Modelling of earthquake repellent fibre reinforced concrete

Abstract

Iraq is exposed to significant earthquakes since it is located in the Middle East, in southwestern Asia. Thus, buildings should be designed and constructed to resist seismic forces. This is not always the case. Most of typical fibre reinforced concrete residential buildings in Iraq are designed and constructed to resist gravity loads only without any considerations to earthquake resistance. It is generally assumed by designers that the seismic forces on low and high-rise buildings are low. The building frame structural system and infill walls are assumed to resist such loads. There has been no verification to these assumptions by designers. Several seismic evaluation methodologies exist over around the world including qualitative (empirical) and quantitative (analytical) methodologies. The most suitable seismic evaluation methodology to be used in Iraq is the analytical methodology of pushover analysis since it does not require an observed damage data from previous earthquakes. We have designed two building that could withstand the earthquakes and have been long lasting using the fibre reinforced concrete. The orientation of the long dimension of columns is an important factor in the seismic resistance of both buildings. The direction contains the long dimension of columns have an earthquake resistance larger than the other direction. Buildings having structural walls behave better than other buildings during earthquakes as long as the location of these walls does not form a horizontal irregularities.