Dynamic Collapse Simulation of RC Building Frames under Extreme Earthquake Loadings

Dynamic Collapse Simulation of RC Building Frames under Extreme Earthquake Loadings

Following the 2004 dynamic collapse tests of low-ductility RC portal frames, NCREE has moved one step further to gain insight into both flexural and flexural-shear failure modes through international collaborations with PEER Center(USA) and the University of British Columbia(Canada). A total of 4 single-story-3-bay RC frames and 2 ductile portal frames was tested in 2005 using near-fault records from the 1999 Chi-Chi Taiwan earthquake to collect structural characteristics in the vicinity of shear failure and post-peak behavior in gravity load collapse. OpenSee was employed as the analysis testbed to compare pros and cons of different numerical models. It was observed that the current strength estimate formulae are able to predict the general structural behavior before incipient shear failure within engineering accuracy, but further research is required in the near future to comprehensively capture post-peak structural behavior and, thereby empirical formulae can be made available to practicing engineers.