Evaluation of the seismic behavior factor of reinforced concrete frame structures base on nonlinear inelastic methods

Abstract

In the current perspective of seismic-resistant design, design standards employ the seismic behavior factor to take into account the inelastic deformation capacity of structural components in the calculation. This factor allows a designer to use a linear elastic force-based design method while preserving the consideration of the nonlinear behavior and the deformation limit of structures. This paper focuses on estimating the values of the seismic behavior factor for reinforced concrete frames according to the Vietnamese national standard TCVN 9386:2012 and using the pushover analysis method to investigate the applicability and accuracy of the behavior factor specified in the standard. Accordingly, the 3-storey, 6-storey, and 9-storey building structure models are selected for analysis using the pushover analysis method, the seismic behavior factor is determined based on the nonlinear curve of shear force and displacement of structural responses. The results show that TCVN 9386: 2012 proposed a significantly lower factor than the values calculated by the pushover analysis method. Further, using the same value of seismic behavior factor for different structures does not accurately reflect the inelastic deformation capacity of the structures.

Keywords: Seismic behaviour factor; reinforced concrete structure; confined concrete; nonlinear static pushover analysis; nonlinear dynamic analysis.