An Analytical Approach for the Vulnerability Assessment of RC Buildings Subjected to Earthquake Induced Ground Displacements

Abstract eng:
The present study aims at the development of an efficient analytical methodology for the vulnerability assessment of RC buildings subjected to earthquake triggered slope movements. The vulnerability is defined through specific probabilistic fragility functions for specified limit states. The fragility curves are numerically estimated in terms of peak ground acceleration at the “seismic bedrock”, versus the probability of exceedance of each limit state, for the considered structure types. A two -step, uncoupled approach is performed. In the first step, the differential permanent displacements at the building’s foundation level are estimated using an adequate finite difference dynamic slope model. Properly selected and corrected acceleration time histories are applied at the base of the model to assess the building’s foundation response and the associated ground and foundation displacements are computed accordingly. Then, the calculated differential displacements are imposed to the fiber-based building model at the foundation level to assess the building’s response for different ground landslide displacements induced by the earthquake. Limit states are defined in terms of a threshold value of building’s material strain. Various sources of uncertainty concerning the capacity of the building, the deformation demand and the definition of limit states are considered in the analysis. The developed methodology is applied to both “low code” and “high code” RC frame buildings resting on shallow foundations with varying strength and stiffness characteristics (isolated footings, continuous foundation), standing near the crest of a relative slow moving soil slide. In case of the “low code” (usually old) RC buildings, the effect of corrosion of the reinforcement on the vulnerability estimation is also considered. The final goal of this research is to propose efficient fragility functions for a variety of RC building typologies.

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