Assessment of seismic strengthening solutions for existing low-rise RC buildings in Nepal

Hemchandra Chaulagain, Hugo Rodrigues, Enrico Spacone and Humberto Varum

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to analytically investigate the effectiveness of different strengthening solutions in upgrading the seismic performance of existing reinforced concrete (RC) buildings in Nepal. For this, four building models with different structural configurations and detailing were considered. Three possible rehabilitation solutions were studied, namely: (a) RC shear wall, (b) steel bracing, and (c) RC jacketing for all of the studied buildings. A numerical analysis was conducted with adaptive pushover and dynamic time history analysis. Seismic performance enhancement of the studied buildings was evaluated in terms of demand capacity ratio of the RC elements, capacity curve, inter-storey drift, energy dissipation capacity and moment curvature demand of the structures. Finally, the seismic safety assessment was performed based on standard drift limits, showing that retrofitting solutions significantly improved the seismic performance of existing buildings in Nepal.

Key Words

RC buildings; non-linear analysis; retrofitting; shear wall; steel bracings; RC jacketing

Address

Hemchandra Chaulagain: Civil Engineering Department, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal Hemchandra Chaulagain: Oxford College of Engineering and Management, Gaindakot, Nawalparashi, Nepal Hugo Rodrigues: School of Technology and Management, Polytechnic Institute of Leiria, Leiria, Portugal Enrico Spacone: University of Chieti-Pescara, Department PRICOS - Architettura, 65127 Pescara, Italy Humberto Varum: Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal

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