Earthquake performance of collapsed school building under Van-Tabanli (Mw=7.2) earthquake

Abstract

A majority of the present building stock of Turkey is under seismic risk. It is believed that a significant proportion of the existing structures will either collapse or will get heavily damaged during a possible strong earthquake. With this respect, as an initial stage in the betterment of the structurally deficient building stock, assessment of existing buildings is of vital importance. From this viewpoint, in this study, earthquake performance of a collapsed school building was investigated through numerical performance analysis based on codified rules. At the end of 2011, numerous ground motions of various intensities have been registered in city of Van in eastern Turkey starting from 23 October 2011. Two major earthquakes were experienced at the Tabanli and Edremit district of Van. The moment magnitudes of these earthquakes were announced as 7.2 and 5.6, respectively. The investigated school building in this study was located in the city of Van and collapsed after first major earthquake (Mw=7.2). Structural details of the load-bearing members of the investigated building including as-built drawings and specified material properties were obtained. Based on obtained data, a numerical model was created to simulate the behavior of the building under code specified earthquake effects. Earthquake performance assessment of the structure was carried based on the recommendations given in the related chapter of the Turkish Seismic Code. Pushover analyses were performed and expected member by member damage levels and overall structural damage were determined in accordance with Turkish Seismic Code. The results are discussed to enlighten the actual cause of the collapse.

Farklı Dolgu Duvar Malzemesine Sahip Binaların Deprem Davranışının İncelenmesi

“…In this context, it is thought that a significant part of the existing structures will probably collapse or be severely damaged during a strong earthquake. Literature studies also support this fact [9], [10]. Turkey, one of the most seismically active countries of the world in terms of its geological features, is situated on an active area surrounded by active faults [11].…”

Seismic load tests on exterior beam-column connections of existing RC structures

“…When a structure is located in a non-seismic zone and designed for gravity loads only, the design check for joints might be not critical and, thus, it is usually not performed. However, catastrophic failures related to joints were reported in past earthquakes, especially in several recent earthquakes registered in Turkey [3][4][5]. The beamcolumn joint undergoes serious stiffness and strength degradation when subjected to earthquake loads.…”