Computer aided design and analysis of reinforced concrete frame buildings for seismic forces

For earthquake resistant design, evaluation of the seismic performance of buildings is essential to determine if an acceptable solution in terms of capacity and performance is achieved. Seismic performance evaluation requires static, modal and dynamic response analysis of a structure. The dynamic response history analysis often requires a large number of simulations using a number earthquake Ground Motion Records (GMR). Specialized computer programs for such analysis and design often lack the flexibility in user interaction as many of them come from research environments having focus only on the advanced analysis features. The study presents a user interface design and a scheme for automating the analysis process for evaluating the seismic performance of RC building frames. Such simulations involving a large number of earthquake GMR produce a huge amount of data that needs to be post processed in order to extract meaningful information about the behavior of a building under earthquakes. The study also discusses the development of such post processor. The software tools developed here have been demonstrated through a case study, where a six storey RC frame building has been designed based on the seismic provisions of the current edition of the National Building Code of Canada and analyzed to determine its seismic performance. The building is assumed to be located in Vancouver in western Canada. A set of eight simulated and sixteen actual ground motion records have been used in the inelastic dynamic time history analysis and a summary of the results have been presented. © 2007 Asian Network for Scientific Information.