Seismic damage analyses of staircases in RC frame structures

Staircases in Reinforced Concrete (RC) frame structures suffered severe damages in recent earthquakes although they are regarded as critically important passages during emergencies. Staircases act as the first line of defense in earthquakes, and therefore they first yield and fail. Then they lose the action of safe passages so that the anticipated seismic performance objectives cannot be satisfied. To make sure that staircases work as safe passages in strong earthquakes, the current Chinese code for seismic design of buildings claims special requirements on the design of staircases. At first, the influence of staircases on the structural behavior of a typical RC frame structure is studied by the comparison of internal force in the structural members considering and neglecting the effect of staircases under frequent earthquakes. Besides, the effect of staircases on the yielding and failing mechanism of the frame structure is investigated through static elasto-plastic analyses. From this study the reason of the damages suffered by cast-in-site staircases in RC frame structures under earthquakes can be understood.