Performance of mid-rise reinforced concrete buildings during recent earthquakes in Turkey

Over the past two decades Turkey has been hit by several moderate to large earthquakes that resulted in significant loss of life and property. Remarkable number of casualties and heavily damaged or collapsed buildings has emphasized inadequate seismic performance of multistory reinforced concrete buildings, typically three to eight stories in height. The aim of this study is to evaluate the seismic performance of the mid-rise reinforced concrete buildings which are major part of building stock. In performance evaluation, destructive earthquakes over the past two decades have been taken into consideration. Fourteen 4- and 7-story buildings are selected to reflect existing construction practice, including structural irregularities. Capacity curve of each building was obtained by pushover analysis. Then, their seismic displacement demands were determined using nonlinear time history analysis under selected ground motions. The inelastic dynamic characteristics were represented by equivalent single-degree-of-freedom systems. Seismic performance evaluation is carried out per recently published 2007 Turkish Earthquake Code