Behavior of reinforced concrete buildings during the Hyogoken-Nanbu earthquake

The Hyougoken-Nanbu earthquake caused serious damage to reinforced concrete building structures. Investigation results indicated that most buildings which suffered serious structural damage were built before 1981, i.e. new modem buildings behaved well, because the current seismic design provisions were enforced by the ministry of construction in 1981. Typical damage patterns of reinforced concrete building structures were: (1) collapse of soft first story construction; (2) collapse of a mid-height story; (3) torsional failure resulting from eccentricities of stiffness and mass; (4) inadequate spacing and anchorage of transverse reinforcement; (5) shear failure of short columns; (6) fracture of re-bar splices by gas-pressure welding; (7) damage to separation joints and elevated corridors; and (8) damage to non-structural members (Preliminary Reconnaissance Report of the 1995 Hyougoken-Nanbu earthquake, Architectural Institute of Japan, 1995 (English version)). (C) 1997 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.