Comparative study on acceptance criteria for non-ductile reinforced concrete columns

Poor seismic performance of older reinforced concrete buildings in past seismic events has frequently been attributed to failure of non-ductile columns not detailed for seismic demands. The Seismic Assessment of Existing Buildings Guidelines developed in New Zealand (NZ Guideline) provides a performance-based engineering framework for assessment of existing buildings, with concrete buildings covered in section C5. This study compares the probable failure mode and deformation capacity assessed based on NZ Guideline, ASCE/SEI 41-13, and ASCE/SEI 41-17 with the results from quasi-static cyclic tests conducted on 52 rectangular and 13 circular reinforced concrete columns with reinforcement details similar to those of non-ductile columns. Results indicate that the general curvature-based method of the NZ Guideline was not able to identify the observed failure mode but generally provides a conservative estimate of deformation capacity in comparison with ASCE/SEI 41-17. Based on the results of this study, a direct rotation-based acceptance criteria is proposed for NZ Guidelines. Also, slight modifications, to reduce conservatism, have been proposed for the curvature-based method.