Keywords: performance evaluation, 1989 Albanian seismic code, pushover analysis, SAP2000.

During the last two decades, seismic codes in many European countries have been revised and updated after destructive earthquakes [1]. The Albanian seismic code (KTP-89) [2] is expected to undergo a revision in a near future after the implementation of the adoption to Eurocode norms. However, many existing Albanian reinforced concrete buildings are designed according to this code provisions.

Being a country surrounded with seismically active regions, there is a potential risk for existing reinforced concrete buildings in Albania. The need for a simple and rapid evaluation of existing reinforced concrete building stock is of growing concern to the engineering community [1]. As a result of insufficient lateral load capacity and inadequate deformation capacity of the old buildings, recent earthquakes have caused severe damage to these structures. Performance assessment of the current building stock and estimates their response are vital for decisions regarding the rehabilitation of deficient buildings. Performance based assessment procedures [3,4,5] are commonly accepted as a practical approach to evaluate the seismic capacity of structures.

The study, described in this paper, conducted a seismic performance evaluation for an eight storey reinforced concrete structure representative of late 1990s construction in Albania. Using the same plan area and structural configurations, another imaginary building is designed according to Eurocode 8 and 2 [6,7] standards to make a comparison between the current code and Eurocode regulations. The performance of the existing building is compared with the EC8 code designed building. The structural response is evaluated using pushover analysis with the commercial software SAP2000 [8].

The performance of an existing reinforced concrete residential building from Albania is evaluated and compared with the performance of the same structure designed according to the EC8 seismic provisions. The inadequacies in detailing are incorporated in the model in the form of moment-rotation properties for the structural elements. The ATC-40 criteria were used to evaluate the seismic performance of the case study buildings. The results of the analysis showed that the performance of the existing building is not satisfactory as a result of the low lateral strength capacity and high drift state demands. The building designed to EC8 code provisions performed satisfactorily. The pushover analysis results indicated a desirable plastic hinge distribution at failure.

1

I. Frangu, H. Bilgin H., "Evaluation of seismic analysis procedures for seismic actions: A Comparative study between Eurocode 8 and KTP-89", International Students' Conference of Civil Engineering, ISCCE 2012, Epoka University, Tirana, Albania, 10-11 May 2012.

2

Albanian seismic code regulations, KTP-89/Version 1989, "KTP-89 Kushtet teknike te projektimit per ndertimet ne zona sizmike", 1989. (In Albanian)

3

Applied Technology Council, ATC-40, "Seismic Evaluation and Retrofit of Concrete Buildings", Volume 1-2, Redwood City, California, 1996.

4

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), "Prestandard and Commentary for the Seismic Rehabilitation of Buildings", FEMA-356, 2000.

5

Fema440, "Improvement of Nonlinear Seismic Analysis Procedures", Applied Technology Council, ATC55, 2005.

6

European Committee for Standardization, "Eurodoce 8: Design of Structures for Earthquake Resistance. Part 3: Strengthening and Repair of Buildings - Final", Eurocode 8, Brussels, 2005.

7

Eurocode 2, "Design of concrete structures".

8

SAP2000, "Nonlinear Version Structural Analysis Program", Computers and Structures, Inc.

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