Comparison of Seismic Performance of a RC Frame Building before and after the Wenchuan Earthquake in Sichuan Province

Abstract

The Wenchuan earthquake that occurred in China in 2008 caused extensive damage and loss of life and property. Comparison of the vulnerabilities between former and current reinforced concrete (RC) frame structures after the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake was performed in order to minimize of future losses in the paper. A formal representative type of damaged RC frame building in Wenchuan County was studied by nonlinear finite element method (FEM). Probabilistic seismic demand models (PSDM) for RC frame structures was built to assess the safety levels of the former and the current RC frame buildings. The fragility curves for immediate occupancy (IO), significant damage (SD), and collapse prevention (CP) damage levels of the two RC frame buildings were compared and analyzed. The result indicates the safety levels of the current RC frame building are well improved compared to the former RC frame building before the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake in China.