SIMPLIFIED PERFORMANCE BASED DESIGN PROCEDURE OF WALL BUILDINGS

Buildings with reinforced concrete structural walls are frequently used. Wall-to-floor ratio (at least in one direction) is usually high and although these walls were typically lightly reinforced with simple reinforcement details, such structures exhibited well behavior during previous earthquakes. Nevertheless, their analysis is usually very complicated and time consuming at which end we find out that following minimum requirements were enough in the first place. The basic goal of this research was to simplify design of structural wall buildings by distinguishing between the domains where simple or no calculations are required and where more precise calculations are required. The derived procedure makes calculation simpler, establishes the minimum material requests that correspond closer to reality and enable building of safer and less expensive structural wall buildings. The desired performance levels correspond to demand and ideally this procedure involves a minimum of design effort. In order to establish this procedure, a parametric study has been done. The varied parameters included maximum ground accelerations, number of stories, wall-to-floor ratio and wall length and width. A set of model wall building structures were chosen and designed according to the EC8 code. Their nonlinear response to a set of ground motions was analyzed. Calculated nonlinear response – performance was correlated with model geometric and material parameters. The benefits of such methodology will be in fundamentally improved understanding of the seismic performance of buildings. Also, it should enhance the options for building owners in the management of seismic risk in an effective and efficient way.