GRAVITY LOAD-DESIGNED REINFORCED-CONCRETE BUILDINGS .2. EVALUATION OFDETAILING ENHANCEMENTS

The seismic performance of a reinforced concrete (RC) building designe d primarily for gravity loads was presented in the first part of this investigative study. Since the source of most of the structural damage is attributed to nonseismic details in the beam-column joint area, ii was decided to examine the effects of improving these details in a ma rginal way, so that the seismic performance could be enhanced without resorting to a full seismic design. An extensive parametric study of t he original buildings with refined detailing characteristics is carrie d out to ascertain effectiveness of the techniques to improve seismic resistance of gravity load-designed buildings. The important feature o f the study is that the buildings are not redesigned for lateral force s, but only that detailing in critical regions is altered to achieve i mproved performance. This study may also be viewed indirectly as an in quiry into the effectiveness of retrofit strategies, should they be co nsidered in real practice. The investigation also includes a cost eval uation of the various detailing schemes.