Assessment of precast beam-column exterior joint subject to Design Basis Earthquake (DBE) and Maximum Considered Earthquake (MCE) using fragility curve

Abstract

The performance based seismic design requires a probabilistic approach to enable the designers/engineers to predict the damage state of a structure following an earthquake. Fragility curve was developed in this paper for precast beam-column exterior joint to fulfil the needs of the probabilistic approach. The displacement ductility obtained from the experimental work was used to identify the damage state levels for the development of fragility curve for the beam-column exterior joint specimen. The damage state levels are described in accordance with the definitions given by FEMA 273 and HAZUS®99. Nonetheless, the prediction of damage states and the color-coding system of the precast beam-column exterior joint were made for two different levels of earthquake excitation based on the Design Basis Earthquake (DBE) and Maximum Considered Earthquake (MCE) which were obtained from the Malaysian Seismic Hazard Maps. The color-coding system was utilized to identify the performance level, damage level, drift damage and ductility factors. The findings from fragility curve exhibits that the exterior beam-column joint would suffers slight damage and still have chanced to be repaired and strengthened using an appropriate retrofitting method, when subjected to DBE (PGA=0.12g) and MCE (PGA=0.22g).