Assessment of Seismic Collapse Risk for Old Reinforced Concrete Building According to Seismic Design Categories

Abstract

Reinforced concrete buildings designed before adoption of modern seismic codes are vulnerable to earthquakes. In FEMA P695 (2009), it is suggested that the probability of collapse due to Maximum Considered Earthquake (MCE) ground motions be limited to 10%. The objective of this study is to identify the damage potential of old reinforced concrete building in different seismic categories by evaluating collapse probabilities. FEMA P695 (2009) is used to estimate the collapse probabilities. For this purpose, three story office building designed with gravity loads is used. It is shown that in seismic design category the probability of collapse was less than 10%, and in other design categories the probabilities of collapse were exceeding 10%.