CONTRIBUCIONES AL ESTUDIO DE

LA VULNERABILIDAD DE LAS
ESTRUCTURAS

Traba jo de ascenso para optar a la categora de Titular en

el escalafn del Personal Docente y de Investigacin

Prof. Dr. Juan Carlos Vielma Prez

Universidad Centroccidental Lisandro Alvarado
UCLA
Departamento de Ingeniera Estructural
Febrero 2016

Documento maquetado con TEX S v.1.0+.

i

CONTRIBUCIONES AL ESTUDIO DE
LA VULNERABILIDAD DE LAS
ESTRUCTURAS

Universidad Centroccidental Lisandro Alvarado

UCLA
Departamento de Ingeniera Estructural

Febrero 2016

A Ana Victoria
con todo mi amor
y
A Juan Alfonso y Juan Carlos
con profunda alegra

Agradecimientos
El que all llega de vero
de s mismo desfallece;
cuanto saba primero
mucho bajo le parece,
y Su ciencia tanto crece,
que se queda no sabiendo,
toda ciencia trascendiendo.

Pepito

Entreme donde no supe

A mis compaeros del Aula UCLA-CIMNE, tanto profesores como alumnos que han
participado en las actividades de investigacin, que han dado origen a una serie de trabajos
en el rea de evaluacin de la respuesta sismorresistente de estructuras. El esfuerzo de todos
es una muestra de que se puede avanzar tomando como base el trabajo colaborativo.
A mis compaeros del Departamento de Estructuras; me considero afortunado al pertenecer a un grupo diverso y dedicado dentro de la investigacin, en el cual he aprendido a
perseverar para alcanzar metas cada vez ms exigentes, siguiendo el ejemplo de mis colegas.
Al sistema de investigacin de la Universidad Centroccidental Lisandro Alvarado, conformado por el CDCHT y cada uno de los investigadores, que de manera silenciosa dedican
interminables horas a encontrar respuestas a preguntas muchas veces incomprendidas, sin
recibir el apoyo de una sociedad, que en el mejor de los casos se muestra indiferente ante esos
esfuerzos.

vii

Resumen
Los eventos ssmicos que han ocurrido durante el ltimo ao, han producido catstrofes
de tales proporciones que requieren de una cuidadosa reexin por parte de entes gubernamentales, propietarios, proyectistas estructurales e investigadores. El profundo contraste
observado entre el comportamiento de las estructuras de Hait devastadas por el terremoto
de marzo de 2010, frente a las estructuras de Chile, sacudidas por el terremoto de Febrero de
2010, demuestran que si bien un adecuado proyecto sismorresistente denitivamente incide
positivamente, aun quedan muchos interrogantes que responder y muchos procedimientos
dentro del proyecto sismorreistente que son susceptibles de ser revisados y mejorados. El
presente trabajo cosntituye una pequea contribucin en la evaluacin del comportamiento
sismorresistente de las estructuras, nuevas y existententes. El mbito estudiado corresponde
principalmente a estructuras aporticadas que han sido concebidas a la luz de los ltimos preceptos normativos existentes tanto en Venezuela como en otros paises, lo que ha permitido
conocer cul es el nivel del estado de la prctica aplicado en nuestro pas y a nivel de pases
latinoamericanos, que han sido claramente inuenciados por normativas producidas en otros
mbitos geogrcos, sometidos eso s, a amenazas ssmicas semejantes. Este trabajo se presenta como compendio de publicaciones en revistas arbitradas e indexadas, con el objeto de
ascender a profesor Asociado dentro del escalafn de la Universidad Centroccidental Lisandro
Alvarado. Tanto esta introduccin, como los diversos captulos, constituyen la memoria que
se exige en el caso contemplado en el Artculo 31, Literal "d"del Reglamento de ascenso del
presonal docente y de investigacin de la UCLA. Conforme a lo establecido en el Artculo
35 del citado Reglamento, son necesarias tres publicaciones en revistas arbitradas e indexadas para optar al a categora de Asociado, que se hayan realizado durante la duracin del
docente en la categora anterior. El trabajo se ha organizado en tres captulos, para mostrar
de forma ordenada los diferentes contenidos de la investigacin desarrollada por el autor. La
organizacin de las publicaciones ha permitido concebir tres grupos: el primero corresponde a la evaluacin de la respuesta sismorresistente de estructuras aporticadas de concreto
armado, que se muestran en el Captulo 1, que contiene seis artculos. En el Captulo 2 se
muestra un solo artculo, correspondiente a la evaluacin sismorresistente de las edicaciones
aporticadas de acero, bajo la tipologa de arriostramientos concntricos tipo Cruz de San
Andrs. Un nuevo procedimiento de dimensionado ssmico se presenta en el Captulo 3, que
ha sido formulado en base en la energa y la respuesta no lineal de las estructuras, aplicando un algoritmo que toma en consideracin las derivas de entrepiso; el tema en cuestin
ha permitido presentar dos artculos. En total, en este trabajo se encuentra constituido por
nueve artculos publicados o aceptados para publicacin en revistas indexadas y arbitradas.
La presentacin de las publicaciones se hace de una forma sencilla: en primer trmino se

viii

Resumen

ix

presenta un breve resumen de la publicacin, los datos de la revista, constancias de indexacin y otra informacin relevante que permita a los evaluadores y futuros lectores valorar
adecuadamente la calidad de las publicaciones. En aquellos casos excepcionales, en los que
el autor del presente trabajo no ha participado como autor principal, se incluye una breve
memoria en la que se especica la participacin dentro del contexto de la investigacin que
dio origen a la publicacin. Para detalles adicionales sobre las publicaciones, el lector puede
consultar directamente en la pgina web: http://ingenieria-sismorresistente.webnode.es/.

ndice
Agradecimientos
Resumen
1. Evaluacin de la seguridad ssmica de edicios de concreto armado

1.1. Introduccin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1.2. Artculo 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1.2.1. Informacin sobre la indexacin de la revista . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

vii
viii

1
1
1
1

ndice de guras
1.1. Constancia de indexacin Artculo 1 (primera pgina) . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1.2. Constancia de indexacin Artculo 1 (segunda pgina) . . . . . . . . . . . . .

2
3

xi

ndice de Tablas

xii

Captulo 1

Evaluacin de la seguridad ssmica de

edicios de concreto armado
1.1.

Introduccin

En este Captulo se presentan las publilcaciones correspondientes a la evaluacin de la seguridad ssmica de las estructuras aporticadas de concreto armado. En total son seis artculos
publicados en revistas indizadas y arbitradas internacionales, cuya informacin se presenta al
principio de cada apartado. Tal como lo indica el ttulo de el presente trabajo, la evaluacin
se ha llevado a cabo mediante simulaciones numricas, aplicando tcnicas avanzadas de corte
determinista y probabilista.
1.2.

Artculo 1

El primer artculo de este Captulo se ha titulado: Seismic safety of RC framed buildings

designed according modern codes. Ha sido publicado en el Journal of Civil Engineering and
Architecture (?). Esta revista es arbitrada y la informacin sobre su indexacin se presenta
en la siguiente subseccin. El artculo versa sobre la seguridad ssmica de edicios regulares
aporticados de concreto armado, proyectados conforme a normas actuales, las cuales persiguen un comportamiento dctil y estable bajo la accin de terremotos denidos mediante
espectros de diseo. Una de las principales contribuciones dentro de este artculo consiste en
la determinacin del factor de reduccin de respuesta, calculado a partir del anlisis dinmico
incremental (IDA). Tambin se presenta una serie de curvas de fragilidad y matrices de probabilidad de dao, calculadas a partir de la respuesta no lineal y que permiten la evaluacin
de la seguridad sismorresistente para una accin sismorresistente (?).
1.2.1.

Informacin sobre la indexacin de la revista

Seguidamente se muestran evidencias sobre la indexacin de la revista, ver Figura 1.1 y

Figura 1.2. Cabe indicar que si bien se encuentra registrada en diferentes ndices internacionales, slo se muestran dos de los ms relevantes.
1

1.2. Artculo 1

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EDUCA TIO N
ELECTRONICS
ENCYCLOPEDIA S AND GENERA L A LMA NA C S
ENERGY

ENGINEERING
ENVIRONMENTA L STUDIES
ETHNIC INTERESTS
ETHNIC NEW SPA PERS

FREQUENCY

START
YEAR

TITLE

ISSN

COUNTRY PUBLISHER

Aarhus Geoscience.
Ph.D. Thesis

13965263

Denmark

Aarhus Universitet,
Geologisk Institut

Irregular

Arabian Journal of
Geosciences

18667511

Germany

Springer

4 times a year 2009

Germany

Springer

4 times a year 2009

Journal of Geological
Research

16878833

United
States

Hindawi Publishing Corp.

Irregular

2008

International Journal
of Geophysics

1687885X

Irregular

2008

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Romania

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Series on Coastal and

1793Ocean Engineering
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2 times a year 2008

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World Scientific Publishing

Irregular
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2009

EDUCATION (see other subsection(s) of this subject heading)

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Netherlands

International Journal
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Revista Internacional
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Amsterdam University
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Irregular

1996773X

Kuwait

International Journal of
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3 times a year 2008

16924053

Colombia

Corporacion Magisterio

Bi-monthly

2003

Quarterly

2000

EDUCATION - HIGHER EDUCATION

Pedagogie Medicale

16256484

France

E D P Sciences

EDUCATION - TEACHING METHODS AND CURRICULUM

Figura 1.1: Constancia de indexacin Artculo 1 (primera pgina)

1.2. Artculo 1

EDUCATION - TEACHING METHODS AND CURRICULUM

Business Education
Innovation Journal

19450915

United
States

Elm Street Press

Quarterly

Science Educator
(Charlottesville), The

19457375

United
States

Virginia Association of
Science Teachers

4 times a year 1952

C E Pro Showroom

19450397

United
States

E H Publishing, Inc.

Quarterly

Embedded Systems
Design Europe

United
States

TechInsights, Inc.

8 times a year

Embedded Systems
Engineering

United
States

TechInsights, Inc.

10 times a
year

Dec.,
2008

ELECTRONICS
2008

ENERGY - ABSTRACTING, BIBLIOGRAPHIES, STATISTICS

Energeticke Bilance C
R

Czech
Republic

Cesky Statisticky Urad

Annual

Energy Balance of the

Czech Republic

Czech
Republic

Cesky Statisticky Urad

Annual

Fuel and Energy

Consumption in the
Czech Republic (Year)

Czech
Republic

Cesky Statisticky Urad

Annual

Spotreba Paliv a
Energie v C R v Roce
(Year)

Czech
Republic

Cesky Statisticky Urad

Annual

Transformacni
Procesy v Energetice
v C R c Roce (Year)

Czech
Republic

Cesky Statisticky Urad

Annual

Transformation
Processes in the
Energy Sector of the
Czech Republic (Year)

Czech
Republic

Cesky Statisticky Urad

Annual

ENERGY (see other subsection(s) of this subject heading)

Open Renewable
Energy Journal, The

18763871

Netherlands Bentham Open

Taking Sides:
Clashing Views in
Energy and Society

19447469

United
States

Shuidian Zidonghua
yu Daba Jiance

16713893

Irregular

2008

McGraw-Hill, Contemporary
Biennial
Learning Series

Dec.,
2008

ENERGY - HYDROELECTRICAL ENERGY

China

Dianli Xitong Zidonghua

Zazhishe

Bi-monthly

1977

Irregular

2008

Hindawi Publishing Corp.

Irregular

2008

ENGINEERING - CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

Open Polymer Science 1876Journal, The
3987

Netherlands Bentham Open

ENGINEERING - CIVIL ENGINEERING

Advances in Civil
Engineering

16878086

United
States

Dams & Reservoirs

13681494

United
Kingdom

Thomas Telford Ltd.

Quarterly

1991

Institute of Civil
Engineering.
Proceedings.
Engineering History
and Heritage

17579430

United
Kingdom

Thomas Telford Ltd.

Quarterly

2009

Journal of Civil
Engineering and
Architecture

19347359

United
States

David Publishing Company,

Monthly
Inc.

2007

Teoria e Pratica na
Engenharia Civil

15186393

Brazil

Editora Dunas

Semiannually

2000

Irregular

2008

ENGINEERING - ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING

Open Signal
Processing Journal,
The

18768253

Netherlands Bentham Open

Figura 1.2: Constancia de indexacin Artculo 1 (segunda pgina)

1.2. Artculo 1

1.2. Artculo 1

July 2011, Volume 5, No. 7 (Serial No. 44), pp. 567-575

Journal of Civil Engineering and Architecture, ISSN 1934-7359, USA

Seismic Safety of RC Framed Buildings Designed

According to Modern Codes
Juan Carlos Vielma1, Barbat Alex2 and Oller Sergio2
1. Department of Structural Engineering, Lisandro Alvarado University, Barquisimeto, Venezuela
2. Depertment of Strength of Materials, Technical University of Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain
Abstract: In order to ensure that a structure does not collapse when subjected to the action of strong ground motions, modern codes
include prescriptions in order to guarantee the ductile behavior of the elements and of the whole structure. Obviously, it would be of
special importance for the designer to know during the design process the extent of damage that the structure will suffer under the
seismic action specified by the design spectrum and also the probability of occurrence of different states of behavior. The incremental
nonlinear static analysis procedure used in this paper allows formulating a new, simplified, seismic damage index and damage
thresholds associated with five limit states. The seismic behavior of a set of regular reinforced concrete buildings designed according to
the EC-2/EC-8 prescriptions for a high seismic hazard level is then studied using the proposed damage index and damage states.
Fragility curves and damage probability matrices corresponding to the performance point are calculated for the studied buildings. The
obtained results show that the collapse damage state is not reached in the buildings designed according to the prescriptions of
EC-2/EC-8 and also that the damage does not exceed the irreparable damage limit state.
Key words: Non linear analysis, limit states, overstrength, ductility, redundancy.

1. Introduction
The main objective in the seismic design is to
produce structures capable to sustain a stable response
under strong motions. Some of the aspects of the
current seismic analysis procedure allow adapting the
non-linear features into the equivalent elastic analysis.
Obviously, the formulation of these characteristics is
an important task in order to obtain a satisfactory
design.
Recent advances and developments in the
computational tools enabled to apply more realistic
analysis to new or existent buildings, taking into
account the main features of the non-linear behavior:
constitutive (plasticity and damage) and geometrical
(large deformations). Non linear analysis has been
used to the assessment of buildings designed
according to specific design codes [1-3]
Corresponding author: Juan Carlos Vielma, professor,
research fields: earthquake engineering, seismic evaluation,
structural safety. E-mail: jcvielma@cimne.upc.edu.

Among the characteristics studied in pass works

some examples can be provided: displacement
ductility, overstrength and behavior factor. The
assessment of these characteristics is possible by
applying deterministic procedures, which consist into
achieve the non-linear response of the structures
submitted to static or dynamic loads. Static non-linear
analysis is done by using a predefined lateral loads
distribution which corresponds to the first mode shape.
Dynamic analysis is applied using a suitable set of
records obtained from strong motion database or from
design
spectrum-compatible
synthesized
accelerograms.
Recently, performance-based design has required
that for the application of a set of limit states. These
limit states are frequently defined by engineering
demand parameters; among the most used are the
interstorey drift, the global drift and the global
damage. Engineering demand parameters define
damage thresholds associated with the limit states, and
these damage thresholds are applied to the calculation

1.2. Artculo 1

568

Seismic Safety of RC Framed Buildings Designed According to Modern Codes

of the fragility curves and the damage probability

matrices, used on the seismic safety assessment of the
buildings.
In this work the seismic safety of the regular framed
buildings is studied, using static and dynamic
non-linear analysis. Static analysis was performed
following pushover procedure and dynamic analysis
was performed following incremental dynamic
analysis (IDA). For this purpose a set of 16 reinforced
concrete framed buildings designed according to EC-2
[4] and EC-8 [5] was selected. The buildings have
plan and elevation regularity. The analysis was
performed using PLCd program [6] which is a
program that allows incorporating the main
characteristics of the reinforcement and confinement
provided to the cross sections of the structure
elements. The results of the non-linear analysis allow
calculating the displacement ductility, overstrength
and behavior factors. The latter factors are compared
with the EC-8 prescribed ones. Finally, with the
damage thresholds obtained from non-linear analysis,
the fragility curves and damage probability matrices
were computed.

factor are the most important; they can be calculated by

applying deterministic procedures based the non-linear
response of the structures subjected to static or
dynamic loads. Although it is difficult to find a method
to obtain the global yield and the ultimate
displacements [7], a simplified procedure is applied in
this work. The non-linear static response obtained via
finite element techniques is used to generate the
idealized bilinear capacity curve shape shown in Fig. 1,
which has a secant segment from the origin to a point
that corresponds to a 75% of the maximum base shear
[8, 9]. The second segment, which represents the
branch of plastic behavior, was obtained by finding the
intersection of the aforementioned segment with
another, horizontal segment which corresponds to the
maximum base shear. The use of this compensation
procedure guarantees that the energies dissipated by the
ideal system and by the modeled one, are equal (Fig. 1).
For a simplified non-linear analysis, there are two
variables that characterize the quality of the seismic
response of buildings. The first is the global ductility ,
defined as

2. Seismic Response Parameters

and calculated based on the values of the yield drift, y,

and of the ultimate drift, u, which are represented in
the idealized capacity curve shown in Fig. 1.

Among the seismic response parameters studied in

past works, global ductility, overstrength and behavior

Fig. 1 Scheme for determining displacement ductility and overstrength.

u
y

(1)

1.2. Artculo 1

569

Seismic Safety of RC Framed Buildings Designed According to Modern Codes

The second variable is the overstrength RR of the

building, which is defined as the ratio of the yielding
base shear, Vy to the design base shear, Vd (Fig. 1).

RR =

Vu
Vy

(2)

3. Non-linear Response
Non-linear incremental static and dynamic analyses
are performed using PLCd finite element code [4, 10,
11]. PLCd is a finite element code that works with two
and three dimensional solid geometries as well as with
prismatic, reduced to one-dimensional members. It
provides a solution combining both numerical
precision and reasonable computational costs [12, 13]
and it can deal with kinematics and material
nonlinearities. It uses various 3-D constitutive laws to
predict the material behavior (elastic, visco-elastic,
damage, damage-plasticity, etc. [14]) with different
yield surfaces to control their evolution (Von-Mises,
Mohr-Coulomb, improved Mohr-Coulomb, DruckerPrager, etc. [15]). Newmarks method [12] is used to
perform the dynamic analysis. A more detailed
description of the code can be found in Refs. [12, 13].
The main numerical features included in the code to
deal with composite materials are: (1) Classical and
serial/parallel mixing theory is used to describe the
behavior of composite components [16]. (2) The
Anisotropy Mapped Space Theory enables the code to
consider materials with a high level of anisotropy,
without the associated numerical problems [17]. (3)
The fiber-matrix debonding, which reduces the
composite strength due to the failure of the
reinforced-matrix interface, is also considered [18].
Experimental evidence shows that inelasticity in
beam elements can be formulated in terms of
cross-sectional quantities [19] and, therefore, the beams
behavior can be described by means of concentrated
models, sometimes called plastic hinge models, which
localize all the inelastic behavior at the ends of the beam
by means of ad-hoc force-displacement or

moment-curvature relationships [20]. But, in the

formulation used in this computer program, the
procedure consists of obtaining the constitutive
relationship at cross-sectional level by integrating on a
selected number of points corresponding to the fibers
directed along the beams axis [21]. Thus, the general
nonlinear constitutive behavior is included in the
geometrically exact nonlinear kinematics formulation
for beams proposed by Simo [22], considering an
intermediate curved reference configuration between the
straight reference beam and the current configuration.
The displacement based method is used for solving the
resulting nonlinear problem. Plane cross sections remain
plane after the deformation of the structure; therefore,
no cross sectional warping is considered, avoiding
including additional warping variables in the
formulation or iterative procedures to obtain corrected
cross sectional strain fields. Thermodynamically
consistent constitutive laws are used in describing the
material behavior for these beam elements, which
allows obtaining a more rational estimation of the
energy dissipated by the structures. The simple mixing
rule for composition of the materials is also considered
in modeling materials for these elements, which are
composed by several simple components.
According to the Mixing Theory, in a structural
element which coexists N different components, all
the components undergo same strain; therefore, strain
compatibility

is

forced

among

the

material

components. Free energy density and dissipation of

the composite are obtained as the weighted sum of the
free

energy

densities

and

dissipation

of

the

components, respectively. Weighting factors Kq are

the

participation

volumetric

fraction

of

each

compounding substance, Kq = Vq/V, which are

obtained as the quotient between the qth component
volume, Vq, and the total volume, V [10-13].
Discretization of frames was performed with finite
elements whose lengths vary depending on the column
and beam zones with special confinement
requirements. These zones are located near the nodes

1.2. Artculo 1

570

Seismic Safety of RC Framed Buildings Designed According to Modern Codes

(seismic load/gravity load).

Frame members are analyzed designed and detailed
following the EC-2 and EC-8 prescriptions for high
ductility class (behavior factor of 5.85). The seismic
demand is established for the soil type B (stiff soil)
and for a peak ground acceleration of 0.3 g.

where the maximum seismic demand is expected, and

are designed according to the general dimensions of
the structural elements, the diameters of the
longitudinal steel, the spans length and the storey
heights. Frame elements are discretized into equal
thickness layers with different composite materials,
characterized by their longitudinal and transversal
reinforcement ratio (Fig. 2). Transverse reinforcement
benefits are included by means of the procedure
proposed by Mander et al. [23]. This procedure
consists in improving the compressive strength of the
concrete depending on the characteristics of the
longitudinal and transversal reinforcement.

4.1 Non-linear Static Analysis

To evaluate the inelastic response of the four
structures, pushover analyses were performed
applying a set of lateral forces corresponding to
seismic actions of the first vibration mode. The lateral
forces are gradually increased starting from zero,
passing through the value which induces the transition
from elastic to plastic behavior and, finally, reaching
the value which corresponds to the ultimate drift (i.e.,
the point at which the structure can no longer sustain
any additional load and collapses). Before the
structure is subjected to the lateral loads simulating
seismic action, it is first subjected to the action of
gravity loads, in agreement with the combinations
applied in the elastic analysis. The method applied
does not allow for evaluation of torsional effects,
being the used model a 2D one.

4. Design of Buildings
A
set
of
regular
reinforced
concrete
moment-resisting framed buildings (MRFB) designed
according to EC-2 and EC-8, characterized by a
variable number of storeys (3, 6, 9 and 12) and spans
(3, 4, 5 and 6) were selected, in order to cover the
short and medium vibration period ranges and also to
take into consideration the structural redundancy.
Inner and outer frames are defined for each building
structure according to the corresponding load ratio

Composite 1
Longitudinal
reinforcement

Composite 2
Composite 3

Transverse
reinforcement

Concrete
Fig. 2

Steel
Reinforcement

Discretization of the RC frames elements.

Ordinary
confined zone

Composite 4
Composite 5
Composite 6

Mechanical
Model

Specially
confined zone
near
beam-column
joint

1.2. Artculo 1

571

Seismic Safety of RC Framed Buildings Designed According to Modern Codes

6
Number of spans
3
4
5
6

5
4
3
2
1
0
3 storey

6 storey

9 storey

12 storey

Number of storeys

Fig. 3 Computed values of the overstrength

redundancy factor of the outer frames.

and

1,2

S. Acc1
S. Acc2
S. Acc3
S. Acc4

S. Acc5
S. Acc6
EC-8 SB Elastic Spectrum

0,8
0,6
0,4
0,2
0
0

0,5

1,5

2,5

3,5

T(s)
Fig. 4 EC-8 soil type B elastic design spectrum and
response spectra.
4

Spectral acceleration Sa (g)

In order to evaluate the dynamic response of the

buildings, IDA (Incremental Dynamic Analysis)
procedure was applied [24], which consists in
performing time-history analyses for actual ground
motion accelerograms or for artificially synthesized
accelerograms scaled in such a way to induce
increasing levels of inelasticity in each new analysis.
A set of six artificial accelerograms, compatible with
the soil type B of EC-8 design spectrum, were
generated. Fig. 4 shows the elastic design spectrum
and the 5% damping response spectra computed from
the set of artificial accelerograms.
Peak accelerations equal to the basic design
acceleration are assumed in the analysis. From this
value, the record is scaled until a plastic response is
reached by the structure; this procedure continues
until achieving the collapse displacement.
For each value of scaled acceleration, a maximum
value of the structural response is calculated. The IDA
curves are obtained by plotting a maximum
characteristic of the severity of the earthquake in
function of a maximum value of the structural response.
In this case, we represented the spectral acceleration for
a 5% damping ratio against the roof drift. The collapse
is reached when the capacity of the structure drops
[25-27]. A usual criterion is to consider that collapse
occurs when the slope of the curve is less than the

Overstrenght & Redundancy Factor

4.2 Non-linear Dynamic Analysis

20% of the elastic slope [24, 27, 28]. Fig. 5 shows the
IDA curves computed for the 3-spans outer frames of
the 3, 6, 9 and 12 storey buildings. Note that the
collapse points of the frames are closer to the values
obtained from the static pushover analysis, validating
the collapse threshold values.

Acceleration (g)

Fig. 3 shows the computed values of the

overstrength for the outer and inner frames of the
studied buildings, plotted in function of the number of
storeys. The results demonstrate clearly that the
influence of the number of spans, equivalent to
consider different numbers of resistant lines, is very
low, except for the case of the 6 storey buildings. For
the other buildings, the overstrength values are closer
to each other. It can be also seen that the computed
values of the combined overstrength factors are
greater than the value which the EC-8 prescribes for
the design of ductile framed buildings.

Capacity curve
IDA Acc_1
IDA Acc_2
IDA Acc_3

IDA Acc_4
IDA Acc_5
IDA Acc_6

Normalized roof drift /H (%)

Fig. 5 IDA curves of the outer frames of the 3 storeys

building.

1.2. Artculo 1

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Seismic Safety of RC Framed Buildings Designed According to Modern Codes

Table 1 summarizes the computed average values

of the collapse points for all the studied cases,
computed by means of the dynamic analysis.
The dynamic analysis is useful to assess the
collapse point of the buildings. For the behaviour
factors q, the following equation has been proposed
[2]:

q=

(3)

ag ( Design yield )

Normalized roof displacement at collapse.

Number of
storeys
3
6
9
12
Table 3

Static analysis
2.51
2.63
2.48
2.35

Computed behaviour factors of the buildings.

Number of
storeys
3
6
9
12

q (Equation)

q (Code)

Ratio

17.40
10.79
15.07
15.12

5.85
5.85
5.85
5.85

2.97
1.84
2.57
2.58

5. Seismic Safety of the Buildings

ag (Collapse )

where ag (Collapse) and ag.(Design yield) are the collapse and

the yield design peak ground acceleration,
respectively. The former is obtained from the IDA
curves and the latter is calculated from the elastic
analysis of the building. Average values of the
computed behaviour factor q of the studied buildings
are show in Table 2; these values correspond to the
dynamic response obtained for the set of six
synthesized accelerograms, and are compared with
behaviour factors prescribed by the design codes.
The computed behaviour factors show that seismic
design performed by using the EC-2 and EC-8 leads to
structures with satisfactory lateral capacity, when they
are subjected to strong motions, regardless of the
building height. The relationship between the
calculated and the prescribed behaviour factors is
close to three for the case of low rise buildings.
Table 1

Table 2

Dynamic analysis
(average)
2.51
2.63
2.62
2.39

Studying the seismic safety of the buildings

designed according to the Eurocodes requires to
define and compute the engineering demand measure
(EDM). It is usual to select the interstorey and the
global drifts as EDM; in this article, the latter was
selected. In order to assess the seismic safety, the
global drifts correspond to the performance point have
been determined as described in the following.
In order to evaluate the non-linear behavior of the
buildings, the performance points, which represent the
maximum drift of an equivalent single degree of
freedom induced by the seismic demand, were
calculated. These points have been determined by
means of the N2 procedure [29]. The values of the
spectral displacements corresponding to the
performance point are shown in Table 3. An important
feature which influences on the non linear response of
the buildings is the ratio between the performance
point displacement and the collapse displacement.
This ratio indicates whether the behaviour of a
structure is ductile or fragile. The lower values
correspond to the 12 storey buildings, which have a
weak-beam strong column failure mechanism.
Damage thresholds are determined using the

Roof drift of performance points of the studied buildings.

Normalized roof drift (%)

Ratio

Number of
storeys

Performance point

Static analysis

Dynamic analysis

Static analysis

Dynamic analysis

0.80

3.02

2.51

0.26

0.32

0.51

2.48

2.63

0.20

0.19

0.39

2.48

2.62

0.16

0.15

12

0.21

2.34

2.39

0.09

0.09

1.2. Artculo 1

11

573

Seismic Safety of RC Framed Buildings Designed According to Modern Codes

five damage states thresholds are defined from both

the interstorey drift curve and the capacity curve. For
VISION 2000 procedure [30], in which they are
expressed in function of interstorey drifts. In this article,
the slight damage state, the roof drift corresponding to
the first plastic hinge is considered. The moderate
damage state corresponds to the roof drift when an
interstorey drift of 1% is reached in almost all the
storeys of the structure. The repairable damage state is
defined by an interstorey drift of 2%. The severe
damage state is identified by a roof drift producing a
2.5% of interstorey drift at each storey of the structure.
Finally, the total damage state (collapse) corresponds
to the ultimate roof displacement obtained from the
capacity curve. Mean values and standard deviation
were computed from the non linear response of the

to note that for frames of the same building,

probabilities vary according to the load ratio (seismic
load/gravity load).
The increasing values of the probabilities that low rise
buildings reach higher damage states, is also an
important feature obtained of the fragility curves; the
collapse of these buildings is associated with the
soft-storey mechanism, as discussed in previous sections.
For example, in the case of the inner frames of the three
storey building, the probability to reach the collapse is
four times higher than in the case of the outer frame of
the same building. In contrast, 6, 9 and 12 storey
buildings show very low probabilities to reach higher
damage states, regardless of the load ratio and of the
span number. For these buildings, the predominant
damage states are non-damage and slight damage.
1

varying the number of spans from 3 to 6 [31].

Fragility curves are obtained by using the spectral
displacements determined for the damage thresholds
and considering a lognormal probability density
function for the spectral displacements which define
the damage states [32-34]

F ( Sd ) =

1
ds S d

S
1 1
exp[ ( ln d )] (4)
2

S
2
d , ds
ds

where Sd,ds is the mean value of spectral displacement

FD=Prob.(ED> edi/Sd=Sdi)

buildings with the same geometry and structural type,

The conditional probability P(Sd) of reaching or

exceeding a particular damage state ds, given the
spectral displacement Sd, is defined as
s

P ( S d ) = F ( S d )dS d
0

(5)

Fig. 6 shows the fragility curves calculated for the

outer frames of the four different heights of buildings
considered in the analysis.
Fig. 7 shows the damage probability matrices
calculated for the performance point achieved for the
outer and inner frames, respectively. It is important

0,7

SL

0,6

0,5

0,4

ND: No damage
SL: Slight
R: Repairable
E: Extensive
ST: Stability
C: Collapse

ST

0,3
0,2

0,1
0

0,03

0,06

0,09

0,12

0,15

0,18

0,21

0,24

0,27

0,3

Spectral displacement Sd (m)

Fig. 6

Fragility curves of 3 storeys building.

1
0,9

Exceedance Probability

logarithm of spectral displacement for damage state ds.

ND

0,8

for which the building reaches damage state threshold

ds and ds is the standard deviation of the natural

0,9

0,8
0,7

Limit State
No damage
Extensive
Slight
Stability
Repairable
Collapse

0,6
0,5
0,4
0,3
0,2
0,1
0
3 storey

6 storey

9 storey

Number of storeys

12 storey

Fig. 7 Damage probability matrices obtained from outer

frames.

6. Conclusions
The proposed objective damage index predicts

1.2. Artculo 1

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Seismic Safety of RC Framed Buildings Designed According to Modern Codes

574

adequately the state of damage that is achieved by the

frames

for

specific

seismic

demand

value

[2]

(displacement of the performance point).

The Incremental Dynamic Analysis is useful in

[3]

order to assess the collapse threshold of the frames.

Dynamic results confirm the values obtained from
pushover analysis. The dynamic analysis is also

[4]

suitably to evaluate the behaviour factor q.

In general, the reinforced concrete framed buildings

[5]

designed according to the Eurocodes for a high

ductility class show adequate ductility behaviour, as it

[6]

is evidenced by the global ductility values and the

ratio between the performance point and the ultimate

[7]

displacement. They also exhibit adequate values of

overstrength, which are greater than the code
prescribed value (overstrength = 1.5). Behaviour

[8]

factors computed from dynamic analysis are also

adequate and reach twice the code values. No

[9]

influence of the structural redundancy was detected in

the procedure applied to evaluate such factors.

[10]

The nonlinear response of the buildings depends on

the load ratio between the seismic and gravity loads;
the inner frames, which are designed for lower load

[11]

ratios have lower overstrength values. Consequently,

the seismic safety of the different frames is influenced

[12]

by this ratio.
Medium height buildings (6, 9 and 12 storey)
exhibit a failure mechanism associated with the

[13]

conceptual design objective of designing structures

with weak-beam and strong column. The interstorey
drifts of the low rise building show that the damage is

[14]

concentrated into the ground level, where the

interstorey drift reached a value greater than 8%.
Mid-rise buildings show more uniform values of the

[15]

interstorey drifts and their values are lower than 4%.

These results evidenced that the low-rise building

[16]

collapse corresponds to soft-story mechanism.

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