Global Seismic Fragility Functions for Low-Rise RC Frames with Construction Deficiencies

Shake table tests were performed on three two-story 1 : 3 reduced scale RC frame structures, representative of buildings with construction deficiencies in Pakistan. The models were subjected to the natural accelerogram of the 1994 Northridge earthquake and tested under multiple scaled excitations until the models attained incipient collapse state. The models’ damage mechanisms were studied, and the seismic response in terms of floor acceleration and floor displacement was retrieved. A uniform damage scale was developed for global performance assessment of considered deficient RC frames, listing average estimate of limit states’ drifts and base shear coefficients, with measured uncertainty, and describing frame damage condition. Numerical frame models were prepared in finite element-based program SeismoStruct and calibrated against experimental tests. The frames were analyzed through incremental dynamic analyses. Seismic fragility functions were derived using a probabilistic-based methodology, which may be used for global damageability assessment of the considered frame building typology. Available building damage-to-loss factors were employed to transform structural damages to repair cost ratio, which were correlated with seismic intensity (repair cost ratio versus seismic intensity) to derive the seismic vulnerability curve, which may be used for the direct economic loss estimation of the considered frame building typology.