Seismic fragility assessment of existing sub-standard low strength reinforced concrete structures

An analytical seismic fragility assessment framework is presented for the existing low strength reinforced concrete structures more common in the building stock of the developing countries.For realistic modelling of such substandard structures,low strength concrete stress-strain and bond-slip capacity models are included in calibrating material models.Key capacity parameters are generated stochastically to produce building population and cyclic pushover analysis is carried out to capture inelastic behaviour.Secant period values are evaluated corresponding to each displacement step on the capacity curves and used as seismic demand.A modified capacity demand diagram method is adopted for the degrading structures,which is further used to evaluate peak ground acceleration from back analysis considering each point on the capacity curve as performance point.For developing fragility curves,the mean values of peak ground acceleration are evaluated corresponding to each performance point on the series of capacity curves.A suitable probability distribution function is adopted for the secant period scatter at different mean peak ground acceleration values and probability of exceedance of limit states is evaluated.A suitable regression function is used for developing fragility curves and regression coefficients are proposed for different confidence levels.Fragility curves are presented for a low rise pre-seismic code reinforced concrete structure typical of developing countries.

Seismic risk assessment for developing countries: Pakistan as a case study

Modern Earthquake Risk Assessment（ERA） methods usually require seismo-tectonic information for Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Assessment（PSHA） that may not be readily available in developing countries. To bypass this drawback, this paper presents a practical event-based PSHA method that uses instrumental seismicity, available historical seismicity, as well as limited information on geology and tectonic setting. Historical seismicity is integrated with instrumental seismicity to determine the long-term hazard. The tectonic setting is included by assigning seismic source zones associated with known major faults. Monte Carlo simulations are used to generate earthquake catalogues with randomized key hazard parameters. A case study region in Pakistan is selected to demonstrate the effectiveness of the method. The results indicate that the proposed method produces seismic hazard maps consistent with previous studies, thus being suitable for generating such maps in regions where limited data are available. The PSHA procedure is developed as an integral part of an ERA framework named EQRAM. The framework is also used to determine seismic risk in terms of annual losses for the study region.

Shear behavior of ultra-high-performance concrete beams prestressed with external carbon fiber-reinforced polymer tendons

The ultra-high-performance concrete(UHPC)and fiber-reinforced polymer(FRP)are well-accepted high-performance materials in the field of civil engineering.The combination of these advanced materials could contribute to improvement of structural performance and corrosion resistance.Unfortunately,only limited studies are available for shear behavior of UHPC beams reinforced with FRP bars,and few suggestions exist for prediction methods for shear capacity.This paper presents an experimental investigation on the shear behavior of UHPC beams reinforced with glass FRP(GFRP)and prestressed with external carbon FRP(CFRP)tendons.The failure mode of all specimens with various shear span to depth ratios from 1.7 to 4.5 was diagonal tension failure.The shear span to depth ratio had a significant influence on the shear capacity,and the effective prestressing stress affected the crack propagation.The experimental results were then applied to evaluate the equations given in different codes/recommendations for FRPreinforced concrete structures or UHPC structures.The comparison results indicate that NF P 18-710 and JSCE CES82 could appropriately estimate shear capacity of the slender specimens with a shear span to depth ratio of 4.5.Further,a new shear design equation was proposed to take into account the effect of the shear span to depth ratio and the steel fiber content on shear capacity.