Performance-based seismic rehabilitation of existing steel eccentric braced buildings in near fault ground motions

摘要

The devastating effects observed in the recent earthquakes, in terms of loss of lives as well as immediate and long-term economic losses, have prompted the need to provide documents concerning the assessment and improvement of the structural performance of existing buildings at the time of an earthquake. In this regard, performance engineering is defined as performance-based seismic design and rehabilitation. There are many reasons for rehabilitation of existing buildings. Changing the building's usage is one of the most common reasons. In the present study, the residential steel buildings were subject to performance-based rehabilitation, converting to educational use. Several steel frames with dual lateral-resistant systems (MRF–EBF) and different numbers of stories were initially designed as residential buildings. The frames were rehabilitated according to the current seismic rehabilitation codes and regulations. Cover plates were used to strengthen structural elements. Variations in structural responses were evaluated before and after retrofitting by the use of nonlinear analysis. Moreover, the performance of rehabilitated structures was evaluated, considering the gross features observed in near-field records. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.