Studying the Park-Ang damage index of reinforced concrete structures based on equivalent sinusoidal waves

In this research, the vulnerability of some reinforced concrete frames with different stories are studied based on the Park-Ang Damage Index. The damages of the frames are investigated under various earthquakes with nonlinear dynamic analysis in IDARC software. By examining the most important characteristics of earthquake parameters, the damage index and vulnerability of these frames are investigated in this software. The intensity of Erias, velocity spectral intensity (VSI) and peak ground velocity (PGV) had the highest correlation, and root mean square of displacement (Drms) had the lowest correlation coefficient among the parameters. Then, the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm was used, and the sinusoidal waves were equivalent to the used earthquakes according to the most influential parameters above. The damage index equivalent to these waves is estimated using nonlinear dynamics analysis. The comparison between the damages caused by earthquakes and equivalent sinusoidal waves is done too. The generations of sinusoidal waves equivalent to different earthquakes are generalized in some reinforced concrete frames. The equivalent sinusoidal wave method was exact enough because the greatest difference between the results of the main and artificial accelerator damage index was about 5 percent. Also sinusoidal waves were more consistent with the damage indices of the structures compared to the earthquake parameters.