Fragility analysis of low-rise masonry in-filled reinforced concrete buildings by a coefficient-based spectral acceleration method

Abstract

This study presents a seismic fragility analysis of low-rise masonry in-filled (MI) reinforced concrete (RC) buildings using a proposed coefficient-based spectral acceleration method. The coefficient-based method, without requiring any complicated finite element analysis, is a simplified procedure for assessing the spectral acceleration demand (or capacity) of buildings subjected to earthquakes. This paper begins with a calibration of the proposed coefficient-based method for low-rise MI RC buildings using published experimental results obtained from shaking table tests. Spectral acceleration-based fragility curves for low-rise MI RC buildings under various inter-story drift limits are then constructed using the calibrated coefficient-based method. A comparison of the experimental and estimated results indicates that the simplified coefficient-based method can provide good approximations of the spectral accelerations at peak loads of low-rise MI RC buildings, if a proper set of drift-related factors and initial fundamental periods of structures are used. Moreover, the fragility curves constructed using the coefficient-based method can provide a satisfactory vulnerability evaluation for low-rise MI RC buildings under a given performance level. © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.