Abstract
Previous research has indicated that many European buildings are vulnerable to moderate-magnitude earthquakes. For example, during the L´Aquila (Italia, Mw 6.3, 2009) and Lorca (Spain, Mw 5.9, 2011) earthquakes, many old buildings were severely damaged and some of them collapsed. In specific, significant damage has been found in several school buildings after past earthquakes in Europe. This is due to the fact that many of them were constructed prior to the current seismic codes, thus considering only gravitational loads and with no seismic design whatsoever. Primary schools are even more vulnerable than other typologies because of their low adult/child ratio. The seismic activity of the Iberian Peninsula is low-moderate. However, the Algarve and Huelva regions, which are situated in the south-west, are influenced by large faults which have caused major earthquakes of long-return periods. The European project PERSISTAH (Projetos de Escolas Resilientes aos SISmos no Território do Algarve e de Huelva, in Portuguese) aims to cooperatively evaluate the seismic vulnerability of primary schools in the Algarve (Portugal) and Huelva (Spain) regions. The present work is framed under this project. The objective of this paper is to determine the most effective retrofitting scheme for a typical primary school building in this area, considering structural, architectural and constructive parameters. The scheme could be applied to several buildings of the same typology, decreasing costs and time. An existing reinforced concrete frame building has been selected for the study. This is one of the most commonly used typologies for primary schools in this area. A nonlinear static analysis has been carried out in order to study its seismic behaviour. The performance point of the building has been obtained through the capacity-demand spectrum method. The preliminary results have confirmed the poor seismic behaviour of this building. Specifically, soft-story behaviour has been identified in the ground floor and short columns have been observed in the upper floors. Therefore, specific seismic retrofitting solutions have been proposed and evaluated in order to identify the one that is the most efficient. The combination of reinforcements has been done considering the structural and architectural impact and constructive parameters. The calculations have shown that steel X-bracings are the best solution for preventing the formation of a soft-storey in the ground floor. Unfortunately, this scheme increases the deformation in the upper floor columns. The best solution for the upper floors' short columns has been the use of steel jackets. The results have also shown that this combination produces an important reduction of the expected general damage level. The resulting retrofitting scheme can be extrapolated to other buildings with a similar typology.
Highlights
The works described here are concentrated, in particular, in the Spanish province of Huelva
The most relevant results obtained from all the hypotheses calculated are shown
A retrofit system with steel X-bracing and steel jackets has been selected, upon thorough analysis, from a range of models. This seismic retrofitting solution improves the seismic behaviour and reinforces the seismic weak points detected in this structure
Summary
The works described here are concentrated, in particular, in the Spanish province of Huelva. The Algarve and Huelva regions, which are situated in the southwestern IP, are influenced by the contact area between the Eurasian and the African tectonic plates. This area is characterised by the presence of large faults, such as the Azores-Gibraltar faults [1], which produce large earthquakes (Mw 6) of longreturn periods [2] (Fig 1). This was the 1755 Lisbon earthquake and tsunami (Mw = 8.5) [3], which is the largest documented seismic event that has affected Europe, killing up to 100,000 people. These large earthquakes have long return periods, which makes the population unaware of the seismic hazard
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