Numerical seismic vulnerability analysis of mid-height steel buildings in Bogotá, Colombia

Abstract

A number of mid-height steel buildings have been erected recently in Bogotá. Their seismic risk might be high, given the present microzonation of Bogotá and the lack of comprehensive previous studies; noticeably, the response reduction factors were commonly obtained only from general recommendations. The objective of this work is to investigate the seismic performance of these buildings. This study is carried out on eighteen representative prototype buildings. All these edifices have plan symmetry and are uniform along their height. The eighteen considered prototype buildings are generated by combining the values of three parameters: span-length (6 and 8m), number of floors (5, 10 and 15) and earthquake-resistant systems (moment-resistant frames, concentrically-braced frames and eccentrically-braced frames — using chevron braces). The structures of each of these eighteen prototype buildings have been designed according to the former and to the current Colombian seismic design codes; in the former code two seismic zones are considered and in the current code such zones are coarsely subdivided in three and in five zones, respectively. The structural properties of the buildings designed with the former and the current Colombian codes are compared to investigate the practical repercussions of the new regulation. The vulnerability of these buildings has been evaluated by 2-D “push-over” analyses. The main objective of these analyses is to determine the response reduction factor; the obtained values are compared with the recommendations of the current Colombian seismic design code. As well, the seismic performances of the three considered earthquake-resistant systems are compared.