Estimation of the Seismic Damage Potential of RC Frames Using Seismic Parameters.

This research investigated the relation between the main earthquake parameters by incorporating information about ground motions and the difference in the fundamental period. This difference in the fundamental period is one method of assessing structural damage because it can express potential damage from an earthquake. Three RC (3-, 9- and 12-story) frames have been analyzed under far-fault earthquake records using nonlinear dynamic analysis. Mathematical methods then were applied to assess the correlation between the difference in the fundamental period and the principle seismic parameters of PGA, a RMS , I a , I c , A95, ASI and VSI that have been extracted from the records. The best correlations as calculated by the Pearson correlation coefficient values were between I a , I c and VSI and the difference in the fundamental period. The Pearson coefficients for I a and I c were between 0.621 and 0.767, which signifies a strong correlation. Regression equations indicated new parameters ( I c VS ) with even higher Pearson coefficients of 0.757–0.782 between every parameter and the difference in the fundamental period. The very strong correlation between the newly achieved parameters and the fundamental period indicates that they are appropriate indices for estimating potential structural damage from an earthquake. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]