Numerical Study on the Relevance of Columns Hidden Failure Modes in the Seismic Capacity of Non-Ductile RC Frames

ABSTRACT

In simplified seismic structural analyses, not all the deterioration modes are adequately considered. This work discusses the relation among the hidden failure modes of columns of non-ductile reinforced concrete building frames and their global collapse mechanism. With this aim, a numerically efficient model is developed and implemented in OpenSEES. Two benchmark problems are analyzed with this model: the well-known Van Nuys Hotel and a prototype building designed for gravity loads only; in this last case, the results are compared with experiments on a one-third scale model. The obtained results confirm that simplified models grossly overestimate the building capacity.

KEYWORDS:

• Seismic Response
• Non-Ductile RC Frames
• Collapse Mechanism
• Axial Deterioration
• Shear Deterioration

Additional information

Funding

This work has received financial support from Spanish Government (Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación) under projects BIA2014-60093-R, BIA2015-67807-R, MAT2014-60647-R and CGL2015-6591 and from European Commission (H2020 European Research Council) under projects ERC-2012-AdG-320815 and PIRSES-GA-2013-612607. These supports are gratefully acknowledged.