Simulation and analysis of damage progression in a mid-rise RC building during and earthquake

A five-story reinforced concrete building severely damaged during the Mw 5.1, May 11th 2011, Lorca earthquake (Murcia, Spain), has been monitored with an interferometric radar and has been numerically modelled with the aim to study the evolution of the structural damage. An initial non-damaged and a final damaged configuration of the building after the earthquake have been modelled first. Radar measurements helped to calibrate the models. Four intermediate models, with damage configurations representing four steps of cumulative damage of the building facing the earthquake, have been built based on the information related to the building seismic damage included in a technical report. The objectives were to obtain calibrated numerical models, to perform a modal analysis, to calculate the capacity curve, and to study the evolution of the natural periods and the strength capacity of the building within each damage configuration representing the incremental damage process. Results show that a growth of 20% in the values of natural periods and reductions of 50% in the capacity lead the building over the severe damage state threshold. The interferometric radar is a suitable remote sensing technique to identify, in a rapid screening, the natural periods of mid and tall damaged buildings.
This research has been partially funded by the Spanish Research Agency (AEI) of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MICIN) through project with reference: PID2020-117374RB-I00/AEI/10.13039/501100011033, and by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) of the European Union (EU) through project with reference EFA158/16/POCRISC (INTERREG/POCTEFA. EU). Esteban Cabrera, sponsored by the University of Azuay (UDA), obtained a scholarship from the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology, SENESCYT, Government of Ecuador, for doctoral studies in the Earthquake Engineering program at UPC-Barcelona-Tech. Yeudy F. Vargas-Alzate has been granted an Individual Fellowship (IF) in the research grants program of the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) of the European Union/European (H2020-MSCA-IF-2017) No 799553.
Postprint (published version)