Performance of Reinforced Concrete Buildings during the 1985 Chile Earthquake: Implications for the Design of Structural Walls

1991 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 607-638 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharon L. Wood
Keyword(s):  
Reinforced Concrete ◽  
Structural Damage ◽  
Reinforced Concrete Buildings ◽  
Structural Walls ◽  
Concrete Walls ◽  
Wall Area ◽  
Building Inventory ◽  
Concrete Buildings ◽  
Chile Earthquake ◽  
Seismic Response Of Buildings

The 1985 Chile earthquake provided a rare opportunity to study the seismic response of buildings with reinforced concrete walls. More than 230 moderate-rise reinforced concrete buildings were located in the coastal city of Vin~a del Mar at the time of the earthquake. The majority of these buildings relied on structural walls to resist vertical and lateral loads. However, the walls did not have the reinforcement details required in current U.S. codes to ensure ductile response. A survey of damage following the earthquake indicated that most of these buildings sustained no structural damage. Analyses of the buildings indicated that the structural walls provided sufficient stiffness to limit the displacement response and the earthquake damage. The Vin~a del Mar building inventory is used to evaluate current building code provisions in the U.S. for structural walls. The excellent performance of the Chilean buildings during the 1985 earthquake suggests that requirements for boundary elements in walls may be relaxed if sufficient wall area is provided.

scholarly journals Seismic Analysis of Reinforced Concrete Buildings in the 1931 Hawke's Bay Earthquake

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Geert Van de Vorstenbosch
Keyword(s):  
Reinforced Concrete ◽  
Seismic Performance ◽  
Earthquake Engineering ◽  
Structural Damage ◽  
Seismic Analysis ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Reinforced Concrete Buildings ◽  
Structural Walls ◽  
Concrete Buildings ◽  
Engineering Theory

<p>This thesis examines current earthquake engineering theory and practice regarding Earthquake Risk Buildings to determine if the seismic performance of reinforced concrete buildings is currently underestimated. The types of structural systems investigated are: Reinforced Concrete Structural Walls Unreinforced Brick Masonry (URM) Infill Frames Reinforced Concrete Moment Resisting Frames Buildings with the above systems that survived the February 3 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake and are still in existence are the set of buildings studied. As much structural information as possible was found for a total of 25 buildings which are analysed in two orthogonal directions. The calculated probable shear and bending strength of each structural member (at ground floor) is compared with the actual estimated seismic shear force and bending moment applied during the earthquake. The restoring moments of structural walls are compared to the calculated overturning moments. The results are expressed as ratios of the above forces and moments of each member. The thesis shows that current theory expects most buildings to fail during both the 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake and the Code design earthquake but most performed very well with no structural damage. The thesis examines the possible causes of underestimation of seismic performance by current earthquake engineering theory and practice, and makes recommendations for refining and improving practice. Recommendations are also made for further research to establish a simple assessment method for analysing other similar buildings based on the plan area of reinforced concrete structural elements alone.</p>

scholarly journals Seismic Analysis of Reinforced Concrete Buildings in the 1931 Hawke's Bay Earthquake

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Geert Van de Vorstenbosch
Keyword(s):  
Reinforced Concrete ◽  
Seismic Performance ◽  
Earthquake Engineering ◽  
Structural Damage ◽  
Seismic Analysis ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Reinforced Concrete Buildings ◽  
Structural Walls ◽  
Concrete Buildings ◽  
Engineering Theory

<p>This thesis examines current earthquake engineering theory and practice regarding Earthquake Risk Buildings to determine if the seismic performance of reinforced concrete buildings is currently underestimated. The types of structural systems investigated are: Reinforced Concrete Structural Walls Unreinforced Brick Masonry (URM) Infill Frames Reinforced Concrete Moment Resisting Frames Buildings with the above systems that survived the February 3 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake and are still in existence are the set of buildings studied. As much structural information as possible was found for a total of 25 buildings which are analysed in two orthogonal directions. The calculated probable shear and bending strength of each structural member (at ground floor) is compared with the actual estimated seismic shear force and bending moment applied during the earthquake. The restoring moments of structural walls are compared to the calculated overturning moments. The results are expressed as ratios of the above forces and moments of each member. The thesis shows that current theory expects most buildings to fail during both the 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake and the Code design earthquake but most performed very well with no structural damage. The thesis examines the possible causes of underestimation of seismic performance by current earthquake engineering theory and practice, and makes recommendations for refining and improving practice. Recommendations are also made for further research to establish a simple assessment method for analysing other similar buildings based on the plan area of reinforced concrete structural elements alone.</p>

Evaluation of the structural damage of high-rise reinforced concrete buildings using ambient vibrations recorded before and after damage

2015 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 213-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hirotoshi Uebayashi ◽  
Masayuki Nagano ◽  
Takenori Hida ◽  
Takehiko Tanuma ◽  
Mitoshi Yasui ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reinforced Concrete ◽  
Structural Damage ◽  
Ambient Vibrations ◽  
Reinforced Concrete Buildings ◽  
Concrete Buildings ◽  
High Rise ◽  
Before And After

Performance of reinforced concrete buildings during the 27 February 2010 Maule (Chile) earthquake

2013 ◽  
Vol 40 (8) ◽  
pp. 693-710 ◽  
Author(s):  
Murat Saatcioglu ◽  
Dan Palermo ◽  
Ahmed Ghobarah ◽  
Denis Mitchell ◽  
Rob Simpson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reinforced Concrete ◽  
Structural Damage ◽  
Vertical Wall ◽  
Shear Walls ◽  
Poor Performance ◽  
Reinforced Concrete Buildings ◽  
Concrete Buildings ◽  
Concrete Frame ◽  
Maule Earthquake ◽  
Observed Damage

The paper presents observed damage in reinforced concrete buildings during the 27 February 2010 Maule earthquake in Chile. Performance of concrete frame and shear wall buildings are discussed with emphasis on seismic deficiencies in design and construction practices. It is shown that the majority of structural damage in multistorey and high-rise buildings can be attributed to poor performance of slender shear walls, without confined boundary elements, suffering from crushing of concrete and buckling of vertical wall reinforcement. Use of irregular buildings, lack of seismic detailing, and the interference of nonstructural elements were commonly observed seismic deficiencies. A comparison is made between Chilean and Canadian design practices with references made to the applicable code clauses. Lessons are drawn from the observed structural performance.

scholarly journals Evaluation and considerations about fundamental periods of damaged reinforced concrete buildings

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 1903-1912 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Ditommaso ◽  
M. Vona ◽  
M. R. Gallipoli ◽  
M. Mucciarelli
Keyword(s):  
Reinforced Concrete ◽  
Structural Damage ◽  
Fundamental Period ◽  
L’Aquila Earthquake ◽  
Reinforced Concrete Buildings ◽  
Rc Buildings ◽  
Damage Level ◽  
Concrete Buildings ◽  
2009 L’Aquila Earthquake ◽  
Code Provisions

Abstract. The aim of this paper is an empirical estimation of the fundamental period of reinforced concrete buildings and its variation due to structural and non-structural damage. The 2009 L'Aquila earthquake has highlighted the mismatch between experimental data and code provisions value not only for undamaged buildings but also for the damaged ones. The 6 April 2009 L'Aquila earthquake provided the first opportunity in Italy to estimate the fundamental period of reinforced concrete (RC) buildings after a strong seismic sequence. A total of 68 buildings with different characteristics, such as age, height and damage level, have been investigated by performing ambient vibration measurements that provided their fundamental translational period. Four different damage levels were considered according with the definitions by EMS 98 (European Macroseismic Scale), trying to regroup the estimated fundamental periods versus building heights according to damage. The fundamental period of RC buildings estimated for low damage level is equal to the previous relationship obtained in Italy and Europe for undamaged buildings, well below code provisions. When damage levels are higher, the fundamental periods increase, but again with values much lower than those provided by codes. Finally, the authors suggest a possible update of the code formula for the simplified estimation of the fundamental period of vibration for existing RC buildings, taking into account also the inelastic behaviour.

scholarly journals Reinforced concrete building performance in the Mw 7.8 1931 Hawke's Bay, New Zealand, earthquake

2002 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 149-164 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. van de Vorstenbosch ◽  
A.W. Charleson ◽  
D.J. Dowrick
Keyword(s):  
Reinforced Concrete ◽  
Seismic Performance ◽  
Earthquake Engineering ◽  
Structural Damage ◽  
Assessment Procedure ◽  
Reinforced Concrete Buildings ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Concrete Buildings ◽  
Asymmetric Buildings ◽  
Seismic Shear

This paper examines the seismic performance of over half of the existing low-rise reinforced concrete buildings that survived the 3 February 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake. Lateral resistance of these buildings is provided by reinforced concrete walls, unreinforced brick masonry infill frames and open reinforced concrete moment-resisting frames. Twenty-five buildings are analysed in both orthogonal directions for the lateral loads estimated to have occurred during the earthquake. The probable shear and bending strengths of structural members are compared to the maximum calculated seismic shear forces and bending moments. Wall restoring moments are compared to overturning moments. Whereas analyses suggest that most structures should have been severely damaged during the earthquake, in fact they performed well. In most cases no structural damage to reinforced concrete members was reported. Asymmetric buildings performed about as well as symmetric buildings. Possible reasons for these observations are examined and it is recommended how current practice might reflect these findings. The paper also contributes to an approximate assessment procedure, based on ratios of structural cross-sectional area to ground floor area, and reports on the structural areas of buildings that performed well in the earthquake. The excellent seismic performance of reinforced concrete buildings during the 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake suggests current earthquake engineering analyses of similar pre-1935 low-rise non-domestic reinforced concrete buildings may underrate their seismic performance.

scholarly journals Structural damage aspects of the April 22, 1991 Costa Rica earthquake

1992 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. J. Nigel Priestley
Keyword(s):  
Reinforced Concrete ◽  
Costa Rica ◽  
Structural Damage ◽  
Soft Soil ◽  
Highway Bridges ◽  
Reinforced Concrete Buildings ◽  
Soil Layers ◽  
Concrete Buildings ◽  
Epicentral Region

The magnitude M = 7.4 earthquake of April 22, 1991 occurred in a comparatively lightly inhabited region of Costa Rica. Despite dramatic geomorphological effects, including extensive landslides in the mountainous epicentral region, and uplift of the East Coastline by up to 1.5m, structural damage was comparatively light. A number of warehouses, and reinforced concrete buildings in or near the Port of Lim6n collapsed or were badly damaged, and a considerable number of houses supported on tall wooden piles failed. Of greatest interest was the failure of a number of modem highway bridges, due primarily to liquefaction of foundations, or excessive movement of soft soil layers in embankments.

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