Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Observations of the behaviour of reinforced concrete buildings during earthquakes , Earthquake-Resistant Concrete Structures Inelastic Response and Design , American Concrete Institute, SP-127.
SUMMARY
Provide brief summary of the paper including research question being addressed, methodology, results and main conclusions (maximum 100 words) This literature presents general observations on the performance of reinforced concrete buildings in past earthquakes. Although subjective and sometimes ambiguous, performance observations are useful for structural engineers to appreciate the potential factors influencing structural behaviour, even if they can only be discerned at a conceptual level. Based on the observations in this paper, it can be seen that buildings with simple geometry and well defined load paths generally performed well while buildings with irregularities or complex geometries tended to have issues. It is concluded that despite the many advancements in the field, advanced computer models are no substitute for simple, continuous, and redundant structural systems.
METHODOLOGY
Give a brief summary of how the author(s) conducted the research on the topic including research framework (analytical/ survey/experimental etc.), how the problem was formulated, method and accuracy of the data, reproducibility of the results (maximum 150 words) The paper surveys a collection of past earthquake reconnaissance reports ranging from the 1957 Mexico City earthquake to the 1989 Armenia earthquake. Based on the reconnaissance observations, common trends of poorly-performing and well-performing concrete structures are detected from these previous studies. The observations are categorized into topics relating to the structural concept (observations about continuity, regularity, stiffness, proximity to adjacent buildings, mass, redundancy, and previous shaking exposure) and proportioning and detailing (locations of inelastic deformation, determination of member actions, transverse reinforcement, anchorage and connections, and construction). The observations are general and high-level, because the exact behaviour or failure mechanism of such structures cannot always be discerned as most observations tend to occur post-event or post-collapse.