Investigation of Precast Reinforced Concrete Structures during the 6 February 2023 Türkiye Earthquakes

Abstract

On 6 February 2023, two major earthquakes, MW7.7 and MW7.6, occurred in the Kahramanmaraş city region of southeast Türkiye. As a result of the earthquakes that affected the region, around 60,000 people died and thousands of buildings suffered various levels of damage. In this study, the collapse and failure mechanisms of precast reinforced concrete structures, most of which are industrial buildings, and the damages occurred in these structures, were investgated through on-site observations. As a result of the investigations carried out in the field immediately after the earthquake, it was understood that most of the damage was caused by the connection system of the precast structures. The most common damage is the separation of the roof beam from the column due to the weak column–beam connection system. At the end of the paper, studies to strengthen and improve suggestions for this poor behavior will be mentioned. Also, by analyzing a sample structure, the performance levels were determined by comparing it with the damage limit values in TBEC-2018.