Case study on seismic behavior of aseismically designed reinforced concrete frame structures

In this study, the seismic performances of two aseismically designed plan-irregular reinforced concrete frame (RCF) households damaged during the October 23, 2011 Van earthquake are assessed. Since no strong ground motion recordings from the main shock were available, first, strong ground motion parameters of the event are evaluated and then compatible with these parameters suits of real records are selected and scaled to match with the event's simulated acceleration spectrum to be used in the analytical investigations. The results of previous reconnaissance studies, in which one of the present authors was involved, are then discussed. Capacities of the considered RCF's are determined applying a 3D single-run adaptive pushover procedure that is capable of considering the effect of plan irregularities. The performance assessment procedure based on the current 2007 Turkish Earthquake Code is then applied to these investigated buildings. Additionally, nonlinear dynamic time history analyses are carried out using the previously selected time histories. The hysteretic behavior of the considered buildings is examined as the consequence of the conducted analyses and considering the different suits of selected ground motions, the seismic response of the buildings is evaluated in terms of interstorey drifts. None of the buildings are found to satisfy the expected performance level. Moreover, the numerical results are found to have good correlation with the field observation results.