NONLINEAR SEISMIC ANALYSIS OF REINFORCED CONCRETE BUILDINGS

THE PROPOSED RESEARCH IS CONCERNED WITH THE DEVELOPMENT OF IMPROVED METHODS FOR THE DYNAMIC NONLINEAR SEISMIC ANALYSIS OF REINFORCED CONCRETE (RC) HIGH-RISE BUILDINGS. THE RESEARCH WILL CONCENTRATE ON DEVELOPING AN IMPROVED FORMULATION FOR THE MATERIAL NONLINEAR RESPONSE OF THE VARIOUS STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS USED IN RC CONSTRUCTION. THIS NEW FORMULATION WILL THEN BE INCORPORATED INTO A PC BASED COMPUTER PROGRAM. BENCHMARK ANALYSIS WILL BE PERFORMED TO INVESTIGATE THE ACCURACY AND EFFICIENCY OF THE FORMULATION. STRUCTURES TO BE ANALYZED WILL INCLUDE AN ACTUAL, AS-BUILT, RC HIGH-RISE BUILDING. IMPROVED INSIGHT INTO CONVENTIONAL METHODS OF SEISMIC ANALYSIS OF RC BUILDINGS AND INTO THE DESIGN OF CONTERMEASURES TO MITIGATE DAMAGE BECAUSE OF SEISMIC EVENTS ARE ADDITIONAL BENEFITS IMPLICIT IN THE PROPOSED RESEARCH.