Seismic fragility analysis of RC frame-core wall buildings under the combined vertical and horizontal ground motions

This study strives to highlight the importance of considering the vertical ground motions (VGM) in the seismic evaluation of RC buildings. To this aim, IDA (Incremental Dynamic Analysis) is conducted on three code-based designed high-rise RC frame-core wall buildings using a suite of earthquake records comprising of significant VGMs. To unravel the significance of the VGM inclusion on the performance of the buildings, IDAs are conducted in two states (with and without the vertical component), and subsequently based on each analysis, fragility curves are developed. Non-simulated collapse criteria are used to determine the collapse state drift ratio and the area under the velocity spectrum (SIm) is taken into account as the intensity measure. The outcome of this study delineates that the inclusion of VGM leads to the increase in the collapse vulnerability of the structures as well as to the change in the pattern of inter-story drifts and failure mode of the buildings. The results suggested that it would be more conservative if the VGM is included in the seismic assessment and the fragility analysis of RC buildings.