Effects of Material Strength on Structural Performance of Damaged RC Buildings

Abstract

The first defect was related with concrete for RC buildings that damaged after an earthquake. In this study, effects of concrete class on structural performance of reinforced concrete building have been investigated. Çeltiksuyu School building that has collapsed after 2003 Bingöl earthquake was selected to obtain realistic results. Calculations have been made for each concrete class which was selected as C8, C16, C20, C25 and C30. Pushover analyses were used for both direction of selected building. As a result, structural behaviour of RC buildings with different concrete classes is compared and evaluated according to analysis results in detail. The displacement and internal forces obtained from results of analysis is investigated comparatively. The results show that base shear of building was increased according to increasing concrete strength. The increasing in base shear has increased the amount of peak displacement in the structure. As a result, it cannot be said that the concrete strength is so effective. The main issue here is whether the concrete has been produced according to technical specifications or not. The reason for this is lack of control, workmanship and material defects.