Seismic safety improvement of damage-controlled reinforced concrete frames

Abstract

Conventional aseismic design methods for reinforced concrete (R/C) frames all but disregard the state of damage over the entire building frame. This paper introduces an automated damage-controlled design method for R/C frames which aims at a uniform damage distribution throughout the building frame, as measured by the individual member damage index. The accuracy of the basic hysteretic model and the damage model for R/C members is verified by reproducing the experimental load-deformation curves of one-bay one-story frames. Application of this design method to various frame structures indicates that (1) regardless of the structural properties or input earthquake characteristics, damage-controlled frames generally survive more severe earthquake excitations and suffer less damage than conventionally designed frames, and (2) member yielding strength in the lower stories of damage-controlled frames is larger than that for conventionally designed frames, while the trend is opposite in the upper stories.