Seismic performance of wide-beam infill-joist block RC frames in Turkey

Abstract

Observations after the 2011 Van-Erciş earthquake show that some of the recently constructed reinforced-concrete buildings were either heavily damaged or had collapsed. As a building subtype, wide-beam, infill-joist block reinforced-concrete frames got attention because of their mode of failure. There were several such buildings that failed in strong-column, weak-beam mode. Considering the demand created by the earthquake, structures were not expected to reach their full capacity. The purpose of this study is to review the history and current practice of infill-joist frames in Turkey and to conduct a performance evaluation of infill-joist frames designed per the current earthquake code (2007). Regulations for this building subtype are critically reviewed, and the designer's response to code regulations is discussed. Results indicate that the force-based design approach used in the current code is not always adequate to satisfy the displacement demands. In addition, it is observed that layout, proportioning, and detailing requirements of beam-end regions and beam-column connections do not always warrant ductile behavior as targeted.