Analysis of Low and Medium Rise Reinforced Concrete (RC) Buildings for Low Risk Earthquake Zone with Emphasis on Framed Structure

Authors

  • Jeffrey C.L. Chiang
  • Zhi Xuan Lim

Abstract

The majority of the Malaysian population do not associate Malaysia with earthquakes and seismic activity, hence, most of the reinforced concrete buildings had been designed in accordance to the previous British code of practice BS 8110, which has been phased out in UK since 2010.  In Malaysia now, all RC building structures are to be designed to Eurocode 2 or EN1992. Although Malaysia is not located within any active seismic fault zone, some parts of the country do experience far-field earthquake effects from Sumatra Island, East of Indonesia. After having experienced the 2004 Aceh earthquake where some highrise building structures swayed substantially, the public raised some concerns about the integrity of the existing highrise buildings in Peninsular Malaysia to resist far-field earthquake tremors. In addition to Eurocode 2, Malaysia has also released the National Annex to Eurocode 8 or NA to MS EN1998, which is the European standards for seismic design now been adopted by Malaysia.  Hence, the cost of construction according to seismic design may have a major economical impact on the Malaysia’s local construction industry. In the interest of public safety and awareness, this research develops a detailed structural performance evaluation for typical RC low and medium rise buildings in Malaysia. At the same time, the difference in material resource usage between seismic design and non-seismic design is investigated. It is observed that the inter-storey drift ratio and the weight of steel reinforcement used in design is strongly influenced by the intensity of peak ground acceleration, agR and the corresponding structural behaviour factor, q.

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Published

2019-12-12

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Section

Articles