Optimum Design of Base Isolated Reinforced Concrete Buildings

Abstract eng:
The design of economic structures, strong enough to withstand without catastrophic failures all possible loads during their service life and to absorb the induced seismic energy in a controlled fashion, has been the subject of intensive research by engineers. Modern buildings usually contain extremely sensitive and costly equipment that are vital in business, commerce, education and health care. These building contents frequently are more valuable than the buildings themselves. Furthermore, hospitals, communication and emergency centers, police and fire stations must be operational when needed most: immediately after an earthquake. Conventional construction can cause very high floor accelerations in stiff buildings and large interstorey drifts in flexible structures. These two factors cause difficulties in insuring the safety of both building components and contents. For these reasons base-isolated structures are considered as an efficient alternative design practice to the conventional fixed-base one. In this study a systematic assessment of fully fixed and base isolated reinforced concrete buildings is presented in terms of their initial and total cost taking into account the life-cycle cost assessment of the structures.

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