure are included in the same dynamic model and analyzed as a complete system. But in substructure approach, the SSI is divided into distinct systems and they are combined to formulate the complete solution. In this study, ten-storey RC building is considered to be located in different seismic zones for analysis with fixed base and also having homogeneous and non-homogeneous soil underneath. When the building is considered fixed, the response is studied and lateral displacements along longitudinal and transverse direction of the building in two seismic zones of the country are calculated. Further, storey drift and base shear in fixed base condition are determined. For consideration of homogeneous soil condition, same material properties of soil are assigned for building response calculation. For non-homogeneous soil conditions, different soil properties at various depths of foundation are determined and used in the response analysis. It is found that seismic response of multi-storey building increases for flexible base condition than a fixed base condition. Thus, consideration of SSI effect becomes important. This study also indicates that structure response is more when non-homogeneous soil conditions are used. Though consideration of non-homogeneous soil condition in the analysis makes it more complex, with finite element analysis software, these complexities can be handled easily and analysis can be performed with reasonable accuracy.

The last paper, "Passive Seismic Protection of Shear Building Using Shape Memory Alloy-Based Tension Sling Damper" by Sujata H Mehta and Sharadkumar Purohit, studies the provision of tension damper to control seismic response of structure. For controlling the excessive response of structures during excitation, base isolation technique and some damping devices are frequently used. But provision of base isolation increases the natural period of the structure and reduces its acceleration response and works quite effectively for stiff structures. For other types of structures, primary damping mechanism is activated through passive energy dissipation mechanism. Shape Memory Alloys (SMA) are a new class of materials with unique characteristics and are being tried as damping devices. Improved damping characteristics and added stiffness offered by SMA when stretched due to input motion make it a candidate for developing passive, semi-active and hybrid control device for controlling structural response. Memory alloy tension sling damper using Tanaka model with isothermal conditions is studied. Equivalent linear model for damper is developed using Voigt model for linear dynamic theory for viscoelastic material with memory effect. The authors have used plane frame model with fixed base and also used one- and two-shaped memory alloy tension sling dampers. The ten-storey building considered is excited using strong motion data of El Centro 1940 earthquake with levels 50%, 100% and 150%. It is also excited using pulse type Kobe earthquake with level of 50%. For different models, seismic parameters like peak displacement, inter storey drift, acceleration and peak damper force are evaluated. It is found that building with two-shaped memory alloy tension sling damper very effectively controls seismic response for all types of seismic excitations and shows better performance compared to one-tension sling damper.