Damage In Reinforced Concrete Frame Buildings Of 5 Or More Floors In The City Of Portoviejo Including Soil-Structure Interaction

Abstract

The city of Portoviejo is the capital of the province of Manabí in the coastal region, adjacent to the Pacific Ocean, of Ecuador in South America. This is a region of very high seismic activity and characterized by the presence of soft soils. This study focused on reinforced concrete frame structures of 5 levels or more due to their significant impact during the April 16, 2016 earthquake. It is presumed that structural damages were amplified by soil-structure interaction effects. Initially, a rapid visual evaluation was employed according to the FEMA P-154 method. Then, several analyses were conducted, including non-linear static analysis on a characteristic structure. Finally, the use of BRB (buckling-restrained braces) was proposed as a reinforcement alternative for structures with a high vulnerability index. With the structural reinforcement of a model, a superior resistance of 140% was achieved, obtaining very favorable results in terms of structural behavior. In this case, soil-structure interaction takes little relevance since its shear resistance is very similar, except for displacements that are increased by up to 25%. Despite reducing the dimension of the BRBs, the behavior of a structure incorporating steel frames only achieves 25% greater resistance and 35% greater displacement in the best cases.