Influence of Structural Walls on the Seismic Performance of RC Buildings during the May 19, 2011 Simav Earthquake in Turkey

Abstract

Reinforced concrete (RC) buildings having the adequate amount of structural wall area with a symmetrical arrangement have been proven to have a satisfactory seismic performance in past earthquakes. Properly constructed structural walls can even eliminate the poor seismic response of RC buildings due to the adverse effect of structural irregularities or deficiencies such as soft story, short column, insufficient confinement, poor detailing in beam-column joints, poor material quality, etc. The positive effect of structural walls was observed by comparing the performance of two RC buildings, which were affected by the May 19, 2011 Simav earthquake in Turkey. Although one of the buildings with no structural wall collapsed, the building with structural walls survived without any structural damage. Analytical models of the two buildings were developed to investigate the influence of structural walls on the seismic performance of RC buildings by conducting response history and pushover analyses. Results of detailed analyses of the two buildings indicated that the building with structural walls should respond better to strong ground motion, and this was confirmed by the relative behaviors of the two buildings