Towards earthquake-proof buildings: research and developments on multi-hazard resilient buildings

Overview

Recent earthquakes have further highlighted a critical gap between societal expectations and the seismic performance of modern buildings, requiring a shift in design objectives towards a low-damage philosophy.

Decades of research have honed cost-effective plug-and-play technologies for the entire building system, proposing solutions like post-tensioned rocking dissipative connections for modular structural systems and damage-control techniques for non-structural elements.

This integration results in an “earthquake-proof” building system, representing the next generation of high-performance structures. Furthermore, transitioning to a resilient and more sustainable built environment requires further steps: integrating seismic safety and environmental sustainability and considering multi-hazard scenarios, with a specific focus on more frequent and severe climate-induced events.

Also, improving overall community resilience and targeting integrated low-damage low-carbon building systems to minimize post-earthquake damage and related socio-economic-environmental losses, as well as emphasizing the use of bio-based materials and modular systems to cut construction and demolition waste.

This presentation aims to provide evidence of the potential of implementing an integrated, low-damage, resilient, and sustainable structural/non-structural system. The talk will initially give an overview of damage-control technologies for both structural and non-structural components.

The discussion will then delve into recent investigations involving experimental testing and numerical simulations. These include large-scale shake table tests demonstrating the seismic potential of low-damage systems for overall building systems (such as timber-concrete structures with glazed/concrete facades and gypsum/masonry partitions) and full-scale facade components.

Additionally, numerical investigations will be presented to capture the dynamic behaviour of the tested solutions and derive fragility curves.

The presentation will also cover loss assessments comparing conventional and low-damage systems, incorporating energy simulations and life-cycle analysis. The overarching goal is to underscore the imperative of enhancing safety levels for buildings through the development of integrated, multi-functional solutions.