Influence of seismic isolation on the seismic design of buildings with reinforced concrete wall structure

The use of reinforced concrete walls has become popular in Latin America as a structural system for the construction of residential buildings. However, this system is characterized by a low ductility capacity, compromising its seismic performance during the last strong earthquakes. This study uses three real buildings composed of reinforced concrete walls located in a high seismic region and soil type D, designed based on the Colombian building code. Nonlinear models of these three buildings were generated to evaluate the seismic response under actual ground motions. The three buildings were then redesigned using seismic isolation and the same analysis procedure was carried out to obtain the seismic response of the isolated buildings, comparing the results with those of the fixed base. The results show that the seismically isolated buildings exhibited a higher seismic performance, moving from a life safety performance level of the fixed-base buildings to an immediate occupancy performance level. In addition, the isolated buildings required up to 50% less reinforced steel and up to 100% fewer boundary elements compared to the fixed-base buildings, while keeping the architectural and building advantages of the wall structural system.