Comparative study on retrofitting strategies for residential buildings after earthquakes

During earthquakes, the performance of structures needs to be evaluated, which provides guidance for selecting suitable retrofitting schemes. The purpose of this paper is to accomplish seismic assessment of a simple steel residential building. Once the responses of the system are determined, the scope of the study extends to evaluate selected retrofitting strategies that are intended to rehabilitate the flaws of the structure under prescribed ground motions with high probability of occurrence at the site. After implementing the retrofits, seismic assessment of the upgraded structure is carried out to check if the remediation at various seismic performance levels is acquired or not. Outcomes obtained from retrofitted scenarios are compared to the results obtained from the initial un-retrofitted configuration of the structure. This paper presents the process for optimal selection of rehabilitation solutions considering the cost of implementation, downtime and disruption to property owners while improving the seismic performance level of the structure.