Reliability Analysis of Response-Controlled Buildings Using Fragility Curves

Abstract

The number of buildings with passive control systems is steadily growing worldwide. For this reason, this study focuses on the reliability analysis of these systems employing fragility curves. The structural performance evaluation is obtained for a 10-story steel building with two different sections (trimmed and conventional). The trimmed section of the building was evaluated with hysteresis and oil dampers, while the conventional section of the building was evaluated without damper. The fragility curves were obtained from the incremental dynamic analysis using 20 ground motion records. Spectral acceleration response at the fundamental period of the building was considered and used as the intensity measure for the ground motion records. The maximum inter-story drift ratio of the building was employed as the damage measure. In addition, the seismic energy absorption rate was compared between hysteresis and oil dampers. As a result, hysteresis dampers were found to be more effective for high ground motion intensities. On the other hand, the oil damper dissipates energy immediately, even for low ground motion intensities. Furthermore, the combination of different types of dampers improved the seismic performance of the trimmed section of the building to almost the same level as the conventional section of the building. Eventually, a combination of hysteresis and oil dampers in a building is suggested to improve structural performance.