Seismic performance of high-rise buildings in selected regions in Saudi Arabia according to different seismic codes

The design code for each country is revised and updated based on an expected zone’s seismic intensities,geotechnical site classifications,structural systems,construction materials and methods of construction in order to provide more realistic considerations of seismic demand,seismic response,and seismic capacity.Based on the aforementioned provisions,structures designed according to different seismic codes may yield different performances for the same level of hazard.This study aims to investigate and compare the induced responses related to the earthquake-resistant design of reinforced concrete(RC)buildings according to the Saudi building code(SBC-301),American code(ASCE-7),uniform building code(UBC-97),and European code(EC-8).In order to account for the provision regarding the hazard specification and its effect on the induced seismic responses,four regions in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with different seismic levels are selected.The code provisions related to the specification of site classification and its effect on the induced design base shear are investigated as well.Significant differences are observed in the induced responses with the variation in seismic design codes for the considered seismic hazards and site classifications.

A Comparative Analysis between the Spanish and Portuguese Seismic Codes: Application to a Border RC Primary School

The Iberian Peninsula is close to the Eurasia-Africa plate boundary resulting in a considerable seismic hazard.In fact,the southwestern Iberian Peninsula is affected by far away earthquakes of long-return period with large-very large magnitude.A project named PERSISTAH(Projetos de Escolas Resilientes aos SISmos no Território do Algarve e de Huelva,in Portuguese)aims to cooperatively assess the seismic vulnerability of primary schools located in the Algarve(Portugal)and Huelva(Spain).Primary schools have been selected due to the considerable amount of similar buildings and their seismic vulnerability.In Portugal,the Decreto Lei 235/83(RSAEEP)is mandatory while in Spain,the mandatory code is the Seismic Building Code(NCSE-02).In both countries,the Eurocode-8(EC-8)is recommended.Despite the fact that both regions would be equally affected by an earthquake,both seismic codes are significantly different.This research compares the seismic action of Ayamonte(Huelva)and Vila Real de Santo António(Portugal).Both towns are very close and located at both sides of the border.Moreover,they share the same geology.This analysis has been applied considering a reinforced concrete(RC)primary school building located in Huelva.To do so,the performance-based method has been used.The seismic action and the damage levels are compared and analysed.The results have shown considerable differences in the seismic actions designation,in the performance point values and in the damage levels.The values considered in the Portuguese code are significantly more unfavourable.An agreement between codes should be made for border regions.

Revision of seismic design codes corresponding to building damagesin the “5.12” Wenchuan earthquake

A large number of buildings were seriously damaged or collapsed in the "5.12" Wenchuan earthquake. Based on field surveys and studies of damage to different types of buildings, seismic design codes have been updated. This paper briefly summarizes some of the major revisions that have been incorporated into the "Standard for classification of seismic protection of building constructions GB50223-2008" and "Code for Seismic Design of Buildings GB50011-2001." The definition of seismic fortification class for buildings has been revisited, and as a result, the seismic classifications for schools, hospitals and other buildings that hold large populations such as evacuation shelters and information centers have been upgraded in the GB50223-2008 Code. The main aspects of the revised GB50011-2001 code include: (a) modification of the seismic intensity specified for the Provinces of Sichuan, Shanxi and Gansu; (b) basic conceptual design for retaining walls and building foundations in mountainous areas; (c) regularity of building configuration; (d) integration of masonry structures and precast RC floors; (e) requirements for calculating and detailing stair shafts; and (f) limiting the use of single-bay RC frame structures. Some significant examples of damage in the epicenter areas are provided as a reference in the discussion on the consequences of collapse, the importance of duplicate structural systems, and the integration of RC and masonry structures.

Seismic resilience assessment of corroded reinforced concrete structures designed to the Chinese codes

The natural landscape in China exposes many existing RC buildings to aggressive environments.Such exposure can lead to deterioration in structural performance with regard to resisting events such as earthquakes.Corrosion of embedded reinforcement is one of the most common mechanisms by which such structural degradation occurs.There has been increasing attention in recent years toward seismic resilience in communities and their constituent construction;however,to date,studies have neglected the effect of natural aging.This study aims to examine the effect of reinforcement corrosion on the seismic resilience of RC frames that are designed according to Chinese seismic design codes.A total of twenty RC frames are used to represent design and construction that is typical of coastal China,with consideration given to various seismic fortification levels and elevation arrangements.Seismic fragility relationships are developed for case frames under varying levels of reinforcement corrosion,i.e.,corrosion rates are increased from 5%to 15%.Subsequently,the seismic resilience levels of uncorroded and corroded RC frames are compared using a normalized loss factor.It was found that the loss of resilience of the corroded frames is greater than that of their uncorroded counterparts.At the Rare Earthquake hazard level,the corrosioninduced increase in loss of resilience can be more than 200%,showing the significant effect of reinforcement corrosion on structural resilience under the influence of earthquakes.

Seismic fragility assessment of RC frame structure designed according to modern Chinese code for seismic design of buildings

Following several damaging earthquakes in China, research has been devoted to find the causes of the collapse of reinforced concrete （RC） building sand studying the vulnerability of existing buildings. The Chinese Code for Seismic Design of Buildings （CCSDB） has evolved over time, however, there is still reported earthquake induced damage of newly designed RC buildings. Thus, to investigate modern Chinese seismic design code, three low-, mid- and high-rise RC frames were designed according to the 2010 CCSDB and the corresponding vulnerability curves were derived by computing a probabilistic seismic demand model （PSDM）.The PSDM was computed by carrying out nonlinear time history analysis using thirty ground motions obtained from the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center. Finally, the PSDM was used to generate fragility curves for immediate occupancy, significant damage, and collapse prevention damage levels. Results of the vulnerability assessment indicate that the seismic demands on the three different frames designed according to the 2010 CCSDB meet the seismic requirements and are almost in the same safety level.

Effect of URM infills on seismic vulnerability of Indian code designed RC frame buildings

Unreinforced Masonry (URM) is the most common partitioning material in framed buildings in India and many other countries. Although it is well-known that under lateral loading the behavior and modes of failure of the frame buildings change significantly due to infill-frame interaction, the general design practice is to treat infills as nonstructural elements and their stiffness, strength and interaction with the frame is often ignored, primarily because of difficulties in simulation and lack of modeling guidelines in design codes. The Indian Standard, like many other national codes, does not provide explicit insight into the anticipated performance and associated vulnerability of infilled frames. This paper presents an analytical study on the seismic performance and fragility analysis of Indian code-designed RC frame buildings with and without URM infills. Infills are modeled as diagonal struts as per ASCE 41 guidelines and various modes of failure are considered. HAZUS methodology along with nonlinear static analysis is used to compare the seismic vulnerability of bare and infilled frames. The comparative study suggests that URM infills result in a significant increase in the seismic vulnerability of RC frames and their effect needs to be properly incorporated in design codes.

Performance of RC buildings after Kahramanmaraş Earthquakes: lessons toward performance based design

Two simultaneous earthquakes occurred in the Kahramanmaraş-Pazarcık and Kahramanmaraş-Elbistan districts of Turkey on February 6,2023,and with magnitudes of 7.7 and 7.6,respectively.These events caused the highest estimated loss recorded in Turkey within the last century from natural disasters.The key reason for the extensive loss was the proximity of eleven cities to the earthquake epicenters.Middle East Technical University teams investigated the building sites in Gaziantep,Kahramanmaras,Hatay,Adiyaman and Adana.The ground motion recordings revealed that in certain locations of Gaziantep,Kahramanmaraşand Hatay,the ground motion levels exceeded the maximum credible earthquake level defined for a return period of 2,475 years in the Turkish Earthquake Code.Residential building performance was investigated with respect to the construction year,which is a good indicator of compliance with modern seismic codes and inspection procedures.About 97%of the collapsed buildings were constructed prior to 2000,whereas over 5,000 buildings,which were built after 2000,collapsed or required urgent demolition.Most of the buildings with minor or greater structural damage sustained heavy infill wall damage rendering occupancy impossible.Aside from damage in older construction with significant structural deficiencies,the damage in some of the more recent and better constructed buildings was observed to be surprisingly poor.This can be attributed to the level of ground motion,significant ductility demands,poor material and workmanship and damage to non-structural elements.With the estimated total loss of above 100 billion dollars and over 50,000 casualties,the current seismic design criterion based on ductility and acceptance of structural damage should be re-evaluated to ensure a more resilient urban environment in high seismic regions.

Study regarding typical liquefaction damage during the 2021 Maduo M_(s)7.4 earthquake in China

The most important method of understanding liquefaction-induced engineering failures comes from the investigation and analysis of earthquake damage.In May 2021,the Maduo M_(s)7.4 earthquake occurred on the Tibetan Plateau of China.The most representative engineering disaster caused by this earthquake was bridge damage on liquefied sites.In this study,the mutual relationships between the anti-liquefaction pre-design situation,the ground motion intensity,the site liquefaction severity,and the bridge damage state for this earthquake were systematically analyzed for typical bridge damage on the liquefied sites.Using field survey data and the current Chinese industry code,simulations of the liquefaction scenarios at typical bridge sites were performed for the pre-design seismic ground motion before the earthquake and the seismic ground motion during the earthquake.By combining these results with post-earthquake investigation results,the reason for the serious bridge damage resulting from this earthquake is revealed,and the necessary conditions for avoiding serious seismic damage to bridges built in liquefiable sites is presented.

Ductility demands on buckling-restrained braced frames under earthquake loading

Accurate estimates of ductility demands on buckling-restrained braced frames(BRBFs)are crucial to performance-based design of BRBFs.An analytical study on the seismic behavior of BRBFs has been conducted at the ATLSS Center,Lehigh University to prepare for an upcoming experimental program.The analysis program DRAIN-2DX was used to model a one-bay,four-story prototype BRBF including material and geometric nonlinearities.The buckling- restrained brace(BRB)model incorporates both isotropic and kinematic hardening.Nonlinear static pushover and time- history analyses were performed on the prototype BRBF.Performance objectives for the BRBs were defined and used to evaluate the time-history analysis results.Particular emphasis was placed on global ductility demands and ductility demands on the BRBs.These demands were compared with anticipated ductility capacities.The analysis results,along with results from similar previous studies,are used to evaluate the BRBF design provisions that have been recommended for codification in the United States.The results show that BRB maximum ductility demands can be as high as 20 to 25.These demands significantly exceed those anticipated by the BRBF recommended provisions.Results from the static pushover and time- history analyses are used to demonstrate why the ductility demands exceed those anticipated by the recommended provisions. The BRB qualification testing protocol contained in the BRBF recommended provisions is shown to be inadequate because it requires only a maximum ductility demand of at most 7.5.Modifications to the testing protocol are recommended.

Probability-consistent spectrum and code spectrum

In the seismic safety evaluation (SSE) for key projects, the probability-consistent spectrum (PCS), usually obtained from probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA), is not consistent with the design response spectrum given by Code for Seismic Design of Buildings (GB50011-2001). Sometimes, there may be a remarkable difference be-tween them. If the PCS is lower than the corresponding code design response spectrum (CDS), the seismic fortifi-cation criterion for the key projects would be lower than that for the general industry and civil buildings. In the paper, the relation between PCS and CDS is discussed by using the ideal simple potential seismic source. The re-sults show that in the most areas influenced mainly by the potential sources of the epicentral earthquakes and the regional earthquakes, PCS is generally lower than CDS in the long periods. We point out that the long-period re-sponse spectra of the code should be further studied and combined with the probability method of seismic zoning as much as possible. Because of the uncertainties in SSE, it should be prudent to use the long-period response spectra given by SSE for key projects when they are lower than CDS.

Site coefficients suitable to China site category

The basis for the NEHRP site coefficients is summarized in the paper. The comparison of site classification between China and US code provisions has been carried out. The relationship between two site classifications has been found by the analysis of wave velocity of site soil. Thus amplitude-dependent site amplification factors for China site classification has been gained by transformation from US amplification factors. Two amplification factors are specified： Fa for short periods and Fv for longer periods. On the contrast, there is only one long period factor and not a short period factor in the current China code provision.

Statistical Analysis on the Corner Period of Site-Related Design Spectra

According to the results of site seismic hazard analysis accomplished in the past decades, 96 site-related design spectra are selected as samples in this study. The result shows that the value of the corner period (T g) of the design spectrum in GBJ11-89 (China Seismic Building Code, issued in 1989) is lower than the value obtained by site seismic hazard analysis. The same situation exists when we compare the design spectra of the Codes to the spectra according to the earthquake records. The value in current seismic design code, GBJ50011-2001 issued in 2001, is greater than that in GBJ11-89, but still less than the value obtained by site seismic hazard analysis. If we accept the value got by site seismic hazard analysis, we have a suspicion that 2/3 of buildings built according to GBJ11-89 will not be safe when an earthquake with 2% probability of exceedance in 50 years occurs.

Study on the correlativity of earthquake's impact on cities

Introduction With rapid development and advancement of economy and society, lots of city groups or city belts with ex-tra-large cities as their centers have been formed in China. The regions these city groups lie in usually havewell-developed economy, dense population, and are regional politics and culture centers. Some groups lie in theregions with high level of earthquake activity, such as the Surrounding Capital City Group with the centers of Bei-jing and Tianjin. Once a large earthquake occurs, its influence will spread to very extensive region and its disasterwill be tremendous too. So earthquake resistance and disaster mitigation of city group will be very significant issue.The cities in a group have close distance with each other; they can carry out unified preparation for disaster as onewhole and reduce the heavy load of single city before an earthquake, and have an advantage of prompt mutual-aidafter an earthquake because of close distance. It is especially significant to mitigate the lose of lives. One importantprecondition is that all the cities in one group cannot be exposed to the same level of destroy during one earth-quake. So the division of city group in the region with dense cities distribution shall be very significant to theemergent mutual-aid in early time after a large earthquake. For this goal, the characteristics and correlativity ofearthquake′s impact on cities in one group need to clearly be considered. The cities with similar features and strongcorrelativity of historical earthquake influence have large chance to suffer same level destroy during the futurestrong earthquake and are disadvantage to provide mutual-aid and shall not be divided into one group. ……

Application of complementary coding signal to seismic profiling

A pulse-compression system composed of a complementary coding CC signal generator and a corresponding processor has been devel -oped. The working principle of using this system in seismic profiling at sea is described, and the effect of wave modulation on CC signal processing is examined in detail. Computer simulations have confirmed the effectiveness of applying this new approach to practical seismic profiling.