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Seismic Assessment and Retrofit of Reinforced Concrete Structures

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A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Civil Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (25 March 2022) | Viewed by 35537

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Prof. Dr. Pier Paolo Rossi

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Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture, University of Catania, 95123 Catania, Italy
Interests: seismic analysis, design, and retrofitting of steel or reinforced concrete buildings; seismic design of bridges; numerical modeling of steel and reinforced concrete members; seismic behavior of in-plan and in-elevation irregular buildings; strength verification/design of reinforced concrete members subjected to combined axial force; bending moment and shear force
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Prof. Dr. Melina Bosco

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Guest Editor

Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture, University of Catania, 95123 Catania, Italy
Interests: seismic analysis, design, and retrofitting of steel or reinforced concrete buildings; seismic behavior of in-plan and in-elevation irregular buildings; numerical modeling of steel and reinforced concrete members
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue is open to all kinds of advances and novel applications related to reinforced concrete or prestressed concrete structures in seismic areas. Papers can focus on laboratory tests and numerical modeling of members subjected to cyclic actions as well as on the seismic analysis and assessment of single members, subassembleges or complex structures. The structures considered can be the result of modern or old structural codes and subjected to damage from climatic actions, e.g., to corrosion of longitudinal and transverse reinforcements. The results of the numerical analyses can be elaborated in compliance with deterministic or probabilistic analysis to evaluate the seismic vulnerability, risk or resilience of structures. Particularly welcome are research studies on the seismic retrofitting of structures by means of traditional or innovative methods and loss assessment because of earthquake ground motions.

Prof. Pier Paolo Rossi
Dr. Melina Bosco
Guest Editors

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Keywords

reinforced concrete
prestressed concrete
laboratory tests
numerical modeling
seismic assessment
seismic retrofit

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Published Papers (12 papers)

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Editorial

Jump to: Research

3 pages, 167 KiB

Open AccessEditorial

Seismic Assessment and Retrofitting of Reinforced Concrete Structures

by Melina Bosco and Pier Paolo Rossi

Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(14), 7280; https://doi.org/10.3390/app12147280 - 20 Jul 2022

Viewed by 1967

Abstract

Many constructions are globally built with reinforced or prestressed concrete and a large part of them are designed or expected to resist earthquake actions in addition to gravity loads [...] Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Seismic Assessment and Retrofit of Reinforced Concrete Structures)

Research

Jump to: Editorial

16 pages, 2814 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Seismic Rehabilitation of Abandoned RC Industrial Buildings: The Case Study of a Former Tobacco Factory in the District of Avellino (Italy)

by Antonio Formisano and Ylenia Messineo

Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(11), 5705; https://doi.org/10.3390/app12115705 - 3 Jun 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2086

Abstract

In Italy, the interest in the industrial areas dates back to 1970, when industry began to be considered as identity and memory of the population, until 1990, when industrial constructions became cultural and historical goods. This interest was also justified by the necessity to recover these often-abandoned sites through structural and seismic interventions. For this purpose, the cataloguing of the different industrial buildings in Italy was made by the Italian Consortium ReLUIS “Network of Seismic Engineering University Laboratories”, through the “Cartis Long Spans” form, to obtain indications on the seismic vulnerability of this built heritage. In the current paper, the seismic analysis and the combined seismic–energy retrofit of a former reinforced concrete tobacco factory in Cervinara, within the district of Avellino (Italy), were carried out. This work proposes a seismic retrofit intervention of the examined structure, erected at the end of the 1960s, based on the use of steel exoskeletons. The proposed intervention can be seen as a novel strategy for requalification of industrial buildings, as well as for regeneration and restoration of the value of industrial areas. It was shown that these devices allow a considerable increase of the seismic safety indices, which attain values significantly greater than 1, to reach the building retrofitting. Subsequently, a photovoltaic plant using high-efficiency panels is proposed to provide the entire hub’s energy requirement. It was found that the annual production/square meterage of the building is between 20% and 60% lower than that of school and office buildings. As a whole, the analysis results demonstrated that exoskeletons are an effective intervention to improve the seismic features of the studied industrial building without neglecting architectural quality, sustainability, and environmental issues. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Seismic Assessment and Retrofit of Reinforced Concrete Structures)

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23 pages, 15595 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Application of Genetic Algorithm to Optimize Location of BRB for Reinforced Concrete Frame with Curtailed Shear Wall

by Taufiq Ilham Maulana, Patricia Angelica de Fatima Fonseca and Taiki Saito

Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(5), 2423; https://doi.org/10.3390/app12052423 - 25 Feb 2022

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2065

Abstract

The shear walls are essential seismic elements to increase buildings bearing capacity against earthquakes. In mid- and high-rise buildings, shear walls are subjected to predominant bending deformation under earthquakes, and the responses in upper floors increase. In order to utilize the shear walls appropriately, previous studies proposed to install shear walls until a certain building level, referred to as the curtailed wall. However, the upper frame structure without shear walls suffered significant deformation during earthquakes compared to the lower stories. Therefore, the objective of this study is to present structural configuration for buildings with curtailed shear walls by installing buckling-restrained braces (BRBs) in the upper frame to reduce its deformation under earthquakes. Firstly, the analysis accuracy was verified by simulating the experimental results of four sets of scaled frames with curtailed walls tested on a shaking table. Then, ten- and twenty-story plane frames with the different heights of curtailed walls were created, and their nonlinear responses to earthquake ground motions were evaluated. The genetic algorithm was applied to establish the optimum BRB locations to satisfy the design criteria. It was proved that using BRBs at specific locations in upper frames can significantly improve the seismic response of buildings with curtailed walls. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Seismic Assessment and Retrofit of Reinforced Concrete Structures)

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20 pages, 6041 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Assessment of Different Retrofitting Methods on Structural Performance of RC Buildings against Progressive Collapse

by Barham Haidar Ali, Esra Mete Güneyisi and Mohammad Bigonah

Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(3), 1045; https://doi.org/10.3390/app12031045 - 20 Jan 2022

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3227

Abstract

Progressive collapse refers to the spread of primary local damages within the structure. Following such damages due to removing one or more load-bearing columns, the failure spreads in a chain and causes structural failure. This study represents a report investigating the influence of various retrofitting methods on the progressive collapse resistance of multistorey reinforced concrete (RC) structures. To this end, eight different cases were considered. The first one included a thirteen-story RC moment-resisting frame (bare frame), while the others were frames upgraded with the application of X-brace, diagonal brace, inverted V-brace, the viscous damper in the central bay, viscous damper in two inner bays, viscous damper only in certain stories and carbon fiber reinforced polymer. Moreover, three different column removal scenarios were considered as a column failure at stories one, six, and thirteen of each case study structure. The analysis results indicated that the redistribution of loads after the column’s failure and the RC buildings’ collapse resistance was increased depending mainly on the type of approach used for upgrading the bare frame. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Seismic Assessment and Retrofit of Reinforced Concrete Structures)

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18 pages, 9456 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Numerical Assessment of an Innovative RC-Framed Skin for Seismic Retrofit Intervention on Existing Buildings

by Diego Alejandro Talledo, Irene Rocca, Luca Pozza, Marco Savoia and Anna Saetta

Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(21), 9835; https://doi.org/10.3390/app11219835 - 21 Oct 2021

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1760

Abstract

The seismic safety of existing building stock has become a very critical issue in recent years, mainly in earthquake-prone South Europe where most of the buildings were designed before the enforcement of seismic standards. Therefore, the concept, development and testing of efficient and cost-effective seismic retrofitting technologies are nowadays strongly needed, both for the society and for the scientific community. This study deals with the seismic assessment of a new RC-framed skin for retrofit intervention of existing buildings, evaluated through nonlinear static (pushover) analyses. A preliminary description of the proposed technology is provided, then numerical modeling of a typical RC existing building before and after retrofitting intervention is performed within the OpenSees framework. The results revealed that the proposed retrofitting technology improves the seismic performance of the RC building, also modifying the failure mode from a brittle soft-story mechanism to a more ductile one. The presented study, dedicated to the structural aspects of the system, is part of the TIMESAFE research project, where the thermo-hygrometric and acoustic performances achievable by the proposed RC-framed skin are also investigated. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Seismic Assessment and Retrofit of Reinforced Concrete Structures)

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41 pages, 29877 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Application of Mode-Adaptive Bidirectional Pushover Analysis to an Irregular Reinforced Concrete Building Retrofitted via Base Isolation

by Kenji Fujii and Takumi Masuda

Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(21), 9829; https://doi.org/10.3390/app11219829 - 21 Oct 2021

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2493

Abstract

In this article, the applicability of mode-adaptive bidirectional pushover analysis (MABPA) to base-isolated irregular buildings was evaluated. The point of the updated MABPA is that the peaks of the first and second modal responses are predicted considering the energy balance during a half cycle of the structural response. In the numerical examples, the main building of the former Uto City Hall, which was severely damaged in the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake, was investigated as a case study for the retrofitting of an irregular reinforced concrete building using the base-isolation technique. The comparisons between the predicted peak response by MABPA and nonlinear time-history analysis results showed that the peak relative displacement can be properly predicted by MABPA. The results also showed that the performance of the retrofitted building models was satisfactory for the ground motion considered in this study, including the recorded motions in the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Seismic Assessment and Retrofit of Reinforced Concrete Structures)

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22 pages, 7101 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Modelling Strategies for the Numerical Simulation of the Behaviour of Corroded RC Columns under Cyclic Loads

by Filippo Molaioni, Fabio Di Carlo and Zila Rinaldi

Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(20), 9761; https://doi.org/10.3390/app11209761 - 19 Oct 2021

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2388

Abstract

Rebars corrosion phenomena can modify the structural behaviour of reinforced concrete (RC) members and consequently the seismic performance of RC structures. Since many existing RC structures are affected by this phenomenon, the influence of the reinforcement corrosion on the seismic performance is still under examination, especially when the corrosive attack is localized in the dissipative areas of the plastic hinges. In this work, the effect of localized corrosion is numerically investigated, through the adoption of a suitable finite element model, object of validation with the outcomes of an experimental campaign carried out in the Laboratory of the University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, on un-corroded and corroded RC columns subjected to axial load and cyclic horizontal actions. Particular attention has been paid to the definition of the three-dimensional model and to the modelling of the corroded rebars and their corrosion morphology. Indeed, different modelling strategies are proposed with the aim to properly simulate the cyclic behaviour of the corroded columns. The main results show how more refined strategies taking into account the morphological aspects of the corrosion phenomenon produce a better fit with the experimental results for both Damage Control and Life Safety limit states performance. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Seismic Assessment and Retrofit of Reinforced Concrete Structures)

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18 pages, 46302 KiB

Open AccessArticle

3D FEA of Infilled RC Framed Structures Protected by Seismic Joints and FRP Jackets

by Theodoros Rousakis, Vachan Vanian, Theodora Fanaradelli and Evgenia Anagnostou

Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(14), 6403; https://doi.org/10.3390/app11146403 - 11 Jul 2021

Cited by 15 | Viewed by 2859

Abstract

This study focused on characteristic cases of recently tested real-scale RC framed wall infilled structures with innovative seismic protection through polyurethane joints (PUFJ) or polyurethane-impregnated fiber grids (FRPU). The frames revealed a highly ductile response while preventing infill collapse. Herein, suitable 3D pseudo-dynamic FE models were developed in order to reproduce the experimental results. The advanced Explicit Dynamics framework may help reveal the unique features of the considered interventions. Externally applied double-sided FRPU jackets on OrthoBlock infills may maintain an adequate bond with the surrounding RC frame as well as with the brick infill substrate at up to a 3.6% drift. In a weak four-column RC structure, the OrthoBlock infills with PUFJ seismic joints may increase the initial stiffness remarkably, increase the base shear by three times (compared with the bare structure) and maintain a high horizontal drift of 3.7%. After this phase, the structure may receive FRPU retrofitting, reveal the redistribution of stress over broad infill regions, including predamaged parts, and still develop a higher initial stiffness and base shear (compared with the bare RC). The realization of a desirable ductile behavior of infilled frames through PUFJ of only 20 mm thickness, as well as through FRPU jacketing, may remarkably broaden the alternatives in seismic protection against the collapse of structures. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Seismic Assessment and Retrofit of Reinforced Concrete Structures)

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15 pages, 4482 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Cyclic Tests and Numerical Analyses on Bolt-Connected Precast Reinforced Concrete Deep Beams

by Jing Li, Lizhong Jiang, Hong Zheng, Liqiang Jiang and Lingyu Zhou

Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(12), 5356; https://doi.org/10.3390/app11125356 - 9 Jun 2021

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2144

Abstract

A bolt-connected precast reinforced concrete deep beam (RDB) is proposed as a lateral resisting component that can be used in frame structures to resist seismic loads. RDB can be installed in the steel frame by connecting to the frame beam with only high-strength bolts, which is different from the commonly used cast-in-place RC walls. Two 1/3 scaled specimens with different height-to-length ratios were tested to obtain their seismic performance. The finite element method is used to model the seismic behavior of the test specimens, and parametric analyses are conducted to study the effect on the height-to-length ratio, the strength of the concrete and the height-to-thickness ratio of RDBs. The experimental and numerical results show that the RDB with a low height-to-length ratio exhibited a shear–bending failure mode, while the RDB with a high height-to-length ratio failed with a shear-dominated failure mode. By comparing the RDB with a height-to-length ratio of 2.0, the ultimate capacity, initial stiffness and ductility of the RDB with a height-to-length ratio of 0.75 increased by 277%, 429% and 141%, respectively. It was found that the seismic performance of frame structures could be effectively adjusted by changing the height-to-length ratio and length-to-thickness of the RDB. The RDB is a desirable lateral-resisting component for existing and new frame buildings. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Seismic Assessment and Retrofit of Reinforced Concrete Structures)

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20 pages, 4579 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Strengthening Design of RC Columns with Direct Fastening Steel Jackets

by Zhiwei Shan, Lijie Chen, Kun Liang, Ray Kai Leung Su and Zhaodong Xu

Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(8), 3649; https://doi.org/10.3390/app11083649 - 18 Apr 2021

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3637

Abstract

For non-seismically designed columns with insufficient strength and flexural stiffness, intense inter-story drift can be incurred during a strong earthquake event, potentially leading to the collapse of the entire building. Existing strengthening methods mainly focus on enhancing axial or flexural strength but not the flexural stiffness of columns. In response, a novel direct fastening steel jackets that can increase both flexural strength and stiffness is introduced. This novel strengthening method features straightforward installation and swift strengthening as direct fastening is used to connect steel plates together to form a steel jacketed column. This new connection method can quickly and stably connect two steel components together by driving high strength fasteners into them. In this paper, the design procedure of RC columns strengthened with this novel strengthening method is originally proposed, which includes five steps: (1) estimating lateral load capacity of damaged RC columns; (2) determining connection spacing of steel jacket; (3) estimating the lateral load capacity of strengthened RC column; (4) evaluating the axial load ratio (ALR) of strengthened RC columns; and (5) estimating effective stiffness of strengthened RC columns. Lastly, an example is presented to illustrate the application of the proposed design procedure. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Seismic Assessment and Retrofit of Reinforced Concrete Structures)

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17 pages, 9410 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Flexural Behavior of Reinforced Concrete Beams Retrofitted with Modularized Steel Plates

by Min Sook Kim and Young Hak Lee

Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(5), 2348; https://doi.org/10.3390/app11052348 - 6 Mar 2021

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 6206

Abstract

Many structural retrofitting methods tend to only focus on how to improve the strength and ductility of structural members. It is necessary for developing retrofitting strategy to consider not only upgrading the capacity but also achieving rapid and economical construction. In this paper, a new retrofitting details and technique is proposed to improve structural capacity and constructability for retrofitting reinforced concrete beams. The components of retrofitting are prefabricated, and the components are quickly assembled using bolts and chemical anchors on site. The details of modularized steel plates for retrofitting have been chosen based on the finite element analysis. To evaluate the structural performance of concrete beams retrofitted with the proposed details, five concrete beams with and without retrofitting were tested. The proposed retrofitting method significantly increased both the maximum load capacity and ductility of reinforced concrete beams. The test results showed that the flexural performance of the existing reinforced concrete beams increased by 3 times, the ductility by 2.5 times, and the energy dissipation capacity by 7 times. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Seismic Assessment and Retrofit of Reinforced Concrete Structures)

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23 pages, 4354 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Evaluation of the Seismic Retrofitting of Mainshock-Damaged Reinforced Concrete Frame Structure Using Steel Braces with Soft Steel Dampers

by Fujian Yang, Guoxin Wang and Mingxin Li

Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(2), 841; https://doi.org/10.3390/app11020841 - 18 Jan 2021

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2669

Abstract

Most reinforced concrete (RC) frames would exhibit different degrees of damage after mainshock excitations, and these mainshock-damaged RC (MD-RC) frames are highly vulnerable to severe damage or even complete collapse under aftershock excitations. In the present study, the effectiveness of utilizing soft steel damper (SSD) as a passive energy dissipation device for seismic retrofitting of MD-RC frame under aftershock actions was investigated. A common three-story RC frame in the rural area was employed and a numerical evaluation framework of retrofitting analysis of the MD-RC frame was also proposed. Based on proposed evaluation framework, nonlinear dynamic time history analysis of the MD-RC frame with and without retrofitting schemes was conducted to evaluate the retrofit effect of the retrofitting schemes on the MD-RC frame. The results revealed that the retrofitting schemes could effectively improve the natural vibration characteristics of the MD-RC frame, especially the first-order natural frequency with a maximum increase of nearly four times. The retrofit effect of the MD-RC frame under pulse-like aftershocks is better than non-pulse-like aftershocks and the retrofit effect of minor damage MD-RC frame is slightly better than that of severe damage. In addition, only retrofitting the bottom story of MD-RC frame might cause aggravate structural damage. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Seismic Assessment and Retrofit of Reinforced Concrete Structures)

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