A contribution to the seismic performance and loss assessment of old RC wall-frame buildings

• Published in: Engineering structures Vol. 197; p. 109369
• Main Authors: Caruso, Claudia, Bento, Rita, Castro, José Miguel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 15.10.2019; Elsevier BV
• Subjects: Acceleration; Aseismic buildings; Building codes; Buildings; Columns (structural); Damage assessment; Earthquake damage; Economic impact; Fragility; Fragility functions; Frame structures; Ground motion; Loss assessment; Nonstructural members; Performance assessment; Rebar; Reinforced concrete; Seismic activity; Seismic hazard; Seismic performance; Seismic response; Seismic surveys; Smooth rebars; Structural damage; Typology; Wall-frame buildings; Wall-frame buildings; Fragility functions; Smooth rebars; Seismic performance; Loss assessment; Reinforced concrete
• ISSN: 0141-0296; 1873-7323
• DOI: 10.1016/j.engstruct.2019.109369

•Loss estimation methodology for old RC frame-wall building is proposed.•Development of fragility functions of non-ductile RC walls with smooth bars.•Strain penetration deformations taken into account.•High economic losses of building due non-ductile RC walls with smooth bars. This paper deals with the seismic performance and loss assessment of old RC wall-frame buildings in Lisbon, Portugal. These structures are characterised by non-ductile columns and RC walls made with smooth rebars and light transversal reinforcement. They were erected before the introduction of modern seismic codes in the 1980s and represent an important proportion of the city’s building stock. The research reported in this paper focuses on the seismic vulnerability assessment of this building typology. An analytical procedure is proposed to estimate the fragility functions of non-ductile reinforced concrete walls with smooth reinforcing bars and light transversal reinforcement, taking into account strength penetration effects. To illustrate the procedure, a case study building is considered. The approach used for the seismic performance assessment adopts component-based fragility and loss functions for the damage assessment of the structural and non-structural drift-sensitive elements, adapted to the Portuguese reality, and a storey-based approach for acceleration-sensitive non-structural elements. The results provide the economic loss of the building as a function of the ground motion intensity level. Finally, results are compared in terms of expected annual losses with other non-ductile RC building typologies.