Analytical vulnerability assessment of the moderately damaged RC building stock after 1998 Ceyhan, Turkey EQ

Taking 145 lives and causing extensive damages to structures, 1998 Ceyhan earthquake occurred on June 27 with M_sc 6.2 in the southern province Adana of Turkey hitting major districts and their vicinities. Most of the observed structural damages were assessed in traditional rural buildings, however many recently built multi-story residential buildings and industrial facilities also suffered from heavy damages or even collapsed. This study is an attempt to investigate a building stock consisting of 22 low -to mid-rise reinforced concrete buildings which experienced moderate damage during this shake. These buildings have been inspected and their detailed site investigations had been conducted by ITU-Building and Earthquake Application and Research Center. In order to perform an analytical study for this building ensemble, nonlinear dynamic and static analyses are carried out utilizing DRAIN-2DX computer program. A set of artificial ground motions is employed during the analyses and the demand parameters in terms of different structural response parameters are obtained. Finally, evaluations are performed in order to designate the boundaries for moderate damage grading in terms of specific structural demand parameters and figure out the failure mechanism of the investigated moderately damaged buildings.