Performance-Based Assessment of RC Building with Short Columns Due to the Different Design Principles

Many factors affect the earthquake vulnerability of reinforced concrete (RC) structures, constituting a large part of the existing building stock. Short column in RC structures is one of the reasons for earthquake damage. Significant damages may occur due to brittle fractures in structural elements when the shear resistances are exceeded under the effect of high shear stress in short columns formed due to architectural and topographic reasons. This study created structural models for three situations: the hill slope effect, band-type window and mezzanine floor, which may cause short column formation. The structural analyses by SAP2000 were compared with the reference building model with no short columns. Structural analyses were performed separately according to strength-based and deformation-based design approaches in the updated Turkiye Building Earthquake Code (TBEC-2018). Short column formation; the effects on soft-storey irregularity, the relative storey drifts, column shear force, plastic rotation in columns, roof displacement, base shear force and column damage levels were investigated. As a result of the analysis, it was determined that the relative drifts from the first floor of the building decreased significantly due to the band-type window and slope effect, which caused the second storey to fall into the soft-storey status. In addition, short-column formation caused a significant increase in both plastic rotation demand and shear force in short columns.