Methodology for developing practical recovery-based design requirements for buildings

Abstract

Moderate and high magnitudes of ground shaking will likely cause significant losses and lengthy recovery times, with potentially devastating consequences on communities and the supporting infrastructure. This is primarily because building systems' recovery time (i.e., resiliency) is currently not integrated into the seismic design process. This paper proposes a first-of-a-kind methodology for the development of practical design requirements that will enable the design of buildings with full consideration of resiliency and functional recovery. The proposed methodology relies on a recently developed F-Rec Framework that allows complete and detailed evaluation of performance metrics relevant for the assessment of functional recovery, including the level of post-earthquake functionality, recovery path, and recovery time. While the methodology can be applied to any building type and lateral load resisting system, this paper illustrates its possible implementation on tall, reinforced concrete core wall buildings. The outcomes of the proposed methodology will greatly improve the recovery of the affected communities after major earthquakes.