Seismic behaviour of limited ductility buildings

Abstract

The most important aspects of the seismic design and behaviour of reinforced concrete buildings with limited ductility, like the buildings with waffled slabs or flat beams, are examined in this work. The structures with these typologies are the most used in Spain for new buildings and many seismic codes do not recommend their use in seismic areas. The expected seismic performance of these structures is studied herein by means of incremental non linear structural analysis (pushover analysis) which provides capacity curves. Their behaviour is compared with that of buildings with moment resisting frames designed according to the Spanish EHE and NCSE-02 codes and also to the ACI-318 (2005) and IBC-2003. The most important results of the study show that only the moment-resisting framed buildings exhibit sufficient ductility and overstrength to guarantee a stable seismic behaviour. The behaviour of limited ductility buildings is strongly influenced by the structural type; even if they are reinforced with ductile steel or if their confinement if improved, they exhibit slightly higher ductility.

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