Seismic Assessment of Existing R.C. Public Buildings in Turkey – An Overview with a Case Study

Abstract

The recent devastating earthquakes have exposed the vulnerability of the existing public buildings in Turkey. A great part of these reinforced concrete buildings has been designed considering earlier codes when seismic loads were not required or the design was at lower level of seismic loads of what is currently specified. In Turkey, template designs developed by the General Directorate of Construction Affairs are used for many of the buildings intended for governmental services (administrative centers, hospitals, schools, etc.) as prevalent practice to save on architectural fees and ensure quality control. The need for evaluating the seismic adequacy of these public buildings has come into focus following the enormous loss of life and property during the recent earthquakes.
This paper aims to evaluate the seismic performance of a public building with the selected template design in Turkey considering the nonlinear behavior of reinforced concrete members. For the building addressed in this paper, material properties are based on field investigation on government public buildings in western part of Turkey. Seismic performance evaluation will be carried out in accordance with the recently published Turkish Earthquake Code-2007 that has many similarities with FEMA 356 guidelines.
Capacity curves of investigated building will be determined by nonlinear static analysis. The effects of material quality on seismic performance of this public building will be investigated. In conclusion, different possible deficiencies and solutions to improve template design building will be discussed. This study gives an in depth sight into to the rehabilitation of public buildings in Turkey.