Seismic response of high-rise RC buildings made of high-strength materials

The present research evaluates the performance of reinforced concrete buildings made of high performance materials in earthquake prone areas through the parametric analysis of twenty-two buildings using a finite element approach. The concrete strength in the buildings varied from 50 MPa to 90 MPa and the reinforcement consisted of 500 MPa, 800 MPa and 1200 MPa steel. Among the building combinations considered, there were two that involved varying concrete strengths between the beam and column elements and different combinations of reinforcement steel. The design of the buildings was carried out for peak ground acceleration 0.25g according to the Eurocodes 2 and 8 for both ductility class ''Medium'' and ''High''. The nonlinear static (pushover) analysis technique was employed to assess the behavior of the RC buildings. The performance of the buildings designed for ductility class ''Medium'' and ''High'' under the design earthquake level corresponding to 0.25g and a selected collapse prevention level corresponding to 0.50g was very satisfactory. Considering the financial benefits resulting from the use of mixed concrete strengths in the beams and columns and their general performance under the two seismic events, the construction of RC buildings incorporating different material strengths appears to offer several potential benefits.