High-Performance Seismic System Using Reinforced Concrete Wall-Column with Response Control System

Abstract

Numerous earthquakes have taught us that our goal in seismic design should evolve from simply the protection of human life to the combined protection of life, property conservation, and maintenance of building function. In other words, we can say our aim should be “resilience”, which is a hot topic these days. In seismic design, the use of reinforced concrete (RC) structural walls is an effective way to provide a building with lateral strength. However, RC walls are brittle and have little ability to dissipate hysteretic energy, so the building must have very high lateral resistance. Moreover, if an unexpectedly large earthquake occurs, the RC walls might be severely damaged and lead to collapse of the building. Whereas we have made efforts to deliver high seismic performance by applying seismic isolation and response control technologies to many buildings. The devices and systems that support these technologies have been improved and have become more reliable. The practical use of RC structural wall-columns instead of conventional RC walls with a response control system and/or an isolation system is discussed. The combined RC structural system with those advanced technologies, which have an adequate rigidity and safety against brittleness, can minimize earthquake damage and improve the seismic performance of the building remarkably. The great contribution to improved earthquake resilience will be made.