Seismic Assessment of the RC building stock of Melbourne from rare and very rare earthquake events

Abstract

This paper focuses on a seismic vulnerability assessment of the Australian reinforced concrete structural (or shear) wall building stock using the Melbourne CBD as a case study. Each of the 1403 reinforced concrete buildings used in the assessment are assumed to be laterally supported by rectangular (peripheral) or C-shaped core walls. The assessment was conducted based on the Capacity Spectrum method, which involves a comparison between the capacity and demand curves in the form of acceleration-displacement response spectra. Plastic hinge analysis expressions were used to derive the capacity curves of the buildings. The 500-year (“rare”) and 2500-year (“very rare”) return period spectra..