• Computers and Concrete
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.921-933
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• 2015

The aim of this study is to determine the earthquake performances of reinforced concrete (R/C) residential buildings in Turkey and to analyze the parameters that affect the performance. The performance of Turkish residential buildings, determined by their levels of damage, directly relates to their structural systems. Damage parameters observed from previous earthquakes define structural parameters selected to be used in the present study. Five different types of frame R/C buildings were modeled. For the analysis, the model buildings vary according to the number of stories, column sizes, and reinforcement and concrete strength parameters. The analyses consider gravity forces and earthquake loads through 1975 and 2007 Turkish design codes. In a total of 720 different R/C buildings were investigated for the analysis to obtain capacity curves. A performance evaluation was employed by considering the Turkish design code (TDC-2007). The current study ignores irregularities such as soft stories or short columns. The study's analysis considers a comparison of the parameters' influence on the structural performance of the model buildings.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.83 no.2
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• pp.195-206
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• 2022

Significant structural damages due to earthquakes reveal the importance of seismic design provisions. This paper presents a comparison between the seismic design provisions of Albania, Croatia, Iran, and Turkey for the design of mid-rise reinforced-concrete (RC) frames. Information on the historical development of the considered provisions are given. The code provisions are compared, illustrating the main differences in the minimum requirements for column and beam detailing and analysis for mid-rise RC frames. 4-story, 5-story, and 6-story buildings are designed according to each design code, and their performance is evaluated comparatively by using a displacement-based adaptive pushover procedure and eigenvalue analysis. It is observed that recent Turkish code has the highest and Albanian code has the lowest level of requirements in terms of member size and reinforcement detailing. The considered models indicate 15%, 20% and 50%, lower period values than the Croatia, Iran and Albania buildings, respectively. Additionally, building models per Croatia, Iran and Albania codes have 30%, 35% and 65% less base shear capacity when compared to Turkish building codes. Building models per Croatia and Iran codes indicate similar properties both in terms of strength and stiffness.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.69 no.3
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• pp.293-306
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• 2019

In current seismic design codes, various elastic design acceleration spectra are defined considering different seismological and soil characteristics and are widely used tool for calculation of seismic loads acting on structures. Response spectrum analyses directly use the elastic design acceleration spectra whereas time history analyses use acceleration records of earthquakes whose acceleration spectra fit the design spectra of seismic codes. Due to the fact that obtaining coherent structural response quantities with the seismic design code considerations is a desired circumstance in dynamic analyses, the response spectra of earthquake records used in time history analyses had better fit to the design acceleration spectra of seismic codes. This paper evaluates structural response distributions of multi-story reinforced concrete frames obtained from nonlinear time history analyses which are performed by using the scaled earthquake records compatible with various elastic design spectra. Time domain scaling procedure is used while processing the response spectrum of real accelerograms to fit the design acceleration spectra. The elastic acceleration design spectra of Turkish Seismic Design Code 2007, Uniform Building Code 1997 and Eurocode 8 are considered as target spectra in the scaling procedure. Soil classes in different seismic codes are appropriately matched up with each other according to $V_{S30}$ values. The maximum roof displacements and the total base shears of considered frame structures are determined from nonlinear time history analyses using the scaled earthquake records and the results are presented by graphs and tables. Coherent structural response quantities reflecting the influence of elastic design spectra of various seismic codes are obtained.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.84 no.1
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• pp.85-100
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• 2022

The updated Turkish Building Earthquake Code has been significantly renovated and expanded compared to previous seismic design codes. The use of earthquake ground motion levels with different probabilities of exceedance is one of the major advances in structural mechanics with the current code. This study aims to investigate the earthquake performance of steel structure in settlements with different seismic hazards for various earthquake ground motion levels. It is focused on earthquake and structural parameters for four different ground motion levels with different probabilities of exceedance calculated according to the location of the structure by the updated Turkish Hazard Map. For this purpose, each of the seven different geographical regions of Turkey which has the same seismic zone in the previous earthquake hazard map has been considered. Earthquake parameters, horizontal design elastic spectra obtained and comparisons were made for all different ground motion levels for the seven different locations, respectively. Structural analyzes for a sample steel structure were carried out using pushover analysis by using the obtained design spectra. It has been determined that the different ground motion levels significantly affect the expected target displacements of the structure for performance criteria. It is noted that the different locations of the same earthquake zone in the previous code with the same earthquake-building parameters show significant variations due to the micro zoning properties of the updated seismic design code. In addition, the main innovations of the updated code were discussed.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.355-365
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• 2024

TECSolverApp is an application that calculates the total equivalent seismic load (base shear) and shows the design spectra in accordance with the Turkish Earthquake Code (TEC). TECSolverApp software can present the spectral acceleration-period graph and the base shear (in terms of unit building weight) in MATLAB and .NET Core frameworks according to TEC 2007 and TEC 2018. In the software, three different building period evaluation options were provided, as entering the period directly, empirical calculation, and using the period calculation formula. In different period calculation scenarios, particular design input parameters such as site-specific spectral acceleration coefficients, local soil class, building importance coefficient, and structural system behavior coefficient are expected. TECSolverApp was produced in two different programming languages and published in MATLAB App Designer and ASP.NET Core MVC environments. To be shared in MATLAB App Designer, it was aimed at availability through the program and distributability as a desktop application. By deploying in ASP.NET Core MVC, open-source cross-platform coding and web-based accessibility were targeted. One of the strongest aspects of TECSolverApp is its developability thanks to software architecture. In this respect, it can be foreseen that other international seismic codes can be added to the calculations in the future.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.83 no.4
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• pp.563-576
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• 2022

This study aimed to evaluate the progressive collapse potential of buildings designed using conventional design codes for the merchant occupancy classification and subjected to a sudden column failure. For this purpose, three reinforced concrete buildings having different story numbers were designed according to the seismic design recommendations of TSCB-2019. Later on, the buildings were analyzed using the GSA-2016 and UFC 4-023-03 to observe their progressive collapse responses. Three columns were removed independently in the structures from different locations. Nonlinear dynamic analysis method for the alternate path direct design approach was implemented for the design evaluation. The plasticity of the structural members was simulated by using nonlinear fiber hinges. The moment, axial, and shear force interaction on the hinges was considered by the Modified Compression Field Theory. Moreover, an existing experimental study investigating the progressive collapse behavior of reinforced concrete structures was used to observe the validation of nonlinear fiber hinges and the applied analysis methodology. The study results deduce that a limited local collapse disproportionately more extensive than the initial failure was experienced on the buildings designed according to TSCB-2019. The mercantile structures designed according to current seismic codes require additional direct design considerations to improve their progressive collapse resistance against the risk of a sudden column loss.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.85 no.1
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• pp.55-64
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• 2023

Energy-based seismic design and evaluation methods are promising to be involved in the next generation design codes. Accordingly, determining the distribution of earthquake input energy demand among floor levels is quite imperative in order to develop an energy-based seismic design procedure. In this paper, peak floor input energy demands are achieved from relative input energy response histories of several reinforced concrete (RC) frames. A set of 22 horizontal acceleration histories selected from recorded near-fault earthquakes and scaled in time domain to be compatible with the elastic acceleration design spectra of Turkish Seismic Design Code are used in time history analyses. The distribution of the computed input energy per mass values and the arithmetic means through the height of the considered RC frames are presented as a result. It is found that spatial distribution of input energy per mass is highly affected by the number of stories. Very practical yet consistent formulation of distributing the total input energy to story levels is achieved, as a most important contribution of the study.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.267-276
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• 2014

Wharfs are essential to shipping and support very large gravity loads on both a short-term and long-term basis which cause quite large seismic internal forces. Therefore, these structures are vulnerable to seismic activities. As they are supported on vertical and/or batter piles, soil-pile interaction effects under earthquake events have a great importance in seismic resistance which is not yet fully understood. Seismic design codes have become more stringent and suggest the use of new design methods, such as Performance Based Design principles. According to Turkish Code for Coastal and Port Structures (TCCS 2008), the interaction between soil and pile should somehow be considered in the nonlinear analysis in an accurate manner. This study aims to explore the lateral load carrying capacity of recently designed wharf structures considering soil-pile interaction effects for different soil conditions. For this purpose, nonlinear structure analysis according to TCCS (2008) has been performed comparing simplified and detailed modeling results.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.401-414
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• 2014

The economic consequences of large earthquakes require a revolutionary change in the seismic performance objective of residential and commercial buildings. The majority of total construction costs consist of non-structural and architectural costs. Therefore, the aim of this research is to upgrade current Life Safety performance objectives and to offset adverse effects on country's economy after an occurrence of large earthquakes. However, such a proposal cannot easily prove the feasibility of cost-benefit analysis in structural design. In this paper, six generic reinforced concrete frames and dual system structures designed based on Turkish Seismic Code were used in cost analysis. The study reveals that load bearing structural systems with Immediate Occupancy performance level in seismic zones can be achieved with negligible costs.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.199-208
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• 2023

Seismic performance analysis is one of the fundamental steps in the design of new or retrofitting buildings. In the seismic performance analysis, the adapted spectral acceleration curve for a given site mainly governs the seismic behavior of buildings. Since every soil site (class) has a different impact on the spectral accelerations of input motions, different spectral acceleration curves have to be involved for every soil class that the building is located on top of. Modern seismic design codes (e.g., Eurocode 8, EC8, or Turkish Building Earthquake Code, TBEC) provide design response spectra for all the soil classes to be used in the building design or retrofitting. This research aims to evaluate the EC8 and TBEC based design response spectra using the spectra of real earthquake input motions that occurred (and were recorded at only soil classes A, B and C, no recording is available at soil class D) in a specific area in Turkey. It also conducts response spectrum analyses of 5, 10 and 13 floor reinforced concrete building models under EC8, TBEC and actual spectral response curves. The results indicate that the EC8 and especially TBEC given design response spectra cannot be able to represent the mean actual spectral acceleration curves at soil classes A, B and C. This is particularly observed at periods higher than 0.3 s, 0.42 s and 0.55 s for the TBEC design response spectra, 0.54 s, 0.65 s and 0.84 s for the EC8 design response spectra at soil classes A, B and C, respectively. This is also reflected to the shear forces of three building models, as actual spectral acceleration curves lead to the highest shear forces, followed by the shear forces obtained from EC8 and, then, the TBEC design response spectra.