Seismic response estimation method for earthquake-damaged RC buildings

This study proposes a procedure for identifying spectral response curves for earthquake-damaged areas in developing countries without seismic records. An earthquake-damaged reinforced concrete building located in Padang, Indonesia was selected to illustrate the identification of the maximum seismic response during the 2009 West Sumatra earthquake. This paper summarizes the damage incurred by the building; the majority of the damage was observed in the third story in the span direction. The damage was quantitatively evaluated using the damage index R according to the Japanese guidelines for post-earthquake damage evaluation. The damage index was also applied to the proposed spectral response identification method. The seismic performance of the building was evaluated by a nonlinear static analysis. The analytical results reproduced a drift concentration in the third story. The R-index decreased with an increase in the story drift, which provided an estimation of the maximum response of the building during the earthquake. The estimation was verified via an earthquake response analysis of the building using ground acceleration data, which were simulated based on acceleration records of engineering bedrock that considered site amplification. The maximum response estimated by the R-index was consistent with the maximum response obtained from the earthquake response analysis. Therefore, the proposed method enables the construction of spectral response curves by integrating the identification results for the maximum responses in a number of earthquake-damaged buildings despite a lack of seismic records. Copyright (C) 2016 The Authors. Earthquake Engineering & Structural Dynamics published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.