Collapse Indicators for Existing Nonductile Concrete Frame Buildings with Varying Column and Frame Characteristics

Published

August 17, 2017

Author(s)

Siamak Sattar, Abbie B. Liel

Abstract

Many existing reinforced concrete moment frame buildings in high seismic regions around the world, including the U.S., were built without adequate seismic detailing requirements. Identifying the level of collapse criticality of these buildings in terms of a set of quantitative parameters, known as collapse indicators, can facilitate efficient identification and classification of particularly collapse-prone buildings. This paper investigates three collapse indicators: (1) the column-to-beam strength ratio, (2) the ratio of lateral (shear) strengths in adjacent stories, and (3) the ratio of column flexural to shear strength. Each collapse indicator is varied in an idealized building, and nonlinear simulation models are dynamically analyzed for a suite of ground motion to quantify the collapse performance. For flexural failures, i.e. those associated with column yielding and weak story mechanisms, the significance (i.e. magnitude) of the deficiency is important, but the distribution or location of the deficiency does not significantly affect response. However, when shear failure modes dominate, the location of shear critical columns, as well as the degree of shear criticality, are critical. The results also show how these observations can be used to define efficient collapse indicators.

Citation

Engineering Structures

Pub Type

Journals

Keywords

Collapse indicator, Concrete buildings, Nonductile

Citation

Sattar, S. and Liel, A. (2017), Collapse Indicators for Existing Nonductile Concrete Frame Buildings with Varying Column and Frame Characteristics, Engineering Structures (Accessed October 11, 2025)