Comparison of Modeling Strategies to Capture Component Level Damage in Non-ductile Reinforced Concrete Buildings

摘要

There are many finite element modeling (FEM) techniques used in practice and research to interpret behavior and gather responses of structures subjected to earthquake excitations. The application of particular FEM techniques in a structure typically depends on the engineering demand parameters (EDPs) or structural responses of interest, along with other considerations regarding computational effort and level of fidelity required. A non-ductile reinforced concrete (RC) building may suffer from many design deficiencies when located in a seismically active region. In this paper, a localized shear and joint model are chosen to incorporate into the FEM in order to gather global, intermediate, and local EDPs that correlate with observed areas of concern in non-ductile RC buildings. Four numerical model combinations are developed to perform a probabilistic seismic demand analysis on the gathered EDPs. Based upon the results of these simulations, a new uncertainty value (σ_(fem)) is established to reflect the uncertainty introduced by adopting different types of numerical models. The σ_(fem) addresses an uncertainty that exists from assuming more simplified models of structural behavior, and allows researchers and industry to idealize numerical models for analysis while still reflecting this uncertainty.