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OBSERVATIONSONTHEBEHAVIOROFREINFORCEDCONCRETE

BUILDINGSDURINGEARTHQUAKES
ByJ.P.MoehleandS.A.Mahin
StructuralEngineering,MechanicsandMaterialsDepartment,UniversityofCaliforniaBerkeley
Note:ThetextofthisarticlefirstappearedintheAmericanConcreteInstitutepublicationSP127,
EarthquakeResistantConcreteStructuresInelasticResponseandDesign,(S.K.Ghosh,editor)in1991.
ItisrepublishedhereforeducationalpurposesbykindpermissionoftheauthorsandtheACI.

INTRODUCTION
Observationsontheperformanceofstructuresduringstrongearthquakeshaveservedasanageold
meansofeducatingbuildersonproperandimproperconstructionofearthquakeloadresistingsystems.In
regionsthathavelongbeeninhabited,andthataresubjectedtorelativelyfrequentstronggroundshaking,
designprocedureshaveevolvedthatresultinrelativelygoodperformanceofengineeredstructures.
Althoughsuchdesignproceduresarenotuniversallyapplicablebecauseofregionaldifferencesin
constructionstyles,structuralengineerscanlearnmuchbystudyingsuchprocedures.Thestructural
engineercanalsodrawuponabroaddatabaseofengineeringobservationsthathavebeenreported
systematicallyfollowingrecentearthquakes.Itistheobjectiveofthispapertohighlightsomeofthe
observationsastheyapplytodesignofreinforcedconcretestructures.

GENERALPERFORMANCEOBSERVATIONS
Thedamagingpotentialofstrongearthquakesiswellknownandisacceptedasanunderlyingpremiseby
mostdesigncodes.Forexample,theSeismologyCommitteeoftheStructuralEngineersAssociationof
California(SEAOC)adoptsthephilosophythatstructuraldamageisacceptableduringtherare
earthquakebutthatcollapseisnotacceptableinanyevent(1).Thus,anengineershouldnotbesurprised
ifbuildingsdesignedaccordingtotheSEAOCrecommendedlateralforceprovisionsexhibitstructural
damagefollowingasevereearthquake.However,anobservationofperformancethatsuggeststhe
possibilityofincipientcollapseiscertainlynoteworthy.Fromsuchobservationscanbegleanedlessons
onconstructiontobeavoided.
Observationsongoodperformancesofbuildingsarealsonoteworthy,astheyprovidelessonson
desirablestructuralsystems.Wearefortunatethatmostengineeredbuildingshaveperformedwellduring
recentearthquakes.Still,withinthisseaofsuccesses,weasobserversarepronetofocusonthefew
failures.Aneffortwillbemadeinthefollowingtopresentobservationsongoodstructuralperformances
whereappropriate.
Thesubjectivenatureofobservationsofearthquakeperformanceshouldbeimmediatelyclear.Inmost
instances,observationsmustbedrawnfromincompletelydocumentedperformancesofbuildingswith
uncertainstructuralcharacteristicsandsubjectedtounknownearthquakemotions.Conclusionsthatare
drawnfromsuchobservationsaredubious.Severalsystematicstudiesofearthquakeperformancehave
beenundertaken(2,3,4,5,6,7,8).Thesecanprovideconclusionsofgreatersubstance,andwillbecited
wherepossibleinthefollowing.

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