Performance Assessment for a Reinforced Concrete Frame Building

Abstract

This paper evaluates the performance of a seven-story reinforced concrete frame building that was severely damaged during the 1994 Northridge, California, earthquake. The building was designed and constructed in the 1960s and contains details that are typical of that construction era in the western United States. The building sustained severe damage that included column shear failures. The building was analyzed independently by three research teams using analysis methodólogies that were similar in concept but different in details. An objective of each analysis was to correlate observed and calculated performance. The different analyses were successful to varying degrees. The results provide a test case of the effectiveness of various seismic performance assessment methodologies.