Scientific Perspectives to Earthquake Resistant Design of RC Buildings—A Global Approach

Earthquakes are the concerned actions for which basic science and mathematics have contributed to form scientific principles for the structural design of built infrastructure. The seismic micro-zonation for hazard estimation generates the demand level for design. Element level damages and testing suggest the stress-strain relationships relevant to behavior and performance estimates. Chord rotation limits define the performance of individual elements in a building as suggested by ASCE-41, TEC07 and EC8. However, curvature limits are a better indicator of ductility and performance in the system. Plastic deformations at the structure level give the overall picture of planning a building structure and overall performance under multiple events. The risk to a particular level of an earthquake depends on the design methods, detailing and cost implications. Thus, design resiliency is an important aspect of mitigating earthquake hazards. The design principles that bring resilience to buildings are evaluated for India, as 65% of the country is susceptible to strong earthquakes. In this paper, a 15-story building is designed using seismic design codes ACI08, IS1893, EC8 and TEC07. The performance of the designed building is evaluated using relevant time history records available in India. It is found that the design of buildings as per EC8 and TEC07 gives better performance and more control while designing structures for earthquakes. Also, the design tools that support performance estimation based on structural testing help to give accurate performance results. This study brings out the gap between anticipated performance and obtained performance in the Indian context.