Seismic resilience of retrofitted reinforced concrete buildings

Abstract

The fundamentals of the seismic resilience and evaluation method are presented. The evaluation is based on a non-dimensional analytical function for loss variation and a linear recovery function for a community in an average state of preparedness within a specified ‘recovery period’. The loss function is a normalized function where the drop of functionality right after the extreme event. The formulated framework, applied for a complex system of six hospitals (considering direct and indirect losses), is employed for low and medium-rise retrofitted reinforced concrete buildings in which the seismic performance has been evaluated by the displacement-based design method. Although this type of design prevents loss of people life it cannot maintain functionality or limit damages. A newly developed Resilience-Based Earthquake Design is promising to address these demands. This research shows that the FRP retrofit is more effective than steel bracing in terms of improving performance and ductility in low-rise RC buildings and the measuring seismic resilience shows an enhanced value as opposed to the un-retrofitted structure.