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Collapse Modelling of Soft-Storey Buildings

The overall aim of this project is to investigate the seismic displacement demand and drift capacity of soft storey buildings such that the gravity load carrying capacity of the individual ground floor columns is not compromised. Current design guidelines indicate that such buildings are a significant seismic risk, although investigations carried out by the CIs using newly developed displacement based principles suggest the buildings could be satisfactory in regions of low to moderate seismicity.

Progress has been made on: (i) Modelling force-displacement relationships and displacement capacity of reinforced concrete soft-storey columns using both analytical and experimental approaches (ii) Modelling displacement demand behaviour taken into account strength degradation, P-D effects and torsion.

kentledgedisplacement

Four lightly reinforced concrete columns with non-ductile detailing have been tested to evaluate the strength and displacement capacity and compare with current code and industry guidelines.

Extensive parametric studies have been carried out on models representing soft-storey buildings to study their inelastic behaviour when subject to ground shaking which is characterised by displacement controlled behaviour. The significant beneficial effects of translational and torsional inertia have been confirmed by the analyses. In addition, confirmatory shaker-table testing of specimens representing single and three-degree-of-freedom systems have been undertaken to support the findings from the analytical studies.

A team of 3 PhD students working under this project was sent to Sichuan China to collect valuable information from the field in areas subject to moderate shaking.

20 refereed technical papers (10 journal + 10 conference) have been published or accepted for publication under this project to date.

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Funding sources

ARC Discovery Grant [DP0772088 (2007-2010)]

Contact

Name
Prof John Wilson
Department
Director CSI
Telephone
+61 3 9214 4882
E-Mail
jwilson@swin.edu.au

Key project team members

Swinburne University of Technology

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